Night After Night

That which passes.

Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall
The New York Times, August 25, 2008

This week in Time Out New York.

Regular readers here have no doubt noticed that while I regularly link to my pieces in The New York Times, I provide links to my writing in Time Out New York much less frequently. The reason for that is simple enough: the TONY website has gone through a great many changes during the last few years, and on multiple occasions the links that I provided were rendered defunct. I've also been terrified of turning Night After Night into nothing more than a link dump for writing that's appeared elsewhere.

Honestly, that last bit remains a concern. But with the TONY website on relatively stable footing and my writing for the magazine currently on something of an upswing (necessitated at least in part by the changes outlined in my previous post), I've decided that a weekly post devoted to my TONY content wouldn't be out of place. Note that nearly all of the CD reviews and live previews (and some features, as well) include streaming sound files of complete tracks for your listening pleasure.

Since this is the first time I've done this, I'm going to include more than just one week's worth of work. Hereafter it'll happen very Thursday, when the TONY site is updated.

CD review: Andrew Russo - Mix Tape (Endeavor Classics)
(TONY 673, Aug 21-27, 2008)

Live preview: King Crimson, Nokia Theatre Times Square, Aug 14-17
(TONY 672, Aug 14-20, 2008)

Live preview: Bajofondo, Central Park SummerStage, Aug 15
(TONY 672, Aug 14-20, 2008)

Live preview: Judas Priest + Heaven and Hell + Motorhead + Testament, Nikon at Jones Beach Theater, Aug 10
(TONY 671, Aug 7-13, 2008)

Live preview: Our Side of Town: A Red House 25th Anniversary Concert with Cliff Eberhardt, Eliza Gilkyson and Lucy Kaplansky, Joe's Pub at the Public Theater, July 24
(TONY 669, July 24-30, 2008)

CD review: Rex Moroux - These Bricks Are Bleeding (333 Entertainment)
(TONY 669, July 24-30, 2008)

CD review: Miley Cyrus - Breakout (Hollywood)
(TONY 668, July 17-23, 2008)

CD review: Joan Jeanrenaud - Strange Toys (Talking House)
(TONY 668, July 17-23, 2008)

Live preview: Cecil Taylor and Tony Oxley, Village Vanguard, July 15-20
(TONY 667, July 10-16, 2008)

CD review: Little Jackie - The Stoop (S-Curve)
(TONY 667, July 10-16, 2008)

Still here.

I've complained in the past about my inability to devote much time to blogging, and I'm in that frame of mind again today. I do, however, have a better excuse than usual: This afternoon marks my first time off after 19 consecutive days of work -- a majority of those days in the 12-18 hour range, weekends included.

True, there are those who would argue that spending weekends at Glimmerglass Opera and the Bard Music Festival doesn't exactly construe arduous labor. I'm inclined to agree to a point, until the reality of writing marginally intelligent thoughts about four operas in three days, or four concerts, each two-and-a-half hours long, in two days -- on deadline -- hits home.

What's happened is this: Two weeks ago, for reasons I will not go into, I was promoted at Time Out New York. I'm now the music editor -- not the classical & opera editor (which I've been for seven years), not the associate music editor (which I added three years ago, and which largely amounted to being air-traffic controller for the massive listings section), but the overseer of the Whole Enchilada.

Making the decision to take on added responsibilities was difficult, to say the least. When the invitation came, the thing that hung me up the most was my sense that when I started contributing to the Times two years ago, I made a conscious decision to concentrate my mental efforts, on and off the clock, to expanding my grasp of the entire classical repertoire. That was the world I would inhabit; my pop, metal and jazz inclinations, while still very real, were moved to a back burner for simmering.

What this meant was that when the opportunity for promotion was first raised, I was of a mind that I now made a poor candidate for music editor at a lively, fast-paced and aggressively exploratory publication like Time Out. I'm not the guy who prowls the clubs in Williamsburg and the East Village looking for fresh blood. I've never once attended a Todd P show, nor have I been to a JellyNYC Pool Party at the soon-to-be-repurposed McCarren Park Pool. I'm on 75 percent of the mailing lists for promotional CDs now, I'd guess, but I don't receive advances for acts like Lil Wayne, Albert Hammond Jr. or the Ting Tings.

Even so, on the advice of virtually everyone near and dear to me, I accepted the gig. I was convinced, by people whose opinions hold weight, that among the qualities I could bring to the job was an unusually broad overview of the entire music scene -- classical music included -- and I'd be able to surround myself with colleagues who would bring whatever ground-floor and basement-level expertise I might lack.

So, on with the show. I'm looking at this as a rigorous challenge, an opportunity for growth and, admittedly, a bit of a grand adventure. Can I integrate the two music sections, classical and not-classical, more organically? That remains to be seen; my first tentative experiment along those lines is coming up in a few weeks, although you could say it started when I hired Cristina Black, a sharp pop writer with classical training, to review Nico Muhly's latest album in the classical pages of Time Out a few weeks ago.

Before you ask, yes, I will continue to contribute to The New York Times for as long as they care to keep me around. I still have a great deal to learn there, and the opportunity to continue improving my craft under expert supervision is one I don't take lightly.

Meanwhile, despite the long, long weeks and hours, the isolation and the stress, I find myself completely strangely energized by the new challenges I've taken on. For one, I'm digging into hip-hop in a way I haven't been able to in years. Already I've discovered that the new untitled CD by Nas is a brilliant, inspired piece of work. Prodded by a single review from my Times colleague Jon Caramanica, I've plunged headlong into the world of mixtapes, hip-hop's street-level combination of laboratory and hype machine. Most of this material can be tracked down for free online, but Mixtapepass has proved to be a reliable, economical resource for the best of what's out there.

I'll urge anyone with a bit of curiosity and a sense of humor to head to The Daily Kush, where Asher Roth, a young white rapper from Morrisville, PA, distributes his musically sharp, devastatingly funny mixtape, The Greenhouse Effect, free of charge. As I wrote in a listing that will appear in next week's Time Out connected to Roth's upcoming appearance at S.O.B.'s, this is the very last moment you'll be able to ask, "Asher who?" Check out his MySpace page for a pointed response to Lil Wayne's ubiquitous "A Milli," and head to YouTube for his video of "Roth Boys," a sly Jay-Z parody. (Compare it to this.)

As always, I'll end by thanking you for stopping by, and for your patience during the long stretches with no updates. I'll promise -- for the 725th time -- to try and do better.

Playlist:

Greg Osby - 9 Levels (Inner Circle Music download)

Depeche Mode - Speak & Spell (Sire/Rhino)

The Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die (Bad Boy)

Ludacris & DJ Drama - The Preview (mixtape)

DJ Envy - Purple Codeine, Vol. 18 (mixtape)

The Game, DJ Haze & Tapemasters Inc. - To Live & Die in L.A. (mixtape)

Andrew Russo - Mix Tape (Endeavor Classics; TONY review)

Donny McCaslin Trio - Recommended Tools (Greenleaf Music)

King Crimson - 40th Anniversary Tour Box (DGM)

Talking Heads - The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads (Sire/Rhino)

Brooklyn Rider - Passport (In a Circle)

David Byrne & Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today (Topspin download)

Nas & DJ Green Lantern - The N****r Tape (mixtape)*

Bruno Mantovani - Le Sette Chiese; Streets; Eclair de Lune - IRCAM, Ensemble Intercontemporain/Susanna Mälkki (Kairos)

Joseph Martin Krauss - Olympie (excerpts); Cantatas: La Scusa; La Primavera; La Gelosia; La Pesca - Simone Kermes, L'Arte del Mondo/Werner Ehrhardt (Phoenix Edition)

Solange - Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams (Music World/Geffen); "F*@k the Industry (Signed Sincerely)" (MP3 download from Hadley Street Journal)**

Asher Roth, Don Cannon & DJ Drama - The Greenhouse Effect, Vol. 1 (mixtape)

King Crimson - Park West, Chicago, IL, August 7, 2008 (DGMlive official download)

Young Jeezy, the Hitmen & CEO - The Delivery Man (mixtape)

* Obviously, that's not the actual title of the Nas mixtape. My censorship, though it ironically echoes the refusal by Nas's label to release his new album with the unexpurgated title he wanted, is meant to maintain my personal policy of avoiding profanity and other buzz words that might get my blog blocked in public libraries, schools and some international territories. Hope that's understandable.

** On the other hand, this is the accurate title for Solange's web-only single.

Realpolitik.

The Bard Music Festival at the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts
The New York Times, August 19, 2008

Dallas Steel.

(Posted this afternoon on the TONY Blog)

That seismic ripple you just felt rumbling through New York City's classical-music community was the bombshell announcement that George Steel, daredevil impresario of the Miller Theatre at Columbia University, has accepted the position of general director at the Dallas Opera, effective as of October 1, 2008. Steel, a 41-year-old Maryland native and Yale University graduate, is set to become the company's sixth general director in its 52-year history, and will take over in plenty of time to usher it into its new home, the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts, in Fall 2009.

"I have family connections in Dallas as far back as the 19th century, so coming to Dallas is something of a spiritual return," Steel said in a press statement circulated this afternoon. "Yet in many ways, Dallas will be a 'Brave New World.' The challenge to build a 21st century opera company equal to its remarkable new venue proved impossible to resist."

We have to confess that we're pretty torn up about the news. On the one hand, we can't possibly begrudge Steel such an amazing career opportunity; this is, without a doubt, the next rung on an inevitable ascent to a national arena.

The down side is that Steel is among the handful of New York arts presenters who have truly made a lasting impact on the city's artistic profile: first through his innovative early work at the 92nd Street Y (where the Dawn Upshaw series "Voices of the Spirit" is still fondly remembered by everyone who attended), and later with his complete revitalization of the Miller Theatre as a hothouse for major contemporary composers and rising new performers. Steel's expansive tastes saw him devoting evenings at Miller to Elliott Carter and Steve Reich, Milton Babbitt and John Zorn, as well as rising young composers like Huang Ruo and Jefferson Friedman.

To the amazement of all, Miller became a hot destination, packing houses with beards and backpackers alike. A recent move into opera saw the city's first productions of Carter's What Next? and Olga Neuwirth's Lost Highway, and the current season will open in September with Xenakis's Oresteia. Under Steel's watch, Miller also became a major producer of early-music concerts, many of which featured his own outstanding Vox Vocal Ensemble.

We're sorry to see George Steel go, then, though it was likely inevitable from the minute he started attracting attention. Columbia will have to look hard for someone of his caliber. Dallas, meanwhile, gains a true lone star -- and becomes the odds-on favorite for a full-scale revival of A Quiet Place, the misunderstood final opera of Steel's mentor, Leonard Bernstein.

Update: New York musician, musicologist, educator and recording-industry professional Roger Evans has some insightful thoughts to share on Steel's ascension and the house he is soon to command.

Lieder of the banned.

Das Liebesverbot at Glimmerglass Opera
The New York Times, August 12, 2008

Brush up your Shakespeare.

Kiss Me, Kate, I Capuleti e i Montecchi and Giulio Cesare at Glimmerglass Opera
The New York Times, August 11, 2008

La passion de Saariaho.

"Intimidated by Mozart's Ghost? Not Anymore"
The New York Times, August 10, 2008

An article about Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, whose second opera, Adriana Mater, has been running this summer at the Santa Fe Opera, and whose oratorio, La Passion de Simone, receives its American premiere at the Mostly Mozart Festival on Wednesday (August 13).

I'm just back from a long weekend in Cooperstown, and will be linking up my Glimmerglass reviews shortly. (The short version: Everything's entertaining and well-performed; Laura Vlasak Nolen and Lyubov Petrova are sensational in Giulio Cesare, as is Lisa Vroman in Kiss Me, Kate.) I note with some gratitude that my friends Lisa and Sid have actually already circulated the Saariaho link; Lisa also has a useful roundup of Adriana Mater reviews, including her own excellent piece from San Francisco Classical Voice.

As for my article, talking with Ms. Saariaho (seen above left in a lovely photo by Rick Scibelli Jr.) was a real privilege and a pleasure, as well. My only real regret is that space and flow forced me to cut a tiny anecdote of which I was quite proud, since it was something I'd genuinely never known about the composer before. I'll include an excerpt from the original interview transcript here as a bonus track. The question to which she is responding had to do with why she started composing with a computer while at IRCAM; I anticipated an answer having to do with sound manipulation. No:

I started because I’m left-handed. I started for the practical reason that, you know, I couldn’t write with ink because… [makes a sweeping motion with her left arm, which would clearly wreck an inked page]. So I was writing with pencil. And to get printable copies, I’d need to push really hard, so that I had this kind of tennis-elbow syndrome.

For some reason I just really love that explanation.

Playlist:

Nas - Nas (Def Jam)

Wale - The Mixtape about Nothing (no label; download here)

Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line (Barsuk)

Bajofondo - Mar Dulce (Decca)

Vincenzo Bellini - I Capuleti e I Montecchi - Antonietta Pastori, Fiorenza Cossotto, Renato Gavarini, Italian Radio Chorus, Italian Radio Symphony Orchestra/Lorin Maazel (Opera d'Oro)

Richard Wagner - Das Liebesverbot - Hilde Zadek, Anton Dermota, Kurt Equiluz, Heinz Imdahl, Austrian Radio Chorus, Austrian Radio Symphony Orchestra/Robert Heger (Opera d'Oro)

Grateful Dead - Dick's Picks, Vol. Vol. 12: Providence Civic Center, June 26, 1974 & Boston Garden, June 28, 1974 (Grateful Dead)

Coheed and Cambria - No World for Tomorrow (Columbia)

Helms Alee - Night Terror (Hydra Head)

Andrew Russo - Mix Tape (Endeavour Classics)

Big dogs.

Things are in flux at the day job right now, which has made finding time for blogging an even greater challenge than usual. But a chance culinary encounter I had last week demands some attention. Last Friday night as I was heading to Bargemusic for the terrific David Holzman recital I reviewed a few days back, I noticed signs for the Landing at Fulton Ferry, a new eatery that had just opened across the street from the very famous pizzeria with the long, long line, not far from the waterfront.

Running a bit late, I walked on by, but as I was heading back to the subway, I stopped for a closer look. The Landing, it turned out, was little more than an old-fashioned hot dog cart tucked into a walled parking lot, with a few wooden picnic tables scattered around. There were only four items on the menu; the one that dragged me in was the Chicago Dog.

Having been to Chicago only a handful of times in my life, I found the city's traditional "dragged through the kitchen garden" frank a complete mystery. But ever since I read this article on the signature dog in Time Out Chicago, I'd been wanting to try one for myself.

Boy was I glad I did. Not only was the Chicago Dog an amazing profusion of juicy, tangy tastes in a poppyseed bun, but my pleasure was so evident that the proprietor insisted that I try another offering, the Texas Meal Dog. Mind you, I hadn't identified myself as a media representative, just as a Texan who'd never encountered a Chicago dog before. But the vendor was in a good mood, and clearly wanted to try his invention out on me.

This, too, was a special treat: an all-beef frank drowned in a savory homemade chili, topped with pickled red onion. (The two other varieties are the Brooklyn Bridge Dog, a frank with the usual NYC trimmings, and the Berlin Currywurst, a German brat with a homemade tomato-curry sauce.) I grabbed a handful of menu cards from the cart as I made my way out to the street, and rubbed my belly all the way home to Queens.

Sadly, I didn't find time before tonight to blog about this splendid discovery. But this afternoon I told my story to a friend and occasional concert companion, the most excellent TONY food editor Gabriela Gershenson. No more than an hour later, she'd tracked down proprietor Richard Mauro and told his story on our in-house foodie blog, The Feed. Bonus! Thanks, G.G., and kudos to Mr. Mauro. You'll find him serving up weiners with care at the corner of Old Fulton and Everit Streets in DUMBO, from noon to midnight every Thursday through Saturday.

While I'm spieling in a culinary mode, my thanks to another good friend, Peter Cherches of food blog Word of Mouth, for organizing a fabulous group meal tonight at Szechuan Gourmet, a fine midtown restaurant. I'd enjoyed the restaurant once before, at lunch with Pete and our friend/fellow music blogger Brian Olewnick a few years ago, and liked it even better this time, with Dr. LP along for good measure. (And happily, Prescient Pete made our reservations before Frank Bruni's recent Times review created lines...)

Pete is a master in both culinary and social aspects in situations like these. The last time the Doctor and I went on one of his outings -- to Malagueta, a terrific Brazilian restaurant in our home neighborhood -- we liked it so much that we held our wedding rehearsal dinner there, a year and a few days ago. Thanks again, Pete.

Playlist:

Elodie Lauten - The Death of Don Juan (Unseen Worlds)

Kaija Saariaho - Château de l'âme; Graal Théâtre; Amers - Dawn Upshaw, Gidon Kremer, Anssi Kartunen; Avanti Chamber Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Esa-Pekka Salonen (Sony Classical)

Bajofondo - Mar Dulce (Decca)

Nas - Nas (Def Jam)

GZA - Liquid Swords (Geffen)

N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton (Priority)

Ludacris and DJ Drama - The Preview (Gangsta Grillz)

The three A's.

David Holzman at Bargemusic
The New York Times, August 4, 2008