And so I somehow found myself winding up at this place called the Tea Lounge that’s this really cool lounge in Park Slope, Brooklyn with seemingly a ton of couches everywhere and people all sitting there looking at their laptops all the time drinking tea and lots of tea. And that place seems so cool that I could just sit there all day and night blah blogging away on some laptop, seemingly if they have free wi fi at least. And that place is located across the street from another place that I have heard of called the Park Slope Food Co op, or is that the Park Slope food coop? Anyway, and so my friends band “Funk Monk” was playing there that night, and so was this other band called “The Bird Hive Boys”. And Funk Monk was a jazzy night, and Bird Hive Boys was a bluesy, bluegrass sort of night that night. And their music rocked. And then there is another story of gentrification, almost genocide of yet another long time establishment that has fallen to the housing crisis of New York in this rent going through the roof, one needs ten roommates to survive era. Someone said that the Tea Lounge on 7th Avenue, or is it 10th Street will be closing at the end of this month. And will this place be replaced by yet another bank. And does the housing crisis in New York, where even the yuppies can no longer afford the rent, reflect the state of the nation and the state of the world. And there seems to be overdevelopement and a wrecking ball going through this town so fast that I can not keep track, as a new building seems to go up or out of business, or opens for business and seems to appear and disappear out of nowhere that was not there the week before, each week I walk down most any block of this city. And the landscape is changing. And it seems as if someone should keep track and write some sort of obituary for all of the businesses that are losing and have lost their lives so fast in this town for usually the sake of money. And CBGB marked an end of an area along with a host of other merchants and individuals in this city and its housing crisis of the decade 2000. And it seems as if every decade in real estate in New York has its era and is different, as New York seems to be ever changing, and the only thing constant is change. And what does the next decade hold for New York and its real estate, if anything. And will squatting and the land of the free ever arise again. And for some reason that phrase “Class War, Class War, Class War on the Poor” comes to mind. Long Live The Lower East Side. And in other thoughts I read that there is a recession and a depression, a foreclosure crisis, Uncle Sam is going broke with the European Union and the food is disappearing, and the animals are dying and disappearing and the globe is warming, and the climate is changing, and there are wars, wars, and rumors of wars, and the world seems to be spinning out of control. Is there hope for the world. And what if anything, does this have to do with a No Police State? Peace on earth and goodwill to all mankind. Have a great music day.

And I was reading another one of those Todd Eaton emails today that seem to be all protest all the time, and this one was titled “Time Out on Atlantic Yards“. And it was talking about developers destroying and demolishing whole communities in Brooklyn for no apparent reason other than I am not sure. And that word developer that I’ve been hearing a lot lately when it comes to overdevelopment leads me to wonder for what reason does the word developer contain the word devel which sounds like devil? Or is that a whole another blah blog posting. And in other thoughts, I received yet another email for yet another music event, and this one seems to be a jazz music event. And I usually find myself posting events that seem interesting because hey, it’s less writing sometimes:

For the second year in a row, “Home Field Advantage – Experimental Jazz in Jersey City” will present Jersey City based musicians performing cutting edge improvised music in their hometown every Friday in May. The festival, organized by Jersey City resident and musician James Keepnews, will take place at Toy Eaters Studio, Lex Leonard Gallery in Jersey City at 8pm. The festival’s concert schedule this year will be:

5/2 – Tony Malaby’s Tamarindo — with William Parker and Nasheet Waits
5/9 – People’s Revolutionary Party — debut of an avant-garde big band organized by James Keepnews, with Daniel Carter, Ras Moshe, Matt Lavelle, Tomchess and many others
5/16 – Bryan Beninghove — featuring Eyal Maoz and special guests
5/23 – Damian Catera — with Michael Lopez and G. E. Schwartz
5/30 – Nate Wooley — with Chris Speed, Reuben Radding and Harris Eisenstadt
5/2 – JC Resident and saxophonist Tony Malaby’s Tamarindo — with William Parker on bass and Nasheet Waits on drums

When Tony Malaby is not playing in bands led by Fred Hersch, Charlie Haden, Paul Motian and other greats, he’s leading a growing number of his own groups.
Some of Tony’s best work is with trios. Consider Open Loose with Mark Helias and Tom Rainey; or Tone Collector with Eivind Opsvik and Jeff Davis; or Malaby/Sanchez/Rainey,featuring Tony’s wife, the marvelous pianist Angelica Sanchez.

William Parker unveils his latest project being Corn Meal Dance and The Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield. Nasheet Waits, of Jason Moran’s Bandwagon, can play with streamlined purity behind Fred Hersch one night, then unleash torrents of sound with Peter Brotzmann the next.

5/9 – People’s Revolutionary Party — debut of an avant-garde big band organized by JC resident James Keepnews, with Daniel Carter on saxophones, clarinet, flute and trumpet; Ras Moshe on saxophones and flute; Matt Lavelle on trumpet and bass clarinet; Tom Chess on saxophones, flute and Turkish ney; Nick Gianni on saxophones; Welf Dorr on saxophones; James Keepnews on guitar, laptop and electronics; Todd Nicholson on upright bass; and Michael Golub on drums, organizerd by James Keepnews.

James Keepnews has performed with Daniel Carter, George Lewis, Holland Hopson, Joe Giardullo, Linda Montano, Damian Catera and many others. Keepnews is a writer, actor and musican.His writing has appeared in the New Haven Advocate, the Fairfield Weekly, The Squid’s Ear, Reign of Toads and Metroland Magazine.

Daniel Carter has performed or recorded over the past three decades with such artists as: Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, Billy Bang, William Parker, Roy Campbell, Sabir Mateen, Sonic Youth, Simone Forti, Joan Miller, Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Nayo Takasaki, Earl Freeman, Dewey Johnson, Nami Yamamoto, Matthew Shipp, Billy Martin, John Medeski, Wilber Morris, Denis Charles, Medeski, Martin, Vernon Reid (Living Colour), Options, Spring Heel Jack, Yo La Tengo, Federico Ughi, Raphé Malik, Sam Rivers, Sunny Murray, Hamiet Bluiett, Bob Moses, Jaco Pastorius, Enrico Rava, David S. Ware, Steve Swell, Matt Lavelle, Karl Berger, Don Pate, Gunter Hampel, David Grubbs, the No Kneck Blues Band, Alan Silva, Susie Ibarra, Steve Dalachinsky, D.J. Logic, Margaret Beals, Douglas Elliot, Butch Morris, TEST, Other Dimensions In Music, One World Ensemble, Saturnalia String Trio, Levitation Unit, Wet Paint.

Tomchess has performed with Drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson’s Decoding Society, Butch Morris’s Sheng Skyscraper, recorded with Tenor players Dewey Redman, Pharoah Sanders, Morrocan Sintarist Hassan Hakmoun and Butch Morris. He has studied with Bassam Saba, Tidiani Bangoura, Abdul Aziz Tourè and Mohammad Camarra. He has performed at the Turkish Embassy, the Pakastani Embassy and the Asian Society among countless other venues in NYC and the United States.

On his steady search for the right balance between “free” and “groove” Welf Dorr’s composing and (alto) playing are mixing influences from the jazz of the 60’s (from free jazz in general to Miles’ band with Wayne Shorter in particular) with contemporary elements from hip hop, drum&bass and world music. Originally from Munich (Germany) he studied at Berklee before he moved 1995 to New York. Here he played and recorded a.o. with Frank Lacy, Sonny Simmons, Sabir Mateen, Jeffrey Shurdut, Lukas Ligeti, Vernon Ried and participated in many conductions by Butch Morris as a member of the Nublu Orchestra. In 2005 he recorded a concert with a quintet including Kenny Wollesen on drums (no unfamiliar name in the NYC downtown jazz and avantgarde scene, who has played with all kinds of musicians from John Zorn to John Scofield) and Jonathan Finlayson on trumpet (long time member of Steve Coleman’s Five Elements). Besides playing in different jazz clubs in the US, Europe and Mexico he performed at festivals such as Willisau (Switzerland) or Celebrate Brooklyn as well as places as City Hall of New York.

Bassist and composer Todd Nicholson has performed with Billy Bang, Roy Campbell, Eddie Gale, Frank Lowe, William Parker, James Spaulding, and Steve Swell, among others. His work with the legendary violinist, Mr. Bang, is especially notable for its longevity: Nicholson has been a core member of Bang’s ensembles for the past seven years. He has appeared in the Vision Festival, the Rochester Jazz Festival, the Other Minds Festival, Tampere Jazz Happening, Sons d’Hiver, the Ottawa Jazz Festival, and the Full Moon Festival. He has collaborated with numerous dancers, most recently Carmen deLavallade and Gus Solomons jr. at Symphony Space.

Michael Golub is a drummer, guitarist and socialist. He has composed music for the classic upstate ny ensemble, Kuru, who were briefly signed to Knitting Factory records, and for his current band, The Red Hook Project.

5/16 – JC resident and saxophonist Bryan Beninghove – featuring Eyal Maoz on guitar and special guests

Bryan Beninghove has performed with such jazz luminaries as Eddie Henderson, Rufus Reid, Ron Affif, Jamey Haddad as well as young guns like Mark Guiliana, Sam Barsh, Duane Eubanks, Rick Parker, Josh Dion. Bryan has also performed with the hard rock group Clutch, the indie band Lake Trout and beatbox extraordinaire Taylor McFerrin.

Guitarist Eyal Maoz is a composer and guitarist. Eyal was recently hosted at WNYC “Ear To Ear” radio program, presenting some of his music and ensembles. His latest CD Edom (Tzadik Records) with John Medeski on organ, Shanir Blumenkranz on bass and Ben Perowsky on drums is available now. His group Hypercolor just performed at the 2008 NYC Winter Jazzfest. Eyal’s ensemble Edom performed at the 2006 Montreal Jazz Festival, 2007 BAM Next Festival and at the 2007 Winter JazzFest. His ensembles performed at the Verizon Jazz festival, Jewish Music and Heritage, The Red Sea International Jazz Festival and many others.

5/23 – JC resident and interactive guitarist Damian Catera – with Michael Lopez on drums and spoken-word artist G. E. Schwartz on poetry and vocals

Damian Catera is an electroacoustic composer/improviser, sound installation and media artist. In recent years, Catera has performed solo improvised “decompositions” using computer manipulated live radios as instrumentation in such venues as the New Museum of Contemporary Art and The Kitchen in New York City , the ZKM institute in Germany and the Institute for Contemporary Art in Prague. He is represented by the Hogar Collection Gallery in Brooklyn, NY and is the recipient of a 2008 Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Writer, poet and vocalist G. E. Schwartz, frozen by the mad love of John Montague and Joseph Brodsky and Joey Heatherton, and the immense teaching of their spring of broken symbols, has turned and twisted in the circles of SOLOMONS RAMADA, FAKING TRAINS and EONCHS OF RUBY. He forfeited the divine nameless by putting out the book Only Other Are: Poems (LEGIBLE PRESS), all the while his little finger plumbing the dark moist sepal of new terrain. The Bellingham Dance Company has just choreographed his ‘House of Silver Windows’ out in the Seattle area).

5/30 – JC resident and trumpeter Nate Wooley — with Chris Speed on tenor saxophone and clarinet, Reuben Radding on bass and JC resident Harris Eisenstadt on drums.

Nate Wooley is working with such improvisors as Paul Lytton, Anthony Braxton, John Butcher, Steve Beresford, Joe Morris, and Daniel Levin. His solo work, acoustic and with unprocessed amplification, has led him to work with bands such as Akron/Family, Wolf Eyes, Burning Star Core, and David Grubbs. The group, featuring Reuben Radding and Harris Eisenstadt, welcomes special guest Chris Speed tonight for a reading of this music as well as some of Nate’s new Christian Wolff inspired ‘exercises’.

Have a great music day.