A NYNT Mardi Gras Big Easy and Big Apple Style
by Jonathan
This week New York Night Train takes the next logical step towards world domination, spreading its gospel of stylish kinetic eclectic party-rockin’ across the United States. While the Train parks at Mardi Gras for a few days before its heroic journey to the west coast, it also continues to produce supreme social events for your listening and dancing pleasure at home.
Wednesday, Jan 30, NEW YORK: Motor City (127 Ludlow, Lower East Side, Manhattan), 10pm, FREE: Bid the Night Train farewell with a sneak peek at the Conductor’s tour set and the exquisite selections of music aficionado/collector Patrick Holmes of NYC noise supergroup Five Dollar Priest (see Saturday). Patrick’s friendship with the Night Train goes back to his teenage years in Austin and, while you may know this gentleman about town for his excellent avant-jazz clarinet skills, he’s also your friendly bartender down the block at the Living Room. Two longtime amigos rocking your soxx off for the first time!
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Thurs, Jan 31, NEW ORLEANS: Big Easy Uptown Shake Down, The Saint Bar & Lounge (961 Saint Mary St), 11pm, FREE: NYNT Conductor Mr. Jonathan Toubin wastes no time getting down to Big Easy business at this White Zombie-owned local institution - rolling up his sleeves for a possible all-nighter at this, his only solo show at the Mardi Gras. Tell yr friends! And a big fat thank you in advance to Ben!
Thurs, Jan 31, NEW YORK: On! Sixties Discotheque Party, Beauty Bar (231 E. 14th, East Village, Manhattan), 11pm, FREE: We may change the name of this thing to the far more cumbersome but less ambiguous title. “Shakin’ All Over Under Sideways Down!” if there is agreement among all boardmembers involved. While this week’s edition will include NYNT’s Soul Proprietor Mr. Jonathan Toubin or the indomitable Ms. Melissa Fanni Tutti, both away on busy-ness, the Beauty Bar’s Mike Stewart has selected a special secret superstar replacement. Get it? ON! C’mON, turn ON!
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Friday, Feb 1, Ants In Yr Pants Dance Party, Savalas (285 Bedford, Williamsburg, Brooklyn), 10pm, FREE:
Friday night’s Ants In Yr Pants Dance Party will feature two of NYNT’s absolute favorite DJs: Jaiko Suzuki and Joe Gaer. Jaiko, who, until recently, was the brains and tunes behind the longstanding Lower East Side Thursday institution at La Caverna, Mon Mon Mon Amour, and also known for her tenure as downtown’s most prolific and exciting go go dancer, isn’t only the drummer for the adventurous avant kraut/psych groove trio Electroputas and Jim Sclavunos’ Vanity Set, but was selected to participate in Boredoms’ legendary 77 Drum below the Brooklyn Bridge last summer. Joe Gaer, who also DJs under the pseudonym, Black Ops, is the co-founder/owner of Brooklyn’s consistently challenging and unusually successful record label Social Registry - the label behind the likes of Gang Gang Dance, Blood on the Wall, Psychic Ills, and many more of today’s finest and most challenging artists. Though the duo has broad taste and is likely to spin nearly any genre as long as it moves, expect Jaiko to bring a lot of the incredible Japanese and International 60s and Joe to spin lots of rare groove cover songs - from soul to psych. A dream team for listeners, connoisseurs, and dancers alike….
Sat, Feb 2, NEW ORLEANS: Pasta Train, R-Bar (1431 Royal St), 11pm, FREE: Tonight NYNT Conductor Mr. Jonathan Toubin is both thrilled and intimidated to be DJ-ing with one of the towering figures (literally) in the Big Sleazy rock scene, DJ Pasta himself. Though Pasta spins lots of garage, soul, and even country, he cut his teenage teeth as an Oakland hip hop DJ in the 1980s, and as a rave DJ in the 1990s. Hence he is a rare bird able to combine serious DJ skills with a taste for grittier organic musics. Smack-dab in the middle of the Bywater, R-Bar’ll be quaking ’til long after the sun comes up.
Now don’t think the night train would leave NYC without a little taste of Mardi Gras - this time in the classic downtown noise tradition! and with a dance party tacked onto the show…
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Saturday, February 2, NEW YORK: NYNT Mardi Gras w/Five Dollar Priest (ex-Sonic Youth, Swans, Pussy Galore, etc.), Jerry Teel and the Big City Stompers (ex-Honeymoon Killers, Boss Hog, Knoxville Girls, etc.), Tex Napalm and Demi Dero (from Paris and Berlin + 1 Bellmer Doll), Woman, and DJ Goofy AKA Jim Sclavunos (Grinderman, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, etc.), Glasslands Gallery, 9pm sharp - 4am, $7
While New York Night Train’s Conductor Jonathan Toubin will be away on business, the Glasslands will host one of the most exciting NYNT parties yet – an evil Mardi Gras celebration featuring a veritable who’s who of important figures in NYC underground rock/noise history.
Headliners Five Dollar Priest, whose last two shows were opening for friends Mudhoney and Gogol Bordello, is NYC’s latest and greatest subterranean supergroup. Fronted by the actor/poet/drummer/singer/all-around entertainer, the mighty Speedball Baby’s Ron Ward, the Priest also includes legends like the star of “Death Valley 69,” Sonic Youth/Pussy Galore drummer Bob Bert, the gargantuan guitar monster that defined the classic 1980s Swans sound (not to mention his infinitely innovative work with the likes of Foetus, Lydia Lunch, and Heroine Sheiks), without a doubt one of New York Night Train’s favorite guitarists of all time, Norman Westberg, the fat dirty bounce of Heroine Sheiks/Molotov Cocktail’s bassist George Porifiris, and Texas avant-jazz clarinetist Mr. Patrick Holmes. Together these Size Queens conjure a noirish, playful, weird rock with no shortage of experimentalism that, while a step beyond, remains consistent to the rough individualistic post-No Wave downtown aesthetic that the members have continuously been a primary force redefining since the 1980s.
Jerry Teel, who leads the Big City Stompers, wasn’t only the driving force behind the seminal 1980s NYC punk-a-billies Honeymoon Killers (though best remembered as the band that fathered Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, were important in their own right long before - check out the career-spanning Sing Sing comp Sympathy for the Record Industry put out a few years back), Little Pork Chop, and Knoxville Girls, and a member of Boss Hog, Workdogs, Chrome Cranks, and many more, but also, before moving to New Orleans, recorded everyone from the Oblivians to Yeah Yeah Yeahs at his longstanding East Village institution, Funhouse Studios. While Jerry sings and plays guitar, and was for a time backed by the Sadies, his Stompers now include his lovely and talented wife Pauline on vocals, long-time house bassist for the entire Lower East Side, Pink Monkey Bird Jerome O’Brien on the low strings, Main Drag wiz JJ Jenkins on guitar, and Heavy Creatures’ Patrick Kauffman on drums. While Jerry has a killer voice, writes solid rootsy songs, and selects choice covers, the Stompers lay it down with a lively no bullshit American a style with both Basement Tapes breadth and plenty of grit(s).
Tex Napalm and Demi Dero, an unholy international trinity Berlinner Tex Napalm of Iron Cobra Orchstra and Motorcyclo Sadisto, Parisian Dimi Dero of Dimi Dero Inc, and New Yorker Anthony S. Malat, currently of Bellmer Dolls and formerly of Love Life (with Celebration’s Katrina Ford). These fellas create a dark creepy clang that will appeal to fans of the post-Birthday Party lineage.
Woman, led by the twin vocal/guitar towers of Australian native Kristian Brenchley and Mexico City’s Brett W Schultz, and featuring the skinniest and coolest looking rhythm section in town, the black-clad Skeleton Boy and Alex Velasquez, remain one of the rawest, most brutal, and least compromised ensembles in the tri-state area. But don’t be frightened, its only rock’n’roll….
Finally, this ain’t just a show but a dance party that rolls ‘til 4am featuring the tastefully eclectic party selections of none other than DJ Goofy AKA Jim “Big Cheif” Sclavunos - the current drummer for Grinderman, percussionist for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and leader of the Vanity Set, and a former member of the likes of Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, 8-Eyed Spy, Sonic Youth, Tav Falco and the Panther Burns, Alex Chilton, The Cramps, Congo Norvell, Gunga Din, and at least a few dozen more. Anyone who got down with Jim at Ants In Yr Pants Dance Party a few weeks ago knows that the man can and will bring the goods. And anyone who went to his Mardi Gras gig last year knows Big Chief will bring the beads.
Plus, as always, expect plenty of distinguished special guests.
Not to be missed! And stay all night! Dance a little longer….
Sunday, February 3, NEW ORLEANS: MC Trachiotomy’s Pearly Party, the Pearl Lounge (Royal and Desire), Midnight, FREE:NTNT Conductor, Mr. Jonathan Toubin, mysteriously billed under his 1990s New Orleans Nickname “Mr. Wonderful,” spins a mega-bash at legendary New Orlean’s party space The Pearl with DJs Alejandro and Belize. This hoodang goes past dawn and includes a who’s who of the 9th Ward underground including live performances by Trachiotomy himself with the Moments, local hero Ratty Scurvics, punk rockerzz Die Rotzz, back from Europe Sub-Zero Permafrost, and from our town, two of New York’s finest, Golden Triangle and Knyfe Hyts.
Monday, February 4, NEW ORLEANS: Pearl Breakfast Lunch Jamboree, the Pearl Lounge (Royal and Desire), 10AM, FREE:Mr. Wonderful will still be on hand, probably sans sleep, to DJ with two of his heroes Matty (he of Mod Dance Party and Royal Pendleton fame!)and Pasta, at a party rootsier live performances by the lovely and talented Ms. Kitty Lynn as well as Mike Hurt and the Haunted Hearts, which of course is led by noneother than the Pendleton’s dashing Senor Hurt.
Monday, February 4, NEW ORLEANS: One Eyed Jacks (615 Toulouse Street), 9PM, FREE:NYNT Conductor and Soul Proprietor will hopefully get at least a couple of hours of shut-eye before braving the French Quarter to be the sole DJ at the climax of the entire celebration - but, as his New Orleans lifestyle guide Jay Poggi once (or twice) taught him, Mardi Gras ain’t for wussies. So no matter what condition his condition is in, you will find the loneliest of the long-distance DJs way up in the tower of power before, between, and after sets by Morning 40 Federation and NYNT favorites Quintron and Ms. Pussycat and Static Static. And there’s no place he’d rather be. Don’t ask how long this thing swings ’til….
After taking in some Zulus and Mardi Gras Indians on Mardi Gras proper, our hero may or may not rest before hopping in Static Static’s van to bring a little taste of “Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez” and plenty of beads to Austin’s Long Branch Inn for a day-late celebration he likes to call Tardy Gras… Here are the NYNT events that follow on both the East and West Coasts (you will be able to find details like addresses and other info at either NewYorkNightTrain.com or on my Myspace calendar)
Soul Proprietor and Conductor Mr. Jonathan Toubin’s Schedule
Weds Feb 6 10:00P Tardi Gras Celebration (Austin, TX) @ Long Branch Inn
Thurs Feb 7 Tucson w/Static Static
Fri Feb 8 Mexicali w/Static Static
Sat Feb 9 San Diego w/Static Static
Sun Feb 10 10:00P Part Time Punks! (Echo Park) @ The Echo
Mon Feb 11 NIGHT OFF (sleep?)
Tues Feb 12 10:00P Sonic (Hollywood) @ Beauty Bar
Weds Feb 13 10:00P (Culver City) @ Mandrake
Thurs Feb 14 6:00P Short Shorts Radio Set (The Internet) @ Little Radio
Thurs Feb 14 8:00P L.A. Record Valentines Party (Silver Lake) @ Cha Cha Lounge
Fri Feb 15 PYT (Hollywood) @ Jimmy’s Lounge
Fri Feb 15 (Echo Park) @ Little Joy
Sat Feb 16 NYNT Soul Clap and Dance-Off (Williamsburg) @ Glasslands Gallery w/celebrity judges Masha and Melissa-Anne of The Bangs, Zack Lipez of Fresh Kills, Lefty and Ray from Stalkers
And meanwhile, back in the state… New York that is, parties continue sans Mr. Jonathan Toubin…
Wed Feb 6 2008 10:00P NYNT Wednesdays @ MotorCity w/DJ Kid Congo Powers @ Motor City
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Thur Feb 7 2008 10:00P ON! 60s Discotheque w/DJ Melissa Fanni Tutti
Fri Feb 8 2008 10:00P Ants In Yr Pants Dance Party w/Ian Svenonius @ Savalas
Sat Feb 9 2008 10:00P NYNT’s Loose Caboose w/DJ w/DJ Sammy Yaffa of New York Dolls, Jetboy, Hanoi Rocks, Joan Jett, etc.@ Club Midway
Wed Feb 13 2008 10:00P NYNT Wednesdays @ MotorCity w/guest DJ Stu Spasm @ Motor City
Sat Feb 16 2008 10:00P NYNT’s Loose Caboose w/DJ Jason Russo of Hopewell @ Club Midway
