The Paul Robeson Theater on Greene Ave in Fort Greene is one of the few all-black owned theaters in the country. It's housed in a former church. I can't seem to find a website for them, but next week they will be hosting a series of live shows. Check it out- seems like there will be something for everybody.
****THE PAUL ROBESON THEATER SERIES****
A MeanRed Production
See past the stain glass windows into this historic church turned theater,
located in the heart of Fort Greene. MeanRed Productions invites you for a
week of rock puppet opera, electric fusion jazz orchestras, spirited
experimental world music, and a child's fantastical kaleidoscope concert.
Paul Robeson Theater // 40 Greene Ave, Brooklyn, NY
Advance Tickets Available at ticketweb.com and at Halcyon
www.halcyonline.com
April 10
7:30pm Earthdriver
10pm Essie Jain and Friends
April 11
7:30pm Crabquistador
April 12
7:30pm Landau Orchestra and Burnt Sugar
April 13
7:30pm Olde English Comedy Troupe
10pm Sun Ra Arkestra and Nublu Orchestra with Butch Morris
April 14
1pm Family show with Alex and the Kaleidoscope Band
10pm El Michel¹s Affair and Budos Band
Details:
***APRIL 10th***
EARTHDRIVER 7:30 Doors
Paul Robeson Tribute Set
Earthdriver is a high powered New York City based mothership comprised of
some of the hottest musicians on the scene. From this diverse collective
comes an intense hybrid of funk, rock, soul, hip-hop, drum & bass, world
music, and experimental genres. Beginning as an organic meeting ground where
musicians of all backgrounds were free to explore their own creativity, what
has resulted is an uncensored explosion of art and music overflowing with
the liberating spirit of 'harmonious subjectivity'. Since Earthdriver is
just as much a movement as it is a band, there is a common understanding of
the importance of free thinking and creativity to the larger struggle in the
United States and to peoples' movements around the world.
Admission $12 //
www.myspace.com/earthdriver
ESSIE JAIN & Friends 10pm Doors
"Essie Jain is a totally new voice. Her debut album, We Made This
Ourselves, manages to impress on the strength of its maturity first and
foremost. The arrangements are extremely minimal, utilizing piano, slide
guitar, and strings to create a stark sound as coherent as it is fragile.
The same can be said of the lyrics, which eschew whimsy in favor of life
experience every time."
Artist Direct: February 2007
Admission $10 //
www.essiejain.com
***APRIL 11th***
JOLLYSHIP THE WHIZ-BANG'S "CRABQUISTADOR" 7:30 Doors
Brooklyn¹s nautical rock wunderkind Jollyship the Whiz-Bang is a puppet
troupe, rock band, and theater production company. They have performed in
festivals worldwide, invited on the renown of their legendary live shows,
which incorporate music, puppetry, video and comedy in elaborate spectacles.
Fresh from their Galapagos run of Little Building, Jollyship the Whiz-Bang
presents a rewritten version of Crabquistador, their seminal 2005 puppet
rock opera. Featuring a five piece rock band, sword fighting puppets,
powerpoint presentations, video projected backgrounds, fire, brimstone, and
eight original songs, Crabquistador is a Christian puppet show like you've
never seen before - hilarious, edgy, & relentless!
Admission $15 //
www.thewhizbang.org
***APRIL 12th ***
BURNT SUGAR & LANDAU ORCHESTRA 7:30 Doors
Burnt Sugar, described by the Village Voice as "electric Miles with soul,
Maggot Brain with a PHD, the Hendrix Evans band of dreams, the underwater
funk some hear in A.R. Kane," was conceived as the contemporary version of
the Miles Davis Bitches Brew Band, exploring the connecting tissue binding
jazz, rock, funk, twentieth century composition, and African music in a
lyrical, improvisational manner.
The Landau Orchestra combines acoustic brass, piano, strings, wind
instruments and electronics to recreate a melodic mix of jazz, classical
music and modern electronic production.
Admission $12 //
www.burntsugarindex.com
www.netlandau.com
*** APRIL 13***
OLDE ENGLISH COMEDY TROUPE 7:30 Doors
In four years of performing, they have produced over a hundred short videos,
and have performed at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, the Chicago
Sketch Comedy Festival, and the San Francisco Sketchfest. Their work has
been featured on Good Morning America, MSNBC, and Entertainment Weekly's
"Must List." Olde English is Caleb Bark, Ben Popik, David Segal, Adam
Conover, and Raphael Bob-Waksberg.
Admission $7 //
Sponsored by Re: Up Magazine
www.oldeenglish.org
SUN RA ARKESTRA &
NUBLU ORCHESTRA CONDUCTED BY BUTCH MORRIS 10pm Doors
From its inception, Sun Ra Arkestra's music was infused with Sun Ra's unique
philosophy, an unexpected hybrid of space-age science fiction and ancient
Egyptian cosmo religious trappings. This philosophy gained a visual
manifestation in the colorful robes, mock-metallic capes, and space headgear
worn by the band (it's the only jazz orchestra that brings a tailor on
tour), and in a stage presentation that usually features several dancers, a
number of group chants ("We travel the spaceways/From planet to planet"),
and at least one instance of the entire band juking its way, single-file,
through the audience.
"Nublu Orchestra is made up of, but not limited to, musicians from many
different camps: jazz, funk, pop, fusion, Brazilian, R&B, classical, but the
music we make is none of these... If Nublu means anything it means
"inclusive nature" (rather than exclusive). It means we will find the center
of balance and cosmology no matter whom is in the band, Nublu reflects the
music and the music reflects Nublu. It's a total encounter in the moment."
-Butch Morris
The Nublu Orchestra¹s music is an amalgamation of sounds from free jazz to
techno just as the club and label¹s sound as a whole is the same.
www.elrarecords.com
www.myspace.com/nubluorchestra
Admission
$15 Advanced/ $20 at door
***APRIL 14th ***
Family Show!!!
ALEX & THE KALEIDOSCOPE BAND 1pm Doors
Alex & the Kaleidoscope Band offer lively and engaging musical concerts for
children. Concerts are based on music from the award winning CD series
Kaleidoscope Songs. Alex Mitnick and his five-piece band bring children and
adults together on a fantastic musical journey. Audiences sing along, clap,
dance and participate in spontaneous musical improvisations with the band.
"It was an hour of music from the heart, for the heart," Sharon Orlando,
Youth Services Librarian. Alex sings and plays guitar and is joined by
Natalie Merritt singing and dancing, Sean Dixon on bass, Sebastian Guerrero
on drum set and Jon Thompson playing the sax and electric guitar.
Admission $12 //
www.kaleidoscopesongs.com
EL MICHELS AFFAIR and BUDOS BAND 10pm Doors
The sound of El Michel's Affair, a seven member instrumental ensemble is
described as a set of "cinematic soul, vampy numbers with quick changes in
tempo and mood." Opening for the likes of Mos Def and playing regularly as
the back up band for Raekwon, the members of this Brooklyn based ensemble
are also the founders of Truth & Soul Records. They carry an easygoing
style that's as much 70s jazz as it is 60s funk, tunes that allow more room
for instrumental interplay, unusual rhythm and instrumental flair, echoing
the 70's soundtracks, Latin albums and funky 45s that sparked the initial
inspiration.
The Budos Band has erupted onto the Funk and Soul scene with a malicious
sound that all but commands you to burn down the dance floor. This eleven
piece group offers up nasty cuts of cosmic afro-influenced psychedelic funk
that haunt your head long after the music stops.
Admission $12 adv/ $15 Day of Show
**Advanced tickets can be purchased at TicketWeb and
at Halcyon: 57 Pearl St. at the corner of Water & Pearl Sts. in Dumbo,
Brooklyn
I hope whatever it becomes, it will involve Bloody Marys in that gorgeous back yard.
(Myrtle Ave)