Lead Belly: The Man Who Invented Rock & Roll
The Loft at City Winery 11th Avenue at 15th Street, New York, NY, United StatesThe New York City premiรจre of Curt Hahnโs authorized documentary Lead Belly: The Man Who Invented Rock & Roll, which explores the extraordinary journey of music icon Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter, one of the most influential figures in 20th-century popular music. As George Harrison once put it: "No Lead Belly, no Beatles."
The Music of the Bard: Words & Music of Shakespeare in the Park 1956-1967
The Public Theater at Joe's Pub 425 Lafayette Street (at Astor Place), NY, United StatesโWe have public libraries. Why not public theaters?โย said Joseph Papp, facing down Robert Moses, New York Cityโs infamous โpower broker,โ when the New York Theater Workshop was just two years old. This year marks the 70th birthday of what became Shakespeare in the Park, which we celebrate with David Amram who, from 1956 to 1967, composed the music for 25 of its productions. Gail Merrifield Papp, Joeโs widow andย theatrical partner for 25 years, will be among the friends joining him for this unique evening.ย
The Music of the West Village from Dylan to Springsteen and Beyond, Walking Tour
11 West 4th Street at Mercer Street 11 West 4th Street at Mercer Street, New York, NY, United StatesJoin Ann McDermott and visit the venues and hear the stories of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, two of the most prolific and popular artists of our times. Explore the sites of the dimly lit Greenwich Village clubs, such as The Gaslight Cafรฉ and Gerdeโs Folk City, from where they started out.
Talkin’ Greenwich Village: The Heady Rise and Slow Fall of Americaโs Bohemian Music Capital
David Browne in conversation with Liz Thomson
La Lanterna di Vittorio
129 MacDougal Street, New York, NY, United States
A publication-day conversation with Rolling Stoneย senior writerย David Browne, whose latest book, Talkin' Greenwich Village: The Heady Rise and Slow Fall of Americaโs Bohemian Music Capital โ based on 150 interviews and previously unseen documents โ is an enthralling and long-overdue history of musicโs most influential neighborhood. And what better place for an intimate chat than the fabled MacDougal Street coffeehouse that was once home to Pete and Toshi Seeger!
Edward Hopper, Georgia OโKeeffe and Jackson Pollock: A Celebration in Music
Salmagundi Club 47 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, United StatesGeorgia O'Keeffe described music as being able to be "translated into something for the eye.โ This unique concert features music inspired of by three of New York Cityโs most iconic artists, all of whom lived and worked in Greenwich Village and shared the heartbeat of the city: Edward Hopper, Georgia OโKeeffe and Jackson Pollock. The concert โ presented in partnership with Cutting Edge Concerts โ takes place in an elegant art-filled Italianate townhouse that for over 150 years has been home to one of New York Cityโs most celebrated arts clubs.
The Village Trip Lecture: Ruth Feldstein โ Performing Politics in the Village: Black Women Entertainers and the Civil Rights Movement
Jefferson Market Library 425 6th Avenue, NY, United StatesThe third annual Village Trip lecture will be given by Ruth Feldstein, Professor of History and American Studies at Rutgers University and award-winning author of How It Feels To Be Free, which provided the basis for a 2020 PBS documentary produced by Alicia Keys that examined Black women performers who played critical roles in political and social activism.
American Primitive & Inventors of Genius Weekend
The Village, long home to many musical innovators, has always pushed the boundaries of arts, activism, and ideas. This year, The Village Trip is proud to welcome musical scholars and composers from twelve countries to give talks, demonstrations, lecture recitals and concerts touching on American Primitive and those "inventors of genius" who changed the conversation. Come be part of it.
Microtonal Village Conference, hosted by composer Agustรญn Castilla-รvila American Primitive & Inventors of Genius Weekend
Composers and musicologists from around the world gather to present their music and thoughts on the microtonality of American Primitive and other new directions, with attention to developments in Greenwich Village through visionaries like Cage, Harrison and Partch. Agustรญn Castilla-รvilaโa tireless advocate for composers around the world who are exploring new and old tuning systems, and President of the Ekmelic Society of Salzburgโwill preside.
Greenwich Village A Go Go : The Greenwich Village Rock and Pop Scene of the 1960s, Walking Tour
Bagel Pub 418 Sixth Avenue, New York, NY, United StatesJoin Marc Catapano and Ann McDermott on a journey of discovery of the Mod, Pop, Happening world of 1960s Greenwich Village. Visit iconic spots like Cafรฉ Wha? and Kettle of Fish, where legends like Bob Dylan, Edie Sedgwick, and Jimi Hendrix turned the Village into a cultural epicenter. Immerse yourself in the era's wild energy and liberating spirit.
Roy Lichtenstein Studio and Home Tour
Roy Lichtenstein Studio 745 Washington Street, New York, NY, United StatesThe Lichtenstein studio is not usually open to the public, so this is a special opportunity to explore the place where one of the 20th centuryโs most important artists created many of his seminal works of Pop Art. The tour will be led by Nick Holmes, the Whitneyโs Legal Counsel and a person who was instrumental in the renovation of the building.
Achรฉ! Bobby Sanabria & Ascensiรณn
Teatro Latea at The Clemente 107 Suffolk St, (Second Floor), New York, NY, United StatesCancelled: Due to New York City building work which has badly overrun, The Clemente, of which the Latea Theater is a part, will now be closed until late September. Sadly, it has proved impossible to relocate this concert at such short notice and we now have no option but to cancel. We at The Village Trip are as disappointed as we know you will be, but we do hope to present Bobby Sanabria and Ascensiรณn, and Antoinette Montague, at the Latea sometime soon. We hope to see you at other festival events.
John Schneider: American Maverick Guitar American Primitive & Inventors of Genius Weekend
Greenwich House Music School 46 Barrow Street, New York, NY, United StatesGrammy Award-winning guitarist John Schneider explores another side of the Greenwich Village music scene, looking at works by the intrepid Harry Partch and Lou Harrison and others and their engagement in world music and the "American Primitiveโ. Schneider's work is "of a caliber that kept this listener in a state of continuous astonishment" Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times.
The Long-Gone But Not-Forgotten 1970s Music Venues of the East Village, Walking Tour
105 Second Avenue at 6th Street 105 Second Avenue at 6th Street, New York, NY, United StatesJoin Ann McDermott and travel back to the East Village of the 1960s and โ70s, when the music was rocking, apartments were cheap, and you had to show up in person to buy a ticket! Visit 11 venues, including the Fillmore East, the Bottom Line, and CBGBs, where careers were launched, and stars were born.
Eliza Garth: Sonatas and Interludes by John Cage American Primitive & Inventors of Genius Weekend
St Markโs in the Bowery 131 East 10th Street, New York, NY, United StatesPianist Eliza Garth performs Sonatas and Interludes, John Cageโs 1947 masterpiece for prepared piano, a composition regarded as a formative piano work of the 20th Century. St Markโs Church in-the-Bowery is known and loved as a gathering place for innovative musicians, dancers, and poets, including Allen Ginsberg and Cage.
William Bland: Village Maverick American Primitive & Inventors of Genius Weekend
St Johnโs in the Village 218 W 11th St, New York, NY, United StatesKevin Gorman, praised for his โpassion, technical facility and explosive tonality,โ (Fanfare Magazine) is a champion of the piano music of maverick composer, poet, painter William Bland. He has performed and recorded Bland's epic cycle of piano sonatas for Bridge Records to great acclaim.
The Village Trip GuitarFest 24: Featuring soloists Oren Fader and Giacomo Fiore American Primitive & Inventors of Genius Weekend
St Johnโs in the Village 218 W 11th St, New York, NY, United StatesGuitarFest 24 expands on American Primitive, with the wildly inventive Ictus Novus, the Curtis Guitar Quartet, soprano Sharon Harms, and many of New Yorkโs best guitarists. It features music by American Primitives John Fahey, and Juliรกn Carrillo and works by Paul Lansky, Kyle Miller, David Amram, Agustรญn Castilla-รvila, and Gary Philo, among others.
Stoned Soul Picnic: Diane Garisto & The Laura Nyro Project
The Bitter End 147 Bleecker Street, New York, NY, United StatesSidewalk and pigeon, you look like a city, but you feel like religion to me โ Laura Nyro, in her album New York Tendaberry
Laura Nyro was โthe very essence of New York City in the most passionate, romantic, and ethereal sense,โ said Bette Midler, inducting Nyro into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. At the historic Bitter End, to which Nyro was no stranger, Diane Garisto and the Stoned Soul Picnic band celebrate her remarkable legacy.
Chopping Wood: Thoughts & Stories of a Legendary American Folksinger
Assembly Hall, Judson Memorial Church 239 Thompson Street, New York, NY, United StatesCome celebrate the long life and inspirational work of Pete Seeger, who died in 2014 aged 94, with David Bernz and Jacob Bernz. David will discuss his latest book Chopping Wood, co-authored with Seeger. David and his son Jacob, a founding member of Clearwater's Power of Song group, will also play some of Seeger's songs.
Beatnik Greenwich Village, Walking Tour
Stumpdown Coffee Corner of West 8th & MacDougal Streets, New York, NY, United StatesStraighten your shades Daddy-o, Marc Catapanoโs walking tour goes right through the heart of Beatnik Greenwich Village. Visit the hottest spots, where the Beatniks made the scene and meet some of its hippest characters, like Jack Kerouac, Jackson Pollock, Lenny Bruce, and Diane DiPrima. Be there or be square!
Janis Siegel and Friends: Something to Live For โ Celebrating the Music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn
Blue Note 31 West 3rd Street, New York, United StatesThe music of Edward Kennedy Ellington and William Thomas Strayhorn has long been a staple of both the Great American Songbook and the jazz lexicon. This program of lovingly curated music contains some cherished classics, such as โMood Indigo,โ โPrelude to A Kiss,โ and โTake The โAโ Train,โ but also delves into some of the "deeper cuts" like โStar-Crossed Lovers,โ โAbsinthe (Lament for An Orchid),โ and โJohnny Come Lately.โ