M. Lamar

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Gig Alert: V-Day Hand Massages, ‘Devil Worshipping Blues’ in a Church, and More

(Flyer by Kerry Santullo via Facebook)

(Flyer by Kerry Santullo via Facebook)

Mary Lattimore, Rosali, Energy Star, DJ Nina
Tuesday February 14, 8 pm at Trans-Pecos: $10 in advance/ $12 at the door

If you’re anything like me, you will be spending Valentine’s Day alone. But cheer up, flying solo is not such a terrible fate– just think about all the stupid flowers you won’t have to carry around in some silly bouquet or whatever, and all that dumb perfume you don’t have to spray all over your body just to smell like the mall. Unlike everyone else, you’re gonna spend your V Day being aggressively single, which means leaving your apartment, head held high, and rocking your natural scent with pride, because you’re going to need all the pheromones you can muster.

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Killer Shows: UFO Landing, Taking Back the ‘Demon’ Inspired by Michael Brown Case

(Flyer via AdHoc)

(Flyer via AdHoc)

Trash Talk, Antwon, Black Noise
Tuesday November 1, 8 pm to 11:30 pm at Brooklyn Bazaar: $15

Here’s to hoping you made it to Aviv Monday night for the grand finale. Super sad face. Actually, the last show was more of a bittersweet bye-bye for the DIY venue since the owners have promised a triumphant return ASAP, just as soon as they find a new space. RIP for now BBs, see you on the other side and all that.

Until then, we’re facing seriously slim pickins when it comes to decent venues that don’t require you to check your soul at the door in exchange to watch your favorite bands transform into blands right before your very eyes.

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Performance Picks: Fainting Clowns, Doom Spirituals, and So Much More

(photo via BAM)

(photo via BAM)

WEDNESDAY

Portrait of myself as my father
Continues through September 17 at BAM Fisher, 7:30 pm: $25.
Choreographer Nora Chipaumire, born in Zimbabwe and based in Brooklyn, takes the medium of traditional African dance and dresses it up in the masculine garb of a boxing ring in this piece that explores and explodes traditional notions of black masculinity through the spirit of her estranged father. He will appear in multiple forms, symbolically summoned as a “specter” through two dancers, Kaolack (also known as Senegalese dancer Pape Ibrahima Ndiaye) and the Jamaican-born Shamar Watt. The three performers will step into the ring, don their gloves, and fight it out. Or dance it out. Or maybe there’s less of a difference than we think.

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Performance Picks: Hitler’s Dog, Burlesque, and Three Festivals

This week and next: more performance festivals than you ever knew could happen at the same time. And plenty more to choose from.

FESTIVALS

(image via ps122.org)

(image via ps122.org)

PS122’s COIL Festival
Through Jan. 17, various times and various venues. Full programming, schedule, and tickets hereThey may not have moved into their renovated East Village space yet, but that’s not stopping Performance Space 122 from presenting their contribution to APAP, the COIL Festival. Exploring the theme of transformation, they’ve hunkered down in venues all over, including La MaMa and Paradise Factory in the East Village and New Ohio Theater in the West Village. Offerings include Annie Dorsen’s live musical piece utilizing algorithms to slowly transform The Beatles’s Yesterday into Tomorrow (from the musical Annie) and Frank Boyd and the TEAM’s one-man live jazz radio show.

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Week in Shows: ‘Creepy Crawlycore’ and M Lamar’s Radical, Black Metal Opera

(Flyer via Cooper Union/ Facebook)

(Flyer via Cooper Union/ Facebook)

PC Worship‘s EP release show is coming up this week at Palisades, as we trust you know from last week’s interview with Justin Frye. But there’s plenty else to get your hips poppin’ till then. Scroll your roll and see what’s in store.

An Evening with M Lamar
Monday, Nov. 30, 7 pm at Cooper Union: FREE
M Lamar is the “negro gothic devil-worshipping free black man in the blues tradition” you’ve undoubtedly been dying to see perform since we wrote about him back in September. The multi-talented, epically outspoken musician, composer, opera singer, and visual artist’s shows are enthralling not simply because M Lamar is a magnetic force all his own (just try being in a room alone with him, you’ve never feel so gazed-at in all your life, I promise), but because his operatic compositions wrestle with the deeply troubling history and harsh, continuing reality of racial injustice in this country. Lamar’s central aims are agitation and awakening, so prepare to be moved.

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M. Lamar’s Black Radical Impulse Brings Together Metal and Devil-Worshipping Blues

(Photo: Serena Jara)

(Photo: Serena Jara)

It’s an interesting experience being in a public place with M. Lamar. Even in Bushwick, you can feel every eye in the room traveling back and forth between his long, stick-straight black hair, his various spikes, and jet black clothing. The artist– who performed Destruction, his multi-faceted theatrical black-metal opera last night at Issue Project Room— is probably like no one you’ve ever seen before. For one, M. Lamar truly lives his art (which is like nothing else out there at the moment), as evidenced in his speech and appearance: he drapes himself in the darkest blacks and speaks with passionate conviction. “Lately, I’ve been calling myself a ‘negro gothic devil-worshipping free black man in the blues tradition,'” he explained. It’s actually a modest description of what Lamar’s all about.

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