THIS WEEK IN BIRDSONG 6/21-6/27

by Tommy

TODAY IS THE FIRST OFFICIAL DAY OF SUMMER!!! aka it’s fucking hot.  Tho whenever I question my skepticism of air conditioning, I remember the #4 bullet point on Aretha Franklin’s contract rider, “AIR CONDITIONING,” which reads:

All air conditioning vents must be turned off or taped shut, to prevent and cold air from flowing into Aretha Franklin’s dressing room.  In addition, all vents from Ms. Franklin’s dressing room, backstage area and stage and in the venue, must be turned off at least one hour prior to Ms. Franklin’s scheduled rehearsal and performance times.

I mean, the Queen knows.  Speaking of the Queen, as at any given time of the day I probably am, remember “A Rose is Still a Rose”?  Aretha taking all heartbroken women into her (bountiful) garden/bosom?  Not-so-thinly-veiled vaginal metaphors?  Lauryn Hill?  Let me refresh yr memory:

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand with that empowering number, on to the week.

Monday June 21

Tonight, birdsong babes PAPS are playing Death By Audio with Baby Alpaca— speaking of people who will welcome you into a Garden of Eden.  Look for me in the front row swaying like whiskey and hugging myself I TOTALLY LOSE MY SHIT everytime they play “Sometimes.”  I’m trying to convince Jess to make this pic the cover of their single (via my brand new tumblr):

Soma Time

Tuesday June 22

oh hai its me matthew

Former birdsong Five On It interviewee slash five-alarm-hottie Matthew Hittinger is reading some poems with Stephen Motika and Michael Montlack for the Gay & Lesbian Center’s “Center Voices” series.  You can read one of Matthew’s poems here (which I chose for the L Magazines online poetry section #editor).

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, 208 W 13th St NY NY, 6pm-9pm, FREE

Wenesday June 23

the operative word here is "wood"

So at a party this weekend I finally met the boys of Mirror Mirror, whose music I lovingly genre’d “incantatory rock,” and who(m?) I was able to interview for our new newsprint publication BRD SNG.  They were both super fucking nice, frontman David Riley was WEARING OUT the party in these high heel black strappies, and his band mate Ryan Lucero was pretty touchy-feely and I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT OH MY GOD– as birdsong publicity guru Chantal Johnson famously put it, we live in a touch deprived society. Aretha Franklin, A Rose is Still A Rose.  Tonight Mirror Mirror are playing for Robert Melee’s Talent Show at the Kitchen in Chelsea.  It’s both Wednesday and Thursday, and you can get tickets here.

the Kitchen NYC, 512 West 19th Street NY NY, 8pm, $13.99

Thursday June 24

Once, I erroneously said that there are only two places I want to be in the summertime in NYC: on someone’s rooftop or in someone’s backyard.  I forgot one thing– watching a movie outside at night preferably on a gigantic screen.  When I first moved to Williamsburg, they used to show movies at McCarren pool (before they found a dead body in a shed) so watching movies outside makes me nostalgic for my first year here.  And grisly murders. Thursdays screen on the Brooklyn Bridge, and this week is Rear Window.  You can find a schedule for the rest of the summer here.

Under the Brooklyn Bridge, movies start at sundown, FREE

some loveless family

Sunday June 27

just listenin 2 some tunez

My other favorite band, Little Victory, has been playing a lot of shows recently slash they are going to be famous soon slash I am an unceremonious groupie (J/K I love ceremonies) so they’re stuck with me now.  Tonight they are playing the debut of Phoenix bar’s music series (apparently they set up a stage in there) with MKNG FRNDZ (my other, other favorite band I mean guys srsly Tami Hart has one of the best voices in America), with Horoscope and Skeleton Head.

The Phoenix, 447 East 13th Street NY NY, 5pm-10pm FREE