ROCK AND POP
Musicians and night-club proprietors live complicated lives; it’s advisable to check in advance to confirm engagements.
B. B. KING BLUES CLUB & GRILL
237 W. 42nd St. (212-997-4144)—Jan. 31: The classically trained guitar virtuoso Uli Jon Roth first found fame in a fledgling incarnation of Germany’s hard-rocking Scorpions in the seventies, but he departed their ranks in 1978 after his fluidly ornate style started to conflict with the band’s more basic rock approach. Liberated from the stylistic confines of a rock band, Roth went on to pursue a solo career that gives equal time to his penchant for the floridly classical and the expansively psychedelic. Roth shares the stage here with the equally revered string-bender Leslie West, of Mountain.
BOWERY ELECTRIC
327 Bowery, at 2nd St. (212-228-0228)—Jan. 26: Manitoba. Handsome Dick Manitoba, a singer from the Bronx, burned hot and hard as the front man for the Dictators during the transitional rock scene of the mid-seventies, which connected the Stooges to the Ramones. Now a bar owner on the Lower East Side and a d.j. on Little Steven’s Underground Garage Sirius stream, Manitoba, still furious, fast, and funny, will be joined by a few old Dictators mates for this gig.
CAKE SHOP
152 Ludlow St. (212-253-0036)—Jan. 28: The New York underground artist and King Missile founding member Stephen Tunney performs quirky and often poignant solo guitar songs under the name Dogbowl. Tunney is something of a Renaissance man, appearing live only sporadically as he divides his time between the stage, writing novels, and painting. With the songwriter Phoebe Kreutz, who is bound for stardom as a writer of Broadway musicals; fans should take this opportunity to see her perform her own songs in an intimate setting. Amidst her whimsical and comedic lyrics—almost all of which rhyme, as satisfyingly and cleverly as possible—there are also moments of great honesty and sincerity. Also with the Bischoffs, who play pop-tinged psych rock with an acoustic-guitar foundation and feature a percussionist who uses an antique school desk in lieu of drums.
JOE’S PUB
425 Lafayette St. (212-539-8778)—Jan. 31: The singer, songwriter, and film composer Paul Brill takes a break from writing for the movies to celebrate the release of “Breezy,” his latest album of ornate power-pop tapestries.
MUSIC HALL OF WILLIAMSBURG
66 N. 6th St., Brooklyn (718-486-5400)—Jan. 27: Aimee Mann (see Zankel Hall). With John Roderick, of the Long Winters.
RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL
Sixth Ave. at 50th St. (866-858-0007)—Jan. 26: Antony Hegarty performs raw and beautiful music with his band the Johnsons, in which his highly emotive singing can vacillate from trembling whimpers to forceful belts. At this MOMA-sponsored concert organized by the curator Klaus Biesenbach and in collaboration with a light designer, a light artist, and a set designer, the band performs “Swanlights,” a newly commissioned collection featuring songs from all four Antony & the Johnsons’ albums, with arrangements guaranteed to fill the Music Hall with richness and melancholy, performed by a sixty-piece orchestra.
SHEA STADIUM
20 Meadow St., Brooklyn (No phone)—Jan. 28: The Pharmacy is an off-kilter ensemble from Seattle that has gained notoriety in warehouses and house parties across the country. Their music is frank, party-oriented garage rock, but it’s mostly an excuse to get the trio out on the road; you’d be hard pressed to find another group as firmly committed to rock and roll as a way of life, and they boast a transnational faction of female devotees to prove it. Last year, the Pharmacy’s front man, Scott Yoder, started up a lo-fi rock group called the Fuzzy Cloaks while his bandmates were scattered around the country; the half-baked side project also performs here, along with the headliners, Japanther, a noisy punk band adept at whipping late-night scenesters into a sweaty dance-off.
SOUTHPAW
125 Fifth Ave., Park Slope, Brooklyn (718-230-0236)—Jan. 28: The soul-music series “Dig Deeper,” which brings classic and obscure artists from the past back to the stage, presents the return of the Georgia singer Eula Cooper, who released a small but coveted body of singles in the late sixties and early seventies, and who made her first concert appearance in more than a decade with this series in 2008. She’ll be backed by Meah Pace and the MAP Legends, who will also perform their own set.
THEATRE AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
Seventh Ave. at 33rd St. (800-745-3000)—Jan. 28: Cynical metal fans could point out that if Megadeth’s Gigantour really lived up to its name, it would be playing the big room upstairs at Madison Square Garden instead of the comparatively intimate Theatre. Regardless, joining the splenetically fleet-fingered thrashers in Megadeth comes Volbeat, a curious Danish combo that pairs metal with rockabilly, Lacuna Coil, a goth-metal ensemble from Italy, and the endearingly no-nonsense Motörhead, the fittingly revered British trio whose full-frontal sonic attack will leave all parties in attendance with compromised hearing.
285 KENT
285 Kent Ave., Brooklyn (No phone)—Jan. 26: The forward-thinking art-rock ensemble MEN plays a dance-beat-fuelled brand of rock with eighties production values and an emphasis on feminism and gay rights. The Brooklyn musician Tami Hart, who has shared the stage with Le Tigre in the past, traffics in lo-fi synth-driven dance pop under the name Making Friendz. Keyboard sounds, overdriven drum machines, and sweet but distorted vocals blend together, culminating in mesmerizing dance music. The Brooklyn pop-rock quartet Claire’s Diary plays surf-punk songs reminiscent of the sound of Californian punk bands from the late seventies and early eighties
ZANKEL HALL
Seventh Ave. at 57th St. (212-247-7800)—Jan. 28: Since her début, in the eighties, fronting ’Til Tuesday, Aimee Mann has projected an icy seriousness of purpose, but her guest appearance as Fred and Carrie’s housecleaner on “Portlandia” last year displayed a lighter, self-mocking side that can also be present in her music. Her latest release is “@#%&*! Smilers.”