photo by Natalia Almada
Well, it’s been a very successful week for Fully Altered client, guitarist Marc Ribot, who if you didn’t already hear, is celebrating his 55th birthday with a retrospective of projects he has led or co-led in the past (including Rootless Cosmopolitans and Shrek featuring Sebastian Steinberg, Mat Maneri, Shahzad Ismaily, Sim Cain, Christine Bard, Jim Pugilese, Roy Nathanson and Marc as ringleader, Los Cubanos Postizos and The Young Philadelphians with Jamaaladeen Tacuma and G. Calvin Weston); projects he is presently leading or co-leading (including the Marc Ribot Trio and Spiritual Unity (an Albert Ayler tribute band) featuring Henry Grimes, Roy Campbell and Chad Taylor, and Ceramic Dog, Marc’s “power trio” with bassist Ismaily and drummer Ches Smith) and projects he may lead or co-lead in the future (most notably Sun Ship, a late Coltrane “tribute band” with Taylor, Grimes and guitarist-on-the-rise Mary Halvorson and a slightly different lineup of Ceramic Dog with Hungarian violinist Eszter Balint). All of the birthday shows have been packed so far and for that I’d like to thank some of the writers and publications who helped make these turnouts possible:
Mike Ayers for his Billboard.com piece.
Aidan Levy at the Village Voice for his masterful and witty appraisal of Marc.
K. Leader Williams for his insightful and informative profile of Marc in Time Out New York.
Ben Sisario and Nate Chinen at The New York Times for featuring Marc as Artist of the Week on the NY Times Popcast and placing the birthday events prominently in the listings.
John Donohue at The New Yorker for hooking it up with the listing and the killer illustration by Jörn Kaspuhl.
Chris Kompanek for hooking it up at Flavorpill.
And any others I may have forgotten…
So if you haven’t already gotten your Ribot fix yet this week, there is still time tonight (5/15) to see Los Cubanos Postizos, Cotito Trio, and La Cumbiamba eNeYe and tomorrow (5/16) to see The Young Philadelphians and Ceramic Dog with special guest violinist Eszter Balint both at (Le) Poisson Rouge at 158 Bleecker St between Sullivan and Thompson in the West Village.
I’d also like to thank Seth Rosner and Yulun Wang at Pi Recordings for being my official entrée into the professional world of Marc Ribot; Mary Ho for her dedication and tireless efforts in putting this week together as well as Matt Amoroso for helping to keep me in the mix.
Happy 55th, Marc! And many happy returns…
Tags: (Le) Poisson Rouge, downtown, Marc Ribot, New York, NY Times, placement, Time Out New York, Village Voice
