I V Y Paris News

Fast Forward >> Keziah Jones at Paris Plage

Photography by Danielle Voirin

Une Nuit Blanche avec Oum Kalsoum

The "Voice of the Arabs" Oum Kalsoum is honoured by an expo at the Institut du Monde Arabe.

Om Kalthoum funeral (2 2)
 
Learn about the woman whose funeral procession turned into a public riot when the 4 million + crowd bum rushed her favourite Mosque in Cairo. As part of the event, you can watch films about her incredible life all night long on Saturday 27th September.

Paris Dead Beat in August?

Jayson Harsin writing for I V Y paris

Is the non-tourist Paris really a cultural-commercial Phoenix who dies in August, only to rise from its ashes at midnight September 1? Let’s be honest. Many places do shut down for a couple, even three weeks this month. Some lingering residents complain that they travel two or three metro stops away just to find a mediocre boulangerie in service. Is this true also for so-called alt. and/or independent music?

Certainly, many places take a break. The excellent programs of live concerts at Le Nouveau Casino and La Maroquinerie take the entire month off. 

The Oberkampf bar L’Orange Mecanique where I dj monthly shuts down for the first two weeks of the month. Le Truskel, a major rock haunt that veers towards a younger crowd also takes a repose.

And yet, it would be seriously misleading to resort to the hyperbole that everything stops and one can not find a good concert for indie pop, folk or rock, or jazz during this admittedly more low-geared month.

Photo: © NK | Fête de la musique - Paris, Juin 2006, Graindesels.com

Birdy Nam Nam Live in Paris

September 10th, 2008 at l'Olympia.

Birdy Nam Nam is a French electro group comprised of 4 DJs; DJ Pone, Crazy B, DJ Need, and Little Mike. Their latest album, Trans Boulogne Express, touches a variety of influences using the turntablism technique; sounds range from rock, to hip hop, trip hop, groove, and jazz.

Clip of their song "Abbesses" below, more available on their Myspace.
Don't miss their concert here in Paris; tickets at 29,70 euros, reserve while you can!

DJay Indie Eclectique at l'Orange Mechanique

Come see DJay Indie Eclectique every Thursday in July at L'Orange Mechanique.

Contemporary Indie / Rock / Pop and Electropop and its roots from Chuck Berry to Kraftwork, Kim Wilde to Hot Chip.

From 8:30 pm to 1:30 am,
More info on parisnormale.

The Fly at Théâtre du Châtelet

July 2nd through July 13, 2008

Winner at the Avoriaz Festival in 1987, The Fly by David Cronenberg has become a cult film.
Just like its main character, the work has now mutated into an opera directed by David Cronenberg himself. Music by Howard Shore, music direction by Placido Domingo.

Tickets from 60 euros (selling fast).

The Fly at Théâtre du Châtelet
1, place du Châtelet
75001 Paris

Herbie Hancock Performing at La Defense

Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 6pm

Legendary jazz musician Herbie Hancock, known for playing with the likes of Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and Chick Corea. An audacious pianist renown for harmoniously mixing in elements of Jazz into soul, rock, funk, disco, hip hop or more recently pop, Herbie Hancock never ceases to surprise us with his artistic choices.

This Sunday, watch him play a lap steel accoustic guitar at l'Esplanade de La Defense.

Free entry.

Avant Gout Rock en Seine

June 25th through July 18th

Before you decide on buying tickets for Rock en Seine, head out to the pre-show shows. Free entry, hot venues, full schedule below:

Wednesday June 25 at Paris Paris
FORTUNE + TEPR DJSET + GUEST DJ
20h - Entrée libre
Paris Paris - 5 avenue de l’Opéra 75001 Paris –

Friday June 27 at Truskel
DA BRASILIANS + GUEST DJ
20h – Live acoustique - Entrée libre
Le Truskel - 12 rue Feydeau 75002 Paris

Thursday July 3rd at Culture Bière
BROOKLYN + GUEST DJ
20h - Entrée libre
Culture Bière - 65 Ave. des Champs Elysées 75008 Paris

Tuesday July 8th at Favela Chic
THE LATITUDZ DJSET
20h - Entrée libre
La Favela Chic - 18 rue du Faubourg du Temple 75011 Paris

Brooklyn's New Single: Volcanology

Parisian based rock group Brooklyn is taking the city by storm. Be sure to see them at the Avant Gout Rock en Seine here in Paris July 3rd, and at the Rock en Seine music festival, August 29th, 2008.

Fête de la Musique

Ana Lee writing for I V Y paris

To celebrate the beginning of summer, the Fête de la Musique takes place every 21st of June.

Sounds undulate in the city's streets in company of a certain summertide fragrance. Bands, DJs and orchestras of all musical likings, whether it be Jazz, Hip-Hop, or Techno Minimal, are dispersed around the city in bars, restaurants, parcs, and plazas.

To attend the event, you can simply walk down your street and 'follow the music,' or you can consult the program that includes musical festivities in French provinces and participating international cities: from New Delhi to Sao Paulo.

Furthermore, this online program allows you to browse by musical category or arrondissement, placing concert locations on a virtual map.

Sue Rynski & Bookie's Club at Galerie Nivet-Carzon

APRIL77 and the Nivet-Carzon art gallery present Sue Rynski and her series of photos entitled "Bookie's Club 870," a depiction of Detroit's underground rock scene dating from 1977 to 1980.

Far from No Future punk, Sue Rynksi's art fuses vitality and passion, as if she were on stage herself.  Her photos bring us rioght to the front of the stage.

The Bookie's Club 870, an old cafe turned landmark venue, hosted cult rock groups such as Destroy All Monsters, most notably with Ron Asheton as guitarist, Michael Davis, and Niagara...

Photo exhibition from June 13th through June 30th as part of the Parcours Parisien de la Photographie 2008.

Bollywood Meets Thriller

For a laugh...

From the Paris Social Club Dancefloor

Photos and text by Danielle Voirin

I've been in Paris five years and hadn't been to Paris Social Club, formerly the Triptyque.  Am I the only one?  Lately I had been craving a night of dancing, London-style, losing myself in a huge pulsing box of a place with sudden blinding lights and creative electro/house/dance (I really don't have the lingo, but I know it when I hear it) music. 

I was thrilled to get an invite to see Mix Master Mike, member of the Beastie Boys, at The Social Club, formerly the famous Triptyque.
The club isn't huge, but before you orient yourself in the dark, the mirrors play with your perceptions.  We were able to get one of the few tables, and I installed myself along with my guy friends, next to another table also full of men.  Yeah, the ratio seemed to be in our favor ladies. 

The main dance area was comfortably full the whole night, and the music dance-inspiring from the moment I walked in, during the electro beats of Busy P.  Despite this, it seemed more like a concert than a dance club, with everyone focused on the DJ booth.  It made me realize that I prefer the DJ to be a bit hidden, so I can dive in and escape into his music rather than watch him play.  Regardless, the night satisfied my craving and I won't hesitate to return.

Multi-disciplinary music and arts venues

Not so long ago The Guardian asked us to recommend some music and club venues and we'd like to share our thoughts with you.

To be frank, the clubs in Paris tend to be quite ringard compared to the scene in neighboring cities such as London and Berlin.

We recommend you head to what Paris offers best, ''centres dynamiques'' with forward programming – art-rock, experimental music, performance art and their latest composites – a place where you would most likely encounter up and coming artists, and newer forms of expression.

Our pick of the pops:

Beton Salon – in 13^th arrond – an area that is regenerating, very industrial and unlike other ornamented Parisian areas.

Point Ephemere on Canal St Martin in the 10th.

La Traversée is going to be fantastic in the hinterland of the 19^th.

Outside central Paris...

Mains d’Oeuvres - in St Ouen - is a space for creative production and diffusion, research and experimentation, dedicated to welcoming associations, citizens, and artists from all disciplines.

La Generale en manufacture – squat turned art/music centre, another multi-disciplinary space.

And last but not least the Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers.

Gypsy Sound System

With the infamous Gogol Bordello blazing the way (see a review on Parisnormale) it seems as if the gypsy-Balkan music trend is gathering steam. 

At the Alimentation Generale this Thursday 8th we have Taraf Miorita, from the village of Buzrou near Bucharest then Friday 9th is Balkanstylee ("Munich's original Balkan-Xcess").

Pick of the month is at Palais du Tokyo when the Gypsy Sound System will be in town, Thursday 29th May, so grab the nearest Borat look-a-like and hit the dancefloor. 

May I suggest you first visit I V Y paris' I.C. Rapoport exhibition at La Belle Hortense to get warmed up and head there later in the evening?  More news on that soon....

A Chance for a Chaircut

Cosmoson and Paris Experimental Sound presents Nelson Loskamp and his Chaircut at La Bellevilloise, May 11th at 6pm. RSVP

Nelson’s Electric Chaircut is an interactive, electro-sonic, hair cut performance. After a brief consultation and the signing of a release form, Volunteers are taped to the chair. Their eyes and mouth are also taped to symbolize the fetishism of appearance.

The Volunteer’s hair is then cut by Nelson, the original master of electro-sonic hair design.

His various implements are amplified, scissors and clippers wired to effects pedals, slung round his waist, and blasted through an amplifier strapped to his back. The whacking haircutting sounds reverberates in a trance like cacophony of seemingly random patterns, as the true stylistic nature of the volunteer is released.

Originally conceived in San Francisco, Nelson’s Electric Chaircut has been performed world wide since 1989.

If you'd like to volunteer for a chaircut please email us!

Venue Review: La Maroquinerie

Parisnormale's Jayson Harsin writing for I V Y paris

From the vantage point of Pere Lachaise in the 20th, in the closing pages of Balzac’s delicious Pere Goriot, the hero Rastignac looks down into the mudpit of Paris, seething with moneylust threatening to devour the grand monuments and traditions of an overgrown bourg. Refusing to let it tame him, he vows to don his galoshes and wrestle it to submission.

True to its past, the 20th (along with the 18th and 19th, and a few holdouts in the 11th) is now the arrondissement that peers down on the rest of the city and resists its formidable pull toward disneyesque tourism and suffocating plutocracy, the basin below where many of the once wild jazz caves and cabarets are now full of plump track-suited Americans perusing their Lonely Planet’s and Let’s Go’s.

It’s in the 20th/11th neighborhoods that one still finds a host of little no-name jazz and torch singer joints, squeezed into the communards’ corners around the metro stations of Gambetta, Pyrenees, Menilmontant and Alexandre Dumas. These are the same scruffy sidewalks where Edith Piaf was born on a policeman’s cape and commenced her warbling for a few paltry sous, and from whose hills Guy Debord tumbled down to beller from the bowels of The Spectacle. It is also where one finds the most thriving indie rock, pop, folk, electro clubs in the City of Light: Le Nouveau Casino, La Fleche D’Or, La Feline, Le Studio de L’hermitage, the Bellevilloise—and La Maroquinerie.

The Centre Musical Fleury-Goutte d’Or-Barbara

Paris' amazing cultural life takes a new twist, it's a full time job keeping up with it all! 

Under construction since September 2007, the Centre musical Fleury-Goutte d’Or-Barbara aims to accompany artists, and schedule, coordinate and broadcast slam, rock, pop, reggae, rap, funk, R&B, gospel, electronic music, popular French music and blues.  With a surface area of 1,500 m2, the centre boasts a recording studio, a concert hall and seven rehearsal studios.

It welcomes young musicians, both amateurs and rising talents, professional musicians, local associations, the locals of the Goutte d’Or quarter and the 18th arrondissement, and everywhere else.

It’s a lively place, open to the diversity of musical cultures; a place for creating music and giving visibility to artists and their projects. The centre offers an eclectic programme at affordable prices so that everyone can go along to the performances.

As its name suggests the centre pays tribute to the famous singer Barbara but it does seem a rather incongruous pairing...but there you go.

CENTRE MUSICAL FLEURY-GOUTTE D’OR-BARBARA
1 rue Fleury
75018 Paris

Festival de Charango a Paris

UNESCO member state Bolivia is organising the first Festival de Charango (mini guitar used in traditional Bolivian music). The Premier Festival de Charango will take place at UNESCO this evening at 20h, Salle I.

To see more on video check out Charango Maestro Ernesto Cavour.

Experimental Mentalite

A new weekly event to be held right next to Centre Pompidou in Beaubourg - see map

The first event features: electronic:experimental music, poetry, slam, hip-hop from

Elmapi/Matterlink
Rodrigo Garcia
Basile and Nach
Cosmoson

If you would like to participate in future events please contact the organisers for future details - open to poets, performance artists, musicians and composers, visual artists (there is wall space).

Le Komptoir
27 rue Quincampoix 75004 Metro Chatelet
Paris
From 9.30pm
RSVP

Patti Smith in Paris, Land 250 and the Nomadic Nights

Ana Lee writing for I V Y paris

Patti Smith, iconic poetess incarnating the perfect fusion between Rock and Rimbaud, will be here in Paris organizing the "Nomadic Nights:" artistic evenings where she will perform both solo and accompanied by her group, host an evening devoted to Virginia Woolf and invite various musicians and poets to perform on stage.

STOP PRESS - tickets sold out minutes after going on sale via FNAC for the Patti shows on Saturday 22nd March............

Aside from the Nomadic Nights, from March 28 to June 22, 2008, the Fondation Cartier will also be exhibiting the artist's poetic universe through a series of photographs, drawings, and films entitled Land 250. The show will additionally feature Robert Mapplethorpe's polaroids, one of Hendrix's guitars and objects once belonging to Arthur Rimbaud.

All That Jazz - Les Ducs Des Lombards

GUARANTEED PERSONALITY blogger Melissa Unger writing for I V Y paris

Modern Jazz has always been like a braised pig knuckle sandwich to me. People tell me it's great, but I just don't get it. Apart from the classic masters like Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong and Chet Baker, who I mostly listen to, relaxing in a bubble bath while drinking cold Vouvray. The rest of it kinda goes over my head. I typically favor musicians who yell, bang their heads, and sweat their rock n' roll ambrosia all over me.

But I'm an open minded gal.

There are lots of famous jazz clubs in Paris. 'Haunts' filled with history. Nearly four years into my Gallic adventure, it seemed high time to finally check one out.

INSTANTS CHAVIRÉS - avant garde music - from wednesday 16th

*The Ex curate 3 nights at Instants Chavirés, Paris *featuring Zea (experimental rock, Netherlands) Anne James Chaton (sound-poet, France) Wolter Wierbos (trombone, Netherlands) Colin McLean (bass, electronics, Scotland) Christine Shenaoui (saxophone, France) Api Uiz (instrumental rock, France) Emma Fischer (performance, Netherlands) Afework Negussie (masenqo-Ethiopia) Clayton Thomas (bass, Australia)

All hail Fela - For Ever Love Afrobeat

On Wednesday 19th December, a great Parisian music venue, Cabaret Sauvage in the Parc de la Villette, hosts FEVA, a collective of 13 french musicians who will perform a hommage to Fela Kuti and celebrate the continuing place of afrobeat on the French music scene. With some great special guests including my old next door neighbour, Cheick Tidiane Seck as well as Les Nubians, I.D (biographer of Fela) and Etienne M'Bappé

20h - tickets 19.80€ via FNAC
Cabaret Sauvage
Parc de la Villette
211 avenue Jean Jaurès
75019 Paris

Saul Ashby: The Drifting Music Man

Pamela Price writing for I V Y Paris
Do you remember when music was performed in its natural state? It was way back then, when a couple of people who called themselves a band played their cherished instruments and sang for any crowd who would close their eyes and listen.

It was a time before the music industry became a whirlwind of sequenced circus acts and lip-syncing fiascoes. Not too long ago I walked into a music venue in the Lower East Side and breathed a sigh of relief as I swayed my body to the music of Saul Ashby.

Techno Parade 2007

Saturday, September 15th, 2007
From Noon - 8pm

One again this year, the Techno Parade will be flaunting in costume down the boulevards of the Rive Droite, giving us a chance to finish our summer (or at least our summer mindsets) with a bang before we all get back to reality.
22 floats will be blasting all kinds of electronic music: neohouse, trance, drum 'n bass, jungle, funk, the list goes on...
Artists include your underground DJs to Benni Benassi.
Be sure to wear something outrageous!
Here's a glimpse of last year's parade below:

Fin de siecle

I had a lot more time for Communism before I came to live in France.......but that's another story. I might be tempted to the Fete de l'Humanité this year as rock god and best gig givers ever, Iggy & The Stooges, are headlining this year on Saturday 15th September.

I'll have to weigh it up. It's either a previous engagement - a tour of the architectural chefs-d'oeuvres of the 16th Arrondissement and the interior of Le Corbusier's renowned Villa La Roche or Le IG....

I don't think it has ever seemed so clear to me that I might be getting on a bit in the years. What to choose? Political "radicalism" and mosh pit........or............. sinking slowly into middle age?

Damian Albarn's 'Monkey : Journey to the West' comes to Paris

Blur front man, Damian Albarn opened 'Monkey: Journey to the West' in collaboration with director Chen Shi-Zheng and Gorillaz artist Jamie Hewlett at the Manchester International Festival last week.
Billed as an Opera, Albarn composed the music for the show also featuring Hewlett's animations as well as acrobats, aerialists and martial artists in full costume.

Le Festival Musiques & Jardins

From Goutte d'Or in Montmartre, to Porte d'Aubervilliers to Porte de St-Ouen, going through Marx Dormoy, a mixture of sounds will be diffused on our lawns the three first weekends of July.

Mediatèque of Music

While the Museum of Music is undergoing construction, the Mediatèque at the Cité de la Musique will be open all summer.
Since the Mediathèque's opening, it has become every musician's venue and source of musical information, offering books, magazines, CDs, DVDs and videos on all types of music as well as making available the Cité's archives and a repertory of classes in music.
Check out their online brochure brochure and library catalogue.

Ruby Kash & The Rockets

Jennifer Hutt, a.k.a Ruby Kash, has a voice as sweet as a Shirley Temple with a cherry on top. She is accompanied by a trio of talented musicians. Together, these four flavorful artists make up the jazzy band, Ruby Kash and the Rockets. No doubt, your fingers will be snapping... and the piano will make you sway from side to side for sure. If you feel like going to the moon for a night, check out Ruby Kash and the Rockets performing on July 14th...

Le Temps des Gitans

Opening tonight at the Opera in Bastille, a Punk opera by Emir Kusturica, portraying the life of a Gypsy boy amidst the wheeling and dealing of children in a Gypsy community. More photos here.

Photo by Simon Kirby

French Chansons Karaoke

The Institut National de l'Audiovisuel has put together a new site dedicated to years of music on French television.
More than 2000 clips and hundreds of interviews, categorized by artist, genre, and time period, are made available online. Revisit your favorite artist's careers, find those retro TV shows like "Age tendre et tete de bois" or "Le palmares des chansons."
You can also post up a play-list, sing to the karaoke or load your own musical performances, all made possible on chansons.ina.fr.

Grand Bal Rock

Ladies and Gentlemen... dust off your saddle shoes for the Fondation Cartier's 1950's Dance Hop on July 14th. Forget the fireworks this Bastille Day and do the hand-jive with professional rock 'n' roll dancers. Bring a dance partner if you like, but who knows?... Buddy Holly may mistake you for Peggy Sue and ask to cut in.

Faites de la Musique, Fete de la Musique

To celebrate the beginning of summer, the Fete de la Musique takes place every 21st of June.
Sounds undulate in the city's streets in company of a certain summertide fragrance.
Bands, DJs and orchestras of all musical likings, whether it be Jazz, Hip-Hop, or Techno Minimal, are dispersed around the city in bars, restaurants, parcs, and plazas.

Girls. Singing In French.

Is the tagline of the "Filles Sourires" blog.

"Why French? It's the language of love, what can I say? Carla Bruni told me (face to face, yes) that it's impossible to write simple songs in French. Lyrics have to be smart, otherwise they get plain stupid......

JUSTICE - D.A.N.C.E.

Playing on IVY Paris' Myspace, we recently discovered a Parisian electronic band 'JUSTICE' --- whose music falls along the beats of Air and Daft Punk (when they were good). Even for the not-so-electronic-music-lovers, Justice's video is a must see, using graphic illustrative effects that are candy pleasing to the eyes.

For those interested, Justice is playing at la Cigale, next thursday, June 7th. Tickets are 22euros.

SOS Helpline Fundraiser

SOS Helpline, the only English-speaking telephone counselling service in Paris is organising an Acoustic Music Night fundraiser of "unplugged and passionate music all night". Go along to support a good cause at 7.30pm on Tuesday 12th June 2007 (5 euros) at The Highlander pub (basement/sous sol) just over the Pont Neuf in 6th.

Rock in august - stay in paris!

Another great reason to stay in Paris in August (mainly the Bourgs leave). Rock en Seine's 4th edition line-up is pretty impressive. Björk - who I don't care for but everyone I know adores, Morrissey - nuff said, Beck, Jarvis Cocker, The Jesus and Mary Chain (headling the Saturday - all the way from East Kilbride in Glasgow?) and Kings of Leon.
Rock en Seine, les 25 et 26 Août au Domaine National de Saint-Cloud.

Paris rocks.

Ted Nungent - photo copyright © 2006 Sue Rynski. Tous droits réservés.
But like most things about this town, you really have to know where so here's our helping hand. I've had some great feedback from people who read our Rawk 'n' Paris guide so I thought I'd update it.

To start, head to Pop-In on rue Amelot in the 11th arrond. for your fix. The revellers start about aged 13, smoke at least a pack of cigarettes in a night (probably before their Dad's are sent to pick them up) have the best shaggy haircuts along with the skinniest drainpipes clinging to non-existent backsides. Hedi Slimane, what did you do?

I'm a fan of the Planete Mars on rue Keller (see our review) for special reasons but I can't go there very often because it has a strange effect on me, it must be the red walls. Or maybe because they serve beer in "pintes" and I'm not used to this hardcore British way of drinking anymore.

Rock photographer Sue's Rynski (see above) suggestions du jour are Le Gambetta, La Feline Bar and La Fleche d'Or which often has free entry (but expensive bar).

"International Garage Rock club" GLORIA do one off events every few months. Other good places to check are the Trabendo in 19th arrond. and Au Petit Garage in 11th at 63 rue Jean Pierre Timbaud.

For a weekly listing of concerts and an interesting forum see SDZ. As well as ParisNormale (in english).

To hear about good rock concerts happening each week, listen to the Substitutes radio show, with Vincent and Isabelle, Tuesdays from 19h30-21h on Aligre FM 93.1

Le Printemps des Inrocks - Thursday 10th May

This spring festival by the Inrocks at Cabaret Sauvage should draw a crowd, especially for INTERPOL (above) and the great line ups on both nights:

Esprit du Jazz - St Germain

In the year 2000 a group of friends got together as they were worried that jazz was disappearing from the former so jazzy quarter « Saint Germain des Prés ». 7 years later they are still running the annual Saint-Germain-des-Prés Jazz festival. In the very heart of Paris, which Miles Davis used to call « the capital of music ».

From May 4th until 17th you can share the culture of jazz with concerts, artistic encounters, talks and exhibitions.

n.b.It's quite expensive, there should definitely be some free or cheaper events......

Berlin - join a Naturally 7 video shoot

Lot's of people enjoyed the Naturally Seven in the Métro video. Now they are going to shoot their brand new video in Berlin and they want YOU to join them.
02 May 2007 , 8 pm
Bangaluu LOUNGE CLUB
Invalidenstraße 30
10115 Berlin
Please wear a dark outfit ...free drinks and food - registration is very important
Send an email (the number of participants is limited)

Paris Loves Jazz

Bremner Duthie in Whiskey Bars
Actor, singer, performer Bremner Duthie has just launched a new site that is going to be a big help to mellomen seeking the mythic smoky jazz scene (well until the ban in February 2008 if it is actually enforced anywhere)
Paris Loves Jazz offers reviews of Paris jazz clubs, where to go, who to see, where to drink and what to do. If you have any announcements to include or info on their shows please contact Bremner through the website.

Paris Experimental Sound

Cosmoson is composer Cesar Estay Herrera’s project promoting research in electroaccoustic music. Cesar composes using computer tools dedicated to recording and transforming sound. He collaborates with various artistic, scientific and technological projects; his interest is in "sound research," discovering new ways of working with sound and composing music based on this research. Check him out on his website, Paris Experimental Sound or on his myspace.

Cure me!

TremoLow have started a new soiree to celebrate mythic British group The Cure. So pull on a pair of washed out black leggings, backcomb your hair and apply your make up like a drunken fishwife.

Starting at 7pm there will be a photography and collectors items exhibition, films of clips and concerts. From 9pm there will be 2 DJ's playing and music from The Cure plus groups such as Lush, Ride, Jesus and Mary Chain as well as Siouxsie and Joy Division.

Alimentaion Générale
64 rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud
75011

LES FEMMES S'EN MÊLENT

This is the 10th year of female indie-music festival, "Les Femmes s’en melent"». Born in 1997 as a single gig in Paris, the event is now spread between Paris, other cities in France, Belgium, Switzerland and England. Line-ups will range from folk to electro with local and international artists.
I like the message on their MySpace -

Andy Warhol - Popstars - drawings and collages

Rolling Stones - Love You Live (Mick Jagger), 1975
Thaddeus Ropac
OPENING: SATURDAY APRIL 14, FROM 6pm
In collaboration with the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, New York, to coincide with the 20th anniversary of Warhol's death, this exhibition will combine drawings and collages of pop stars, one of his primary themes. Presenting major works from his Popstars series dating from between 1975 and 1986.

Dirty - Tigersushi party LE PULP / JEUDI 5 AVRIL

Check out mythic electro club Pulp before it closes (soon). Where I first danced with my husband and soon it'll be replaced by luxury apartments with a parking garage.
D*I*R*T*Y Vs TIGERSUSHI PARTY
23H - 06H / FREE / NO GUEST LIST
25 BVD POISSONIERE / PARIS / FRANCE

D*I*R*T*Y SOUND SYSTEM Vs
TIGERSUSHI BASS SYSTEM
FEAT.
JOAKIM
PILOOSKI
ALEXIS LE TAN
LAURENT FETIS
VIDAL BENJAMIN
BENOIT SABATIER
SAMI TAZIZ ABOUT

Naturally7 in Paris Metro

With thanks to ThisFrenchLife's Craig McGinty for sending me this amusing clip of N7 on the Paris Métro. Watch those Parisians scowl, but eventually warm. Especially love son of Sarkozy backward glances.

Les Chicks on Speed DJ set

Thursday 19th April at 10pm/10 euros
CHICKS ON SPEED -Dj Set â€
You might want to mark your diaries.

At Les Bains Douches, 75003

Paradise Found?

"DJ Whistle Punk searched deep into the soul of his collection, and this Thursday will present a soirée quite unlike any he's ever tried and quite possibly will ever try again. A soirée of spiritual music of the 20th century. From 1907 recordings of Jewish cantors to a Voodoo funeral ceremony recorded in Ghana in 1996, we cast our nets wide. Setting a table of Gospel, Qawwali, Rastafari, Santería, and obscure cults; where snake charmers rub shoulders with shamans. With a greater tolerence than even Byzantine Constantinople, we'll even set a place for Mr. Crowley and Indie pop Christian skronkers."

Mange Disque
58 rue de la fontaine au roi
Metro: Goncourt
FREE

Opéra national de Paris 2007/2008

Opera de Paris
PREMIÈRES Capriccio (8/09) Ariane et Barbe-Bleue (13/09), L'Elixir d'amour (14/09), La Traviata (15/10), Tosca (24/10), Alcina (22/11), Tannhäuser (6/12), Così fan tutte (18/12), La Femme sans ombre (21/01), Cardillac (29/01), Luisa Miller (14/02), The Rake's Progress (3/03), Parsifal (4/03), Wozzeck (29/03), Le Prisonnier (10/04), Les Noces de Figaro (11/04), Le Barbier de Séville (18/04), Iphigénie en Tauride (22/05), I Capuleti e i Montecchi (24/05), Don Carlo (7/06), Melancholia (9/06), Louise (20/06)

Le Triptyque - free tickets for Saturday night

Free tix for one of Paris' best live music venues, Le Triptyque::

20 INVITATIONS for 2 people available, send a mail before 19h this evening. Indie newbies THE RUBY SUNS from New Zealand + HOLY HAIL -ing from NYC.

Tomorrow - DETROIT ROCK HAUTE ENERGIE

Cinéma et Musiques and Grains de Beauté-Promotion present “DETROIT ROCK HAUTE ENERGIE” to celebrate the history of Detroit’s special brand of high energy rock and roll music. Photo exhibition by Sue Rynski, Motor City girl born into a scene that has influenced bands across the world.

A lecture and projection of rare films and concert footage of Detroit bands The MC5, Iggy and the Stooges, Destroy All Monsters, Sonic’s Rendezvous Band, Demolition Doll Rods, Dirtbombs and more! Exceptional footage coming from It Came From Detroit. With the participation of Vincent Hanon, journalist for Rock & Folk, Vibrations, Aligre FM (Substitute show), specialist in the history of the Detroit sound. Book signing of Sue’s “hysteric fifteen.”

Further info. From 7:30pm. AMPHI 24 - Université de Paris 7, 2 pl. Jussieu, in the Tour 24 on Parvis Jussieu, 75005

Get me Gillian Wearing on the line........

Someone called Terra Naomi has made this video. You probably all know who she is - unlike me, I was just youtubing. There are 1342 comments I can't be bothered to look thru and see if anyone else has mentioned this but I think Gillian Wearing should be notified - see brave video work and one of the best things to come out of the Saatchi hyped 90's.

Je suis tres fan de Adanowsky

I am mad about Adanowsky.

He's playing at La Maroquinerie - promising "des invités …des surprises …de la sueur …. et de l’Amour …. !"

Sadly I'll have left town until early January and so won't make it. Please go for me if you are lucky enough to be able to make it. You can check out the sounds on his MySpace, his act is kind of hard to describe but it's original - songs/chansons in both French and Spanish. I'm in love with his whole aesthetic; see the great photography on his site.

From MySpace:
Adan Jodorwskys roots, as well as his surreal style, are based in the South American continent. Add this to a cosmopolitan education, and the result is a brilliant musician who is receptive to a wide range of influences. Surrounded by a range of talented artists such as Giovanni Mirabassi, Frank Vaillant, Laurent Griffon, Steve Arguelles, Jérôme Goldet, John Handelsman and Yarol Poupaud since 2003, Adanowsky has earned the reputation of being one of the craziest performers around. You could even say that he can now be compared to his heroes, men such as Wilson Pickett and Sammy Davis Jr.

What else could we expect from the son of the director of "El Topo" (1970), the great Chilean film maker Alexandro Jodorowsky, alive and well and reading Tarot in Paris (as well as practising as a therapist).

Paris Experimental Sound

Some words from Cesar after the first Paris Experimental Sound concert in 25 rue Keller - super bien passé:

"salut ... a tous .. je suis tres content . pour le concert . un super experience . tres bon niveau de musiciens et expo . super interessant (merci Dr Floy) . j'espere on va faire des autres .. et .. avec beaucoup plus de musiciens Bravo a tous et merci pour votre participation . et regarde les photos"
Remerciements a: Nicolas Losson , Nicolas Drweski et Mathieu Conbetteng"

Falling Angels at the Gibus this Wednesday

Falling Angels (formerly Crutial Death) will be competing again at the Battle of the Bands live at the Gibus for the fourth round of competition against local band talent twice their age! Wednesday December 13th, Falling Angels will play at 8 pm so be early to get a whisky coke and get a good spot to stand. The club opens at 7pm and there should be an estimated 8 bands competing for the next round.

The youngest band to pass ever at the Gibus concerts, drummer Max Winter-Rousset hails from a family of a heavy metal music veterans, father Mike Winter, ex-bassist of Shakin' Street and current bassist for the newly formed Fun. Fun consists, among others, of the ex-drummer from Shakin' Street, Jean-Lou, the guitarist Nono from Trust.

Yé-Yé pour les chanteuses

Charles Bremner's article on the French singers from the Sixties who are still going strong.

The Movements from Sweden at La Fleche d'Or

This band must be going places, they are genuinely exciting to watch and musically very tight, except that their stage antics meant they had some technical problems affecting, mics, the organ and the guitars.........

We also saw another band called Vincent & the Villans from London who were excellent in a cute rockabilly kind of way.  It's free to get in, then try and sneak past the obligatory 2 euro coat check and if you feel like drinking, do it somewhere cheaper on your way here, a pint of beer is 6 euros.

 

Sue Rynski in action at the front of the stage

Sue Rynski in action - the one behind the camera.

 

The Movements from Sweden

 

Rawk 'n' Paris

Thanks to the Advice Goddess, full of good ideas, I recently met with Sue Rynski. I don't live in Paris just for the cheese but because of the amazing people I meet here from all over the world on a regular basis.  I'll remember this next time I am cursing the customer "service" here.

Sue was an integral part of the 70's underground music scene (read article) documenting heroes and heroines of mine and was kind enough to spend two hours under close questioning - straight from the "Horses" mouth - geddit? - yes, Sue has photographed Patti Smith too.  I found out about what it was like to hang out with Destroy All Monsters the band formed when Ron Asheton (ex-Stooges) and Mike Davis (ex-MC5) hooked up with an eclectic group of art school rockers featuring all important femme-fatale and "Tab" (the drink) freak, Niagara.  Funnily enough, I'd just read an interview with Niagara by friend Suzy Prince in her magazine Nude.   

I never really got a handle on the rock scene here in Paris (and now I miss it) and was discussing this lately with an ex-New Yorker friend with a penchant for guitars.   She gets her fix in the Pop-In on rue Amelot. I'm a fan of the Planete Mars on rue Keller for special reasons and I love the owners. I can't go there very often because it has a strange effect on me, it must be the red walls.   Or maybe because they serve beer in "pintes" and I'm not used to this hardcore British way of drinking anymore.

Sue's suggestions du jour are Le Gambetta, La Feline (have yet to find this one, good luck) and La Fleche d'Or which has free entry (but expensive bar) this Friday and Saturday for "International Garage Rock club" GLORIA - who I think have been spinning at Planete Mars sometimes and they're good.  For a weekly listing of concerts and an insteresting forum see sdz and their blog.  To hear about good rock concerts happening each week, listen to the Substitutes radio show, with Vincent and Isabelle, Tuesdays from 19h30-21h on Aligre FM 93.1

 "On y défend une certaine idée du rock n roll. On y écoute du Garage Rock. On y danse sur de la Northern ou de la Southern Soul. L'esprit du punk rock (D.I.Y notamment ) y règne. La Power pop y est acceuillie à bras ouverts.." 

I'm there.

Photo copyright © 2006 Sue Rynski. Tous droits réservés.