Bowery Alliance of Neighbors
National Register of Historic Places!
The Bowery Alliance of Neighbors is a grassroots organization working to protect residents, small businesses, the neighborhood and the historic character of the Bowery.
_____________________________________________________
Many thanks to all the amazing peformers, speakers, host committee members, sponsors, and volunteers who made the 3/20 benefit so special. . .
Live Performances by:
Mick Moloney
Mick Moloney combines the careers of folklorist, arts presenter and advocate, professional musician, and radio and television personality. In 1999 he was awarded the National Heritage Award from the National Endowment for the Arts — the highest official honor a traditional artist can receive in the United States.
Lenny Kaye
As musician, writer, and record producer, Lenny Kaye has been intimately involved with the creative impulse that marks the music. He has been a guitarist for poet-rocker Patti Smith since her band's inception more than thirty years ago, and is the co-author of Waylon, the life story of Waylon Jennings. He has worked in the studio with such artists as Suzanne Vega, Jim Carroll, Soul Asylum, Kristen Hersh, and Allen Ginsberg, as well as his own solo muse.
Tamar Korn
Tamar Korn has been a vocalist based in Brooklyn for the last decade. Singer of The Brain Cloud, and formerly of The Cangelosi Cards, Tamar plays a repertoire steeped in traditional New Orleans and early jazz, western swing, and American roots music. Her love is of singing songs both lyrically as well as playing "instrumentally" with her voice. Tamar also plays regularly with The Grand Street Stompers, led by trumpeter Gordon Au, as well as leading her own ensembles.
Parker Hall & Grammy-Nominated Cellist
Parker Hall, at the age of thirteen, graduated from the New York Shakespeare Tap Institute where he studied under Ted Levy. He also had the opportunity to study with the late Dr. Buster Brown. Parker has performed with Artists and Shows such as Savion Glover, Riverdance, The Broadway Cast of Wicked, Grammy-Nominated Dave Eggar and Chuck Palmer, Amber Rubarth, Olympic Skaters and more. In addition to tap dancing Parker is also an actor and singer.
Dave Eggar graduated from Julliard where he trained as a cellist. In addition to being nominated for a Grammy for his album Kingston Morning with fellow musician Chuck Palmer, Dave has recorded and performed with such artists as Coldplay, The Who, Beyonce, Amy Winehouse, Roberta Flack, Michael Brecker, Evanescence and many more.
Poor Baby Bree & Pianist Franklin Bruno
Shoeless ragamuffin, "Poor Baby Bree," the alter-ego of actress /singer / archivist Bree Benton, performs obscure vaudeville and pre-vaudeville era songs in "pitch perfect periodese" (New York Magazine). Her shows take the form of either a vaudeville act or a one-person musical. In 2009, she was a recipient of the annual Time Out New York Award for cabaret performance. Her 2012 show was a New York Innovative Theater Awards nominee for "Best Solo Performance." Poor Baby Bree's Website
Franklin Bruno (pianist/musical director), in addition to his work with Poor Baby Bree, has released over a dozen albums of original songs since the 1990s, as a solo artist and member of Nothing Painted Blue and (currently) The Human Hearts. Franklin Bruno's Website
Bob Holman, Poet Bowery Poetry Club
Additional Entertainment Provided By Renowned Magicians:
Richard Steven Cohn, Prof. Bob Friedhoffer & Todd Robbins
Peter Quinn, Novelist / Historian
Kerri Culhane, Architectural Historian
Associate Director at Two Bridges Neighborhood Council, Inc.
Nomination of the Bowery to the National Register
Honorary Hosts
Luc Sante
Martin Scorsese
Angela Westwater
Host Committee
Kent Barwick, Chair
Simeon Bankoff, Ellie Covan, Sara Driver,
Eric Ferrara, Joe Franklin, Michael A. Geyer,
Frank Giresi, Margaret Halsey Gardiner
Bob Holman, Jim Jarmusch, Tom Klem,
James Macklin, Jay Maisel, Joyce Mendelsohn,
Mick Moloney, Richard Moses, Joseph Perrotta
Lisa Phillips, Nicholas Quennell, Peter Quinn,
Marci Reaven, Mike Wallace
============================
AL JOLSON recalls:
First singing job was on the Bowery!
Audio recording: June 6, 1945
From Milton Berle’s radio show Let Yourself Go.
Broadcast by CBS. Sponsored by Eversharp Pen Company
Audio copy courtesy historian Ed Greenbaum.
Special thanks: International Al Jolson Society. www.jolson.org
Legendary stage, screen , radio, and recording star Al Jolson (1886-1950) appeared in a vaudeville act as “Master Joelson & Fred Moore” on the Bowery during his first 2 years performing:
- In 1901 at London Theatre (235 Bowery).
- In 1902-3 at Miner’s Bowery Theater (165-167 Bowery), birthplace of the vaudeville hook, which was used to eject unpopular acts.
The “joint named McGurk’s” that Jolson recalls as the possible site of his first singing job, was a dive bar at 295 Bowery that became notorious in the 1890s after several down-and-out young women ended their lives there after taking carbolic acid. Rather than keep a low profile, the joint profitably catered to thrill-seeking slummers as McGurk’s “Suicide Hall”. Eventually closed down by reformers, McGurk’s was referenced in countless books and movies, including Mae West’s homage to the Bowery, She Done Him Wrong (1933).
Miner’s Bowery Theatre, 165-167 Bowery, circa 1900
Photo courtesy: Museum of the City of New York.
Sadly, despite tremendous efforts to save 295 Bowery through landmarking, it was torn down and replaced by the atrocious Avalon Bowery Place building. For a full account of McGurk’s see “Down in the Bowery Dives: The History of McGurk’s Suicide Hall,”a fine recent piece from the Bowery Boogie (12-5-12):
http://www.boweryboogie.com/2012/12/down-in-the-bowery-dives-the-history-of-mcgurks-suicide-hall/
Bibliography:
Michael Freeland, Jolson – The Story of Al Jolson. Published 1972; reprinted 2007 by Vallentine Mitchell Publishers.
Alvin F. Harlow, Old Bowery Days. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1931, pages 400-401, 497-498.
Luc Sante, Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York. New York: Farrar, Strauss, & Giroux, 1991.
Bowery Stereocard circa 1901
