Entertainment in New York City can be so freaking expensive for families. How can a nuclear entourage of three or four or five possibly afford to enjoy so many days or evenings out without going into serious debt? Well this is New York Free-king City and that means all summer long, residents and visitors are treated to some of the best programs and performances available anywhere, totally gratis, especially when it comes to local bands and international music, but also including film, dance and exhibitions.
Here is an opinionated rundown of some of what you can see and hear for free. This list will be updated regularly.
Friday, July 4 – 9:00 pm
Fireworks at Lower Manhattan & Coney Island
Where to stand to view the Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks: East River Park in Lower Manhattan, Brooklyn Heights Promenade or Brooklyn Bridge Park? Your choice. But if you want a much cooler crowd, take the trains down to Coney Island, close to the Cyclones’ baseball stadium and see the fireworks from the beach, and simply enjoy the only place in New York City that is hipper than everywhere else in the five boroughs.
Saturday, July 4 – 9:00 pm
A second evening of fireworks at Coney Island.
Tuesday, July 8 – Saturday, July 12
The 15th Annual Latin Alternative Music Conference
Various locations
Every July, the poobahs of Nacional Records and Cookman Management board their big musical pajaros and bring to New York City the best of emerging and established Latin alternative bands from the great crescent stretching from Chile to Spain. Besides the music industry conference held this year at the Affinity Hotel, the Latin Alternative Music Conference features free events at Central Park Summerstage and Celebrate Brooklyn in Prospect Park, and El Museo del Barrio, as well as ticketed events at the Gramercy Theater, S.O.B.s and Mercury Lounge. If you want to know what is happening in rock, hiphop, acoustic and electronic music south of the border and over in Iberia, you absolutely have to check out some of these events.
We’ve listed the free events below, but you can download the full schedule here:
http://latinalternative.com/schedule/LAMC_2014_Schedule_070114.pdf
Wednesday, July 9 – 6:00 pm
Summerstage, 72nd Street, East Side of Central Park
The first Manhattan showcase event for the July’s annual Latin Alternative Music Conference will feature an evening of Latino hip hop, featuring the legendary Beatnuts, a groundbreaking rap group that emerged from Queens, New York in the late 80s and made hip-hop history with classic collaborations with Biz Markie, Fat Joe and Method Man. The evening will also feature the acclaimed Chilean singer-songwriter Ana Tijoux, who transformed herself from MC to indie-pop songwriter to Latin hip hop superstarstar, with deep tracks such as "Desclasificado" from the album La Bala. She gained widespread recognition following her second solo album, 1977. They will be joined by performances by rappers Bodega Bamz, as well as Tony Touch.
http://summerstage.donyc.com/event/2014/07/09/lamc-beatnuts-ana-tijioux-kat-dalia-bodega-bamz-dj-tony-touch
Thursday, July 10 – 7:00 pm
Celebrate Brooklyn, Prospect Park Bandshell
Prospect Park West @ 9th Street
The Brooklyn showcase event for the July’s annual Latin Alternative Music Conference will feature the Argentine bad boy duo Ilya Kuryaki & the Valderramas, infamous for their Jennifer Lopez knockdown "Jennifer El Estero". They will be joined by Colombian Afro-Caribbean funky hip hop superstars Choc Quib Town. I have seen both groups in performance at Mexico City’s Vive Latino Festival, and both of them rocked the big stadium. In addition, the third act is the amazing DJ duo RVSB, which is a new project of Chileans DJ Raff and Latin Bitman, two of the most interesting and progressive DJs in Latin America. Do not miss this event!
http://bricartsmedia.org/events/illya-kuryaki-the-valderramas-choc-quib-town-rvsb
Saturday, July 12 – 3:00 pm
Summerstage, 72nd Street, East Side of Central Park
The second Manhattan showcase event for the July’s annual Latin Alternative Music Conference will feature Argentine rockers Babasónicos, one of the most important groups in the 1990s’ Sonic underground rock movement. With 11 albums and 22 years of touring, they have become one of Latin rock’s most popular bands. They will be joined by Argentine singer-songwriter Juana Molina and Los Angeles-based La Santa Cecilia.
http://summerstage.donyc.com/event/2014/07/12/lamc-babasonico-juana-molina-la-santa-cecilia
Friday, July 18 – 7:00 pm
Celebrate Brooklyn, Prospect Park Bandshell
Prospect Park West @ 9th Street
Get in touch with your inner Brazilian and come to the Bandshell to catch the sensuous voice of Bebel Gilberto. A couple of years back, she sang to a capacity crown at Central Park Summerstage, killing the audience with her updated bossa nova style of her legendary father João Gilberto. Joining Bebel will be Venicius Cantuariá, another bossa nova songwriter who has not only fused his style with rock and jazz, but has collaborated with the likes of Laurie Anderson, Brian Eno and Arto Lindsay, giants of innovative music. The opening act will be of a different, but equally compelling sort: Zimbabwean singer Netsayi and her marimba-playing accompanists. She has given very few concerts in the USA, so this will be a chance for you to catch some of her unique East African vocal magic.
http://bricartsmedia.org/events/bebel-gilberto-vinicius-cantuaria-netsayi
Wednesday, July 23 – 7:00 pm
Mad. Sq. Music
Madison Square Park, 23rd Street @ Fifth Avenue, Manhattan
New Orleans takes Manhattan! Vocalist/pianist Jon Cleary may have been born in London, but Louisiana stole his heart. From jazz to blues to boogie-woogie, Cleary has helped the New Orleans musical traditions, and has performed with music greats such as Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal, B.B. King, Ryan Adams, and Eric Burdon. Cleary’s discography includes three solo albums and two albums with his band Jon Cleary & the Absolute Monster Gentlemen.
http://www.madisonsquarepark.org/things-to-do/calendar/mad-sq-music-jon-cleary
Wednesday, July 30 – 7:00 pm
Mad. Sq. Music
Madison Square Park, 23rd Street @ Fifth Avenue, Manhattan
Brazil and Ethiopia in one evening! These New York and Boston-based bands will make your musical heart burst from your chest, and it seems both unusual and astounding that they will share a stage in beautiful Madison Square Park. First, Boston’s Debo Band, fronted by vocalist Bruck Tesfaye and saxophonist Danny Mekonen, both of Ethiopian heritage, with a big band fusing power jazz funk and exotic and soulful Ethiopian vocals. This is the music inspired by the late 1960s and early 1970s Addis Ababa music scene, which came to an abrupt end in 1974. Debo Band’s debut album was produced by Tommy T, a/k/a Thomas Gobena of Gogol Bordello. Headlining will be New York City’s Forro in the Dark, the longtime Wednesday night house band at Nublu in the East Village. This updated Forro music, one of many Brazilian traditions, will have you moving and shaking like a true Brazilian of the northeast states, party music that likes to put the southern states to shame.
http://www.madisonsquarepark.org/things-to-do/calendar/mad-sq-music-forro-in-the-dark-debo-band
Saturday, August 2 – 3:00 pm
Summerstage, 72nd Street, East Side of Central Park
Summerstage will go New Orleans, big time, with six-time Grammy Award-winner Dr. John and his band, The Night Trippers. Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Dr. John have been playing professionally since the 1950s, collaborating with such heavies as Professor Longhair, Art Neville, Van Morrison, Aretha Franklin and The Rolling Stones. He is an American musical treasure, an will deliver raunchy New Orleans as only the Doctor can. Opening for Dr. John will be the Bronx-born, New Orleans transplant, Hooray for the Riff Raff, a project of the young singer Alynda Lee Segarra and a rotating band of musicians.
http://summerstage.donyc.com/event/2014/08/02/dr-john-the-night-trippers-hurray-for-the-riff-raff
Wednesday, August 6 – 7:00 pm
Mad. Sq. Music
Madison Square Park, 23rd Street @ Fifth Avenue, Manhattan
The NY Daily News describes Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds' music as a “…rollicking blend of soul, funk and backwoods Americana rock ’n’ roll, which draws even indifferent hipsters onto the dance floor.” This eight-piece Amaricana roots band is fronted by vocalist Arleigh Kincheloe’s powerful voice, and the Dirty Birds’ pounding grooves. The band tours extensively and has played many outdoor festivals throughout the USA.
http://www.madisonsquarepark.org/things-to-do/calendar/mad-sq-music-sister-sparrow-the-dirty-birds
Friday, August 8 – 7:30 pm
Celebrate Brooklyn, Prospect Park Bandshell
Prospect Park West @ 9th Street
Before George Lucas decided science fiction should be about religion as opposed to science, directing the mildly popular Star Wars trilogy, and before the feel-good high-school flick American Graffiti, directed sci-fi cult film THX-1138, starring Robert Duvall and Donald Pleasence, which depicts a dystopian future in which the populace is controlled through android police officers and mandatory use of drugs that suppress emotion, including sexual desire. The legendary Asian Dub Foundation, which fises punk, reggae, bhangra, hip hop and electro beats, will give a live performance of the film’s score while the film is screened at the bandshell. Opening for the film/performance will be beat-boxer and multi-instrumentalist Taylor McFerrin.
http://bricartsmedia.org/events/performing-arts/asian-dub-foundation-thx-1138-taylor-mcferrin
