Buckethead to melt faces at autumn concert on The Beach at Governors Island

This summer, I've enjoyed rock, hip-hop, jam, blues, trance and reggae blasting from The BEACH @ Governors Island, but no metal. That will all change when Buckethead brings his freakishly amazing guitar playing to The BEACH. In addition to creating another terrific musical performance on New York City's greatest outdoor stage, this outing with Mr. Buckethead will be an event like none other.

Buckethead's guitar virtuosity is considered to be one of the best on this planet, and on this night I will be privileged to witness his magnificent stage presence. Not only is Buckethead’s guitar playing simply superlative, but the addition of his wardrobe makes you believe you are actually at the main act of a three-ring circus instead of a rock show.

Buckethead's mystique is notorious. Nobody has ever seen his face, only his white mask complemented with his white bucket atop his head. Miss Liberty thinks that Mr. Buckethead modeled his mask in my reflection, stone-faced and smile-less, and I take this as a huge complement, and an example of Buckethead's very excellent taste in influences.

Buckethead has released 3 albums this year alone, which brings his total solo albums to 27! That's just incredible. Not to mention the countless other bands and artists with whom he has collaborated: Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell, Iggy Pop, Les Claypool, and Guns N' Roses. On top of that he's written and performed for several movies that include Saw II, Beverly Hills Ninjas, Mortal Kombat: Annihiliation, and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie.

This man, or ghost as some people say, will put on one of the most outrageous shows The BEACH has yet to host. Only 50 Cent may be able to top that! And the 50 Fest comes to Governors Island, Saturday, October 3rd. First, the mighty Mr Buckethead, then Mr. 50 and friends. What a season for this happy, music loving diva.

Rock on!

Lady Liberty

New York City's Lost Treasure Hosts The City's 400th Anniversary

I've been writing about music and festivals all summer long, but now I would like to pay homage to the man who made all of this summer's shows possible. Four-Hundred years ago, the great English explorer, Mr. Henry Hudson discovered the New York Harbor and subsequently the greatest city in the world.

According to the September 3rd New York Post, Hudson, under contract to the Dutch East India Company, sailed across the Atlantic in search of a northern sea passage to the East Indies. Just like everyone else back in those days, he reached this great land instead of his intended destination. Just goes to show you, sometimes it pays to be wrong.

Or sail “the river not taken” to paraphrase the great American poet, Robert Frost.

So this inadvertant turn by Hudson's boat, the Halve Maen, led to the first settlement in the area – Governors Island, my brother island in the New York Harbor and home to The BEACH @ Governors Island, called the best place to see out-of-doors rock 'n' roll in NYC, by Music Critic, Dan Aquilante. See? You knew I'd bring up music, but I digress so let's get back to this important little history lesson.

As a Dutch settlement, Governors Island paved the way for the Dutch Republic to spread its culture into the New World, leading to the eventual settlement on Manhattan Island known as New Amsterdam.

Governors Island was originally labeled Noten Eylant (Nutten Island) by the first Dutch settlers because of its abundance of trees that littered the island with their nuts. Yet somehow the nuts from the trees were not the only nuts to call Nutten Island home.

According to “Our Local Correspondents: Useless Beauty, What is to be done with Governors Island” in the August 31, 2009 issue of The New Yorker, Nick Paumgarten writes, “In 1637 Wouter Van Twiller, The New Netherlands director, purchased it from the natives for two axe heads, some nails, and a string of beads. He pastured goats there, and planned a mansion for himself, but he was soon summoned back to Holland, on the ground of, among other things, incompetence. (He put up windmills directly in the lee of the fort, where the wind couldn't get to them.)”

Paumgarten also writes, “An early British governor, Lord Cornbury, Queen Anne's cousin, who reputedly like to dress in women's clothing, promised to build a fort, and, in order to pay for it, imposed a tax on wearers of wigs and pearl rings, and bachelors over the age of twenty-five. He used the proceeds, instead, to build a house on the island for himself, which became known as “The Smiling Garden of the Sovereigns of the Province.” Cornbury wound up in jail, and the island's resistance to both private dominion and public enjoyment persisted.”

The two examples above just go to show you that political leaders sometimes take advantage of their people, and every once in a while, a nice little rebellion like the American War of Independence is a very good thing.

Ever since its British control, Governors Island has been through the hands of the Continental Army, the State of New York, the U.S. Army, and most previously in 1966, the Coast Guard. In 2003, President Bush agreed to sell Governors Island to the State of New York for a mere 1 dollar, which is much less than the original purchase price of two axe heads, some nails, and a string of beads. A non-profit entity called the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC) has been developing and revitalizing this lost American treasure ever since.

This is a good thing for those of you who like a great walk in a park, or a free bike ride to see the very best views of yours truly. Come see me at sunset, and bring your camera because the Gov’, as I like to call it, features some of the best views of the New York City Skyline available. The beach shack serves a mean burger, and Liberty Event & HighLine Ballroom are serving up great music all summer long.

Speaking of beach parties, The BEACH hosts Armin van Buuren, one of the world's top trance DJs, who happens to be, you guessed it, Dutch, on Saturday, September 12th from 1-5pm. Armin van Buuren will entertain his native crowd, and any other American of any origin who is smart enough to take the free 7-minute ferry to the island, with his legendary trance/house beats.

Van Buuren has been voted #1 DJ twice by DJ Mag and attracts over 30 million listeners from more than 40 countries to his weekly radio show, “A State of Trance” - the most listened to radio show in the world. I believe on this particular day, there will be more than 40 countries represented in the crowd because that’s what New York City, and this country is all about.

In celebration of the early Dutch settlement and colonization of New York City, Governors Island hosts the New Island Festival from September 10-13 and 17-20 as a part of NY400 Week. The New Island Festival will feature over 150 Dutch artists, musicians, thespians, DJs, comedians, dancers, daredevils and acrobats.

Just like this French honey, the Dutch know how to have a good time. The New Island Festival on Governors Island will be a fun commemoration of the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's arrival in the New York Harbor.

I also hear that a dutchman by the name of Theo Botschuijver will doing the first waterwalk in the United States and paying me a little visit


Diva can't wait.

Eten en worden gelukkig,

Lady Liberty

Bad weather for Badfish, Reggae Beach party postponed until October 4th

When I heard that Liberty Event partnered with Water Taxi Beach and Highline Ballroom to create New York City's newest and best place to see out-of-doors rock 'n' roll in NYC on Governors Island, I could not be happier because I knew I would have the best and cheapest spot to watch the shows from my historic perch in the New York Harbor.

Unfortunately, this summer's weather seems to be on a different page than my favorite hard-working producers. Outdoor concerts are always tricky because of rainouts. So instead of taking the risk of a rainout, The BEACH @ Governors Island producers decided to postpone tomorrow night's Badfish show until October 4.

I was ready for a late summer Reggae party. Now things will be a little bit quiet this weekend. Guess I’ll be sneaking tunes from my ipod hidden in my tablet.

At least, The Barclay's Golf Tournament will give me something to watch, but it's no rock concert. If you miss me, check out The BEACH @ Governors Island website to see if you can spot me in one of the pictures. Here's a hint: look behind the stage.

Hopefully all the rain is gone for the summer and the remaining BEACH shows will go as planned. Next weekend will be a great family Labor Day Weekend with The End of the Line, a documentary film about today's fishing industry on Friday September 4, followed by Turntables on the Hudson's 11 Year Anniversary Music & Dance Festival on Sunday September 6.

I'll be resting up for next weeks shows, and all the other shows on the calendar:
 
N.E.R.D. w/ Asher Roth Sept. 9 
Mos Def w/ Jay Electronica & Medina Green Sept. 12
Lupe Fiasco Sept. 19
Buckethead w/ Hellzapoppin Sideshow Sept. 26
Brazilian Girls w/ Man Man & The Phenomenal Handclap Band Oct. 2
50 Cent w/ Kid Cudl, Wale & Mike Posner, Oct. 3 
And of course! Badfish w/ Easy Star All-Stars, The Cannabis Cup Reggae Band, Maui Waui & DJ I, Storm Oct. 4


Lady Liberty

Jersey City Gem - All Points West

Some of my music loving friends may be afraid to break out from their beloved boroughs and head to Jersey City.  Miss Liberty, by way of The New York Press has got you covered with some tricks to keep you feeling right at home.  Did I mention drinks?

Mama knows you're coming for the music, but you'll love the Art.

I've provided you a small virtual tour of last year's show here.

The picture above is Girl Talk aka Gregg Gillis rockin' the 2nd stage, and this year we've got Peanut Butter Wolf killing in the new dance tent.

The Divine Miss L is feeling her happy feet already, and I'm gonna see my boy Hova for a little soundcheck later this afternoon.

My torch will be bopping to the beat. Look carefully.  And listen to your mother.

XOXO

Miss L.

The Real Story of Fourth of July: It's not in the history books, it's in the lyrics

You already know the Fourth of July is the birthday of our nation, your nation, our country. You likely recall it as the day our fore-founders signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

This weekend without a doubt you will hear the verses of our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” singing in your head and first penned by the poet Francis Scott Key:

O! say can you see by the dawn's early light

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Mister Key was a lucky man living during an unlucky time. He was on a ship observing a battle of The War of 1812 when he wrote our theme song.

Do you even remember studying the War of 1812 in sixth grade?


But you do know all three verses of that amazing song, or at least you can sing the first and hum the other two.

Mister Scott Key wasn’t a commissioned artist who was instructed to string together words of propaganda for a cause. He was a regular man observing the causalities of war as his country fought for free trade and against the British tyranny.


He was merely a man searching for peace in the middle of the night. He likely was just tired and couldn’t sleep when the words spilled out from his head onto the paper.

The “Star-Spangled Banner” wasn’t the first nor was was it the last instance of an American turning to paper to express love for his or her country.


And how about when teacher Katharine Lee Bates while traveling on a train in 1893 observed the natural wonders from state to state:

O beautiful for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain!

America! America! God shed His grace on thee,

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!

Bate’s word were put to music in 1910 and titled “America the Beautiful.”


You can’t go to a parade tomorrow without hearing the upbeat drum counting the rhythmic march of “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”


This is what kids call going old school, but I enjoy a toe-tapping good song that captures our history in all of its red-white-and blueness.


I also like a few gold sequins on a costume.

And I definitely like watching a guy playing the drums:

Yankee doodle, keep it up,

Yankee doodle dandy;

Mind the music and the step,

And with the girls be handy.

There was Captain Washington

Upon a slapping stallion,

A-giving orders to his men,

I guess there was a million.

And then the feathers on his hat,

They looked so' tarnal fin-a,

I wanted pockily to get

To give to my Jemima

Don’t you love whistling a tune from 1755, where the lyrics include the word “Doodle” which means "fools" and the line "the girls will be handy?" You see – Patriotism is sexy and a girl magnet! The Doodles are fools and the girls are “clever” and not easy. Isn’t music grand?

I could continue connecting Fourth of July to great music closer to our day. We could weave the current events to great song writing but I think you have seen your share of Oliver Stone movies or caught a couple of VH1 Behind the Music episodes.

You know there are artists on this earth who feel the pain of others and observe the injustices of war and prejudices of many. They serve a greater purpose than merely collecting shiny awards. They are historians, witnessing the good and the bad, composing the soundtrack for us to celebrate another year as the UNITED States of America.

Happy Birthday to All my loving Rock-n-Rollers

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Freedom, Music, Forever . . .


~Miss Liberty


PS:
A little homework assignment for all who study Rock-n-Roll history of yesterday and into tomorrow:


1) APW, the second most important celebration in July kicks off July 31st, and welcomes my boys from Brooklyn, the Beastie Boys, as headliners. To read more about the lineup, visit here.


2) If you are looking to make a play list for your 4th of July picnic check out this Patriotic List. For now, I salute you. Go and enjoy your picnics and have one on me.


PSS: Thomas Jefferson Rocks !!!