Elvis on ‘Save Birdland’, January 24, 2021

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sweetest punch
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Elvis on ‘Save Birdland’, January 24, 2021

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https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news/st ... and-011521

Stars unite for a concert to save the NYC jazz club Birdland
A star-studded fund-raiser is underway to help save the storied midtown jazz venue.

It is hard to imagine New York City without jazz, which has been a central element of the city's cultural profile for a century. But the shutdown has hit NYC's performance venues hard. The East Side’s Jazz Standard closed for good in December, and music lovers fear that the essential midtown venue Birdland might be forced to follow this year—unless a new campaign to rescue the club raises enough money to keep it going through the lean times ahead.

A GoFundMe campaign to save the nightclub was set up last week, and the response has been highly encouraging: The drive has already raised $200,000 toward its goal. Now a virtual concert will follow on Sunday, January 24, with a major lineup of stars eager to lend a hand. "Birdland was the world's greatest jazz club in the 1950s, and it is the world's greatest jazz club today,” says the jazz and cabaret historian James Gavin. “The air vibrates with history, both bygone and in the making. Birdland defines the excitement of New York, and it must be saved."

Save Birdland: A Celebration of Music, History and Community will stream for free at 7pm EST (midnight GMT) on Sunday, January 24, on the website SaveBirdland and will remain viewable for one week afterward. The lineup so far includes Wynton Marsalis, Elvis Costello, Chita Rivera, Leslie Odom, Jr., Mandy Patinkin, Jeff Daniels, Clive Davis, Matthew Broderick, Ken Burns, Peter Cincotti, Giancarlo Esposito, Melissa Leo, Norm Lewis, Manhattan Transfer, Bebe Neuwirth, John Pizzarelli, Martha Plimpton, Randy Rainbow, Mercedes Ruehl, Catherine Russell, Billy Stritch and Veronica Swift. Former President and saxophone enthusiast Bill Clinton will add remarks.

Named in honor of the great sax man Charlie “Bird” Parker, Birdland was born in 1949 on Broadway near 52nd Street, where it served as a nest for such iconic figures as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, Stan Getz and Thelonious Monk. It later reopened in the Upper West Side before moving to its current digs at 315 West 44th Street in 1996. “It’s such a remarkable spot as a musician,” says the guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli, who performs at Birdland regularly and will be performing in the concert. “If you happen to be in midtown you can go in and hear world-class jazz on any given night.”

The COVID crisis, however, has largely stopped the music. “I’ve had to battle, obviously, for the last ten months, to keep the club alive,” says longtime Birdland owner Gianni Valenti. “We’ve had to pay our rent, our utilities, our insurance, things like that, without income coming in. I’m looking at 2021 and I don’t know what to expect.”

Enter theater producer Tom D’Angora, the force behind a highly successful campaign last month to raise funds for the West Bank Cafe, a beloved midtown restaurant that also houses the downstairs cabaret space known as the Laurie Beechman Theatre. That effort, which centered on a 10-hour marathon of musical performances on Christmas Day, wound up with substantially more than its goal. Now D’Angora is turning his attention to Birdland, at the urging of pals like Birdland staples Jim Caruso and Susie Mosher, who have helped create a second performance space at the venue that focuses on cabaret and comedy. “I watched in amazement as the numbers catapulted for the West Bank Cafe,” Caruso recalls. “It was like the community decided to give New York City a Christmas present! Now, the same thing is happening for our beloved Birdland, which is so heartwarming. We have no intention of letting this pandemic get us down without a fight.”

And if the fundraiser is a success? “My primary goal is to help the artists and my employees survive and get through this pandemic,” says owner Valenti. “All the resident artists that have been with us for many years—such as the Chico O’Farrill Orchestra, the Louis Armstrong Eternity Band, the Birdland Big Band—I want to make sure that they’re comfortable. I want to make sure that my employees, over 60 of them, get their Christmas bonuses. And people are behind us because people realize that we need music. This is our lives, and we need to stick together. And with help from New York, I think we’re going to get by.”

“We have to have our places when this is over—places where we can get drunk and hear our friends sing,” D’Angora says. “We need community. It’s the only way we’ll survive.”
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
sweetest punch
Posts: 5961
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:49 am
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Re: Elvis on ‘Save Birdland’, January 24, 2021

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https://www.rollingstone.com/music/musi ... d-1118190/

Elvis Costello, Billy Joel, Sting Boost Campaign to Save NYC Jazz Institution Birdland
Costello will partake in a virtual concert also featuring Wynton Marsalis, Whoopi Goldberg and Bill Clinton


Elvis Costello, Sting and Billy Joel are among the stars lending their support to a campaign to save the fabled New York City jazz venue Birdland. The effort includes a virtual concert — which Costello will partake in — airing January 24th at 7 p.m. ET.
Like so many venues across the country, Birdland was hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, which forced it to shut its doors. Despite the passage of the Save Our Stages Act in last year’s Covid-19 relief bill, which will provide targeted aid to the live entertainment industry, many venues will still struggle to stay afloat until its safe for concerts to resume again. Along with the virtual concert, there’s also a GoFundMe campaign for Birdland, which has raised over $250,000.

Birdland opened in 1949, taking its name from jazz great Charlie “Yardbird” Parker. It quickly became hallowed ground in the jazz world, hosting legends like Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan. While Birdland was forced to close in 1965, it was able to reopen at its current location in 1986.

In a short video, Costello recounted his deep affection for the venue and recalled a night where he, his wife, the jazz pianist Diana Krall, and the Grateful Dead’s Phil Lesh got to watch the pianist Cedar Walton. “That’s not an evening you can readily imagine, but that’s just one of the things that can happen when you find yourself in a place like Birdland,” Costello said.

Along with Costello, the lineup for the Save Birdland concert will also include Clive Davis, Wynton Marsalis, Whoopi Goldberg, Leslie Odom, Jr., Catherine Russell, Veronica Swift, Audra McDonald, Manhattan Transfer, John Pizzarelli, Peter Cincotti. Former president Bill Clinton is also set to share a message during the show, and additional performers will be announced in the coming days.

Sting also shared a statement in support of the campaign, comparing Birdland in New York to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Coliseum in Rome, the pyramids in Giza, and Buckingham Palace in London. “What really made America great was jazz music,” Sting says. “We have to save Birdland.”

“The pandemic has been brutal for music venues around the country,” Joel said in a statement. “With few exceptions, they have not been able to put on shows. The pandemic shutdown has been particularly difficult for jazz clubs which rely on live performances to survive. When I heard that the legendary jazz club, Birdland, was in danger of closing due to the pandemic, my heart sank. Birdland has been around for 71 years, a favorite amongst jazz fans, where many of my musical heroes performed: Charlie Parker, Dizzie Gillespie, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald, Dave Brubeck… the list goes on and on. The iconic club is also home to some of the best contemporary jazz, Broadway, singers, songwriters, and instrumentalists in the country. It’s times like this where music is more important than ever. I ask you to please give what you can to help this American Culture treasure so it can continue to live on and continue to swing.”
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
sweetest punch
Posts: 5961
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:49 am
Location: Belgium

Re: Elvis on ‘Save Birdland’, January 24, 2021

Post by sweetest punch »

Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
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