Free Events!

Had a whale of a time seeing Arlo Guthrie performing in Rockefeller Park last night with Jen, as part of the ongoing Hudson River Festival. You can say what you will about New York (and trust me, there's plenty to complain about), but come summertime, there's always a veritable metric ton of free events around town, enough to satisfy almost any taste (although it helps if you like Orson Welles films and folk singers, as they both tend to pop up a lot in these sort of things).

At any rate, Arlo kept the crowd fully entertained with a full rendition of "Alice's Restaurant" with updated lyrics and more than a few long, rambling shaggy dog stories in between songs on such esoteric topics as the olfactory systems of airport security guards. And if any more testament to his power as an performer were needed, by the end of the concert he had the entire crowd of jaded New Yorkers singing "This Land Is Your Land" at the top of their lungs without any trace of irony whatsoever. Indeed, had I not witnessed it with my own eyes, I would not have believed it myself.

But speaking of free concerts, Marykate O'Neil, another singer/songwriter with a penchant for long, rambling - but hilarious - monologues between songs, will be appearing in a free show tonight at Pianos. Music-wise, she's closer to the pop of the Monkees (whose "Pleasant Valley Sunday" she covered on a tribute CD) than the folk of Guthrie, but that's hardly a bad thing when it's pop that's this good. I've had her debut CD in rotation at work for a little over two years now and have yet to tire of it.

Marykate takes the stage at 9:00pm with her backing band, the "Bomahs". If you'd like to hear more from her, more MP3s can be found on her website.

And if this wasn't enough entertainment for one week, Bruce Campbell himself will be appearing at the Union Square Barnes & Noble tonight at 7:00pm.

Ah, life is good...