Author: Jared Michael Nickerson

  • Obama Presidential Portrait Celebration & Exhibit Need to Knows

    Obama Presidential Portrait Celebration & Exhibit Need to Knows

    Burnt Sugar celebrates the opening of The Obama Portrait Exhibit at Brooklyn Museum
    Join Us in Celebrating the Brooklyn Museum’s Obama Presidential Portraits!

    On Saturday, August 28th, 2021 BSAC’s “SUMMERY CARAMELIZED COMEBACK continues with two new conductions celebrating the Obama Presidential Portraits’ debut at the Brooklyn Museum.

    Our Obama-inspired conductions commence at 4pm & 5:30pm in the Biergarten, Steinberg Family Sculpture Garden. In between our conductions Kyle Carrero Lopez, Nkosi Nkululeko and celeste doaks, presented in partnership with Cave Canem, will read their original poetry honoring the portraits. Then DJ Niara Sterling spinning on the “ones and twos” will conclude the Biergarten’s activities.

    On the museum’s Plaza you’ll be able to dabble in art-making with Cool Culture and shop and snack at the Brooklyn Pop-Up Market, spotlighting local Black artists and vendors.

    BSAC would like to thank Lauren Argentina Zelaya, the Director of Public Programs, for the invitation to create new avant groidd music on this very special day paying tribute to these vibrant and groundbreaking depictions of American leadership.

    This outdoor event is free, but RSVP is required.

    All visitors 12 and older must show proof of vaccination and a valid I.D. If you’re entering the Museum, face masks are required regardless of vaccination status.

    To visit the galleries, please reserve tickets in advance. A limited number of timed tickets will be available on-site on a first-come, first-served basis.

    Obama Portraits Exhibit Need to Knows:

    Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama, 2018 is by Amy Sherald (American, born 1973). Oil on linen. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

    Barack Obama, 2018 is by Kehinde Wiley (American, born 1977)  © 2018 Kehinde Wiley. Oil on canvas. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

    Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber and The National Portrait Gallery are grateful to the following lead donors for their support of the Obama portraits: Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg, Judith Kern and Kent Whealy, and Tommie L. Pegues and Donald A. Capoccia.

  • LC Restart Stages TodayTix Lottery and Seating & COVID-19 Health and Safety Requirements

    • Audiences can reserve pod tickets to the performance through the TodayTix Lottery. Entrants may enter to win one FREE pod (2 seats);

    • Winners will receive an email and push notification and must claim their FREE pod (2 seats) in the allotted 30-minute window. If you do not claim your pod ticket within the 30-minute window, you will lose your seats and another winner will be drawn.

    • Once you receive your e-ticket, you will be given a designated entry time based on your pod’s location and instructions on completing a health screening (see COVID-19 Health & Safety). Please allow enough travel time to arrive by your designated entry time. There will be no late seating.

    • One ticket will be issued for all guests seated in the pod together, therefore, all guests need to arrive at the same time for entry.

    • In order to seat everyone safely and efficiently, the audience will be seated in pairs (1 pair per pod), with each pair 6-feet from the others.

    Health and safety is our top priority. In accordance with the New York State guidelines and in consultation with our medical advisors, we have implemented protocols to enhance safety for all staff, artists and guests. Before reserving tickets, please note that all guests attending an event at Damrosch Park are required to complete the health screening procedures below, per current state guidelines:  

    • All guests will be required to complete a health survey upon arrival, with questions related to recent travel, current symptoms, and any recent COVID-19 diagnosis or possible contact with someone who has recently tested positive.
    • All guests are also required to complete a temperature check upon arrival. Anyone registering a temperature above 100.4 will be directed away from entry and asked to sit for 5 minutes. They will then have their temperature checked a second time. At this time, if they register above 100.4, they will not be admitted.

    Any guest who does not successfully complete any of the above requirements will not be admitted to the event. Further instructions will be sent after reserving tickets.

    By reserving tickets and/or by visiting Lincoln Center, you voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19. To view the full acknowledgment and release : https://www.lincolncenter.org/lincoln-center-at-home/series/ticket-waiver

  • Early Titles on Bandcamp

    Folks, as it’s been awhile since you’ve heard from us, the BSAC Crew & Family hope this finds you and yours well and thriving, in spite of it all. With the one-year anniversary of our last live performance (at Harlem’s World Famous Apollo Theater) just passing, and with no live dates on the horizon, we’d like to let you know you can digitally “caramelize” yourself on Bandcamp. https://burntsugarthearkestrachamber.bandcamp.com/

    We started a month ago with the long out-of-print trilogy … “That Depends On What You Know”.

    Burning Ambulance’s Phil Freeman says “Black music has a mini-tradition of big, sprawling/splattering statement/manifesto albums: Prince’s Sign ‘O’ the Times; Funkadelic’s America Eats Its Young; Fishbone’s The Reality of My Surroundings; the Wu-Tang Clan’s Wu-Tang Forever; Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life; Miles Davis’s Bitches Brew and perhaps even more aptly Get Up With It. This is the Interzone where Burnt Sugar chose to set up camp for That Depends On What You Know, a nearly three-and-a-half-hour journey through jazz, funk, rock, dub, blues, disco, house music, hip-hop, poetry, and sheer f**k-off noise. It’s a masterpiece, and 20 years later it still has the power to reshape your world.” https://burningambulance.com/2021/03/02/that-depends-20/

    Back in the early 2000’s BSAC filled folks eardrums with a crew including Greg Tate, Matana Roberts, Kirk Douglas, Julia Kent, Vijay Iyer, Okkyung Lee, Mazz Swift, Lewis “Flip” Barnes, Satch Hoyt, Omega Moon, Jason Tobias DiMatteo, Shahad Ismaily, Tia Nicole Leak, Honeychild Coleman, Justice Dilla X, Lisala, Jeremiah Abiah and Jared Michael Nickerson to truly name a few.

    With that crew in mind we’re releasing “live” performances recorded around the time of TDOWYK. “Not April In Paris” is from BSAC’s first appearance in France at The Banlieues Bleues Festival. “If You Can’t Dazzle Them With Your Brilliance, Then Baffle Them With Your Blisluth” contains performances from Bordeaux France’s Musiques de Nuit and NYC’s Vision Festivals, along with jams from NYC’s Tonic and Jazzaldia in San Sebastián Spain. While the third live offering, “Live At Minnegiggle Falls”, is our first visit to Minneapolis presented by The Walker Art Center and performed at The Cedar Cultural Center under the “Walker Without Walls” banner. Mazz Swift opens the Minneapolis set with a riveting rendition of Peter St. John’s “Fields Of Athenry”. In the spirit of “That Depends On What You Know” please recognize that you can never know what to expect when the Burnt Sugar Arkestra hits the stage.

  • Burnt Sugar on Burning Ambulance’s Eyes Shut, Ears Open Compilation

    Burnt Sugar on Burning Ambulance’s Eyes Shut, Ears Open Compilation

    We’re pleased to be included in “Eyes Shut, Ears Open: A Burning Ambulance Compilation”.
    Featuring Aaron Parks Trio ~ Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber ~ Dead Neanderthals ~ Dog Life ~ Eric Hofbauer/Garrison Fewell ~ Ivo Perelman/Nate Wooley ~ Jason Kao Hwang ~ Mats Gustafsson ~ Matthew Golombisky ~ Melissa Aldana ~ Melvin Gibbs ~ Nick Millevoi ~ Whit Dickey/Matthew Shipp ~ William Hooker Trio

    From the Friday, October 2nd Online Edition of The New York Times
  • Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber’s “Shaft” Close-out!

    Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber’s “Shaft” Close-out!

    It’s a bit past a hundred days since our last sold-out or, as we like to say, “soul’d out” live performance. BSAC at the “World Famous” Apollo Theater in Harlem N.Y. on Saturday, February 29th performing “Shaft”. If you were there … you already know! If you were not, don’t you worry bout a thing … here’s a “taste”!

  • Apollo Theater “Shaft” Special Ticket Offers & Film Rating

    HALF-OFF FOR HARLEM
    Harlem residents, employees, and business owners and students can save 50% on tickets to this moving performance. Half-Off for Harlem tickets can be purchased in person at the Apollo Theater Box Office. Ticket buyers must provide proof of residence or work ID. Offer available only while supplies last.

    Half-Off for Harlem for this production is supported by JL Greene Arts Access Fund in The New York Community Trust.

    STUDENT RUSH
    Students with valid ID may visit the Apollo’s Box Office during operating hours (10am – 6pm) to purchase $20 tickets the day of only. You must provide valid student ID to qualify for this offer. Tickets are limited to 2 per person while supply lasts. Please note that seats are at the discretion of the Box Office.

    “Shaft” is rated R. Suitable for ages 17 +.