Brooklyn/Queens Music Summit @ LIC Bar (Live Music Review Stories)

Photos by Jeff Klapperich, Story by Tim Pourbaix

There is more than just a burgeoning scene in Long Island City, Queens; there is a solid musical community.  The hub is LIC Bar, run by musician and music organizer Gustavo Rodriguez.  He goes simply as Gus, and plays in the band Silbin Sandovar.

Gus is a believer and a pivotal supporter of local music, not solely in Queens, but in each and every borough of New York City.  Such is his reasoning for hosting the LIC Bar’s Brooklyn/Queens Music Summit, the last of a variety of outdoor Sunday Summer Series.  Earlier in August, the series brought in the likes of Gordon Gano (The Violent Femmes) and The Ryans for a show.

I step foot on the outside patio and hear Jan Bell and The Maybelles from Brooklyn singing, “That’s how she loved me/ with body and soul,” an americana/folk-country group with guitar, violin and banjo for instrumentation.  The ladies are harmonizing wonderfully together, and my eyes drift across the patio. 

Blue brick and thick vines surround me as a large willow tree hangs over the wall drooping in.  There is a golden twinkle slowly radiating through the leaves, holding my gaze.  Dusk is infiltrating through the branches.

Next up, is Brazilian jazz trio, Os Clavelitos from Queens.  Their free form jazz is soft yet controlled, a perfect backdrop to being hypnotized by the willow’s glow.  The tree is pulling me in and I reach out to touch the multicolor aura the trunk emanates.

Country rock group Joe Thompson and The Beautiful Catastrophe is setting up the stage getting ready to play.  They are this year’s winner of WNYC’s, “Battle of the Boroughs” and this will be their last official show in New York.  Joe Thompson’s vocals are reminiscent of the late Johnny Cash, and his band plays energetically behind him, passing a reflective silver object to drink from between songs.  

The audience at LIC Bar is mixed, not too many hipsters, but some - which is good.  A late twenty, early thirty-something crowd, an old couple in love and even a kid running around with a hot dog, balance things out.

The low sun shimmers in the dancing leaves and my gaze into the willow tree tickles the back of my head as the music plays on.

A man by the name of Niall Connolly and the Best of Humanity (Brooklyn) breaks my stare, drawing my attention back to the stage with his subtle, but powerful folk songs.  I find myself singing along with words I’ve never heard before, with a voice I’ve never heard before.  “Be There If I Have To Swim” is a fantastic song, a must have for folk fans looking for new music.  The song quiets a talkative crowd. 

I look back to the willow tree and it’s gone, as well as the beautiful brick wall.  It’s just the band, the crowd and the nighttime.  I sit back and relax on the patio, waiting for the willow to reappear, listening to this summer’s evening show.