MUSIC: Tits Up Brooklyn, by Medea Hoar

Happy New Year and welcome to the very first 2025 “Tits Up Brooklyn” of the year! I hope you’re as excited to be here as I am! 2024 ended with a bang and 2025 is proving to be just as good, if not better, muse-ically speaking. So let’s wrap up December 2024 together, like you would a gift, with twinkling bows and glitter, as we look to the celebrate the new year.

It doesn’t matter what you celebrated in December: Winter Solstice, Hannukah, Krampus Nacht, Kwanzaa, Xmas or Christmas…it’s a wonderful time to reflect and celebrate the past year’s life and loves. In my opinion (which is the only one that matters, ‘cause it’s my column, babydoll) there’s no better way to do this, than with music.

The seasonal sounds were in full display December 14^th at Katie Curley’s 5th Annual Holiday Spectacular at Young Ethel’s with 50% of the proceeds going to City Harvest (www.cityharvest.org) . Some of you gentle readers may recall last year’s Holiday Spectacular at Branded Saloon and many of the same local luminaries were in attendance, with some new faces as well. The band was a tinseled and talented bunch including Katie Curley, Brendan Curley, Shu Nakamura (silvery from head to toe), Konrad Meissner and Max Newland, with several guests like Glenn Spivack and Dot Moore. They provided the musical foundation for a plethora of singers, too many to fit into your stocking, like Lizzie Edwards, Sarah Durning, Shanelle Jenkins and Brooklyn’s own Bobby Blue. Bobby Blue’s rendition of Loretta Lynn’s “To Heck With Ole Santa Claus” was a huge hit! For those of you haven’t heard of this lovely ditty before, it’s for those of us who have been slighted by that overfed elf known as St. Nick. The raucous rebels in the audience were all too willing to shout out Bobby’s chorus line of “F**k You Santa Claus” each and every time it came around on the guitar. There were also classics for all to sing along to: “I’ll be Home for Christmas” “The Little Drummer Boy” and “It’s Christmas All Over”.

This was also night that the lovely hostess with the most-ess, Katie Curley, celebrated the release her brand spankin’ new XMass EP Release of “Big Colored Lights” which has already been featured on Americana Highways and No Depression’s Holiday Music guide (katiecurley.bandcamp.com/album/big-colored-lights)

You can catch more musical mischief monthly at Katie’s “Sad Song, Happy Hour” one Friday afternoon a month at Young Ethel’s with the first of the year set for January 10^th at 5pm with four solo artists: Katie Curley, Rod Hohl, Joe Maynard and the Sad Bastards of Brooklyn (I didn’t know my ex-lovers formed a band??).

Last month, not so long ago, you may remember that I wrote about a fine trio,Arcana, playing the Industry Night Mondays at Sweet Talk in Gowanus on December 16^th. I managed to drag my ass, with pen and paper, and settle in at the bar on this wet and windy Monday night. Man, oh man, am I glad I did! Arcana played a monster ~90’ish minute set full of mostly original music. The space for the band is tight, especially when you have a double bass holding things down. Thank goodness Calvin Bennet kept things movin’ and groovin’ on his slim electric upright for his original “Honey Do”, which he also sang lead on. David Pybas on vocals and guitar, shared “Pancho and Lefty” and provided vocal back up on originals by Glenn Spivack and Calvin Bennet. Glenn Spivack moved seamlessly from reso to autoharp to hobo harp to vocals like he’s been doing all his life (he has). The night closed on a positive “note” with a song of hope titled “Hold On” written & composed by Glenn Spivack, and recently re-arranged by David Pybas.  This year you can see Arcana at Cowgirl Seahorse on 2/24/25, just the other side of the Brooklyn Bridge.

With that, I leave you, my lovelies. May the new year bring you all that you desire, may your dreams become reality and with each passing day know that I hold space in my heart for all of you. Till we meet again, I shall remain your wordsmith muse, Medea Hoar.

#bkmuses

Cowgirl Seahorse, 259 Front Street, NYC (S. Seaport)
Sweet Talk, 457 Third Ave., Brooklyn (Gowanus)
Young Ethel’s, 506 5^th Ave., Brooklyn (S. Slope)
Branded Saloon, 603 Vanderbilt Ave, Brooklyn (Prospect Heights)