There she goes again: Tammy Faye Starlite returns as Nico at Joe's Pub

Text and photos by Daniel Efram

This past Friday, Tammy Faye Starlite and her accomplished group of musicians brought her portrayal of Nico to life once again at Joe's Pub. 

Nico, whose real name was Christine Paffagen, gained fame as the lead vocalist for the Velvet Underground's first album and struggled with drug addiction and other personal demons throughout her life as she tried to establish herself as a solo artist. (She also once lived at 101 Avenue A.) 

In this reprise performance, "Nico: Underground," Starlite reimagines a pivotal interview that Nico gave in 1986, just two years before her death. Starlite embodied the complex and enigmatic character of Nico, shedding new light on the legacy of this remarkable artist, along with interviewer Jeff Ward, Keith Hartel on bass and acoustic guitar, David Nagler on keyboards, Eszter Balint on violin, Richard Feridun on electric guitar, Ron Metz on drums, and Craig Hoek on sax and on the story's pivotal flute. 

Her Nico performance started in 2010 at Joe's Pub, before the Duplex in the West Village, then The Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles. The official run at Theater For the New City began in 2014. 

"I love pretending to be her — her innate contradictions, the dialectic within, her inherent nihilism, her somewhat subversive nature, are all so fascinating to me," Tammy Lang, known on stage as Tammy Faye Starlite, told me.

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Cafe Carlyle would be lucky to have this production. 

"Nico: Underground" returns to Joe’s Pub on July 24. Find tickets here.

A Juneteenth Celebration with live music on Astor Place this afternoon

Joe's Pub at the Public is hosting a Juneteenth Celebration this afternoon on Astor Place. 

Here's the free outdoor concert lineup: 

• 2 p.m. — Juneteenth LP (pictured above) 
• 3:30 p.m. — Carmen Rodgers 
• 5 p.m. — Nikara Warren

Top photo via the Juneteenth LP website

Celebrate Juneteenth today with Joe's Pub on Astor Place

Joe's Pub is presenting "A Juneteenth Celebration" this afternoon on Astor Place. 

The free event features live performances by Celisse, Ché Buford and mal sounds, and the Juneteenth Legacy Project. 

The show starts at 4:30. Visit the Joe's Pub website here for more details.

The New York Philharmonic Bandwagon will be pulling up to Astor Place today

 

The New York Philharmonic Bandwagon will be on Astor Place today (Saturday!) as part of a Get Out the Vote event with Joe's Pub. 

In addition to a "pull-up" performance by members of the Orchestra and special guests, a volunteer from the League of Women’s Voters of New York will be onhand to sign people up to vote and to answer any questions about voting.

The festivities begin around noon-ish. Visit this link for a rundown on today's program, which includes a "West Side Story" suite.

The New York Philharmonic launched this drive-up series on weekends in late August.

Joe's Pub reopens today

After a three-month renovation, Joe's Pub reopens this evening on Lafayette Street. In an op-ed for WNET's MetroFocus, Joe's Pub director Shanta Thake writes about the struggles to reflect the constantly changing East Village community in her programming. As she writes, "Today, the East Village more likely brings to mind three things: college students, Starbucks and soaring rent costs."

(Only three?)

Uh, here's more:

The mission at Joe’s Pub is to reflect the community surrounding it on our stage, which, in practice, always meant a programming vision that is incredibly diverse in terms of genre. But as we at Joe’s Pub prepare for our rebirth into the East Village arts scene Oct. 4, we are forced to ask ourselves: does that actually reflect the community surrounding us anymore? Or are we serving a mythical audience that we ourselves conjure up out of the steam from our own lattes to look like the East Village of yesteryear? The answer to that is less simple.

Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal has more on the changes. "Attendees should be pleased not only by the music, but by renovations that seem to eliminate the venue's shortcomings." Like! The bar is smaller and it has been moved to a corner, which does away with "the clattering glasses and chattering drinkers."