I was looking to do a different type of event at the end of 2001. I’d always liked the idea of Joe McGinty’s Loser’s Lounge series, where he would get together a bunch of musical acts to perform songs from an artist’s catalog. Personally, though, I’ve always loved the concept of an album more, what goes into putting it together from initial to final track, and everything in between, with the hits mattering just as much as the tracks you’ve never heard of.
So I started our Classic Albums Live series that February of 2002 with a dozen local musical acts performing Nirvana’s Nevermind on what would have been Kurt Cobain’s 35th birthday. We’re almost done with our 20th season, and can’t what to begin the next 20 years this February.
Feb. 20, 2002 Nirvana, Nevermind, The Knitting Factory
June 4, 2002 The Ramones, Rocket to Russia, CBGBs
July 30, 2003 Elvis Costello, My Aim is True and (w/the Attractions) This Years Model, CB’s 313 Gallery
Oct. 1, 2003 Madonna, Madonna and Like a Virgin, The Bowery Poetry Club
Dec. 20, 2003 A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector, The Bowery Poetry Club
Feb. 19, 2004 Nirvana, In Utero, The C-Note
April 30, 2004 Carole King, Tapestry, The Sidewalk Cafe (Curator: Jonathan Berger)
June 12, 2004 Prince, Purple Rain, The Bowery Club
Aug. 8, 2004 Elliott Smith, Elliott Smith, The Bowery Club
Aug. 19, 2004 The Velvet Underground, Live at Max’s Kansas City, CBGBs
Aug. 28, 2004 Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Born in the U.S.A., The C-Note (Curator: Aaron Kiely)
Jan. 8, 2005 Pink Floyd, The Wall, The Bowery Poetry Club
March 17, 2005 Sinead O’Connor, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, Galapagos
May 20, 2005 Hair (Original Broadway Cast Recording), The Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church
July 13, 2005 Live Aid at 20, The Bowery Poetry Club
Sept. 1, 2005 Hole, Live Through This, The Bowery Poetry Club (Curator: Yoko Kikuchi)
Dec. 21, 2005 The Rolling Stones, Exile on Main Street and Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville,
The Bowery Poetry Club
Feb. 28, 2006 Pretty in Pink Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (preceded by a screening of the movie), The Bowery Poetry Club
April 25, 2006 The Pretenders, Learning to Crawl, The Bowery Poetry Club
June 19, 2006 The Clash, London Calling, Cake Shop
Sept. 12, 2006 Sonic Youth, Daydream Nation, Mo Pitkin’s House of Satisfaction
Dec. 14, 2006 The Eagles, Hotel California, The Bowery Poetry Club
Feb. 20, 2007 Nirvana, Bleach; Nevermind; and In Utero Cake Shop
April 18, 2007 Fleetwood Mac, Rumours, Knitting Factory Old Office
Aug. 4, 2007 The Fugs, The Village Fugs: Ballads and Songs of Contemporary Protest, Points of View and General Dissatisfaction Cake Shop
Nov. 11, 2007 Less Than Zero Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (preceded by a screening of the movie), The Bowery Poetry Club
March 11, 2008 The Pixies, Surfer Rosa and Doolittle, Cake Shop
May 15, 2008 David Bowie, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders of Mars and Radiohead, OK Computer, Cake Shop
Sept. 19, 2008 Lou Reed, New York, Sidewalk Cafe
Nov. 4, 2008 R.E.M., Green, Sidewalk Cafe (Curator: Casey Holford)
July 15, 2009 Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense, Sidewalk Cafe (Douglas Rothschild book release party)
Sept. 9, 2009 The Magnetic Fields, 69 Love Songs, Sidewalk Cafe
Dec. 4, 2009 Lou Reed and John Cale, Songs for Drella, Sidewalk Cafe
Feb. 5, 2010 Blake Babies, Earwig and Sunburn, Sidewalk Cafe (Curator: Nan Turner)
July 14, 2010 Paul Simon, Graceland and Daniel Johnston, Hi, How Are You, Sidewalk Cafe
Sept. 24, 2010 Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited for its 45th anniversary (curated and performed in its entirety by i feel tractor)
Dec. 17, 2010 The Beatles, The White Album, Sidewalk Cafe
Aug. 2, 2012 Sleater-Kinney, Dig Me Out, Sidewalk Cafe
Aug. 4, 2013 Major Matt Mason USA, Me Me Me, Sidewalk Cafe
Feb. 16, 2014 The Velvet Underground and Nico, Sidewalk Cafe (Curated and performed in its entirety by Kung Fu Crimewave and friends)
Aug. 3, 2014 PJ Harvey, Rid of Me WBC8, Sidewalk Cafe
Feb. 15, 2015 Bob Dylan, Blood on the Tracks at 40, WBC8.5, Sidewalk Cafe
Aug. 9, 2015 The Beatles’ and The Replacements’ Let it Be’s, WBC9, Sidewalk Cafe
Feb. 14, 2016 Patti Smith, Horses at 40 WBC9.5, Sidewalk Cafe
Aug. 7, 2016 Nirvana, Nevermind for its 25th anniversary, WBC10, Sidewalk Cafe (Curated and performed by The Tet Offensive)
Feb. 19, 2017 Pavement, Slanted and Enchanted for its 25th anniversary, WBC10.5, Sidewalk Cafe
Sept. 19, 2017 Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Soundtrack, for its 40th anniversary, WBC11 Sidewalk Cafe (Curated by Brookes McKenzie)
Feb. 18, 2018 Simon & Garfunkel, Bookends, for its 50th anniversary, WBC11.5, Sidewalk Cafe (Curated by Peter Dizozza)
Feb. 17, 2019 Tom Petty’s Full Moon Fever for its 30th anniversary, WBC12.5 Bowery Poetry Club (Curated by Todd Carlstrom)
March 17, 2019 U2, Boy, Freddy’s Bar and Backroom (Curated by Todd Carlstrom)
Sept. 22, 2019 Silver Jews’ debut album, Starlite Walker for its 25th anniversary, WBC13 Bowery Poetry Club (with crazy special thanks to John Mulrooney)
Feb. 16, 2020 Elastica’s eponymous debut album, for its 25th anniversary, WBC13.5, Bowery Poetry Club (Curated by Todd Carlstrom)
Feb. 15, 2021 The Go-Go’s, Beauty and the Beat for its 40th anniversary, via Zoom (Curated by Todd Carlstrom)
June 27, 2021 The Muffs eponymous debut, for the 30th anniversary of the formation of the band, via Zoom (Curated by Todd Carlstrom)
Aug. 5, 2021, Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians’ Globe of Frogs, for Boog’s 30th anniversary, performed entirely by Todd Carlstrom and friends, Freddy’s Bar and Backroom. (Curated by Todd Carlstrom)
Globe of Frogs was the 61st album performed in the series.