News from Zornland - NAKED CITY will reunite for two gigs in Europe on June 17th and June 18th! Naked City is John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Wayne Horvitz, Fred Frith and Joey Baron and these are their first (and only?) shows in a decade, since they played at the 'Month of Zorn' celebration at the old Knit in September of 1993. They are certainly one of the best and most exciting jazz/rock/punk/etc. ensembles of the 20th century, combining every influence/genre that our main man John Zorn was into at that time. Anyone who ever witnessed their power and inventiveness, will never forget that spirit. In September of 2003, Tonic will host another 'Month of Zorn' retrospective, for John's 50th birthday, with another thirty days of Mr. Zorn's music, bands and projects. A version of Painkiller (with Zorn & Laswell) will be amongst the many highly anticipated performances of that month. Tonight January 24th at 7pm & tomorrow night January 25th at 9:45 - the NY film premier of the documentary - "In the Mirror of Maya Deren" will be preceded by the John Zorn Ensemble performing the music for the film with Erik Friedlander, Jamie Saft, Cyro Baptista & Mr. Zorn at Anthology Film Archives at 2nd Ave. and 2nd St. John Zorn's exquisite score for this marvelous movie is found on his 'Filmworks X' release from the Tzadik label. Also tonight, January 24th, the debut of the Eugene Chadbourne All-Star Quartet will play one set only at 10pm at Tonic!! Dr. Chadbourne's Quartet features Joe Morris & Dr. Chad on guitars, Mark Dresser on bass and Gerry Hemingway on drums! Dr. Chad's amazing 'Painpen' cd (on the Avant label) from a couple of years back with similar personnel was one the most challenging releases of the year. Be there! Opening the night at 8pm at Tonic will be Tzadik's Charming Hostess who are also amazing!! DAVE DOUGLAS will also be celebrating his 40th birthday with a week's worth of special gigs at the Jazz Standard from March 25th - March 30th, with different groups each night. Check out Dave's nifty website - www.davedouglas.com for a complete listing. Dave's new release for RCA is called 'Freak In' and it will be out on February 18th, the personnel includes Marc Ribot, Chris Speed, Seamus Blake, Romero Lubambo, Jamie Saft, Craig Taborn, Brad Jones, Ikue Mori, Karsh Kale and Joey Baron. I have heard a few tracks and they have a drum n' bass vibe & are they are fucking cool! ______________________________________________________ Discs I'm listening to at work: Matthew Shipp -- Equilibrium John Zorn -- Masada Guitars Great Jewish Music: Sasha Argov Miles Davis -- Complete Prestige Recordings (discs 5-8)