San Francisco’s Conspiracy of Beards, a choir of men that sings dynamic a cappella arrangements of the poetic songs of Leonard Cohen, returns to New York for 3 days of performance in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Joined by special guests Daniel Kahn & Friends, all the way from Berlin, to open each show.

May 1st @ WFMU 91.1FM – Live on-air performance at the WFMU Record Fair at the Brooklyn Expo Center – 7pm – INFO: https://wfmu.org/recfair/

May 1st @ Sidewalk NYC – w/Steve Wertheim, Daniel Kahn – 9pm – INFO: http://www.sidewalkny.com/ – FREE

May 2nd @ littlefield – w/Daniel Kahn & Friends – 8pm -TICKETS: http://goo.gl/Gj2FUs – $10

May 3rd @ Highline Ballroom – w/Daniel Kahn & Friends – 1pm – TICKETS: http://goo.gl/AlDWYp – $15-$25

http://conspiracyofbeards.com/ – Well dressed in suits, ties, and the occasional fedora, the choir brings an energized live choral music experience out of churches and tabernacles and into the taverns, art houses, and theaters of the Bay Area and beyond. Transforming Cohen’s lyrics and simple melodies into complex 4- and 5-part harmonies, and with a wide variety of small ensemble and full choir pieces, Conspiracy of Beards achieves a sound that is both robust and tender. Drawing on influences ranging from jazz and gospel to barbershop and doo-wop, the unique arrangements that choir members create capture all of the emotion and humor of Leonard Cohen’s original music and inspire audiences to ponder common human experiences like romance, heartbreak, politics, sex, longing, and spirituality.

Formed in 2003 through the inspiration of the late San Francisco performance artist Peter Kadyk, his brother Patrick Kadyk, along with friend and composer Daryl Henline, gathered a small group of friends to learn and sing a couple of Leonard Cohen songs as a tribute. Since then the choir, still directed by Daryl Henline, has grown to over 30 members.

http://danielkahn.com/ – A Detroit area native, he attended the University of Michigan where he studied acting, directing, playwriting and poetry. After finishing his studies he lived, played music, recorded, acted, directed plays and composed theatre music in New Orleans, New York, and Michigan. As a singer/songwriter he recorded 4 solo albums as a founding member of the folk collective Earthwork Music. In 2005 Daniel moved to Berlin and formed the band “The Painted Bird.” His primary engagement with Yiddish song as a translator, adaptor and performer is to re-contextualize traditional material into contemporary frameworks. The music has been called “Alienation-Klezmer”, mixing in elements of punk, folk, cabaret, and jazz. @Daniel Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird has produced four albums for Oriente Musik, winning three prizes from the German Record Critics’ Association.

Performing throughout Europe, Russia, Israel, Brazil, Turkey, and North America, Daniel regularly works and collaborates with artists including Michael Winograd, Dan Blacksberg, Alan Bern, Michael Tuttle, Steven Greenman, Adrienne Cooper z”l, Frank London, Vanya Zhuk, and Psoy Korolenko, with whom he has the projects “The Unternationale” and the forthcoming Smithsonian/Folkways project “Brothers Nazaroff” (with Jake Shulman-Ment, Michael Alpert, Bob Cohen, and Hampus Melin). He has taught regularly at Klez Kanada, Klez Kamp, and Yiddish Summer Weimar. He is co-founder and organizer of the Berliner Klezmer Bund, producing and promoting progressive Yiddish music and cultural events. In Berlin, he continues to work in the theatre, frequently at the renowned post-migratory theater Ballhaus Naunynstrasse and the Maxim Gorki Theater, where he curates the Studio Я “unternational” concert series and has worked as a director, actor, composer, and musician. His work as a journalist, poet, and essayist has been published in Die Zeit, Jewish Quarterly, Spielzeit, Freitext, the poetry monograph “Daylight Savings,” and in the book “Dissonant Memories / Fragmented Present.”

Steve Wertheim – This is the place on the website for Steve Wertheim’s bio. It’s where you’d expect Steve Wertheim to reverentially reveal his influences, clumsily articulate his musical style, and blow you away with the deep meaning of his message. Alas. Steve Wertheim prefers to remain an enigma. Wrapped in bacon. With plum sauce.