SAUCE: Sessions at National Sawdust
Eric Umble, Acidhead, and Mani & the Wildflowers
11am - 3pm
About
Tickets
SAUCE: Sessions at National Sawdust is a wide-ranging series of Happy Hour jam sessions featuring craft cocktails, drink specials, and live performances from rising folk, rock, rap, electronic, jazz, classical, Indian classical, and video game music artists. Hosted on Thursdays (5-9pm) and Saturdays (11am-3pm) throughout August in the new National Sawdust Lounge, SAUCE is free and open to all.
This installment features DJ Eric Umble playing music that rides the line between techno and old school house; Acidhead playing his unique brand of avant-garde pop; and an encore performance from R&B band Mani & the Wildflowers.
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Enjoy Caribbean, African, and Asian flavors from CookUp, an homage to a traditional Guyanese dish of the same name, at all Saturday SAUCE shows.
Sponsors:
The Artists
Eric Umble is a Brooklyn-based sound artist and DJ. An acclaimed professional classical musician, Eric‘s love of primal repetition and extended forms made his jump to DJing a natural step. Since his debut as a DJ, Eric has performed across the United States, including at Detroit’s Deluxx Fluxx and as a resident DJ at H0L0 (NYC). For more information visit ericumble.com.
Acidhead is the brainchild of Patrick McGee, saxophonist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer, empath. Distractions is his debut, an introduction and experiment; a deconstruction of pop music, a fracturing and reassembling of classical beauty delivered with the angst of crushed love. The songs blur and blend the lo-fi of punk with the tenderness of Aaron Copland, brimming with the desperation of troubled love, seeking answers while running from inevitable truths.
The inevitable truth is that from an early age, while studying classical piano, McGee developed and fostered an unhealthy obsession with the pop star called Michael Jackson. At age 11, he memorized every MJ lyric from every song, including those from the Jackson 5 catalogue. Donning a white pinstripe suit and fedora à la “Smooth Criminal”, he memorized every dance move, including the infamous “moonwalk”, which creates the illusion of floating backwards while walking forwards. The pinnacle of this formative tribute was his staged karaoke review of MJ’s greatest hits, performed in his driveway on a rented stage, with a full sound system, three dancers, and an opening comedy set performed by his brother, who arrived on a dirt bike. He later went on to study jazz and composition at NYC’s second best music conservatory. This is not what Distractions is about, but rather embodies McGee as Acidhead.
Distractions is the destruction of rational thought as an act of love, songs of hidden rage and despair accompanied by moments of a quiet and solitary mind. Distractions contributors include: Andrew Forman (Goodfight), Lou Rogai (Lewis & Clarke), Daryl Johns (Sweet Joseph, Lemon Twigs), Adrian Moring, Fred Griggs, and the Rat Trap Pack, McGee’s avant-garde horn ensemble.
Mani & the Wildflowers is an R&B band currently based out of New York City. Formed in 2018, they have already made a splash in the music scene with their eclectic sound and feel. Mani has been writing songs since she was 13 and moved from Atlanta to NYC to attend school in 2016. Since moving to the city she began to collaborate with pianist Matthew Malanowski and saxophonist Jason Chrisman, which later led to the addition of Jack Kotze (trombone), Chris Palmer (bass), Sam Towse (keyboards), and Jongkuk Kim (percussion) rounding out the rest of the band. Their debut single, “Lost + Found”, is available on all streaming platforms.
