MetroChannels Premieres Rhythm & Dues

Toshi Reagon, Black 47, Blue Floyd & Marshall Crenshaw Are Among the Emerging Artists & Longtime Cult Faves to Be Featured

New York, NY, March 13, 2000 – It’s Friday night. Time to don your basic black, put in your earplugs and take in the new sounds percolating at hipster haunts like The Knitting Factory. Now, thanks to MetroChannels, music-lovers craving the sounds of edgy emerging artists and cult legends need not leave their living rooms. Viewers just have to pick up their remote control and tune in to Rhythm & Dues.


Rhythm & Dues is the first and only weekly television series dedicated to presenting performances by the famous and soon-to-be famous musicians who call New York their home. Every Friday at 9 PM on Metro (Time Warner – Channel 70, Cablevision – Channel 16), viewers can join the network’s own duo of intrepid music-lovers – Maria Marino and Daresha Kyi – as they uncover a new hour of sounds in rock, techno, folk, jazz, blues, worldbeat and more taped at venerable institutions like The Bottom Line and The Village Vanguard to edgy new upstarts like Arlene Grocery and Tonic.


“When it comes to music, New York is the world’s capitol city – the place where both aspiring and veteran musicians come to ‘prove themselves’ in the world’s toughest business,” explains Marc Chusid, Executive Producer, MetroGuide. “Rhythm & Dues is the first television show to literally bring viewers into the clubs and lives of the artists who are forging the sounds and styles that musicians around the world will emulate.”


Following are details on the first five episodes of Metro’s Rhythm & Dues:

    March 17 @ 9 PM – St. Patty’s Day Special with BLACK 47 and DANU – Metro’s Rhythm & Dues debuts with a show dedicated to New York’s greatest Irish musicians, filmed at the ultra-lively (and often celebrity-studded) Connelly’s Pub. The headline attraction is a longtime local favorite, BLACK 47. Their energetic fusion of modern rock, ancient modal Irish and potent political lyrics is contained on four major label CDs, including their newest, TROUBLE IN THE LAND. It’s common to see notables like Neil Young, Liam Neeson, Brooke Shields, Bono and the Clash’s Joe Strummer lifting a glass alongside avid Black 47 fans from the boroughs and the ‘burbs. DANU, a seven-piece ensemble that puts a new spin of traditional Irish tunes, opens the show.

    March 24 @ 9 PM – TOSHI REAGON – Last year, she was “the best unsigned artist in New York.” On the March 24 episode of Rhythm & Dues, TOSHI REAGON shows what all the talk is about in a powerful performance with her Big Lovely Band at the Bowery Ballroom. Get to see why everyone from Lenny Kravitz to Elvis Costello has been singing her praises when she performance her genre-bending songs of political consciousness.

    March 31 @ 9 PM – BMI SHOWCASE – This show is dedicated to adventurous musical spirits who just might be the stars of tomorrow, filmed at the Lower East Side’s home for homegrown sounds, Arlene Grocery. This bodega-cum-concert spot will host three local bands that have the critics and A&R honchos buzzing: RED TIME, SWATI and ONE.

    April 7 @ 9 PM – IN THEIR OWN WORDS – THE BOTTOM LINE’S SINGER/SONGWRITER SERIES – Another strum-studded edition of The Bottom Line’s singer/songwriter series hosted by WFUV’s Rita Houston. Critic-faves MARSHALL CRENSHAW, BETH NIELSEN CHAPMAN, CINDY BULLENS and N’DEA DAVENPORT take to the stage to discuss the inspiration behind their tunes before performing them. In the “Fantasy Round,” the writers name the performers they would like to love to have cover their songs. The show features many humorous answers to questions posed by moderator Houston and the audience, along with few select duet performances.

    April 14 @ 9 PM -BLUE FLOYD is one of the most original acts on the New York club scene, an ensemble that performs Delta and electric Chicago Blues interpretations of the “space anthems” of those Sixties’ psychedelic warriors, PINK FLOYD. Catch their live “deconstructions” and “original landscape variations” on Floyd’s classic rock nuggets like “Astronomy Dominee” and “Money” from the stage of The Bottom Line.


Rainbow Media’s MetroChannels consist of MetroGuide, MetroLearning, and Metro Traffic&Weather. MetroGuide celebrates and explores what makes the NY tri-state area a special place to live and provides tips, ratings and recommendations for making the most out of local life and leisure. The tri-state’s only personal growth channel, MetroLearning responds to viewers’ curiosity about their world and to their desire to improve their lives with entertaining, provocative programming targeted to high school students in the afternoon and adults in prime time. Metro Traffic&Weather is the tri-state’s first and only 24-hour local traffic, transit, and weather channel.

Contact:


Aileen Budow – MetroChannels
212-324-8552
Darcey Agostino – Cataldi PR
212-244-9797