Joe's Pub Announces Julian Fleisher 5/5, Michelle Shocked 5/6 & More

Joe's Pub at The Public Theater debuted in October 1998 and has quickly became one of New York City's most celebrated and in-demand showcase venues for live music and performance. With its genre-blind booking and vast diversity of interests, the stage at Joe's Pub gives voice to a world of varied and stellar artists.

With impeccable sound and lights, the warm and intimate candlelit atmosphere of Joe's Pub is filled with plush velvet couches, softly glowing lucite tables and gorgeously understated architecture. Joe's Pub is open seven days a week, regularly hosting as many as three shows a day. Dinner and drink service is available during every performance; the venue offers a classic Italian dinner menu and a fully stocked bar.

MAY 5 - MAY 7

HAPPY ENDING MUSIC AND READING SERIES

Wednesday, May 5 at 7:00 PM
The consistently sold out, Happy Ending Music and Reading Series, chosen by New York Magazine and NY Press as the best reading series in NYC, and singled out by the New York Times Magazine for helping to "Keep downtown alive," features the most interesting storytellers, writers, musicians, raconteurs and personalities, and requires the readers to take one public risk, while the musicians, who perform two short sets with their original, lyric-driven music, are required to play one cover song and try to get the audience to sing along. Called the "most vital authors' series in the city," by Time Out NY, and known for its consistently good taste, Happy Ending has launched careers and proudly, ended none. $15

Julian Fleisher

Wednesday, May 5 at 9:30 PM

"I have seen the future of vocal Jazz! He's got a marvelous, resonate baritone, with impeccable intonation, and a wonderful choice of material...talented, funny and hip."- LA Jazz Scene, East/ West Connections

Before the art of song was divided into narrow stylistic slices, before there was Jazz or Pop or Rock, there was Nightclub Singing. Like Sammy Davis, Jr, Ethel Water and Mel Tormé before him, Julian Fleisher mixes masterful interpretations of a wide range of popular songs with kick-ass showmanship and a generously endowed band that -- as the Washington Post put it -- "blew the roof off of Joe's Pub." $20 in advance / $25 at the door

MICHELLE SHOCKED: 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF ARKANSAS TRAVELER

Thursday, May 6 at 7:00 PM

It's the Arkansas Traveler Redux! Our favorite 'sophisticated hillbilly' returns to celebrate the 20th anniversary release of Arkansas Traveler, an "epic journey into the heart of Americana." "I believe it is a masterpiece that has stood the test of time," says Michelle, "and I'm delighted to return with a few updates and surprises added." $30

JULIAN VELARD w/ Special Guest HARPER BLYNN

Thursday, May 6 at 9:30 PM

Native New Yorker, London resident, former Kindergarten Gym Teacher and one-time Parisian Street Sweeper, Julian Velard is a true original. The kind of character in a Wes Anderson or Quentin Tarintino film you'd like to grab a drink with. A real-life, musical version of Philip Marlowe (more Elliot Gould than Bogart) fusing the effortless cool of Robert Downey Jr. with the self-depreciating humor of Woody Allen, serving up slices of old-school Pop perfection with a raised eyebrow.

Born in the heart of Martin Scorsese's Big Apple to a Queen-sized legs model/4-time Jeopardy champion mother and a French ex-patriot/ATM designer Father, Velard attended Laguardia High School for the Performing Arts, immortalized in the movie Fame. His first job was delivering videos to the likes of Cyndi Lauper and The Coen Brothers. It was during those after-school afternoons Velard devoured the albums that would form his musical landscape for years to come - Stevie Wonder's Talking Book, Elvis Costello's Armed Forces, Billy Joel's The Stranger, and Elton John's Tumbleweed Connection.

Velard spent his young adulthood paying his dues, living in an efficiency apartment literally in the shadow of Manhattan, in Red Hook, Brooklyn. He supported himself with some very odd jobs (including the afore mentioned "Hungover with Hula-hoops" episode) and touring the U.S., playing shows anywhere and everywhere, from rock clubs to cabarets to bar-mitzvahs and back again, honing his quirky brand of Pop all the while. After releasing three records independently, in 2007 Velard was plucked from relative obscurity off of Myspace, the source of well deserved UK Major Label attention. He signed a record deal and promptly moved to England.

Since then, Velard has straddled both sides of the Atlantic, writing songs for himself and others, and playing shows alongside Goldfrapp, Shelby Lynne, Marc Broussard, Amy McDonald, Kate Nash, Jose Gonzalez, Sonya Kitchell, Tom Baxter, The Clarks, Horatio Sanz, Ben Kweller, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals and others, and is currently working towards the 2010 release of his label debut. $16

Isabel Rose: SWINGIN' FROM THE HIP CD RELEASE

Friday, May 7 at 9:30 PM

" As long as [Rose] is on stage, nobody would leave the room," writes The International Herald Tribune. "Rose gives the audience one grand good time," agrees New York Theater Wire. Dave Kehr of the New York Times has proclaimed, "Ms. Rose can indeed sing."

Join Anything But Love film star and J.A.P Chronicles author Isabel Rose as she celebrates the release of her debut CD, Swingin' from the Hip, produced by legendary Joe's Pub regular, Julian Fleisher. With a repertoire that draws from standards, pop and jazz alike, Rose brings her own hip style to everything she sings. At turns sassy and brassy, often sultry and sophisticated, and always with an irrepressible energy and wit, Rose delivers a sound that'll keep you smiling. Described by one fan as "a contemporary Peggy Lee with a smattering of Ann Margaret, a pinch of Dusty Springfield and healthy nod toward Bette Midler," Rose creates something entirely original and timeless that has broad audience appeal. $25

NYU Tisch Presents Sutton Foster'S CABARET CENTRAL: FROM RODGERS TO HEART

Friday, May 7 at MIDNIGHT

Tony Award-winner Sutton Foster, who has originated leading roles in five new musicals and recently starred as Princess Fiona in Shrek The Musical, comes to the Drama Department to create a presentation that demonstrates the special alchemy between actor and audience that happens in cabaret performance. With an emphasis on "owning" the song, audiences will be taken on a musical journey that reveals the interpretive power of solo performance. $10 / $7 w/ student ID

TICKETS

Online at joespub.com, phone 212-967-7555, in Person At the Public Theater Box Office (1 PM to 6 PM), or at the Joe's Pub Box Office from (6 PM to 10 PM) both located at 425 Lafayette Street, NYC

For table reservations please call 212-539-8778. Purchase of tickets does NOT guarantee a table reservation; you must call to reserve seats. Seating, as well as standing-room, is available only on a first-come, first-served basis for all shows without a dinner reservation. Two drink or $12 food minimum per person is standard.

Photo Credit: Genevieve Rafter-Keddy