PLAYLIST has probably said this before: Mojave 3, which started off as Slowdive’s Neil Halstead’s acoustic side project, has one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded in their “Bluebird of Happiness,” from the 2002 disc “Spoon and Rafter.”
The British pop dream-catchers recently released their fifth album, “Puzzles Like You,” which lets the pop sun shine in, reflecting a brighter side of the ’60s.
Mojave 3 performs tonight and tomorrow at the Bowery Ballroom (6 Delancey St.; [212] 533-2111).
TONIGHT: Patti Smith, who changed the words of her “Gloria” to “Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not CBGB’s” at the farewell show Sunday, needs another place to play.
She’s heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for “Jeanne d’Arc,” who happens to be Playlist’s favorite saint (it has something to do with actress Jean Seberg being burned at the stake).
Smith, as well as members of her band and guests, will pay homage to “Joan of Arc” and the 1879 Jules Bastien-Lepage painting in the museum’s permanent collection, and to other French cultural figures, including Edith Piaf, Charles Baudelaire and Arthur Rimbaud. You know. “Horses”: “Go Rimbaud, go Rimbaud, And go Johnny go, and do the watusi.” It all works.
It’s Smith’s third appearance at the Met – she’s devoted previous nights to William Blake and to All Saints Day.
For tickets, call (212) 570-3949.
TOMORROW: Little Steven’s Underground Garage brings in the Shadows of Knight (who had a hit with “Gloria” in 1966), the “What I Like About You” Romantics, the Charms and others to Irving Plaza, (17 Irving Place; [212] 777-6800).
TUESDAY plus: Bedsit Poets will also transport you to the early ’60s with their jangly pop guitars, folk harmonies and a sitar at Mo Pitkin’s (24 Avenue A; [212] 777-5660]. Dave Rave also appears.
If you’re in the mood for some seasoned West Texas country, singer/songwriter Guy Clark, a luthier who builds his own guitars and penned a bunch of songs that were hits for other artists such as Johnny Cash, Lyle Lovett, Ricky Skaggs and the Highwaymen, will celebrate his new album, “Workbench Songs,” at the intimate Joe’s Pub (425 Lafayette St.; [212] 967-7555).
THURSDAY: New Yorker Paul Brill and his band – a 10-piece orchestra – will celebrate his new album, “Harpooner,” at Joe’s Pub.
With layers of electronic and acoustic sounds, the songs have an otherworldly, modern quality to them, grounded by Brill’s plaintive vocals. Essie Jain opens.
*Freddy Fender, who died last week, once said his luck was so bad that when he died, if he were reincarnated he’d come back as himself. We should be so lucky.
