Big Lazy
Bar LunÀtico486 Halsey Street, New York 11233
Big Lazy plays two sets, with Stephen Ulrich on guitar, Andrew Hall on bass and Yayo Serka on drums. The trio’s sparse electric guitar, acoustic bass and drums setup shapes instrumental music from blues, jazz, surf and rockabilly archetypes.
A fixture of New York’s downtown music scene for more than two decades, Big Lazy is led by Ulrich, also the composer for HBO’s Bored to Death. The New Yorker called the group an “elegantly gritty instrumental trio,” finding music that moves from “truckers’ romps” to the haunting film scores of Bernard Herrmann.
A basement club in Bedford-Stuyvesant, LunÀtico is a musician-owned space where live music starts at 9pm nightly, following dinner service. The stage is modest, with a single chair for the band, and the audience sits on wooden booths or the floor, close enough to feel the energy. The room is lit by dim bulbs, with walls lined with vintage posters and a few well-worn speakers. There's a bar with original cocktails, craft beer, and wine, and a dinner menu available from 6pm to 11pm. Shows are donation-based, with a $10 recommendation in cash. It's a place where people listen to music and talk afterward, in a familiar, unpolished setting.