Booker T. Jones, Replacing Chuck Brown, will Perform May 10 in 2012 Celebrate Brooklyn! Bridge Dance Party at Brooklyn Bridge Park

BRIC Arts | Media | Bklyn is pleased to announce that Booker T. Jones will headline the first concert in this year’s Celebrate Brooklyn! Bridge Dance Party series, May 10 on Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 1. The scheduled headliner, Go-Go godfather Chuck Brown, has cancelled due to health concerns.

Jack Walsh, BRIC’s Director of Performing Arts Programs and Executive Producer of Celebrate Brooklyn, said, “All of us at BRIC wish Chuck Brown a speedy recovery. We are also thrilled to be able to present the legendary Booker T. Jones, an artist who, in the sixth decade of his career, sounds better than ever.”

Jones’s performance will feature material from his tremendously acclaimed recent album, The Road from Memphis (2011), on which the Grammy-winning Rock and Roll Hall of Famer was backed by The Roots and joined by Sharon Jones, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Matt Berninger of the National and Lou Reed. The album, produced by Jones with The Roots’s ?uestlove and Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliot Smith), prompted NPR to say, "After all these years, [Jones] remains so soulful, and so good.” USA Today said The Road from Memphis “transports listeners to the ‘60s heyday of Stax, where [Jones] and the MGs defined soul music.” At Brooklyn Bridge Park, Jones will also perform highlights spanning his career.

Rich Medina, one of New York’s favorite DJs, will warm up the evening with a sonic journey through hip-hop, house, Afrobeat, funk and soul.

Celebrate Brooklyn! Bridge Dance Party comprises an extraordinary lineup of bands and DJs, a great lawn with sweeping views of the city, dance lessons, free valet bike parking, food trucks and more. The dance parties will begin at 7:00 P.M. each night and end by 10:00PM. Pier 1 can be entered at the foot of Old Fulton Street at the waterfront.

Download the complete announcement (PDF, 3 pages)