Great Googa Mooga 2012 Preview

On May 19th & 20th, Park Slope will get infused with food, drink, and music as The Great Googa Mooga takes place in Prospect Park (QRO venue review). There are stages of music from neo-soul to today’s Brooklyn indie, as well as food from celebrity chefs like Anthony Bourdain (No Reservations) and Tom Colicchio (Top Chef – and that’s host/judge, not contestant…), and drinks from Garrett Oliver (Brooklyn Brewery) and more:

SATURDAY, MAY 19TH

Nethermead Stage The Roots, 6:45 PM – 8:00 PM The ‘best band in late night’ headlines Saturday at Googa Mooga! Black Thought & ?uestlove’s outfit (QRO photos at a festival) has met with critical and popular acclaim for years now, fusing hip-hop and jazz into an original & enjoyable package, along with collaborating with just about anyone you can name. Two years ago, the group (QRO photos outdoors) signed on as the house band for the new Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (QRO Indie on Late Night TV), and while this limited their touring, not so their records, most recently with last year’s Undun (QRO review). And the Philly natives (like Sunday headliners Hall & Oates – see below), when not slow-jamming the news with President Obama, find the time to return to Brooklyn (QRO photos at Prospect Park Bandshell).

Holy Ghost!, 5:00 PM – 5:45 PM Electro-pop duo Alex Frankel & Nick Millhiser (QRO photos) forms the up-and-coming Holy Ghost! (QRO live review), who have toured with LCD Soundsystem (QRO live review, on tour with Holy Ghost!) and Cut Copy (QRO live review with Holy Ghost!), and put out their self-titled debut (QRO review) last year.

Preservation Hall Jazz Band, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM New Orleans’ Preservation Hall has been preserving the iconic city’s jazz tradition not just in the Big Easy but also around the world thanks to the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, who having been bringing Dixieland to other lands since the founding of the hall back in the sixties.

Also: The Pedrito Martinez Group, 1:15 PM – 2:00 PM Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens, 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM – QRO photos outdoors

Hamageddon Stage Bear Hands, 5:45 PM – 6:45 PM No indie music festival is complete without an up-and-coming Brooklyn band, and at Googa Mooga it’s friend-of-the-Q Bear Hands (QRO spotlight on). Their alt-punk is more skilled than most in the genre (or the borough – QRO photos in Brooklyn), as seen in 2010’s great full-length debut, Burning Bush Supper Club (QRO review). Fronted by the engaging Val Lopez & Dylan Rau (QRO interview with both), they play well at festivals (QRO photos at a festival), including U.K.’s Leeds (QRO live review), and outdoors like Prospect Park itself (QRO photos in Prospect Park). Look for the great newer material from the band (QRO photos) – even improvised songs (QRO video) – as well as old like “Sickly Brunette” (QRO video) and “Long Lean Queen” (QRO video). Allan Benton, 5:15 PM – 5:35 PM

Unchained, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM Unchained is “The Mighty Van Halen Tribute”. Hamburger Grinding With Pat Lafrieda, 3:15 PM – 3:45 PM

Unknown Mortal Orchestra, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM From Portland, but also New Zealand, Unknown Mortal Orchestra (QRO live review) impressed a lot of ears with their self-titled debut (QRO review), which managed to be avant while also still rockin’.

Also: Fort Lean, 12:15 PM – 1:15 PM – QRO photos

Dan Kluger Urbarn

Fleisher’s Butcher Shop: Sustainable Livestock and Butchering, 5:00 PM – 5:45 PM

Great CSA Smackdown: A Just Food CSA-Inspired Cooking Competition, 3:15 PM – 4:00 PM

Dan Kluger From ABC Kitchen: How Sourcing Locally Creates a Sustainable Environment, 1:15 PM – 2:00 PM

Just Food Presents Wonderful Wigglers: A Worm Workshop For Little Ones, 11:15 AM – 12:00 PM

Get an eco-friendly localvore meal at the Urbarn Stage.

James Murphy Pagoda Stage

James Murphy DJ Set, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Anthony Bourdain, 5:45 PM – 6:45 PM

WTF Podcast With Marc Maron and special guests Chuck Klosterman, John Hodgeman and AJ Jacobs, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM

Noshing With… Ruth Reichl, David Chang, Aziz Ansari and James Murphy, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM

Meet and Greet (and Eat): Michael Symon and Dean Fearing, presented by Lexus, 12:15 PM – 1:15 PM

Comedians like writer Chuck Klosterman, The Daily Show‘s John Hodgeman, and Parks & Recreation‘s Aziz Ansari come to the Pagoda Stage, before it is closed out with a DJ set by LCD Soundsystem’s (QRO live review) James Murphy (QRO photos DJing).

Boathouse

Spirit Of Old New York Cocktail Party Hosted By Fedora, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM

The Monkey Bar Goes Bananas Hosted By The Monkey Bar, 3:30 PM – 5:30 PM

Shell Shucked! Hosted By The John Dory Oyster Bar, 12:30 PM – 2:30 PM

Garrett Oliver Spiegel Tent

Speedtasting: The Corkbuzz Wine Event, 6:15 PM – 7:15 PM

Speedtasting: The Corkbuzz Wine Event, 4:45 PM – 5:45 PM

Mmmmmm, Beer & Bacon Garrett Oliver and Alan Benton, 2:45 PM – 3:45 PM

Beer vs. Wine Garrett Oliver and Paul Grieco, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

Farmer Fizz Champagnes, presented by Terry Theise, 11:15 AM – 12:15 PM

Get your high-class drink on at the Boathouse & Spiegel Tent.

Marc Maron

Kitchen Theater

Silent Disco, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Bromberg Bros Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken, 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM

April Bloomfield: A Girl And Her Pig, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM

Molecular Cocktails From Booker & Dax Kate Krader and Dave Arnold, 1:15 PM – 2:15 PM

Winning The Cup: Third Rail Coffee and Marc Maron, 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM

SUNDAY, MAY 20TH

Nethermead Stage Hall & Oates, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM Headlining Sunday at the Great Googa Mooga is the legendary Hall & Oates. In the late seventies & early eighties the Philadelphia duo (like Black Thought & ?uestlove of Saturday’s headliners – see above) fused rock ‘n’ roll with rhythm & blues for ‘rock and soul’ and chart-topping hits such as “Maneater” and “Private Eyes”. They’ve been together & solo for over four decades, and come to Googa with a massive catalog of songs to perform.

Fitz & The Tantrums, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM While acts like Brooklyn’s Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings (QRO album review) revive the soul sound, Los Angeles’ Fitz & The Tantrums (QRO photos) are reinventing it with an indie-pop twist.

Escort, 2:15 PM – 3:00 PM Hopefully the Nethermead Stage can fit the massive disco ensemble Escort (QRO photos at a festival).

Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires, 12:30 PM – 1:15 PM The ‘Screaming Eagle of Soul’, Charles Bradley (QRO photos at a festival) is one of the many great soul singers to emerge from Brooklyn’s own DapTone Records, which also brought the world Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings (QRO album review) and Budos Band (QRO album review).

Hamageddon Stage Lez Zeppelin, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM If you’re gonna be a tribute band, be a tribute to the best – and why not flip the boy’s club script of rock ‘n’ roll and be all-girl, like Lez Zeppelin? Hamburger Grinding With Pat Lafrieda, 4:15 PM – 4:45 PM

Peelander-Z, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM From the Z area of Planet Peelander comes the Japanese Action Comic Punk band Peelander-Z! Think a cross between The Ramones and The Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers… Allan Benton, 2:30 PM – 2:50 PM

We Barbarians, 1:15 PM – 2:15 PM Long Beach’s We Barbarians (QRO photos at a festival) came to a Brooklyn already overstuffed with bands from out of town, but have still managed to stand out (QRO live review), thanks to their gritty-and-accomplished Headspace EP (QRO review). Also: Lucius, 11:45 AM – 12:30 PM