​Every day this month, Sound of the City has been publishing pieces about Philip Glass turning 75 years old, in conjunction with the Voice's cover story on the composer. Naturally, of course, this has led to an interview with Dapwell (Ashok Kondabolu) of Das Racist, who's performing Monday night at the annual Tibet House benefit at Carnegie Hall. Glass has curated the lineup for the past 22 years, ever since he co-founded the non-profit. Also on the bill for Monday: Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed, Rahzel, James Blake, and Dechen Shak-Dagsay.

The questions we asked Dapwell sometimes prompted answers as sparse and spare as Glass's early composition (alas, he had jetlag). Still, we thoroughly enjoyed our chat about Tibetan independence, smoking up in Carnegie Hall, and what he imagines Philip Glass probably thinks of "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell."

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American Composers Orchestra
Carnegie Hall
Tuesday, January 31

Better than: A date with Justin Bieber for a 13-year-old girl.

Last night at Carnegie Hall, the American Composers Orchestra ("the only orchestra in the world" dedicated to music by American composers) celebrated Philip Glass's 75th birthday with a program that began with the New York premiere of Estonian-born composer Arvo Pärt's alternately sparse and bombastic Lamentate and ended with the U.S. premiere of Glass's Symphony No. 9. It was a magical evening, the kind of night where audience member Meryl Streep is not recognized as the star of the The Iron Lady (or even for being Meryl Streep) but rather just as that actress in the Glass-scored film The Hours, there to celebrate her friend's big night.

Even when someone fell unconscious during the performance—an incident made all the more stunning by Carnegie Hall's legendary acoustics and the sparse nature of Part's composition at that moment—the band played on without missing a beat.

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Patti Smith, leading the charge as always. Pic by Tracy Ketcher.

​21st-Annual Tibet House U.S. Benefit Concert
Starring The Flaming Lips, the Roots, Taj Mahal, Michael Stipe, etc.
Carnegie Hall
Thursday, March 3

Better Than: "Auld Lang Syne"

"Beauty is power -- violence is weak," we are told soberly by Tibet House U.S. cofounder Robert Thurman at the onset of their glamorous annual gala. The Tibetan Buddhist author and professor (and father of actress Uma) greets the well-packed pews of Carnegie Hall with an eloquent speech about simplicity, peace, acceptance, condolences. So in deference to his long scholarship, we won't say that this star-studded variety show has any victors or victims; at the New York cultural center's 21st-annual benefit, there are only brothers and sisters united. Tonight, there are no losers or winners.

Except the winners are the Roots. And how.

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​Q: How do you get to Carnegie Hall? A: Release a bewildering triple-CD and date Andy Samberg. It's frankly shocking it took so long, but everyone's favorite mega-baroque harpist hits the big time November 23. Two days before thanksgiving, just FYI. Tickets on sale Monday, link TBA. If her past shows are any indication you will be surrounded by Saturday Night Live cast members and, if you're really lucky, Lou Reed. If you're unlucky, he will sit at the end of your row and you'll be too scared to leave your seat and attempt to maneuver around him.

Carnegie Hall photo via wallyg's photostream

​So, of the $189,793 worth of proceeds Carnegie Hall will take in if Sunday's Haiti fundraiser--featuring the world-beating pianist Lang Lang, conductor Christoph Eschenbach, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra, and Wyclef Jean--sells out completely, how much will Haiti get? About $8,000, reports the New York Times. The rest will go to the venue's astonishingly high rental and promotional costs, "with the biggest chunks going to stagehands and newspaper advertisements." A Unicef spokesman, making the best of it, told the paper that "It's an enormous profile raiser," and that "the fact that the donation may not have six zeros after it doesn't mean it's not worth making, that's for sure."

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