For our latest Flipcam concert, we present to you .357 Lover, performing in the cozy confines of the Williamsburg tattoo joint 8 of Swords (featured in TONY a few years back). We can think of no better setting in which to experience keyboardist-vocalist Corn Mo & Co.’s Meat Loaf–esque operatic-pop goodness. If you like what you hear, catch the group in full-volume mode this Friday (October 2) at Brooklyn Bowl, where it opens for Bee Gees cover band Tragedy and celebrates a splendidly titled new CD, Diorama of the Golden Lion. Click past the jump for a bonus video.
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It’s a stellar day for free live music in NYC. Allow us to regale you with some enticing options, starting with surf-rock guitar colossus Dick Dale, who performs for free at 2pm at J&R Music World (and again tonight at City Winery, though that gig is a bit pricier). Take a long lunch break and drink in Dale’s sweet, sweet twang. Here’s the man way back in 1963, performing his later Pulp Fiction–ized hit “Misirlou”:

And the J&R action continues into the evening, as the store’s annual MusicFest at City Hall Park presents a 5pm show with veteran bar-rockers The Smithereens, ex–Be Your Own Pet belter Jemina Pearl and soulful piano songstress Diane Birch.

Out in Brighton Beach, at Asser Levy Seaside Park, you can catch a gratis concert by none other than disco queen Donna Summer, still supporting 2008’s Crayons, her first album of all-new material since 1991.

Two prominent local alt-bluesmen also play for free tonight: Marcellus Hall at the East Village’s Lakeside Lounge, and TK Webb at Williamsburg’s Pete’s Candy Store.

Lastly, trumpeter Gabriel Alegria’s Afro-Peruvian Sextet, which specializes in combining jazz with Peruvian music, appears at a no-cover gig at Tutuma Social Club.

Those willing to shell out a little cash have a bunch of solid choices, including an indie-rock blowout at Brooklyn Bowl with These Are Powers, Cymbals Eat Guitars and more;  Detroit-reared piano legend Hank Jones at Birdland; and Great American Songbook pro KT Sullivan, inaugurating the city’s newest cabaret space, Granite Room at City Hall.

New York is filled with rock clubs and dining establishments, and it has its share of bowling alleys, too. But a bowling alley–rock club–restaurant? Come Tuesday, July 7, there will be one of those, too. Brooklyn Bowl, a 16-lane bowling alley and 600-capacity performance venue, opens that night in Williamsburg. The venue will be eco-friendly and feature grub by Blue Ribbon. Chicago once had a scruffy bowling alley and punk club, but Brooklyn Bowl seems pointed in a different direction: It’s the creation of Peter Shapiro and Charley Ryan, formerly of the jam-band haven Wetlands Preserve.