First of all please pardon me for a second while I sing my own praises… Gemini & Scorpio, the lovely event entrepreneurs who I have been working for these last few months (to the detriment of this blog I am afraid), have been featured in an article in the New York Times. My name is actually included! My grandmother is less excited about this than you might expect but I for one am pretty thrilled.
Setup for G&S Party, image from the NYTimes
Ok, moving on… I have a friend coming to town this weekend who went to film school at NYU and is taking some sort of test to try to get into a film apprenticeship program in the city. As per usual when I have a visitor I have drafted a list of all sorts of wonderful events taking place and I thought I would share them with you!
Friday night the Mad Breaks Tea Party is sure to be a riotous good time, of the G&S/underground/alt-events variety. There will be aerialists, a tea garden (of course), sculptural installations, fire spinners, a hookah lounge and all sorts of other madness.
On Saturday at Galapagos Art Space, Floating Kabarette takes burlesque to the air in a gravity defying weekly show only to be found in the Big Apple.
Also on Saturday, for a much more G-rated (and more film centered) evening, you can head to 92Y Tribeca for a sing-along with Fieval and friends! An American Tail is one of those Spielberg movies that you associate much more with childhood than with Spielberg. If you remember the songs get ready to belt them with other fans! Here’s a clip to refresh your memory:
On Sunday, another film related event, my favorite comedians are making fun of one of the most ridiculous things to hit the cinema in recent years- Twilight! Head to the Knitting Factory to see the Raspberry Brothers make a comedy out of this mess.
Since this is a film-centric weekend I also advised my visiting friend to check out the offerings at
I advise you to do the same, anytime you want to check out new foreign/independent film or see classics on the big screen! Enjoy!
Follow me and Miss Scorpio on Twitter for the latest event listings and be sure to sign up for the G&S weekly event list- everything you need to know about alt-events in NYC!
Now that we are truly in the grip of the holiday season it’s time to celebrate what our fine city has to offer; this year it’s gifting us all sorts of marvelous ART!
Peter Fischli and David Weiss have a new exhibit showing at the Matthew Marks Gallery until Jan. 16th:
Sun, Moon and Stars is an encyclopedic accumulation of 800 magazine advertisements culled from hundreds of international periodicals. Begun as a project commissioned by a Swiss corporation for its annual report, the finished project is displayed in thirty-eight wood and glass tables, totaling 330 feet in length. A dizzying redaction of late capitalism in various chromatic and themed groupings, the ads are shown in a specific order that exploits the formal, narrative and color similarities between advertisements. Among the hundreds of paired ads, the viewer will discover the curious association between the color schemes in an ad for private airplanes and another for cat food. These juxtapositions guide the viewer toward many interpretations, following a specific narrative.
The Brooklyn Museum’s excellent photography exhibit ‘Who Shot Rock and Roll‘ is up until Jan. 31st. Here’s a taste of the iconic images in store for visitors:
Michael Putland (British, born 1947). Mick Jagger, Philadelphia, 1982 (printed 1990s). Gelatin silver print. Collection of Michael Putland
For anyone who didn’t experience NYC in the ’90s, you have a chance to see a fragment of the past with two exhibits exploring the work of Stuart Sherman, the performance artist who died of AIDS in 2001. The New York Times describes both exhibits in detail in this article; after you have the back story see the art for yourself at the 80WSE Gallery and Participant Inc.
Though it’s never become a separate category of art (like photography), lithography has been hugely influential over the years. Now until Dec. 12th you can see how a broad range of artists used the medium at FIAF. Their exhibit, The Great Masters of Lithography: Vintage Posters of Calder, Chagall, Dufy, Léger, Matisse, Miró, Picasso, and Others, explores the way “unique and visually striking lithographs, which were beautifully used as posters to promote the artists’ work.” Here’s one stunning example:
Picasso Lithograph
For a look at NYC through someone else’s eyes head over to Fuse Gallery to see Joshua Wildman’s beautiful photographs of the city that never sleeps. His strangely personal images of NY nightlife make the city seem at once wilder and also more vulnerable. Here’s one lovely shot:
Joshua Wildman Photo
For a more intimate set of images you can see Margaret de Lange’s Daughters at the Foley Gallery:
The images depict the two girls enjoying their summers out of doors, barefoot and often bare-bodied, in a dark and grainy, high-contrast style. In the photographs, the children seem to be a part of the nature around them, with dirt and grass clinging to knees and feet, with hoods of animal skin; they become like the creatures of Scandinavian folklore that, as de Lange explains, “were said to appear at twilight, and were always beautiful, but often evil as well.” And so we view the daughters, captured as they linger in a hazy half-darkness, in that time between day and night and an age between child and adult, exploring, discovering, and experiencing all of those little adventures which amount to growing up. These “creatures” exhibit their initiated ways through various little clues: dead birds hanging from string, bold stares from beneath fury capes. All together, the effect is unabashedly dark and earthy, yet calm and elegantly matter-of-fact.
Finally, it is perhaps unnecessary for me to mention the biggest retrospective of the season: Tim Burton at the MOMA. I doubt I need to say more so I’ll simply include this fun image:
Tim Burton
On that note I will sign off but stay tuned for news of upcoming events, etc. Also remember to follow me on twitter for the latest!
If you didn’t catch my last post you should check that first for some great events happening this evening and throughout the weekend, (Jazz! Sex Crimes Cabaret! Urban Gypsy Circus!), that said here are some more reasons to be in NYC over the holiday…
Friday evening, provided you aren’t killed in a Black Friday mob, there are two very different events I think are worth considering. First, Elysian Fields is playing at Joe’s Pub. Watch this video for a taste of their unique brand of luminosity:
Also on Friday there is a super nostalgic double feature showing at 92Y Tribeca- Clueless AND Mallrats! Did you know that there are 53 different kinds of tartan/plaid used in Clueless, seven of which are worn by Cher? Just watching this trailer makes me want to say WHATever to someone.
This weekend you have two chances to pair excellent food and excellent music at Monkeytown; the Neel Murgai Ensemble will be accompanied by a 5-course Indian dinner. Nothing goes together like raga and Chai spiced poha pudding!
That’s all for the moment but stay tuned for all sorts of additions over the weekend! Follow me on twitter for the latest and Happy Turkey Day!
Sometimes the best way to rediscover The Big Apple is to head into unknown territory. There are a number of ways to do that this week. First, if you’ve never been to Bed-Stuy this is the weekend to check it out; there will be all sorts of opportunities to see the neighborhood from the inside out including tours of historic brownstones and live performances by some of the hippest bands in the area- all part of Bed-Stuy Alive!
If you’re a gamer behind closed doors on Thursday it’s time to take it out in the open; Ethan Gilsdorf will be reading from his book “FANTASY FREAKS AND GAMING GEEKS: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms” at Solas as part of the St. Mark’s Bookshop Reading Series.
The book is an exploration and celebration of fantasy and gaming subcultures. On a quest that begins in his own geeky teenage past and ends in our online gaming future, former D&D addict Gilsdorf crisscrosses America, the world, and other worlds—from Boston to Wisconsin, France to New Zealand, and Planet Earth to Middle-earth to the realm of Aggramar. He asks game players and fantasy fans—old, young, male, female, able-bodied and disabled—what attracts them to fantasy worlds, and for what reasons. What he discovers is funny, poignant, and enlightening. The event begins with a “geek trivia contest” with prizes that tests the audience’s knowledge of all things Tolkien, Harry Potter, Dungeons & Dragons and more. Prizes will also be given to anyone arriving in costume as their favorite fantasy character or creature (elf, orc, warrior, wizard, Harry Potter, etc).
If you’re not a gamer behind closed doors perhaps you’re a secret fan of Italian Disco, if so you too can come out of the closet this Thursday! Brian Blackout will be spinning “Italian Disco, cheesy european disco, french house and Eurodance” at Trophy Bar for the new Euroflash dance party! Get out there and “shake your hips to the sound of mustachioed gentlemen plying arpeggiated basslines onto English vocals so badly butchered you can barely recognize them.”
If you don’t subscribe to NonsenseNYC you probably haven’t heard about the massive 10 year anniversary bash they’re throwing; buy your tickets NOW and thank me later. I will be in Boston visiting G and let me just say, if missing this party doesn’t prove how crazy in love with him I am then nothing else will.
This weekend you can literally peek behind (normally) closed doors; Open House New York opens up hundreds of private spaces to the public so you can discover the architectural treasures hidden behind the facades. Check out all the listings, read this article for a bit of advice on what to see and use this awesome Serious Eats feature to find a place to eat in-between tours! How trippy does this map of the sites look?
OHNY Sites 2009
I must really love that guy to be missing this, not to mention all the other events I’ll be sending your way in the next day or two- stay tuned! Plus follow me on twitter for real-time updates on the doings of The Big Red Apple.
Good morning everyone! I don’t know about you but I had one hell of a weekend! I can’t wait to post my full review of The Golden Pasties, not to mention Brooklyn Boulder, Girl in a Coma and the Mile High Dance Party (Abstract: They were all incredible!). First I want to send out a couple of announcements for today so we can all get the week off to an excellent start!
First off, it may be a bit chilly but it’s not too cold for an outdoor dance performance! The Joyce Theater is presenting a preview of its fall season on the Upper Terrace of Bryant Park this evening. My friend JS is one of the dancers opening the performance so there’s sure to be lots of elegance and beauty in the park!
The Joyce presents six companies performing selections from their upcoming season: Ballet Hispanico, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Complexions, Keigwin + Company, Parsons Dance, and Rioult. For more information on The Joyce Theater, please visit: www.joyce.org.
Also this evening Edmund White will be discussing the bad old days of NYC at The Half King:
In the New York of the 1970s, in the wake of Stonewall and in the midst of economic collapse, you might find the likes of Jasper Johns and William Burroughs at the next cocktail party, and you were as likely to be caught arguing Marx at the New York City Ballet as cruising for sex in the warehouses and parked trucks along the Hudson. This is the New York that Edmund White portrays in City Boy: a place of enormous intrigue and artistic tumult. Combining the no-holds-barred confession and yearning of A Boy’s Own Story with the easy erudition and sense of place of The Flaneur, this is the story of White’s years in 1970s New York, bouncing from intellectual encounters with Susan Sontag and Harold Brodkey to erotic entanglements downtown to the burgeoning gay scene of artists and writers. It’s a moving, candid, brilliant portrait of a time and place, full of encounters with famous names and cultural icons.
For more of the same check out Abel Ferrara’s documentary on the Chelsea Hotel- “Chelsea on the Rocks.” The New York Times says, “The film is madly infatuated with the Chelsea’s notoriety as a nexus of sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll.”
There is nothing, I mean nothing, more questionable than questionable musical theater. The New York Musical Theater Festival showcases new and still-in-development musicals; some will go on to be Broadway sensations (Avenue Q got its start at NYMF), others will be so terrible that they will become immortalized. In my mind the art of choosing which show to see is in finding the show that will be just bad enough to be good. My pick for this year is The Last Smoker in America- a musical about smoking. With lyrics like “the glowing tips of all those cigarettes looked like fireflies” this could be the best/worst musical I’ve ever seen. For help in picking your poison check out this article.
After listening to this analysis of the New York Film Festival I have decided that I am simply not miserable enough to attend any of the films being shown this year. I am hoping to have more luck at the other two film festivals happening this weekend. The Coney Island Film Festival involves “a stunning array of high and low-brow fare, as diverse as the neighborhood it represents. Subjects range from the profound to the profane, showcasing the independent spirit and irreverent nature of the one and only Coney Island.” I am particularly drawn to the short films, such as “Mollye Asher’s Slim and Lena a modern film noir set in the grit and glamour of the neo-burlesque scene,” which I think will fit in very well with The New York Burlesque Festival (also happening this weekend). The Red Hook Film Festival is also focused on our fine city; the festival brings us 2 days of shorts filmed in NYC.
On Sunday you can help save the world, or at least learn about the people who are saving the world, at Ecofest! This massive event includes everything from a fashion show presenting sustainable clothing to live concerts and demonstrations of environmentally friendly cars.
If you’re more interested in fried dough than hemp you may want to spend your Sunday at Atlantic Antic- my favorite annual street festival. Last year K and I enjoyed lots of live music, tried on hats made by local artisans, and checked out the antique buses that the Transit Museum rolled out for show and tell!
If you’ve been following me on Twitter, or checking my tweets in the sidebar, you already know that Prelude starts tonight and that the New York Film Festival is ongoing! More about those in a moment, first, a few more events worth your consideration…
Tonight one of my favorite fellow bloggers has helped to organize a benefit concert at Glasslands. The organization receiving the benefit is called Young Invincibles; they’re an “organization that was created in order to raise awareness about health care reform amongst young people.” Best of all The Woes, who I’ve raved to you about in the past, are one of the acts! If all the hoopla about healthcare reform has made you itch to make a difference but activism is not quite your forte this is the perfect way to spend your evening! Go out and rock out to great music for a cause!
Also tonight Dare Dukes will be crooning his sexy urban folk songs at Banjo Jims; he’s been on tour so get out and welcome him back in style!
Starting tomorrow the 7th Annual New York Burlesque Festival will be making the Big Apple too hot to handle! My favorite performer, Gigi La Femme, will be hitting the stage and if all the shows aren’t enough the festival will wrap up with the award show to end all award shows- The Golden Pasties!
For some short and sweet erotica (in this case it’s ok to be fast) head to Happy Endings for the shorts installment of the In the Flesh Erotica Reading Series.
To return to Prelude… Let me just say that all of the programs are questionable in exactly the right way- ambitious and sincere but possibly over-the-top. I am particularly drawn to ‘Arts in Conversation: Digital,’ which is taking place on Thursday:
From prestidigitation to wall-sized projections, from sleight-of-hand to mediated environments, artists have used the digital arts – in both senses of the word – to amaze audiences, heighten and transform our perception. Whether the illusion is created by video, computer, or by hand the notion of “the digital” remains central to many artists’ presentational aesthetics. Join us in a conversation on the uses of the digital in building imaginative space and informing performance practice.
On Sunday you can plan ahead and buy your perfect and unique holiday gifts at the Astoria Autumn Fest!
Stay tuned for news of even more upcoming events including a rooftop screening of Firefly, the Lamb Takedown (competitive eating just keeps on expanding), some amazing aerial moves at my favorite Trapeze School and short films with a live score!
Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter or keep track of the tweets in the sidebar for all the latest news!
If my last post was more than you could handle please don’t read further, you may be paralyzed by the number of events worth your time in the coming days…
Tonight whip up your best potluck offering (I like to make pies but casseroles are traditional) and head to Canoe Studios for the Slideluck Potshow- a potluck dinner where your dish is your ticket to a slideshow of original work by artists including (on this occasion) Christoph Niemann, Brian Ulrich, Claudio Papapietro and Edith Maybin. This is the 13th such event, which the New York Times has described as “own little niche in the art world, glazed with a hipster sheen.”
Tomorrow night catch Sexy Neighbors at Lit Lounge where their hot Afrobeat will be raising the roof.
On Sunday their are two great BBQs to add to this weekend’s menu. DJ Fucci will be spinning at Outpost’s Garden Party; there will be yummy food including do-it-yourself s’mores!
On Tuesday Budos Band will provide the tunes for the last Hudson Sq. Backyard BBQ of the season. Get out and make the most of this delicious summer event.
The Meatpacking District is quite different by night and by day; my friend AF and I went “clubbing” in the area on a Thursday night recently. It’s not really my scene in general- bit too money oriented, but she’s new to the city and wanted to experience the posh end of the nightlife scene. After some meandering and a few disappointments (I refuse to pay $20 to get into a club) we were feeling rather grouchy, until our personal concierge, in the form of a friendly hobo, appeared to give us advice and directions to his favorite clubs (I kid you not). He pointed us towards Griffin and thanks to being super cute we were allowed into a hot private party. Much crazy partying ensued and though I can hardly guarantee that you will get into Griffin in the future, or even that it will be as awesome as it was that night, I can tell you to follow the advice of the resident hobo (think of him as your Fairy Hobo).
I was back in the neighborhood by day over this past weekend to check out the long awaited High Line. It was definitely very cool to wander through wildflowers above the city; you feel both very much part of the city and at the same time a bit like an omniscient observer. Here are a couple of pictures; I’m planning to set up a Flickr account soon so that I can link to a full album.
Another lovely way to spend the evening- Thursday nights at the MOMA! I checked out some of the new exhibits last week and it was lovely to wander through the galleries in the evening; sadly it was raining so there was no concert in the courtyard but I expect that would have been fantastic. I loved the giant installation by Song Dong; apparently it consists of all of his mother’s possessions- she lived through the Communist Revolution in China and is therefore (much like our Depression era grandparents) a bit of a pack rat. Here’s a picture to give you a concept of the scope:
Even I don’t have that many shoes! I hope you’re having a great week; check out my last post for info on the events going on and stay tuned for more upcoming events!
Happy Monday everyone! I actually woke up at 5:45 and went to my 7am yoga class today so I’m already feeling hugely accomplished, plus since I’m funemployed I got to nap all morning afterwards! Hurray! I hope you are off to an equally good start this week! I wrote about a couple of events for tonight in an earlier post, so be sure to check that out.
This is the last week to check out Hiding Behind Comets, a play by Brian Dykstra that the NYTimes calls “a dark, gritty story with its full measure of sex, violence, profanity and general nastiness.” Check it out at the Spoon Theater!
David Tully, Rebecca Challis and Kiran Malhotra in Hiding Behind Comets
Tomorrow night celebrate Good Beer Month at the Local Grill-Off to benefit Slow Food! The event will be taking place at Water Taxi Beach, so you can check out the skyline while enjoying excellent food and beer! Get your tickets here.
In celebration of Good Beer Month, watch contestants show off their grilling skills using locally sourced ingredients in the Local Grill-Off to benefit Slow Food ($35). After sampling the entries, try locally sourced feasts from some the city’s top ‘cue joints (including Fette Sau, Rub BBQ and the soon-to-open Fatty Cue) and beers from Six Point Brewery.
This exciting walking tour covers everything from the Golden Age of the American gangster at the turn of the century to prohibition-era gang wars to the bohemian arts and drug culture of the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Some of the most influential and colorful criminals and characters in American history have called the East Village home — organized mobsters, social-political organizations, radical activists, religious cults, and everything in-between.
Trace the steps of everyone from Bugsy Siegel, Meyer Lansky, Al Capone, and Lucky Luciano to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, The Hells Angels, GG Allin, and many many more. Riots, squatter evictions, cannibals, street gangs, kidnappings, shoot outs, assassinations, grave-robbers, hangings, bombings; we cover it all…
For a look at more recent history you can join the hipsters in McCarren Park for a screening of 24-hour Party People, a comedy documenting Manchester’s golden age of Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll. Check out the trailer:
On Thursday celebrate the great Jazz music written for piano at the 92Y Tribeca. Performers include pianists Mulgrew Miller, Eric Scott Reed, Renee Rosnes and Bill Charlap.
If it’s dancing you want head out to Hugs for another addition of Excess Energy’s much lauded Love Machine party! DJs Brian Blackout and Fucci will be spinning the tunes while you connect with that hot stranger in the crowd through interactive messaging! The UK Magazine Grazia Daily will be there checking out the action; go show them what Wburg is all about!
If you want to add some art to your week head over to the Soho20 Gallery in Chelsea for the opening of their new exhibit Boxing Gloves and Bustiers! The exhibit explores different concepts of female identity through video art. Here’s a still from one of the pieces:
Under My Skin by Valerie Garlick
Have an excellent week and stay tuned for additions!
