Tag Archives: The Jaguar Club

Dumplings, Marshmallows and Floggers on a Boat

I’m still reeling from being hit in the head by one of Miss Saturn’s hula hoops (more on that later) but there are some events I simply must pass on!

First off, don’t forget about the Marshmallow Civil War I mentioned yesterday, and be sure to check out my review of The Jaguar Club if you want to see a concert tonight.

If you want to start dancing early today you’re in luck; New Release is throwing a ‘Mister Saturday Night Daytime Loft Party‘ starting at 3pm:

Bloody marys and mimosas are on the menu; our friend Fiore Tedesco from The Brooklyn Laundry is making egg tacos and other brunch snacks; and you can bring your little ones and your dogs. We love it when they come. Residents Justin Carter and Eamon Harkin will be laying down the disco, house and such; and our special guest is Moodymann, a Motor City legend. We’ve heard him drop everything from boogie to grime to techno, but no matter what he plays it’s always super funky and super fun.

If you want less dancing and more eating this afternoon you should check out the Dumpling Festival! There will be hundreds of dumplings from around the world so if you missed the Dumpling Crawl I wrote about recently this is your chance to make up for it!

Tonight you can take Halloween to a new level by setting sail on a fetish cruise. When the Baroness is involved you’d better believe the play stations will be HOT. Note: Do not go on this cruise if you will be uncomfortable viewing and/or participating in public flogging, suspension and latex fashion shows.

fetish cruise

For a more literary Saturday night you can celebrate the opening of another independent bookstore in Brooklyn- The Greenlight Bookstore!

The long-awaited 2,000-square-foot space has everything literati (and wannabes) could want, including a huge kids’ section, French and Spanish editions, graphic novels galore, and tons of NY-centric titles.

Tonight is also the Zombiecon! If you feel confident in your ability to drink beer with a fake knife sticking out of your throat, then this is the event for you!

For more fun on boats this weekend you can clamor aboard the Steamship Lilac on Sunday to experience Oktobership– the party comes complete with circus performers, theater troupes and live bands (talk about rocking the boat!)!

oktobership

If you’d rather stay on dry land head over to P.S.1 where they’re opening their fall exhibits in style:

Join us for an opening day celebration of four new exhibitions: 1969, a large-scale presentation of works produced in the year 1969 drawn from all of the collecting areas of The Museum of Modern Art; Robert Bergman: Selected Portraits, twenty-four gripping portraits of individuals the photographer captured during his travels through the American Rust Belt; Between Spaces, a group exhibition organized by the junior curatorial staff for the second time in P.S.1 history; and On-site 2: Chitra Ganesh, a vivid new wall installation by the Brooklyn-based artist in P.S.1’s lobby. Special DJ set by AJ Slim playing rare 1960s funk, soul, rock, afrobeat, and latin. Experience the Afterparty by MOS, winners of the 2009 Young Architects Program in the courtyard. On view through October 26.

That’s all for the moment; stay tuned for additions and follow me on twitter for the latest from The Big Red Apple!

The Jaguar Club

The Jaguar Club is one of those unique bands who can hook you in with a great sound but also hold your attention with interesting lyrics. I particularly like the chorus from ‘This Summer,’ off their album ‘And We Wake Up Slowly’:

And are we living in the same town/ and are we getting back to nature/ in a way/ and are we caring for our mothers/ and our fathers/ at the end of the day/ we still got our memories/ some kind of weapon and some kind of hope…

I saw them play at Cakeshop and despite the bad acoustics and the fact that they were, by their own admission, quite ill, they played an excellent set and I’ve been listening to their album ever since. They’re fun to see live both because they obviously put a lot of emotion into their performance and because they’re all quite adorable. Of course I bought their CD from one of their wives so this is meant purely as a compliment, no hidden agenda (haha). Here are a couple of pictures taken by Amy Davis at the Cakeshop show; see the whole album HERE.

jaguar club

jaguar club 2

You can see them for yourself Saturday night at The Delancey, right before My Teenage Stride; it’s sure to be a great show!

Poetry, Music and Victorian Gypsies TONIGHT

I’m on the bus back from Boston after a one-night-only surprise visit; I am positively glowing and at least part of it is because of the wonderful city I’m returning to! If you’ve been following me on Twitter you’ve already heard a great deal about CMJ but let me draw your attention for a moment to a very special concert taking place tonight. Gothamist and Brooklyn Based are teaming up to bring you an action-packed night at one of my favorite venues- The Bell House!

CMJbellhouse_640

If you want a less raucous Thursday, join me at Pacific Standard where Pulitzer Prize winning poet Philip Levine will be reading from his new collection, News of the World. I wrote a paper on Levine’s poem “The Two” when I was a romantic English Lit major. Here’s a passage:

Get back to the two, you say.

Not who ordered poached eggs, who ordered

only toast and coffee, who shared the bacon

with the other, but what became of the two

when this poem ended, whose arms held whom,

who first said “I love you” and truly meant it,

and who misunderstood the words, so longed

for, and yet still so unexpected, and began

suddenly to scream and curse until the waitress

asked them both to leave. The Packard plant closed

years before I left Detroit, the diner was burned

to the ground in ’67, two years before my oldest son

fled to Sweden to escape the American dream.

“And the lovers?” you ask. I wrote nothing about lovers.

Take a look. Clouds, trucks, traffic lights, a diner, work,

a wooden shoe, East Moline, poached eggs, the perfume

of frying bacon, the chaos of language, the spices

of spent breath after eight hours of night work.

Can you hear all I feared and never dared to write?

Why the two are more real than either you or me,

why I never returned to keep them in my life,

how little I now mean to myself or anyone else,

what any of this could mean, where you found

the patience to endure these truths and confessions?

Also tonight, there are “Victorian Gypsies” performing in our fine city; The Citizens Band is debuting their new piece, The Debt Rattle. These very original cabaret performers will give you a new understanding of the current economic and social shakeup.

The Citizens Band

The Bolt Bus’ internet connection isn’t so hot this afternoon so that’s all for now but stay tuned for a full spread of this weekend’s events, plus my review of The Jaguar Club‘s show at Cakeshop- just in time for their next show this weekend!