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Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts at Harlow Gallery (July 30th, 6:30pm)
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THE WEEK/WEEKEND: APRIL.
Legend Tripping at Masters & Pelavin
Reception April 18, 2013; 6-9PM
Masters & Pelavin invites you to join us for a group exhibition with works by Karl Klingbiel, Timothy Paul Myers, Cecilia Vissers, Peter Buechler, Steven Katzman, Norman Mooney, Vincent Valdez, Jeremy Harris, Tara Fracalossi, Jon Rappleye, Julia Randall, Ruth Hardinger, RAE, Cooper Holoweski and Charles Wilkin.
Smashed at Here (Arts Center): Apr 4-6 @ 7pm
Opera on Tap premieres SMASHED: The Carrie Nation Story, an absurd opera about drinking booze (and the people who don’t drink booze).
VILLA DELIRIUM @Barbes: April 26th
“Disturbed Songs for Disturbed Times” Villa Delirium combines eerie traditional folk songs of Germany, Ireland and the Balkans with murder ballads of the American South and heir own startling compositions. With Tine Kindermann – Voice, saw and violin; John Kruth – Voice, guitar, mandolin, banjo and flutes; Kenny Margolis – Accordion and keyboards; Steve Bear – Pots, pans and boxes and Doug Wieselman – clarinets and bass harmonica.
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How to Break at HERE.
Above: Dan Domingues as Aden and Amber Williams as Ana
How to Break, HERE’s most recent production, centers on the revolving story of a doctor, 2 patients (one with leukemia, the other with sickle-cell anemia) and a well-meaning artist in residence at a hospital. The show, while focusing on hip-hop, freestyle culture, more complexly focuses on the decision facing a person, particularly a young person, with a fatal disease and a moment of “breaking” for both strength and freedoms sake.
The show itself is incredibly well suited for adolescents (highly recommend for high school classes,) slightly dull at times for the older crowd, but Jafferis writing is fast paced, funny, if never completely emotionally raw. Part of this may be the nature of utilizing freestyle throughout the piece. While this is definitely a central component in understanding a big part of the “break” of the piece, at times it makes difficult moments funny or more lighthearted than necessary. For anyone who has had, or known someone with cancer, you can’t help but wonder when the true “break” is going to happen and think that when it does…it’s probably not going to rhyme. That being said, grain of salt included, we all cope in our own ways and Christopher V. Edwards says in the director’s note “Everyone involved in the initial collaborative process has been inspired by hip-hop. Some of us breathe it and eat it for breakfast….” so it’s hard to fault her for utilizing freestyle throughout the piece that is based on it. Likewise, the age of the patients also make the flirtatious insult on the playground behavior more realistic and the piece itself, written in part by actual hospital patients through the Mixing Texts Collective project, does speak to Jafferis claim to portray “breaking” as “inspiration, courage, and possibility.”
The standout actors included Dan Domingues and Amber Williams who portray both the over involved doctor (a bit of a fantasy no doubt) and leukemia ridden Ana, popper, design student, and love interest of Joel played by Perdro Morillo, a professional break dancer who is admirably comfortable in his first acting role.
The set, a series of medical curtains that range from translucent to opaque were used to highlight the beatboxer Yako 440, playing a nurse character who provided beatbox accompaniment (written by Adam Matta) and sometimes comic relief, as well as the canvas for graffitiesque sketches. Yako 440 definitely could have been utilized more fluidly with the other characters on stage. One of the most interesting moments comes at the start of the play when he tells Ana to “breathe” into the microphone and creates a series of loops from it. And while the setup was interesting and the cast navigated the curtains flawlessly, the opening and closing did at times get distracting. Likewise one wanted to see more physical moments to accompany the soundtrack which was often lost behind the curtains.
Overall this piece feels like a very dynamic moment set within the context of a beautiful but sometimes misunderstood artistic culture, as well as the experience of facing mortality head on. What is lacking is visceral emotion, is often made up for in surprising moments of writing and acting, and it’s this combination that speaks to the strength of the creators and the cast.
READ MORE ABOUT THE SHOW or BUY TICKETS.
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THE WEEK/WEEKEND: July 26-Aug 2.
CANNONBALL! curated by Vicki Sher
Frosch & Portmann
July 26 – August 19, 2012
Ky Anderson
Denise Kupferschmidt
Joshua Marsh
Gary Petersen
Lauren Seiden
Don Voisine
Paul Wackers
Tamara Zahaykevich
The Quavers/LAS RUBIAS DEL NORTE
Barbes
Saturday, July 28
Their sound is a re-invention, a nostalgic throwback to a time and place mostly imagined where Peruvian waltzes, Andean huaynos and Cuban Guajiras mix with French opera, Cowboy tunes and Bollywood classics. The result plays like a dreamy soundtrack with classical harmonies set to a Latin beat. Their new album, Ziguala is an attempt to imagine what a pop record would sound like had the global Latin influence which was so prevalent until the early 60’s had continued its course without interruption. The tracks on the album are re-interpretations of songs from Spain, France, Peru, India, Mexico, Greece, Venezuela, Colombia and Naples. Ziguala is not so much a latin record as it is a pop record that uses a latin vocabulary. Think of it as the opposite of Rock en Español, itself a Latin genre which uses a rock vocabulary.
Upstairs at the Square with CHERYL STRAYED AND THEO BLECKMANN
Barnes and Noble
August 2, 7pm
Barnes & Noble, Inc. today announced the next edition of “Upstairs at the Square,” described by Daily Candy as “an awesome literary salon on a date with an intimate rock concert,” at the Union Square Barnes & Noble in Manhattan (33 E. 17th St.). On Thursday, August 2, at 7.p.m., Cheryl Strayed, author of Tiny Beautiful Things (Vintage Books, July 10) and Theo Bleckmann, whose latest album is Hello Earth! – The Music of Kate Bush (Winter & Winter, March 13), join Katherine Lanpher to discuss and perform their work. Admission is free, and no tickets are required.
EVERYTHING HAPPENS ON MONDAYS: Cori Olinghouse / Kai Kleinbard / Shona Masarin (Ghost lines)
Roulette
Monday, July 30, 2012 @ 8:00 pm
Exploring the body as a conduit for transformation, Cori Olinghouse will present excerpts from her latest Ghost lines Project. Inspired by ghost towns, silent era clown films, voguing, and eccentric dance, the characters in Ghost lines conjure a vaudevillian past as traces – remnants; as if rising from the dust, transmitting signals of light and shadow.
VOXIFY: BASAK YAVUZ
Cornelia St Cafe
Tuesday, Jul 31 – 8:30PM
Basak Yavuz is a Turkish-born, New York City based vocalist, composer and arranger. From modern jazz to minimalism, from blues and world music to chromatic harmony, her music is eclectic, heartfelt, and has the just the right amount of biting honesty. Her songwriting covers the full range of human experience; it can be fragile or aggressive, beautifully simple or deceptively complex, and always tells a compelling story. She recently graduated from Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Peter Eldridge, Theo Bleckmann, and Darmon Meader, Dave Liebman and Phil Markowitz. She was the winner of the Nardis Jazz Vocal Competition in Istanbul, and has performed with her quintet in the Istanbul Jazz Festival twice. Her debut album is slated for release in late 2012, which will feature Peter Eldridge, Dave Liebman, and many other great musicians.
Yemen Blues (Lincoln Center Outdoors)
Aug 1 at 9:00
Damrosch Park Bandshell
A high-energy multinational hybrid of North African grooves, Middle Eastern modes, and American funk fleshed out with oud, gimbri, strings, and percussion, Yemen Blues is led by the charismatic Israeli-Yemenite singer Ravid Kahalani and go-to jazz bassist-arranger Omer Avital.
M’lumbo w/ special guest Gary Lucas
Joe’s Pub
July 29, 9:30pm
Watch Video
M’lumbo is a 8-piece multimedia jam band that crosses the boundaries of electronic, psychedelic, jazz, and world music. At this special performance the long-running shadowy and semi-legendary eight–piece band will celebrate the release of their twelfth album ’Tuning In to Tomorrow’ with their special guestGrammy-nominated guitarist/songwriter Gary Lucas ‘The thinking man’s guitarist’-The New Yorker. The band includes Rob Ray, Paul-Alexandre Meurens, Vin Veloso, Cecil Young, Dehran Duckworth, Jaz Sawyer, Brian O’Neill, Jarek Szczyglak and other suprises. Come experience the band live in rare form and be ready to party!
BASSON CD Release Party
The Grand Victory
August 2, 7pm
— the time has finally come to officially unleash Bassoon’s eponymous CD upon the world — join us for a killer show with venerable riff-contortionists STATS and equally dexterous bass-drum duo RADIATION BLACKBODY for an evening of intelligent ear damage —
Peter Stampfel and the Ether Frolic Mob/The Bushwick Gospel Singers
Jalopy
Saturday, July 28, 10pm
Peter Stampfel & the Ether Frolic Mob consists of whoever is available and up for it whenever. Stampfel is performing. What is Ether Frolic? Ether Frolic is when ether came into use in the 19th century, it was widely introduced by Ether Frolics–a stage would be rented, the audience would be charged, the ’show’ involved people inhaling ether on stage and carrying on in a manner not common to 19th century behavioral norms.
MOSTLY OTHER PEOPLE DO THE KILLING
Cornelia St Cafe
Thursday, Jul 26 – 8:30PM
Mostly Other People Do the Killing is a quartet founded on the idea that not only is jazz still alive and vibrant, but that it can and should be fun, engaging and thoroughly contemporary. Rather than settling into one style or historical period, MOPDtK fuses the entire spectrum of jazz and the various forms of improvised music it has spawned into a single, seamless melange of what they call “uber-jass.”
BEN ROLSTON’S FABLES QUINTET
Cornelia St Cafe
Monday, Jul 30 – 6:00PM
Bassist/Composer Ben Rolston brings his quintet to Cornelia Street Café to play music from his debut album Fables, released in April of 2012 on Envoi Recordings.
All We Are Saying: Bill Frisell Explores the Music of John Lennon
Le Poisson Rouge
Thu., August 02, 2012 / 6:30 PM
TUBA SKINNY @ Jalopy (7/31) andBarbes (Thu 08/02)
Summer Group Exhibition@Joshua Liner
Joshua Liner
August 2nd from 6-9pm
Joshua Liner Gallery is pleased to announce the 2012 Summer Group Exhibitionshowcasing 16 artists, including established gallery regulars and newcomers. This presentation will feature painting, sculpture, and drawing, with works by the following artists – Alfred Steiner, Clayton Brothers, Cleon Peterson, Damon Soule, Daniel Rich, David Ellis, Ian Francis, Jean-Pierre Roy, Kris Kuksi, Mars-1, Oliver Vernon, Pema Rinzin, Riusuke Fukahori, Tat Ito, Tiffany Bozic, and Tomokazu Matsuyama.
Summer Swells (Les Rogers)
Half Gallery
August 1-Sept 2nd
BOB JONES/JON SHOLLE DUO
Barbes
July 29, 7pm
Bob Jones started his career as singer in his father’s church choir. He was Andy Statman’s guitarist in his legendary klezmer quartet and currently plays with Boo Reiners in the Plunk Brothers, with the Danny Kalb Trio and with many Old Timey and Bluegrass musicians in the city.
Jon Sholle is a guitarist who has worked with such musicians as Vassar Clements, Larry Campbell, Keith Carradine, Allen Ginsberg, and Bela Fleck. He was a member of the David Grisman Quintet and has also released two solo albums on Rounder Records.
Get Weird: Antipop Consortium
New Museum
Fri, Jul 27, 2012 7:00 PM
Antipop Consortium is an alternative hip hop ensemble based in New York. Conceived in 1997 out of a series of daring collaborations at the “Rap Meets Poetry” sessions of the Nuyorican Poets Café, the group has developed a cerebral, visionary strain of hip hop that incorporates the fragmented rhythms of contemporary electronic music with the confrontational, interrogative stance of rap.
NICKY DA B, DJ RUSTY LAZER, ONRA (DJ SET), AND VERY SPECIAL GUESTS
Brooklyn Bowl
SAT, JULY 28, 2012
Nicky Da B is a new generation New Orleans Bounce artist who is coming into national prominence in the footsteps of Big Freedia. At 21 years old, Nicky has already shared the stage with all the legends of the Bounce community and has traveled with Rusty Lazer to New York for a run of amazing shows in January and March of this year, performing at Santos Party House, Brooklyn Bowl, Public Assembly and with luminaries such as Roxy Cottontail and many more.
Phil Kline: dreamcitynine (ongoing audio installation) LIVE PERFORMANCE
A live version of dreamcitynine, featuring 60 percussionists, will be performed on August 3
Lincoln Center
July 25-August 12
What better way to celebrate the John Cage centenary than with postmodern sounds of silence? Composer Phil Kline (Unsilent Night) draws upon the words and voices of Jim Jarmusch, Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, Bill T. Jones, and La Bruja, among sixty writers, artists, and musicians, for a GPS-based work inspired by Indeterminacy, Cage’s collection of one-minute epiphanies. Use your smartphone and a free downloadable audio app to trigger sixty koans scattered around the Lincoln Center campus. A podcast version will also be available.
JOE GALLANT’S ILLUMINATI ORCHESTRA CELEBRATES THE 35TH ANNIVERSARY OF “TERRAPIN STATION”
Brooklyn Bowl
FRI, JULY 27, 2012, DOORS: 6:00 PM
Joe Gallant’s 18-piece Illuminati Orchestra celebrates the 35th anniversary release of the Grateful Deads’ “Terrapin Station” album (on this very day!) with a groove-heavy set of bones-shaking Dead tunes and sonic surprises.
Animation Block Party: Kid Animation Program
BAM
Opens on Jul 28, 2012
The East Coast’s premier animation festival returns for its ninth edition, showcasing international works, award winners, experimental shorts, computer animation, student films, local cartoons, a special Animation for Kids show, and much more. On Saturday, July 28th BAM presents an animation trade-show, plus an exclusive evening after-party at the BAMcafé, with standup comedy and live music.
Exhibition Opening: Slightly Strange
Powerhouse Arena
Thursday, August 2, 7–9 PM
An exhibition of the unusual personal artwork of five contemporary children’s book illustrators
Urban Tango Trio
Joe’s Pub
7:30 PM – July 30
Latin-Grammy winner Octavio Brunetti on piano; Machiko Ozawa, former concertmaster of Orquesta Sinfonica Sinaloa de Las Artes, on violin; and acclaimed composer/arranger Pedro Giraudo on bass. Together, these three awesomely talented virtuoso musicians capture the passion and excitement of Argentine tango in a repertoire ranging from traditional favorites, to contemporary interpretations. They have dazzled audiences in New York, Washington DC, South Carolina, Virginia, and in Tokyo, Japan, with an upcoming tour to Japan this August. This appearance at Joe’s Pub will debut their new repertoire, which they will feature on their tour and will be the basis of their next CD.
COMING UP:
Kimmo Pohjonen & Helsinki Nelson: Accordion Wrestling (U.S. premiere)
M. Ward,Yo La Tengo, Wyatt Cenac
The Fall of the American Movie Palace
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Michael Alan: Dumbo Arts Center.
Everything Will Be OK: Don Hertzfeldt.
THE WEEKEND: MARCH 2-4.
EDITOR’S PICKS:
Liz Biddle, Regine Granne, and Katherine Tzu-lan Mann at A.I.R. Gallery
http://www.airgallery.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.artists&artistid=885
03/01/2012-03/24/2012
6pm-9pm
This exhibition showcases Biddle’s continuing interest in mixed media, with a twist of humor found in much of her work. Old wires, light bulbs, screws and other found objects protrude from holes in ceramic objects, while creature-like robots – strange, disturbing and endearing – appear in collages and drawings. Liberty is a contemplation of the present in the wake of 9/11. The Statue of Liberty itself simultaneously represents an overused icon and a diminishing concept. These works offer a means of viewing such images and enable reflection of our world, our nation, our politics, our person, our perspective, and our relationship to all. Mann’s large paintings in Root, created by combining chance stains with highly rendered decorative elements on oversized, un-stretched paper, function as human-sized portholes into a landscape alive with minute details, patterns and interlocking systems.
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The Weekend: Dec 10-11.
SATURDAY:
Seven in One Blow – 10th Anniversary Production! A-Lab Forum: ARTE UTIL |
Vaudeville Park presents…Noir NightSPREAD IT
The Weekend:Dec 2-4.
FRIDAY:
OPERA ON TAP/Roulette Sisters. |
The 22 Magazine 
