Outdoor Sculpture of the Week
01.04.06
2. Exposed bodies and marine murals at the Seaport
3. The legacies of Homer, Egon Schiele, and Gerhard Richter in Midtown
4. Critics’ offbeat favorites in Queens
Volume 5, Number 31
December 21, 2005 — January 4, 2006
Send all comments, suggestions, reviews, and questions to Mark Rifkin
at admin@twi-ny.com.
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Site Design/Subway Photo:
Fred Gates Design, New York.
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— Paul Auster, THE BROOKLYN FOLLIES (Holt, January 2006, $24)
Martin Luther King Jr. High School
122 Amsterdam Ave. at 66th St.
William Tarr’s 1973 weathering steel black sculpture stands atop the plaza of Martin Luther King Jr. High School down the street from Lincoln Center. Make sure you check out all four sides of this splendid cube, including important dates in the life of the civil rights leader, as well as famous quotes. The cube is also covered with lots of initials, but we’re not sure what those all mean. Tarr is a Sarasota native and a Guggenheim Fellow whose work can also be found in Lower Manhattan and Florida.
twi-ny/mdr
Meryl Taradash’s "Holding On / Letting Go"
Fordham College at Lincoln Center
Columbus Ave. at 61st St.
Open 10:00 am — 10:00 pm
Admission: free
http://www.fordham.edu/Discover_Fordham/Fordham_at_a_Glance/University_Facilitie_2349.html
http://www.fclcobserver.com/observer/11-04-04/news_usg.html
We always enjoy winding our way through the sculpture garden up the stairs at Robert Moses Plaza outside the Lowenstein Building of Fordham College at Lincoln Center, which currently features several works by Pratt graduate Meryl Taradash, including her slinking "Sisyphus," her reaching-skyward "Blue Lotus," her twisting homage to Brancusi called "To B.," and her romantic "Holding On / Letting Go" with its revolving heart at the center. Taradash calls her pieces "sculptures of light and wind." You’ll also find the old favorites, including Helaine Blumenfeld’s patinated bronze "Two Sides of a Woman." Even the piping is artistically designed in a tucked-away corner. Around the corner on Amsterdam you’ll find Leonardo Nierman’s "Peace" sculpture, which the artist said is a "flame of hope, or peace, or understanding," and David Kluger’s "Simple Justice." A plaque to founder Robert Moses awaits you at the side entrance.
Fanny Valette stars as a torn Orthodox
Jew in Karin Albou’s LA PETITE JÉRUSALEM
Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th St. between Eighth Ave. & Broadway
*Special screenings at the Jewish Museum and Makor
January 11-26
Tickets: $10
212-875-5050 / 212-875-5166
http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/showing/nyjff06.htm
The fifteenth annual New York Jewish Film Festival features an international collection of works dealing with the Jewish condition, with works from France, America, Israel, Mexico, Hungary, Australia, Germany, Russia, Canada, the Netherlands, and Austria, with a special look at the documentaries of Ira Wohl.
Wednesday, January 11 GOLUB: LATE WORKS ARE THE CATASTROPHES (Jerry Blumenthal and Gordon Quinn, 2004), 1:30 & 9:15
Wednesday, January 11 BELZEC (Guillaume Moscovitz, 2005), 3:30
Wednesday, January 11 LIVE AND BECOME (Radu Mihaileanu, 2005), 6:15
Thursday, January 12 BELZEC (Guillaume Moscovitz, 2005), 1:00
Thursday, January 12 PORK AND MILK (Valérie Mréjen, 2004) and KEEP NOT SILENT: ORTHOÑDYKES (Ilil Alexander, 2004), 3:30
Thursday, January 12 BELZEC (Guillaume Moscovitz, 2005), 6:15
Thursday, January 12 PORK AND MILK (Valérie Mréjen, 2004) and KEEP NOT SILENT: ORTHOÑDYKES (Ilil Alexander, 2004), 8:45
Saturday, January 14 JAI (Ariel Zylbersztejn, 2004) and ROSEHILL (Mari Cantu, 2004), 7
Saturday, January 14 ONLY HUMAN (Dominic Harari and Teresa de Pelegrí, 2004), 9:15
Sunday, January 15 THE LIVING ORPHAN (Joseph Seiden, 1939), 1:00
Sunday, January 15 THE LOSER WHO WON (Jack Feldstein, 2005) and BEST SISTER (Ira Wohl, 2005), 3:15
Sunday, January 15 ONLY HUMAN (Dominic Harari and Teresa de Pelegrí, 2004), 5:45
Sunday, January 15 JAI (Ariel Zylbersztejn, 2004) and ROSEHILL (Mari Cantu, 2004), 8:15
Monday, January 16 QUEEN ELIZABETH / LES AMOURS DE LA REINE ÉLISABETH (Louis Mercanton, 1912) and LADY OF THE CAMELIAS / LA DAME AUX CAMÉLIAS (André Calmettes, 1912), 12:30
Monday, January 16 THE LOSER WHO WON (Jack Feldstein, 2005) and BEST SISTER (Ira Wohl, 2005), 3:30
Monday, January 16 PORK AND MILK (Valérie Mréjen, 2004) and KEEP NOT SILENT: ORTHOÑDYKES (Ilil Alexander, 2004), 8:15
Monday, January 16 A CANTOR’S TALE (Erik Greenberg Anjou, 2005), 6:00
Tuesday, January 17 A CANTOR’S TALE (Erik Greenberg Anjou, 2005), 1:00
Tuesday, January 17 CHAIM (Jonathan Greenfield, 2005) and THE TWO LIVES OF EVA (Esther Hoffenberg, 2005), 1:00
Tuesday, January 17 JAI (Ariel Zylbersztejn, 2004) and ROSEHILL (Mari Cantu, 2004), 6:15
Tuesday, January 17 ONLY HUMAN (Dominic Harari and Teresa de Pelegrí, 2004), 8:30
Wednesday, January 18 CHAIM (Jonathan Greenfield, 2005) and THE TWO LIVES OF EVA (Esther Hoffenberg, 2005), 1:30 & 9:00
Wednesday, January 18 THE LOSER WHO WON (Jack Feldstein, 2005) and BEST SISTER (Ira Wohl, 2005), 4:00
Wednesday, January 18 BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY (Shosh Shlam, 2005) and SENTENCED TO MARRIAGE (Anat Zuria, 2004), 6:00
*Wednesday, January 18 PORK AND MILK (Valérie Mréjen, 2004) and KEEP NOT SILENT: ORTHOÑDYKES (Ilil Alexander, 2004), Makor/Steinhardt Center, 35 West 67th St. between Central Park West & Columbus Ave., 7:30
Thursday, January 19 THE LIVING ORPHAN (Joseph Seiden, 1939), 1:00
Thursday, January 19 LA PETITE JÉRUSALEM (Karin Albou, 2005), 3:00 & 8:30
*Thursday, January 19 A CANTOR’S TALE (Erik Greenberg Anjou, 2005), Makor/Steinhardt Center, 35 West 67th St. between Central Park West & Columbus Ave., 7:30
Thursday, January 19 ROOTS (Pavel Loungin, 2005), 6:00
Saturday, January 21 LA PETITE JÉRUSALEM (Karin Albou, 2005), 7:00
Saturday, January 21 ROOTS (Pavel Loungin, 2005), 9:15
Sunday, January 22 THE LIVING ORPHAN (Joseph Seiden, 1939), 1:00
Sunday, January 22 FROM PHILADELPHIA TO THE FRONT (Judy Gelles and Marianne Bernstein, 2005) and A TREASURE IN AUSCHWITZ (Yahaly Gat, 2005), 3:15
Sunday, January 22 JEWS OF IRAN (Ramin Farahani, 2005) and LOVE IRANIAN-AMERICAN STYLE (Tanaz Eshaghian, 2005), 6:00
Sunday, January 22 BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY (Shosh Shlam, 2005) and SENTENCED TO MARRIAGE (Anat Zuria, 2004), 8:45
Monday, January 23 FROM PHILADELPHIA TO THE FRONT (Judy Gelles and Marianne Bernstein, 2005) and A TREASURE IN AUSCHWITZ (Yahaly Gat, 2005), 1:00
Monday, January 23 ORDERS OF LOVE (Jes Benstock, 2005) and THE CHOSEN PEOPLE (Igal Hecht, 2004), 3:30 & 8:45
Monday, January 23 BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY (Shosh Shlam, 2005) and SENTENCED TO MARRIAGE (Anat Zuria, 2004), 6:00
Tuesday, January 24 GOODBYE HOLLAND (Willy Lindwer, 2004), 12:30
Tuesday, January 24 FROM PHILADELPHIA TO THE FRONT (Judy Gelles and Marianne Bernstein, 2005) and A TREASURE IN AUSCHWITZ (Yahaly Gat, 2005), 3:00
*Tuesday, January 24 BEST BOY (Ira Wohl, 1979), Jewish Museum, 1109 Fifth Ave. at 92nd St., 3:30
*Tuesday, January 24 BEST MAN (Ira Wohl, 1997), Jewish Museum, 1109 Fifth Ave. at 92nd St., 6:30
Tuesday, January 24 ROOTS (Pavel Loungin, 2005), 8:30
Wednesday, January 25 GOODBYE HOLLAND (Willy Lindwer, 2004), 1:00
Wednesday, January 25 JEWS OF IRAN (Ramin Farahani, 2005) and LOVE IRANIAN-AMERICAN STYLE (Tanaz Eshaghian, 2005), 3:30
Wednesday, January 25 THE NIGHT TROTSKY CAME TO DINNER (November Wanderin, 2005) and MELTING SIBERIA (Ido Haar, 2004), 6:30
*Wednesday, January 25 LA PETITE JÉRUSALEM (Karin Albou, 2005), Makor/Steinhardt Center, 35 West 67th St. between Central Park West & Columbus Ave., 7:30
Wednesday, January 25 THE DIARIES OF YOSSEF NACHMANI (Dalia Karpel, 2005), 8:30
Thursday, January 26 THE NIGHT TROTSKY CAME TO DINNER (November Wanderin, 2005) and MELTING SIBERIA (Ido Haar, 2004), 1:00 & 8:30
Thursday, January 26 JEWS OF IRAN (Ramin Farahani, 2005) and LOVE IRANIAN-AMERICAN STYLE (Tanaz Eshaghian, 2005), 3:15
Thursday, January 26 GOODBYE HOLLAND (Willy Lindwer, 2004), 6:15
The Juilliard School, Peter Jay Sharp Theater
65th St. at Broadway
Tickets: free, but must be picked up in advance at the Juilliard Box Office at 60 Lincoln Center Plaza
212-769-7406
http://www.juilliard.edu/press/press.html
Tuesday, January 17 First collaboration between the New York Festival of Song and Juilliard, featuring works by John Corigliano, Robert Beaser, William Schuman, Ruben Goldmark, Milton Babbit, David del Tredici, Richard Rodgers, John Jacob Niles, and current student composers, 8:00
Makor
Steinhardt Building
35 West 67th St. between Amsterdam & Columbus Aves.
212-601-1000
Thursday, January 5 Raymond Scott Orchestrette and Singing Sadie, $15, 8:00
Saturday, January 7 Ric Cherwin, $15, 8:00
Saturday, January 7 Ben Miller & the Low Anthem, $10, 10:00
Tuesday, January 10 Classical Café: Christine Sohn, violin, and Victor Asuncion, piano, play Bach and Paganini -- $25 for concert and dinner, $15 concert only, 6:00
Tuesday, January 10 Mike LaVelle’s Cantiga, $12, 9:30
Wednesday, January 11 Lalo, CD release party for HALF MOON, $10, 7:00
Thursday, January 12 Chico Hamilton & Friends, $15, 8:00
Thursday, January 12 The Stephane Wrembal Trio, $10, 10:30
Saturday, January 14 URB ALT 3.0 featuring MuthaWit and Shaka Zulu Overdrive, $15, 8:00
Wednesday, January 18 Nikitov, $15, 7:00
Wednesday, January 18 Golem, Sway Machinery & the Antibalas Horns: The New York Jewish Film Festival Directors’ Party, $10, 9:00
twi-ny/ees
You’ll have to steel your nerves at "Bodies"
South Street Seaport — Exhibition Centre
11 Fulton St. across from the South Street Seaport Museum
Timed tickets: $24.50
Audio guide: $5
Through February 28
888-926-3437
http://www.bodiestheexhibition.com
Be prepared for one of the most fascinating, disturbing science exhibits you’ll ever see. At the new South Street Seaport Exhibition Centre, an organization called Premier Exhibitions is presenting "Bodies . . . the Exhibition," a collection of nearly two dozen cadavers and more than 250 body parts that have been preserved using a polymer process that allows us to see actual bones, muscle, tissue, organs, nerves, and more. The cadavers, which are set up in active positions, are variously devoid of skin, bones, or muscles. And while the body parts are in cases, the full cadavers, many of which have been dissected into remarkably revealing full-length vertical sections, are right out in the open, close enough to touch (but don’t) — and also close enough to smell. We recommend not eating immediately before or after seeing this show, as the unpleasant odor that hits as soon as you walk in the door downstairs will put you off your lunch — and might turn you into a vegetarian, at least temporarily. (One sliced dude looks like a case of lamb chops.) The display is divided into rooms that examine the circulatory, respiratory, reproductive, nervous, digestive, endocrine, muscular, skeletal, and cardiovascular systems, featuring healthy and diseased organs and full bodies freeze-framed in the act of running, playing different sports, sitting (modeled after Rodin’s "The Thinker"), and even conducting an orchestra. "Bodies" shows you just about everything that’s inside you, from your heart valves and brainstem to connective tissue and spinal column, from your pancreas and intestines to your foot bones and genitalia, from women’s fallopian tubes to men’s vas deferens, from the inner ear and the gall bladder to the medulla oblongata and the vocal cords. The vast majority of the specimens are male, which is unfortunate, and not everything is fully labeled, but there’s still plenty of information as well as an audio guide (with a special version for children). One of the goals of the display is to encourage people to live healthier lives; seeing many of these unhealthy organs will definitely make you think twice about cigarettes, diet, and exercise. There’s also one room that follows the development of the fetus, including several small bottles in which colored inks have been shot through fetuses to show how bones grow in the tiny beings; the result is both amazing and horrifying and is the only sideshow-esque part of the exhibit.
© 2005 Premier Exhibitions, Inc.
Running man is one of several full bodies caught in action
"Bodies," which is also at the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa, Florida, through February 26, has been surrounded by controversy over claims that many of the bodies are those of executed Chinese prisoners who did not give their consent; however, the organizers assert that they conducted investigations that satisfied them "100 percent" that the cadavers were unclaimed bodies that were obtained legally. Still, there is alarmingly little information at the location and on the Web about what went on behind the scenes. The exhibition paid a fee to the Dalian Medical University Institute of Bio-plastination Products in Mainland China for the right to dissect and display the specimens. The chief medical consultant on the project is Dr. Roy Glover, a plastination specialist at the University of Michigan who has developed a chemical procedure in which body parts can be preserved for study. Right near the end of the exhibit, there are some plastinated objects that you can touch, including a real brain, in addition to some binders where you can write down your thoughts about the bizarre things you have just seen; be sure to read the opinions of other visitors (many of whom are medical students), who have expressed feelings from amazement to disgust (and often both) while also drawing some pretty odd and funny pictures. But oh, that smell stays with you as you head out onto the cobblestones of Fulton St.
twi-ny/mdr
Marsh’s murals are once again underground
Fulton St./Broadway Nassau St. A/C/J/M/X/Z/2/3/4/5
Admission: $2
http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/mta/aft/pa/tour/bwaynassmgmaccline.htm
http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/mta/news/newsroom/fulton.htm
As you amble between the East Side and West Side lines at this huge subway station, you’ll come upon a half dozen murals originally made for the McAlpin Hotel Rathskeller restaurant in Herald Square in 1912-13. (The building, once home to the largest hotel in the city, was turned into apartments in 1979 and condos in 2005.) The landmarked terra-cotta murals, designed by Fred Dana Marsh, reveal the history of New York harbor, making their 2000 move to this downtown station near the water rather sensible. The murals depict Native Americans rowing out in canoes to greet a large schooner, pilgrims landing on the shore (look for the Dutch windmill and the two people being hanged), Robert Fulton’s Clermont steamer, a luxury liner sailing in front of the more modern New York City skyline, and lots of other ships bearing a multitude of international flags. In addition to the murals (of which there were originally twenty at the McAlpin), the intricately carved ironwork entrance gate to the restaurant is on display as well. Artists Fred Dana Marsh and Alice Randall are the parents of realist painter Reginald Marsh, who regularly depicted such New York City areas as Coney Island, the Bowery, and New York harbor; in fact, Reginald’s marine work can be seen on the ceiling of the Great Hall at the National Museum of the American Indian at nearby Bowling Green. For more on the family, you can always visit the Fred Dana Marsh Museum in Tomoka State Park in Ormond Beach, Florida.
South Street Seaport Museum at 12 Fulton St. between Front & South Sts. (SSM)
Melville Gallery at 213 Water St. between Beekman and Fulton Sts. (MG)
212-748-8758/8735
http://www.southstreetseaportmuseum.org/calendar/calmain.htm
Saturday, January 7
and
Sunday, January 8 Family Program: New Beginnings… bookmaking workshop, MG, free with museum admission, 1:00
Thursday, January 12 Book Talk: Paul Clancy, IRONCLAD: THE EPIC BATTLE, CALAMITOUS LOSS, AND HISTORIC RECOVERY OF THE USS MONITOR, MG, $5 suggested donation, 7:00
Saturday, January 14
and
Sunday, January 15 Family Program: I Have a Dream, Martin Luther King tribute featuring storytelling, crafts, a friendship quilt, a birthday cake, and more, SSM, free with museum admission, 1:00
Jacques-Louis David, "Andromache Mourning Hector," Morceau de Réception à l’Académie, 1783, oil on canvas
Dahesh Museum of Art
580 Madison Ave. at 57th St.
Through January 22
Closed Mondays
Admission: $9
Pay as you wish the first Thursday of every month, 6:00 — 9:00 pm
212-759-0606
http://www.daheshmuseum.org/collection/exhibitions/index.html
The Dahesh has teamed up with Princeton University to present a two-part examination of Homer-related works from the annual competition for the Grand Prix (later known as the Prix de Rome) at Le École des Beaux-Arts in Paris that have not been seen since the École was shuttered following the 1968 student revolution. The pieces at the Dahesh span the years 1783 to 1901, featuring more than four dozen oil paintings, sculptures, oil sketches, and plaster reliefs depicting scenes and characters from the two epic poems attributed to Homer, THE ILIAD and THE ODYSSEY, as well as paintings and a bust of what the Greek poet might have looked like — if he existed at all. The exhibit tells Homer’s stories more or less chronologically, divided into "The Historical Background and the Homeric World," "The Gods," "Achilles," "Far from Combat: The Great Scenes," "Philoctetes," "The Fall of Troy," "The ORESTEIA," "The Voyages of Ulysses," "Ulysses Returns to Ithaca," "The AENEID," "Previous and Parallel Epic Cycles," and "Homeric Laughter." Also on view are original editions of the tales in several languages, including what is believed to be the first printed fragment, from 1488.
Like most academic art, while some of the works are exemplary, others are more trite, but they all take on greater meaning seen in context of the École competition, sometimes side by side with their rivals. Jean-Charles-Joseph Rémond sets the action in "The Rape of Persephone" in the foreground, almost as an afterthought. Furious over the death of Patroclus, Achilles readies himself to accept a special helmet brought to him by his goddesslike mother in Henri Regnault’s "Thetis Brings Achilles the Arms Forged by Vulcan." The similarities and differences between Louis-Édouard-Paul Fournier’s and Jean-Baptiste Marty’s "Helen and the Elders" are fascinating. Pay close attention to the lighting in Jacques-Louis David’s presentation piece upon being accepted to the École, "Andromache Mourning Hector." Feel the power of Gabriel-Jules Thomas’s plaster "Philoctetes Leaves for the Siege of Troy" and Guillaume Duchenne de Boulogne’s bust of "Laocoon, Contraction of the Superciliary."
Honoré Daumier, "The Baptism of Achilles," from Ancient History, 1842, lithograph
Don’t miss the three versions of "Hecuba Despairs at the Sight of Her Murdered Son." Achille Benouville and Théodore-Francois-Alexis Ledieu painted "Ulysses and Nausicaa" thirteen years apart. The prodigal father returns in Henri-Lucien Doucet’s "The Recognition of Ulysses and Telemachus," and then father and son gain their revenge in Louis-Vincent-Léon Palliere’s "Ulysses and Telemachus Massacre Penelope’s Suitors." Merry-Joseph Blondel depicts three generations reaching skyward in "Aeneas Carrying His Father Anchises." The prey is caught in André Giroux’s "The Calydonian Boar Hunt." In "Ulysses Recognized by Eurycleia," notice how Gustave Boulanger endows Ulysses with Michelangelo’s Belvedere torso (as seen in Jean-Léon Gérôme’s "Michelangelo" in the Dahesh’s permanent collection). Finally, be sure to take your time enjoying Honoré Daumier’s Ancient History series, nineteen lithographs that poke fun at Greek neo-Classicism. (Are those the Three Stooges in "Telemachus Questioned by the Elders"?)
If you can’t make it over to Princeton for the other part of the exhibit (with pieces by Poussin, Ingres, and others), pick up the outstanding catalog, which includes reproductions of all the works alongside illuminating, informative, and very dense text about the world of Homer and French academic art.
© Dahesh Museum of Art
Museumgoers recently voted Gustav Bauernfeind’s 1888 "Jaffa, Recruiting of Turkish Soldiers in Palestine" their favorite piece in the Dahesh
Dahesh Museum of Art
http://www.daheshmuseum.org/collection/index.html
The Dahesh has settled comfortably into its Hugh Hardy-designed three-floor gallery in the IBM Building, with glass fronting on the main floor, announcing its existence to a public that might not have been very familiar with it before. There is also a large museum shop and an upscale café. Named after Lebanese writer Salim Moussa Achi, the Dahesh specializes in nineteenth-century European academic art. The ever-evolving "Reframing Academic Art" reintroduces dozens of works from the museum’s permanent collection, including one of our very favorites, Jaroslav Cermak’s "The Abduction of a Herzegovenian Woman," in which a woman is captured, her husband lying lifeless to her right, her baby dead behind her to her left. Marvel at Gustave Dore’s "The Black Eagle of Prussia," feel for the sad lover in Maurice Leloir’s "Manon Lescant," have fun trying to identify the characters in Sir John Gilbert’s "The Plays of William Shakespeare," and be charmed by the casual grace of Adolphe-William Bouguereau’s "The Water Girl." We also love the small area devoted to Jean-Léon Gérôme (including the paintings "Michelangelo" and "Working in Marble" and a sculpture of Bathsheba) as well as Henri Fantin-Latour’s abstract Impressionistic "Scene from OBERON," Louis Ardisson’s carved wood reliefs, Gustava Bauernfeind’s dramatic "Jaffa, Recruiting of Turkish Soldiers in Palestine," Edwin Long’s tragic "Love’s Labour Lost," and Rafaelle Monti’s awesome allegorical sculpture "Night," depicting a woman pulling a veil over her while hovering over a sleeping baby.
Café Opaline
Dahesh Museum of Art, second floor
580 Madison Ave. at 57th St.
212-521-8155
http://daheshmuseum.org/cafe/index.html#teas
Daily: Afternoon Tea, featuring traditional sandwiches and sweets, $30, 2:30 — 5:00
Daily: Teddy Bear Tea, featuring eggs and soldiers and scones and jams, $15, 2:30 — 5:00
Dahesh Museum of Art
580 Madison Ave. at 57th St.
212-759-0606
http://daheshmuseum.org/publicprograms_events
Thursday, January 5 First Thursdays: Imaginary Goddesses, illustrated lecture with Nancy Spero, free after 6:00, lecture at 6:30
Saturday, January 7 Odysseus at Sea, illustrated lecture with Professor Michael Soupios, free with museum admission, 2:30
Saturday, January 7 PENTHESILEA: A Dramatic Reading of the Powerful and Provocative Play by Heinrich von Kleist, 212-332-0235, http://ltny.org, 8:00
Tuesday, January 10
and
Tuesday, January 17 Gallery Talks: With associate curator Lisa Small, free with museum admission, 12:15
Saturday, January 14 All-Day Participatory Reading of Homer’s ILIAD, including continuous coffee service, box lunch, and buffet supper in Café Opaline, register in advance to read an excerpt, $95, 10:00 am - 10:00 pm
Wednesday, January 18 End of an Era: The Paris Riots of 1968, the Ecole, et Moi, illustrated lecture with Professor Edward Schmidt, free with museum admission, 6:30
Saturday, January 21 Homeric Hymns: An Intimate and Touching Operatic Concert — The Judgement of Paris, the Fall of Troy, and the Homecomings of the Greeks, featuring arias and ensembles by Monteverdi, Gluck, Mozart, Berlioz, Walton, and Tippett, 212-332-0235, http://ltny.org, 8:00
Sunday, January 22 Recital: Alexandros Kapelis, pianist: Works by Clementi, Schubert, Liszt, Kostandinidis, Rameau, Debussy, and Rachmaninoff, $30, 3:00
None of the depictions of Achilles at the Dahesh look quite like Brad Pitt
Available on DVD
http://troymovie.warnerbros.com
This epic blockbuster is better than it has any right to be. We went in ready to laugh at silly dialogue, guffaw at massive abuse of computer-animated battle scenes, and howl at humiliating overacting. But lo and behold, Wolfgang Petersen’s retelling of the legend of Achilles and the ultimate fight between the Greeks and the Trojans over a beautiful woman (Helen, played by the beautiful Diane Kruger) is pretty darn entertaining, even if Brad Pitt and Eric Bana are ridiculously buff and Orlando Bloom is ridiculously wimpy. Peter O’Toole as King Priam nearly runs away with the whole picture; his scene with Pitt late in the film is just plain awesome, as are his baby blues. After having encountered many of these characters at the Dahesh, it’s rather interesting seeing them on the big screen, with Brian Cox as Agamemnon, Brendan Gleeson as Menelaus, Eric (the Hulk) Bana as Hector, Orlando Bloom as Paris, Garett Hedlund as Patroclus, Sean Bean as Odysseus, Julie Christie as Thetis, Saffron Burrows as Andromache, Tyler Mane as Ajax, Peter O’Toole as Priam, and Brad Pitt as Achilles.
Private Collection
Egon Schiele, "Self-Portrait in Street Clothes, Gesturing," 1910
Galerie St. Etienne
24 West 57th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves., eighth floor
Closed Sunday & Monday
Through January 7
Admission: free
212-245-6734
http://www.gseart.com/exhibitions.asp?ExhID=496
This companion piece to the major Egon Schiele retrospective at the Neue Galerie through February 20 is more than just a little appetizer; it is a worthy exhibit in and of itself, but you have only a few more days to check it out. The show features more than five dozen Expressionist works focusing on adolescent models, nudes, and self-portraits, primarily from private collections, so this is a rare opportunity to see fine etchings, woodcuts, drawings, watercolors, and more by Gustav Klimt, Max Klinger, Oskar Kokoschka, Otto Mueller, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Hermann Max Pechstein, and other major contemporaries of Schiele. Angular, geometric shapes dominate Max Beckmann’s "Playing Children." Lea Grundig’s "Child’s Play" sets the stage for the coming nightmare of war, as kids play with guns and helmets in front of bustling industry and swirling clouds. Faceless young women populate Erich Heckel’s "On the Beach." Violent strokes define the figures in Ernst-Ludwig Kirchner’s "Three Nudes." Kathe Kollwitz’s "Youth Clinging to Ascending Death" might have influenced Tim Burton’s NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. A pair of nudes examine a skeleton in Edvard Munch’s "Two Girls and a Skeleton"; Munch is also represented by the stunning "Puberty (By Night)" and "Girls on a Jetty." But at the center of it all is Schiele (1890-1918) himself, a tortured, talented artist who died way too young. On view are twenty-two marvelous nudes and self-portraits by Schiele, in awkward, twisting positions, appearing alternately sexy and surprised, aloof and alarmed. His figures know they are being looked at — and they are not afraid to return your gaze. Contrast the earliest oil, 1907’s "Self-Portrait, Facing Right," which is not nearly as conventional as it initially seems, with 1912’s "Male Nude (Self-Portrait) I," with its "come hither" appeal. But our favorite is "Lovers," a lovely, romantic pencil drawing in which the woman is enraptured with the man, but he is fully cognizant — and none too pleased — that he’s being watched.
Gerhard Richter, "892-6 Abstraktes Bild"
Marian Goodman Gallery
24 West 57th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves., fourth floor
Closed Sunday and Monday
Through January 14
Admission: free
212-977-7160
http://www.mariangoodman.com/mg/nyc.html
In 2002, before moving temporarily to Queens, the Museum of Modern Art staged "Gerhard Richter: Forty Years of Painting," a marvelous retrospective of the influential work of the popular German abstract artist. This excellent show features nearly three dozen recent pieces, revealing Richter’s latest experimentation with the avant-garde since the MoMA exhibit. The North Gallery is dominated by a dozen large oil paintings that are part of his Abstraktes Bild series, rectangular canvases with splashes of color amid dark, metallic inks, often with gray, vertical brushstrokes looming over them, almost as afterthoughts. In the South Viewing Room a green mountain landscape, "Waldhaus," warmly welcome you, like an oasis in a futuristic society. In the South Gallery, four graphite drawings hang across from five "silikat" oils, black-and gray shadowy images of row after row of repeated symbols based on molecular structure.
Sydney Pollack’s THE YAKUZA is an underappreciated foreign affair
Museum of the Moving Image
35th Ave. at 36th St., Astoria
January 6 through February 12
Tickets: $10 unless otherwise noted
718-784-4520
http://www.ammi.org/site/screenings/index.html
With all of the recent talk about nationalism, patriotism, and international terrorism, the members of the New York Film Critics Circle have focused their seventh annual selection of world cinema on the idea of the foreign, outsiders either in America or overseas. Many of the screenings are introduced by the critic who selected that particular film. The wide-ranging series includes both odd and inspired choices, from Carol Reed’s awesome THE THIRD MAN and John Sayles’s offbeat THE BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET to Michelangelo Antonioni’s awful ZABRISKIE POINT and Sydney Pollack’s woefully underseen THE YAKUZA. There are also films by such luminaries as Alain Resnais, Martin Scorsese, David Cronenberg, Nicolas Roeg, Werner Herzog, Stanley Kubrick, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Stephen Frears, Alfred Hitchcock, and others, spanning the years 1931 to 1999.
Friday, January 6 Special Screening: 2046 (Wong Kar-wai, 2004), 7:30
Saturday, January 7 HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR (Alain Resnais, 1959), introduced by Matt Zoller Seitz, 2:00
Saturday, January 7 THE THIRD MAN (Carol Reed, 1949), introduced by John Anderson, 4:00
Carol Reed’s thriller is quite simply the most entertaining film we have ever seen, twi-ny’s absolute all-time fave. Set in divided post-WWII Vienna amid a thriving black market, THE THIRD MAN is heavy in atmosphere, untrustworthy characters, and sly humor, with a marvelous zither score by Anton Karas. Joseph Cotten stars as Holly Martins, an American writer of Western paperbacks who has come to Vienna to see his old friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles), but he seems to have shown up a little late. While trying to find out what happened to Harry, Martins falls for Harry’s lover, Anna (Alida Valli); is told to get out of town by Major Calloway (Trevor Howard); meets a stream of Harry’s more interesting, mysterious friends, including Baron Kurtz (Ernst Deutsch) and Popescu (Siegfried Breuer); and is talked into giving a lecture to a literary club by old Mr. Crabbin (Wilfrid Hyde-White). SPOILER: The shot in which Lime is first revealed, standing in a doorway, a cat brushing by his feet, his tongue firmly in cheek as he lets go a miraculous, knowing smile, is one of the greatest single shots in the history of cinema.
Saturday, January 7 Special Screening: CAPOTE (Bennett Miller, 2005), followed by a Pinewood Dialogue with director Miller, $12, 6:30
Sunday, January 8 HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR (Alain Resnais, 1959), 2:00
Sunday, January 8 THE THIRD MAN (Carol Reed, 1949), 4:00
Sunday, January 8 Special Screening: 2046 (Wong Kar-wai, 2004), 6:30
Saturday, January 14 HAMSUN (Jan Troell, 1996), introduced by Peter Rainer, 1:00
Saturday, January 14 NAKED LUNCH (David Cronenberg, 1991), 4:00
Saturday, January 14 THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH (Nicolas Roeg, 1976), introduced by Stephen Whitty, 6:30
Sunday, January 15 NAKED LUNCH (David Cronenberg, 1991), introduced by Stuart Klawans, 4:00
Sunday, January 15 THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH (Nicolas Roeg, 1976), 6:30
Saturday, January 21 KUNDUN (Martin Scorsese, 1997), Introduced by Nathan Lee, 1:30
Saturday, January 21 FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940), Introduced by Andrew Sarris, 4:00
Sunday, January 22 KUNDUN (Martin Scorsese, 1997), Introduced by editor Thelma Schoonmaker, 1:30
Sunday, January 22 FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940),
4:00
Saturday, January 28 STROSZEK (Werner Herzog, 1977), 1:30
Saturday, January 28 ZABRISKIE POINT (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1970), introduced by J. Hoberman, 4:00
Michelangelo Antonioni’s foray into 1960s American hippie culture is an annoying failure from start to finish (even if it is pretty to look at); although the film runs less that two hours, it feels like forever. Mark Frechette and Daria Halprin star as — well, you won’t really care who they are or what they are doing, although it has something to do with radicalism, activism, and ennui. Sam Shepard had a hand in the screenplay, only the second script he contributed to; fortunately, he’d get better. Look for Harrison Ford in a tiny role, and U2 fans will get a kick out of seeing the location that served as the cover image for THE JOSHUA TREE. The only redeeming aspect of the film is the soundtrack, which features lots of early Pink Floyd and the Grateful Dead. Zabriskie Point is one of the lowest points in the Western hemisphere; it’s also one of the lowest points of Antonioni’s eclectic career.
Sunday, January 29 STROSZEK (Werner Herzog, 1977), introduced by Michael Atkinson, 1:30
Sunday, January 29 ZABRISKIE POINT (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1970), 4:00
Saturday, February 4 FULL METAL JACKET (Stanley Kubrick, 1987), introduced by Owen Gleiberman, 2:00
Saturday, February 4 THE LAST FLIGHT (William Dieterle, 1931), introduced by Lou Lumenick, 4:30
Sunday, February 5 NO GREATER GLORY (Frank Borzage, 1934), introduced by Armond White, 1:30
Sunday, February 5 NINOTCHKA (Ernst Lutbitsch, 1939), introduced by Leah Rozen, 4:00
Saturday, February 11 THE YAKUZA (Sydney Pollack, 1975), introduced by Marshall Fine, 2:00
Also available on video
One of Hollywood’s first trips into the Japanese underworld has quite a pedigree — directed by Sydney Pollack (coming off his success with THE WAY WE WERE) and written by Robert Towne (who had just written CHINATOWN and SHAMPOO) and Paul Schrader (his first writing credit, to be followed by TAXI DRIVER). The great Robert Mitchum stars as Harry Kilmer, a WWII vet who returns to Japan thirty years later to help his friend George Tanner (Brian FAMILY AFFAIR Keith), whose daughter has been kidnapped. Kilmer thinks he can just walk in and walk out, but things quickly get complicated, and he ends up having to take care of some unfinished business.involving the great Keiko Kishi (most recently seen in 2002’s THE TWILIGHT SAMURAI). Kilmer and his trigger-happy young cohort, Dusty (Richard LOGAN’S RUN Jordan), hole up at Oliver’s (Herb "Murray the Cop" Edelman), where they are joined by Tanaka (Ken Takakura) in their battle against Toshiro Tono (Eiji HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR Okada) and Goro (James FLOWER DRUM SONG Shigeta) while searching for a man with a spider tattoo on his head. There are lots of shootouts and sword fights, discussions of honor and betrayal, and, in the grand yakuza tradition, cutting off of the pinkie.
Saturday, February 11 MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE (Stephen Frears 1985), introduced by Gene Seymour, 4:30
Saturday, February 11 ALI: FEAR EATS THE SOUL (Rainer Werner Fassbinder 1974), introduced by Dennis Lim, 6:30
Sunday, February 12 ALI: FEAR EATS THE SOUL (Rainer Werner Fassbinder 1974), 6:30
Sunday, February 12 THE BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET (John Sayles, 1984), introduced by David Sterritt, 2:00
Sunday, February 12 GENGHIS BLUES (Roko Belic, 1999), introduced by Lisa Schwarzbaum, 4:30
Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal tempt the fates in Ang Lee’s latest
In theaters now
http://www.brokebackmountain.com
In the summer of 1963, two cowboys head up Brokeback Mountain in Wyoming to watch over a herd of sheep. Ennis Del Mar (an outstanding Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) have never met before, but it doesn’t take long for them to jump into each other’s arms when it gets mighty cold up there. Their brief but powerful affair haunts them when they each return to their lives — Ennis marries his fiancee, Alma (Michelle Williams), and starts a family, while Jack settles down with Lureen (Anne Hathaway) in a clearly loveless relationship. As time moves on, their desperate need to be together only grows stronger — and more dangerous. Based on Annie Proulx’s New Yorker story and directed by Ang Lee (HULK, THE ICE STORM, CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON), BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN is an emotional stale of forbidden love that will break your heart. However, it’s not quite as great as you’ve heard; Ennis and Jack’s physical relationship starts way too soon, without enough buildup, and Lee doesn’t quite know how to end it (it’s at least twenty minutes too long). But he gets one heckuva wrenching performance from Ledger as a tough man afraid to let go of traditional values and follow his dreams.
Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Rhys Meyers tempt the fates in the Woodman’s latest
— Scarlett Johansson to the New York Daily News, Sunday, December 25, 2005, in article about her latest film, Woody Allen’s MATCH POINT
In theaters now
http://www.matchpoint.dreamworks.com
While we might have been too Woody-friendly recently, we agree with almost everyone else that the Brooklyn-born director’s latest film is probably his best since 1989’s CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS. MATCH POINT is set in a whole new locale for the Woodman — London — and, thankfully, it features no Woody-esque character (like John Cusack in BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, who did a good job of it, and Will Ferrell in MELINDA & MELINDA, who was miserable trying to channel the schlemiel writer-director). Jonathan Rhys Meyers stars as Chris Wilton, a former professional tennis player who takes a job as an instructor at a posh London club. There he meets Tom Hewett (Matthew Goode), who introduces him to his powerful father, Alec (Brian Cox), and his husband-hungry sister, Chloe (Emily Mortimer). Unfortunately, he also meets Tom’s fiancée, Nola (Scarlett Johansson), a failed American actress with whom Chris instantly falls in lust with, placing his carefully managed upwardly mobile plans in dire jeopardy. Rhys Meyers is wonderfully understated as the tortured soul, and Johansson is mesmerizing as the object of his desire. A series of Hitchockian homages leads to a surprising conclusion that will both delight and scare you.
Pierce Brosnan isn’t afraid to poke fun at himself in THE MATADOR
In theaters now
http://www.miramax.com/matador
Suave, sophisticated Pierce Brosnan pokes fun of himself and his roles as James Bond and Remington Steele in this sensationally entertaining offbeat comedy from writer-director Richard Shepard (REMEMBER WENN, THE LINGUINI INCIDENT). Brosnan stars as Julian Noble, an aging "facilitator of fatalities" who is slightly off his game. He likes his margaritas shaken, not stirred, and his women very, very young — and not necessarily free of charge. He also likes to drink till he’s a nasty, slobbering drunk. In Mexico he meets Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear), perhaps the most normal, average person he has ever come across; a happily married man (to the wonderful Hope Davis) who lives in suburban Denver, Danny is down south trying to close a big deal for his small company. Julian knows he is slipping, so he asks Danny to assist him in his next assignment, endangering their burgeoning friendship — and their lives. THE MATADOR is a small gem of a film; even the eclectic soundtrack works, featuring songs by the Jam, the Cramps, Tom Jones, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Asia, and the Killers.
Daniel Auteil and Juliette Binoche find their share of trouble in CACHÉ
In theaters now
http://www.sonyclassics.com/cache
Writer-director Michael Haneke (THE PIANO TEACHER) was named Best Director at Cannes for this slow-moving yet gripping psychological drama about a seemingly happy French family whose lives are about to be torn apart. CACHÉ stars Daniel Auteil as Georges, the host of a literary public television talk show, and Juliette Binoche as his wife, Anne, a book editor. One day a mysterious videotape is left for them, showing a continuous shot of their house. More tapes follow, wrapped in childish drawings of a boy with blood coming out of his mouth. Fearing for the safety of their son, Pierrot (Lester Makedonsky), they go to the police, who say they cannot do anything until an actual crime has been committed. As the tapes reveal more information and invite more danger, Georges’s secrets and lies threaten the future of his marriage. CACHÉ is a tense, involving thriller that is both uncomfortable and captivating to watch. Haneke zooms in closely on the relationship between Georges and Anne, keeping all other characters in the background; in fact, there is no musical score or even any incidental music to enhance the searing emotions coming from Auteil and Binoche. CACHÉ has also won a number of year-end critics awards for Best Foreign Language Film. Oh, and be sure to pay close attention to the long final shot for just one more crucial twist that many people in the audience will miss.
Contemporary Korean Films
City Cinematheque
Time Warner Cable channel 75
Friday, January 6, 12 midnight
Also available on DVD and video
http://cuny.tv/specials/special2.lasso?specialsID='SP000232'
Up in the wilderness of Mount Chonan, far away from civilization, young orphan Haejin (Huang Hae-Jin) and Kibong (Won-Sop Sin), a refugee from "the world," learn about the self and the other from aging master Hyegok (Pan-Yong Yi) as they contemplate the Buddhist philosophy of life and death. First-time Korean filmmaker Bae Yong-kyun wrote, directed, photographed, and edited this meditative, moving story over several years during the turbulent mid-to-late 1980s, when student unrest and unhappy workers helped end the Chun Doo Hwan regime. Thus, the freedom the characters are striving for is not only the Zen freedom from attachment and earthly ties but the political freedom from an oppressive leadership. Bae, who is also a painter, imbues the film with beautiful photography and gorgeously framed shots. It might be slow-paced, but it’ll draw you in if you’re willing to free your mind of material concerns. The film won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival and gained international notoriety when Sight and Sound magazine named it in 1992 one of the ten best films ever made; it was also the first Korean film to be released theatrically in the United States. The screening on CUNY-TV is followed by a discussion between host Jerry Carlson and Columbia’s Ted Hughes, an expert on Korean culture.
http://www.henryholt.com/holt/brooklynfollies.htm
While we might have been too Auster-friendly recently, the Brooklyn novelist’s latest book is probably his best since 1992’s LEVIATHAN. THE BROOKLYN FOLLIES is set in Park Slope, where tired old Nathan Glass has gone to die. But then he bumps into his nephew, Tom, at a local bookstore and gets caught up in a tangled tale of mystery and betrayal, forgery and yearning, spousal abuse and family strife, love and loss. But this is no simple Brooklyn soap opera. Auster’s characters are deep and detailed, including the marvelously complex Harry Brightman, owner of Brightman’s Attic and a man who always has an underhanded scheme going on; Tom’s troubled sister, Aurora, and her complicated young daughter, Lucy; and Nathan himself, a divorced, lonely man whose only pleasure was overtipping the hot, married waitress at the local diner. THE BROOKLYN FOLLIES is a masterfully told tale, filled with stories within stories, by a master writer at the top of his game. Auster fans will revel in every paragraph, while readers new to his work will see what all the fuss is about.
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Jacob Javits Convention Center
35th St. & 11th Ave.
Admission: adults $15, children thirteen through fifteen $8, two-day tickets $25
Elite Fleet VIP Club: $60 for two days
212-984-7000
Through Sunday, January 8 The 101st year of the world’s first boat show features the Boats of Bond (Bond Day is January 4), Ghost Rider, new product showcase, seminars, boat giveaways, live music from Mike Aiken, casting demos, bass fishing tips, book signings, and more
Monday through Friday, January 23-27, January 30 — February 3
Lunch: $24.07
Dinner: $35
Reservations being accepted now
http://www.opentable.com/promo.aspx?pid=69&m=8&ref=411
It’s time to make reservations for one of the city’s best events, Restaurant Week, as more than one hundred eateries will be offering prix-fixe lunches and/or dinners; among the participants are Aquavit, Artisanal, Asia de Cuba, Blue Smoke, Butter, Cafe Boulud, Chanterelle, Compass, Craftbar, davidburke & donatella, Devi, Dominic, Estiatorio Milos, Fleur de Sel, Gramercy Tavern, I Trulli, Inagiku, JoJo, Nice Matin, Payard Bistro, Riingo, the River Cafe, San Domenico, Shelly’s New York, Steak Frites, SushiSamba, Tabla, Union Square Cafe, Vong, and the ‘21’ Club, among dozens of others -- but you better book your reservations fast.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Ave. at 89th St.
Tickets: $15, cash only at the door
212-423-3500
http://www.guggenheim.org/calendar/index.html
Friday, January 6 The galleries will be open late, along with a cash bar, and music by DJ Diplo, 9:00 pm — 1:00 am
Beacon Theater
74th St. & Broadway
March 9-25
Tickets: $49.99-$84.99
http://www.allmanbrothersband.com
Friday, January 6 Tickets go on sale at 10:00 for the Allman Brothers Band’s thirteen-show stand at the Beacon
Flushing Town Hall
137-35 Northern Blvd.
Tickets: $15
718-463-7700
http://www.flushingtownhall.org/jazz.html
Friday, January 6 Café Society: Kim Kalesti and Marion Cowings perform the songs of Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Joe Williams, and Bessie Smith, 8:00
El Museo del Barrio
1230 Fifth Ave. at 104th St.
Admission: free (parade)
Galleries open 1:30 — 8:00 ($6)
212-831-7272
Friday, January 6 Twenty-ninth annual Three Kings’ Day Parade and workshops, with special performances in El Teatro Heckscher, 10:00 am
TimesTalks
CUNY Graduate Center
365 Fifth Ave. at 34th St.
Tickets: $20-$35
888-nyt-1870
http://www.nytmarketing.com/alw/index.htm
In addition to the below events, you can print out a special pass at the above Web site that gets you two-for-one admission (and/or other benefits) at such institutions as the Bronx Zoo, Wave Hill, the New York Aquarium, Ellis Island, Loews Cineplex, Symphony Space, Gold’s Gym, Dia:Beacon, the Brooklyn Museum, the New York Transit Museum, and the Heckscher Museum of Art, among many others.
Friday, January 6 TimesTalks: Deborah Voigt in conversation with Anthony Tommasini, 8:00
Saturday, January 7 TimesTalks: Harry Connick Jr. in conversation with Patricia Cohen, 10:00 am
Saturday, January 7 TimesTalks: William Gibson in conversation with Brent Staples, 4:00
Saturday, January 7 TimesTalks: Aaron McGruder in conversation with Lola Ogunnaike, 6:00
Sunday, January 8 TimesTalks: R.L. Stine in conversation with Robert Lipsyte, 10:00 am
Sunday, January 8 TimesTalks: Hank Azaria, Michael Cerveris, Michael C. Hall, and other Broadway leading men in conversation with Jesse McKinley, 10:00 am
Sunday, January 8 TimesTalks: Paricia Cornwall and Scott Turow in conversation with Gerald Marzorati, 2:00
Sunday, January 8 TimesTalks: Jim Jarmusch in conversation with Dinitia Smith, 4:00
Sunday, January 8 TimesTalks: John Legend, performance and in conversation with Lola Ogunnaike, $30-$50, 8:00
Brooklyn Museum of Art
200 Eastern Parkway
Admission: free after 5:00 pm
718-638-5000
http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/first-saturdays
Saturday, January 7 World Music: Musette Explosion, Entrance Pavilion, first floor, 6:00 — 8:00
Saturday, January 7 Performance: Brooklyn Ballet, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Auditorium, third floor (free tickets available at the visitor center in the Grand Lobby at 5:00), 6:00
Saturday, January 7 Hands-On Art: create your own beaded headdresses, Education Division, first floor (free tickets available in the Education Gallery at 6:00), 6:30 — 8:30
Saturday, January 7 Gallery Talk: Jim Marshall, Manufactured Landscapes: The Photographs of Edward Burtynsky, Morris A. and Meyer Schapiro Wing, fifth floor (free tickets available at the visitor center in the Grand Lobby at 6:00), 7:00
Saturday, January 7 Young Voices: student guide Lauren Ajamie, Tree of Paradise, Grand Lobby, first floor (free tickets available at the visitor center in the Grand Lobby at 7:00), 8:00
Saturday, January 7 Dance Lesson: waltz and polka, with Stepping Out Dance Studios, Beaux-Arts Court, third floor, 8:00
Saturday, January 7 Performance: "Amadeus Live!" featuring members of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Auditorium, third floor (free tickets available at the visitor center in the Grand Lobby at 7:30), 8:30 & 9:30
Saturday, January 7 Winter Ball Dance Party: The Vienna Festival Orchestra, Beaux-Arts Court, third floor, 9:00 — 11:00
Saturday, January 7 Grand Lobby Lounge, with vintage DJ, Entrance Pavilion, first floor, 9:00 — 11:00
The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine
1047 Amsterdam Ave. at 112th St.
212-316-7540
http://www.stjohndivine.org/news_performances.html
Saturday, January 7 Onstage festival featuring children’s participation, puppets, annual holiday party, and more, free, 1:30 & 4:00
Guyon Tavern at Historic Richmond Town
441 Clarke Avenue at Arthur Kill Road, Staten Island
S74 bus from Staten Island Ferry
Saturday nights at 7:30 & 9:00 January 7 through April 29
Admission: $15, includes one free drink — prepaid reservations required
Miniseries of four concerts: $55
718 351-1611 ext280
http://historicrichmondtown.org/cgi-bin/events.cgi
Saturday, January 7 String Fever
Saturday, January 14 Omnia
Music at Our Saviour’s Atonement
178 Bennett Ave. at 189th St.
Second Sunday of each month
Tickets: $12
212-923-5757
Saturday, January 8 Pulitzer Prize winner Aaron Jay Kernis with the Contrasts Quartet and special guests Daniel Reading and Sophie Shao, followed by reception, 3:00
Peter Jay Sharp Theatre (PJS)
Leonard Nimoy Thalia (LNT)
2537 Broadway at 95th St.
212-864-5400
Sunday, January 8
and
Tuesday, January 10 Thalia Film Classics: RAGING BULL (Martin Scorsese, 1980), LNT, $10, 7:00 (1/8), 6:00 (1/10)
Saturday, January 14 Throat Singers of Tuva: Huun-Huur-Tu, PJS, $26, 8:00
Sunday, January 15 Bearing the Unbearable: Israeli and Palestinian Films About the Conflict — DIVINE INTERVENTION (Elia Suleiman), 4:00, and CHECKPOINT (Yoav Shamir), LNT, $10, 5:45
Monday, January 16 A Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration, with Jewish gospel singer Joshua Nelson and community choral groups, free, 6:30
Tuesday, January 17 Bearing the Unbearable: Israeli and Palestinian Films About the Conflict — THE INNER TOUR (Ra’anan Alexandrowicz), 6:00, and UNTIL WHEN (Dahna Abourahme), LNT, $10, 6:00
Wednesday, January 18 Thalia Book Club: THE LIFE ALL AROUND ME by Ellen Foster, with Kaye Gibbons and Andrea Marcovicci, LNT, $18, 7:00
1395 Lexington Ave. at 92nd St.
212-415-5500
Sunday, January 8 Susie Essman in Conversation with Joy Behar, $25, 7:00
Monday, January 9 Neil Gaiman, $25, 8:15
Wednesday, January 11 Health club open house, featuring discounted memberships, free tours, sample classes, health screenings, spa treatments, three-point shootout with WNBA players, underwater swimming analysis, and more, free, 5:00 — 9:30
Thursday, January 12 Restaurants from the Inside Out, with Rocco DiSpirito, Steven Shaw, and Calvin Trillin, moderated by Leonard Lopate, $25, 8:00
Flea Theater
41 White St. between Broadway & Church St.
Admission: free
212-226-2407
Tuesday, January 10 Works in progress by Rebecca Lazier, Peter Schmitz, Tommy Noonan, and Diane Vivona, moderated by John Jasperse, 7:00
French Institute Alliance Française Ciné-Club
Florence Gould Hall
55 East 59th St. between Park & Madison Aves.
Tuesdays at 12:30, 4:00, and 7:00 pm unless otherwise noted
Through February 28
Tickets: $9, available day of show only after 11:00 am
212-355-6160
http://www.fiaf.org/french%20film/index.htm
Tuesday, January 10 ECRIRE (Benoît Jacquot, 1993) and L’HOMME ATLANTIQUE (Marguerite Duras, 1981)
Tuesday, January 17 HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR (Alain Resnais, 1959)
CUNY Graduate Center
365 Fifth Ave. at 34th St.
Admission: free
212-817-8215
http://web.gc.cuny.edu/cepp/courses/great_music.html
Wednesday, January 11 The Young Mozart, featuring Jennifer Koh, violin, and Reiko Uchida, piano, 7:30
Brooklyn Academy of Music Opera House Café
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
Tickets: $42
Select Thursday nights at 6:30
718-636-4100
http://bam.org/events/readings.aspx
Thursday, January 12 Gish Jen interviewed by Kurt Andersen, with live dinner music by Ari Scott and book signing
Beacon Theater
2124 Broadway at 74th St.
February 10-15
Hammerstein Ballroom
311 West 34th St. between Eighth & Ninth Ave.
February 17-19
Tickets: $39.50-$47.50 (limit four per person)
212-262-3352
Friday, January 13 Tickets go on sale at 10:00 am for Phil Lesh & Friends’ latest tour, "Hell, I Still Love You New York 2006," coming to the Beacon Theater and the Hammerstein Ballroom February 10-19, 8:00
Bowery Ballroom
6 Delancey St. at Bowery
212-533-2111
Saturday, January 14 Take the skinheads bowling, along with Trampled by Turtles, $20, 9:00
Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery at Bleecker St.
Tickets: $10 in advance; $12 at the door
212-614-0505
http://truthfacerecordings.com/wiyos
Saturday, January 14 Brooklyn’s own Wiyos host a CD release party for their new disc, HAT TRICK, with live performances from Dennis Nyback, Curtis Eller, the Two Man Gentlemen Band, Red Bastard, and Amy G of the Daredevil Opera Company, with DJ Mac, burlesque, and puppets, 8:00
Jacob Javits Convention Center
Eleventh Ave. between 34th & 39th Sts.
Admission: $15 (children under seventeen free with adult)
212-216-2000
Saturday, January 14
and
Sunday, January 15 Featuring seminars, scuba diving, rock climbing, special travel offers, cultural performances, children’s activities, and more
Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts
Walt Whitman Theatre at Brooklyn College
Flatbush Ave. at Nostrand Ave.
Tickets: $13-$35
718-951-4500
http://www.brooklyncenteronline.org
Sunday, January 15 Featuring the songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber, with Diane Ketchie, Joan Ryan, Scott Harlan, and Raymond Saar, 2:00
St. Bartholomew’s Church
109 East 50th St. at Park Ave.
212-378-0248
http://www.stbarts.org/concerts.htm#msf3
Sunday, January 15 A Tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr., with Rejoicensemble and the St. Bartholomew’s Boy and Girl Choristers, $20, 3:00
Lehman Center for the Performing Arts
250 Bedford Park Blvd.
Tickets: $35-$100
718-960-8833
http://www.lehmancenter.com/2005_6_swish_web/bb_single.shtm
Sunday, January 15 B.B. King plays a special show in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 7:00
Brooklyn Academy of Music
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
Peter Jay Sharp Building
30 Lafayette Ave.
Admission: free
718-636-4100
http://bam.org/events/06MLKD/06MLKD.aspx
Monday, January 16 Twentieth Annual Brooklyn Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., with Yvonne J. Graham, Dr. Carolyn Goodman, Fannie Lee Chaney, Gwen Ifill, live music by Raul Midón and the Imani Singers of Medgar Evers College, and special screenings of STANDING ON MY SISTER’S SHOULDERS and the work in progress NESHOBA, introduced by director Tony Pagano, 10:30 am
Prospect Park
Lefferts Historic House
Admission: free
718-789-2822
Monday, January 16 Storytelling and quilt-making workshop in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., 1:00 – 4:00
B.B. King Blues Club & Grill
237 West 42nd St. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
212-997-4144
http://bbkingblues.com/schedule/index.shtml
Monday, January 16 Olu Dara Band and special guest Richie Havens, with Jared Choclatt, $27.50, 7:30
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West & 79th St.
Wallach Orientation Center, fourth floor
Tickets: $20
212-769-5315
http://www.amnh.org/programs/programs.php?event_type_id=2
Tuesday, January 17 Sake, with Bon Yagi and Ken Kusakabe of Sakagura and Chris Pearce, 7:00
New-York Historical Society
2 West 77th St. at Central Park West
Tickets: $30
212-873-3400/212-817-8215
Tuesday, January 17 A Musical Evening with Just Friends in celebration of Martin Luther King Day, 7:00
Scandinavia House
58 Park Ave. at 38th St.
Tickets: $8
212-847-9746
http://www.scandinaviahouse.org/programs.html#2
Tuesday, January 17 Norway: KISSED BY WINTER (VINTERKYSS) (Sara Johnsen, 2005), 6:00 & 8:30
Wednesday, January 18 Finland: MOTHER OF MINE (ÄIDEISTÄ PARHAIN) (Klaus Härö, 2005), 6:00 & 8:30
Thursday, January 19 Iceland: AHEAD OF TIME (Ágúst Guamundsson, 2004), 6:00 & 8:30
Friday, January 20 Sweden: ZOZO (Josef Fares, 2005), 6:00 & 8:30