Sixth Annual Coney Island Special
06.07.06
In This Issue
1. Sixth annual Coney Island Special
2. Darwin evolves and butterflies extend at the AMNH
4. Asian films are a go-go at the New York Asian Film Festival
Volume 6, Number 1
June 7-21, 2006
Now celebrating five years of bringing you the best of New York!
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Site Design/Subway Photo:
Fred Gates Design, New York.
twi-ny/mdr
As we continue to tell you every year, Coney Island is a magical place. If you examine its sites individually, you’ll never understand what the attraction is. But taken as a whole, Coney Island is far greater than the sum of its parts. It is filled with history and mystery, with exhilaration and debilitation, with wonder and blunder. Ask five people how Coney Island got its name and you’ll get five different answers. (Many historians lean toward the belief that it derived from the Dutch word for rabbits, which populated the area in the seventeenth century.) There is no artifice to Coney; what you see is what you get. And what you get is one of the most bizarre, thrilling places in the world, as much a part of New York City as the Empire State Building, Yankee Stadium, and Central Park all rolled up into one. Don’t go there to see only one or two of the below recommendations; spend the whole day searching out Coney’s amazing character, for every street holds a new adventure — and plenty of unusual characters.
twi-ny/mdr
Newly redesigned Stillwell Ave. terminal welcomes beachgoers
Admission: $2
http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/nyct/service/fline.htm
Sure, it’s a long trip from Midtown Manhattan to Coney Island, but it’s not a boring one. It’s like a minitour of Brooklyn, starting out underground, heading outside once you pass Carroll Street, offering excellent views of the beautiful Kentile Floors sign and the Williamsburg Savings Bank, with the Empire State Building over your shoulder. The train then goes back underground until you emerge outside after Fourth Avenue; as you move past Church and on to Ditmas, don’t miss all the old auto yards and the huge Jewish cemetery. Finally, as you leave Ave. U, the Parachute Jump comes into view, announcing your near arrival in Coney Island, but the fun is not over yet, as you’re about to get a long glimpse of the cool train yards and Gil Hodges Stadium on your right as you approach Neptune Ave., where you can now also see stained glass honoring the Cyclone on the platform. Get out at Stillwell Ave. to see the sparkling new train station. Try your best to avoid D-train hell and take the F back home too. The only drawback to the train’s spending so much time aboveground is that phone-demonium soon takes over — a bunch of pinheads get all excited that their cell phones suddenly work so they immediately make calls instead of enjoying the amazing sights out the window.
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Wilson pays tribute to the glory of Coney
Stillwell Ave. Terminal
Surf Ave. & Stillwell Ave.
Admission: free
Installed in 2004, Robert Wilson’s silk-screened glass bricks gets its title not only from the Lou Reed song "Coney Island Baby" but from the song of the same name written by Tom Waits for WOYZCEK. (Wilson and Reed have collaborated on POEtry and ROCKER, and Wilson and Waits have teamed up, far more successfully, on THE BLACK RIDER and WOYZCEK, all for BAM.). Wilson has decorated the glass windows of the Stillwell Ave. terminal with big, colorful depictions of Coney’s history, including a large hot dog, Samuel Friede’s Globe Tower swindle, a Toxic Avenger-like freak, old-fashioned mustachioed firemen, a turtle-man, children and adults on rides, men in hats peering in at you, and even the Wonder Wheel, all a fitting welcome to one of our favorite places in the world.
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Os Gemeos show their stuff in Coney Island
Stillwell Ave. off Surf Ave.
Admission: free
http://www.graffiti.org/osgemeos
http://www.lost.art.br/osgemeos.htm
Brazilian twins Otavio and Gustavo Pandolfo, whose work graced the top of one of twi-ny’s 2005 issues, have contributed this gorgeous 130-foot-long mural along the side of the building right across the street from the Stillwell Ave. Coney Island station. Part of Creative Time’s Dreamland Artist Club, which also features hand-painted signs, murals, and game-booth prizes from Crash and Ronnie Cutrone, Isca Greenfield-Sanders, Greg Lamarche, Swoon, and other street artists, this spectacular work is practically worth the trip to Coney Island all on its own. Os Gemeos’s colorful fantasy land includes such odd-shaped characters and offbeat scenes as a sad woman with a house on her head, a hot-air balloon with strange passengers, a boy riding a glorious peacock, an old lady on a bizarre bicycle flying a fish kite, tiny heads hanging below a bubble encasing a high-wire circus act, a nesting Noah’s Ark with people in various forms of stupor and distress, a young woman trapped in a bottle, a girl clutching a pudgy purple object on a mushroom, a sun with pursed lips overlooking it all, and lots of other unexplainable but thrilling sights.
http://www.coneyislandusa.com/links.shtml
When you get right down to it, the actual beach at Coney Island doesn’t quite compare to Jones Beach, Fire Island, the Hamptons, Point Lookout, Long Beach Island, and all the other beaches in the tristate area. The sand is not quite as inviting, the water not quite as shiny, but it has something that all the other beaches lack: reality. Coney Island is not a place to show off your two-hundred-dollar designer bikini, or to talk business on your cell phone, or to enjoy a restricted area that keeps out the unwanted element. Coney Island welcomes everyone, fat and skinny, old and young, black, white, brown, and yellow, a wonderland of cultural diversity. It is a musical cacophony; no matter where you set up camp, you will be bombarded with salsa from the left and classic rock from the right, with hip-hop behind you and funk in front of you. There’s no need to pack a cooler; you can get tallboys for a few bucks on the beach, and nothing beats fresh mango on a stick from a young beach hawker. There are poles for beach volleyball, and the bathrooms are absolutely usable, which wasn’t the case a handful of years ago. We love lying on our stomach, feet toward the water, opening up our Tom Robbins book but getting distracted by the Parachute Jump, the Wonder Wheel, the real life spreading out all around us. (Don’t miss the old illustrated men so you can see what your tat will look like when you’re seventy.) Coney Island bristles with a character that few places in the world can ever dream to match.
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The Cyclone soars high above Coney Island before that first big drop
Admission: $6, ride again $4
We make sure to hit the Cyclone, an official national historic landmark, at least once every summer, and it has never let us down. We know every curve, bump, and drop like the back of our hand, but the rickety old joy still surprises us every time we take it for a spin. A couple of years ago Walter Williams, the man who had inspected every nail of this grand coaster every morning for decades, retired, but we’re happy to report that Michael has taken his place. Since 1927, the three thousand feet of track that make up the Cyclone have held no hidden tricks from the very start of the ride; it takes you straight up, offering a fabulous view of Coney Island, but don’t get too lost in the picturesque scenery, because you’re about to go on a killer eighty-five-foot drop. Riding the Cyclone is our favorite 110 seconds in the world; it even impressed Charles Lindbergh, who piloted the Cyclone in 1927 and said it was more thrilling than flying across the Atlantic.
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Wonder Wheel features moving views of Coney Island
Admission: $5
Since 1920, the Wonder Wheel has been home to young couples in love making out while looking out over beautiful Coney Island. This is not your average Ferris wheel (owner Dennis Vourderis refers to the 200-hundred ton, 150-foot-high wonder as an "eccentric Ferris wheel"); sixteen of the twenty-four cars slide from side to side while rocking back and forth and moving up and down, so you’re in nearly constant motion. Be sure to pay attention to rule number six: "Do not force your child to ride if he or she is frightened. A scared child on the ground may well panic on the ride." Slip the carny a few extra bucks and he might let you linger at the top, where you get a spectacular view of all of Coney Island as you share a romantic interlude that only the heavens can see. This 150-foot-high national landmark was owned for years by Deno Vourderis (Dennis’s father; the attraction is co-owned by his other son, Steve), who lived the American dream by immigrating to Coney Island, working as a hot dog vendor, and eventually buying a part of New York history.
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Beware the Break Dance at Astroland
Pay One Price: $22.99, including the Cyclone, Monday through Thursday only
Individual rides: $2.50-$5.50
Kiddie Park: ten rides for $20
718-449-1200
http://www.coneyislandbattingrange.com/golf_cl.htm
Not quite as historic as in the old days of Coney Island, when Sea-Lion Park and Steeplechase Park, then Luna Park and Dreamland battled for the attention of some of the country’s wealthiest people, now Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park is up against Astroland. Deno’s features more kiddie rides, including the Tilt-a-Whirl, a carousel, and Spook-a-Rama; Astroland features slightly more adult rides, or at least more potentially vomit-inducing rides, such as the Pirate Ship, the Enterprise, and the Break Dance (in addition to the Water Flume, Dante’s Inferno, and the AstroTower). Away from the parks, the B&B "Carousell" is on Surf Ave. & West 12th, and the Eldorado — disco bumper cars — is across the street and down the block. Coney Island also offers sports fans a chance to hit a home run at the Batting Range, drive a Go-Kart around a short track at the International Speedway, and play eighteen holes on the Ocean and Beach Courses, all on Stillwell Ave. by the boardwalk. There are also plenty of games of chance, with shooting galleries, water-balloon races, and Skee-Ball. Basically, if you’re looking to spend a day at an amusement park, don’t go to Coney Island; but if you’re after an amazingly diverse, entertaining, and unpredictable time, we suggest throwing in a few rides with a few hours of tanning and eating really bad but good food, including vanilla chip ices from Ralph’s and clams and fries from Nathan’s. (But watch out for Cha Cha’s Bar & Cafe, which promises "Live entertainment for the hole [sic] family.")
twi-ny/mdr
Serpentina electrifies the crowd outside the Sideshow
1208 Surf Ave. at West 12th St., First Floor
Sideshow open Fridays 2:00-8:00 pm, Saturdays & Sundays 1:00-11:00 pm
Reduced cast on Wednesdays & Thursdays 2:00-8:00 pm
Admission: $5 for adults; $3 for children under twelve
Burlesque at the Beach: Friday nights at 10:00, $10
718-372-5159
http://www.coneyislandusa.com/sideshow.shtml
We’ve been going to the Sideshow for years, ever since John Bradshaw began running it (and pounding nails up his nose) more than fifteen years ago. Since then we remember seeing Ruby the snake lady (who was in Bruce Springsteen’s "Tunnel of Love" video); Otis Jordan, the Human Cigarette Factory, who could roll and smoke a cigarette using just his mouth; the late Michael Wilson, the Illustrated Man; and the currently missing Koko the Killer Clown, among other bearded ladies, fire eaters, and snake lovers. The fabulous Web site for the Sideshow includes the Freakshow Hall of Fame and an up-close-and-personal look at current performers (including Insectavora, Serpentina the Electric Lady, former Oompa-Loompa Little Jimmy, Mormon sword swallower and blade box twister Heather Holiday, and master of ceremonies and human blockhead Diamond Donny V), as well as a video of what purports to be a two-headed baby in a jar of formaldehyde. Watch out for the individual setups that show up throughout the area advertising "Alien Bodies" or "The World’s Smallest Woman." Clearly, parts of Coney Island are not for the squeamish. Following the Friday night fireworks, Coney Island USA will be holding old-fashioned burlesque shows, every week featuring different acts recalling the old revues that used to be so popular there. These shows promise to be crazy, bizarre, and downright odd.
Friday, June 9 Fisherman’s Love Luau
Friday, June 16 America’s Favorite Burlesque Gameshow- This or That!
Friday, June 30 Bonnie Dunn’s Le Scandal featuring the NYC Blues Devils
Friday, July 7 Starshine Burlesque
Friday, July 14 America’s Favorite Burlesque Gameshow: This or That!
Friday, July 21 The World Famous Pontani Sisters
Friday, July 28 Moisty the Snowman’s Christmas in July
Friday, August 4 Dirty Martini Presents!
Friday, August 11 Lucky Devil’s Feast of Flesh
Friday, August 18 Bambi’s Blacklight Spectacular
Friday, August 25 Professor Jo Boobs Presents: Amateur Nite!
Friday, September 1 Red Hots Burlesque
Friday, September 8 The Miss Coney Island Burlesque Beauty Pageant
Friday, September 15 America’s Favorite Burlesque Gameshow: This or That!
1208 Surf Ave. at West 12th St., Second Floor
Museum: Fridays & Saturdays, 12 noon — 5:00 pm, 99 cents
Film series: Saturday nights at 8:30, $5
Ask the Experts: Sunday afternoons at 5:00, $5
718-372-5159
http://www.coneyisland.com/museum.shtml
http://www.coneyisland.com/films.shtml
http://www.coneyisland.com/museum.shtml#6
The appropriately fab Coney Island Museum displays weird pieces of Coney Island’s eclectic history, including old funhouse distortion mirrors and a Steeplechase horse, and it costs less than a buck to get in. On Sundays at five throughout the summer, the museum will be hosting five-dollar Ask the Experts lectures about Coney Island. If you have a few too many beers at Nathan’s or in Ruby’s boardwalk bar, you might end up with a tattoo from master artist Spider Webb or Camille Cline. Don’t say you haven’t been warned. And Saturday nights feature a film festival of appropriately bizarre and crazy movies.
Saturday, June 10 Saturday Night Film Series: Make Your Own Damn Movie master class with Troma’s Lloyd Kaufman, featuring screening of TROMA’S WAR (Lloyd Kaufman & Michael Herz, 1988)
Sunday, June 11 Ask the Experts — D.B. Denholtz: Freaks & Fleas at the Heart of the World: Hubert’s Museum 1925-1965
Saturday, June 17 Saturday Night Film Series: SMITHEREENS (Susan Seidelman, 1982), featuring live performances by Little Brooklyn and Dottie Lux
Sunday, June 18 Ask the Experts — TBA
Saturday, July 1 Saturday Night Film Series: FASTER, PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL! (Russ Meyer, 1965)
Sunday, July 2 Ask the Experts — Bill Galvin from American Coaster Enthusiasts: History of Roller Coasters
Saturday, July 8 Saturday Night Film Series: TAXI DRIVER (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
Sunday, July 9 Ask the Experts — TravSD: Vaudeville in Coney Island
Saturday, July 15 Saturday Night Film Series: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (George A. Romero, 1968)
Sunday, July 16 Ask the Experts — Aaron Beebe: Coney Island — Art Incubator
Saturday, July 22 Saturday Night Film Series: Industrial Television, with the 2 Droogies
Sunday, July 23 Ask the Experts — Daniel Blake: live performance and exhibition opening
Saturday, July 29 Saturday Night Film Series: PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE (Edward W. Wood Jr., 1959)
Sunday, July 30 Ask the Experts — Cavaliere Ufficiale Aldo Mancusi of the Enrico Caruso Museum: The History of Recorded Sound
Saturday, August 5 Saturday Night Film Series: THE VIOLENT YEARS (William Morgan, 1965)
Sunday, August 6 Ask the Experts — Richard Steven Cohn and Guests: The Magic of Coney
Saturday, August 12 Saturday Night Film Series: FRANKENSTEIN vs. THE CREATURE FROM BLOOD COVE (William Winckler, 2005)
Sunday, August 13 Ask the Experts — Panel Discussion: Historic Preservation, Nathan’s Famous, and Protecting Intangible Culture
Saturday, August 19 Saturday Night Film Series: THE UNKNOWN (Todd Browning, 1927)
Sunday, August 20 Ask the Experts — Dr. Lynn "Lukki" Sally Coney Island and Spectacle as Total-Body Experience — A Thirteen-Hour Academic Spectacular in Which We Find Our Heroine Chained to a Podium for an Interminable Period, with All the Agony and Sublime Joy that This Might Entail (check for times)
Saturday, August 26 Saturday Night Film Series: CHRISTMAS EVIL (Lewis Jackson, 1980), with live performances by Julie Atlas Muz and Black Cat Burlesque
Sunday, August 27 Ask the Experts — Jo Weldon: Burlesque in Coney Island
Saturday, September 2 Saturday Night Film Series: FREAKS (Todd Browning, 1932)
Sunday, September 3 Ask the Experts: Zoe Beloff
Saturday, September 9 Saturday Night Film Series: THE OUTLAW (Howard Hughes, 1943), with live performances by the World Famous *BOB* and Sweet Dirty Darla
Sunday, September 10 Ask the Experts: Lynn Kelly of the New York City Economic Development Corporation: Coney Island and the CIDC Master Plan
Saturday, September 16 Saturday Night Film Series: BINDLESTIFF FAMILY CIRKUS: THE FIRST TEN YEARS (Alan Plotkin, 2005), with the Bindlestiffs in attendance
Sunday, September 17 Ask the Experts: Robert L. Cohen: ’Oh What a Charming City’: New York City in Folk and Popular Song
Sunday, September 24 Ask the Experts: Maggie Estep: Reading from her new novel, "Flamethrower"
Friday, October 6
through
Sunday, October 8 The Coney Island Short Film Festival: Submissions must be received by July 14
Beginning at Surf Avenue between West Tenth & West Fifteenth Sts.
Saturday, June 24, 2:00 pm (10:00 to noon if you are marching and need to register)
718-372-5159
http://www.coneyisland.com/mermaid.shtml
The annual Mermaid Parade used to be one of our favorite days of the summer, but lately it has become more and more like the Halloween Parade in the Village, losing its unique luster, although it’s still plenty of fun — and way too crowded. We actually marched in the parade about fifteen years back (dressing up as kelp and a manta ray that everyone thought was a lousy homemade Batman costume), lining up down Surf Ave., getting a special look at the classic cars that ceremonially begin the parade, which eventually ends up on the boardwalk with everyone running into the ocean, being led by King Neptune and Queen Mermaid (which in past years has included David Byrne, Moby, Queen Latifah, and Lynda Barry). That first year one of our companions went as a lobster. As our friend was enjoying a cigarette, a child approached him and said, "Lobsters don’t smoke." The surly crustacean replied, "Well, this one does!"
KeySpan Park
1904 Surf Ave. between 16th & 19th Sts.
Season opener: June 20 vs. Staten Island Yankees
718-449-8497
http://www.brooklyncyclones.net
In the shadow of the old Parachute Jump (built for the 1939 World’s Fair, it has been out of operation since the late 1960s) by Steeplechase Pier, in the lot that used to be the meeting place for the start of the Mermaid Parade, a ballpark was built a few years back to house a minor-league team for the Mets. Dem Bums might have gone west, but baseball has returned to Brooklyn in the form of the Single-A New York-Penn League Cyclones. It might not be quite like watching the Dodgers in Ebbets Field, but not too many things are better than baseball in Brooklyn on a warm summer day. The season gets under way June 20 with the start of a three-game home-and-away series with the Cyclones’ crosstown rivals, the Staten Island Yankees. All Friday night home games are followed by fireworks, win or lose, and most home games include some kind of giveaway or special event, including T-shirts on June 28, beach bags on June 29, hats on June 30, water bottles on July 3, jerseys on July 6, Dave & Carrie bobbleheads on July 8, retro metal lunchboxes on July 10, Latin Heritage Night on July 19, Hawaiian Heritage Night on August 21, and Brian Bannister bobbleheads on September 6. In Brooklyn’s last great stadium, Ebbets Field, the right-field wall included a sign from Abe Stark’s Brooklyn clothing emporium that pronounced, "Hit sign, win suit"; next to KeySpan Park stands the Abe Stark Arena/Skating Rink (http://www.iceskatenyc.com/html/assr.html), home to the Greater New York City Hockey League and the all-women Brooklyn Blades. (Interesting touch: The Coney Island store Garage Clothing — owned by Yankees fans — has put a sign on KeySpan’s upper-left-field wall that proclaims, "Hit sign, win a suit.")
Surf Ave. & West Eighth St.
Front-seat viewing of 9:45 Coney Island fireworks
Everything else free with aquarium admission of $12 for adults, $8 for children two to twelve
Parking: $10
718-265-3474
http://wcs.org/home/zoos/nyaquarium/about
http://nyaquarium.com/nyawhatshappening/nyaevents
While we wouldn’t go to Coney Island just for the aquarium, it is an essential stop if you are going to spend the whole day in the area. Scattered throughout the indoor and outdoor displays are cute sea otters, Alien Stingers, fab penguins, bottle-nosed dolphins, moon jellyfish, sharks, and a touch pool where you can feel horseshoe crabs and manta rays. Make sure to take the kids to Conservation Hall, the most educational part of the aquarium.
Saturday, June 10 Beach Ecology, session A, preregistration required, $25, 9:30 am
Saturday, June 10
and
Sunday, June 11 World Oceans Celebration
Sunday, June 18 Father’s Day, with a look at fatherhood beneath the sea
Sunday, June 18 Beach Ecology, session B, preregistration required, $25, 9:30 am
Saturday, June 24
and
Sunday, June 25 Colors of the Caribbean
Friday, July 29 Aqua Nights, featuring live doo-wop and fireworks
Saturday, September 9
and
Sunday, September 10 Sea Life Sock Hop / Grandparent’s Weekend, with live doo-wop, storytelling, arts & crafts, and other ’50s-style events
Five-time champ Kobayashi returns to Nathan’s to defend his title
Tuesday, July 4, 12 noon
Sweikert Alley, Nathan’s Famous, 1310 Surf Ave. at Stillwell Ave.
212-627-5766
http://nathansfamous.com/nathans
http://www.ifoce.com/contests.php?action=detail&eventID=101
Since 1916, Nathan’s has been sponsoring a hot dog eating contest in which men and women from all over the world compete to see who can devour the most hot dogs (and buns) in twelve minutes. Each contestant has his or her own method; some dunk the bread in water before swallowing, while others just stuff the slimy dogs down their throats. Japan placed one-two-three in the event in 2000, the biggest upset since Hirofumi "the Tokyo Terror" Nakajima kicked local Queens hero Ed Krachie’s butt in 1997. Don’t miss this year’s thrilling battle for the Coveted Mustard Yellow International Belt as the United States sets out to reassert good old Yankee pride on the Fourth of July, attempting to swipe the championship right out from under the hungry jaws of five-time champ Takeru Kobayashi, who set the record in 2004 by downing fifty-three and a half dogs in the allotted twelve minutes. If you can’t make it to Coney, ESPN will be broadcasting this year’s contest live. And if you visit Nathan’s official site, there’s a buy one, get one free coupon good through the end of the year.
KeySpan Park
1904 Surf Ave. between 16th & 19th Sts.
Tickets: $10
212-414-7743
http://www.nyfinestbaseball.com/HTMLS/fdny.htm
Saturday, June 17 New York’s Finest take on New York’s Bravest in seventh annual charity baseball game in Coney Island, with celebrity appearances and music by the Brooklyn Sym-Phony Band, 6:00 pm
Saturday, July 15, 12 noon - 9:00 pm
http://www.villagevoice.com/specials/siren
The Village Voice is sponsoring this popular addition to summers at Coney. The all-day free show will feature a diverse lineup, including She Wants Revenge, Stars, Art Brut, Tapes ’N Tapes, the Stills, the Cribs, Celebration, Dirty on Purpose, and others, as well as unusual cabaret and circus acts and multimedia artists along the boardwalk. If you choose only one day to come to Coney Island this summer, you might as well make it this one, which offers up the most entertainment choices without putting a dent in your pocket.
Patrick Cashin
Interior shot of the 1904/07 Brooklyn Union elevated railcars
Departing from 59th St. & Columbus Circle
Tickets: $30 adults, children three to seventeen $10
Space is limited: reservations and prepayment required
Trips depart at 10:00 am and leave destination for return trip at 3:00
718-694-1867
http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/mta/museum/programs.htm
We took one of the New York Transit Museum’s Nostalgia Train Rides a few years ago, and it’s a blast from start to finish. You’ll feel like you’ve gone back a hundred years or so as you travel in old-time classic subway cars, getting surprised gawks from bewildered straphangers as you zoom past their station, on your way to either Coney Island or Rockaway Park.
Saturday, June 17 Take a vintage prewar R1/R9 subway train and a wooden Brooklyn Union elevated car, stopping at the Transit Museum for one hour and Rockaway Park, with a two-hour stopover by Jacob Riis Park, sponsored by the New York Transit Museum, 10:00 am — 4:00 pm
Saturday, July 17 Take a vintage 1917 Lo-V subway train to Coney Island, with an optional tour of the new Stillwell Ave. terminal, a visit to the Coney Island Museum, or remain on the train for more rides, 10:00 am — 4:00 pm
Sunday, August 20 Take a vintage prewar R1/R9 subway train to Coney Island, with an optional tour of the new Stillwell Ave. terminal, a visit to the boardwalk, or remain on the train for more rides, 10:00 am — 4:00 pm
© Syndics of Cambridge University Library
Evolutionary tree of life sketch by
Charles Darwin, summer 1837
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West & 79th St.
Extended through August 20
Timed tickets: $22 adults, $14 children, includes museum admission
212-769-5100
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/darwin
"Darwin" is a spectacular look at the man and myth behind the still-somehow-controversial theories of evolution and natural selection. Arranged chronologically from the "World Before Darwin" through his fascinating life and, finally, "Legacy," the extremely intelligently designed exhibition includes live amphibians, a short video biography narrated by Darwin’s great-great-grandson Randal Keynes, dozens of original letters and notebooks, cases of Darwin’s own tools and beetle collections, a detailed description of his five-year journey aboard the HMS Beagle, his professional competition with Alfred Russel Wallace, the reaction to his publication of the ORIGIN OF SPECIES, and his family life with his wife, Emma, and their ten children. Born in 1809 into a distinguished family of the scientific Darwins and the ceramic Wedgwoods, Darwin studied birds, moths, beetles, and more from a very early age.
The centerpiece of the exhibit is Darwin’s trip around the world on the Beagle, from 1831 to 1836, taking him to such exotic locales as the Canary Islands, the Brazilian rainforest, Tierra del Fuego, the Falkland Islands, the Pampas, the Strait of Magellan, Mount Osorno, Valdivia, the Andes, the Galápagos, and Patagonia. Darwin’s thought processes are breathtakingly laid out as he begins developing his revolutionary ideas, coming to the conclusion that all living things are related, as evidenced by his tree of life sketch that begins, "I think." As he is developing these ideas, he is also contemplating getting married; don’t miss the list he made up of the pros and cons of wedlock and fatherhood, which he considered a "terrible loss of time." Darwin’s studies also included pigeons, cabbage, primates, and orchids, furthering his exploration of variation and adaptation. There’s a lot to read and see in this exhibit, so be sure to take a break and grab a seat in front of the video of the Sandwalk, the path Darwin traveled every day in his gardens at Down House, where he lived with his family from 1842 till his death in 1882. Darwin continued to publish controversial books, including THE DESCENT OF MAN and EXPRESSION OF THE EMOTIONS IN MAN AND ANIMALS, and in "Evolution Today," the exhibition takes a look at how those controversies have come to the forefront again, with such "theories" as intelligent design, the fight over global warming, and a discussion of faith-based science. Originally scheduled to end May 29, "Darwin" has been extended though August 20. This outstanding display is a remarkable opportunity to get inside the mind of one of history’s most important figures.
twi-ny/mdr
Butterflies abound in the AMNH conservatory
American Museum of Natural History
Hall of Oceanic Birds, Second Floor
Central Park West & 79th St.
Extended through June 23
Timed tickets: $22 adults, $14 children, includes museum admission
212-769-5100
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/butterflies
Hundreds of butterflies from dozens of species are flying free in the conservatory, using their amazing proboscis to suck up orange juice, resting on leaves, doing the nasty (watch out for those Julia Butterflies), and eating a sugar-and-water mixture from colorful hanging disks. The butterflies will land on you, so don’t make any sudden movements or scratch that itch — it might be a blue morpho resting on your head. Many of these insects from the Order Lepidoptera live for only a few weeks, so there is constantly an influx of new dudes. Make sure to check out the pupae case, where butterflies burst out of their cocoons every day. (Don’t miss the golden necklaces that form on the queen casings.) For a taste of what you’re in for, visit the excellent Web site listed above; there you’ll find a live Web cam, prerecorded movie clips, a navigable virtual tour, and plenty of reading material on the butterfly’s anatomy, metamorphosis, evolution, and defense mechanisms as well as current methods of ecology and conservation.
© Denis Finnin / AMNH
The squid and the whale at the AMNH
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/ocean/?src=e_h
A few years back, the Hall of Ocean Life was wonderfully restored, with the ninety-four-foot-long blue whale back at his beloved position hanging from the ceiling, surveying the fascinating exhibits surrounding him. More than 750 sea creatures can be found in the 14 renovated dioramas and the 8 sensational ecosystems. Among the ecosystems, each of which includes a flat-screen projection video, an interactive conservation panel unit, and plenty of facts, are Coral Reefs, Kelp Forests, Polar Seas, Mangrove Forests, Estuaries, Continental Shelves, Deep Sea Floor, and Deep Sea. An eighteen-by-eight-foot video screen, the High-Definition Ocean Wall, shows underwater animation and marine-life montages. Underwater sounds and lighting are everywhere. Such familiar dioramas as Dolphin and Tuna, the two-story Andros Coral Reef, Pacific Walrus, Sargasso Sea, War Indian Manatee, and our favorite, Sperm Whale and Giant Squid (which gave Noah Baumbach the title of his 2005 film, THE SQUID AND THE WHALE), were restored as well. Keep your eyes out for the giant moray eel, the vanishing cod, sea cucumbers, the Abyssal Plain, the northern elephant seal, trilobites and ammonites, scallop jet propulsion, sea spiders, penguins, bats, jellyfish, and much more while you get lost in the sounds of the sea and admire the skylight that makes you feel like you’re underwater.
© American Museum of Natural History / NASA
Solar wind particles deflect off earth’s magnetic field in space show
Frederick Phineas & Sandra Priest Rose Center for Earth and Space
Hayden Planetarium, Space Theater
Admission: $22, includes museum admission, $13 for children 2-12
212-769-5200
http://www.amnh.org/rose/spaceshow/cosmic/?src=e_h
This collaboration between the American Museum of Natural History (Michael M. Shara, curator of the Department of Astrophysics) and NASA (Dr. Madhulika Guhathakurta, Heliophysics Division) utilizes cutting-edge technology in simulation and visualization to create a stunning new 3-D show in the Hayden Planetarium. Narrated by Robert Redford, COSMIC COLLISIONS transports audiences into outer space, where they first witness the exciting birth of the moon and go deep inside the sun, watching the development of solar storms. The film depicts the dazzling northern and southern lights, comets, asteroids attacking the earth’s magnetic field, the end of the dinosaur age, and the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies smashing together in a cosmic dance. In one of the most compelling scenes, Redford discusses an experimental technique that just might be able to save the planet from a future meteoroid attack. We only wish the film were longer.
American Museum of Natural History
Kaufmann Theater (KT)
Linder Theater (LT)
LeFrak Theater (LFT)
Hayden Planetarium Space Theater (HPST)
Calder Lab (CL)
Rose Center Classroom (RSC)
Central Park West & 79th St.
212-769-5200
Daily Great American BBQ, featuring sauces and dishes from the Carolinas, Memphis, Alabama, Kansas City, and Texas, including pulled pork, brisket, ribs, baked beans, macaroni and cheese, collard greens, corn bread, banana pudding, and pecan tarts, Museum Food Court, 11:00 am — 4:45 pm
Friday, June 9
and
Saturday, June 10 SonicVision, featuring lasers dancing to music mixed by Moby, including Radiohead, U2, David Bowie, Fischerspooner, David Byrne & Brian Eno, White Zombie, and more, two-for-one coupon available online, HPST, 7:30 and 8:30
Saturday, June 10 Cosmic Splat! hands-on workshop, RSC, $35, 11:00 am (ages four and five), and 1:30 pm (ages six and seven)
Tuesday, June 13 The 1906 Earthquake: Lessons Learned, Lessons Forgotten, and Future Directions, illustrated lecture with Mary Lou Zobak, KT, $15, 7:00
Wednesday, June 14 An Evening with Edward O. Wilson, featuring E.O Wilson in conversation with Michael Novacek, followed by book signing, LFT, $15, 7:00
Sunday, June 18 Summer Solstice: Inti-Raymi Celebration, featuring Peruvian scissor dancers (1:30) and live music from Tahuantinsuyo (3:30), KT, 1:30
Sunday, June 18 The Science of the Sun, activities for children, Arthur Ross Terrace, Cullman Hall of the Universe, free with museum admission, 11:00 am — 1:00 pm
Tuesday, June 20 June’s Hot Topic, HSPT, advance registration encouraged, $12, 6:30
Thursday, June 22 Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo, with Sean Carroll, KT, free with museum admission, 7:00
Tuesday, June 27 Celestial Highlights: The Bear and the Lion, HSPT, advance registration encouraged, $12, 6:30
Friday, July 7 Starry Nights: Fridays Under the Sphere presents Jeremy Pelt & Creation, free with museum admission, sets at 6:00 & 7:30
twi-ny/mdr
Santiago Calatrava’s Times Capsule hovers in front of pavilion
Surrounding the American Museum of Natural History
Columbus Ave. between 77th & 81st Sts.
Admission: free
http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_historical_sign.php?id=7891
http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_historical_sign.php?id=7892
The nearly eighteen acres that surround the American Museum of Natural History make up Theodore Roosevelt Park, named for the former New York City police commissioner and governor and later vice president and president of the nation — as well as the man on the equestrian statue who greets visitors at the main entrance to the museum. Originally called Manhattan Square, Theodore Roosevelt Park is filled with such trees as the sycamore, the English elm, the London plane, and the pin oak. Follow the 79th St. Columbus entrance straight to Santiago Calatrava’s Times Capsule, a four-way metallic kiss that stands in front of the Judy & Josh Weston Pavilion and will be opened on January 1, 3000. Stop by Sivert Lindblom’s obelisk monument to Alfred Nobel — inventor, industrialist, philanthropist, and humanitarian — with a list of Americans who have won the Nobel Peace Prize. Let your dog have a blast in the Bull Moose Dog Run. In the northwest corner of the park is Margaret Mead Green, dedicated to the anthropologist who was a research fellow and curator of ethnology at the museum and lived right across the street.
twi-ny/mdr
A treasure trove of bizarre goodies awaits at Maxilla & Mandible
451 Columbus Avenue between 81st & 82nd Sts.
Closed Sundays in the summer
Admission: free
212-724-6173
The gift shop at the museum is fine, but if you want more of the real thing, head over to this fabulous shop. Push the buzzer at this tiny store and wait patiently for one of the helpful staff to let you in; it is well worth it. Inside you will be surrounded by carved bones, skulls, petrified wood, ammonites, shark tooth necklaces, trilobites, butterflies and insects, full-length skeletons, sea urchins, fossil ambers, and hundreds of other artifacts that you will want to take home with you. (Unless labeled a reproduction, it’s the genuine article.) Prices range from a dollar for small shells to six grand for a pair of ancient statues, but most items are fairly affordable, at twenty or thirty bucks. Be sure to check out every wall and the ceiling as well; you never know what you will find dangling over your head. Check out the educational Web site before you go to get a taste of the excellent items in the store — and also to get terrific capsule summaries of just what the heck all this stuff really is. (They’ve also added a fun video compiling various news reports about the store, featuring Regis & Kathie Lee, Ron Reagan, and others.) And speaking of tastes, a few years back we bought an amber InsectNside scorpion candy for five bucks, which, as the back of the box says, "contains a real edible insect." We haven’t decided yet whether we’re going to actually eat the scorpion, but it looks so cool.
twi-ny/mdr
Underground mammal and amphibian wonderland awaits at 81st St.
81st St. Subway Stop on the B or C
81st St. & Central Park West
Admission: $2
http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/mta/aft/pa/tour/81stmnhbbbline.htm
Although there is parking at the museum (http://www.amnh.org/museum/welcome/directionsparking.html), be sure to squeeze in a look at one of the MTA’s finest artistic subway stations, which leads right into the museum. Along the walls and the floors of the uptown stop are evolutionary mosaic snakes, alligators, ducks, lizards, bats, narwhals, a school of dolphins, kangaroos, and a stegosaurus; the downtown side features fossils that are all clearly identified, including Xiphactinus audax, Coelophysis bauri, and Smilodon necator. Made of bronze, granite, ceramic, and glass, the mosaics climb the walls and even the floor, revealing animals linked with their evolutionary forms. At the base of the steps of the two stairways that lead to the downtown side, you’ll find a supercool undersea scene and a very starry night. It’s a great way to travel into the museum, preparing everyone for what’s inside. Children under six get into the subway for free, and, if you purchase a MetroCard FunPass for everyone else, you can go down into the subway for a few minutes and then get right out, as the seven-dollar FunPass allows you full access to all subways and buses until three the next morning after you first use it.
twi-ny/mdr
Jacques-Imo’s brings the Big Easy to the Upper West Side
Traditional Cajun/Creole Restaurant & Theater
366 Columbus Ave. at 77th St.
212-799-0150
http://www.aaronlatham.com/pogoandevie
We’ve been fans of Jacques-Imo’s food for a few years now, although we usually get takeout from the Grand Central outpost of this Big Easy institution. We recently made it over to the main New York restaurant behind the American Museum of Natural History, where we lunched in front of open vertical windows and marveled at the tons of trinkets and decorations that fill the space. We can vouch happily for the oysters Jacques-Imos, fab fried oysters bathed in spinach and melted brie; the tasty chicken and Andouille jamabalaya; the Peacemaker po’boy, stuffed with scrumptious fried oysters and shrimp; and the appropriately muddy Mississippi mud pie. Jacques-Imo’s also features live music, theater, and Bingo in case your prefer entertainment with your meal.
Sundays Dixieland Band, 12 noon
Mondays Bingo for Booze, 7:00
Wednesdays POGO & EVIE: Romeo and Juliet as star-crossed lovers in a beloved star-crossed state, Louisiana — new zydeco musical by Aaron Latham, directed by Sergio Alvarado, performance only $20, dinner and performance $70, 8:00
Thursdays Sugartone, eight-piece Second Line Brass Band, 8:00
"Big Hands Yellow White," Jenny Holzer, 2006
Cheim & Read
547 West 25th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Through June 17
Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am — 6:00 pm
Admission: free
212-242-7727
http://cheimread.com/exhibit.html
Jenny Holzer has taken declassified and sensitive U.S. documents relating to September 11 and its aftereffects and blown them up onto large canvases, turning the words of the government, soldiers, and eyewitnesses into powerful works of art. Set in different colors and featuring dark cross-outs of protected material, the works appear to be abstract images from a distance, but when you get up close to them, you can read about terrorism and prisoner abuse and the military’s reaction to highly questionable incidents. In addition to these oil-on-linen panels, Holzer transmits an LED message onto aluminum bars that form a sort of prison of its own, especially if you walk behind it. See below for Holzer’s companion exhibit at Yvon Lambert.
"Straight Is the Gate," Matthew Brannon, 1999
Paula Cooper Gallery
521 West 21st St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Through June 24
Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am — 6:00 pm
Admission: free
212-255-1105
http://www.artnet.com/galleries/Exhibitions.asp?gid=264&cid=101662
Art critic Bob Nickas revisits exhibits he curated in the East Village in 1986, Dijon in 1989, and Paris in 1998 with this very red display, which takes its title from a Donald Barthelme short story. Although all the works are red, Nickas claims that "the color is a mask which enables work to be presented in what might otherwise be an improbable situation (and for some this may still be problematic)." Well, even with the curator himself claiming that the color is not the theme or context, we still get a kick out of these white rooms filled with red art, featuring red or red-and-white pieces by Allan McCollum (the abstract sculpture "Natural Copies from the Cola Mines of Central Utah"), Louise Lawler (the sensuous "Something About Time and Space But I’m Not Sure What It Is [One] Cherry"), Donald Judd (look through the center of his untitled sandpaint, glass, and plywood work), Guyton/Walker (the fanciful "Coconut Chandelier"), William Eggleston (a warm, untitled portrait of a nude man from Greenwood, Mississippi), Matthew Brannon (his large-size "Straight Is the Gate" is covered with lines that are not straight), Jim Drain ("Resistance Flag" depicts a brick chimney with cutout hearts), Jeff Davis (yes, there’s a wick in his outrageous untitled candle), and many others. By the way, neither of the circles (by Olivier Mosset and Robert Barry) fit in the hole in Steve Parrino’s untitled enamel on canvas.
www.artnet.com
"Time Out for Nicole d’Oresme," steel, 2005
Paula Cooper Gallery
534 West 21st St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Through July
Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am — 6:00 pm
Admission: free
212-255-1105
Two years ago, a trio of Mark di Suvero’s large sculptures took root in Madison Square Park, but none of them had the power that "Time Out for Nicole d’Oresme" has in the Paula Cooper Gallery. Barely fitting into the main space, the twenty-seven-foot-high rusty steel sculpture, which has never before been seen in public, somehow becomes a warm, welcoming presence, its five geometric I-beams inviting you to walk all around them. The piece was named for medieval mathematician Nicole d’Oresme, who first came up with a proof of the divergence of the harmonic series. The exhibit also includes calligraphic-like sketches, two miniature sculptures, and four color prints. Born in China, di Suvero is the founder of Socrates Sculpture Park and is married to Kate Levin, New York City’s commissioner of cultural affairs. Di Suvero’s "Joi de Vivre" was just unveiled at the newly redesigned Liberty Park Plaza; if you stand across the street to the southeast side of the sculpture, you can see through its middle where the Twin Towers once stood, but more on that in our next issue.
Jenny Holzer, "My Skin," 2006, black and pigment print
Yvon Lambert
564 West 25th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am — 6:00 pm
Through June 17
Admission: free
212-242-3611
Held in collaboration with the "Archive" exhibit at Cheim and Read (see above), Yvon Lambert is displaying pigment prints of staged light shows in which Jenny Holzer projects select texts onto city landmarks (the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, the New York Public Library) and other architectural landscapes all around the world, including rivers and forests. Photographed by Attilio Maranzano, the works feature words by Allen Ginsberg, Adam Zagajewski, Wislawa Szymborska, Henri Cole, Elizabeth Bishop, Arnon Grunberg, and Holzer herself. Our favorite piece is "I Touch Your Hair," in which you can see the setup for the work in the lower part of the print, with the words of the title projected onto a forest of trees by the side of a road.
twi-ny/mdr
Richard Serra, "Amongst Elevation," weatherproof steel, 2006
Gagosian Gallery
555 West 24th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am — 6:00 pm
Through August 11
Admission: free
212-741-1111
http://www.gagosian.com/current/exhibitions?mode=exhibitions&gid=2
Five steel works — four of them new — occupy the various rooms in the large Gagosian space in Chelsea. Walk around "Round" to feel its dense presence. Venture in and out of "Equal Weights and Measures," six identically sized cubes of forged weatherproof steel lying on different sides. "No Relief" lines two walls of a long, narrow gallery. "Elevational Mass" comprises nine plates of hot rolled steel forged together, all of equal width and depth but with three sets of heights, placed in random order. But the piece de resistance is "Amongst Elevation," sixteen pieces of thirty-and-a-half-feet-long panels of weatherproof steel that form a kind of maze; each section is six inches thick but varies in height from three and a half to five feet. None of the five works is polished to a glowing sheen; they all look rusty and battered, weathered from a hard life. You can sense the immense weight of these objects as you make your way across the rooms; in fact, Serra writes, "Weight is a value for me, not that it is any more compelling than lightness, but I simply know more about weight than lightness and therefore I have more to say about it, more to say about the balancing of weight, the diminishing of weight, the addition and subtraction of weight, the concentration of weight, the rigging of weight, the propping of weight, the placement of weight, the locking of weight, the psychological effects of weight, the disorientation of weight, the disequilibrium of weight, the rotation of weight, the movement of weight, the directionality of weight, the shape of weight." As you can tell, this is one heavy exhibit.
Basketball City
Pier 63 at West 23rd St.
212-924-4040
http://www.basketballcity.com/bbc.php?city=newyork&page=battleofthebadges&misc=general
Friday, June 16
through
Sunday, June 18 Police officers, firefighters, FBI, state police, and other badged teams from Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, Houston, and New York take to the courts to raise money for fire and police charities
Takashi Miike’s THE GREAT YOKAI WAR
Anthology Film Archives (AFA)
32 Second Ave. at Second St.
ImaginAsian Theater (IAT)
239 East 59th St. at Second Ave.
Tickets: $9.50 in advance, $9 at the theater
June 16 - July 1
212-868-4444
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff06films.htm
http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org
The NYAFF is one of our favorites of the year, bringing New York, U.S., and international premieres to Anthology Film Archives on the Lower East Side and the ImaginAsian Theater in Midtown. This year features more than two dozen films from Japan, China, Korea, India, Malaysia, and Thailand, including the latest from the great Takashi Miike (ICHI THE KILLER) and Kim Jee-woon (A TALE OF TWO SISTERS) and a double does of Song Il-gon. We also can’t wait to see the ubiquitous Tadanobu Asano in Katsuhito Ishii’s FUNKY FOREST: THE FIRST CONTACT, and we’re looking forward to Yudai Yamaguchi’s live-action CROMARTIE HIGH SCHOOL, based on one of our absolutely favorite mangas (http://twi-ny.com/twiny.7.6.05.html).
Friday, June 16 GANGSTER (Bade Haji Azmi, 2005), AFA, 6:30
Friday, June 16 A BITTERSWEET LIFE (Kim Jee-woon, 2005), AFA, 8:30
Saturday, June 17 AB TAK CHHAPPAN (Shimit Amin, 2004), AFA, 2:00
Saturday, June 17 BLOOD RAIN (Kim Dae-sung, 2005), AFA, 5:00
Saturday, June 17 THE GREAT YOKAI WAR (Takashi Miike, 2005), AFA, 7:30
Saturday, June 17 ART OF THE DEVIL 2 (Ronin Team, 2005), AFA, 10:00
Sunday, June 18 EK HASINA THI (Sriram Raghavan, 2004), AFA, 3:00
Sunday, June 18 CROMARTIE HIGH SCHOOL (Yudai Yamaguchi, 2005) and SKI JUMPING PAIRS 2007: FLYING TEST (Riichiro Mashima, 2006), AFA, 6:00
Sunday, June 18 SHINOBI (Ten Shimoyama, 2005), AFA, 8:30
Monday, June 19 OH! MY ZOMBIE MERMAID (Naoki Kudo, 2005) and SKI JUMPING PAIRS 2007: FLYING TEST (Riichiro Mashima, 2006), AFA, 6:30
Monday, June 19 ART OF THE DEVIL 2 (Ronin Team, 2005), AFA, 8:45
Tuesday, June 20 SKI JUMPING PAIRS: ROAD TO TORINO 2006 (Riichiro Mashima & Masaki Kobayashi, 2005), AFA, 6:30
Tuesday, June 20 FUNKY FOREST: THE FIRST CONTACT (Katsuhito Ishii, 2005), AFA, 8:30
Wednesday, June 21 GANGSTER (Bade Haji Azmi, 2005), AFA, 6:00
Wednesday, June 21 COMPANY (Ram Gopal Varma, 2002), AFA, 8:00
Thursday, June 22 THE MAGICIANS (Song Il-gon, 2005), AFA, 6:30
Thursday, June 22 KRRISH (Rakesh Roshan, 2006), IAT, 6:30
Thursday, June 22 PEACOCK (Gu Changwei, 2005), AFA, 8:30
Friday, June 23 OH! MY ZOMBIE MERMAID (Naoki Kudo, 2005), AFA 6:30
Friday, June 23 WELCOME TO DONGMAKGOL (Park Kwang-hyun, 2005), IAT, 6:30
Friday, June 23 CROMARTIE HIGH SCHOOL (Yudai Yamaguchi, 2005), AFA, 8:30
Friday, June 23 DUELIST (Lee Myung-se, 2005), IAT, 9:15
Friday, June 23 SKI JUMPING PAIRS: ROAD TO TORINO 2006 (Riichiro Mashima & Masaki Kobayashi, 2005), AFA, 10:30
Saturday, June 24 COMPANY (Ram Gopal Varma, 2002), IAT, 2:00
Saturday, June 24 A STRANGER OF MINE (Kenji Uchida, 2005), AFA, 3:30
Saturday, June 24 IT'S ONLY TALK (Ryuichi Hiroki, 2005), IAT, 5:30
Saturday, June 24 BLOOD RAIN (Kim Dae-sung, 2005), AFA, 6:00
Saturday, June 24 FUNKY FOREST: THE FIRST CONTACT (Katsuhito Ishii, 2005), AFA, 8:30
Saturday, June 24 LINDA, LINDA, LINDA (Nobuhiro Yamashita, 2005), IAT, 8:30
Sunday, June 25 AB TAK CHHAPPAN (Shimit Amin, 2004), IAT, 3:00
Sunday, June 25 PACCHIGI! (WE SHALL OVERCOME SOMEDAY) (Kazuyuki Izutsu, 2004), AFA, 3:30
Sunday, June 25 SHINOBI (Ten Shimoyama, 2005), AFA, 6:00
Sunday, June 25 BEETLE, THE HORN KING (Minoru Kawasaki, 2005) and HAIR (Jang Jun-hwan, 2005), IAT, 6:00
Sunday, June 25 A STRANGER OF MINE (Kenji Uchida, 2005), IAT, 8:00
Sunday, June 25 THE GREAT YOKAI WAR (Takashi Miike, 2005), AFA, 8:30
Monday, June 26 THE MAGICIANS (Song Il-gon, 2005), IAT, 6:30
Monday, June 26 FEATHER IN THE WIND (Song Il-gon, 2004), IAT, 8:30
Tuesday, June 27 A BITTERSWEET LIFE (Kim Jee-woon, 2005), IAT, 6:00
Tuesday, June 27 EK HASINA THI (Sriram Raghavan, 2004), IAT, 8:30
Wednesday, June 28 DUELIST (Lee Myung-se, 2005), IAT, 6:00
Wednesday, June 28 IT'S ONLY TALK (Ryuichi Hiroki, 2005), IAT, 8:30
Thursday, June 29 PACCHIGI! (WE SHALL OVERCOME SOMEDAY) (Kazuyuki Izutsu, 2004), IAT, 6:00
Thursday, June 29 UMIZARU 2: TEST OF TRUST (Eiichiro Hasumi, 2006), introduced by director Hasumi and stars Hideaki Ito and Ryuta Sato, IAT, 8:30
Friday, June 30 FEATHER IN THE WIND (Song Il-gon, 2004), IAT, 6:00
Friday, June 30 SHIVA (Ram Gopal Varma, 2006), IAT, 8:00
Saturday, July 1 BEETLE, THE HORN KING (Minoru Kawasaki, 2005) and HAIR (Jang Jun-hwan, 2005), IAT, 1:00
Saturday, July 1 WELCOME TO DONGMAKGOL (Park Kwang-hyun, 2005), IAT, 3:00
Saturday, July 1 ALWAYS — SUNSET ON THIRD STREET (Takashi Yamazaki, 2005), IAT, 5:45
Saturday, July 1 LINDA, LINDA, LINDA (Nobuhiro Yamashita, 2005), IAT, 8:30
Governors Island Historic Harbor District
Fridays and Saturdays through September 2, 10:00 am — 5:00 pm
Guided tours Tuesdays-Thursdays at 10:00 am and 1:00 pm
Admission: free for all visits, tours, and special programs
http://www.govisland.com/Visit_the_Island/saturdays.asp
Yes, there are now free walking tours of this historic part of New York City that you think you’ve been to but never have — unless you know someone who is in the Coast Guard and they invited you, or you are in the Coast Guard yourself. The Coast Guard station there is no more, swept away in the 1995 cutbacks, so there is a debate going on as to what to do with this incredible area. The day begins with a ferry ride to the island, whose 172.5 acres have about a hundred security and maintenance personnel but no residents — and no food, drink, or public restrooms. One of the highlights of the island is Castle Williams, a huge fort that features a hundred guns around its perimeter; the "Cheesebox" was used as a Confederate prison during the Civil War. As you pass by plaque after monument after plaque, you’ll soon come upon the Admiral’s Quarters, an 1840 Federal-style house that has twenty-seven rooms and has served as home to General Pershing and was the site of Reagan and Gorbachev’s first handshake on American soil. Perhaps most impressive is Fort Jay, a two-hundred-year-old star-shaped fort with a dry moat, named for first chief justice John Jay. Along the way there are also churches and tennis courts, an old golf course and an abandoned theater, an old YMCA and row houses prepared for the hundred-year flood, ugly buildings from the 1970s and the enormous Building 400. Governors Island might not be the most beautiful place in New York, but when you combine its history, its exclusivity, and its uncertain future, this rare opportunity is one that you cannot afford to miss.
Saturday, June 10 CUNY Lecture Series: Sean Ahearn, "Dead Crows, Bengal Tigers, and the Big Apple: Modeling Complexity in Space and Time," Pershing Hall, 12:30
Saturday, June 10 NPS Ranger Talk: Ilyse Goldman of the National Park Service, "A Century of Monumental Legacies, a Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Antiquities Act (1906)," Pershing Hall, 2:30
Saturday, June 17 Island to Island Music Festival, presented by Julian Fleisher, Colonels’ Row, 11:00 am — 4:00 pm
Saturday, June 17 CUNY Lecture Series: John Waldman, "Swimming with the Fishes: The Environmental Recovery of New York Harbor," Pershing Hall, 12:30
Saturday, June 24 Army Heritage Day, featuring the 319th Army Band
Saturday, June 24 CUNY Lecture Series: George Hendrey, "Global Change and the Mega City," Pershing Hall, 12:30
Saturday, June 24 Book Reading & Signing: Sue Glen, IMAGES OF AMERICA SERIES: GOVERNORS ISLAND, Pershing Hall, 2:30
Saturday, July 1 CUNY Lecture Series: Stephen Pekar, "A 7,000-Year History of Climate Change in NYC and What It Means for Us Today," Pershing Hall, 12:30
Saturday, July 8 CUNY Lecture Series: Bill Solecki, "Climate Change in the New York Metropolitan Region," Pershing Hall, 12:30
Saturday, July 15 Singer & Songwriter Music Festival, with Deni Bonet
David Hershey-Webb, Danny Katz, Scott E. Moore, Joy Styles, Josi Wails, and others, 11:00 am — 4:00 pm
Saturday, July 15 CUNY Lecture Series: Martin Schriebman, "Intensive Sustainable Aquaculture in New York," Pershing Hall, 12:30
Saturday, July 22 CUNY Lecture Series: Frank Buonaiuto, "The Ocean Threat: Storm Surge Hazards in New York City," Pershing Hall, 12:30
Saturday, July 29 CUNY Lecture Series: John Chamberlain, "Asteroid Impact and the Extinction of Sharks," Pershing Hall, 12:30
Saturday, August 5 The Love Everybody Movement (LEM), site-specific performances
Saturday, August 5 CUNY Lecture Series: Steve Markowitz, "Lingering Effects of the World Trade Center Exposure," Pershing Hall, 12:30
Saturday, August 12 Living History Day: Living History Demonstration of Civil War-era encampment focusing on the New York City Draft Riots of 1863, 10:00 am — 4:00 pm
Saturday, August 12 Book Reading & Signing: Barnet Schecter, THE DEVIL’S OWN WORK: THE CIVIL WAR DRAFT RIOTS AND THE FIGHT TO RECONSTRUCT AMERICA, Pershing Hall, 2:30
Saturday, August 26 Battle Week Commemoration: Living History Demonstration of Revolutionary War-era encampment, 10:00 am — 4:00 pm
Melinda Sue Gordon
Garrison Keillor checks out Meryl Streep in COMPANION
Opens Friday, June 9
http://www.aprairiehomecompanionmovie.com
Director Robert Altman has breathed new life into Garrison Keillor’s popular long-standing radio program, A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION, with an excellent screenplay by Keillor. Keillor stars as a fictional version of himself, conducting what might be his final show, as a corporate big they’ve nicknamed the Axeman (Tommy Lee Jones) has bought the Fitzgerald Theater, where the show is performed, and is going to tear it down. While Keillor refuses to make any grandiose statements about beginnings and endings, life and death, his supporting cast of offbeat characters wants to go out with a bang, including the Johnson Girls (Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin), dirty cowboy duo Dusty (Woody Harrelson) and Lefty (John C. Reilly), old-timer Chuck Akers (L.Q. Jones), and real COMPANION players Jearlynn Steele and Robin and Linda Williams. As the Guys All-Star Shoe Band guide the musicians through such songs as "Whoop-I-Ti-Yi-Yo," "Beboparebop Rhubarb Pie," and "Slow Days of Summer," pathetic gumshoe Guy Noir (Kevin Kline) searches for a mysterious woman in white (Virginia Madsen), and pregnant stage manager Molly (SNL’s Maya Rudolph) tries her best to keep the show running on schedule. Altman works wonders with the ensemble cast, led by the ultratalented Streep and a surprisingly good Keillor, riffing on himself. (The commercials he reads and sings are a hoot.) The movie’s brief coda is pretty much unnecessary, but it only slightly diminishes this sweet achievement, an unsentimental look back at a more innocent time in America.
Chong Glass
Tommy Chong poses with his "weapons of mass destruction"
Film Forum
209 West Houston St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
June 14-27
Tickets: $10
212-727-8110
http://www.filmforum.org/films/chong.html
http://www.thememoryhole.org/drugs/pipe-sites/chong-glass.htm
On February 24, 2003, at 5:30 in the morning, Tommy Chong’s house in Pacific Palisades, California, was raided by heavily armed federal agents as part of Operation Pipe Dreams, a national antidrug initiative spearheaded by Attorney General John Ashcroft that netted dozens of sellers of drug paraphernalia, making a celebrity example out of Chong. But the only illegal substances they were after — or weapons of mass destruction, as Chong put it later — were bongs. Chong’s son Paris was the head of Chong Glass, which sold glass Tubes, Hammers, Handpipes, Sherlocks, and Sidecars, legally and with a permit — until the DEA’s repeated attempts to have them ship merchandise to Pennsylvania, which is illegal, finally won out in a case that certainly has aspects of entrapment. Chong was given the option of either accepting jail time or having his son and his wife, Shelby, go down with him; he took the deal. Chong’s friend Josh Gilbert follows Chong and Shelby as they prepare for Tommy’s nine-month incarceration, during which time the stoner comedian took to the media and the road, sharing his story and becoming an activist, something that was never before part of his plan. Gilbert mixes in scenes from Cheech & Chong films and live routines; archival footage of the duo’s appearances on shows hosted by Dick Clark, Tom Snyder, Dinah Shore, and Helen Reddy; home movies going back to Tommy’s childhood; and new interviews with George Thorogood, Jay Leno, Peter Coyote, Bill Maher, Cheech Marin, and others supporting Tommy’s fight against the feds. There are also clips from press conferences held by Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and Ashcroft denouncing drug use, as well as a closer look at Mary Beth Buchanan, the local U.S. attorney in Pennsylvania who helped sting Chong Glass and was rewarded with a national post. The government pulled the store’s Web site from the Internet, but you can still see its remnants at the third URL listed above, where parts of it have been lovingly preserved by the folks at the Memory Hole. In August, a companion book, THE I CHONG (Simon Spotlight, $23.95), will be released, in which Chong goes into detail about his time spent behind bars. We’ve gotten an early look at the slim memoir, and it is a good, breezy read that furthers the unintended martyrdom of Tommy Chong.
Opens Friday, June 16
http://www.thefastandthefurious3.com
Lucas Black is a classically troubled teen with a lead foot and a thick skull in TOKYO DRIFT, the third FAST AND FURIOUS flick, following Rob Cohen’s decent 2001 original and John Singleton’s 2003 disappointment, 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS. Black (AMERICAN GOTHIC, SLING BLADE) plays Sean, a tough yet sensitive high school kid who keeps trying to bust out of his trailer-trash upbringing by racing cars – but instead winds up getting chased out of town, along with his distracted mom (Lynda Boyd), by the law. Having worn out his welcome in the States, he is shipped off to his father (a very good Brian Goodman), a military man living a quiet life in Tokyo. Despite his father’s warnings, Sean is almost immediately behind the wheel of a fabulously cool car, involved in a crazy race with DK (Brian Tee), the well-connected nephew of a Yakuza boss (the great JJ Sonny Chiba). Dragging through vertical parking lots, dangerous mountains, and crowded city streets, the drivers use a technique called drifting to make their tight turns. Unfortunately, as Sean aligns himself with DK’s right-hand man, Han (Sung Kang), and starts spending too much time with DK’s mysterious girl, Neela (Nathalie Kelley), the story drifts in and out of ridiculousness, changing gears way too fast and much too furiously; every right move is followed by something deeply absurd, but there’s still some stupid fun to be had. Bow Wow comes along for the ride as the comic relief, the opportunistic Twinkie (who drives a very silly Hulk car). The thrusting soundtrack includes songs by Teriyaki Boyz, DJ Shadow feat. Mos Def, Evil Nine, Dragon Ash, Brian Tyler feat. Slash, Julez Santana, Far East Movement, Shonen Knife, and the 5.6.7.8’s. Add half a star if you liked the tepid INITIAL D (Andrew Lau & Alan Mak, 2005).
©Magnolia Pictures
Gloria finds Rafi out the window and in the soup in ONLY HUMAN
Opens Friday, June 16
AMC Lincoln Square
1998 Broadway at 68th St.
Tickets: $10.75
212-336-5020
Quad Cinema
34 West 13th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Tickets: $9.50
The first half of the slapstick Spanish comedy ONLY HUMAN (SERES QUERIDOS) is a riot, as Leni (Marian Aguilera), an independent young woman, brings home her brand-new fiancé, Rafi (an excellent Guillermo Toledo), to meet her crazy Jewish family. At first, Leni’s mother, Gloria (Norma Aleandro, looking more and more like Olympia Dukakis), welcomes Rafi with open arms, as does Leni’s nympho sister, Tania (María Botto), who still lives at home with her six-year-old daughter, Paula (Alba Molinero), their doddering old grandfather, the blind war veteran Dudu (Max Berliner), and the suddenly ultra-Orthodox David (Fernando Ramallo). But when Leni finally reveals that Rafi is a Palestinian Muslim — not an Israeli Jew, as they had assumed — things change quickly, only made worse by Rafi accidentally dropping a huge container of frozen soup out the kitchen window, possibly killing a man below. Fast and furious high jinks mix with religious and ethnic prejudices in a madcap romp that unfortunately runs out of gas slightly past the midway point, with gags that repeat themselves or just go too far. Written and directed by husband-and-wife team Teresa De Pelegrí and Dominic Harari, ONLY HUMAN ends up being only human, although it had the potential to be so much more. Still, it’s worth a look if you’re in the mood for flat-out, no-holds-barred farce.
In theaters now
Loews Cineplex Lincoln Square
1998 Broadway at 68th St.
Tickets: $10.75
212-336-5020
Landmark Sunshine Cinema
143 East Houston St. between First & Second Aves.
Tickets: $10.75
212-330-8182
http://www.landmarktheatres.com/Market/NewYork/NewYork_frameset.htm
The self-described onetime "next president of the United States of America" has been fighting to save the earth for nearly forty years. Since not winning the presidency in 2000, Gore has been on the road, giving an illustrated lecture to more than one thousand groups, including schools all over the country, about the hot-button topic of global warming. Using colorful charts and graphs, stunning video of disappearing landscapes, and gorgeous shots of the earth, the surprisingly engaging and entertaining Gore elegantly discusses the melting of the glaciers, the heating of the oceans, the onset of devastating hurricanes and tornadoes, science fact versus science fiction, and the current administration’s refusal to acknowledge the seriousness of the problem. We also get an intimate look at Al Gore the person, seeing him at work on his iBook, sitting by his son’s side after a terrible accident, and talking about his father’s tobacco farm and his sister’s death from lung cancer. Gore and his traveling slide show have been compared to Paul Revere’s ride, warning the world of impending danger; we’re sure others will paint him as Chicken Little, screaming crazily that the sky is falling. Well, in this case, both sides are right, because the sky is indeed falling, as evidenced by the continuing destruction of the polar ice cap. MoveOn has called for supporters to flood theaters this opening weekend; it will be interesting to see the box office numbers, because some people think Gore might be planning a run for the Oval Office in 2008.
SenArt Films / Scranton/Lacy Films
THE WAR TAPES goes behind the scenes of the Iraq War
Landmark Sunshine Cinema
143 East Houston St. between First & Second Aves.
In theaters now
Tickets: $10.75
212-330-8182
http://www.landmarktheatres.com/Market/NewYork/NewYork_frameset.htm
Just named Best International Documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival, THE WAR TAPES is a brilliant look at combat as never seen before — from the perspective of real soldiers. With the New Hampshire National Guard being deployed to Fort Dix, NJ, on its way to Iraq, director Deborah Scranton got permission to recruit "citizen soldiers" to become "citizen journalists," giving digital cameras to volunteers who agreed to film their experience in Iraq. As members of Charlie Company, 3rd of the 172nd (Mountain) Regiment, they were responsible for providing safety to the trucks of defense contractor Kellog, Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton. The film follows the exploits of Sergeant Stephen Pink, who joined the military so he could afford to continue college; Specialist Mike Moriarty, whose life was changed so much by 9/11 that he was "motivated by the common cause of defending our great country and the freedoms that we as Americans live by"; and Sergeant Zack Brazzi, a Muslim who was born in Lebanon and loves being a soldier, "regardless of the political context or my personal feelings on the matter." Each one leaves a woman behind who discusses on camera her feelings about war and responsibility — Bazzi’s mother, Sana; Moriarty’s wife, Randi; and Pink’s girlfriend, Lindsay. Based at LSA Anaconda in the Sunni Triangle, Charlie Company faces danger every day, from car bombs, snipers, roadside bombs, and other weapons of destruction. The video they shoot — Scranton, producer Robert May (THE FOG OF WAR), and producer / editor Steve James (HOOP DREAMS) culled through more than eight hundred hours of raw footage to come up with the ninety-seven-minute final product — is often breathtaking, ranging from playful wartime camaraderie to violent death, with reactions that are not rehearsed or staged. This is the real thing, and it is devastating. Additional footage, e-mail correspondence between the filmmakers and soldiers, and a blog is available at the above Web site.
Mo Pitkin’s House of Satisfaction
34 Ave. A
Thursday, June 15, 7:00, followed by after-party
Tickets: $15
212-777-5660
Amy Speace and the Tearjerks will be playing Mo Pitkin’s on June 14 for a special CD release party, celebrating her second solo CD, SONGS FOR BRIGHT STREET, following 2002’s FABLE. (She also released TATTOOED QUEEN in 1997 as part of Edith O, with Erin Ash.). Although we do have to admit that a charter twi-ny subscriber had a lot to do with the album, we are also happy to say that we were digging the new disc before we knew that. The Baltimore-born Speace, who has been cutting her teeth at such city venues as the Living Room and the Rodeo Bar, shows her range on SONGS FOR BRIGHT STREET, which was produced by former Bongo and Health & Happiness Show guitarist extraordinaire, James Mastro (who, when not on the road, can be found at his Hoboken Guitar Bar). Speace’s new disc opens with the hopeful, infectious "Step Out of the Shade," in which she sings, "Step out of the shade / and look at the day / Out here the weather’s better," and the beautifully understated "Water Landing," introducing her own brand of alternative country folk music. She takes a harder stance in "Not the Heartless Kind" and "The Real Thing" ("I am too young to know better / But I’m too damn old to care"). While "Two" is way too mushy, "Make Me Lonely Again" is a damn good, mournful lonely hearts song. On the bouncy country jaunt "Row Row Row," Speace duets with the Jayhawks’ Gary Louris. She reveals her sly sense of humor in the story-song "Double Wide Trailer," warbling, "I found love in a double wide trailer / never thought I’d feel so at home in the mud / I fell into the arms of a man from Carolina / traded in my trust fund for a six-pack of Bud." The coup de grace is an absolutely fabulous, twangin’ version of Blondie’s "Dreaming" that will take you way back.
DanceAfrica 2006
Brooklyn Academy of Music
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
May 26-28
Friday, May 26 performance reviewed
Tickets: $20-$45
718-636-4100
http://bam.org/events/06AFRI/06AFRI.aspx
Celebrating its twenty-ninth anniversary, DanceAfrica closed BAM’s spring season in exhilarating style, led by the marvelously inspirational Baba Chuck Davis as the master of ceremonies. Following the traditional Libation Pouring on the steps of the Howard Gilman Opera House late Friday afternoon, Creative Outlet Dance Theatre kicked things off inside with "Forces," a beautiful dance about the power of nature, with a special look at the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. After the annual Memorial paid tribute to those "who have transitioned to the ancestral grounds," the Universal African Dance & Drum Ensemble thrilled the vocal crowd with "African Dimedi," which included Afrobats, Pasha the Stilt Dancer, a Queen Percussion Party, and the passing of the torch from old to young. After intermission, the BAM/Restoration DanceAfrica Ensemble presented "Legacy," a colorful medley consisting of snippets from ten years of visiting companies from Zimbabwe, Kenya, Benin, Uganda, Cuba, Haiti, Ghana, Jamaica, and Peru, followed by "Econne-Conne." Representing the African Diaspora, Peru Negro, from Peru, performed three numbers, including two in the festejo style. All of the evening’s participants then took the stage for a grand finale. DanceAfrica is all about tradition, honoring the elders, and welcoming the next generation. The glorious weekend also featured an African Ancestral Altar in BAM’s Natman Room, an African Sculpture Garden in the small park across the street from the Howard Gilman Opera House, and a three-day street bazaar selling clothing, music, crafts, and lots of soul food. We already can’t wait for next year’s festival.
The Town Hall
123 West 43rd St. between Sixth Ave. & Broadway
Thursday, June 1
http://www.the-townhall-nyc.org
Taking the stage with his own band for the first time in two decades, superproducer T Bone Burnett put on an electrifying show at the Town Hall on June 1. Concentrating on material from his first album in fourteen years, THE TRUE FALSE IDENTITY, Burnett and his stellar band — Jim Keltner on drums, Dennis Crouch on standup bass, Keefus Ciancia on keyboards, and Marc Ribot on guitar — opened with the pulsating triple play of "Seven Times Hotter than Fire," "Palestine Texas," and "Zombieland," from the "Art of the State" section of the new record, setting the mood for a raucous night that, to the disappointment of some (but not us), was not yet another acoustic show by an old folkie. Instead, Burnett filled the hall with experimental sounds, mostly from the remarkable Ribot and the adventurous Ciancia. Burnett, a big man who moves awkwardly across the stage, bobbing his head and clapping slightly off the beat, a wisp of hair falling over his eyes, threw in a few older songs as well, from his brand-new retrospective, TWENTY TWENTY — THE ESSENTIAL T BONE BURNETT, including "Humans from Earth," "River of Love," and "Bon Temps Rouler," but they were nearly throwaways when compared with the driving force behind his new work, which takes on the government, organized religion, Hollywood, and love. Tunes such as "I’m Going on a Long Journey Never to Return," "Fear Country," and "Earlier Baghdad (The Bounce)" sounded better than their recorded versions — which took nearly a year of postproduction work to get things just right. T Bone’s friend Jakob Dylan opened the show with a mediocre acoustic set with keyboardist Patrick Warren, although the duo joined Burnett and the band for a stirring encore of the Wallflowers’ "Invisible City," from 1996’s BRINGING DOWN THE HORSE, which T Bone produced.
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Rockefeller Center Channel Gardens
Through June 9
Seating begins at 6:00, film at 9:00
Admission: free
http://www.rockefellercenter.com/home.html
Wednesday, June 7 AIR GUITAR NATION (Alexandra Lipsitz, 2006)
Thursday, June 8 ONCE IN A LIFETIME: THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF THE NEW YORK COSMOS (Paul Crowder & John Dower, 2006)
Friday, June 9 KETTLE OF FISH (Claudia Myers, 2005)
BAMcinématek
BAM Rose Cinemas
Brooklyn Academy of Music
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
June 7-29
Tickets: $10
718-636-4100
http://bam.org/sundance/index.aspx
http://bam.org/film/series.aspx?id=83
Friday, June 7
through
Thursday, June 13 BLOWUP (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1966)
Wednesday, June 12 Antonioni Shorts 1943-1953: GENTE DEL PO (PEOPLE OF THE PO) (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1943), NETTEZZA URBANA (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1948), L'AMOROSA MENZOGNA (LIES OF LOVE) (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1949),
SUPERSTIZIONE (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1949), SETTE CANNE UN VESTITO (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1949), VERTIGINE (fragment of LA FUNIVIA DEL FALORIA) (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1950), LA VILLA DEI MOSTRI (THE VILLA OF MONSTERS) (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1950), TENTATO SUICIDIO (SUICIDE ATTEMPT) (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1953), 7:00
Thursday, June 13 Antonioni Shorts 1983-2004: RITORNO A LISCA BIANCA (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1983), FOTOROMANZA (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1984),
INDIA-KUMBHA MELA (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1988), ROMA (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1990), NOTO, MANDORLI, VULCANO, STROMBOLI, CARNEVALE (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1992), SICILIA (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1997), MICHELANGELO EYE TO EYE (Michelangelo Antonioni, 2004), 7:00
Saturday, June 15 CHRONICLE OF A LOVE (CRONACA DI UN AMORE) (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1950), 4:30, 6:50, 9:30
Sunday, June 16 IL GRIDO (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1957), 2, 4:30, 6:50, 9:15
Monday, June 17 L'AVVENTURA (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960), 3:00, 6:00, 9:00
Tuesday, June 18 LA NOTTE (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1961), 2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:30
Wednesday, June 19 CHUNG KUO CINA (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1972), 7:00
Thursday, June 20 THE GIRLFRIENDS (LE AMICHE) (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1955), 4:30, 6:50, 9:15
South Street Seaport, Pier 17
Admission: free
212-679-6755
http://www.southstreetseaport.com/html/EventDetail.asp?ecd=83399
Thursday, June 8 Musical tribute to the Philosopher of Salsa, Ray Barretto, with Adalberto Santiago, Tito Allen, Ray de la Paz, Gloria Odiris, Hector Trichoche, and Giro, free, 5:30 — 9:00
Washington Square Park Tent
Fifth Ave. & Washington Square North
Tickets: $40
212-777-2173
http://www.villagealliance.org
Thursday, June 8 Fourth annual culinary festival featuring food from neighborhood eateries, including Blue Hill, Citarella, Cru, EN Japanese Brasserie, Eva’s, Jack, Knickerbocker Bar & Grill, LaPalapa Cocina Mexicana, Otto Enoteca Pizzeria, the Spotted Pig, SushiSamba, Village Restaurant, and others, with proceeds benefiting the restoration of the park, 6:00 — 8:00 pm
Grand Central Oyster Bar
Grand Central Terminal, lower level
212-490-6650
Thursday, June 8 After a slight delay, the herring is scheduled to arrive at Grand Central; it should be available for approximately two weeks
Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th St. between Eighth Ave. & Broadway
June 8—22
* indicates filmmakers and/or documentary subjects present at screening
Tickets: $10
212-875-5600
http://www.hrw.org/iff/2006/ny
The seventeenth annual Human Rights Watch International Film Festival collects films from all over the world that combine artistic merit with human rights content. This year’s fiction and nonfiction films examine Sierra Leone refugees, Indian violence, civil disobedience, drug trafficking, political prisoners from Tibet, environmental activism, everyday life in Iraq, Israeli and Palestinian fishermen, British hangman Albert Pierrepoint, the plight of young girls in Nicaragua and Nepal, a female fighter pilot in Afghanistan, corruption in Azerbaijan, and other controversial topics that are often overlooked and ignored by the media.
Thursday, June 8 Benefit: THE REFUGEE ALL STARS (Zach Niles and Banker White, 2005), with filmmakers and the Refugee All Stars present, followed by a reception, $250+, 212-216-1834, 6:00
Friday, June 9 THE CAMDEN 28 (Anthony Giacchino, 2006), 1:30
Friday, June 9 BLACK GOLD (Nick Francis and Marc Francis, 2006), 4:00
Friday, June 9 THE CAMDEN 28 (Anthony Giacchino, 2006), 6:30*
Friday, June 9 DREAMING LHASA (Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam, 2005),
9:15*
Saturday, June 10 THE FOREST FOR THE TREES (Bernadine Mellis, 2006) and TOTAL DENIAL (Milena Kaneva, 2006), 1:00*
Saturday, June 10 THE CAMDEN 28 (Anthony Giacchino, 2006), 4:30*
Saturday, June 10 BLACK GOLD (Nick Francis and Marc Francis, 2006), 7:00*
Saturday, June 10 DIAS DE SANTIAGO (Josué Mendez, 2003), 9:30
Sunday, June 11 IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS (James Longley, 2006), 1:00*
Sunday, June 11 BLACK GOLD (Nick Francis and Marc Francis, 2006), 4:00*
Sunday, June 11 SOURCE (ZDROJ) (Martin Marecek & Martin Skalsky, 2005), 6:30
Sunday, June 11 DREAMING LHASA (Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam, 2005), 8:45*
Monday, June 12 BLACK GOLD (Nick Francis and Marc Francis, 2006), 2:00
Monday, June 12 DREAMING LHASA (Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam, 2005), 4:00
Monday, June 12 THE FOREST FOR THE TREES (Bernadine Mellis, 2006) and TOTAL DENIAL (Milena Kaneva, 2006), 6:00*
Monday, June 12 THEY CALL ME MUSLIM (Diana Ferrero, 2005) and SHADYA (Roy Westler, 2005), 9:30*
Tuesday, June 13 DIAS DE SANTIAGO (Josué Mendez, 2003), 1:00
Tuesday, June 13 THE CAMDEN 28 (Anthony Giacchino, 2006), 3:00
Wednesday, June 14 THE FOREST FOR THE TREES (Bernadine Mellis, 2006) and TOTAL DENIAL (Milena Kaneva, 2006), 2:00
Wednesday, June 14 THEY CALL ME MUSLIM (Diana Ferrero, 2005) and SHADYA (Roy Westler, 2005), 6:30*
Wednesday, June 14 SOURCE (ZDROJ) (Martin Marecek & Martin Skalsky, 2005), 9:00
Thursday, June 15 SOURCE (Zdroj) (Martin Marecek & Martin Skalsky, 2005), 1:00
Thursday, June 15 THEY CALL ME MUSLIM (Diana Ferrero, 2005) and SHADYA (Roy Westler, 2005), 3:30
Thursday, June 15 RAIN IN A DRY LAND (Anne Makepeace, 2006), 6:00*
Thursday, June 15 SHOOTING DOGS (Michael Caton-Jones, 2005), 8:30*
Friday, June 16 RAIN IN A DRY LAND (Anne Makepeace, 2006), 1:00
Friday, June 16 SHOOTING DOGS (Michael Caton-Jones, 2005), 3:30
Friday, June 16 PUNAM (Lucian Muntean and Natasa Stankovic, 2005) and ROSITA (Barbara Attie and Janet Goldwater, 2005), 6:15*
Friday, June 16 AMU (Shonali Bose, 2005), 8:45*
Saturday, June 17 PUNAM (Lucian Muntean and Natasa Stankovic, 2005) and ROSITA (Barbara Attie and Janet Goldwater, 2005), 1:00*
Saturday, June 17 RAIN IN A DRY LAND (Anne Makepeace, 2006), 3:30*
Saturday, June 17 MY AMERICAN DREAM: HOW DEMOCRACY WORKS NOW (Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini, work in progress), 6:00*
Saturday, June 17 SWITCH OFF (APAGA Y VAMONOS), Manel Mayol, 2005), 9:00*
Sunday, June 18 WINTER IN BAGHDAD (INVIERNO EN BAGDAD) (Javier Corcuera, 2005), 1:00*
Sunday, June 18 KZ (Rex Bloomstein, 2005), 4:00*
Sunday, June 18 MEN ON THE EDGE — FISHERMEN’S DIARY (Avner Faingulernt and Macabit Abramzon, 2005), 6:30*
Sunday, June 18 SWITCH OFF (APAGA Y VAMONOS) (Manel Mayol, 2005), 9:00*
Monday, June 19 AMU (Shonali Bose, 2005), 1:00
Monday, June 19 RAIN IN A DRY LAND (Anne Makepeace, 2006), 3:30
Monday, June 19 SMILING IN A WAR ZONE (Simone Aaberg Kærn and Magnus Bejmar, 2005), 6:15*
Monday, June 19 MEN ON THE EDGE — FISHERMEN’S DIARY (Avner Faingulernt and Macabit Abramzon, 2005), 8:45*
Tuesday, June 20 SWITCH OFF (APAGA Y VAMONOS) (Manel Mayol, 2005), 1:00
Tuesday, June 20 PUNAM (Lucian Muntean and Natasa Stankovic, 2005) and ROSITA (Barbara Attie and Janet Goldwater, 2005), 3:30
Tuesday, June 20 KZ (Rex Bloomstein, 2005), 6:15*
Tuesday, June 20 WINTER IN BAGHDAD (INVIERNO EN BAGDAD) (Javier Corcuera, 2005), 8:45*
Wednesday, June 21 SMILING IN A WAR ZONE (Simone Aaberg Kærn and Magnus Bejmar, 2005), 1:00
Wednesday, June 21 WINTER IN BAGHDAD (INVIERNO EN BAGDAD) (Javier Corcuera, 2005), 3:30
Wednesday, June 21 PIERREPOINT (Adrian Shergold, 2005), 6:30
Wednesday, June 21 THE ROAD TO GUANTANAMO (Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross, 2006), 8:45*
Central Park
Enter at 103rd St. & Central Park West
Thursdays through Sundays at 7:00 pm through June 25
Admission: free, but voluntary donations accepted after show
212-252-4531
http://www.newyorkclassical.org
Thursday, June 8
through
Sunday, June 11 Shakespeare’s ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL
Thursday, June 15
through
Sunday, June 18 Shakespeare’s ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL
B.B. King Blue Club & Grill
237 West 42nd St. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
212-997-4144
http://bbkingblues.com/schedule/index.shtml
Thursday, June 8
and
Friday, June 9 The Godfather of Soul: James Brown, $80, 8:00
Wednesday, June 14 MasterBaTOUR 2006: Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Pitbull Daycare, $50, 8:00
Thursday, June 15 Jon Secada, $35, 8:00
Friday, June 16 Chuck Berry with Papa Grows Funk, $90 general admission, $120 reserved booths, 8:00
Saturday, June 17
and
Sunday, June 18 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes, $35, 8:00
92nd St. Y
1395 Lexington Ave. at 92nd St.
212-415-5500
http://www.92ndsty.org/calendar/calendar.asp
Thursday, June 8 Lorraine Bracco with Dr. Gail Saltz: On the Couch, $25, 8:00
Tuesday, June 13 Eighth annual Kathryn W. Stein Memorial Concert: Billy Stritch, $5, 2:00
Monday, June 19 Rosanne Cash with Anthony DeCurtis, $25, 8:00
66 North Sixth St. between Kent & Wythe Aves.
718-599-5103
Thursday, June 8 Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, $20, 9:00
Tuesday, June 20 Beirut, featuring a Hawk and a Hacksaw, $10, 9:00
TriBeCa Performing Arts Center
199 Chambers St. between Greenwich & West St.
http://tribecapac.org/music.htm
Friday, June 9 All-star jazz band with Eric Gould, Sean Jones, Antonio Hart, Don Braden, Robin Eubanks, Leon Lee Dorsey, and Vincent Ector, with special guest Ron Carter, performing the music of Café Bohemia’s original music director, Oscar Pettiford, $25, 7:00
All events approximately 11:00 am - 6:00 pm unless otherwise noted
Admission: free
http://www.nyctourist.com/st_fairs_calendar.htm
http://nycstreetfairs.com/sched.html
http://www.clearviewfestival.com
Friday, June 9 Tribeca Community Fair: Murray St. between Broadway and Church St.
Saturday, June 10 Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood — Second Ave. Fair: Second Ave. between 14th and 23rd Sts.
Saturday, June 10 Brooklyn Pride Festival: Prospect Park West between 15th and Ninth Sts.
Saturday, June 10 First Ave. Festival: First Ave. between 68th and 79th Sts.
Saturday, June 10 Children’s Day: South Street Seaport, Pier 17
Saturday, June 10 Pinkster Carnival: Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum, 5816 Clarendon Rd.
Sunday, June 11 Christopher St. Festival: Christopher St. between Seventh and Greenwich Aves.
Sunday, June 11 Manhattan Ave. Festival: Manhattan Ave. between Bedford and Greenpoint Aves.
Sunday, June 11 N.Y.C. Expo: Third Ave. between 23rd and 34th Sts.
Sunday, June 11 Pathmark Multicultural Arts Festival: Caribbean Day, Kings Plaza, Flatbush Ave. and Ave. U
Friday, June 16 Financial Community Day Festival Series: Maiden Ln. between Water and South Sts.
Saturday, June 17 Brooklyn Heights Festival: Court St. between Atlantic Ave. and Joralemon St.
Saturday, June 17 Murray Hill Festival: 35th Street between Lexington and Fifth Aves.
Saturday, June 17 Third Avenue Festival: Third Ave. between 14th and Sixth Sts.
Saturday, June 17 Union Settlement’s Fourteenth Annual Ethnic Festival of El Barrio: East 104th St. between Second and Third Aves., featuring It Takes 2 two-on-two basketball tournament
Saturday, June 17 Bleecker St. Festival: Bleecker St.: Seventh and Sixth Aves.
Sunday, June 18 Lexington Ave. Festival: Lexington Ave. between 42nd and 34th Sts.
Sunday, June 18 International Cultures Festival: 6th Avenue between 42nd and 56th Sts.
TADA! Theater
15 West 28th St.
Friday through Sunday through June 17
Suggested donation: $15
718-446-0810
http://www.stankovicballet.com/Spring2006Vision.html
Friday, June 9
through
Sunday, June 17 Original modern ballet by the Stankovic Ballet Company
Museum of the Moving Image
35th Ave. at 36th St., Astoria
Tickets: $10
718-784-4520
http://www.ammi.org/site/screenings/index.html
Friday, June 9 HIDDEN INSIDE MOUNTAINS (Laurie Anderson, 2005), followed by discussion with Laurie Anderson, moderated by Carl Goodman, 7:30 pm
Saturday, June 10 Stanley Kubrick: KILLER’S KISS (Stanley Kubrick, 1955), followed by discussion with star Chris Chase, 2:00
Saturday, June 10 Stanley Kubrick: THE KILLING (Stanley Kubrick, 1956), followed by lecture by Vincent LoBrutto, 4:00
Saturday, June 10 Stanley Kubrick: LA RONDE (Max Ophüls, 1950), 6:30
Sunday, June 11 Stanley Kubrick: KILLER’S KISS (Stanley Kubrick, 1955), 2:00
Sunday, June 11 Stanley Kubrick: THE KILLING (Stanley Kubrick, 1956), 4:00
Sunday, June 11 Stanley Kubrick: LA RONDE (Max Ophüls, 1950), 6:30
Friday, June 16 International World Cinema Showcase: A DOG’S DREAM (Angelos Frantzis, 2005), 8:00
Saturday, June 17 Stanley Kubrick: PATHS OF GLORY (Stanley Kubrick, 1957), 2:00
Saturday, June 17 Stanley Kubrick: FULL METAL JACKET (Stanley Kubrick, 1987), followed by a discussion with Matthew Modine, 4:00
Saturday, June 17 Stanley Kubrick: SPARTACUS (Stanley Kubrick, 1960), 7:30
Sunday, June 18 Fist and Sword: DEATH TRANCE (Yûji Shimomura, 2005), 2:00
Sunday, June 18 Stanley Kubrick: PATHS OF GLORY (Stanley Kubrick, 1957), 4:00
Sunday, June 18 Stanley Kubrick: A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (Steven Spielberg, 2001), 6:30
Asia Society and Museum
725 Park Ave. at 70th St.
Admission: free
212-517-ASIA
http://www.asiasociety.org/events
Saturday, June 10 Open house celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Asia Society, featuring live music, masked dance, martial arts demonstrations, I Ching and astrology readings, arts and crafts, special exhibition tours, and more
Riverside Church
490 Riverside Dr. between 120th & 122nd Sts.
212-870-6784
http://www.theriversidechurchny.org/events/index.php?event=3655&filter=ALL
Saturday, June 10 Haitian Cultural Village, featuring live music, dance, crafts, workshops, food, and more, including the Vodou Drums of Haiti, 12 noon — 6:00 pm
Various venues
http://www.nationalpuertoricandayparade.org/schedule.html
Saturday, June 10 Music Festival Brooklyn, McCarren Park, Lorimer & Driggs Sts., free, 12 noon — 7:00
Saturday, June 10 Rankeo Boricua Concert, Lehman Center for the Performing Arts Concert Hall, 250 Bedford Park Blvd. West, tickets available, 6:00
Sunday, June 11 2006 National Puerto Rican Day Parade, Fifth Ave. from 44th to 86th Sts., 11:00 am
Puck Building
295 Lafayette St.
June 10-11, 11:00 am — 6:00 pm
Tickets: $8 per day, $10 per weekend, at the door
212-254-3511
http://www.moccany.org/artfest-main.html
The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art presents its fifth annual art festival, featuring Jessica Abel, Liz Baillie, Parrish Baker, Andrew Bell, Sam Brown, Charles Burns, Donna Chang, Toby Craig, Kim Deitch, Bob Fingerman, Paul Hoppe, R. Kikuo Johnson, Michael Kupperman, Rick Markell, Dave McKenna, Mark Newgarden, Chris Reilly, and many more, as well as such exhibitors as Drawn & Quarterly, Fantagraphic Books, Gingko Press, NBM Publishing, Pantheon, and Slave Labor Graphics. We’ve discovered some fab artists at the last few festivals, picking up some ultracool indie comics, self-published works, and books from the big boys. This year’s honoree is the great Gahan Wilson, and one of the highlights is a conversation between Chip Kidd and Charles Burns. (For our rave review of Burns’s graphic novel, BLACK HOLE, visit http://twi-ny.com/twiny.03.29.06.html.) Another of our favorites, Adrian Tomine, will be on hand; in addition to his own OPTIC NERVE series, Tomine edited last year’s awesome THE PUSH MAN AND OTHER STORIES by Yoshihiro Tatsumi, and we’ve already read an advance copy of the follow-up, ABANDON THE OLD IN TOKYO, which comes out from Drawn & Quarterly in September and is even better than the first. We’ve also been reading a lot of stuff by attendees Farel Dalrymple and Anders Nilsen. Below are the special events scheduled for the 2006 festival; try to plan your visit around one of these discussions, and be sure to get there early if you want a seat.
Saturday, June 10 Slideshow on political cartooning with Tom Hart, Jen Sorensen, and Tim Kreider, 11:30
Saturday, June 10 Twenty-fifth anniversary birthday party for World War 3 Illustrated, 1:00
Saturday, June 10 The Art of Cartooning and the New Yorker, chaired by David Sipress, with Arnie Levin, Danny Shanahan, Barbara Smaller, and Gahan Wilson 2:10
Saturday, June 10 Slideshow and talk by Miriam Katin, 3:30
Saturday, June 10 MOME roundtable, chaired by Gary Groth, with Gabrielle Bell, Jonathan Bennett, David Heatley, Paul Hornschemeier, R. Kikuo Johnson, Anders Nilsen, and Kurt Wolfgang, 4:35
Sunday, June 11 New Voices in Comics, chaired by Mark Nevins, with Mike Dawson, Katherine Guillen, Sammy Harkham, R. Kikuo Johnson, and Lauren R. Weinstein, 11:30
Sunday, June 11 MoCCA Art Festival Award: Gahan Wilson, 1:00
Sunday, June 11 Charles Burns in conversation with Chip Kidd, 2:10
Sunday, June 11 Slideshow with Dan Nadel on early-twentieth-century cartoon strips, 4:00
Sunday, June 11 Q&A with Jessica Abel, 5:00
Madison Square Park
Intersection of 23rd St., Broadway & Fifth Ave.
June 10-11, 12 noon — 6:00 pm
Admission: free
Plates: $7
Bubba FastPass: $125-$200
212-538-4689
http://www.madisonsquarepark.org/recap.asp
This fourth annual festival is sure to have huge lines yet again, so we recommend coming with a small group and dispersing among the different cues to get a taste of everything without having to spend all day in the hot sun. The pitmasters serving their wares to benefit the Madison Square Park Conservancy are Bryan Bracewell (brisket & sausage with tangy coleslaw) and Michael Rodriguez (beef brisket & sausage with coleslaw) from Texas, Mike Mills (baby back ribs with beans) from Illinois and Las Vegas, Otis Walker (rib tips with potato salad) from Missouri, Garry Roark (pulled pork shoulder with coleslaw) from Mississippi, Ed Mitchell (whole hog with mustard coleslaw) from North Carolina, Chris Lilly (pulled pork shoulder with spicy crisp southern mustard coleslaw) from Alabama, and New York’s own Ken Callaghan (St. Louis ribs with dill pickles) of Blue Smoke, Paul Kirk (beef brisket with coleslaw) of RUB, and John Stage (pulled pork shoulder with beans) of Dinosaur Bar-B-Que. There will also be seminars held at the nearby Institute of Culinary Education, with tickets going for $10 to $35, including film screenings, wine tastings, and book discussions and signings.
Saturday, June 10 Straight Drive, 12 noon; Pyeng Threadgill, 1:30; the Allen Oldies Band, 3:00; Jimmie Dale Gilmore, 4:45
Sunday, June 11 Bluegrass Mob to Bluegrass Mob featuring Tony Triscka, 12 noon; Maurice Brown, 1:30; Brian Mitchell Loisaida Social Club, 3:00; Betty LaVett, 4:45
Various venues
June 10-17
http://www.caribbeanweekny.com
Saturday, June 10 Celebrity Cricket Match, Idlewild Park, 223rd St. & 149th Ave., 11:00 am — 6:00 pm
Sunday, June 11 Caribbean Gospelfest, Hanson Pl. United Methodist Church, 144 St. Felix St., $15 in advance, $20 at the door, 4:30
Monday, June 12
through
Friday, June 16 Caribbean Celebrity Chefs, Bloomingdale’s, Williams-Sonoma 59th St., Macy’s Herald Square
Tuesday, June 13 Caribbean Fair, South Street Seaport, Piers 16-17, free, 9:00 am — 7:00 pm
Saturday, June 17 Unplugged Melody, featuring Singing Melody and guests, Crash Mansion, 191 Bowery at Spring St., 6:00
The Eldridge Street Project
Eldridge St. between Canal & Division Sts.
Admission: free
212-978-0803
http://www.eldridgestreet.org/events_latest.html
Sunday, June 11 An afternoon of storytelling, demonstrations, art projects, music, food, and Jewish and Chinese tradition, 12 noon — 4:00 pm
Boerum Hill House & Garden Tour
Start at Bishop Mugavero Center
155 Dean St. at Hoyt St.
Tickets: $20 in advance, $25 at the door
http://www.boerumhillbrooklyn.org/bha/house_tour.html
Sunday, June 11 Self-guided house and garden tour of ten unique spaces in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, with special food and drink offers at neighborhood restaurants, followed by posttour reception, 1:00 - 5:00
Multiple venues
Through June 27
http://www.untiltheviolencestops.org
Sunday, June 11 Violence Transformed: Practices that Heal -- Shamanic Trance Earth Dance, featuring films, talks, and live performances, Rubin Museum of Art, 150 West 17th St. between Seventh & Eighth Aves., $40, 2:00
Monday, June 12 Special reading of Eve Ensler's ESSARY TARGETS, with Kathy Bates, Jane Fonda, Marcia Gay Harden, Emma Myles, Shiva Rose, Marian Seldes, Kerry Washington, Sussan Deyhim, and more, followed by VIP reception, Studio 54, 254 West 54th St. between Broadway & Eighth Ave., $15-$500, 7:00
Tuesday, June 13 Women in Conflict Zones, panel discussion with women activists from Afghanistan, Bosnia, Burma, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, New Orleans, Rwanda, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, and more, Ford Foundation, 320 East 43rd St., free but RSVP required to amanda@vday.org, 10:00 am
Wednesday, June 21 Any One of Us: Words from Prison, with Kimberlé Crenshaw, Rosario Dawson, Swoozie Kurtz, Mindy McCready, Rosie O'Donnell, Phylicia Rashad, Kemba Smith, Kerry Washington, and more, Alice Tully Hall, 1941 Broadway at 65th St., $15-$100, 8:00
Rockefeller Center
Tickets: $500
http://www.citymeals.org/act/index.html
Monday, June 12 Twenty-first annual Chefs’ Tribute to Citymeals-on-Wheels, honoring Nick Valenti of Restaurant Associates, featuring dishes from Mario Batali, Luca Brasi, Ed Brown, Andrew Carmellini, Tom Colicchio, Antonio Colonna, Larry Forgione, the Maccioni Family with Patrick Nuti, Charlie Palmer & Dante Boccuzzi, Alfred Portale, Tom Valenti, Jonathan Waxman, Michael White, and many others
Barnes & Noble
675 Sixth Ave. at 22nd St., Chelsea (CH)
4 Astor Pl. at Broadway (AP)
555 Fifth Ave. (555)
2289 Broadway at 82nd St. (BW)
Admission: free
http://storelocator.barnesandnoble.com/events.do
Monday, June 12 Gary Shtenyngart, ABSURDISTAN, AP, 7:00
Friday, June 16 Edward M. Kennedy, MY SENATOR AND ME: A DOG’S EYE VIEW OF WASHINGTON, D.C., 555, 12:30
Monday, June 19 Calvin Trillin, A HECKUVA JOB: MORE OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION IN RHYME, BW, 7:00
Tuesday, June 20 Pete Friedrich, Megan Kelso, Peter Kuper, and Pat Scanlon, ROADSTRIPS: A GRAPHIC JOURNEY ACROSS AMERICA, CH, 7:00
Fifth Ave. between 82nd & 105th Sts.
Admission: free, 6:00 — 9:00 pm
212-606-2296
http://www.museummilefestival.org
Tuesday, June 13 This annual event features free admission to nine institutions on Upper Fifth Ave., with art and music filling the pedestrians-only street as you make your way from the Goethe-Institut to the Museum of the City of New York. This year De La Vega and others will be making chalk drawings along the route. Below is a list of some of the entertainment and exhibits you can check out; instead of going to the familiar Met or Guggenheim, consider trying some jewels you might never have been to, like the Museum of the City of New York, the National Academy, or El Museo del Barrio.
Borders
Kips Bay (KB)
Second Ave. at 32nd St.
Shops at Columbus Circle (CC)
Admission: free
http://www.bordersstores.com/events/events.jsp
Tuesday, June 13 Will Shortz, WORDPLAY, CC, 6:00
Tuesday, June 13 Ira Berkow, FULL SWING: HITS, RUNS AND ERRORS IN A WRITER’S LIFE, KB, 7:00
Delacorte Theater
Central Park, midpark at 80th St.
Free tickets given out day of show at 1:00 at the Delacorte and Joe’s Pub
212-539-8750
http://www.centralparknyc.org/activities/specialevents
Tuesday, June 13
through
Sunday, July 9 MACBETH, directed by Moisés Kaufman and starring Liev Schreiber and Jennifer Ehle.
Makor Theater
Steinhardt Building
35 West 67th St. between Amsterdam & Columbus Aves.
212-601-1000
Tuesday, June 13 MINGUS (Thomas Reichman, 1968) and OTHER VOICES - THE MEDITATIONS OF CHARLES MINGUS (CBC, 1964), introduced by Andrew Hornzy and followed by a Q&A with Sue Mingus, $15, 7:30
Wednesday, June 14 A NIGHT IN HAVANA: DIZZY GILLESPIE IN CUBA (John Holland, 1988), followed by a discussion with John Holland and Donald L. Maggin, $15, 7:30
Thursday, June 15 HERBIE HANCOCK: POSSIBILITIES (Doug Biro & Jon Fine, 2006), followed by a discussion with Bob Belden, $15, 7:30
Sunday, June 17 KEITH JARRETT: THE ART OF IMPROVISATION (Mike Dibb, 2005), $9, 8:00
Sunday, June 18 CHARLES LLODY AND BILLY HIGGINS, HOME (Dorothy Darr, 2006), followed by interview of Charles Lloyd and Dorothy Darr by Larry Appelbaum, $15, 6:00
Housing Works Used Book Café
126 Crosby St. between Houston & Prince Sts.
Benefit concert: $25
Admission: free
212-334-3324
http://www.housingworks.org:8080/usedbookcafe/UsedBookCafe_Events.jsp
Tuesday, June 13 Joshua Radin, Susan Cagle, and Justin King, 7:30
Friday, June 16 Katell Keinig and more, 7:30
Tourneau Atrium
Tuesday afternoons in June at 12 noon
12 East 57th St. at Fifth Ave.
212-686-0700
http://www.wbgo.org/ontheair/2005/TournauTimeMachine.asp
http://www.tourneau.com/Tourneau/Main/Content/store%20locations/Tourneau%20TimeMachine.aspx
Tuesday, June 13 Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Alumni Quintet
Tuesday, June 20 Catherine Russell
Mount Vernon Hotel Museum and Garden
421 East 61st St., held in landscaped garden
Tuesday nights, 6:00 — 9:00
Tickets: $15 adults, $7 children under twelve
212-838-6878
http://www.mvhm.org/pages/events/events.htm
Tuesday, June 13 Linda Russell & Companie: Traditional Balladeers
Tuesday, June 20 Jazz trio featuring Valery Ponomarev
Museum of Sex
233 Fifth Ave. at 27th St.
Tickets: $35 in advance through June 9, $50 at the door
212-689-6337 ext115
http://www.safersexinthecity.org
Wednesday, June 14 Live music and entertainment benefiting AIDS Service Center NYC, featuring DJs, dancing, food and drink, and demonstration tables, 7:00
Connolly’s 45
121 West 45th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves., third floor event room
Tickets: $20
212-597-5126
Thursday, June 15 Benefit reading to raise funds to save St. Brigid’s, the historic Irish Famine Church on Ave. B and Eighth St., from demolition, with Pete Hamill, Malachy McCourt, Colum McCann, Peter Quinn, Thomas Fleming, Joe O’Connor, T.J. English, Anne Maguire, Kathleen Hill, Sorcha Dorcha, Thomas Kelly, and Marion R. Casey, hosted by Larry Kirwan, with a special reading from ULYSSES by Isaiah Sheffer, 7:00
Multiple venues
Through September
Tickets: $8
Thursday, June 15 THE HOLE STORY (Alex Karpovsky), Open Road Park lawn, East 12th St. between First Ave. & Ave. A, live music at 8:30, screening at 9:00
Friday, June 16 THE GUATEMALAN HANDSHAKE (Todd Rohal), Williamsburg Automotive School lawn, 50 Bedford St. between North 12th & Lorimer Sts., live music by Ola Podrida at 8:30, screening at 9:00
New York City Center
130 West 56th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Tickets: $35-$100
212-581-1212
https://www.citycenter.org/events/event_detail.cfm?event_code=MGF06
Thursday, June 15
through
Sunday, June 18 Four performances featuring Rev. Hezekiah Walker and the Love Fellowship Tabernacle Choir, Vickie Winans, Cissy Houston, Tye Tribbed, and Donnie McClurkin in addition to young newcomers
Symphony Space
Peter Jay Sharp Theatre
2537 Broadway at 95th St.
212-864-5400
http://www.symphonyspace.org/genres/eventPage.php?genreId=4&eventId=1345
Friday, June 16 Passion! Politics! Plus Samuel Beckett Centennial Celebration!
with readings focusing on Stephan Dedalus from James Joyce’s ULYSSES, PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN, and DUBLINERS, ending with Fionnula Flanagan’s reading of the uncensored Molly Bloom monologue, $20, 12 noon - ?
South Street Seaport Museum
Schermerhorn Row
12 Fulton St. between South & Front Sts.
Third Friday of the month, 5:00 – 9:00 pm
Admission: free
212-748-8735
http://www.southstseaport.org/calendar/calfridays.html
Friday, June 16 Seafarers, Sailors, Immigrants (and Song), featuring drawing workshop, live music from Dave’s True Story, free guided tour of “Antwerp=America, Eugeen Van Mieghem and the Emigrants of the Red Star Line,” and more
Pier 94 New York: The UnConvention Center
54th St. & 12th Ave.
Tickets: $49 (VIP tickets $95)
http://www.exoticeroticball.com/newyork
Friday, June 16
and
Saturday, June 17 A Celebration of Flesh, Fetish, and Fantasy, presented in New York City for the first time ever
East River Amphitheatre
East River between the Williamsburg & Manhattan Bridges
Admission: free
http://www.eastrivermusicproject.com
Saturday, June 17 Meneguar, Human Television, Mobius Band, and Saturday Looks Good to Me, 2:00 - 6:00
Boomerang Theatre Company
June 17 — July 23
Saturdays and Sundays at 2:00
Admission: free
212-501-4069
http://boomerangtheatre.org/seasons/2006.html
Saturday, June 17
and
Sunday, June 18 KING LEAR, Central Park, 69th St. & Central Park West
The Jewish Museum
1109 Fifth Ave. at 92nd St.
212-423-3337
Sunday, June 18 Billy Jonas, $12, 2:00
Various locations
Admission: free unless otherwise noted
212-794-6564
http://www.centralparknyc.org/thingstodo
Sunday, June 18 Stories and Songs on the Meer, with storyteller Christine Campbell and musician Frank Fields, Charles A. Dana Discovery Center, inside the park at 110th St. between Fifth & Lenox Aves., 2:00
Sunday, June 18 Father’s Day Tour and Concert, Conservatory Garden, east side from 104th to 106th Sts., tour at 2:00, concert with the Mannes College of Music Brass Quintet in the South Garden at 3:00
Marcus Garvey Park
Staggered start times: 12:45 to 4:20
Entrance fees: $10-$35
http://www.skyscraper-harlembikerace.com
Sunday, June 18 Thirty-third annual event, starting and ending at 121st St. & Fifth Ave., 12 noon — 6:00 pm
Symphony Space
Peter Jay Sharp Theatre
2537 Broadway at 95th St.
212-864-5400
Sunday, June 18 World Music Institute presents Purbo Asmoro, Wakidi Dwidjomartono, and Gamelan Manunggal Rasa, performing DURYUDANA GUGUR (THE DEATH OF DURYUDANA), from THE MAHABHARATA, $26, 8:00
The New School Tishman Auditorium
66 West 12th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
888-NYT-1870
http://www.nsu.newschool.edu/02a_specdiv.htm#0201
http://www.nytmarketing.com/talk/index.php
Monday, June 19 AIDS at 25: What’s Next? panel discussion with Allen Clear, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, Larry Kramer, and Mathilde Krim, moderated by Brent Staples, $25, 6:30
Barbès
376 Ninth St. at Sixth Ave.
Park Slope, Brooklyn
First and third Monday nights of the month at 7:00
Admission: free
718-965-9177
http://www.barbesbrooklyn.com/tcc.html
http://www.brooklynindependent.com
Monday, June 19 THE LADY FROM SOCKHOLM (Eddy Von Mueller & Evan Lieberman, 2006), NEO-NOIR (Chase Palmer, 2003), and short film by Marcel Dzama, with free DVD from Film Movement, 7:00
Southpaw
125 Fifth Ave., Brooklyn
718-230-0236
Monday, June 19 Morbius, Missifuss, Viruzy, and Hierro Forjado, $8, 8:00
Manhattan School of Music
120 Claremont Ave.
212-581-8380
http://www.nypianocomp.org/index_comp.htm
Monday, June 19 Preliminary rounds, 11:00 am and 1:40 pm
Tuesday, June 20 Preliminary round, 12:30; semifinals, 3:20 and 7:15
Wednesday, June 21 Semifinals, 12:30 and 7:00; finals, 8:20
Thursday, June 22 Finals, 9:30 am and 1:45 pm
Friday, June 23 Ensemble round, 9:30 am; master classes, 2:15; awards ceremony and performance by winners, 7:00
French Institute Alliance Française
Florence Gould Hall
55 East 59th St. between Park & Madison Aves.
212-355-6160
http://www.fiaf.org/french%20film/spring2006/2006-06-20-meet-Brault.shtml
Tuesday, June 20 LES RAQUETTEURS (THE SNOWSHOERS) (Michel Brault and Gilles Groulx, 1958), and POUR LA SUITE DU MONDE (FOR THE ONES TO COME) (Pierre Perrault and Michel Brault, 1963), introduced by Michel Brault and followed by a discussion with Sam Di Iorio and Albert Maysles, $12, 7:00