Yearly Archives: 2011

WALLS AND BRIDGES: TRANSATLANTIC INSIGHTS

Photographer Jen Davis will join Pierre Cassou-Noguès for “Picturing the Self: A Philosopher Discusses a Photographer’s Work” at the Aperture Gallery as part of Walls and Bridges festival (Jen Davis, “Mike, Del Rio, TX,” archival pigment print / © 2008 Jen Davis)


New York Public Library, Celeste Bartos Forum (and other venues)
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
455 Fifth Ave. at 42nd St.
January 27 – February 4, free – $15
www.wallsandbridges.net
www.nypl.org

From January 27 through February 4, the inaugural Walls and Bridges festival will seek to break down barriers and build new dialogues and thought processes with a series of fascinating programs held throughout the city. Organized by the Villa Gillet and the Conseil de la Création artistique, the first part of Walls and Bridges — it’ll be back in the spring and summer — begins January 27 at 7:00 with the round-table discussion “Art/Truth/Lies: The Perils and Pleasures of Deception,” which brings together Pierre Cassou-Noguès, Jean-Pierre Dupuy, Carrie Lambert-Beatty, Glenn D. Lowry, and host D. Graham Burnett at the New York Public Library. On Friday at 6:00, Paul Holdengräber will moderate “The Magical Side of Celebrity” with Cécile Guilbert, Laura Kipnis, and Wayne Koestenbaum, followed at 8:00 by one of Walls and Bridges’ premier events, “Three Faiths in the Form of a Fugue,” a combination of art, poetry, music, and philosophy relating to the library’s current exhibition about Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and featuring Salman Ahmad, Reza Aslan, Ala Ebtekar, Dan Fishback, Fabrice Hadjadj, Alicia Jo Rabins, Shirin Neshat, and Damien Poisblaud, hosted by Reza Aslan. Other programs take on “The End of Privacy: The State and Surveillance,” “The New Faces of the Enemy,” “Going Public: Embodying a Persona,” and “The Shapes of Space — The Shears of Time: Why Does Philosophy Need Art to Become Truly Experimental?,” with such participants as Maira Kalman, Daniel Handler, Philip Gourevitch, Cynthia Hopkins, Josh Neufeld, and Rick Moody at such venues as the New School, the Aperture Gallery, the Greenlight Bookstore, the Brooklyn Flea, Joe’s Pub, UnionDocs, and the French Institute Alliance Française in addition to the NYPL. The name of the festival comes from Sir Isaac Newton’s quote “We build too many walls and not enough bridges,” although we’d also like to think it relates to John Lennon’s classic 1974 album WALLS AND BRIDGES as well.

TALES FROM THE PARKSIDE PT 2: AN ACOUSTIC SONG SWAP

Carolyn AlRoy will host a night of indie folk rock from a group of close friends at the Parkside Lounge on January 27

Parkside Lounge
317 East Houston St. between Aves. B & C
Thursday, January 27, free, 7:30
212-673-6270
www.parksidelounge.net

In the spirit of radio great Vin Scelsa’s “A Bunch of Songwriters Sittin’ Around Singing” series, originally held way back when at the sadly defunct Bottom Line, local singer-songwriters Carolyn AlRoy, Paula Carino, Erica Smith, and Rebecca Turner will come together January 27 for “Tales from the Parkside Pt. 2.” In round-robin fashion, the women will share acoustic songs and stories, mixing music with interviews led by AlRoy, who is also a practicing psychologist. The four friends have dubbed the event “Carolyn AlRoy’s Rock ’n Roll Therapy Circus,” intimating that anything can happen — and probably will. It should all make for an exciting evening of excellent indie folk rock and juicy revelations.

THE DECEMBERISTS

Colin Meloy leads the Decemberists at the start of new tour at the Beacon on January 24 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Beacon Theatre
2124 Broadway at 74th St.
January 24-26, $39.50, 8:00
212-465-6500
www.beacontheatre.com
www.decemberists.com

“And if you ever make it to ten, you won’t make it again,” the Decemberists opine on “Rox in the Box,” one of seven songs they played from their latest release, THE KING IS DEAD, on January 24 as they kicked off the Popes of Pendarvia World Tour with the first of three shows at the Beacon Theatre. Bespectacled lead singer Colin Meloy pointed out early on that in addition to the new album and tour, the band was celebrating its tenth anniversary this month, and they’re still burning ten years down the road. The Portland, Oregon, band, featuring Chris Funk on lap steel guitar, mandolin, and keyboards, Jenny Conlee on accordion, keyboards, and harmonica, Nate Query on electric and stand-up bass, John Moen on drums, and Meloy on guitar and harmonica, with guest violinist and background vocalist Annalisa Tornfelt, mixed it up Monday night with a set that drew from the group’s diverse catalog, including “July, July!” from 2002’s CASTAWAYS & CUTOUTS, “The Soldiering Life” from 2003’s HER MAJESTY THE DECEMBERISTS, and “The Rake’s Song” from 2009’s HAZARDS OF LOVE. Meloy’s highly literate, poetic lyrics and the band’s alternative indie folk sound, melding old English balladry with R.E.M. and Americana roots rock, filled the ornate hall in majestic ways, as befitting a group that often references royalty. On record, the songs from the new album sound more rustic and folkie, but played live they gained a sparkling vitality, as the opening trio of “Down by the Water,” “Rox in the Box,” and “Calamity Song” flowed seamlessly into the PICARESQUE hat trick of “We Both Go Down Together,” “The Engine Driver,” and “The Bagman’s Gambit.” After a few songs, Meloy told the audience they could stand if they wanted, and they rose as one, not sitting down for the rest of the night. He also said at one point that they weren’t going to play any of their long tunes, but the first encore was a stellar version of the song suite “The Island” from 2006’s THE CRANE WIFE, comprising “Come and See,” “The Landlord’s Daughter,” and “You’ll Not Feel the Drowning.” It was a triumphant night for the band, who are also the subject of a photo exhibition at the Impossible Project Space in SoHo, where Autumn de Wilde’s Polaroids of the group making THE KING IS DEAD will be on view January 26 through February 28, with the artist and some band members present at the opening reception this Wednesday from 3:00 to 7:00. (By the way, if you’re going to the Beacon either of the next two nights, be sure to get there early to catch the Baltimore duo Wye Oak, who played a strong, well-received opening set on Monday, with singer-guitarist Jenn Wasner and drummer-keyboardist Andy Stack previewing songs from their upcoming release, CIVILIAN.)

PARSONS DANCE

David Parsons’s stroboscopic classic, “Caught,” will be part of all three programs at the Joyce

Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at 19th St.
January 25 – February 6, $10-$59
212-242-0800
www.joyce.org
www.parsonsdance.org

Born in Chicago and raised in Kansas City, David Parsons cut his teeth dancing for the Paul Taylor Company and the New York City Ballet before forming the New York City-based Parsons Dance in 1985. Since then he has choreographed more than seventy works for the ten-member troupe, in addition to many other commissions and commercial endeavors. Parsons Dance will be at the Joyce January 25 – February 6 presenting three different programs as well as a VIP preview. Program A includes “The Envelope,” “Sleep Study,” “Mood Swing,” the world premiere of “Portinari,” inspired by the life of Brazilian artist-activist Candido Portinari, the stroboscopic classic “Caught,” and the world premiere of “Run to You,” set to the music of Steely Dan; Program B consists of “Bachiana,” “Portinari,” “Slow Dance,” the world premiere of Monica Bill Barnes’s “Love, oh Love,” “Caught,” and “Nascimento”; and Program C, arranged for four family-friendly weekend matinees, contains “The Envelope,” “Sleep Study,” “Hand Dance,” “Love, oh Love, ” “Walk, ” and “Caught.” The January 25 opening night VIP preview highlights “Bachiana,” “Portinari,” “Love, oh Love,” “Caught,” and “Run to You” and will be staged without intermission; the ten-member troupe currently features Eric Bourne, Sarah Braverman, Elena D’Amario, Abby Silva Gavezzoli, Christina Ilisije, Jason MacDonald, Miguel Quinones, Ian Spring, Melissa Ullom, and Steven Vaughn.

COUSIN CORINNE’S REMINDER: ISSUE NUMBER TWO PARTY

BookCourt
163 Court St. between Dean & Pacific Sts.
Wednesday, January 26, free, 7:00
718-875-3677
www.bookcourt.org
www.cousincorinne.com

In April 2010, the inaugural issue of the oversized trade paperback Cousin Corinne’s Reminder was published, released by an independent Brooklyn-based publishing group in conjunction with the Cobble Hill store BookCourt, whose manager, Zack Zook, served as executive editor. The biannual journal’s stated mission “is to widen the scope of artistic representation within the printed world by combining literary and visual presences.” The first issue included contributions from such notables as Charles Bock, Anne Waldman, Jonathan Letham & Dean Haspiel, Mark Borthwick, Kimiko Yoshida, Donald Moss, and James Frey. The second issue has just been released, bigger and better than the first, a compendium of fiction, poetry, comics, photography, art, and other ramblings from authors and artists who mostly hail from Brooklyn. Beautifully designed by Michael Fusco, Issue Number Two opens with, appropriately enough, George Emilio Sanchez’s “Shalom,” a brief story about his heritage, and includes such other highlights as David Hollander’s absurdist, futuristic “The Limits of Bioinformatics and the Problematic of Meaninglessness: A Case Study”; Stanley Crouch’s “A Darkie French Princess,” about a young man fighting the expectations that come with art, athletics, the quest for knowledge, and skin tone; and Stephen Elliott’s sex diary, “Selections from the Daily Rumpus.” Tierney Gearon’s “The Haircut” creates a touching narrative through a suite of six photographs of a naked mother giving her young son a haircut with a stunning vista behind them, while Anthony Barboza’s “Black Dreams / White Sheets” consists of ten photos in which ten black men, women, and a child are shown lying in different positions on a mattress, shot from directly above. Amelie Mancini’s talk about her newfound love of baseball is accompanied by her David Hockney-inspired paintings of such Hall of Famers as Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and Tom Seaver. And the Comix Blox, curated by Haspiel, includes tasty tidbits from Michel Fiffe, Tim Hamilton, and Haspiel himself.

The release of the second issue of Cousin Corinne’s Reminder will be celebrated at BookCourt on January 26 with a special program that includes an opening performance by Sanchez, readings by Crouch, Priscilla Becker, Todd Colby, Catherine Lacey, and Adam Wilson, a comix presentation by Haspiel and Joan Reilly, signings by comix contributors Jen Ferguson, Hamilton, and Fiffe, a painting by Mancini, free drinks, and other guests.

20at20

Multiple venues
January 24 – February 6, $20
www.20at20.com

With off-Broadway shows skyrocketing toward Broadway-like prices, it’s getting harder and harder to find a good bargain out there. But it doesn’t get much better than the annual 20at20 promotion, which begins today and runs through February 6, two weeks of thirty-one off-Broadway productions offering twenty-dollar tickets available twenty minutes before showtime. Among this year’s participants are A PERFECT FUTURE at the Cherry Lane Theatre, ANGELINA BALLERINA THE MUSICAL at the Union Square Theatre, PLAY DEAD at the Players Theatre, BLACK ANGELS OVER TUSKEGEE at the Actors’ Temple Theatre, STOMP at the Orpheum, FREUD’S LAST SESSION at the Marjorie S. Deane Litle Theater, LOVE, LOSS, AND WHAT I WORE at the Westside Theatre, and THE FLYING KARAMAZOV BROTHERS at the Minetta Lane Theatre. Just walk up to the box office twenty minutes before curtain (or earlier, since there is sure to be a line) and say “20 at 20” to get your ticket to that night’s show; it’s one per customer (make sure you have cash in case they’re not accepting credit cards), and the number of $20 tickets is limited and not guaranteed for every performance.

WILL RYMAN: THE ROSES

Will Ryman’s colorful, large-scale roses are blossoming on Park Ave. (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Park Ave. Mall from 57th to 67th Sts.
January 25 – May 31
Admission: free
www.willryman.com
twi-ny slideshow

Amid the doom and gloom of a gray and slushy January, a beautiful bunch of enormous pink and red roses have sprouted on the Park Ave. Mall between 57th & 67th Sts. The hand-painted blossoms, which rise as high as twenty-five feet in the air, are a surprisingly cheerful installation by Will Ryman, who is more well known for his theater-of-the-absurd papier-mâché creations featuring a collection of tall, gangly, dour figures and a bevy of small people trapped in the base of a deep pit. (Ryman, the son of minimalist painter Robert Ryman and abstract artist Merrill Wagner, tried his hand at playwrighting before deciding to take his characters from paper to papier-mâché.) In September 2009, inspired by the beginning of David Lynch’s 1984 cult film BLUE VELVET, Ryman unveiled “A New Beginning” at the Marlborough Gallery in Chelsea, an engaging environment populated by huge roses accompanied by giant insects and oversized trash. For the Park Ave. exhibit, a joint venture of the Fund for Park Ave., the Paul Kasmin Gallery, and the New York City Parks Dept. that officially opens on Tuesday, there are ladybugs, aphids, beetles, ants, and bees buzzing around the flowers and thorn-laden stems, but no garbage, as bright green stems lift the roses toward the heights of the surrounding buildings. Individual rose petals will occupy 63rd to 65th Sts. The pieces, which are composed of yacht-grade fiberglass resin, stainless steel, automotive paint, and brass, will remain on view through May 31, so it will be fascinating to see how the installation seemingly changes as winter turns into spring and summer beckons. “In my work I always try to combine fantasy with reality,” Ryman said in a statement. “In the case of ‘The Roses,’ I tried to convey New York City’s larger-than-life qualities through scale, creating blossoms which are imposing, humorous, and hopefully beautiful.” As it turns out, this expert of the absurd has done all of that and more.