Yearly Archives: 2012

FIRST SATURDAYS: FIERCE, PHENOMENAL WOMEN

Rachel Kneebone, “The Descent,” porcelain, 2008 (© Rachel Kneebone; photo by Stephen White, courtesy White Cube)

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway at Washington St.
Saturday, March 3, free, 5:00 – 11:00 (some events require free tickets distributed in advance at the Visitor Center)
212-864-5400
www.brooklynmuseum.org

The Brooklyn Museum honors “Fierce, Phenomenal Women” in its March First Saturday programming with a series of events celebrating the second sex. The evening will feature live performances by Alakande! Spread Joy!, Making Friendz, Fredericks Brown, the Brooklyn Ballet, and Queen Godis, artist and curator talks with Mary Lucier, Kate Gilmore, and Catherine Morris, a book talk with author Sara Marcus, a presentation of “The Bad Feminist Readings,” a newspaper illustration workshop, a dance party hosted by DJs Reborn, Moni, Selly, and shErOck, and an action station where visitors can contribute to a community panel inspired by Judy Chicago’s “The Dinner Party.” In addition, the galleries will be open late, giving visitors plenty of opportunity to check out “Playing House,” “Rachel Kneebone: Regarding Rodin,” “Raw/Cooked: Shura Chernozatonskaya,” “Newspaper Fiction: The New York Journalism of Djuna Barnes, 1913–1919,” “Question Bridge: Black Males,” and “19th-Century Modern.”

ROTARY CLUB

Rotary Club will celebrate the release of SECOND YEAR IN SWINE in Red Hook on Saturday night

Red Hook Bait and Tackle
320 Van Brunt St.
Saturday, March 3, 9:00
www.rotaryclubnyc.com
www.redhookbaitandtackle.com

Among the many ways iTunes and other internet-based programs and websites have changed how we listen to music is by allowing us to create massive, nearly endless playlists of thousands of songs that just keep going. While there are some people out there who still flip over an LP to hear side two or eject one CD to put in another one, most of us double click and just let the music play, and play, and play, sometimes without even knowing the name of the band or the specific song rumbling through our heads. The art of the album has gotten lost in the shuffle. So when we were listening to Rotary Club’s new record, Second Year in Swine (Woodside, February 28, 2012), we found ourselves letting the music drift into the next band on our playlist, not realizing it until several songs in. But we are not pointing this out to say that Rotary Club does not have its own distinctive sound; in fact, they play a wide range of infectious indie pop that makes it hard to pigeonhole them into the flavor of the day. And it just so happens that we have taken to that next band on our playlist much as we have taken to Rotary Club, whose self-professed influences run the gamut from Syd Barrett and the Beatles to Love and the Kinks, from John Fahey to Brian Eno and Pere Ubu; to that mix we’d throw in Steely Dan, Thunderclap Newman, Cracker, and Richard Thompson. In fact, their previous record, 2007’s Vis-à-Vis, and the new one were produced by bassist extraordinaire Tony Maimone, who has worked over the years with Pere Ubu, the Mekons, They Might Be Giants, Ani DiFranco, Bob Mould, Frank Black, Megan Reilly, and many others, creating his own wide-ranging iTunes playlist. The result is a diverse little gem that is like its own iPod shuffle playlist; you never know what you’re going to hear next as Second Year in Swine veers from jazzy interludes and southern blues to wah-wah instrumentals and bright, cheery pop. “You know you want that second cup / of diminishing returns / Determined to repeat yourself / watch your flagship crash and burn / Rewards are worth the work / for these laurels can’t be bought / pushed or shoved or slipped / between the cracks / out a welcome that you’ve worn,” leader Tom Devaney sings on “Diminishing Returns,” and indeed, multiple listens to Second Year in Swine offer no such diminishing returns, instead providing plenty of rewarding moments. Rotary Club will be celebrating the release of the new album on March 3 at Red Hook Bait and Tackle, featuring former Boston boy and Fung Wah regular Devaney, who plays guitar with a unique finger-picking style, along with drummer Mike Savage, cellist Mike Lunapiena, bassist J. Johnson, and keyboardist Billy Donahue. Oh, and that next band on our iTunes? Actually, we’ve just circled back to the beginning of Second Year in Swine, starting all over again with “Get a Room,” so we can’t remember their name right now.

LAST DAYS HERE

Pentagram leader Bobby Liebling struggles through some very hard times in LAST DAYS HERE

LAST DAYS HERE (Don Argott & Demian Fenton, 2011)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
Opens Friday, March 2
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com
www.914pictures.com

While doing work for Philly record label Relapse, hard rock fan Sean “Pellet” Pelletier became obsessed with Bobby Liebling, lead singer and songwriter for the 1970s Virginia doom metal band Pentagram. Over the course of four decades, the highly influential but deeply troubled group had gone through myriad lineup changes and constant breakups, never achieving mass success primarily because of the wildly unpredictable and self-destructive frontman. In his mid-fifties, Liebling was a casualty of the classic sex, drugs, and rock and roll story, living in his parents’ basement, smoking crack, and picking at the horrific oozing scabs on his bandage-wrapped arms. He is the unlikeliest of heavy metal heroes, but Pelletier is so determined to help bring Liebling and Pentagram back into the public limelight that he becomes their manager, trying against all odds to get the band back together to make a new record and go out on tour. But when he finally convinces Liebling to give up the pipe, the singer turns to another addiction, the love of his much younger girlfriend, Hallie Miller, an extremely strange and inexplicable relationship. For Last Days Here, an almost hard-to-believe combination of VH1’s Behind the Music and Bands Reunited, directors Don Argott (Rock School, The Art of the Steal) and Demian Fenton followed Pelletier and Liebling around for three years, speaking with Liebling’s parents, such former Pentagram members as Geof O’Keefe, Greg Mayne, Gary Isom, and Joe Hasselvander, über fan Callae Gotz, and music producer Murray Krugman, who share personal tales about the rise and many falls of Liebling and Pentagram. Liebling gives the filmmakers access to every part of his life, resulting in an intimate portrait of a bizarre existence; it is almost impossible to equate the basement-dwelling, near-death Liebling with the metal madman responsible for such songs as “Be Forewarned,” “When the Screams Come,” “Livin’ in a Ram’s Head,” “Relentless,” and “Day of Reckoning.” Argott and Fenton focus on Liebling while not getting overinvolved with the music itself, which is kept to a minimum; you don’t have to be a fan of heavy metal to appreciate this compelling tale of survival. Last Days Here opens March 2 at the IFC Center, with Argott and Fenton appearing at the 7:55 and 9:55 Friday-night screenings.

VENUS IN FUR

Nina Arianda and Hugh Dancy are electrifying in David Ives’s VENUS IN FUR (photo by Joan Marcus)

Lyceum Theatre
149 West 45ht St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
Through June 17, $76.50- $141.50
www.venusinfurbroadway.com

“Shiny, shiny, shiny boots of leather / Whiplash girlchild in the dark / Severin, your servant, comes in bells, please don’t forsake him / Strike, dear mistress, and cure his heart,” Lou Reed sang on the Velvet Underground’s 1967 S&M classic, “Venus in Furs.” The song was inspired by the 1870 novella of the same name by Austrian writer Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, which also serves as the basis for David Ives’s wickedly funny play, Venus in Fur. Following its recent run at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, the sizzling-hot two-character Manhattan Theatre Club production is back on Broadway, thrilling audiences at the Lyceum through June 17. In a small New York basement studio, Thomas (British actor Hugh Dancy) has just finished auditioning actors for his next play, Venus in Fur, when Vanda (breakout star Nina Arianda) suddenly storms into his life, a whirlwind of crazy energy who has come to try out for the role of Wanda von Dunajew in Thomas’s theatrical adaptation of Sacher-Masoch’s story-within-a-story about gender, sexuality, and degradation. Thomas tries to get rid of Vanda, but the two of them are soon reading the play, with Ives cleverly creating a developing story-within-a-story of his own as Thomas and Vanda start mimicking what is going on between Wanda and Severin von Kusiemski. What begins as a classic battle of the sexes turns into so much more as they seductively fight over power and dominance. Tony nominee Arianda (Born Yesterday) is a marvel as Vanda, effortlessly going back and forth between the nasal-voiced wacky ingénue and the strong, defiant characters she is portraying. Dancy, in a role originally performed by Wes Bentley in the show’s January 2010 Classic Stage Company debut, does an excellent job of keeping up with Arianda’s boundless energy as he plays both Thomas and the subservient Severin. Anita Yavich’s costumes are sensational, with Vanda continually reaching into her bag of tricks, pulling out erotically charged items, including to-die-for thigh-high leather boots. With Vanda and Thomas continually fighting over where to stand as they read the play-within-a-play, it is easy to forget that the show is actually directed by Walter Bobbie (Chicago, Footloose), who seamlessly weaves everything together. Venus in Fur is a breathless, electrifying drama that should not be forsaken; you’d have to be a masochist not to see it.

WHITNEY BIENNIAL 2012: LIVE EVENTS

Dawn Kasper has moved into the Whitney and will present live performances May 23-25 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Ave. at 75th St.
March 1 – May 27, $18 (pay-what-you-wish Fridays 6:00 – 9:00)
212-570-3600
www.whitney.org

The seventy-sixth Whitney Biennial opens today with an entire floor dedicated to live performance and performance-based installation. The premier events include a series of residencies beginning March 1-11 with Sarah Michelson’s “Devotion Study #1 — The American Dancer” and continuing March 14 – April 8 with a new multimedia piece by Michael Clark in collaboration with Charles Atlas. The specially commissioned works, which take place on the fourth floor in a white space with rows of folding chairs, require advance tickets for some performances while at other times are first come, first served with regular museum admission. Atlas will also screen several of his films April 11-15, participate in a conversation with biennial curators and Robert Swinston on April 12, and present the live audio-visual show “Atlas/Basinski” on April 20-21. The rock band the Red Krayola will perform ensemble music and a free-form freakout on April 13 and opera on April 14, while Richard Maxwell will hold open rehearsals for a new play April 25-29. Alicia Hall Moran and Jason Moran’s “BLEED” involves five days of live music May 9-13, while K8 Hardy will examine the state of fashion with a unique runway show on May 20. Buster Keaton fan Dawn Kasper has taken all of her possessions from her L.A. studio apartment and moved into the Whitney’s third floor, where she will be rearranging her cluttered space and hosting performances with friends May 23-25. From May 23 through June 3, Lutz Bacher, whose “Celestial Handbook” framed pages hang on walls throughout the museum, will be scattering hundreds of baseballs to redefine her space. Arika’s philosophical foray “A survey is a process of listening” invites audiences to share their thoughts May 2-6, while Yair Oelbaum and Kai Althoff will perform the play There we will be buried May 16-19. On Sundays and other select days, Georgia Sagri will create a book with the concept “Working the No Work.” And Tom Thayer’s third-floor installation will come to life May 20 and 27.

Laida Lertxunde will be at the Whitney April 1 to screen and discuss such works as A LAX RIDDLE UNIT

Curators Elisabeth Sussman, Jay Sanders, Thomas Beard, and Ed Halter have put together a wide-ranging film series that runs throughout the biennial, with programs dedicated to shorts and feature-length works by Luther Price, Michael Robinson, Jerome Hiler, Nathaniel Dorsky, Laida Lertxunde, Thom Andersen, Moyra Davey, Kelly Reichardt, Matt Porterfield, Wu Tsang, Kevin Jerome Everson, and Laura Poitras, all of whom will participate in individual conversations; films by the recently deceased George Kuchar and Mike Kelly will also be screened, as well as the very much alive Frederick Wiseman’s 2010 Boxing Gym. With all of these special programs, you should allow yourself plenty of time to experience this year’s biennial — or even set aside a few days, because there’s a whole lot to see and experience.

GLOBUS FILM SERIES — LOVE WILL TEAR US APART: AIR DOLL

Nozomi (Bae Doona) dreams that there’s more to life in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s AIR DOLL

AIR DOLL (Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2009)
Japan Society
333 East 47th St. at First Ave.
Saturday, March 3, $12, 2:00
Series runs March 2-18
212-715-1258
www.japansociety.org

Over the last twenty years, Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda has compiled a remarkable resume, directing eight narrative features and four documentaries that investigate such themes as memory and loss. His 2009 film, Air Doll, examines loneliness through the eyes of a blow-up doll come to life. Bae Doona stars as Nozomi, a plastic sex toy owned by Hideo (Itsuji Itao), a restaurant worker who treats her like his wife, telling her about his day, sitting with her at the dinner table, and making love to her at night. But suddenly, one morning, Nozomi achieves consciousness, discovering that she has a heart, and she puts on her French maid costume and goes out into the world, learning about life by wandering through the streets and working in a video store, always returning home before Hideo and pretending to still be the doll. Adapted from a manga by Yoshiie Goda, Air Doll is another beautiful, meditative study from Kore-eda. Nozomi’s wide-eyed innocence at the joys of life comes sweet and slowly, played with a subtle wonderment by South Korean model and actress Bae (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, The Host). The film does, however, take one nasty turn and is a bit too long, at more than two hours. But it’s still another contemplative gem from the masterful director of Maborosi, Nobody Knows, and Still Walking. Air Doll is screening on March 3 at 2:00 as part of the Japan Society series “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” twenty-two films over three weeks from Japan and Korea that examine twisted, obsessive, dangerous, and downright crazy sex and romance.

EP OF THE DAY — DAYTONA: STORM SO LONG

It’s been a tough week at Daytona, where rains canceled Sunday’s NASCAR race and a fiery explosion shortened Monday’s night’s makeup competition. But it should be a much sunnier week for the band Daytona as they get set to release their debut EP. Guitarist Hunter Simpson (Wild Yaks), drummer Christopher Lauderdale (the Siberians), and bassist Jose Boyer (Harlem) were friends when they were in North Carolina, and now that they have all made the musical pilgrimage to Brooklyn, they have formed an indie pop trio. From the sweet opening chords of “You’re in Beijing” to the infectious closing jangle of “Dive In,” the five-song EP, Storm So Long, features bright hooks and catchy melodies. There’s an Asian tinge to the title track, while a flowing synth floats on waves in the background of “Undertow.” “I know you say you’re going away / Why don’t you stay?” they ask on “In Your Arms,” making it difficult to turn the album off. “A day is not a waste of time,” they proclaim on “You’re in Beijing,” and indeed, it would not be a waste of time to check these guys out. Daytona will be celebrating the March 2 release of Storm So Long, which was recorded in Long Island City in December, with a series of local shows beginning at Shea Stadium on March 2 with Simpson’s other band, Wild Yaks, along with Steel Phantoms and Busy Busy Busy, and continuing March 5 at Cake Shop with Fenster, March 21 at Littlefield with Ed Askew, Steve Gunn, and Saredren Wells, and March 27 at the Rock Shop with Polica and Field Mouse.