this week in literature

ART AND LITERATURE

Salman Rushdie will participate in special presentation at the Cooper Union on December 1

GREAT EVENING IN THE GREAT HALL
The Great Hall at the Cooper Union
7 East Seventh St. at Astor Pl.
Tuesday, December 1, free, 6:30
212-353-4195
www.cooper.edu/month.html

The Cooper Union’s 150th anniversary celebration continues with a special free evening of art and literature with an all-star lineup. Writers Tony Kushner, Salman Rushdie, and Siri Hustvedt will read from their own works, while Isaiah Sheffer and Olympia Dukakis will read selections from W. H. Auden and Mark Twain. Dynamic vocalist Capathia Jenkins and guitarist Louis Rosen, who have set music to poems by Nikki Giovanni, Langston Hughes, and Maya Angelou, will also perform. The exquisite evening will be directed by Michael Unger.

I SLEPT WITH JOEY RAMONE

Leigh and McNeil will discuss Joey Ramone in B&N conversation on December 1

MICKEY LEIGH / LEGS McNEIL
Barnes & Noble TriBeCa
97 Warren St.
Tuesday, December 1, free, 7:00
212-587-5389
www.books.simonandschuster.com
www.store-locator.barnesandnoble.com

No, I SLEPT WITH JOEY RAMONE (Touchstone, December 1, 2009, $26) is not a juicy tell-all about the late, beloved leader of punk progenitors the Ramones. Instead, it’s an intimate family memoir written by Jeffry Hyman’s brother, Mickey Leigh, with the legendary Legs McNeil. “Jeff was as happy a kid as you could find in Forest Hills in the 1950s: rolling down the grassy hills laughing; standing up, spinning round and round in circles with his long gangly arm outstretched; then falling over like a drunken monkey,” Leigh writes in the first chapter, “I Slept with Joey Ramone – and His Mother Too!” He continues, “Jeff would coax me to join him but warned, ‘Don’t throw up on me.’ I did both of the above.” The book includes an eight-page black-and-white insert of photos dating back to 1952 and even showing Joey with McNeil back in the day, with Ramone reading a TWILIGHT ZONE book and Legs delving into a copy of Billboard. Leigh and McNeil will be sharing their memories of Joey and talking about the book at the TriBeCa B&N on December 1 at 7:00.

THE RED BOOK DIALOGUES

C.G. Jung (1875-1961); Page 105 from the Red Book; 1914-1930; Pigments on paper; Courtesy of the Foundation of the Works of C.G. Jung

C. G. Jung, page 105 from THE RED BOOK, pigments on paper, 1914-30 (courtesy of the Foundation of the Works of C. G. Jung)

Rubin Museum of Art
150 West 17th St. at Seventh Ave.
Tickets: $15-$25 ($7 student rate for some programs)
Through January 24
212-620-5000
www.rmanyc.org/redbook

In conjunction with the intriguing exhibit “The Red Book of C. G. Jung,” the Rubin Museum is continuing its special Red Book Dialogues series, as artists of all kinds sit down with psychoanalysts and discuss a specific folio from Jung’s unpublished tome, which is on view in the gallery right outside the auditorium. The series has already featured programs with Gloria Vanderbilt, Albert Maysles, Alice Walker, and David Byrne; up next are such figures as performance artist Marina Abramovic on December 3, New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik on December 7, theater director Andre Gregory on December 9, filmmaker Jonathan Demme on January 11, composer John Adams on January 13, and poet Tracy K. Smith on January 24.

MR. MAGOO’S CHRISTMAS CAROL

Mr. Magoo gets taught a lesson on Christmas Eve

REVISITING THE JULE STYNE / BOB MERRILL MR. MAGOO’S CHRISTMAS CAROL
Paley Center
25 West 52nd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Tuesday, December 1, $20, 6:00
www.paleycenter.org
www.mrmagooschristmascarol.com

MR. MAGOO’S CHRISTMAS CAROL has always been one of our favorite holiday programs, along with, of course, A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS and SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN’ TO TOWN. The first animated Christmas special – it premiered on NBC in December 1962 — Mr. Magoo’s version of Charles Dickens’s classic seasonal tale features music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Bob Merrill, and a great lineup of celebrity voices, including Morey Amsterdam, Paul Frees, Jack Cassidy, Royal Dano, and the great Jim Backus (Thurston Howell III!) as the near-sighted Magoo. The Paley Center will honor the fifty-two-minute film with a screening on December 1 at 6:00, followed by a panel discussion with animator Darrell Van Citters, who has just released MISTER MAGOO’S CHRISTMAS CAROL: THE MAKING OF THE FIRST ANIMATED CHRISTMAS SPECIAL, and Judy Levitow, daughter of director Abe Levitow, moderated by casting director Jack Doulin. And as an extra treat, each attendee will go home with a DVD of the charming original show.

CONTEST OF THE WEEK: BROADWAY BOUND

Tell us the first Broadway show you saw to win a copy of new book

LIGHTS ON BROADWAY: A THEATRICAL TOUR FROM A TO Z by Harriet Ziefert, illustrated by Elliot Kreloff, with an introduction by Brian Stokes Mitchell (Blue Apple, October 2009, $19.99)
Friday, November 20, 5:00, Barnes & Noble, 1972 Broadway at 66^th St., 212-595-6859
Sunday, November 22, 2:00, Books of Wonder, 18 West 18^th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves., 212-989-3270
Admission: free
www.blueapplebooks.com
www.booksofwonder.com

“Welcome to my house, my home, my Broadway!” Tony-winning actor and singer Brian Stokes Mitchell writes in the introduction to the new picture book LIGHTS ON BROADWAY: A THEATRICAL TOUR FROM A TO Z. “As you take this very special tour, perhaps you too will be ignited by the incredible collaborative magic that gives life and light to the theater.” Written by Harriet Ziefert, playfully illustrated by Elliot Kreloff, and with an accompanying CD, LIGHTS ON BROADWAY has its own collaborative magic, taking children and adults on a colorful alphabetical journey through the Great White Way, from audition and actor to encore and improvisation, from orchestra and overture to rehearsal and roadshow. Along the way, there are classic quotes from such Broadway luminaries as Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey, Patti LuPone, Stephen Sondheim, and Harvey Fierstein as well as definitions of such theatrical terms as proscenium, curtain, wings, and fly space.

Mitchell, who also contributed an afterword and poetic postscript and sings “I Was Here” from THE GLORIOUS ONES on the CD, will be celebrating the release of the book with two local appearances with the TADA! Youth Theater, which has been entertaining children and families for twenty-five years. He’ll be reading from and signing copies of the book at the Lincoln Triangle B&N on November 20 at 5:00, followed by a party at Books of Wonder on November 22 at 2:00.

Tony winner Brian Stokes Mitchell will be on hand for two local events celebrating release of book

WIN A COPY OF THE BOOK

What was the first Broadway show you saw? Send your answer to contest@twi-ny.com by Monday, November 23, at 12 noon for your chance to win a free copy of LIGHTS ON BROADWAY, courtesy of Blue Apple Books. Two lucky respondents will be chosen at random.

Break a leg!

BLAKE IN POETRY AND SONG: AN EVENING WITH PATTI SMITH

Patti Smith will celebrate the legacy of William Blake at the Morgan Library (photo by Angelo Cricchi)

The Morgan Library & Museum
225 Madison Ave. at 36th St.
Thursday, November 19, $35, 7:30
212-685-0008
www.themorgan.org
www.pattismith.net

In 2004, Patti Smith wrote, “In my Blakean year / Such a woeful schism / The pain of our existence / Was not as I envisioned / Boots that trudged from track to track / Worn down to the sole / One road is paved in gold / One road is just a road.” On her Web site, the full lyrics to this song, “In My Blakean Year,” from her TRAMPIN’ album, link to William Blake’s poem “The Divine Image,” which includes the opening quatrain “To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love / All pray in their distress, / And to these virtues of delight / Return their lovingkindness.” The eclectic, iconic, iconoclastic Smith, joined by her daughter Jesse, will be celebrating the legacy of the British artist, writer, and anarchist in a special program of music and poetry at the Morgan Library on November 19, held in conjunction with the exhibit “William Blake’s World: ‘A New Heaven Is Begun’” (which continues through January 3).

William Blake, “Behemoth and Leviathan” (Book of Job, no. 15), pen and black and gray ink, gray wash, and watercolor, over faint indications in pencil, on paper, ca. 1805–10

More than 350 years after his birth, Blake remains a worshiped figure with a lasting influence, particularly on the Beat Generation and its descendants. Discussing “In My Blakean Year” with Rolling Stone in 2004, Smith said, “What I learned from William Blake is, don’t give up. And don’t expect anything. . . . I have a great life. I’ve seen dark times too and have had, in certain times of my life, nothing. No material things, not much prospects – except my own imagination. But if you perceive that you have a gift, you already have life.” Smith, recently named one of the 400 most influential New Yorkers by the Museum of the City of New York, has suffered great personal tragedy as well as critical and popular success throughout her career; she is not afraid to bare her soul in public, so the event at the Morgan promises to be moving and emotional in addition to celebratory. The performance begins at 7:30, with the exhibition open at 6:30 for ticket holders to get in the mood.

ALL DAY SUCKERS

all day suckers_3rev

SoHo Playhouse
15 van Dam St. between Sixth Ave. & Varick St.
Monday, November 16, 1:00
Tuesday, November 17, 7:00
Admission: free but RSVP required
917-553-6545 / alldaysuckers@gmail.com
www.jessicabauman.net/new-feet-productions
www.sohoplayhouse.com

ALL DAY SUCKERS, a new play by Susan Dworkin that promises to be the “antidote to health-care reform fatigue,” will have two special free readings at SoHo Playhouse, featuring Margaret Daly, Sarah Nina Hayon, John Michalski, Tommy Schrider, Trevor Vaughn, Sarah Grace Wilson, and Melissa Wolff, directed by Jessica Bauman. Dworkin is the author of such previous plays as THE MIAMI DIG, THE OLD MEZZO, THE FORGOTTEN LOVER, and THE FARM BILL in addition to such books as THE VIKING IN THE WHEAT FIELD and THE NAZI OFFICER’S WIFE, while Bauman has directed such works as INTO THE HAZARD and TEACHERS BREAK. Space if limited and nearly full, so RSVP as soon as you can.