this week in literature

DAVID BOWIE WORLD FAN CONVENTION: DERYCK TODD’S BOWIEBALL

DAVID BOWIE WORLD FAN CONVENTION: DERYCK TODD’S BOWIEBALL
Racket
431 West Sixteenth St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Saturday, June 17, 8:00, $96.83
Sold-out convention runs June 16-18
bowieconvention.com
www.bowerypresents.com

In the introduction to his revised and updated 2016 book The Complete David Bowie, Nicholas Pegg writes, “If you want to enjoy David Bowie’s work to the full, keep an open mind. What makes Bowie such a supremely fascinating artist is that his career presents an implicit challenge to conventional notions of creative continuity. He has repeatedly confounded attempts to pigeonhole him as this or that kind of artist, and the result has been one of rock music’s longest and most successful careers.”

While his career came to an end in January 2016 when the man born David Jones in Brixton died at the age of sixty-nine, the fascination with the Thin White Duke continues unabated, with museum exhibitions such as the spectacular “David Bowie Is” at the Brooklyn Museum, the pandemic livestream benefits “A Bowie Celebration” featuring a multitude of music stars, and the release of a series of posthumous live albums and box sets.

Pegg will serve as compère for the 2023 David Bowie World Fan Convention, taking place June 17 and 18 at Racket, the Chelsea club formerly known as the High Line Ballroom, where Bowie curated the inaugural High Line Festival in 2007, putting together a lineup that included Ricky Gervais, Arcade Fire, Air, Laurie Anderson, Deerhoof, the Polyphonic Spree, Daniel Johnston, Bang on a Can All Stars, and others. The convention, which has a bonus VIP day on June 16, features panel discussions, live performances, and a trivia evening; tickets are still available for Deryck Todd’s “BowieBall” Saturday night, with a “Best Dressed Bowie” costume contest, drag and burlesque, dancing, and live performances by vocalist Ava Cherry, musician and writer Jeff Slate, and Bowie DJs TheMenWhoFell2Earth. This year’s convention honors the fortieth anniversary of Let’s Dance and the fiftieth anniversary of Aladdin Sane, two of Bowie’s most popular records.

Below is the full schedule. In addition, Modern Rocks Gallery is hosting a photography exhibit at the Maker’s Studio in Chelsea Market, with pictures by Sukita, Terry O’Neill, Dennis O’Regan, Kevin Cummins, Brian Aris, and Duffy and an exclusive limited edition print of John Rowlands’s “The Archer.” And you can’t go wrong by starting the weekend with Raquel Cion’s one-woman show, Me & Mr. Jones: My Intimate Relationship with David Bowie, at the Cutting Room on Friday night; held in association with the convention, it is a personal and poignant exploration of fandom and the impact Bowie has had on people’s lives.

BowieBall features a costume contest, live performances, lots of dancing, and more (photo by Sam McMahon)

Saturday, June 17
Heroes, Zeroes, and Absolute Beginners, with bassist Carmine Rojas and guitarist Kevin Armstrong, moderated by Nicholas Pegg, 10:00 am

Planet Earth Is Blue, with singer and multi-instrumentalist Emm Gryner and producer and multi-instrumentalist Mark Plati, on “Space Oddity” performance aboard the International Space Station, Toy, the Hours Tour, and more, 11:00

Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fashion, with fashion designer Keanan Duffty and musicians Ava Cherry and Joey Arias, 12:15

Fantastic Voyage, with producer, arranger, bassist, and vocalist Tony Visconti and studio engineer and backing vocalist Erin Tonkon, moderated by Nicholas Pegg, 2:00

Golden Years, with guitarist Carlos Alomar, singer Robin Clark, and bassist George Murray, moderated by Nicholas Pegg, 3:00

BowieBall, live performances by vocalist Ava Cherry, musician and writer Jeff Slate, and Bowie DJs TheMenWhoFell2Earth, a “Best Dressed Bowie” costume contest, drag and burlesque, and more, hosted by Michael T, 8:00

Sunday, June 18
Red Shoes, Blue Jeans, and Glass Spiders, with guitarist Carlos Alomar, singer Robin Clark, and bassist Carmine Rojas, moderated by Nicholas Pegg, 11:00

I’ve Got to Write It Down, with Nacho; Chris O’Leary, author of Pushing Ahead of the Dame; Stephen Pitalo, author of Bohemian Rhapsodies, Thrillers & November Rains; and Nicholas Pegg, author of The Complete David Bowie, moderated by Nacho, 12:15

You Belong in Rock’n’Roll, with guitarist Kevin Armstrong and producer Tim Palmer, moderated by Nicholas Pegg, 2:00

Brilliant Adventure, with producer and multi-instrumentalist Mark Plati, moderated by Nicholas Pegg, 3:00

Everyone Says “Hi”: Tony Visconti and Friends, with guitarist Carlos Alomar, singer Robin Clark, studio engineer and backing vocalist Erin Tonkon, bassist George Murray, and producer Tony Visconti, moderated by Nicholas Pegg, 4:00

Nacho’s Videos Presents, with Nacho, Ava Cherry, Michael T, TheMenWhoFell2Earth, and more 5:45

Nicholas Pegg’s David Bowie Quiz, the Cutting Room, 7:30

Closing Party, with TheMenWhoFell2Earth DJs, Bowery Electric, 8:00 pm – 2:00 am

RECANATI-KAPLAN TALKS: GRAHAM NASH

A Graham Nash self-portrait from 1972 is one of two dozens works on view at City Winery (photo courtesy City Winery / Graham Nash)

Who: Graham Nash, Anthony DeCurtis
What: Live and livestreamed conversation
Where: 92nd St. Y Center of Culture & Arts, 1395 Lexington Ave. between 91st & 92nd St., Buttenwieser Hall at the Arnhold Center and online
When: Thursday, June 1, $25 online, $35 in person, 8:30
Why: On “A Better Life,” the second song on Now, his first album of new material in seven years, two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Graham Nash sings, “Let’s make it a better life, leave it for the kids / It’s a lovely place, welcome home to the human race / We can make it a better life — one we can be proud of / So that at the end of the day, I hope we hear them say / that we left them a better life.” In his most recent book, A Life in Focus: The Photography of Graham Nash (November 2021, Insight Editions, $60), the musician, visual artist, and social activist explains, “I’ve been taking photographs longer than I’ve been making music.”

Coming off three shows at City Winery in which he played songs from throughout his long and distinguished career, the eighty-one-year-old Nash will be at the 92nd St. Y on June 1 at 8:30, in conversation with Rolling Stone contributor Anthony DeCurtis. Now contains such other tracks as “Right Now,” “Golden Idols,” and “I Watched It All Come Down”; meanwhile, two dozen of his pictures are on view through July 11 at City Winery in the exhibition “Graham Nash: Enduring Images,” including photos of Columbus Circle, David Crosby, Balboa Park, Johnny Cash, Jerry Garcia, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and an old house in Santa Cruz. At the 92nd St. Y talk, which can be attended in person or online, Nash will also perform some songs from the new record, demonstrating once again how he’s made this life better for all of us.

NEWSDAY LIVE WITH STAN NEWMAN: CELEBRATING 35 YEARS OF CREATING CROSSWORD PUZZLES

Who: Stan Newman, Joye Brown
What: Celebration of Newsday puzzle maven
Where: Newsday Studio 2, 6 Corporate Center Dr., Melville
When: Thursday, May 18, $10-$15, 7:00
Why: One of my favorite parts of being in trade book publishing some twenty-five years ago was when puzzle expert and former Wall Street bond analyst Stan Newman would come into my office with a bunch of trivia questions and brain games that were always fun but never easy. Winner of the first US Open Crossword Championship in 1982 and holder of the Guinness record for fastest completion of a New York Times Sunday crossword (134 seconds), Newman has written and/or edited more than a hundred books, including Cruciverbalism: A Crossword Fanatic’s Guide to Life in the Grid, Hard as a Rock Crosswords: Quite Hard Indeed, Stanley Newman’s Literary Crosswords: A Fine Romance, Movie Mania Crosswords, and Mind Stretchers: Crosswords, Word Searches, Logic Puzzles, and Surprises!

Stan Newman won $112,000 on The Challengers quiz show hosted by Dick Clark in 1990

Born in Brooklyn in 1952, Newman has been creating puzzles since 1983 and has been editing crosswords at Newsday since 1988, and he recently became Chief Brain Games Mastermind at Arkadium. Every Sunday in Newsday, in addition to the crossword, he contributes “Stan’s Brain Games,” featuring such tests of skill as “Betweeners,” “Common Sense,” “Two by Fours,” “National Treasure,” and my favorite, “Three at a Rhyme.”

On May 18 at 7:00, Newsday will celebrate Newman’s thirty-fifth anniversary at the paper with a special live conversation between him and associate editor Joye Brown, discussing his life and career and sharing puzzle-solving tips. All guests will receive an exclusive free puzzle book, and there will also be a meet-and-greet, a Q&A, giveaways, and more. Tickets are only ten to fifteen dollars, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit Newsday Charities. Good luck!

BROOKLYN BY THE BOOK: LUCINDA WILLIAMS IN CONVERSATION WITH STEVE EARLE

Who: Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle
What: Book launch
Where: Congregation Beth Elohim, 271 Garfield Pl., Brooklyn
When: Monday, April 24, $36.84, 7:00
Why: “Yes, my family was dysfunctional, fucked up. But that’s not what really matters to me. What matters is that I inherited my musical talent from my mother and my writing ability from my father,” Louisiana-born singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams writes in her new memoir, Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You (Crown, April 25, $28.99). She also admits about choosing not to attend the 1994 Grammy Awards, where her tune “Passionate Kisses” won for Best Country Song, “The truth is that I was not just self-conscious but also scared. I feared that I didn’t belong. It’s a feeling I’ve been trying to shake my entire life.” She has proved she belongs over the last twenty-nine years, being nominated for a total of seventeen Grammys and winning twice more, for Best Contemporary Folk Album for the amazing Car Wheels on a Gravel Road and Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for “Get Right with God.” Her next album, Stories from a Rock n Roll Heart, featuring such songs as “Stolen Moments” and “New York Comeback,” the latter with background vocals by Bruce Springsteen, is due out June 30.

On April 24, Williams, who finishes up a four-show run at City Winery on Tuesday night, will be at Congregation Beth Elohim with another Bruce collaborator, Steve Earle, to discuss her life and career. Williams and Earle have been longtime friends who joined forces on Earle’s “You’re Still Standin’ There” in 1996, on Williams’s “Joy” in 2004, and for a New Yorker interview with performances during the pandemic, so it promises to be an intimate evening, which is organized by Brooklyn’s Community Bookstore. Tickets are $36.84 and come with a copy of Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You.

TWO NEW TEXTS ON HILMA AF KLINT

Hilma af Klint: Tree of Knowledge is one of two books about the Swedish abstractionist launching at New Museum on April 20 (courtesy David Zwirner)

Who: Massimiliano Gioni, Julia Voss, Tracey Bashkoff
What: Book launches and panel discussion
Where: New Museum Theater, 235 Bowery at Prince St.
When: Thursday, April 20, $10, 6:30
Why: From October 2018 to April 2019, the Guggenheim hosted the smash exhibition “Hilma af Klint: Paintings for the Future,” the first major US solo show dedicated to the Stockholm-born abstract artist. That was followed by Halina Dyrschka’s documentary Beyond the Visible, which delved further into af Klint’s life and career. On April 20, the New Museum is hosting “Two New Texts on Hilma af Klint,” serving as a book launch for Hilma af Klint: Tree of Knowledge (David Zwirner, 2023, $55), featuring contributions from Julia Voss, Susan Aberth, Suzan Frecon, Max Rosenberg, Helen Molesworth, Joy Harjo, and William Glassley, and Voss’s Hilma af Klint: A Biography (University of Chicago, 2022, $35). New Museum artistic director Massimiliano Gioni will be joined by Voss and Guggenheim curator Tracey Bashkoff celebrating both books and the art of af Klint (1862–1944), who is finally having her long-deserved moment.

MOVEMENT AT THE STILL POINT: AN EVENING OF DANCE

Who: Mark Mann, Sara Mearns, Megan LeCrone, Georgina Pazcoguin, Lloyd Knight, Xin Ying, Terese Capucilli, Skye Mattox, Karla Garcia, David Guzman, Ricardo Zayas, Morgan Marcell, Ryan Vandenboom, Curtis Holland, Rena Butler, Amadeo “Remy” Mangano, Ousmane “Omari” Wiles, Dardo Galletto, Alonso Guzman, Evan Ruggiero, Jie-Hung Connie Shiau, Maleek Washington, Francesca Harper, Carmen de Lavallade, Gus Solomons Jr., more
What: Book launch with live performances
Where: The Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Ave. at Nineteenth St.
When: Monday, April 10, $81-$131, 7:30
Why: Photographer Mark Mann has assembled quite a group of all-stars to launch his coffee-table book, Still Point: An Ode to Dance (Rizzoli, March 2023, $60), at the Joyce on April 10. The book features photographs of more than 140 people in the dance world, several dozen of whom will be at the Joyce to celebrate with Mann, including New York City Ballet’s Sara Mearns, Martha Graham principals Lloyd Knight and Xin Ying, Broadway’s Skye Mattox and Ryan Vandenboom, voguers Amadeo “Remy” Mangano and Ousmane “Omari” Wiles, tango dancers Dardo Galletto and Alonso Guzman, tap dancer Evan Ruggiero, Ailey II artistic director Francesca Harper, and legends Carmen de Lavallade and Gus Solomons Jr. “Mark is one of a rare breed of photographers who understands dancers: how we move, the way we say things with our bodies that other people say in words, how much we love to perform for an audience — even an audience of one,” Chita Rivera writes in the foreword. “So I put on my top hat, white tie and tails, and we did our own little dance, and it shows in the images he made of me, and of all the dancers in this beautiful collection.”

Misty Copeland is among more than 140 dancers who posed for Mark Mann’s new book (photo courtesy Mark Mann / Rizzoli USA)

The Glasgow-born Mann, who had not photographed the dance community before, was inspired to do the project when commiserating with his sister-in-law, choreographer Loni Landon, about the pandemic lockdown, during which there were no live, in-person performances and Mann’s professional portraiture business had dried up. He accidentally discovered an empty warehouse space on the West Side, where he invited subjects to pose for him, with his beloved medium format Leica S that he calls Gretta. “When our first dancer, Rena Butler, came into the studio in February of 2021, I was speechless,” Mann explained in a statement. “I realized I was watching a performance tailored exclusively for my camera, and for the first few minutes I was so captivated that I actually forgot I was supposed to be taking photos. In that moment, as I began to photograph, my whole life as a photographer was turned upside down.”

In the book, many of the subjects contribute personal thoughts about their chosen discipline. “During the shoots, we spoke to the dancers about identity. The pandemic challenged a lot of us in terms of facing our true selves in a moment when we lost what had defined us,” Landon writes in the afterword. “Everyone figured out how to survive in their own way. It was astonishing to see perseverance paired with vulnerability — the resilience of these artists.” They now take the next step together on April 10 at the Joyce.

PATTIE BOYD PRESENTS MY LIFE IN PICTURES

Pattie Boyd will be discussing and signing copies of her new book at Rizzoli (photo courtesy Reel Art Press)

Who: Pattie Boyd, Dave Brolan
What: Book talk and signing
Where: Rizzoli Bookstore, 1133 Broadway at 26th St., 212-759-2424
When: Monday, April 3, $59.87 (includes admission, signing line access, and book), 6:00
Why: “I decided very early on that there never needed to be a dull moment in life. If you find yourself feeling dull, just change your mind,” model, photographer, and muse Pattie Boyd proffers in her new book, My Life in Pictures (Reel Art Press, December 2022, $49.95).

Born in England in March 1944, Boyd has not had a very boring life. She went to boarding school in Nairobi, began modeling as a teenager, and married and divorced George Harrison and Eric Clapton. She was the muse behind Harrison’s “Something” and Clapton’s “Layla” and “Wonderful Tonight” and appeared on an endless stream of magazine covers. But all the while she was dazzling people in front of the camera, she was also taking her own photographs.

On April 3 at 6:00, Boyd will be at Rizzoli to discuss her life and career, joined by photo editor, curator, and archivist Dave Brolan from Reel Art Press. My Life in Pictures features photographs of Boyd by such lensmen as David Bailey, Eric Swayne, Norman Parkinson, Terence Donovan, Robert Freeman, and Robert Whitaker; photos by Boyd of Twiggy, Mick Jagger, Billy Preston, and the Beatles; and diary entries, artifacts, artworks, and other memorabilia, including letters from John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Tickets are still available with a copy of the book and come with access to the signing line. (Boyd will only be signing books purchased at Rizzoli.)

“I liked the idea of being independent and working but not all the time,” Boyd, who married real estate developer Rod Weston in 2015, writes in the book. “I wasn’t pinned down to anything nine to five. I thought that would be an incredibly boring thing to do.”