this week in literature

FIRST SATURDAYS: MICKALENE THOMAS’S ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE

Mickalene Thomas, “A Little Taste Outside of Love,” acrylic, enamel and rhinestones on wood panel, 2007 (© Mickalene Thomas)

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway at Washington St.
Saturday, October 6, 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 will celebrate Brooklyn-based artist Mickalene Thomas in the October edition of its free First Saturdays program. Thomas, who explores the concept of female beauty and power in sparkling works that incorporate rhinestones, acrylic, and enamel into 1970s-style tableaux, recently received the Asher B. Durand Award from the museum, along with Martha Rosler and Amy Sillman, for their contribution to Brooklyn culture. The First Saturdays programming is built around Thomas’s “Origin of the Universe,” her first museum exhibition, which continues through January 20. Visitors are encouraged to come dressed in 1970s clothing as they check out musical poet Candice Anitra; a multidisciplinary performance by Latasha Diggs, Beatrice Anderson, and Jaime Philbert, followed by a Q&A; an artist talk with G. Lucas Crane, who will create a live sonic collage and place it in context with Thomas’s work; a curator talk by Eugenie Tsai about Thomas’s painting “A Little Taste Outside of Love”; an art workshop showing how to make a Thomas-like collage; an interactive performance and discussion with poet and conceptual artist Harmony Holiday; “Betty’s Story,” a musical tribute to Betty Mabry Davis (Miles Davis’s ex-wife and singer in her own right) by Nucomme and the Curators; and a fashion show, open to all, hosted by Raye 6, Marcus Simms, and Gizmovintage Honeys Beeline.

ATP: I’LL BE YOUR MIRROR

ALL TOMORROW’S PARTIES USA 2012
Pier 36
East River between Manhattan & Brooklyn Bridges
September 21-23, $60-$75 per day, three-day pass $199
www.atpfestival.com

At long last, after more than ten years, the ATP festival is finally coming to New York City. All Tomorrow’s Parties, the international music festival that has taken place in the UK, Australia, Asbury Park, and the Catskills, will be presenting I’ll Be Your Mirror this weekend at Pier 36 on the East River between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. Past ATP festivals have been curated by the likes of Sonic Youth, Pavement, Portishead, Mogwai, the Breeders, Matt Groening, Modest Mouse, the Flaming Lips, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds; taking the reins at IBYM 2012 is Greg Dulli, leader of the recently reunited Afghan Whigs, who has invited friends and colleagues to participate from all over the musical map. Things get going on Friday with Frank Ocean, Philip Glass and Tyondai Braxton, Janeane Garofalo, Lightning Bolt, Lee Ranaldo’s “Hanging Guitar,” Hannibal Buress, DJ Edan, and Kurt Braunohler. Saturday’s schedule includes the Afghan Whigs, the Roots, José González, the Mark Lanegan Band, Dirty Three, the Antlers, JEFF the Brotherhood, the Dirtbombs, Scrawl, Emeralds, Vetiver, Afterhours, Charles Bradley and the Extraordinaires, Joseph Arthur, and DJ Questlove, while Sunday’s roster consists of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, the Make-Up, Hot Snakes, the Magic Band, Autolux, Thee Oh Sees, Lee Ranaldo, the Album Leaf, BRAIDS, Quintron and Miss Pussycat, Tall Firs, Blanck Mass, the Psychic Paramount, Endless Boogie, Demdike Stare, and DJ Jonathan Toubin. In addition, Criterion and Dulli have come up with a great selection of films that will be shown during the weekend, with Quadrophenia on Friday, The Night of the Hunter, Something Wild, The King of Marvin Gardens, and Dazed & Confused on Saturday, and Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me, Paul Fejos’s Lonesome, The Royal Tenenbaums, Eating Raoul, and Harold & Maude on Sunday. Dulli has also recommended a handful of books, some of which will be highlighted on the Lapham’s Quarterly Literary Stage: James Ellroy’s The Black Dahlia, Steve Toltz’s A Fraction of the Whole, Denis Johnson’s Nobody Move, Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love, and Joan Didion’s Play It as It Lays, with Evan Michelson and Mike Zohn of Oddities talking about Geek Love on Saturday and Julie Klausner of How Was Your Week discussing Play It as It Lays on Sunday. To get in the mood, you can check out Dulli’s festival mixtape here.

NEW YORK ORIGINALS LAUNCH PARTY

Rizzoli Bookstore
31 West 57th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Thursday, September 20, free with RSVP, 5:30
www.rizzoliusa.com
www.newyorkoriginalsonline.com

It’s rather ironic that the first place profiled in Jamie McDonald’s New York Originals: A Guide to the City’s Classic Shops and Mom-and-Pops (Universe, September 2012, $24.95) is Domenick DeNigris Monuments in the Bronx, which has been selling headstones and mausoleums for more than a hundred years, since one of the things the book celebrates is longevity in addition to originality. “Decades ago, most small towns sold out their town squares in favor of cheaper and more convenient megastores on the outskirts of the city,” writes the man behind the Emmy-winning television series the book is named after. “People began to forget that the corner coffee shop or local shoe store provided not only goods and services, but also a small part of their community’s uniqueness and character. New York City is ironically one of the last vestiges of small-town America.” In words and pictures, McDonald, who was born in Indiana but now lives in Midtown Manhattan, visits seventy-five shops in all five boroughs, from Neir’s Tavern & Steakhouse, established in Woodhaven in 1829, to Brooklyn Copper Cookware, which opened its doors in Dumbo just two years ago. In the book, arranged alphabetically by borough, McDonald talks with the current managers and owners, many of whom are third and fourth generation, providing the history behind the shop as well as its current status. He makes stops at such honored eateries as Brennan and Carr, De Robertis Pasticceria and Caffe, Ear Inn, Eisenberg’s Sandwich Shop, Keens Steakhouse, Nom Wah Tea Parlor, Russ & Daughters, and the Lemon Ice King of Corona as well as the Umbee Sunshade Company, which has been making umbrellas in Williamsburg since 1933; the Jane Hotel, which has been taking in travelers in the West Village since 1908; Brownies Pro and Sport Hobbies, a hobby shop in Port Richmond that opened in 1971; the Cameo Pet Shop, which has been selling tropical fish, birds, and other animals in Richmond Hill since, 1947; and JJ Burck Marine Supplies, which has been specializing in boating equipment on City Island since 1928. To celebrate the release of the book, McDonald will be signing copies at the Rizzoli Bookstore on Thursday, September 20, from 5:30 to 7:00, with refreshments supplied by some of the shops included in the book. Each book purchased that night will come with engraved New York City Taxi Correspondence Cards inside a hand-lined envelope, courtesy of Dempsey & Carroll, which has been making engraved stationery since 1878 on the Upper East Side.

TWI-NY TALK: PHIL HARTMAN OF TWO BOOTS

Phil Hartman and his son, Leon, will be celebrating the silver anniversary of Two Boots on August 23 in East River Park

TWO BOOTS 25th ANNIVERSARY CONCERT: AN EVENING OF FREE LIVE MUSIC, PERFORMANCE ART, POETRY, AERIALIST, AND FOOD
East River Park Amphitheater
FDR Drive between Grand & Jackson Sts.
Thursday, August 23, free, 5:00 – 9:00
www.twoboots.com
www.summerstage.org

Twenty-five years ago, New York native Phil Hartman and Doris Kornish opened Two Boots in the East Village, a pizzeria with a distinct Cajun flavor. In the ’90s they began expanding, adding a movie theater that screened alternative and foreign films while introducing pizzas named after fictional and real pop-culture figures. Today there are more than a dozen Two Boots restaurants, across Manhattan as well as in Brooklyn, New Jersey, Baltimore, and Los Angeles, selling specialty pies named for such favorite characters as Mr. Pink from Reservoir Dogs,, Andy Kaufman alter ego Tony Clifton, Newman from Seinfeld, Larry Tate from Bewitched, No. 6 from The Prisoner, Dr. John, Bella Abzug, Bette Midler, and Charlie Parker as well as the Village Vanguard. On August 23, Hartman and his son, Leon, who also works in the business, will host a free concert in East River Park in honor of Two Boots’ silver anniversary, featuring performances by Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, Mamarazzi, Odetta Hartman, Himalayas, the Whiskeyhickon Boys, Lady Circus, and the Magic Beans; the event will also include poetry from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe (Caroline Rothstein, Mahogany Browne, and Marshall “Soulful” Jones ) and the City Lore/Bowery Poetry Club’s POEMmobile, live art and painting by Lizzy Grandsaert and Kat Carrot Flower, the Homespun Mini-Merry-Go-Round, and informational booths from the Lower Eastside Girls Club, the Lower East Side Ecology Center, and Time’s Up. The festivities will be emceed by actor Luis Guzmán, for whom the Luisaida pie is named after, and there will be free samples of the Newman and the Larry Tate. Phil discussed Two Boots, the revitalization of the Lower East Side, and more in our latest twi-ny talk.

twi-ny: What were the initial expectations when you opened your first pizza place twenty-five years ago?

Phil Hartman: Doris Kornish (my original partner) and I had two principal motivations: we badly needed funds to finish postproduction on our first film, No Picnic, which would go on to receive an award at Sundance in 1988, and we’ve always operated under this premise at our restaurants — don’t try to cater to an imaginary audience, just do something that we really love and hope that other people agree with us.

twi-ny: How did the idea for naming pies after famous fictional characters get started? Do you need to get permission to use the names? If so, has anyone ever turned you down?

Phil Hartman: The character names didn’t start until eight years in — beginning with Larry Tate, Mr. Pink, and Newman. I’ve always loved second bananas, oddballs, and the overlooked and underappreciated. And we’ve never been turned down — we just figure we’re honoring these characters and they would be proud of it.

twi-ny: What is your personal favorite slice?

Phil Hartman: The Bayou Beast (andouille, crawfish, jalapeños, mozzarella, and sauce), which combines the best of both worlds (Italy and Louisiana) is my fave — though as their parent, you know I love all the slices.

twi-ny: Is there a specific combination that you really wanted to work but it just couldn’t come out quite right?

Phil Hartman: My biggest disappointment is that we never really made our Pizza Piazza work — Mike, being one of our all-time idols (we’re enormous Mets fans); the pie was too soupy but will be resuscitated when he enters the Hall of Fame next year!

twi-ny: On August 23, you’ll be celebrating your twenty-fifth anniversary with a free concert in East River Park. How did the lineup come together?

Phil Hartman: We’ve always loved African pop music, and given that Fela Kuti is no longer with us, we had the chance to reach out to the Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars and grabbed it. Mamarazzi is an amazing local Afro-funk band, with lots of our friends in it; Odetta, our daughter, just recorded her first album, and is bringing together her band and lots of special guests; Himalayas is an awesome Brooklyn marching band, which will rock the crowd, from within the crowd; Whiskeyhickon Boys are one of our house acts — gangsta folk at its best; plus Lady Circus from House of Yes, Nuyorican Poets Cafe all-star poets, live art by 4heads Art Collective, a mini-merry-go-round, and lots more.

twi-ny: When the first Two Boots opened back in 1987, the Lower East Side was a very different place. Since then, you’ve been at the center of the neighborhood’s transformation, adding such events as the Howl! Festival and leading an influx of new restaurants, music venues, and other institutions in addition to a revitalized Tompkins Square Park. How would you compare the Lower East Side of the 1970s and ’80s to the way it is now?

Phil Hartman: We’ve lost a lot of the color and complexity, but there still are a lot of great folks and great organizations carrying on the countercultural tradition here. It’s a lot less scary, which is good if you’re raising three kids here (like I have), but also a lot more tame (which is a shame!).

LIVE IN THE CLUBHOUSE: “GIL HODGES” WITH AUTHOR DANNY PEARY

Bergino Baseball Clubhouse
Cast Iron Building
67 East 11th St.
Thursday, August 16, free with RSVP, 7:00
212-226-7150
www.bergino.com
us.penguingroup.com

“Gil Hodges smiled, which was a big deal.” So begins Tom Clavin and Danny Peary’s latest baseball biography, Gil Hodges: The Brooklyn Bums, the Miracle Mets, and the Extraordinary Life of a Baseball Legend (Penguin, August 7, 2012, $26.95), the follow-up to their 2010 tome, Roger Maris: Baseball’s Reluctant Hero. Clavin and Peary delve into the life and times of the Indiana-born Hodges, the beloved eight-time All-Star who played first base on the Brooklyn Dodgers’ championship Boys of Summer team and later went on to manage the Amazin’ Mets in 1969. In more recent years, the late Hodges, who died in 1972 just short of his forty-eighth birthday, has been the subject of heated debate over whether he belongs in the Hall of Fame. Peary will discuss that and more when he talks about the book on August 16 at the Bergino Baseball Clubhouse in the Cast Iron Building on East Eleventh St. For our interview with Peary about his Maris book, go here.

JULIA AT 100: A CELEBRATION OF JULIA CHILD’S 100th BIRTHDAY

Julia Child’s one hundredth birthday is being celebrated with special events around the city (photo courtesy PBS)

powerHouse Arena
37 Main St. at Water St., Brooklyn
Wednesday, August 15, free, 7:00
www.powerhousearena.com

August 13 marks the eighth anniversary of the passing of beloved chef Julia Child, who revolutionized home cooking through her series of popular cookbooks and television programs. But Wednesday, August 15, is what would have been her one hundredth birthday, and there are centenary celebrations going on around the country for Child, who won a National Book Award, three Emmys, and a Peabody during her illustrious career. One of the primary gatherings will be taking place at powerHouse Arena in DUMBO, where “Julia at 100” will feature appearances by Tamar Adler, author of An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace, Dave Crofton, co-owner of One Girl Cookies (One Girl Cookies: Recipes for Cakes, Cupcakes, Whoopie Pies, and Cookies from Brooklyn’s Beloved Bakery), Matt Lewis, co-owner of Red Hook’s Baked (Baked: New Frontiers in Baking and Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented), intimate blogger and Nutella lover Alyssa Shelasky (Apron Anxiety: My Messy Affairs in and out of the Kitchen), and Smitten Kitchen blogger Deb Perelman, whose first book, The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook: Recipes and Wisdom from an Obsessive Home Cook is due out October 31. There will be treats from Baked and One Girl, a trivia contest, free wine, and a bake-off; attendees who bring a baked good inspired by one of Julia Child’s recipes are eligible for prize packages. In addition, numerous restaurants are hosting special Julia Child menus, including Buvette, Aureole, Madison Bistro, Union Square Cafe, Marea, and Alison Eighteen. And tickets are now available for the October 28 presentation “On Julia Child at 100,” a discussion with Knopf editor Judith Jones and culinary historian Laura Shapiro at the 92nd St. Y, moderated by Alexandra Leaf.

DRINK THE CITY

HONOR THE DRINKS THAT MAKE UP NEW YORK’S HISTORY
Parish Hall
109A North Third St., Williamsburg
Tuesday, August 7, free admission, 8:00
718-782-2602
www.parishhall.net
robinshulman.com

Over the course of the last three weeks, Canadian-born New York City journalist Robin Shulman has been celebrating the publication of her first book, Eat the City: A Tale of the Fishers, Foragers, Butchers, Farmers, Poultry Minders, Sugar Refiners, Cane Cutters, Beekeepers, Winemakers, and Brewers Who Built New York (Crown, July 10, 2012, $26), with a series of events at bars, markets, and restaurants, including a special dinner last Thursday at Parish Hall in Brooklyn. Shulman returns to Parish Hall tonight for “Drink the City,” where attendees can sample some of the beer, wine, and hard liquor that Shulman covers in the book, in which she talks to people who produce their own food and drink. “In 1626, the year the Dutch purchased the island of Manhattan,” Shulman notes in the “Beer” chapter, “a visitor from Holland wrote that they ‘brew as good beer here as in our Fatherland, for good hops grow in the woods.’” Weaving fascinating historical details into her smoothly flowing narrative, Shulman also writes about honey, vegetables, meat, sugar, fish, and wine. Shulman will be joined at Parish Hall by some of the characters in Eat the City as everyone enjoys homegrown cocktails, both old and new, mentioned in the book, all made with local ingredients.