twi-ny recommended events

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.

LIVING IN AMERICA: BRAIN AND THE TIBETAN CREATIVE MIND

Creation of sand mandala is part of Global Weekend program at AMNH (photo copyright Kitt Teed)

GLOBAL WEEKENDS
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th St.
January 25-30, free with suggested museum admission of $9-$16
212-769-5200
www.amnh.org

To inaugurate the exhibition “Body and Spirit: Tibetan Medical Paintings,” Kehn Rinpoche Geshe Kachen Lobzang Tsetan of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery and monks from Drepang Loseling Monastery will lead a procession and prayer ritual through the American Museum of Natural History on January 25 beginning at 10:30 am. The celebration also kicks off the institution’s latest Global Weekends program, which will extend over six days and feature monastic cham dances, art exchanges, the creation of a Medicine Buddha sand mandala, and public meditation that is being held in conjunction with the interactive exhibit “Brain: The Inside Story” as well. On January 29 at 1:30, Richard J. Davidson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Investigating Healthy Minds will present “Change Your Brain by Transforming Your Mind,” followed by a Q&A. Other speakers include Barnard term assistant professor Annabella Pitkin and Joseph Loizzo of the Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science. The meditation sessions, which require advance RSVP, are being held January 25 at 8:00 am in the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, January 26 at 7:30 pm in the Hayden Planetarium Space Theatre, January 28 at 7:00 pm in the Audubon Gallery, and January 29 at 3:00 pm in the Linder Theater.

WORLD’S BIGGEST JERK OFF

The Bell House
149 Seventh St. between Second & Third Aves., Gowanus
Sunday, January 23, $10, 4:00
718-643-6510
www.thebellhouseny.com

Yes, the title of this event invites funny opening lines aplenty, but this jerky battle is nothing if not downright serious, so we’re taking the high road on this one. Not that it won’t be a hell of a lot of fun, because it’s certain to be. But it’s also no mere Slim Jim wrestling match. Competitors will be bringing in all kinds of dehydrated and slow-baked edibles, not just meats, to come up with the best jerky and win a variety of prizes. Heck, there are even a couple of spots still open if you want to throw your own personal jerky into the circle. The feast is put together by the Takedown, which also holds cook-offs featuring chili, bacon, fondue, salsa, lamb, curry, and cookies and is promising some very creative, challenging projects in the future. What else do you have to do on a late Sunday afternoon before the Jets game? So head to Gowanus and watch a whole bunch of people jerk off like mad in one crazy party.

PAT COOPER IN CONVERSATION WITH COLIN QUINN

92nd St. Y, Buttenwieser Hall
1395 Lexington Ave. at 92nd St.
Tuesday, January 25, $29, 8:30
212-415-5500
www.patcooper.com
www.squareonepublishers.com
www.92y.org

On January 25, Pat Cooper will be making a special appearance at the 92nd St. Y, which should only lend more credence to those who are sure that the legendary Italian comedian, born Pasquale Caputo, is actually Jewish. “They believed that the skinny kid with the horn-rimmed glasses davened in the morning, did his routines on garlic and saints at night, and said the Shema before going to bed,” he writes in his intimate, revealing, and extremely funny new memoir, HOW DARE YOU SAY HOW DARE ME! (Square One, November 2010, $24.95). “He was circumcised, not baptized. He was bar mitzvahed, not given Holy Communion. He dropped out of law school, not trade school,” he continues. Cooper’s wide-ranging book tour brings him back to Manhattan on Tuesday night, where he will be in conversation with another hot comedian, Colin Quinn, the former host of TOUGH CROWD who just won a 2011 Nightlife Award for Outstanding Comedian in a Major Engagement for his one-man Broadway show, the Jerry Seinfeld-directed LONG STORY SHORT: HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN 75 MINUTES, which is now extended through March 5 at the Helen Hayes Theatre. There’s no telling what kind of fireworks are liable to go off by putting these two highly opinionated tough guys together, so don’t miss this one-time-only event. (For more on Cooper and his book, you can read our twi-ny talk with him here.)

UNDER THE INFLUENCE: WRITERS ON FILM PRESENTS PAUL AUSTER

Paul Auster will present special screening of an American classic at Crosby Street Hotel

Crosby Street Hotel
79 Crosby St. between Prince & Spring Sts.
Monday, January 24, $35, 6:30
212-226-6400
www.crosbystreethotel.com

Throughout his career, Brooklyn-based author Paul Auster has written highly visual, cinematic novels, including THE NEW YORK TRILOGY (1985-87), LEVIATHAN (1992), and THE BROOKLYN FOLLIES (2005). He has also written several screenplays, including 1995’s SMOKE and BLUE IN THE FACE, 1998’s LULU ON THE BRIDGE (which he also directed), and the 1993 adaptation of his 1990 novel THE MUSIC OF CHANCE. The cinema plays a major role in THE BOOK OF ILLUSIONS (2002), about the missing films of silent comedian Hector Mann, which led to Auster’s screenplay for THE INNER LIFE OF MARTIN FROST (2007). In his latest novel, SUNSET PARK (Henry Holt, November 2010, $25), about a group of people squatting in a house across from Green-Wood Cemetery, one of the main characters, Alice Bergstrom, is writing her dissertation on William Wyler’s classic post-WWII drama THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, allowing Auster to explore the film in great detail over the course of several long passages. Winner of eight Oscars, including Best Motion Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Writing, and Best Supporting Actor, the film tells the story of three veterans returning home from the war and the difficulties they have readjusting to the American way of life, which they had just fought so valiantly for. On January 24, Auster will introduce a screening of THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES as part of the Crosby Hotel’s “Under the Influence: Writers on Film” series. Following the screening, Auster will be interviewed by journalist and screenwriter Michael Maren, the host of the series, followed by a cocktail reception. The series continues April 11 with Jim Shepard discussing Werner Herzog’s AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD (1972) and June 3 with Jennifer Egan presenting Quentin Tarantino’s PULP FICTION (1994).