twi-ny recommended events

TAKEMITSU: KWAIDAN

Tōru Takemitsu “wanted to create an atmosphere of terror” in Masaki Kobayashi’s quartet of ghost stories

KWAIDAN (Masaki Kobayashi, 1964)
Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
Friday, December 10, 1:00, 6:30
Series continues through December 16
212-727-8110
www.filmforum.org

Masaki Kobayashi paints four marvelous ghost stories in this eerie collection that won a Special Jury Prize at Cannes. In “The Black Hair,” a samurai (Rentaro Mikuni) regrets his choice of leaving his true love for advancement. Yuki (Keiko Kishi) is a harbinger of doom in “The Woman of the Snow.” Hoichi (Katsuo Nakamura) must have his entire body covered in prayer in “Hoichi, the Earless.” And Kannai (Kanemon Nakamura) finds a creepy face staring back at him in “In a Cup of Tea.” Winner of the Special Jury Prize at Cannes, KWAIDAN is one of the greatest ghost story films ever made, four creepy, atmospheric existential tales that will get under your skin and into your brain. The score was composed by Tōru Takemitsu, who said of the film, “I wanted to create an atmosphere of terror.” He succeeded.

Japanese composer Tōru Takemitsu will be celebrated in film and music in New York City this month

KWAIDAN is screening as part of Film Forum’s two-week salute to composer Tōru Takemitsu (1930-96), who scored KWAIDAN and more than one hundred other films, including such diverse works as Teshigahara’s ANTONIO GAUDI, PITFALL, THE FACE OF ANOTHER, and WOMAN IN THE DUNES, Nagisa Oshima’s THE CEREMONY, Masahiro Shinoda’s CHINMOKU and PALE FLOWER, Mitsuo Yanagimachi’s HIMATSURI, Kon Ichikawa’s ALONE ON THE PACIFIC, Masaki Kobayashi’s YOUTH OF JAPAN, HARAKIRI, and SAMURAI REBELLION, and Akira Kurosawa’s RAN and DODES’KA-DEN, all of which are part of the series. The music of Takemitsu will also be celebrated this month at the JapanNYC Festival, with Seiji Ozawa conducting the Saito Kinen Orchestra in a presentation of Takemitsu’s “November Steps,” with Yukio Tanaka on biwa and Kifu Mitsuhashi on shakuhachi, at Carnegie Hall on December 15 (in addition to Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique), a concert featuring traditional hōgaku instruments at the Institute for Medieval Japanese Studies at Columbia University on December 16, and a tribute concert at Zankel Hall on December 17 curated by his daughter, Maki Takemitsu, with jazz performances of his film scores performed by guitarists Kazumi Watanabe and Daisuke Suzuki, accordionist coba, and percussionist Tomohiro Yahiro.

SAINT MISBEHAVIN’: THE WAVY GRAVY MOVIE

Wavy Gravy will be at the IFC Center for screenings of remarkable documentary on Wednesday and Thursday nights

IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at Third St.
December 8-14
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com
www.saintmisbehavin.com

The true message of the sixties never ended for village poet, inspired fool, pied piper, and self-described intuitive clown Hugh Romney, better known as Wavy Gravy. The remarkable life of the longtime peace activist and environmentalist is documented in Michelle Esrick’s wonderful SAINT MISBEHAVIN’: THE WAVY GRAVY MOVIE, which follows Wavy from Greenwich Village to Woodstock to Berkeley to the Third World. From his days performing at the Gaslight, sharing a room with Bob Dylan, participating in the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and the Further bus tour, and running the free kitchen at Woodstock to developing the Hog Farm commune, teaching children about peace, love, and understanding at Camp Winnarainbow, and traveling the globe helping restore sight for millions of blind people, Wavy’s life takes him all over the place, but the film never gets lost along the way. Wavy, who has his own Ben & Jerry’s flavor (caramel cashew Brazil nut ice cream with chocolate hazelnut fudge swirl and roasted almonds), spreads humor and compassion everywhere he goes. “Wavy was always trying to take the ordinary and make it into something funny and magical,” explains his wife, Jahanara, who has been by his side for this entire long, strange trip. Among those who share stories about the irrepressible Wavy are Ram Dass and Dr. Larry Brilliant, the two men who cofounded the international health organization SEVA with him, as well as Odetta, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Dr. Patch Adams, and Buffy Sainte-Marie, who together paint a colorful portrait of a humble, sweet, bigger-than-life bodhisattva who is just doing what comes naturally, believing that we all have the power to change the world, one small act at a time, reaching for that “carrot of divine life.” Wavy (a doppelganger for the great British actor Peter Ustinov) and Esrick will be at the IFC Center for the 6:25 and 8:30 shows on Wednesday, December 8, and Thursday, December 9, and Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield will personally deliver free ice cream at the 8:30 Wednesday screening.

ROOFTOP FILMS: TRAPPED IN THE TUNNEL / TUNNEL OF LOVE

Spelunkers and underground movie lovers will gather in Atlantic Ave. tunnel for special two-day edition of Rooftop Films (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Atlantic Ave. tunnel
Atlantic Ave. & Court St.
Saturday, December 11, and Sunday, December 12, $20, 1:00
www.rooftopfilms.com
atlantic ave. tunnel slideshow

Rooftop Films is known for presenting “underground movies outdoors” at offbeat and unusual locations throughout New York City, but on December 11-12, they’ll literally be showing underground films underground as they head beneath the streets of Brooklyn and into the amazing Atlantic Ave. tunnel. Built in 1844 and rediscovered in 1980 by Bob Diamond, who has been leading tours of the landmarked site for many years, the tunnel, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989, offers a unique experience to those who love trains as well as those seeking access to New York’s hidden treasures. On both days, Diamond will first lead a tour before the films begin. On the schedule for Saturday afternoon’s Trapped in the Tunnel program are Robert Glickert’s ROAD TO MOLOCH, Matt Palmer’s DAYLIGHT HOLE, Eric Scherbarth’s SINKHOLE, Emily Carmichael’s LEDO AND IX GO TO TOWN, Nathan Kensinger and Meghan O’Hara’s COVERED TRACKS, and S. Vollie Osborn’s MONSTERS DOWN THE HALL, while Sunday’s Tunnel of Love lineup consists of Sean Durkin’s MARY LAST SEEN, Carter Smith’s BUGCRUSH, Bobby Miller’s TUB, and Yohan Guignard’s STRATES. Tarps for seating will be provided, or you can bring your own small cushion, but no food or drink is allowed in the tunnel, and there are no bathrooms either; you can take care of some of those needs at the official after-party at Last Exit, which will feature complimentary spiced rum drinks courtesy of Sailor Jerry. And if you’re afraid of confined spaces, ladders, and the dark, you might want to think twice before buying a ticket or else be ready to battle your phobias at what should be a pair of awesome events.

LICK ME: HOW I BECAME CHERRY VANILLA

Borders, 2 Penn Plaza
Tuesday, December 7, free, 2 5:00
www.borders.com
www.cherry-vanilla.com

Poet, actress, songwriter, publicist, Mad woman, and all-around good-time girl Cherry Vanilla holds nothing back in her free-wheeling memoir, LICK ME: HOW I BECAME CHERRY VANILLA (Chicago Review Press, November 2010, $24.95). Born Kathleen Anne Dorritie in 1943 and raised in Queens, Vanilla tells of a life filled with lots of sex, lots of drugs, and lots of rock & roll. A chronic bedwetter as a child, she later developed OCD, picking at cuts and blemishes all over her body. She dreamed of being in show business, first working at Madison Ave. advertising firms before getting involved in the burgeoning downtown arts scene, hanging out at the hottest clubs and enjoying a never-ending stream of lovers. She starred in Warhol’s off-Broadway show PORK and went from groupie to music publicist to poet and performer; her stories about working with David Bowie just as he was trying to break through in the States are intimate and revealing — and might come as quite a surprise for longtime Bowie fans. She talks in-depth about her desire to bed such men as Kris Kristofferson, Warren Beatty, Leon Russell, and Bowie — but you’ll have to read the book to find out which attempts were successful. Among the many celebrities she meets in her ever-evolving career, some who became close friends, others just passing through her wild life, are Mick Jagger, Patti Smith, Joel Schumacher, Debbie Harry, Helmut Newton, Joni Mitchell, Don Johnson, Melanie Griffith, Sting, Candy Darling, Ringo Starr, Angie Bowie, Rudolf Nureyev, and Mick Ronson, and she shares some very interesting details about many of them. But Vanilla never comes off as needlessly gossipy or self-aggrandizing; instead, LICK ME is an honest portrait of a woman who knew what she wanted and went after it. The book also includes excerpts from her 1970s diaries and a sixteen-page black-and-white insert that features several shots of her in two of her favorite positions, either partially or fully unclothed. Cherry Vanilla will be at the Penn Plaza Borders on December 7, discussing her outrageous life and signing copies of the book, joined by special guest May Pang, who figures in a story in the book about Cherry trying to give John Lennon a special birthday present from Ringo.

WALT (CLYDE) FRAZIER: ROCKIN’ STEADY

Tuesday, December 7, NBA Store, 666 Fifth Ave. at 52nd St., 3:30
Tuesday, December 14, Borders, 2 Penn Plaza, 6:00
Thursday, December 16, Books & Greetings, New Jersey, 7:00
www.triumphbooks.com

One of the best guards in NBA history and the all-time greatest Knickerbocker, Walt (Clyde) Frazier was the definition of cool during the 1970s, high-stylin’ on and off the court then as well as now, currently serving as the team’s longtime color analyst. Back in 1974, following the second Knicks championship in four years, Clyde wrote ROCKIN’ STEADY: A GUIDE TO BASKETBALL & COOL with New York Times sportswriter Ira Berkow, covering such topics as “Offense,” “Defense,” “Cool,” and “A General Guide to Looking Good, and Other Matters.” The book was out of print for many years, but Triumph has finally brought it back in all its original glory, along with a new preface by Berkow and a new afterword from Frazier, called “Leave Your Own Footprint,” in which he discusses, among other things, his shocking trade to Cleveland in 1977 and the difficulties of the move from the city that he virtually owned: “Didn’t want to get that canary-yellow suit soiled, for one thing, and for another, it wasn’t easy packing those Clyde hats without getting them mashed. But I managed.” Frazier will be dishing and swishing, wheeling and dealing, and believing and achieving at the NBA Store in Midtown on December 7 at 3:30, the Borders at Penn Plaza on December 14 at 6:00, and Books & Greetings in Northvale, New Jersey, on December 16 at 7:00.

SPIN THE DREIDEL TOURNAMENT

Annual tournament takes place December 9 at the Knitting Factory

Knitting Factory
361 Metropolitan Ave.
Thursday, December 9, $10-$15, 7:00
347-529-6696
www.bk.knittingfactory.com

“On the first night of Hanukkah I received a mighty dreidel,” Gods of Fire declare on the song “Eight Days of Victory,” from their unforgettable album HANUKKAH GONE METAL. They go on to receive such other hard-rockin’ gifts as gelt, socks, and a golden yarmulke. Gods of Fire, also responsible for such songs as “No Gelt, No Glory,” “The Quest for the Latke Oil,” and “Spin for the Blood of Our Elders,” will be on hand at the Knitting Factory on December 9 for the annual Spin the Dreidel Tournament, sponsored by Major League Dreidel. The hotly anticipated competition will also include holiday performances by the Young New Yorkers’ Chorus and Category Sixx — World’s Greatest Air Band, which promises, among other things, face melting.

AN EVENING WITH KATRIN SIGURDARDOTTIR

Katrin Sigurdardottir, “Boiserie” (detail), 2010 (Courtesy of the artist. Photo by Bruce Schwarz, The Photograph Studio. © The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Metropolitan Museum of Art
Uris Center for Education, ground floor
1000 Fifth Ave. at 82nd St.
Friday, December 10, $18, 7:00
212-535-7710
www.metmuseum.org
www.katrinsigurdardottir.info

Spectrum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s initiative to introduce midcareer artists to younger audiences through social events, has previously staged gathering with Pablo Bronstein, the Moth storytelling collective (with Jonathan Ames and Kyp Malone), and Ringo Starr playing with Ben Harper & Relentless7. On Friday night, December 10, Icelandic artist Katrin Sigurdardottir, who was born in Reykjavik and lives and works in New York, will discuss her current exhibit, “Katrin Sigurdardottir at the Met,” with curators Anne Strauss and Daniëlle O. Kisluk-Grosheid, followed by a reception and a viewing of the works. The exhibit consists of a pair of site-specific installations that re-create two of the Met’s eighteenth-century French period rooms known as boiseries from the Hôtel de Crillon and the Hôtel de Cabris, one of which can be viewed through one-way mirrors while the other can be physically entered, offering opposing museum experiences.