twi-ny recommended events

LOS CAMPESINOS!

Los Campesinos! are unlikely to be boring at two area shows (photo by Jon Bergman)

Music Hall of Williamsburg
66 North Sixth St.
Friday, October 15, and Saturday, October 16, $21.40, 9:00
www.myspace.com/loscampesinos
www.musichallofwilliamsburg.com

Los Campesinos! fully deserve the exclamation point at the end of their name, as they do everything in a big way. There’s plenty of big and nothing dull about their latest full-length album, ROMANCE IS BORING (Arts & Crafts, January 2010), fifteen blasts of loud, hip-shaking power pop that mixes in ’80s new wave, punk, funk, and blaring horns into its anthemic, aggressive party rock (and we mean that in a good way). Their follow-up to 2007’s STICKING FINGERS INTO SOCKETS, 2008’s HOLD ON NOW, YOUNGSTER, and last year’s WE ARE BEAUTIFUL, WE ARE DOOMED, the disc emits the endless glee of Matt & Kim and the deep, dark yearning of My Bloody Valentine. The seven-piece Cardiff band sings about vomit and physics (“In Media Res”), phallic cake and cauterized ventricles (“Romance Is Boring”), toilet walls and huffing a Sharpie (the driving “We’ve Got your Back [Documented Emotional Breakdown Number 2]”), erections and heat rash (the synth-heavy “A Heat Rash in the Shape of the Show Me State; or, Letters from Me to Charlotte”), plugholes and piss-soaked jeans (the relatively calm “Coda: A Burn Scar in the Shape of the Sooner State”), and petrol and dog shot (the orchestral “I Just Sighed, I Just Sighed, Just So You Know”) in songs that are as fanciful as their titles. Everything they are about is encapsulated in the epic-sounding “This Is a Flag. There Is No Wind,” a three-and-a-half-minute journey through indie music. Then, just this past August, Los Campesinos! released a four-song remix follow-up EP to ROMANCE IS BORING called ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS, which makes sure you don’t get bored with the former, which we weren’t, but we’re psyched to be able to hear the Princess Version of “Romance Is Boring,” “Letters from Me to Charlotte (RSVP),” “Straight in at 101/It’s Never Enough,” and “(All’s Well that Ends) In Media Res.” Los Campesinos! played Irving Plaza earlier this year, and now they’re back for two shows at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on October 15-16, with Byrds of Paradise and Johnny Foreigner.

TICKET GIVEAWAY: COLIN QUINN’S LONG STORY SHORT

Helen Hayes Theatre
240 West 44th St.
October 23 – January 8, $59-$150
www.colinquinnlongstoryshort.com
www.hayestheatre.com

This past summer, Colin Quinn’s one-man show, LONG STORY SHORT, had a limited run downtown at the Bleecker Street Theatre. It’s now moving uptown to Broadway, where it is scheduled for an eleven-week limited engagement at the Helen Hayes Theatre starting October 22. We’ve been following the career of the Brooklyn-born Irish comedian since his days at MTV as the sidekick for the game show REMOTE CONTROL and then on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, where he anchored “Weekend Update” for several seasons. Of course, he’ll always have a place in our heart because of his great music video “Going Back to Brooklyn.” More recently, he hosted TOUGH CROWD on Comedy Central and is a regular guest on THE OPIE & ANTHONY SHOW. The gruff-voiced Quinn, who has always been on the cusp of breaking through, promises to give the “History of the World in 75 Minutes” in LONG STORY SHORT, which is directed by another Brooklyn-born comedian, Jerry Seinfeld. Be prepared for a very different perspective on our illustrious past.

Colin Quinn’s one-man show, directed by Jerry Seinfeld, is moving to Broadway, and twi-ny has free tickets to give away

This Week in New York has four pairs of tickets to give away for free, good for select performances between October 23 and November 30. To enter to win a pair, send your name and daytime phone number to contest@twi-ny.com no later than Friday, October 15, at 12 noon. All entrants must be at least twenty-one years of age. Four winners will be chosen at random. Good luck!

COLUMBUS PARK

Columbus statue rises high in Brooklyn’s Columbus Park (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Between Adams St., Cadman Plaza West, and Joralemon St.
Admission: free
www.nyc.gov/parks

In 1971, the 4.14-acre park in front of the New York State Supreme Court Building in Brooklyn was renamed Columbus Park, in honor of the Italian explorer. At the center of the park is a tall statue of its namesake, Christopher Columbus. Carved in the 1860s by expatriate artist Emma Stebbins in Rome, the statue rises high in the paved park. (Stebbins also designed the “Angel of the Waters” in the Bethesda Fountain in Central Park.), Although the statue was given to New York City in 1869, it was initially installed in 1934 in Columbus Park in Manhattan’s Chinatown, then moved to its current location in 1971, where it is joined by John Quincy Adams Ward’s 1891 statue of abolitionist, clergyman, and possible adulterer Henry Ward Beecher, which sits upon a pedestal by Richard Morris Hunt, and Anneta Duveen’s 1972 bust of Robert Francis Kennedy, which includes inspirational quotes from the onetime U.S. attorney general, senator, and presidential hopeful. The park is also home to the Borough Hall Greenmarket, which has been selling fruits, vegetables, baked goods, seafood, meat and dairy products, and other local, fresh delights for twenty-five years; the market is open Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm.

COLUMBUS DAY PARADE

The Columbus Day Parade will march up Fifth Ave. today (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Fifth Ave. from 47th to 72nd Sts.
Monday, October 11, free, 11:30 am – 3:00 pm
www.columbuscitizensfd.org

The Columbus Day Parade used to celebrate the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. The only problem was that there were already people living there. So now it “celebrates the spirit of exploration and courage that inspired Christopher Columbus’s 1492 expedition and the important contributions Italian-Americans have made to the United States.” Beginning at 11:30 this morning at 47th St., high school marching bands, community organizations, folk groups, and more will make their way up Fifth Ave., dancing, singing, and paying tribute to the vast history of Italians in America. This year’s sixty-sixth annual parade, led by Grand Marshal Maria Bartiromo and honorees Frank Bisignano (the CEO of JPMorganChase) and Jason DeSena Trennert (the founder of Strategas Research Partners), features special live performances from PINOCCHIO, THE ITALIAN MUSICAL. Related events include a wreath laying at Columbus Circle at 9:30 and a cultural exhibition at Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Terminal.

SPA WEEK 2010

Devaspa is one of more than 120 spas offering specially priced treatments during Spa Week

Multiple locations
October 11-17, $50
www.spaweek.com

Spa Week, the twice-yearly festival in which spas offer two or three of their services at a special $50 rate, is now nationwide, with spas and sybarites in more than 10 states celebrating from October 11 to 17. But with more than 120 participating spots in Manhattan alone and now a dozen more in Brooklyn, New York City should be its capital. From quiet neighborhood favorites like Serenity Spa on the Upper East Side to laser medispa chains to the big names like Perricone and Trish McEvoy, Spa Week in New York City means being spoiled for choice. Among the offerings, we’re happy to once again spotlight the special seasonal facial at L’Institut Sothys New York; the winter detoxifying vanilla and warming caramel are the ingredients at this sleek New York outpost of the highly esteemed Parisian salon, and the wonderful Rose offers excellent manicures and pedicures at regular rates. It’s exciting to see the Sphatika Experience Spa on the menu: Among the most innovative and unusual spas in Manhattan, Sphatika offers a choice of three $50 facials, one of which includes their far infrared sauna treatment. Sphatika offers a very unusual suite of restorative mind, body, and spirit treatments including detoxifying skin brushing, a steam canopy, and natural quartz crystal skin care. And downtowners can rejoice: Deva Spa, part of the beloved Devachan hair salon, has head-to-toe offerings: a skin-brightening body exfoliation, an express facial and manicure, or an hour-plus deluxe pedicure, each with natural and organic ingredients. Be sure to check out the nearly overwhelming list of spas and salons online; you’ll need to join the SpaWeek mailing list to see them, but it’s free and easy to manage.

DAVID MAMET, A LIFE IN FILM

David Mamet will take a look back on his career in film at the New School

Tishman Auditorium, the New School
66 West 12th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Wednesday, October 13, $12-$18, 7:00
www.movingimage.us

On October 12, David Mamet’s 1977 behind-the-scenes play, A LIFE IN THE THEATRE, makes its Broadway debut, starring Patrick Stewart and T. R. Knight, joining Mamet’s RACE (with Eddie Izzard, Dennis Haysbert, Afton C. Williamson, and Richard Thomas) on the Great White Way. The next day, Mamet will be at the New School for a rare public conversation, but he will not be talking about his life in the theatre. Instead, the discussion, moderated by Museum of the Moving Image curator David Schwartz, will focus on Mamet’s career as the screenwriter and/or director of such films as HOUSE OF GAMES (1987), THINGS CHANGE (1988), HOMICIDE (1991), GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS (1992), THE SPANISH PRISONER (1997), THE WINSLOW BOY (1999), STATE AND MAIN (2000), HEIST (2001), SPARTAN (2004), and REDBELT (2008), most of which are built around unexpected twists and turns that stray from conventional mainstream Hollywood storytelling. Winner of a Tony, two Obies, and a Pulitzer Prize, Mamet has been nominated for Best Screenplay twice, for THE VERDICT (1982) and WAG THE DOG (1997). The special evening will also feature clips from throughout Mamet’s film career.

NEW YORK COMIC CON: SUCK

Jennifer finds a novel way to get a drink in rock and roll vampire comedy SUCK

SUCK (Rob Stefaniuk, 2009)
New York Comic Con / Anime Festival
Javits Center
11th Ave. between 34th & 39th Sts.
Sunday, October 10, Room 1E02, free with festival admission, 3:30
www.newyorkcomiccon.com
www.suckthemovie.com

Writer, director, songwriter, and star Rob Stefaniuk (PHIL THE ALIEN) was well aware that he was daring critics and audiences to attack his sophomore effort by titling the vampire rock-and-roll horror comedy SUCK. Well, it doesn’t. SUCK, whcih is screening on Sunday afternoon at 3:30 at New York Comic Con, is a playful little piffle about the Winners, a loser of a group that is taking its last shot at the big time, going on a road trip from Toronto to New York City for a supposed CMJ showcase gig set up by their pitiful manager, Jeff (Kid in the Hall Dave Foley). But when bass player Jennifer (Jessica Paré) gets seduced and turned by master vampire Queeny (Dimitri Coats), the band starts getting popular, much to the chagrin of lead singer and songwriter Joey (Stefaniuk), who is not sure this is the best way to make it. Drummer Sam (Mike Lobel), guitarist Tyler (Paul Anthony), and Renfield-as-roadie Hugo (Alex Lifeson) have different ideas, as does afraid-of-the-dark vampire hunter Eddie Van Helsig (Malcolm McDowell). With teeth in neck – er, tongue in cheek – SUCK spoofs several genres in silly but fun ways, throwing in a little ROCKY HORROR here, some THIS IS SPINAL TAP there, and a dash of GET CRAZY over there, with hysterical guest appearances by Alice Cooper as a demonic bartender, Iggy Pop as a suburban record producer, Henry Rollins as an annoying radio host, and well-known vegan Moby as Beef Bellows, the lead singer of the Buffalo-based punk-rock band the Secretaries of Steak.