twi-ny recommended events

OVAL

Markus Popp will make a rare area appearance as Oval at ISSUE Project Room on September 9

ISSUE Project Room
The Old American Can Factory
232 Third St., third floor, Brooklyn
Thursday, September 9, $20, 8:00 & 10:00
718-330-0313
www.myspace.com/markuspopp
www.issueprojectroom.org

Berlin-based electronic music pioneer Markus Popp is back recording as Oval, the seminal noise band he formed in 1991 with Sebastian Oschatz and Frank Metzger, who have both long gone on to other projects. But Popp has returned to reinvent the electronic music genre yet again, first releasing a limited-edition EP, OH (Thrill Jockey, June 2010), consisting of fifteen tracks totaling twenty-five minutes that reveal Popp to be just as much a musician as a technician, incorporating guitars and drums into the sonic language he creates using a four-year-old stock PC with standard software and plug-ins. The glitch master has followed OH up with a double CD, simply titled O (Thrill Jockey, September 7, 2010), comprising another seventy songs, with twenty on disc one, fifty on disc two, ranging from thirty-two seconds (“Lonely”) to 4:42 (“Dolo”), mostly with one-word titles, such as “Ah!” “Shhh,” “Sky,” “Cry,” “Cinematic,” “Dyamo,” “Pomp,” “Blinky,” “Emocor,” “Voilà,” and “Goodbye.” Popp works inside and out of structure and melody, emitting engaging sounds that are as experimental as they are intoxicating. While O’s second disc has more going on sonically, both offer respite for music fans with ADD as well as those who are tired of the same old thing. Popp will be playing two sets at Brooklyn’s ISSUE Project Room on September 9, at 8:00 and 10:00, giving adventurous audiophiles a rare opportunity to see a legendary figure in the world of electronic music.

20 AT 20

Through September 19
Tickets: $20
www.20at20.com

It’s time for the annual 20at20, when more than two dozen theatrical productions will be selling tickets for twenty bucks twenty minutes before curtain for nearly two weeks, including THE ACCIDENTAL PERVERT at the Players Theatre, ZERO HOUR: THE ZERO MOSTEL SHOW and BLACK ANGELS OVER TUSKEGEE at the Actors’ Temple Theatre, THE 39 STEPS and NAKED BOYS SINGING! at New World Stages, THE FLYING KARAMAZOV BROTHERS at the Minetta Lane Theatre, and NOW CIRCA THEN at Ars Nova, among others. While they might not be exactly the hottest shows out there, you can still save some big bucks, and you know that you’ve been dying to check out AWESOME 80s PROM at Webster Hall. When you reach the box office — there might be lines, of course, so get there a little early — just say “20at20” to receive the discounted ticket, one per person, as long as there are any left. Some theaters will accept cash only, so have those Andrew Jacksons ready.

DanceNOW: FESTIVAL TWENTY TEN

small apple co / Makiko Tamura will perform at Festival Twenty Ten at DTW on September 10 (photo by Bill Herbert)

Dance Theater Workshop
219 West 19th St.
September 8-11, $20-$25, 7:30
212-691-6500
www.dancetheaterworkshop.org
www.dancenownyc.org

The sixteenth annual DanceNOW Festival runs September 8-11, featuring short pieces by forty choreographers over four days, offering audiences a splendid opportunity to see a diverse group of up-and-coming, emerging, and established companies all in one program. Opening night will include works by such companies as Kyle Abraham / Abraham.in.motion, Camille A. Brown, the DASH Ensemble / Gregory Dolbashian, and Dusan Tynek Dance Theatre; Thursday night’s lineup ranges from binbinFactory / Satoshi Haga and independentdancemaker / Kara Tatelbaum to Nicholas Leichter Dance and Inmixedcompany / Maura Nguyen Donohue. Among the participants on Friday are Jennifer Chin Dance, Stefanie Nelson dancegroup, Christopher Williams, and ZviDance, with Monica Bill Barnes & Company, PORTABLES / Claire Porter, Misnomer Dance Theater, and TAKE Dance / Takehiro Ueyama part of closing night.

ContemporAsian

Jia Zhang-ke’s CRY ME A RIVER is part of exciting MoMA ContemporAsian showing of four short films by extraordinary directors

MoMA Film
Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
September 10-16
Tickets: $10, in person only, may be applied to museum admission within thirty days,
same-day screenings free with museum admission, available at Film and Media Desk
212-708-9400
www.moma.org

MoMA’s ongoing ContemporAsian series offers a special treat September 10-16, screening short recent works by four of the world’s most intriguing filmmakers: China’s Jia Zhang-ke (THE WORLD, STILL LIFE), South Korea’s Hong Sang-soo (TALE OF CINEMA, LIKE YOU KNOW IT ALL), Taiwan-by-way-of-Malaysia’s Tsai Ming-liang (REBELS OF THE NEON GOD, THE HOLE), and Thailand’s Apichatpong Weerasethakul (TROPICAL MALADY, SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY). In Jia’s CRY ME A RIVER (2008), four friends rehash old times as they meet to celebrate a teacher’s birthday, poignantly looking at where their dreams got derailed; it’s a bittersweet tale that pays tribute to Fei Mu’s 1948 film SPRING IN A SMALL TOWN. Tsai’s MADAM BUTTERFLY (2008) reimagines the famous Puccini opera at a bus stop, Hong’s LOST IN THE MOUNTAINS (2009) brings together a writer and an old flame, and Weerasethakul’s A LETTER TO UNCLE BOONMEE (2009) is a forerunner to the Palme d’Or winner UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES.

CHICAGO UNDERGROUND DUO

Chad Taylor and Rob Mazurek will go aboveground at ISSUE Project Room on September 8

ISSUE Project Room
The Old American Can Factory
232 Third St., third floor, Brooklyn
Wednesday, September 8, $10, 8:00
718-330-0313
www.myspace.com/chicagoundergroundmusic
www.issueprojectroom.org

On their fifth album, BOCA NEGRA (Thrill Jockey, August 2010), their first since 2006’s IN PRAISE OF SHADOWS, the Chicago Underground Duo prove that experimental jazz is still alive and well. Brazil-based Rob Mazurek (Exploding Star Orchestra), who plays cornet, keyboards, and laptop, and Brooklyn’s Chad Taylor (Iron and Wine), on drums, mbira, guitar, and vibraphone, team up for ten sound structures that move in and out of melody and beat, playing with time and space like avant-garde sculpture. From the opening horn trills of “Green Ants” to the sweet, subtle melody of “Vergence,” the duo combines for thrilling sonic creations, both composed and improvised. Experimentalism abounds on “Left Hand of Darkness” and a seven-and-a-half-minute foray through Ornette Coleman’s “Broken Shadows,” on which Taylor plays drums and vibraphone simultaneously, while the duo holds down the rhythm on the energetic “Confliction,” which also features organ, and “Spy on the Floor,” which is centered around a noirish bass groove. And they get downright spacey on “Quantum Eye.” The duo will be playing songs from their new release, the first they recorded in Brazil instead of Chicago, and others from throughout their twelve-year career Wednesday night at the ISSUE Project Room in the Old American Can Factory in Brooklyn.

YOSHITOMO NARA: WHITE GHOST

Park Ave. median at 67th St.
Park Ave. median at 70th St.
Through November 5
Admission: free
www.artproductionfund.org
67th st. slideshow
70th st. slideshow

In conjunction with his upcoming exhibit at the Asia Society, “Nobody’s Fool,” which opens September 9, Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara has installed “White Ghost,” two giant fiberglass-and-steel statues on the Park Ave. mall, one in front of the Asia Society on 70th St., the other in front of the armory on 67th St., where he recently held an open studio as he constructed “Home” for the show. A joint venture of the Asia Society, the Art Production Fund, and the Sculpture Committee of the Fund for Park Ave., the sculptures depict an enormous white girl, the one on 67th looking north, the other looking south, like sentinels or guards called komainu, both smiling slyly.

Yoshitimo Nara’s “White Ghost” sculpture still has umbilical cord connected to its head during installation (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

The sculptures were installed on September 4 by Dun-Rite and SRI; it was especially exciting watching the head being added to the body as the sun shined down on the glistening work. (One of our three videos can be seen above.) The two girls will continue watching over Park Ave. until November 5.

HARVEST IN THE SQUARE

The Gramercy Tavern will be among the many restaurants participating in the fifteenth annual Harvest in the Square benefit

Union Square Park
16th St. & Union Square West
Tuesday, September 21, 7:30
Tickets: General admission $125, VIP $400 (includes early admission and reception)
www.harvest.unionsquarenyc.org

The fifteenth annual Harvest in the Square will feature more than fifty chefs serving their signature dishes under tents, paired with wines and microbrews, with as many ingredients as possible coming from the Union Square Greenmarket and surrounding area. The culinary event will include delicious delights from such restaurants as Aleo, Angelo & Maxie’s, BLT Fish and BLT Prime, Blue Smoke, Chat ‘n’ Chew, City Crab, Dévi, Dos Caminos, Gramercy Tavern, Hill Country, Pure Food & Wine, Rosa Mexicano, Steak Frites, Tamarind, Tocqueville, Union Square Café, and ’wichcraft. Drinks will be supplied by Argo Tea, Bluepoint, Bedell Cellars, Brewery Ommegang, Paumanok, Goose Island, the Lenz Winery, the Harlem Brewing Company, Irving Farm Coffee, Wolffer Estate Vineyards, and others. This year’s restaurant chair is Jeffrey Zurofsky of ’wichcraft, and the wine chair is Garry Tornberg of Southern Wine & Spirits of New York. The event was founded by Danny Meyer of the Union Square Hospitality Group and Eric Petterson of the Gotham City Restaurant Group in order to raise funds for the Union Square Partnership for the beautification and maintenance of Union Square Park. Tickets are likely to sell out, so get yours now.