twi-ny recommended events

TARTAN DAY PARADE AND AFTER-PARTY

Tartan Week marches into it last day on April 10 with a trio of special events (photo © Colin Dickson)

Saturday, April 10
Church of Our Savior, 59 Park Ave., 10:00 am
National Tartan Day Parade, Sixth Ave. from 45th to 58th Sts., 2:00
Stout NYC, 133 West 33rd St., $37-$50, 4:30
www.tartanweek.com

Tartan Week concludes on Saturday with its main events, the Kirkin of the Tartan service at the Church of Our Savior, the National Tartan Day Parade up Sixth Ave., and an after-party at Stout NYC, where Scottish bands Enter the Haggis and Barleyjuice will perform. Meanwhile, the Scotland Pop-up Shop at 13 East 69th St. will remain open until April 12, selling contemporary Scottish designs. Tartan Week celebrates Scottish-American heritage, but you don’t have to be Scottish to listen to bagpipes, drink fine whiskey, and put on that kilt hiding in the back of your closet.

HYPERNOVA

Iranian band Hypernova celebrates release of debut album and film with three shows in their new hometown, New York City

Saturday, April 10, Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston St. between Ludlow & Essex Sts., $10, 7:30
Friday, April 16, 92YTribeca, 200 Hudson St. at Canal St., $10, 9:30
Saturday, May 1, Studio at Webster Hall,125 East Eleventh St. between Second & Third Aves., ,8:00
www.myspace.com/hypernovamusic
www.mercuryloungenyc.com
www.92y.org
www.websterhall.com

Iranian indie band Hypernova might have first made news because it took a letter from Sen. Charles Schumer to get the group visas for their 2008-2009 tour of the United States, but what’s more important is that their music is just so damn good. Fans of Interpol, Depeche Mode, Joy Division, and Arctic Monkeys (and just about anyone else) should have a field day listening to their just-released debut album, THROUGH THE CHAOS (Narnack, April 2010), which is filled with killer hooks that will rattle your brains and shake your bones. “This world is not for the faint of heart,” deep-voiced Raam sings on the bonus track “Somewhere Far Away,” and neither is THROUGH THE CHAOS (which is currently streaming for free here). Pop music is banned in Iran, so lead vocalist/guitarist Raam, bassist Jam, guitarist Kodi, and drummer Kami, who are now based in New York City, risked their freedom to spread their music, so when they declare on “Viva La Resistance,” “So dance like you’ve never danced / and scream like you’ve never screamed / ’cause this one might be your last,” they really mean it. (On the same song, they also display their fierce determination by proclaiming, “Your theocratic neo-Fascist ideology / is only getting in the way of my biology / Your book says no! / But my body wants more!”) From the propulsive “Universal” and “Monster in Me” to the slower “Empty Times” and “Here and Now” (the latter featuring a sweet guitar outro), Hypernova lives and breathes their music, sharing their fairytale story, although their prospects are brighter than depicted in “Fairytales That Don’t Have Happy Endings.”

hypernova2

Hypernova will be at Mercury Lounge on April 10 and at the Studio at Webster Hall on May 1, but we’re most excited about their appearance at 92YTribeca on April 16, participating in the official after-party celebrating the release of Bahman Ghobadi’s NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT PERSIAN CATS, a compelling fictional account of the underground indie music scene in Tehran. (Look for our review next week.) Also on the bill are the Yellow Dogs, who appear in the film, along with DJ Loveletters.

JEAN RENOIR

If they know what’s good for them, film fans should be crowding into BAM to see such Jean Renoir masterpieces as GRAND ILLUSION

BAMcinématek
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
April 9 – May 11
718-636-4100
www.bam.org

Son of French Impressionist master Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Jean Renoir made some forty films during a nearly fifty-year career that left, er, quite an impression on world cinema. One of the most influential auteurs to ever put images on celluloid, Renoir commented on politics, social conventions, and war in his films, with several works being banned in Germany, Italy, and even France because they hit a little too close to home. He compiled one of the great resumes while making films first in France and later in Hollywood, including A DAY IN THE COUNTRY (1936), GRAND ILLUSION (1937), THE RULES OF THE GAME (1939), THE SOUTHERNER (1945), THE DIARY OF A CHAMBERMAID (1945), THE RIVER (1951), and FRENCH CANCAN (1955), along the way developing one of the most fruitful actor-director relationships with French star Jean Gabin. Renoir was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1975 and died in 1979, leaving behind a legacy that continues to have a strong impact on filmmakers and film lovers today. BAM will be screening twenty-two of his films from April 9 to May 11, offering a crash course in Renoir’s humanistic approach to storytelling, featuring all of the works mentioned above as well as THE LOWER DEPTHS (1936), LE MARSEILLAISE (1938), THE HUMAN BEAST (1938), and others.

SECOND SUNDAYS: GUIDED TOUR OF THE GARDEN

Horticulturalist George Pisegna will lead a tour of the breathtaking Noguchi Museum garden on April 11 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

The Noguchi Museum
9-01 33rd Road (Vernon Blvd.), Long Island City
Sunday, April 11, free with museum admission of $10, 3:00
718-204-7088
www.noguchi.org

George Pisegna, director of horticulture at the Horticultural Society of New York, will lead a guided tour of the magical Noguchi Museum Sculpture Garden as part of the Long Island City institution’s monthly Second Sundays program on April 11, offering fresh new insight into this peaceful wonder. Take a deep breath as you enter the gorgeous garden, which will revive your body and soul. Look all around “The Well (Variation on a Tsukubai),” following the water as it comes out of the top and glides down the rough and glistening sides (including passing through Noguchi’s initials). Notice how the holes on both sides of “Core” invite in the light. “Indian Dancer” stands amid “Practical Rocks in Placement.” “Behind Inner Seeking Shiva Dancing” is perhaps the best-named sculpture in the garden. In the far corner is a burial marker, signifying where some of Noguchi’s ashes were laid to rest. Other mesmerizing pieces carefully arranged around Japanese and U.S. foliage are “The Big Bang,” “Unmei,” and the naturally formed “Spin-off #1 from the Chase Manhattan Garden.” You’ll find it hard to leave this urban oasis. (Also be sure not to miss the inside exhibit “Noguchi ReINstalled.”)

j-CATION: TASTE JAPAN

Japan Society will host full day of amazing Japanese food and more

Japan Society
333 East 47th St. at First Ave.
Saturday, April 10, suggested donation $5, 1:00 pm – 1:00 am
Some events require free tickets available beginning at 12:30
212-715-1258
www.japansociety.org

Even though flights from New York to Tokyo have recently come down, it will still be a lot cheaper to get a taste of the Land of the Rising Sun on Saturday at the Japan Society, which is hosting the extremely exciting j-CATION from 1:00 pm to 1:00 am. The twelve-hour extravaganza, organized into Starters, Main Dishes, Sides, and Dessert, includes calligraphy and language classes, furoshiki and tea workshops, demonstrations from manga artist in residence Hiroki Otsuka, a foodie game show, a lecture by hot-dog-eating champion Takeru Kobayashi, a screening of Mitsuhiro Mihara’s food-related 2008 film FLAVOR OF HAPPINESS, live music by Me & Mars and Asobi Seksu, a cash bar, a virtual bento box battle, food vendors, and a late-night after-party with DJ Aki. If that isn’t enough, the outstanding exhibition “Graphic Heroes, Magic Monsters,” a collection of gorgeous prints by nineteenth-century artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi, will be open until 9:00. For a suggested donation of a mere five bucks, you can feel like you’re in Japan, at least for one day.

TWI-NY TALK: JAKE SZUFNAROWSKI

Three-hour cruise includes great live bands and DJs and awesome views

ROCKS OFF CONCERT CRUISES
The Jewel, the Paddlewheel Queen, the Half Moon, Skyport Marina, East 23rd St. & the FDR Dr.
The Temptress, World Yacht Marina, Pier 81, West 41st St. & the West Side Highway
April 8 – September 24, $10-$35
www.rocksoff.com

Jake Szufnarowski is a soft-spoken, mild-mannered Bee Gees fan who has been organizing pleasant concert cruises in New York City for ten years now. Well, um, strike that. Szuf Daddy is actually a hard-rockin’ crazy-ass tattooed mutha who’s been throwin’ wild parties for a decade on the Hudson and East Rivers while blasting away in a heavy metal tribute to the brothers Gibb.

Szufnarowski is celebrating the tenth anniversary of Rocks Off Concert Cruises, three-hour musical journeys on the rivers surrounding Manhattan during which fans are encouraged to party hard, fast, and long. This year’s stellar lineup kicks off on April 8 with Nashville Pussy and includes what should be amazing shows with Dam-Funk (April 24), Playboys of the Western World (June 5), jam band Railroad Earth (June 17), Ninja Tune DJ extraordinaire Mr. Scruff (July 2), cruise veterans the Electric Six (July 15), and one of the best live bands on the planet, the Black Lips (August 2), among many others. Earlier this week, Szufnarowski took a break from his studies to address a few questions about tribute bands, tattoos, and rolling on the river.

twi-ny: Many people are tentative to catch a show on a boat because they’re trapped — once they’re on, there’s no way off until the boat docks at the end of the night. What do you tell those people?

Jake Szufnarowski: Thankfully we thought of that!! We have dingys that depart the main boat every half an hour and take you on a scenic tour of the Gowanus Canal before dropping you off in “Do or Die” Bed-Stuy. Then you find your own way home from there. Or you can just stay on the boat. All of our boats are multilevel — so if you want to get away from the band, you can. And all the boats have outdoor decks to soak in the sun and get unobstructed views of the most beautiful city and skyline in the world. If you’re afraid that you can’t enjoy yourself on a boat full of bands, booze, and babes for three hours, then you should probably stay home and post snide comments on Brooklyn Vegan making fun of people who actually know how to enjoy themselves. Then you can dine on a fat, meaty GoFuckYourself sandwich!

Szuf Daddy shows off massive tattoo that took a year to complete

twi-ny: You’re in a tribute band, and the new Rocks Off season includes a bunch of tribute bands as well as the next edition of Tribute Wars. What separates a good tribute band from a bad tribute band?

JS: I’m in a tribute band? Fuck me. Is that why I’m not making any money on publishing? I guess that’s why I have to put on all these boat shows. For the money. And the [women]! Sweet sweet [women]! Tribute bands are like regular bands — 95% of ’em suck. Mine happens to be the best. If we tried to be the Bee Gees, we’d suck. But we’re TRAGEDY: THE NUMBER ONE HEAVY METAL TRIBUTE TO THE BEE GEES IN THE TRISTATE AREA!!!!!! We Rocks Sweet Balls and Can Do No Wrong.

twi-ny: Among your many tattoos is the logo for another band you’re in, Children of the Unicorn, in which a unicorn is doing it to a dolphin, and a recently completed tatt based on a Glenn Hidalgo painting. Assuming you have any room left on your body, what’s next?

JS: Yeah — that’s an awesome original band I’m in. But they aren’t doing it, you pervert. The title of that piece is “The Embrace.” It was a tattoo before we were a band, though. The Glenn Hidalgo painting was something I commissioned for my thirtieth birthday. It’s me as half-man / half-motorcycle — a motaur — in front of a postapocalyptic scene of NYC. That tattoo took seven sessions of six hours each over the course of an entire year to complete. So not sure I’m going to get anything too big too soon. Recent awesome tats have been a Yankees logo after the World Series win, an autograph of pro wrestling legend Terry Funk, a hot pink GFY (which stands for GoFuckYourself — due to the sudden popularity of the Facebook page I started). Next up, though, I’m getting my whole chest done. It’s going to be the reverse view of the motaur — if 3D is the new direction of the film industry, then I’m going to pioneer it in the tattoo world!!!

HIGH PLACES

Robert Barber and Mary Pearson battle mankind at Shea Stadium on April 8

Shea Stadium
20 Meadow St. between Bogart & Waterbury
Thursday, April 8, 8:00
www.myspace.com/hellohighplaces
www.myspace.com/sheastadiumbk

High Places set some lofty goals for themselves on their new album, HIGH PLACES VS. MANKIND (Thrill Jockey, April 2010), but the cops almost thwarted their vaunted return to Brooklyn when they closed down Market Hotel a few days ago. Fortunately, the duo of Mary Pearson and Robert Barber, now based in Los Angeles, have found another venue for their New York album release show, heading to Bushwick’s rather makeshift Shea Stadium on April 8, on a bill with Soft Circle and Bow Ribbons. High Places’ sophomore full-length, the follow-up to its eponymously titled September 2008 debut, features ten songs built around creative percussion, mystical electronic loops, and simple but infectious keyboards, with Barber adding guitars and Pearson contributing dreamy vocals. After the Brooklyn show, High Places has two gigs in Massachusetts before heading to Europe and Scandinavia, where they’ll be playing such locales as Madrid, Milan, Zagreb, Antwerp, and Lisbon through May. In the meantime, we’re gonna head back into the new album and put “On a Hill in a Bed on a Road in a House” on repeat play.