twi-ny recommended events

TENNIS NIGHT IN AMERICA

billiejeancup

SHOWDOWN FOR THE BILLIE JEAN KING CUP
Madison Square Garden
31st to 33rd Sts. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
Monday, March 1, $25-$1,000, 7:00
www.thegarden.com
www.tennisnight.com

As part of Tennis Night in America, four Grand Slam champions — 2009 U.S. Open victor Kim Clijsters, 2009 French Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova, 2008 French Open champ Ana Ivanovic, and seven-time champion Venus Williams — will participate in a one-set elimination tournament March 1, leading to a best-of-three finals for the Billie Jean Cup and a check for $1.2 million. (Serena Williams pulled out because of an injury and was replaced by Ivanovic.) Last year, in the inaugural event, Serena triumphed over Venus in the finals, after, Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic had been eliminated. Tennis Night in America celebrates the sport with programs across the country encouraging youth recruitment.

THE MUSIC OF THE WHO

musicofthewho

Carnegie Hall, Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
881 Seventh Ave. at 57th St.
Tuesday, March 2, $45-$130, 8:00
www.carnegiewho.com

Over the last several years, music impresario Michael Dorf has gathered together a remarkable cast of characters to pay tribute to master musicians, all in the name of charity. Past honorees have included Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, and R.E.M. This year, twenty artists will be singing the music of the Who on March 2 at Carnegie Hall, with 100% of the proceeds going to such organizations as Fixing Instruments for Kids in Schools, Music Unites, Young Audiences New York, the Church Street School for Music & Art, the Pinwheel Project, and the American Symphony Orchestra. Performers who will be reaching deep into the Roger Daltrey / Pete Townshend songbook include Bob Mould, Nicole Atkins, Bettye LaVette, Mose Allison, Living Colour, Robyn Hitchcock, the Smithereens, Willie Nile, Sondre Lerche, the Gaslight Anthem, Jason Isbell, Raul Midon, and Bobby McFerrin. We’ve been to several of these events, which are always fun, especially if the performer being honored just happens to show up, as Bruce Springsteen did at his and Michael Stipe and Peter Buck did at theirs. The night before, March 1, City Winery will be hosting a live rehearsal show with house band Rich Pagano & the sugarCane Cups along with Nile, Mould, Atkins, Isbell, and others who will be appearing at the Carnegie Hall benefit on Tuesday.

ARMORY ARTS WEEK: THE ARMORY SHOW

The Armory Show highlights Armory Arts Week, running March 4-7

THE ARMORY SHOW
Piers 92 & 94
Twelfth Ave. at 55th St.
March 4-7, $30 general admission, $40 Armory Show / VOLTA NY Pass, $60 run of show
www.thearmoryshow.com

The Armory Show, the anchor presentation of Armory Arts Week, is now in its twelfth year, featuring 267 galleries from 31 countries spread around Piers 92 (modern and historical art) and 94 (contemporary works by living artists) on the Far West Side. Focus:Berlin comprises nearly two dozen galleries from Berlin, while a half dozen exhibitors will represent the Not for Profit section. The Armory Show, along with its offspring, VOLTA NY, will host a series of Open Forum discussions with artists, curators, museum and gallery directors, art writers and editors, and others. Among the events we’re looking forward to is Philip-Lorca diCorcia signing copies of his latest books at David Zwirner’s booth on Saturday at 3:00. There will also be a slew of programs in conjunction with Armory Arts Week in general, with special exhibitions, lectures, discussions, discounted museum admission, and more beginning March 2 at such locations as Grant’s Tomb and Dia at the Hispanic Society of America and continuing with extended hours, open studios, opening-night parties, free brunches, tours, workshops, demonstrations, site-specific installations, film screenings, live performances, and more in SoHo on March 4, Long Island City on March 5, Chelsea and Brooklyn on March 6, and the Lower East Side on March 7.

BROADWAY TICKET GIVEAWAY: LOOPED

looped

Lyceum Theatre
149 West 45th St. between Sixth Ave. & Broadway
Tickets: $25-$226.50
www.loopedonbroadway.com

Born in Huntsville, Alabama, in 1902, Tallulah Bankhead, she of the unforgettable deep, scratchy voice, had an up-and-down fifty-year career onstage, in the movies, and on television, appearing in such films as George Cukor’s TARNISHED LADY, Alfred Hitchcock’s LIFEBOAT, and Otto Preminger’s A ROYAL SCANDAL as well as being a popular guest on such shows as THE TONIGHT SHOW, THE MERV GRIFFIN SHOW, and THE RED SKELTON SHOW in addition to hosting her own program, THE BIG SHOW. She also played Black Widow in two episodes of BATMAN in 1967, and her stage work included such hits as THE LITTLE FOXES and PRIVATE LIVES. Matthew Lombardo’s new comedy, LOOPED, directed by Rob Ruggiero, brings Talullah back to Broadway in a none-too-flattering way; the play is set in 1965 as Bankhead (Valerie Harper), somewhat looped herself, is looping dialogue for what would be her final film, Silvio Narizzano’s DIE! DIE! MY DARLING!, in which she starred as “one mean mother-in-law” along with Stefanie Powers and Donald Sutherland.

“If you really want to help the American theater,” the perpetually scandal-ridden Bankhead, daughter of a politician who became Speaker of the House, once said, “don’t be an actress, dahling. Be an audience.” Although it costs $25 to $226.50 to be part of the LOOPED audience, twi-ny is giving away three pairs of tickets to see the show. Just send your name and daytime phone number to contest@twi-ny.com by Tuesday, March 2, at 12 noon and you’ll be eligible to win. All entrants must be twenty-one and older, and winners will be selected at random.

ROBYN HITCHCOCK

Legendary flaneur Robyn Hitchcock will play a special gig at City Winery, joined by friends Sean Nelson and Lenny Kaye

City Winery
155 Varick St. at Vandam St.
Sunday, February 28, $35-$55, 8:00
212-608-0555
www.citywinery.com
www.robynhitchcock.com
flickr slideshow

The inimitable Robyn Hitchcock is part of the same British singer-songwriter school that has brought the world such endlessly entertaining musicians as Richard Thompson and Graham Parker, playing ironic, cynical, highly intellectual, and downright hysterical songs while filling their live shows with ironic, cynical, highly intellectual, and downright hysterical off-the-cuff chatter. From his days with the Soft Boys through his backup bands the Egyptians and the Venus 3, Hitchcock has put together a remarkable collection of pure pop pleasure, Beatles-esque with touches of Bob Dylan and even flashes of early Pink Floyd, commenting on the state of contemporary culture and romance like no one else can. Last year Hitchcock released two discs, I OFTEN DREAM OF TRAINS IN NEW YORK (Yep Roc, November 2009), which documented his live show re-creating his 1984 album I OFTEN DREAM OF TRAINS, and GOODNIGHT OSLO (Yep Roc, February 2009), another delightful grab bag of dazzling tunes, including the catchy “Saturday Groovers” and the beautiful “Hurry for the Sky” that fit in well with such classic Hitchcock as “Balloon Man,” “Madonna of the Wasps,” “So You Think You’re in Love,” “My Wife and My Dead Wife,” “Man with the Lightbulb Head,” “Sometimes I Wish I Was a Pretty Girl,” and “Give Me a Spanner, Ralph.” In addition, Hitchcock — whose cutting-edge Web site, the Museum of Hitchcock, was one of the first to integrate music and merchandise in clever ways while creating an intimate fan community — has developed a long-term relationship with director Jonathan Demme, beginning with the music documentary STOREFRONT HITCHCOCK (1998), in which Robyn played in a empty window space in New York City, and continuing with soundtrack work and cameo appearances in THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (2004) and RACHEL GETTING MARRIED (2008). Hitchcock, who will turn a youthful fifty-seven next week, will be joined by Sean Nelson (Harvey Danger) and the great Lenny Kaye (Patti Smith Group) for this very special gig at City Winery, where Thompson played last year and Parker will be performing in April. Hitchcock will also be participating in the March 2 Carnegie Hall benefit concert “The Music of the Who,” with such artists as Mose Allison, Bob Mould, Willie Nile, Bettye LaVette, the Smithereens, the Gaslight Anthem, and many others covering the career of Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, and Keith Moon.

PURIM 2010

Masks and Mayhem is only one of many Purim parties taking place all over the city on February 27

The Jewish holiday of Purim is a time of rejoicing, celebrating the defeat of the Persian leader Haman, who, serving under Persian king Ahasuerus in the fifth century BCE, sought to kill all the Jews. There will be Purim parties all over town on Saturday night, when people will gather with noisemakers and good grog, partaking in the triangular delicacy known as hamentashen, and reading from the Megillah. Chris Noth will host the Aish Center’s “Masks and Mayhem” in the Sony Atrium, with food from Eli Kirshstein, a free drink, music by DJ Roy Baron, and a costume contest that can earn you a pair of first-class tickets to Israel or a Private Chef’s Table for Ten at Solo. The Shushan Channel will be going crazy at 92yTribeca with their eighth annual Purim spiel, “Lady Graga,” led by Daily Show creator Lizz Winstead and taking on pop culture as only they can. JDub records will be getting down at the CSV Cultural Center with a Hamanbashin costume contest and party featuring live performances by the Shondes, Can!!Can, and Gangsta Rabbi, DJ sets by Ultragrrrl and Matt Elkin, and Patrick Aleph delivering the whole Megillah channeled through Sid Vicious. Israeli hip-hoppers Hadag Nahash will be partying late into the night at (le) poisson rouge. At City Winery, Storahtelling presents Bloody Esther, starring Rebbetzin Hadassah Gross, better known as the First Lady of Judeo Kitsch. And in Brooklyn, Heeb magazine has teamed up with 3rd Ward for the Pour ’em Party, featuring Team Facelift, the Shining Twins, Dirty Fences, and DJs Johnny Tropical, Drew Heffron, and Kool Jew, while the Sway Machinery will headline the third annual Purim Bash at Littlefield, along with Djarara.

FIVE EASY PIECES

Jack Nicholson places the most famous sandwich order in film history (Sony Pictures Repertory)

FIVE EASY PIECES (Bob Rafelson, 1970)
Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
February 26 – March 4
212-727-8110
www.filmforum.org

A key film that helped lead 1960s cinema into the grittier 1970s, Bob Rafelson’s FIVE EASY PIECES is one of the most American of dramas, a tale of ennui and unrest among the rich and the poor, a road movie that travels from trailer parks to fashionable country estates. Caught in between is Bobby Dupea (Jack Nicholson), a former piano prodigy now working on an oil rig and living with a well-meaning but not very bright waitress, Rayette (Karen Black). When Bobby finds out that his father is ill, he reluctantly returns to the family home, the prodigal son who had left all that behind, escaping to a less-complicated though unsatisfying life putting his fingers in a bowling ball rather than tickling the keys of a grand piano. Back in his old house, he has to deal with his brother, Carl (Ralph Waite), a onetime violinist who can no longer play because of an injured neck and who serves as the film’s comic relief; Carl’s wife, Catherine (Susan Anspach), a snooty woman Bobby has always been attracted to; and Bobby’s sister, Partita (Lois Smith), a lonely, troubled soul who has the hots for Spicer (John Ryan), the live-in nurse who takes care of their wheelchair-bound father (William Challee). Rafelson had previously directed the psychedelic movie HEAD (he cocreated the Monkees band and TV show) and would go on to make such films as THE KING OF MARVIN GARDENS, STAY HUNGRY, and BLACK WIDOW; FIVE EASY PIECES fits flawlessly in between them, a deeply philosophical work that captures the myriad changes the country was experiencing as the Woodstock Generation was forced to start growing up. The film suffers from some unsteady editing primarily in the earlier scenes, but it is still a gem, featuring at least two unforgettable scenes, one that takes place in a California highway traffic jam and the other in a diner, where Bobby places an order for the ages. And as good as Nicholson is, earning the first of seven Best Actor Oscar nominations, Helena Kallianiotes nearly steals the picture as a crazy woman railing against the ills of the world from the backseat of Bobby’s car. FIVE EASY PIECES will be screening at Film Forum for one week in a brand-new 35mm restoration in honor of its fortieth anniversary.