twi-ny recommended events

LAST CHANCE — HEY! HO! LET’S GO! RAMONES AND THE BIRTH OF PUNK / QUEENS INTERNATIONAL 2016

Danny Fields, “Ramones in alley behind CBGB,” 1977 (photo courtesy the artist)

Queens Museum
New York City Building
Flushing Meadows Corona Park
Sunday, July 31, suggested admission $8, 11:00 am – 5:00 pm
718-592-9700
www.queensmuseum.org

“The Ramones all originate from Forest Hills and kids who grew up there either became musicians, degenerates or dentists. The Ramones are a little of each. Their sound is not unlike a fast drill on a rear molar,” Tommy Erdelyi, aka Tommy Ramone, wrote in in the Ramones’ first press release. That artifact serves as the perfect introduction to “Hey! Ho! Let’s Go: Ramones and the Birth of Punk,” which closes at the Queens Museum on Sunday, July 31, along with the Queens International 2016. The Ramones celebration is being held in conjunction with the fortieth anniversary of the band’s debut album, Ramones, which featured lead singer Joey (Jeffrey Hyman), guitarist Johnny (John Cummings), bassist Dee Dee (Douglas Colvin), and drummer Tommy pumping out fourteen songs in less than half an hour, a nonstop barrage that included “Blitzkrieg Bop,” “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend,” “Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue,” and “53rd & 3rd,” on their way to changing the shape of music and underground culture around the world. The exhibition consists of memorabilia galore, from photographs, videos, and artwork to handwritten lyrics, letters, T-shirts, and concert posters, as well as a few of their classic leather jackets and instruments (and the Schlitzie mask used during “Pinhead”). In a back room, the Ramones’ 1977 New Year’s Eve concert at the Rainbow in London plays continuously on the big screen. It’s the first of a two-part exhibition; the second iteration begins in September at the Grammy Museum in L.A. Gabba gabba hey!

Abby Dobson and Sam Vernon will perform in front of Vernon’s “Louis & Sam” collage at the Queens Museum on July 31 (photo by QM Curatorial Staff)

Sunday is also your last chance to catch “Queens International 2016,” the museum’s biennial exhibition focusing on artists who live and/or work in the borough, this time looking at the concept of thresholds. We’re particularly fond of Kate Gilmore’s “Beat It” video (don’t read about it in advance and simply experience it), the Janks Archive’s “The Internal Insults,” a collection of razzes in multiple languages; Alan Ruiz’s “Western Standards,” a different kind of Mexican wall; Melanie McLain’s “Prepersonal” installation, which you are supposed to touch; Shadi Harouni’s “The Lightest of Stones,” a video in which she pulls down rocks in a pumice quarry in Iranian Kurdistan; and Brian Caverly’s “Studio Abandon,” a miniature re-creation of his Ridgewood studio. The closing festivities on Sunday start at 1:00 with “Las Reinas,” a performance by Jesus Benavente and Felipe Castelblanco involving the creation of a new song by two mariachi bands, one in Queens and one in Colombia. At 2:30, “When You’re Smiling . . . The Many Faces of the Mask” is a site-specific performance by singer Abby Dobson and guitarist Sam Vernon in response to the latter’s wall collage “Louis & Sam.” And at 3:00, there will be a screening of “A Frame Apart: Short Films Showcase,” followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers.

GENESIS BREYER P-ORRIDGE: TRY TO ALTAR EVERYTHING

“Crucifom” is one of many unusual ritualistic artworks in Genesis Breyer P-Orridge exhibit at the Rubin Museum (courtesy Invisible-Exports)

“Cruciform” is one of many unusual ritualistic artworks in Genesis Breyer P-Orridge exhibit at the Rubin Museum (courtesy Invisible-Exports)

Rubin Museum of Art
150 West 17th St. at Seventh Ave.
Through August 1, $10-$15
212-620-5000
rubinmuseum.org

There are only three days left to see Genesis Breyer P-Orridge’s intriguing and captivating site-specific, interactive-exchange exhibition “Try to Altar Everything.” Born Neil Andrew Megson in 1950 in Manchester, England, Genesis cofounded the influential industrial bands Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV as well as the art collective COUM Transmissions. Five years ago, Marie Losier’s documentary, The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye: A Film of Transformation, detailed the love story between Genesis and Lady Jaye, both of whom went through various forms of plastic surgery to become one pandrogynous unit known as Breyer P-Orridge. (Pandrogeny stands for “positive androgeny.”) Lady Jaye passed away in 2007, and h/er death is evident throughout “Try to Altar Everything.” (The artist prefers such gender-neutral pronouns as “s/he,” “h/er,” or the plural “they” and “their.”) The exhibit explores occult ritual, faith and devotion, and the nature of objects; throughout the run of the show, visitors are encouraged to bring a small offering that will be placed in the circular containers in the walls on the sixth floor.

Genesis P-Orridge will take calls as part of Try to Altar Everything (photo courtesy Rubin Museum)

Genesis Breyer P-Orridge will take calls as part of “Try to Altar Everything” (photo courtesy Rubin Museum)

Genesis employs the cut-up method, popularized by Bryon Gysin and William S. Burroughs (whom she knew), to create sculptures and mixed-media collages that reference religion, from Christianity to Hindu and Tantric Buddhism. Each work is filled with strange and fascinating details that are worth investigating, including “Cruciform (Sigil Working),” in which a naked Lady Jaye adopts Christ’s pose on the cross; “Feeding the Fishes,” a shrine with fish, a mandala, and a sphere resting on a mold of gums and teeth; and “Reliquary,” a wooden box with sting ray skin, plastic eggs, a mirror, and photos. There are also illuminated standing coffins, a medicine chest, a bronze hand you’re supposed to touch, a stiletto shoe with bones and fur, and a cabinet of curiosities. And for “Listen Here,” Genesis will occasionally stop by the museum, take a seat in the regal red chair, and answer visitors’ phone calls. It’s a bold, wild, yet deeply personal exhibit that feels right at home at the Rubin. “Once you let go of all the different reasons to not do something, it leaves you with the freedom to do everything, and that was the path we chose,” Genesis says about taking risks in the Artist Extras section of the Rubin website. “Let’s go out and look for revelation, look for creation.” In addition, Genesis has curated a related Friday-night Cabaret Cinema series that continues through August 26 with Fellini Satyricon, Peter Collinson’s Up the Junction, John Schlesinger’s Billy Liar, and Liliana Cavani’s The Night Porter, introduced by Simon Critchley.

MISS SHARON JONES!

Sharon Jones is nervous about returning to the stage after tough cancer battle in Barbara Kopple’s intimate, affecting documentary

MISS SHARON JONES! (Barbara Kopple, 2015)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
Opens Friday, July 29
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com
sharonjonesandthedapkings.com

“I feel my day is coming, it’s my time,” soul singer extraordinaire Sharon Jones is shown saying at the beginning of Barbara Kopple’s touching and intimate documentary, Miss Sharon Jones! But that was before the former wedding singer and Rikers Island corrections officer, who was born in 1958 in North Augusta, South Carolina, raised in Brooklyn, and later lived in Queens, was diagnosed in June 2013 with stage two pancreatic cancer. Jones, who has been called the female James Brown — she tells a story in the film about the time she met the Godfather of Soul — allows the Oscar-winning Kopple (Shut Up & Sing, Harlan County, USA) remarkable access as she cuts off her trademark locks and chooses a wig, undergoes painful chemotherapy, is cared for by her close friend and holistic nutritionist Megan Holken, and visits her old stomping grounds in Augusta, Georgia. Jones shares her thoughts about her future, feeling responsible for the financial well-being of her longtime band, the Dap-Kings. “First and foremost, we’re a family,” Daptone Records cofounder and saxophonist Neal Sugarman says. In fact, “family” is a word that pops up often in the film when people describe their relationship with Jones, who has never married and has no children. Among those who talk about Jones, her amazing talent, and her fight with cancer are her oncologist, Dr. James Leonardo; her manager, Alex Kadvan, who is with her every step of the way; her assistant manager Austen Holman, who tries not to break down on camera; Daptone Records cofounder and bassist Gabe Roth; guitarist Binky Griptite, who is up front about his financial troubles while the band is on hiatus; drummer Homer Steinweiss; and Dapettes Starr Duncan Lowe and Saundra Williams.

Sharon Jones, the female James Brown, takes the stage in Barbara Kopple’s MISS SHARON JONES!

Jones is a fiery dynamo onstage, pounding the floor in her bare feet, shaking her dreads wildly, a relentless performer in a compact package. (We’ve seen Miss Jones perform numerous times, including with Prince at Madison Square Garden, and Kopple does a masterful job capturing Jones’s infectious passion and energy.) She proves herself to be quite the character offstage as well, an unpredictable force who is at ease lighting up a cigar while fishing in a lake, not embarrassed to admit that her dream is to dance on Ellen with Ellen DeGeneres, and lifted by the power when delivering an awe-inspiring rendition of the Gospel standard “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” in a Queens church. Of course, the film is filled with lots of great music, all originals by Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, including “I Learned the Hard Way,” “Get Up and Get Out,” “Longer & Stronger,” “I’ll Still Be True,” and “100 Days, 100 Nights.” As the chemotherapy nears its conclusion, Jones, itching to return to the stage, wonders whether she’ll be strong enough to go back out on tour behind their latest record, the aptly titled Give the People What They Want.After seeing the film, Jones posted on social media, “I never thought I had a story, but Barbara Kopple and her team captured a beautiful one during the most difficult months of my life. They were able to make the difficulty in what I went through mean a lot. You see a part of life I never would have looked at and it was moving for me to be able to see all the people it affected.” Miss Sharon Jones! is indeed a moving, deeply affecting film. It opens at IFC Center on July 29, with Kopple and Jones participating in Q&As following the 7:45 screenings on July 29 and 30.

ERIC BURDON AND THE ANIMALS AT CITY WINERY

Eric Burdon and the Animals will play two intimate shows at City Winery August 8-9 (photo © David Weimann)

City Winery
155 Varick St. between Spring & Vandam Sts.
Monday, August 8, and Tuesday, August 9, $85-$125, 8:00
212-608-0555
www.citywinery.com/newyork
www.ericburdon.com

In his 2012 SXSW keynote address, Bruce Springsteen talked about the influence Eric Burdon and the Animals had on him. Playing “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” on an acoustic guitar, Springsteen said, “That’s every song I’ve ever written. That’s all of them. I’m not kidding.” He also called listening to the Animals for the first time “a revelation.” The next year, Burdon joined Springsteen and the E Street Band, who used to turn the Animals’ “It’s My Life” into a showpiece in their early days, onstage in Cardiff for a stirring version of “We Gotta Get Out of This Place”; clearly, Burdon had forgiven Springsteen for calling the Animals the “ugliest” band in rock and roll. I felt the same way the first time I heard the Animals; they were so different from fellow British Invaders the Beatles, the Who, the Rolling Stones, and the Kinks. They were a bunch of working-class guys you would not want to meet in a dark alley, infusing their music with the deep heart of the blues while also offering escape. I remember seeing Burdon perform in the 1980s at Westbury Music Fair in the round, where he covered Springsteen’s “Factory,” which described a life he knew, having been born and raised in the coal-mining town of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Eric Burdon and the Animals back in the British Invasion days

In 1986, about halfway through his storied career, Burdon wrote the memoir I Used to Be an Animal But I’m All Right Now. Since 1962, he has been the lead singer of numerous on-again, off-again incarnations of the band, which has been beset by breakups and lawsuits over the years; the latest edition will be returning to New York for two intimate shows at City Winery August 8-9, following their two sold-out performances there last October. Burdon has one of the most powerful, distinctive voices in rock and roll history, melding blues, funk, jazz, R&B, folk, hard rock, psychedelia, and other styles over a career that has included playing with the ever-changing lineup of Animals as well as with War, the Eric Burdon Band, Eric Burdon’s Fire Dept., the Eric Burdon Brian Auger Band, Eric Burdon and the Greenhornes, and as a solo act. Burdon’s remarkable back catalog is ripe with amazing songs: In addition to the aforementioned “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” and “It’s My Life,” there’s “The House of the Rising Sun,” “Sky Pilot,” “San Franciscan Nights,” “Spill the Wine,” “Tobacco Road,” and “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood,” among so many more, both originals and covers of such legends as Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker, Sam Cooke, and other great bluesmen. “My faith was so much stronger then / I believed in fellow men / And I was so much older then / When I was young,” he sang back in 1966; half a century later, Burdon is still going strong, having just celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday in May.

A painter and actor (check out the German film Comeback) as well as an author (he also wrote Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood in 2002 and is working on a third memoir), the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is no mere novelty act; he’s back on the road with guitarist Johnzo West, keyboardist Davey Allen, bassist Justin Andres, saxophonist Ruben Salinas, trombonist Evan Mackey, and drummer Dustin Koester, playing the big hits in addition to songs from his latest record, 2013’s personal and political ’Til Your River Runs Dry, which boasts such tunes as Diddley’s “Before You Accuse Me”; “Memorial Day,” which honors soldiers and pacifists; and “27 Forever,” which pays tribute to all those musicians who died at the age of twenty-seven. Burdon has seen it all, from drugs and the height of success to going broke and battling over song credits; in fact, after a long legal fight, he recently regained the UK rights to the name the Animals, so he will be playing what is being billed as “The Homecoming” in Newcastle on September 7. But before then, you can catch Mr. Burdon at City Winery, where he will play a wide range of songs from throughout a remarkable, still vibrant career, doing what he was born to do. “Nothing’s changed, I’m still the same,” he sings on ’Til Your River Runs Dry. “Old habits die hard.” (Brooklyn-based Alberta Cross will open both nights.)

SMITHEREENS

Wren (Susan Berman) is determined to become famous in Susan Seidelman’s SMITHEREENS

SMITHEREENS (Susan Seidelman, 1982)
Metrograph
7 Ludlow St. between Canal & Hester Sts.
July 29 – August 4
212-660-0312
metrograph.com

I’m a little worried about Metrograph’s weeklong presentation of Susan Seidelman’s underground cult classic, the one and only Smithereens. The Lower East Side art house is proclaiming that it is showing a new 35mm print, but a lot of the charm of the low-budget wonder is its gritty, less-than-polished attitude. I’m afraid it could be like when you hear a crystal-clear old album on CD that sends you back to the vinyl LP so you can hear every beloved scratch and pop. Regardless, Smithereens, the first American indie to be shown in competition at Cannes, is a fab tale set in the East Village punk / new wave scene of the late 1970s, as a tough-talking young woman from the New Jersey suburbs seeks to find her place in the burgeoning city subculture. Susan Berman, who was discovered in the audience at an off-Broadway play, makes her film debut as Wren, an annoying, unlikable wannabe desperate to become part of the music business. Wearing ever-more-fashionable punky get-ups, she wanders the streets seeking fame, plastering Xeroxes of her face all over and claiming to be on the guest list at the Peppermint Lounge. The innocent Paul (Brad Rijn), recently arrived from Colorado and living in his cool van in a postapocalyptic abandoned lot, immediately falls for Wren, but she has her eyes set on Eric (Richard Hell), the leader of a band who has plans to make it big in California. Wren is an unapologetic user, taking advantage of Paul, Eric, her landlady, her family, and her few friends, but Berman imbues her with just enough sublimated tender charm to keep you glued to her trainwreck of a life.

Wren (Susan Berman) latches on to punk musician Eric (Richard Hell) in underground cult classic

Seidelman made Smithereens over the course of eighteen months on a shoestring budget of $40,000, employing fellow NYU students and editing the film during several breaks in production that led to important recasting. The screenplay was written by Peter Askin, who later directed the original off-Broadway version of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and Ron Nyswaner, who went on to write Swing Shift and The Painted Veil. Cinematographer Chirine El Khadem shot the film on the fly in 16mm, giving it a guerrilla feel that matches the pulsating soundtrack by Glenn Mercer and Bill Million of the Feelies (in addition to songs by the Raybeats and Richard Hell and the Voidoids). Berman, who prepared for the role by watching Federico Fellini’s Nights of Cabiria at Seidelman’s request, is a whirlwind in her first movie of what would be a sparse career, playing Wren with a freewheeling abandon, little caring who she steps on as she desperately seeks some kind of stardom. “I just wanna be in a swimming pool, eating tacos, and signing autographs — that’s all,” she says. You might not like Wren, but you won’t be able to take your eyes off her. Watch out for bit parts played by Amos Poe and Chris Noth. Smithereens will be screening in a new 35mm print at Metrograph July 29 to August 4, with Seidelman (Desperately Seeking Susan, Making Mr. Right) in attendance at the 7:00 show on opening night to talk about this seminal work.

GLEASON

NFL hero Steve Gleason takes a new look at life after being diagnosed with ALS

GLEASON (Clay Tweel, 2016)
Landmark Sunshine Cinema, 143 East Houston St. between First & Second Aves., 212-330-8182
AMC Loews Lincoln Square 13, 1998 Broadway at 68th St.
Opens Thursday, July 28
gleasonmovie.com

“It’s not gonna be easy but it’s gonna be awesome,” Steve Gleason promises his unborn child in the extraordinary documentary Gleason, a heartbreaking yet uplifting tale about dedication, family, and never giving up. On September 26, 2006, scrappy New Orleans safety and special teams stalwart Gleason became an all-time inspirational Saints hero when, on Monday Night Football, he blocked Atlanta Falcon Michael Koenen’s punt less than a minute and a half into the Saints’ first home game in the Superdome following the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina the previous summer. The play, which resulted in a touchdown when the ball was recovered by Curtis DeLoatch in the end zone, has been memorialized with a statue titled “Rebirth” in front of the stadium. But Gleason became a different kind of hero five years later when the undrafted free agent was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, a generally fatal neuromuscular disease. Right after that, the Washington State native, who at the age of thirty-four was given three to five years to live, found out that his wife, artist and free spirit Michel Varisco, was pregnant with their first child, a boy. Determined to pass on as much of a legacy as he could to his unborn baby, Gleason began a vlog, a series of deeply personal five-minute videos in which he spoke openly and honestly about how they would never have the traditional father-son relationship but he wanted the boy to know that he was loved and cherished. But that is only the beginning of an incredible story that is poignantly told in Gleason.

Directed and edited by Clay Tweel (Make Believe, Print the Legend), the film features powerful clips from Gleason’s video journal; intimate footage shot by Ty Minton-Small and David Lee, who lived with Gleason, Varisco, and their son, Rivers, for two years; and interviews with family members and friends as Gleason’s physical conditions worsens but his heart and will grow stronger. “People will say, ‘Oh, it’s such a sad, tragic story,’ Gleason explains in the film. “It is sad, and so they’re right, but it’s not all sad. I think there is more in my future than in my past.” Gleason, with Michel’s father, Paul Varisco, form Team Gleason, a grass-roots nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people with ALS have a better quality of life, taking them on adventure vacations and giving them access to cutting-edge technology that increases their ability to communicate as the disease destroys their speech and movement. Among Steve’s famous friends and supporters are Saints quarterback Drew Brees and his wife, Brittany, and Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready and singer Eddie Vedder. Steve and Michel hold nothing back, sharing their deepest fears and insecurities while his condition deteriorates. As he tries to get the most out of his limited time with Rivers, Gleason also reexamines his troubled relationship with his father, Mike, a born-again Christian who is often at odds with his son. The real superstar of the film, however, is the brave and courageous Michel, who devotes her life to her husband and son despite increasing difficulties. In a statement about the film, Michel said, “I hope people who need a good laugh or a heavy cry can get that from this film. I hope people who need to be reminded to love their kids or their friends can get that from this movie. I hope people with ALS who want to use this film to show others what their lives really are like can get that from this movie. I hope people who have strained relationships with their parents will want to work on those relationships after they watch this movie. I hope people who have wanted to do something great in life will go ahead and do it after seeing this movie. People have told me that they have gotten all of these things from watching Gleason. And I think that’s pretty awesome.” Gleason, which is not always easy to watch, achieves all that and more, and indeed, that’s pretty awesome. The Sundance hit opens July 28 at Loews Lincoln Square and the Landmark Sunshine, with Tweel and Michel Varisco participating in a Q&A after the 4:45 screening at Landmark on July 30.

THE BELLS: A DAYLONG CELEBRATION OF LOU REED

The life and legacy of Lou Reed will be celebrated on July 30 with free all-day festival at Lincoln Center

LINCOLN CENTER OUT OF DOORS
Damrosch Park Bandshell, Josie Robertson Plaza, Hearst Plaza,
Alice Tully Hall lobby, Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center Amphitheater
Saturday, July 30, free, 10:15 am – 12 midnight
www.lcoutofdoors.org
www.loureed.com

I think I took Lou Reed for granted. I’d see him regularly, either performing onstage, wandering through downtown art galleries, seeing shows at BAM, or grabbing a cab with his wife, Laurie Anderson. He was just one of those icons you thought would always be around, but it was not to be. On October 27, 2013, he succumbed to liver disease at the age of seventy-one. Less than three weeks later, on November 14, Lincoln Center hosted a low-key tribute to the Godfather of Punk at the Paul Milstein Pool & Terrace, three hours of his recorded music, with no speeches and no live performances. On July 30, Lincoln Center Out of Doors will be putting on a much bigger and broader festival in honor of Reed’s influential life and career with “The Bells: A Daylong Celebration of Lou Reed,” curated by Anderson and Hal Willner. The party gets under way at 10:15 on Josie Robertson Plaza with a tai chi lesson with Master Ren GuangYi; Reed recorded six original songs with Sarth Calhoun for the master’s Power and Serenity instructional DVD. From 11:00 to 4:00, the immersive sound installation “Lou Reed DRONES,” consisting of six guitars and amps emitting feedback, will continue in the Alice Tully Hall lobby. At 11:30 in the Damrosch Park Bandshell, the house band of Don Fleming, Sal Maida, Kenny Margolis, Lee Ranaldo, Steve Shelley, and Matt Sweeney will be joined by vocalists Joan as Police Woman, David Johansen, Lenny Kaye, Jesse Malin, Kembra Pfahler, Felice Rosser, Harper Simon, Jon Spencer, Bush Tetras, JG Thirlwell, and the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls for some rock & roll. From 12 noon to 7:00, the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center Amphitheater will present Reed’s 2010 documentary, Red Shirley (12 noon & 3:00), about his one-hundred-year-old cousin; A Night with Lou Reed (1:30 & 5:30), a video document of his 1983 Bottom Line stand; and the American Masters program Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart (4:00). At 2:00 in Hearst Plaza, Master Ren GuangYi will give a tai chi chuan and weapons demonstration, along with an eagle claw weapons demonstration by Masters Emmanuel Sam and Paul Lee. At 3:00, “Pass Thru Fire: Lyrics of Lou Reed” features Elizabeth Ashley, Steve Buscemi, Anne Carson, Kim Cattrall, Willem Dafoe, A. M. Homes, Natasha Lyonne, Julian Schnabel, Fisher Stevens, and Anne Waldman reading Reed’s words. At 7:00, Anderson, Anohni, Emily Haines, Garland Jeffreys, David Johansen, Mark Kozelek, Bill Laswell, John Cameron Mitchell, Maxim Moston, Jenni Muldaur, Jane Scarpantoni, Victoria Williams, Jim White, John Zorn, and others will gather at the bandshell for live performances of “Lou Reed’s Love Songs,” showing off his gentler side. The celebration, named after his 1979 album The Bells, concludes with a 10:30 screening (with headphones) of Julian Schnabel’s film Lou Reed’s Berlin, a concert film of Reed’s performance of the 1973 album at St. Ann’s Warehouse in 2006. It should be quite a day and night; try not to take it for granted.

LOU REED’S BERLIN (Julian Schnabel, 2007)
Damrosch Park Bandshell
Saturday, July 30, free, 10:30
www.loureed.com/inmemoriam

In December 2006, Lou Reed resurrected his 1973 masterwork, Berlin, a deeply dark and personal song cycle that was a critical and commercial flop upon its initial release but has grown in stature over the years. (As Reed sings on the album’s closer, “Sad Song”: “Just goes to show how wrong you can be.”) The superbly staged adaptation, directed by Academy Award nominee Julian Schnabel (Basquiat, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), took place at Brooklyn’s intimate St. Ann’s Warehouse, featuring Rob Wasserman and longtime Reed sideman Fernando Saunders on bass, Tony “Thunder” Smith on drums, Rupert Christie on keyboards, and guitarist extraordinaire Steve Hunter, reunited with Lou for the first time in three decades. The band is joined onstage by backup singers Sharon Jones and Antony, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and a seven-piece orchestra (including cello, viola, flute, trumpet, clarinet, and flugel). Amid dreamlike video montages shot by Schnabel’s daughter, Lola, depicting Emmanuelle Seigner as the main character in Berlin, as well as experimental imagery by Alejandro Garmendia, Reed tells the impossibly bleak story of Caroline, a young mother whose life crashes and burns in a dangerously divided and debauched Germany. “It was very nice / It was paradise,” Reed sings on the opening title track, but it’s all downhill from there. “It was very nice / It was paradise” might also now serve as a kind of epitaph for one of the most important poets of the last fifty years. Berlin is being shown at Damrosch Park Bandshell at 10:30 on July 30, with headphones available.