Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway at Washington St.
Saturday, February 3, free, 5:00 – 11:00
212-864-5400 www.brooklynmuseum.org
The Brooklyn Museum honors Black History Month with its free February First Saturday program, featuring live performances by Aaron Abernathy, the Skins, Brooklyn Dance Festival, Everyday People, Latasha Alcindor (presenting All a Dream: Intro to Latasha), and Urban Word NYC, including teen poets William Lohier, Shakeva Griswould, Roya Marsh, Jive Poetic, and Anthony McPherson, hosted by Shanelle Gabriel; a screening of Sabaah Folayan and Damon Davis’s Whose Streets? followed by a discussion with Folayan and museum Teen Night Planning Committee senior member Elizabeth Rodriguez; pop-up gallery talks by teen apprentices in the “American Art” galleries; a community talk by Kleaver Cruz, founder of the Black Joy Project; a Black Joy photo booth with photographer Dominique Sindayiganza; a hands-on workshop inspired by the scratch and resist technique of Jean-Michel Basquiat; a curator talk by Eugenie Tsai on Basquiat’s “Untitled” (1982), part of the exhibition “One Basquiat”; and the community talk “Malcolm X in Brooklyn” by oral historian Zaheer Ali. In addition, the galleries will be open late so you can check out “One Basquiat,” “Roots of ‘The Dinner Party’: History in the Making,” ““Arts of Korea,” “Infinite Blue,” “Ahmed Mater: Mecca Journeys,” “Rodin at the Brooklyn Museum: The Body in Bronze,” “A Woman’s Afterlife: Gender Transformation in Ancient Egypt,” and more.
Who:Jane Birkin,Elia Einhorn What: An evening with Jane Birkin Where:French Institute Alliance Française, Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59th St. between Madison & Park Aves., 212-355-6160 When: Monday, January 29, $35, 7:00 Why: In 2010, London-born French actress, model, and singer appeared at the French Institute Alliance Française for two concerts and a staged reading with Wajdi Mouawad. On January 29, she returns to FIAF for a conversation, Q&A, and book signing three days before her highly anticipated “Birkin Gainsbourg The Symphonic” show at Carnegie Hall with Wordless Music Orchestra, pianist Nobuyuki Nakajima, and special guest Rufus Wainwright. In 2013, Birkin told the Independent that she found it “very flattering to have the most beautiful songs, probably, in the French language written for one,” referring to Gainsbourg, who passed away in 1991 at the age of sixty-two, while also asking, “How much talent did I really have? Perhaps not that much.” Birkin first caught the public’s attention with roles in such films as Richard Lester’s The Knack . . . and How to Get It, Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blowup and Kaleidoscope, and Joe Massott’s Wonderwall. (She has also been in films by Jacques Rivette, James Ivory, and Hong Sang-soo.) Birkin is most famous for the ten-year relationship she had with Serge Gainsbourg, with whom she made several films and records, including the album and movie Je t’aime . . . moi non plus; they also had a child together, actress and singer Charlotte Gainsbourg (Antichrist,Melancholia). In addition, Birkin has children from her relationships with British composer John Barry and French director Jacques Doillon, as well as five grandchildren. The seventy-one-year-old philanthropist and two-time César nominee recently announced her retirement from acting after starring in the Oscar-winning short La femme et le TGV. Birkin’s achievements are many, but for the fashion-obsessed crowd, she’s probably most adored as the inspiration for the Hermés Birkin bag — one can barely type it without calling it “the iconic Birkin bag” — an incredibly expensive, instantly recognizable handbag from the high-end French accessories firm. The English-language conversation at FIAF, moderated by Pitchfork’s Elia Einhorn, will be followed by a signing of Birkin’s Attachments, her 2014 photo-essay collaboration with photographer Gabrielle Crawford.
Analisa Teachworth and Jonas Wendelin, seen above performing “Dependency Demographics” last year in Germany, will be at MoMA PS1 for “Anti Bodies” on January 28 (photo courtesy Hamburger Bahnhof Museum)
MoMA PS1
22-25 Jackson Ave. at 46th Ave.
Sunday, January 28, $15, 2:00 – 6:00
718-784-2084 www.moma.org topicalcream.info
For the January 28 edition of its Sunday Sessions series held in the VW Dome, MoMA PS1 is teaming with Topical Cream, a self-described “New York-based platform [that] has supported a community of artists, writers, designers, and technologists through digital publishing and public programming initiatives.” From 2:00 to 6:00, there will be live performances, readings, film, and installations exploring how artists deal with self-preservation and resistance. The afternoon includes a performance by Analisa Teachworth with Jonas Wendelin, videos presented by Jacksonville-based artist Redeem Pettaway, live music by Zsela and Deli Girls, and a new piece by Julia Scher on surveillance and security. In addition, there will be video and poetry in the main museum building by Michelle Young Lee, Sara Hornbacher, Sarah Zapata, Maya Martinez, Rin Johnson, Sophia Le Fraga, and Natasha Stagg.
Who:Jim Boggia What: Ukulele tribute to the music of Bruce Springsteen Where:Arlene’s Grocery, 95 Stanton St. at Orchard St. When: Saturday, January 27, $10, 8:00 Why: Retro-pop nostalgia devotee Jim Boggia released three albums last decade, Fidelity Is the Enemy, Safe in Sound, and Misadventures in Stereo, and has also played with the Fab Faux and Mad Dogs & Dominos in addition to many, many others. On January 27, the vinyl-obsessed musician will be at Arlene’s Grocery, offering an alternative to the hottest show around, Springsteen on Broadway, with his own celebration, “Bruce Off Broadway: A Ukulele Tribute to the Boss.” Yes, Boggia, who was raised just outside Flint, Michigan, and is a longtime Philly dude, will be playing Springsteen songs on his ukulele, and, lo and behold, he’s pretty damn good at it, as evidenced by his videos for “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,”“Thunder Road,” and “Growing Up.” It might not quite be the toughest ticket going, but get one while you still can to check out what should be a very different kind of Springsteen experience.
Town Stages
221 West Broadway
Saturday, January 20, $20 per session, $35 for both, 3:00 & 7:00 baeuprising.splashthat.com
Saturday’s Women’s March on New York City takes place from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm, starting at 72nd St. & Central Park West and continuing to Sixth Ave. & Forty-Fifth St., to speak out for equality. “Over the past year, basic rights for women, immigrants, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities, the religious and nonreligious, people of color and even Mother Earth have struggled to survive under the weight of the current administration,” the official march registration website explains. “America’s First Amendment has been challenged and healthcare for millions has been threatened. We must stand together to demand and defend our rights. Let your voice echo from the streets of New York City to the capital city. Show the world that red, white, and blue are colors of tolerance.” Immediately following the march, the collective BAE is hosting “Uprising” at Town Stages, consisting of two sessions of panel discussions (with community leaders, artivists, and change-makers), live art, music, healing modalities, food & drink, and more in support of the Women’s March Alliance. Session 001, “The Women’s Movement: Stages of Evolution,” runs from 3:00 to 7:00, while Session 002, “Cities, Spaces, Sex & Power: How We Evolve,” goes from 7:00 to 11:00. Tickets for each session are $20, or you can pay $35 for both, called “Double Impact.” BAE refers to itself as “a celebration of female creativity and divine feminine energy, before anything else. It is a gathering of our collective evolution and the vitality of tangible sacred spaces curated, produced, and performed by women, for ALL.”
French pop icon Johnny Hallyday stars as an alternate version of himself in Laurent Tuel’s Jean-Philippe
French Institute Alliance Française, Florence Gould Hall
55 East 59th St. between Madison & Park Aves.
Monday, January 22, $14, 7:30
212-355-6160 fiaf.org
On December 5, 2017, singer and actor Johnny Hallyday, known as the French Elvis, died of lung cancer at the age of seventy-four after eight years of serious health problems. “We all have a piece of Johnny Hallyday inside every one of us. The public today is in tears, and the whole country mourns,” President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement. More than a million people lined the streets of Paris for the funeral procession of the national hero, who sold more than one hundred million records and was married five times to four women. On January 22, FIAF will pay tribute to the motorcycle-loving Hallyday, born Jean-Philippe Smet, with the special program “An Evening Celebrating Johnny Hallyday.” The tribute begins with a screening of Laurent Tuel’s 2006 film, Jean-Philippe, in which the pop icon portrays a fictional version of himself, just a regular person, opposite Fabrice Luchini. The screening will be followed by a wine reception with live performances of some of the Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur’s many hits.
America came of age in the 1960s, from the assassinations of JFK, RFK, MLK, and Malcolm X to Vietnam and the Summer of Love. Carnegie Hall is paying tribute to the turbulent decade with the two-month series “The ’60s: The Years that Changed America,” inspired by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Robert A. Caro. The native New Yorker, who turned eighty-two this past October, is the author of such books as The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York and the four-part The Years of Lyndon Johnson, with a fifth tome on the way. “Luther King gave people ‘the feeling that they could be bigger and stronger and more courageous than they thought they could be,’ Bayard Rustin said — in part because of the powerful new weapon, non-violent resistance, that had been forged on the Montgomery battlefield,’” Caro wrote in Master of the Senate, a quote obviously apt for MLK Day. Running January 14 through March 24 all across the city, the festival features concerts, panel discussions, film screenings, dance, art exhibitions, and more. Below are only some of the many highlights; keep watching this space for more additions.
Sunday, January 14
through
Saturday, March 24 “Max’s Kansas City,” photos and writings, Mark Borghi Gallery, free
Friday, January 19 “You Say You Want a Revolution: Remembering the Sixties,” Library After Hours opening night program with experimental films, album-cover workshop, games and puzzles, curator tour led by Isaac Gewirtz, dance party with Felix Hernandez, and more, exhibit continues through September 1, the New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, free, 7:00
Kronos Quartet, works by Stacy Garrop (world premiere inspired by “I Have a Dream” speech), Zachary J. Watkins (world premiere inspired by Studs Terkel), Terry Riley, John Cage, and Janis Joplin, Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, $62-$72, 9:00
Tuesday, January 23
through
Friday, May 18 “The Global Interconnections of 1968,” Kempner Exhibition Gallery, Butler Library (sixth floor), Columbia University, free
Friday, January 26 Bernard and Irene Schwartz Classic Film Series:Coming Home (Hal Ashby, 1978), Justice in Film presentation introduced by Susan Lacy, New-York Historical Society, free with pay-what-you-wish museum admission, 7:00
Tuesday, February 6
through
Sunday, February 11 March, duet from Lessons inspired by civil rights movement, part of winter season program by Ronald K. Brown / Evidence, a Dance Company, the Joyce Theater, $26-$46
Saturday, March 24 “The Vietnam War: At Home and Abroad,” multimedia presentation with Friction Quartet performing George Crumb’s “Black Angels” and more groups to be announced, narrated by John Monsky, Zankel at Carnegie Hall, $35-$45, 2:00
