Mungo Thomson will celebrate the summer solstice by performing his chamber ensemble piece “Crickets” on the High Line as part of Make Music New York (video still courtesy of the artist)
Every June 21, Make Music New York celebrates the longest day of the year with a full slate of free concerts in limitless genres throughout the five boroughs, in parks, libraries, restaurants, stores, plazas, and out on the street and aboard party buses. Not only can you check out some great shows but you can also participate; Mass Appeal once again features nearly two dozen performances in which everyone is invited to bring their own instrument and join in, with accordions in Central Park, circuit benders at CultureFix, gongs in Herald Square, cellos in Flatiron Building Plaza, clarinets in Carroll Park, flutes on Wollman Rink Terrace, French horns at the South Street Seaport, toy pianos in Sakura Park, harps at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, mandolins in Theodore Roosevelt Park, saxophones in Little Red Square, and ukuleles in Sheridan Playground, among other gatherings. And you don’t need an instrument at all to take part in humming in the DUMBO ConEd Farragut Substation and singing at St. John the Divine. Some of the more unusual presentations include Eli Keszler’s piano-wire sound installation in the DUMBO Archway of the Manhattan Bridge, R. Murray Schafer’s “Credo” performed by 144 singers on rowboats on the lake in Central Park, Nate Buccieri’s traveling Privia Piano Bar, an all-day performance of Beck’s Song Reader at Joe’s Pub, “Brass Ascension” in Tompkins Square Park, and Mungo Thomson’s “Crickets” on the High Line. The musical celebration of the summer solstice continues into Saturday, when more than one hundred hardcore bands descend on the Staten Island Coast Guard Pier for the sixth annual Punk Island.
Wes Anderson’s Rushmore is a dazzlingly dark, sublime masterpiece. Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom) created one of the all-time-great quirky indie antiheroes in Max Fischer, played with relish by Jason Schwartzman. Max is a troubled genius at the private Rushmore Academy, where his eccentricities make him somewhat of an outcast. His best friend is wealthy iconoclast Herman Blume (Bill Murray in a career-redefining role), but their relationship turns sour when it becomes apparent that they both have their hearts set on beautiful teacher Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams). A unique take on disaffected youth, Rushmore, which also features such Anderson regulars as Luke Wilson and Seymour Cassel and was cowritten by Owen Wilson, helped launch a new wave of American independent cinema with its offbeat narrative and eclectic soundtrack, which includes songs by Donovan, the Rolling Stones, Django Reinhardt, Cat Stevens, Yves Montand, and the Faces, along with original material by Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh. Rushmore is screening June 20 as part of the free Films in Tompkins programming in Tompkins Square Park and will be preceded by a live performance by the all-women’s AfroBrazilian Samba Reggae drumming band BatalaNYC. The summer series continues into August with such other fab films as Reservoir Dogs (with Amour Obscur), Easy Rider (with Main Street Quintet), The Big Lebowski (with Jade Pinto and the Yeahtones), and O Brother, Where Art Thou?, which was rescheduled for August 22 after getting rained out on June 13.
