this week in music

R.O.S.E.

R.O.S.E. premiered last year at the Manchester International Festival (photo by Johan Persson)

R.O.S.E.
Park Ave. Armory
643 Park Ave. at Sixty-Seventh St.
September 5-12, $65
www.armoryonpark.org

Park Ave. Armory’s massive Wade Thompson Drill Hall has been turned into a flashy nightclub for the North American premiere of the immersive R.O.S.E., running September 5-12.

There are no seats for the three-hour production, so the audience will be on their feet and on the move, shaking and grooving to the show, which features cutting-edge choreography by Sharon Eyal, direction by Gai Behar and Caius Pawson of the record label Young, musical curation by Mattis With of Young, stage and creative design by Daphnée Lanternier, lighting by Alon Cohen, costumes by Maria Grazia Chiuri, and music by DJ Ben UFO. (Audience members can take a break on lounge seating in adjoining reception rooms.)

An armory commission that previously played at New Century Hall in Manchester, R.O.S.E. explodes with freedom, energy, and intimacy as audience and performers meld together as one.

There are several special programs being held in conjunction with R.O.S.E. On September 7 at 7:00, there will be a SLINK rave ($35) with DJs Currency Audio, Laenz, Simisea, rrao, and Enayet, while on September 8 at 6:00 the STUNT QUEEN!!! rave will be led by DJs Kilopatrah Jones, MORENXXX, madison moore, and TYGAPAW, hosted by Xander C. Gaines Aviance and with a poetry reading by Abdu Mongo Ali. And on September 8 at 3:00, “Day for Night: A Salon on Art and Nightlife” ($35) features “Music and Deejaying” with madison moore, Kevin Aviance, and Xander C. Gaines Aviance; “Dance and Club Culture” with Ariel Osterweis and MX Oops; and “The Art of Queer Worldmaking” with Gage Spex, Raúl de Nieves, Dosha, and Jacolby Satterwhite.

Some shows are already sold out, so act fast if you want to catch what should be one of the hottest shows of the year.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]

HARLEM WEEK 50: CELEBRATE THE JOURNEY

HARLEM WEEK
Multiple locations in Harlem
August 7-18, free
harlemweek.com

Fifty years ago, actor and activist Ossie Davis cut a ribbon at 138th St. and the newly renamed Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. (formerly Seventh Ave.), opening what was supposed to be a one-day, one-time-only event known as Harlem Day; Davis called it “the beginning of the second Harlem Renaissance.” Among the cofounders were Davis, his wife, Ruby Dee, Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, Harry Belafonte, Ornette Coleman, Lloyd E. Dickens, David Dinkins, Basil Paterson, Tito Puente, Charles Rangel, Max Roach, Vivian Robinson, “Sugar Ray” Robinson, Hope R. Stevens, Bill Tatum, Barbara Ann Teer, and Rev. Wyatt T. Walker.

The festival has blossomed over the last half century into the annual favorite Harlem Week, a summer gathering packed full of live performances, film screenings, local vendors, panel discussions, a job fair, fashion shows, health screenings, exhibits, and more. This year’s theme is “Celebrate the Journey”; among the highlights are the Uptown Night Market, the Percy Sutton Harlem 5K Run & Health Walk, Great Jazz on the Great Hill, Harlem on My Mind Conversations, a Jobs & Career Fair, the Children’s Festival, the Concert Under the Stars, and the centerpiece, “A Great Day in Harlem.” Below is the full schedule; everything is free.

Wednesday, August 7
Climate Change Conference, Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building, West 125th St., 6:00

Thursday, August 8
Uptown Night Market, 133rd St. & 12th Ave., 4:00 – 10:00

Harlem Summerstage, Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building, 5:30

HW 50 Indoor/Outdoor Film Festival, 7:00

Friday, August 9
Senior Citizens Day, with health demonstrations and testing, live performances, exhibits, panel discussions, the Senior Hat Fashion Show, and more, Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm

Saturday, August 10
NYC Summer Streets Celebrating Harlem Week’s 50th Anniversary, 7:00 am – 3:00 pm

The Percy Sutton Harlem 5K Run & Health Walk, West 135th St., 8:00 am

Choose Healthy Life Service of Renewal and Healing, noon

Great Jazz on the Great Hill, Central Park Great Hill, 4:00

Harlem Week/Imagenation Outdoor Film Festival: Black Nativity (Kasi Lemmons, 2013), 7:00

Sunday, August 11
A Great Day in Harlem, with Artz, Rootz & Rhythm, the Gospel Caravan, AFRIBEMBE, and Concert Under the Stars featuring the Harlem Music Festival All-Star Band, music director to the stars Ray Chew, and special guests, General Grant National Memorial, Riverside Dr., noon – 7:00

Monday, August 12
Youth Conference & Hackathon, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm

Children’s Corner — Books on the Move: “Mommy Moment,” 10:00 am

Tuesday, August 13
Economic Development Day, noon – 3:00

Arts & Culture/Broadway Summit, 3:00

Harlem on My Mind Conversations, 7:30

Wednesday, August 14
NYC Jobs & Career Fair, CCNY, 160 Convent Ave., 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

Harlem on My Mind Conversations, 7:00

Thursday, August 15
Black Health Matters/HARLEM WEEK Summer Health Summit & Expo, with free health screenings, prizes, breakfast, and lunch, the Alhambra Ballroom, 2116 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd., 9:00 am – 3:00 pm

Harlem Summerstage, Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building Plaza, 5:00

Banking & Finance for Small Business & Entrepreneurs, Chase Community Banking Center, 55 West 125th St., 6:00 – 9:45

Harlem on My Mind Conversations, 8:45

Saturday, August 17
NYC Summer Streets Celebrating HARLEM WEEK’s 50th Anniversary, 109th St. & Park Ave. – 125th St. & Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd., 7:00 am – 3:00 pm

NYC Children’s Festival, with storytelling, live performances, dance, hip hop, theater, poetry, arts & crafts, double dutch competitions, face painting, technology information, health services, and more, Howard Bennett Playground, West 135th St., noon – 5:00

Summer in the City, with live performances, fashion shows, and more, West 135th St., 1:00 – 6:00

Alex Trebek Harlem Children’s Spelling Bee, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Blvd., 2:00

Harlem Week/Imagenation Outdoor Film Festival, Great Lawn at St. Nicholas Park, West 135th St. 6:00

Sunday, August 18
NYC Health Fair, West 135th St., noon – 5:00

NYC Children’s Festival, with storytelling, live performances, dance, hip hop, theater, poetry, arts & crafts, double dutch competitions, face painting, technology information, health services, and more, Howard Bennett Playground, West 135th St., noon – 5:00

Harlem Day, with live performances, food vendors, arts & crafts, jewelry, hats, sculptors, corporate exhibitors, games, a tribute to Harry Belafonte, and more, West 135th St., 1:00 – 7:00

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]

PHILIPPE PETIT: TOWERING!!

Philippe Petit will look back at his historic walk between the Twin Towers at special events at St. John the Divine (photo courtesy Man on Wire)

Who: Philippe Petit, Sting, Anat Cohen, Molly Lewis, Sophie Auster, Tim Guinee, Lorenzo Pisoni, Evelyne Crochet, Shawn Conley, James Marsh, Michael Miles, and students of Ballet Tech
What: Live performances celebrating fiftieth anniversary of Twin Towers high-wire walk
Where: The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, 1047 Amsterdam Ave. at 112th St.
When: Wednesday, August 7, and Thursday, August 8, $50-$500 (VIP $1800), 8:30
Why: It was an unforgettable moment in my childhood. On August 7, 1974, French tightrope artist Philippe Petit, six days shy of his twenty-fifth birthday, pulled off what he called “le coup”: After six years of secret planning, he snuck up to the top of the South Tower of the recently built World Trade Center and walked on a 131-foot-long wire he had strung to the other, 1,350 feet aboveground, traversing it eight times over forty-five minutes using a balancing pole. The crossing was completely unauthorized; spectators and security officers alike were stunned. It was a spectacular achievement that went viral well before there was anything like social media. It was all over the news, on television and in the papers, and it was all anyone was talking about.

“This is probably the end of my life to step on that wire,” Petit says in James Marsh’s 2008 documentary, Man on Wire. “Death is very close.”

The Twin Towers opened on April 4, 1973, and were destroyed on September 11, 2001.

Petit has also walked the high wire at the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Louisiana Superdome, the Centre Georges Pompidou, the Paris Opera, the Museum of the City of New York, the Eiffel Tower, and locations in Jerusalem, Tokyo, Vienna, Frankfurt, Belgium, Switzerland, and numerous US cities. In 1982, 1992, and 1996, he performed the feat at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, where he has been an artist in residence for more than four decades.

On August 7 and 8, in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of his World Trade Center walk, called the “artistic crime of the century,” Petit has conceived and directed “Towering!!,” a special two-night multidisciplinary happening consisting of nineteen scenes at the cathedral, where he will be joined by clarinetist Anat Cohen, musical whistler Molly Lewis, singer-songwriter Sophie Auster, actors Tim Guinee and Lorenzo Pisoni, classical pianist Evelyne Crochet, bassist and composer Shawn Conley, musician, author, and educator Michael Miles, and students from Ballet Tech dance school.

Petit, who turns seventy-five on August 13, will walk the high wire and share stories about his WTC adventure. In addition, his good friend Sting will play three songs, including “Let the Great World Spin,” which was written specifically for this event, and Marsh will debut a short film about Petit.

Limited tickets are still available for several sections as well as VIP seating, which comes with Champagne and dessert with Petit after the performance. Part of the proceeds support programs at the cathedral and the preservation of Petit’s archives.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]

BROOKLYN MUSEUM FIRST SATURDAY: SOL/SOLEY/SOLO

Takashi Murakami adds unique characters to many of his Hiroshige re-creations in Brooklyn Museum exhibit (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

SOL/SOLEY/SOLO
Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway at Washington St.
Saturday, August 3, free, 5:00 – 10:00
212-864-5400
www.brooklynmuseum.org

The Brooklyn Museum honors Caribbean culture with its free August First Saturday program, “Sol/Soley/Solo,” featuring live performances by Metro Steel Orchestra, RAGGA NYC DJs Oscar Nñ and Byrell the Great, Dada Cozmic, and Lulada Club; storytelling with Janet Morrison and Deborah C. Mortimer; a pop-up Caribbean market; pop-up poetry with Roberto Carlos Garcia, Omotara James, Anesia Alfred, and Christina Olivares; a hands-on art workshop in which participants will make Caribbean-inspired fans; and screenings of Ben DiGiacomo and Dutty Vannier’s 2023 documentary Bad Like Brooklyn Dancehall, followed by a talkback with Pat McKay, Screechy Dan, and Red Fox, moderated by Lauren Zelaya, and Eché Janga’s 2020 drama, Buladó. In addition, the galleries will be open late so you can check out “Nico Williams: Aaniin, I See Your Light,” “Paul McCartney Photographs 1963–64: Eyes of the Storm,” “Brooklyn Abstraction: Four Artists, Four Walls,” “The Brooklyn Della Robbia,” “The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago,” and more.

Paul McCartney, Self-portrait, London, 1963, large graphic reproduction (courtesy MPL Communications Ltd.)

It’s also your last chance to catch the must-see exhibition “Hiroshige’s 100 Famous Views of Edo (feat. Takashi Murakami),” which closes August 4. For the first time in more than two decades, the Brooklyn Museum is displaying its rare complete set of Utagawa Hiroshige’s “100 Famous Views of Edo,” an 1856–58 collection of woodblock prints of Edo, later to become Tokyo. Hiroshige, who died in 1858 at the age of sixty-one, captured everyday life in the gorgeous works, from flora and fauna to stunning landscapes to fish, cats, people, and weather patterns, including Nihonbashi, Clearing After Snow; Ryogoku Ekoin and Moto-Yanagibashi Bridge; Cotton-Goods Lane, Odenma-cho; Yatsukoji, Inside Sujikai Gate; Shitaya Hirokoji; Night View of the Matsuchiyama and Sam’ya Canal; View of Nihonbashi Tori-itchome; Sudden Shower over Shin-Ohashi Bridge and Atake; and Bamboo Yards, Kyobashi Bridge.

The show is supplemented with related objects, contemporary photographs of the locations by Álex Falcón Bueno, and, most spectacularly, Takashi Murakami’s re-creations of each view of Edo, many with gold or platinum leafing. Dozens of smaller 14 1/2 × 9 7/16 inch acrylics on canvas are arranged in three rows on the walls, as well as 39 3/8 × 25 9/16 inch works in two rows, but it’s the large-scale 137 13/16 × 89 9/16 inch pieces that demand intense scrutiny, as Murakami has added classic miniature characters from his oeuvre, hiding them in trees, behind bushes, on rooftops, and in other hard-to-find locations, in the same gallery space where “© Murakami” dazzled visitors in 2008.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]

OPEN CALL 2024: NEW ART FOR NEW YORK

Asia Stewart, work-in-progress showing of Fabric Softener, presented by Amanda + James, Coffey Street Studio, Red Hook, Brooklyn, June 11, 2022 (photo by Elyse Mertz / courtesy the artist)

OPEN CALL
The Shed
545 West 30th St. at Eleventh Ave.
Thursday – Saturday through August 17, free with advance RSVP
646-455-3494
theshed.org

The Shed’s free summer performance series, Open Call, kicked off in June with Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre’s Gathering: New York City and has included such other presentations as Cain Coleman’s New Information, Kyle Dacuyan’s Dad Rock, and Garrett Zuercher’s Inside/Look. It continues July 25–27 with Asia Stewart’s Fabric Softener, a ritualistic response to Toni Morrison’s 1977 novel, Song of Solomon, that introduces the audience to the Laundress (Stewart), the Celebrant (Dominica Greene), and the Witness (Candice Hoyes), joined by the Narrator (Shala Miller) and violinist and composer Yaz Lancaster.

The next weekend, NIC Kay’s must have character features a mascot and a drag performer (Kay and Gabriele Christian) wandering through the Shed and the surrounding area from noon to 8:00 on August 1 and 1:00 to 3:00 on August 2, followed by the public program “Building Characters Through Theater and Photography” on August 3 at 1:00. On August 9 and 10 at 7:30 in the Griffin Theater, Nile Harris investigates jazz cornetist Buddy Bolden, mental illness, containment, and black box theaters in a workshop production of minor b, starring Harris, Jim Fletcher, Tony Jenkins, Ley(sis), and Jonah Rollins. Open Call concludes August 15–17 with Kayla Hamilton’s immersive dance performance How to Bend Down/How to Pick It Up, which honors lineages of Black disabled imagination.

Although many of the performances are sold out, these are free events, so there are always no-shows; in-person waitlists will be available fifteen minutes before curtain.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]

LEGENDS & LEGACIES: ELEVENTH ANNUAL STooPS BED-STUY ART CRAWL AND BLOCK PARTY

STooPS 2024 SUMMER FESTIVAL
Stuyvesant Ave. & Decatur St., Brooklyn
Saturday, July 27, free (advance registration recommended), 1:00 – 7:00
www.stoopsbedstuy.org
www.eventbrite.com

The eleventh annual STooPS Arts Crawl and Block Party takes place July 27 from 1:00 to 7:00, with live music and dance, spoken word, workshops, theater, and visual art on the stoops and shared spaces of Bedford–Stuyvesant. This year’s theme is “Legends & Legacies,” honoring the history of the community. Among the legacies participants are textile artist Aaliyah Maya, singer-songwriters Amma Whatt and YahZarah, poets Carmin Wong, Kai Diata Giovanni, and Keys Will, storyteller Christine Sloan Stoddard, musicians BSTFRND, DJ Toni B, and Zardon Za’, dancer-choreographer Kendra J. Bostock, healer Renee Kimberly Smith, and artists Ladie Ovila Lemon (Mūt’ Sun) and Shanna Sabio. Representing the legends are Black Girl Magic Row; Monique Greenwood of Akwaaba Mansion; Sincerely, Tommy founders Kai Avent-deLeon, Mama Jelani deLeon, and Ms. Doreen deLeon; Chief Baba Neil Clarke; Ms. Cathy Suarez of the Decatur St. Block Association; and organizer and educator Lumumba Akinwole-Bandele of the East.

“STooPS is a living legacy — the bridge that connects the artists, movements, organizations, and neighbors who transformed Bed-Stuy into a Black Cultural Hub with the new artists, residents, and visitors in order to forge the future of this neighborhood and Black culture,” STooPS founding director Bostock said in a statement. “For our 2024 annual summer festival we honor the national and hyperlocal hero/sheros and imagine and inspire their posterity with our theme, Bed-Stuy: Legends and Legacies.“

The festivities begin at 1:00 with a block party lasting all afternoon, including a Kiddie Korner; there will be art crawls at 1:30 and 4:30, led by playwright and poet Wong. All events are free but advance registration is recommended.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]

WEST SIDE FEST 2024

The High Line will host special programming at West Side Fest (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

WEST SIDE FEST
July 12-14, free
Multiple locations between Bank & West Thirtieth Sts.
www.westsidefest.nyc

Every June, the Upper East Side hosts the Museum Mile Festival, when seven or eight arts institutions, including the Met, the Guggenheim, the Cooper Hewitt, the Jewish Museum, and El Museo del Barrio, open its doors for free and turn Fifth Ave. into an arts-based street fair.

The West Side is getting in on the action with its own celebration with the weekend-long West Side Fest, running July 12-14, featuring live performances, guided tours, open studios, interactive workshops, special presentations, and free entry at many locations between Bank and Thirtieth Sts., including the Rubin, Poster House, the Whitney, Hudson Guild, Little Island, the Shed, Dia Chelsea, and the Joyce. Below is the full schedule; a map is available at the above website.

Friday, July 12
NYC Aids Memorial, 7:00 am – 11:00 pm

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center, 8:00 am – 10:00 pm

Hudson Guild: Déflorée History Series, with panels by Valerie Hallier, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

Hudson Guild: Triennial Children’s Art Show, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm

Poster House, free admission, 10:00 – 6:00

Little Island: Creative Break, art workshops, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm

Dia Chelsea, noon – 6:00

Whitney Museum of American Art: Open Studio for Teens, 1:00 – 3:00

IndieSpace/West Village Rehearsal Co-Op: Open Rehearsal by Divine Riot Company of Five Times in One Night, 2:00 – 5:00

Hill Art Foundation: Sound Bath, with musician Daren Ho, 5:00 – 7:00

The Joyce Theater at Chelsea Green Park: Pop-Up Dance Performances by Pilobolus and Dorrance Dance, 5:00 & 6:30

The Shed: Summer Sway, 5:00 – 8:00

White Columns: Exhibition Opening Reception, with works by Michaela Bathrick, Ali Bonfils, Joseph Brock, Eleanor Conover, and Donyel Ivy-Royal, 5:00 – 8:00

Whitney Museum of American Art: Free Friday Nights, advance RSVP required, 5:00 – 10:00

Print Center New York: Print Center After Hours, 6:00 – 8:00

Westbeth Artists Housing x the Kitchen Kickoff Celebration & Poster Sale, 6:00 – 8:00

Rubin Museum of Art: K2 Friday Night, 6:00 – 10:00

Little Island: Teen Night, 7:00 – 8:00

“Wonder City of the World: New York City Travel Posters” is on view at Poster House

Saturday, July 13
High Line: Family Art Moment: Dream Wilder with Us, ages 5–12, 10:00 am – noon

IndieSpace/West Village Rehearsal Co-Op: Open Rehearsal by Divine Riot Company of Five Times in One Night, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm

Poster House, free admission, 10:00 – 6:00

Hudson River Park: Explore & Play, 14th Street Park, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm

Little Island: Creative Break, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm

Westbeth Artists Housing: Penny’s Puppets, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm

Rubin Museum of Art, 11:00 am – 5:00 pm

Center for Art, Research, and Alliances, Javier Téllez: Amerika, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm

High Line: A Celebration of High Line Wellness, 11:30 am – 1:00 pm

The Kitchen: Tai Chi Workshop, 11:30 am – 1:00 pm

Hudson Guild: Triennial Children’s Art Show, noon – 3:00

Poster House Block Party, noon – 5:00

Dia Chelsea, noon – 6:00

Hudson Guild: Déflorée History Series, with panels by Valerie Hallier, 1:00 – 4:00

The Kitchen Poster Sale, 1:00 – 6:00

Westbeth Artists Housing: Art & Craft Market, 1:00 – 6:00

IndieSpace/West Village Rehearsal Co-Op: Open Rehearsal by Ali Keller, 2:00 – 5:00

Print Center New York: Print Activation with Demian DinéYazhi’, 2:00 – 5:00

Westbeth Artists Housing Open Studios, 2:00 – 5:00

Dia Chelsea Soil Sessions: Earth Sounds with Koyoltzintli, advance RSVP required, 2:30

Westbeth Artists Housing: You Are Never Too Old to Play, 7:00 – 9:00

The Rubin reimagines its collection in grand finale (photo byt twi-ny/mdr)

Sunday, July 14
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center, 8:00 am – 8:00 pm

Poster House, free admission, 10:00 – 6:00

Whitney Museum of American Art: Free Second Sundays, 10:30 am – 6:00 pm

Hudson River Park Community Celebration, with Ajna Dance Company, henna, and community groups, Pier 63, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm

Center for Art, Research, and Alliances, Javier Téllez: Amerika, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm

Rubin Museum of Art: Family Sunday, 1:00 – 3:00

Westbeth Artists Housing Open Studios and Art & Craft Market, 1:00 – 5:00

Westbeth Artists Housing: Art Take-Over, curated by Valérie Hallier, Claire Felonis, and Noah Trapolino, 1:00 – 6:00

Whitney Museum of American Art: STAFF ONLY, Westbeth Gallery, 1:00 – 6:00

Chelsea Factory: Ladies of Hip-Hop’s Ladies Battle!, 1:00 – 10:00

IndieSpace/West Village Rehearsal Co-Op: Open Rehearsal by Felice Lesser Dance Theater of I AM A DANCER 2.0, 2:00 – 4:00

High Line: The Death Avenue Posse, by the Motor Company, 5:30 & 7:00

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]