this week in lectures, signings, panel discussions, workshops, and Q&As

CELEBRATE MEXICO NOW

Botellita de Jerez will rock out at SOB’s as part of annual celebration of Mexican art and culture

Multiple venues
September 21 – October 1
www.mexiconowfestival.org

The eighth annual Celebrate México Now festival celebrating Mexican culture begins tonight with the free panel discussion “México se escribe con J: A Celebration of Gay Culture in Mexico” at NYU’s King Juan Carlos 1 of Spain Center, with Nayar Rivera, Michael Schuessler, Alejandro Varderi, and Earl Dax talking about “The Famous 41” and other issues of sexual orientation in Mexico, and continues through October 1 with dance, music, theater, art, films, food, and parties. Anthology Film Archives will screen “Gen Mex: Recent Films from México,” the Queens Museum of Art will host the Trajinera Xochitl Project and the multimedia theatrical presentation “Hecho en Mexico: Estreno Nacional,” Mexican electronica band Sweet Electra will play the Church of All Nations, chef Daniel Ovadía will prepare special dishes for the panel demonstration “History and Traditions of Mexican Gastronomy” (yes, the audience will get to sample his food), Botellita de Jerez will rock out at SOB’s, the collective Rey Trueno will perform the multimedia Radio Soap Opera at the Bowery Poetry Club, and the folkloric Pasatono Orchestra will play a free show at the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center and a ticketed show at Casa Mezcal.

BRYANT PARK FALL FESTIVAL

Elisa Monte Dance will perform in Bryant Park on Thursday night as part of annual fall festival (photo copyright Roy Volkmann)

Bryant Park
West 40th to 42nd Sts. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Through September 23, free
www.bryantpark.org

The annual Bryant Park Fall Festival concludes with several excellent programs, beginning today at 12:30 with the Rubin Museum of Art presenting “A Conversation with Peter Sellars,” in which the theater impresario will discuss his dramatization of The Vimalakirti Sutra, rehearsals of which can be seen Friday and Saturday night at the Rubin. On Thursday night at 6:00, the extremely talented Elisa Monte Dance will perform, followed on Friday night at 6:00 by Pascal Rioult’s RIOULT company, which will present Celestial Tides, set to Bach, and two works set to Ravel, Wien (La Valse) and Bolero. Each dance performance will be preceded at 5:00 by a workshop for kids. (For our recent twi-ny talk with Rioult, please click here.)

CLIMATE WEEK: REFLECTING THE STARS

“Reflecting the Stars” seeks to give the night sky back to the people (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Pier 49, Hudson River Park at Bank St.
Climate Week runs September 19-26
Through October 25, free
www.thewindmillfactory.com
www.climateweeknyc2011.org

Born and raised in Kentucky, Jon Morris couldn’t help but notice something as he moved to Los Angeles and then here to New York City: the disappearance of so many stars and constellations in big-city skies as a result of light pollution and other environmental problems. So he resolved to do something about it. He and his artists collective, the Windmill Factory (so named with more than a subtle nod to Don Quixote), which specializes in “manufacturing the sublime,” has installed “Reflecting the Stars” on the old pilings jutting out into the river from Pier 49 in Hudson River Park. Divers have attached radio-controlled, solar-powered LED lights encased in rusting steel pipe caps on more than two hundred of the wooden posts, and each evening, from sunset to midnight, blue and white lights go on and off in various patterns. In addition, visitors can push buttons on a board to see nine constellations that can are longer visible with the naked eye in the city sky, including Perseus, Hercules, Canis Major, Andromeda, Aquila, Boötes, Pegasus, the Little Dipper, and Draco. Engineered by Adam Berenzweig, designed by Rich Schwab, and manufactured by Andy Baker at Kontraptioneering, “Reflecting the Stars” is more than just a cool site — and one, by the way, that is that much cooler if you can gain access to one of the surrounding roof decks to look down on it. It also sends an important environmental message, a plea for people to take back nature and the skies from industrial pollution, particularly the lights left on all night in office buildings and the neon logos that blast across the city all night long. “It raises questions about the way we live,” Morris said at the project’s public unveiling on August 31. With a Buddhist’s calm, Morris stressed how people need to regain their “connection to the stars, to the moon, to the universe.”


“Reflecting the Stars,” which continues through October 25, is one of the highlights of Climate Week, as the Clean Revolution descends on New York September 19-26. Among the many lectures, panel discussions, installations, cocktail receptions, and other educational and informational gatherings are “The Lexicon of Sustainability Project,” “Innovations in Energy Efficiency Finance,” “Apartment Building Recycling Training,” “Plug-In Cities: What EV Means for the Future of Urban and Regional Transportation,” “Feeding Hope: Living Democracy with Vandana Shiva & Frances Moore Lappé,” “Dr. James Hansen: Climate Change or Just Mother Nature Acting Out,” and the grand finale, “Meditations on a Warming Planet: An Audience Participation Performance” on September 26 at 6:00 on the Sheep Meadow in Central Park.

BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL 2011

Jhumpa Lahiri will receive the BoBi (Best of Brooklyn) Award at this year’s Brooklyn Book Festival

Multiple venues in Brooklyn
Sunday, September 18, free, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
www.brooklynbookfestival.org

Three’s just something about Brooklyn that both raises many of the world’s best writers and lures them to the Borough of Kings to do their most insightful writing. On Sunday, more than 250 writers will come together for the sixth annual Brooklyn Book Festival, with panel discussions, signings, lectures, workshops, live performances, and other events taking place at Borough Hall, Columbus Park, St. Francis College, St. Ann’s Church, and the Brooklyn Historical Society. This year’s BoBi (Best of Brooklyn) Award goes to Jhumpa Lahiri, who will be at St. Ann’s at 2:00 to speak with Liesl Schillinger. Everything is free, although some of the events require advance ticketing available one hour before program time. Below are our top ten recommendations; other participants include Colson Whitehead, John Sayles, Lawrence Block, Susan Isaacs, Madison Smartt Bell, Edmund White, Alina Simone, DJ Spooky, Pete Hamill, Russell Banks, Nicole Krauss, Larry McMurtry, Jennifer Egan, Tom Perrotta, Cory Doctorow, Dean Haspiel, J Hoberman, Phillip Lopate, Nick Bertozzi, Rita Williams-Garcia, and many more.

Laugh Your Head Off: Teen beauty pageant contestant Mad Libs! with Jon Scieszka, Libba Bray, Paul Acampora, and Tommy Greenwald, moderated by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, Youth Stoop, Borough Hall Plaza / Columbus Park, 10:00 am

The Phantom Tollbooth at 50: Norton Juster and Jules Feiffer in conversation with Leonard Marcus, St. Francis Auditorium, 180 Remsen St., tickets required, 12 noon

Epic Confusion: Readings and discussion with Nadia Kalman, Chuck Klosterman, and Sam Lipsyte, moderated by Tiphanie Yanique, St. Francis McArdle Hall, 180 Remsen St., 12 noon

Words of Personal: Readings by Jonathan Safran Foer, Joyce Carol Oates, and Nina Revoyr, followed by a Q&A moderated by Brigid Hughes, St. Francis Auditorium, 180 Remsen St., tickets required, 2:00

Gumshoes: Eoin Colfer and Walter Mosley, moderated by David L, Ulin, St. Ann and the Holy Trinity Church, 157 Montague St., 3:00

Making Difficult Choices: Panel discussion with Cory Doctorow, Jacqueline Woodson, and Gayle Forman, moderated by Caragh O’Brien, Youth Stoop, Borough Hall Plaza / Columbus Park, 3:00

Comics Writ Large and Small: Panel discussion with Craig Thompson, Anders Nilsen, and Adrian Tomine, moderated by Meg Lemke, St. Francis Auditorium, 180 Remsen St., tickets required, 3:00

CATCH-22 at 50: Examining the classic novel with Tracy Daugherty, Bruce Jay Friedman, and Troupe, North Stage, Borough Hall Plaza / Columbus Park, 3:00

Where Are We? Panel discussion with Deborah Eisenberg, Fran Lebowitz, and Wallace Shawn, moderated by Harold Augenbraum, St. Ann and the Holy Trinity Church, 157 Montague St., 4:00

Kickstarter Conversations: A Symposium on Creative Ideas with Ted Rall, Nelson George, and Meaghan O’Connell, moderated by Yancey Strickler, North Stage, Borough Hall Plaza / Columbus Park, 4:00

CRAIG THOMPSON: HABIBI

Multiple venues
September 17-20, free – $40
www.dootdootgarden.com
www.habibibook.com

Born in Traverse City, Michigan, and based in Portland, Oregon, graphic novelist Craig Thompson redefined the genre with his 2003 smash, Blankets, which won the prestigious Eisner, Harvey, and Ignatz awards and is on nearly all lists of the greatest graphic novels ever. He has followed that massive tome with a new massive tome, Habibi (Pantheon, September 20, 2011, $35). Habibi is a gorgeously designed tour de force for Thompson, who tells the epic love story of a pair of child slave refugees seeking their place in a complex, changing world. The tale unfolds amid spectacularly detailed panels and spreads that include filigreed borders, Middle Eastern motifs, Islamic writing, and glorious illustration depicting exciting action, intimate moments, and the spiritual search for identity. Thompson will be making several appearances in New York over the next few days, beginning with tonight’s “An Evening with Craig Thompson” at Greenpoint’s WORD bookstore ($40, 8:00), a meet-and-greet bookend event of the Brooklyn Book Festival. He’ll be participating in two discussions at the festival on Sunday afternoon, “The Heart of the Matter: Stories of Epic Love” with Alan Cheuse and Julie Orringer, moderated by Jeffrey Lependorf, at 12 noon at the St. Francis Volpe Library, and the can’t-miss all-star panel “Comics Writ Large and Small” at 3:00 at St. Francis Auditorium with Anders Nilsen and Adrian Tomine, moderated by Meg Lemke (free tickets required). On Tuesday, September 20, he’ll be at Midtown Comics Downtown on Fulton St. for a signing from 12 noon to 2:00, followed that night at 7:00 by a signing and Q&A with Bill Kartalopoulos in the Strand’s Rare Book Room.

JANE’S JOURNEY

Jane Goodall hangs out with chimpanzees once again in new documentary (photo by Andre Zacher)

JANE’S JOURNEY (Lorenz Knauer, 2010)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
Opens Friday, September 16
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com
www.firstrunfeatures.com/janesjourney

The first half of Lorenz Knauer’s documentary about Jane Goodall, Jane’s Journey, offers fascinating insight into the life and career of the famed primatologist. Making sure she’s not mistaken for the late Dian Fossey, Goodall shares intimate details about her personal and professional lives, discussing her two marriages and her conflict with her son while also delving into her early days working with chimpanzees and archaeologist Louis Leakey in Gombe National Park in Tanzania. Wanting to study animals in Africa since she was a little girl, Goodall achieved her dreams in her early twenties, as she came upon major discoveries that changed the way the scientific world looked at both chimpanzees and humans. Goodall, now in her seventies, returns to Tanzania, sitting with the chimpanzees, showing how they welcomed her those many years ago and still do today. In 1986, Goodall made an abrupt shift in her career, giving up primatology in favor of traveling around the world in a desperate effort to save the planet; the documentary makes an abrupt shift as well, going from a charming study of this highly influential woman to a worshipful fundraising campaign for her many charitable efforts, which include Roots & Shoots and the Jane Goodall Institute. It is here that the film loses its edge; whereas before Knauer spoke with people who knew Goodall well, including her son, her sister, her biographer, and a longtime coworker, now he adds interviews with superstar celebrities (Pierce Brosnan and Angelina Jolie) and random fans lining up for autographs. It’s not that what Goodall has been doing for the last quarter-century isn’t as important as what she did previously; it’s just that it’s not very interesting as presented, playing more like an infomercial than a documentary. Goodall will be at the IFC Center for the 7:20 and 9:50 screenings on opening night, September 16; on September 27 at 8:00 ($18), the one-night-only event “Jane Goodall Live!” will be broadcast to movie theaters around the country, including a screening of the film and additional rare footage as well as Goodall talking about her life and work with such famous figures as Dave Matthews and Charlize Theron.

RIGHT NOW! (A WeDaPeoples Cabaret)

Nona Hendryx, Nelson George, and Citizen Reno team up for a night of music, comedy, poetry, and social commentary at the Harlem Stage Gatehouse

Harlem Stage Gatehouse
150 Convent Ave. at West 136th St,
Saturday, September 17, $45, 7:30
212-281-9240
www.harlemstage.org

Writer, director, and cultural critic Carl Hancock Rux has brought together three uniquely talented individuals for Right Now!, a WeDaPeoples Cabaret taking place September 17 at the Harlem Stage Gatehouse. Funk/rock/soul/R&B legend Nona Hendryx, comedian Citizen Reno, and award-winning writer and filmmaker Nelson George will come together to examine social and individual identity in our highly politicized and increasingly fragmented world. Trenton’s Hendryx will feature songs from her brand-new, politically charged Mutadis, Mutandis album (her first full-length record in nearly twenty years), Brooklyn’s George will honor the life and career of poet-activist Gil Scott-Heron (including introducing a short film by Rux about the recently deceased Heron), and New York City native Reno will look at the events of 9/11 and their aftermath as only she can.