Monday, November 28, 2011
Music And Now We Will Predict the Entire Lineup of Pitchfork's Forms Festival
Posted by Lauren Beck on Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 3:36 PM
Politics Charles Barron Running for Congress on the "Robert Mugabe Is My Hero" Party Line
Posted by Mark Asch on Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 2:40 PM
Assembleyman Hakeem Jeffries also seems set to run in the 2012 Democratic primary, after redistricting; Barron previously ran for the seat in 2006, taking 35% of the vote in a three-way race (Towns won with 45%, as sleazy Atlantic Yards opportunist Roger Green, whose state Assembly seat is now held by Jeffries, took 15%).
Art / News Occupy Wall Street Seeks Gallery, Studios, Rehearsal and Performance Spaces
Posted by Benjamin Sutton on Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 1:55 PM
The Arts and Culture committee of the New York City General Assembly, the Occupy Wall Street movement's very active visual and performing arts branch, is looking for an indoor space in the Financial District to host exhibitions, performances, classes, screenings, studios, rehearsals and more. Though works produced by the movement have been exhibited at venues around the city including Printed Matter (pictured) and NYU, Occupy Wall Street still lacks a dedicated art space.
Music / Theater Philip Glass Opera Tells Story of Gandhi Without a Story
Posted by Henry Stewart on Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 1:07 PM
Set in South Africa, jumping around between 1896 and 1913, the opera covers Gandhi's work for the civil rights of Indians. You might feel more grounded going into the opera with some expositional knowledge of his time there as a non-violent activist and organizer, to which the piece elliptically refers. Constance DeJong's vocal text, only small portions of which are translated and projected onto the stage (in Phelim McDermott's 2008 production, now in revival, the Met doesn't employ its usual chairback translation system, but a translation is tucked into the program), is derived from the Bhagavad Gita, offering sagacious scraps in lieu of narrative information: the importance of work, how freedom from desire brings wisdom. Though the book is structured around historic incidents like the 1913 Newcastle march, it frequently transcends them, as well; thinkers influential and indebted to Gandhi appear, like Martin Luther King, Jr.; the first scene is set before the mythical battle at the Kuru Field of Justice.
Music Can Miley Cyrus Really Help Further the Occupy Wall Street Cause?
Posted by Mike Conklin on Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 12:15 PM
The Occupy Wall Street movement got a much publicized cosign this past weekend, from pop music's undisputed worst singer, the interminably, almost impossibly graceless Miley Cyrus. She posted a YouTube clip pairing images and video from the protests with a remix of her 2010 song "Liberty Walk," which is a fairly standard pop anthem, warning as it does not to let anyone keep you down or whatever. The lyrics are not particularly relevant to the message of Occupy Wall Street, or to anything else, really—it could just as easily be taken as a kiss-off to an no-good boyfriend or a controlling set of parents. This is splitting hairs, though. Taken solely at face value—one of the biggest, most recognizable pop stars in the world calling attention to and siding with a grassroots political protest is important. Not to us, of course, as we sit back and roll our eyes as hard as we're capable of rolling them, but maybe to everyone else.
Art Guggenheim Names Six Finalists for $100k 2012 Hugo Boss Prize
Posted by Benjamin Sutton on Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 11:24 AM
Every two years the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum bestows upon a living artist the Hugo Boss Prize, which comes with $100,000 and a solo show at the Gugg. Last year's winner, you'll recall, was 70-year-old German conceptualist Hans-Peter Feldman, who wallpapered an entire gallery with the prize money. The institution just announced the six nominees for the 2012 Hugo Boss Prize, whose winner will be announced next fall. And the nominees are...
Media Please Bury Me In Cypress Hills Cemetery's Boneyard for Forgotten Journalists
Posted by Mark Asch on Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 10:35 AM
As is inevitably the way of such pathetic, all too human gestures of reassurance in the face of mortality's gaping and infinite void, the lots were infrequently utilized and fell quickly into disrepair:
Food & Drink Dispute Over Grimaldi's Coal-Fired Pizza Oven Heats Up
Posted by Benjamin Sutton on Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 9:47 AM
Last week we learned that Grimaldi's pizzeria, one of DUMBO's foremost tourist attractions, would be moving to the next building over after a dispute with its landlord, though the fate of its prized coal-fired brick pizza oven remained uncertain. Turns out the new pizza restaurant moving into 19 Old Fulton Street will be run by the original Grimaldi, Patsy, who sold his eponymous business to current pizza master Frank Ciolli back in 1998. While Patsy, 80, comes out of retirement to helm his old coal-fired oven, Ciolli is taking some heat for installing a similar model in the new Grimaldi's space at 1 Front Street without a permit.
Music While You Were Eating... Fugazi Preps a Career-Spanning "Live Series" Archive
Posted by Lauren Beck on Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 8:58 AM
Friday, November 25, 2011
Music Is It Cool If We Post Some Christmas Music Now?
Posted by Lauren Beck on Fri, Nov 25, 2011 at 12:11 PM
It's the day that listening to these songs becomes officially acceptable, and to be honest, we couldn't be happier about it. Happy holidays everyone, officially.
Art / News The Best Photo from the Thanksgiving Day Parade
Posted by Benjamin Sutton on Fri, Nov 25, 2011 at 10:53 AM
- Weegee, "Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade" (1942). (Courtesy MoMA)
Here's hoping you aren't on your way to go, in the process of, or returning from shopping. Because if you are you're moving even more slowly than the cabbie driving alongside a creepily dismembered-looking Thanksgiving Day Parade float's hand in this classic Weegee photo from 1942. Happy Black Friday! (Photo)
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Art Here's a Photograph of Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner Carving a Thanksgiving Turkey!
Posted by Benjamin Sutton on Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 11:10 AM
In light of his drip paintings you might very reasonably expect Jackson Pollock's Thanksgiving spread to look like a sprawling, stuffing-speckled mess of shredded turkey. But in 1950—when this photograph from the Archives of American Art was taken—with his mother Stella visiting, Pollock and his wife, the artist Lee Krasner, cleaned up their act and carved this very conventional turkey—while drinking a shit-ton, obvs. Famous artists: they're just like us!
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Music A Song for Being in Your Hometown on the Biggest Bar Night of the Year
Posted by Lauren Beck on Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 2:39 PM
As Conklin pointed out in a recent installment of his very important column, The 10 Best Things Right Now, there's a Florida-based band that too few people seem aware of called Gospel Music. They do not play gospel music. It's actually the bassist for the Black Kids' solo project — you remember the Black Kids? — but his debut full-length, How to Get to Heaven From Jacksonville, FL, favors cheeky twee-bent pop over cheeky party anthems. There's still plenty of spunk to go around though... which brings us to the perfectly spunky, perfectly endearing standout, "This Town Doesn't Have Enough Bars for Both of Us." There's got to be a few Brooklyn kids heading home to Ohio* for the holiday dreading a run-in with an old flame at the bar tonight, which now makes this song perfectly timely. Watch the video above, have a happy Thanksgiving, and make note of Gospel Music's just-announced show at Glasslands on December 11 for when you get back in town.
*I'm currently writing this in Ohio, so I can say that without sounding judgmental. Also, if you allow me a moment to vent, my Mom keeps adding an "a" to the end of the word "potato" — you have to peel the "potatoas" — and it's really starting to get to me.
News Seven Possible Versions of Housing and Hotel in Brooklyn Bridge Park Revealed
Posted by Benjamin Sutton on Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 1:51 PM
After much speculation and guesswork, preliminary designs by seven competing developers were revealed at a public presentation last night for the inescapable condos and luxury hotel that will be built behind Pier 1 in Brooklyn Bridge Park. The developers hoping to build on the coveted waterfront parkland are Extell, Starwood Capital Group, Toll Brothers, Two Trees, RAL Companies & Affiliates, SDS Procida and Dermot, and their architectural visions are all over the aesthetic map. Let's have a laugh look...
Music Who Should Star in the Joe Strummer Biopic? Here Are Some Ideas
Posted by Lauren Beck on Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 1:03 PM
Film Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle: Eric Rohmer and the No-Drama Roommate
Posted by Vadim Rizov on Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 12:13 PM
Regular actress collaborator Marie Rivière said Eric Rohmer had been prompted to make Summer after noting women alone on holiday looking for men in newspaper ads and “wanted to explore this loneliness of young women who are not ugly, who have nothing wrong with them, but who are still alone.” While he was waiting for appropriately overwhelming sunset shots, Rohmer dashed off Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle, a sketch starring two young women he’d never worked with before and never would again (Rivière cameos).
News City Getting Sued Over Cyclist Collisions in Prospect and Central Parks
Posted by Benjamin Sutton on Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 11:25 AM
While New York City's Department of Transportation continues to make the city's streets safer for cyclists and pedestrians with projects of which everyone approves (well, except this one, this one, this one and this one), the city and its Parks Department are now facing lawsuits over the lack of safety measures around bike routes in Prospect and Central parks.
Film Your Suddenly Overwhelming Holiday-Season Weekend at the Movies
Posted by Jesse Hassenger on Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 10:36 AM
Art Lock Up Your Marie-Thérèses, SF Picasso Thief is Back in New York
Posted by Benjamin Sutton on Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 8:58 AM
- This is the logo for an actual computer game where you steal art.
Remember Mark Lugo, the Hoboken resident and former somelier at high-end Manhattan eateries who, on July 5th, wandered into a San Francisco gallery, tucked a Picasso drawing worth roughly $200,000 under his arm, and walked out, only to be nabbed the following day as he prepared to ship the lifted masterwork to an undisclosed location? Yeah, well, he's done his time in Cali, and now New York authorities are bringing him here to face similar charges for the many stolen goods found in his apartment.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Music / Fashion Megastore of Lady Gaga Merch Takes Over an Entire Floor at Barneys
Posted by Marissa Gaines on Tue, Nov 22, 2011 at 4:15 PM
It’s holiday shopping season and what better way to get into the giving buying spirit than with Lady Gaga-inspired tchotchkes? As if the pop superstar weren't already sufficiently ubiquitous, she has now taken over an entire floor of Barneys New York, all 5,500 square feet of it. The journey into Gaga’s Workshop begins outside Barneys’ doors (above) and continues throughout the ridiculous and exotic interior.
