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Saturday, July 31, 2021, 2:00 PM – 7:00 PM
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Friday, July 30, 2021, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
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Fri, Jul 30, 2021, 7:00 PM – Sun, Aug 1, 2021, 3:00 PM
Carl Hancock Rux: Vs.
THEATER
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 30 – AUGUST 1, 2021 (continuing through AUGUST 8)
7:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
Mabou Mines Live Stream
Zoom
Free (by registration) (suggested $10 donation)
https://www.maboumines.org/production/vs/
From the mind of Carl Hancock Rux (a very good place for things to emanate from), an audience-participation exploration of political philosophy.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I myself am currently quite taken with the Commando: pour 1-1/2 oz. Bourbon, 3/4 oz. each of Cointreau and lime juice, 1/4 oz. Simple Syrup, and 1/8 (or 1/4 if you feel like living dangerously) teaspoon Absinthe into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe.
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Friday, July 30, 2021, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
ETHEL and Friends: Balcony Bar from Home
MUSIC
FRIDAY, JULY 30, 2021 (weekly)
5:00 PM
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Facebook
Free
https://www.metmuseum.org/events/programs/met-live-arts/ethel-online
The fab alt string quartet ETHEL brings its weekly recitals in the Met Balcony Bar home (theirs and yours). Expect old and new music, and surprise guests (from still more homes).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Amber Negroni: pour 1/2 oz. each of Gin and Braulio Amaro, and 1 oz. each of Lillet Blanc (with the usual preferred substitutions, especially Tempus Fugit Kino l'Áero d'Or) and lemon juice, with 3 dashes of Bitterman's Burlesque Bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a rosemary sprig.
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Fri, Jul 30, 2021, 3:00 PM – Sat, Jul 31, 2021, 4:00 PM
Mish Grigor & Gavin Quinn: The First Bad Man
THEATER
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JULY 30 & 31, 2021
3:00 PM
Pan Pan
La MaMa Live Stream
$5-$25
https://www.lamama.org/shows/the-first-bad-man
A two-part presentation (live from Ireland!) showing a book group making its way through Miranda July's eponymous novel. You can watch either part or (preferably) both (the ticket price gets you access to both). It will be presented in monocular 360º — or, if you have a VR viewer, real surround 360º.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Suppressor #21 (oddly using digestifs to make an apéritif cocktail): pour 1 oz. each of Cynar, Barolo Cinato, and Amontillado Sherry, with 2 dashes of orange bitters, into a rocks glass over ice. Stir. Express a grapefruit peel into the drink and discard the rind.
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Thursday, July 29, 2021, 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Flying Lotus
MUSIC
THURSDAY, JULY 29, 2021
9:00 PM
Brooklyn Mirage at Avant Gardner
140 Stewart Avenue, Bushwick, Brooklyn
$34.99-$89.99
https://www.avant-gardner.com/events/2021/7/29/flying-lotus
Flying Lotus is a genius constructor of sound, a giant of avant-hip hop. All that, and he's Alice Coltrane's nephew, too.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Before the show, go to Falansai for wild Vietnamese. After, well, I suppose someone must have had a bad time at Jupiter Disco at some point — but I don't know them.
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Thursday, July 29, 2021, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Sanda Weigl
MUSIC
THURSDAY, JULY 29, 2021
8:00 PM
Barbès in Person & Live Stream
376 Ninth Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20 in person
Free-$10 live stream
https://www.viewcy.com/e/sanda_weigl
There are "can a White man sing the blues?" issues with non-Gypsy performers of Gypsy music. But Romanian former child rock star Sanda Weigl's take on Balkan Gypsy music is good the way the early Stones were: the rhythms, while losing all subtlety (I said "good", not "as good"), become more incisive — and the ironic self-awareness Q is through the ceiling. Meaning, it's not anything like as good as the The Real Thing, but it has its compensations. In any event, Weigl has been making an honest woman of herself by jazzing up her style, making it almost into a Balkan Gypsy/jazz/cabaret fusion.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: If you go, you'll be drinking at the venue, obvs. Soak it up at Colombia in Park Slope. At home, have a glass of Palinca — like Slivovitz, but stronger.
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Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 8:00 PM – Sat, Jul 31, 2021, 9:00 PM
-
Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 7:00 PM – Sun, Aug 1, 2021, 3:00 PM
Whitney White: Definition
PERFORMANCE
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 29 – AUGUST 1, 2021
7:00 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
Bushwick Starr at the Mercury Store
131 8th Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$20
https://www.thebushwickstarr.org/definition
Pending a staging of her surrealist musical exploring Black female experience, Whitney White has assembled a multi-media installation, with the participation of a multitude of artists, exploring the same theme.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Fletcher's Brooklyn Barbecue attempts to create a local Brooklyn style of barbecue. And succeeds!
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Thursday, July 29, 2021, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
-
Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 6:00 PM – Sat, Jul 31, 2021, 6:00 PM
Vision Festival
MUSIC
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, JULY 29 – 31, 2021 (continuing on JULY 29 – 31)
6:00 PM THURSDAY & FRIDAY
5:00 PM SATURDAY
THURSDAY & FRIDAY: Pioneer Works
159 Pioneer Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn
SATURDAY: La Plaza, The Clemente
114 Norfolk Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$15/show live stream
$65/show in person
$75 festival pass live stream
$350 festival pass in person
https://www.artsforart.org/vision.html
The Vision Festival returns, with its usual blend of often amazing, celestial, never-to-be-repeated Free Jazz by some of the best musicians in the world and almost unbearably naive cultural politics.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Thursday and Friday in Red Hook, Red Hook Tavern has a burger almost as epic as the lineup at the Vision Festival. Saturday and Sunday on the Lower East Side, Bahamian-Chinese (this is a thing) at The Bun Hut.
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Wednesday, July 28, 2021, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
-
Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 8:00 PM – Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 9:00 PM
-
Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 6:30 PM – Sun, Aug 1, 2021, 9:00 PM
600 Highwaymen: A Thousand Ways (Part Two)
THEATER
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 27 – AUGUST 1, 2021 (continuing through AUGUST 15)
6:30 & 8:00 PM TUESDAY – THURSDAY
6:30, 8:00 & 9:30 PM FRIDAY
1:00, 2:30, 6:30, 8:00 & 9:30 PM SATURDAY
1:00, 2:30, 6:30 & 8:00 PM SUNDAY
Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$35-$70
https://publictheater.org/productions/season/2021/a-thousands-ways2/
600 Highwaymen continue their exploration of connection, begun over the phone during the Quarantine. But this time, things being what they are, it's one-on-one in person. They encourage you to do the telephonic Part One first, if you haven't already.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Now that I've eaten there, I'm more excited than ever about the Shanghainese at CheLi: this is NOT the stuff you've had before.
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Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 5:30 PM – Sun, Aug 1, 2021, 10:30 PM
Liminality
THEATER / PERFORMANCE
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 27 – AUGUST 1, 2021 (continuing through AUGUST 31)
5:30, 7:00 & 10:00 PM TUESDAY – THURSDAY
5:00, 8:00, 9:30 & 11:00 PM FRIDAY
1:30, 3:00, 4:30, 8:00, 9:30 & 11:00 PM SATURDAY
12:00, 1:30, 3:00, 4:30, 8:00 & 9:30 PM SUNDAY
Museum of Future Experiences
148 Grand Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$75
https://mofe.co/products/liminality
An evening of immersive, sometimes VR, Future Theater. The visual VR effects are stunning. Too bad the content is lame New Age twaddle. Lap See Lam and Laurie Anderson/Hsin Chien-Huang (among others) are less clichéd thinkers who have done this kind of thing better.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Go to the new French/Italian brasserietoria Francie. Be sure to have an order of duck mortadella with your cocktail. After that, it's every diner for him or herself.
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Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 3:00 PM – Sun, Aug 1, 2021, 10:00 PM
Lynn Nottage & Miranda Haymon: The Watering Hole
THEATER
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 27 – AUGUST 1, 2021 (continuing through AUGUST 8)
TUESDAY – FRIDAY 3:00-5:00 & 7:00-9:00 PM (staggered times)
SATURDAY & SUNDAY 11:00 AM – 1:00, 3:00 – 5:00 & 7:00 – 9:00 PM (staggered times)
Signature Theatre
480 West 42nd Street, Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan
$0-$45
https://signaturetheatre.org/shows-and-events/Featured-Events/The-Watering-Hole.aspx
Lynn Nottage completes her interrupted residency at the Signature with an unexpected departure: an installation piece that has you wandering throughout the Signature's extensive plant, having different experiences as you go.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I don't think I knew that the West Village Moroccan spot Mémé had opened a branch in Hell's Kitchen.
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Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 10:00 AM – Sun, Aug 1, 2021, 4:30 PM
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Monday, July 26, 2021, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Sunny Jain: Wild Wild East
MUSIC
MONDAY, JULY 26, 2021
8:00 PM
Barbès in Person & Live Stream
376 Ninth Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20 in person
Free-$10 live stream (registration required)
https://www.viewcy.com/e/sunny_jain_wild_wild_1
Sunny Jain: a (great!) South Asian percussionist who wants to be a cowboy.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: If you go, you'll be drinking at the venue, obvs. Soak them up at local favorite Pasta Louise. Live streaming at home, have a Whiskey Smash: muddle 5-8 mint leaves (should really be spearmint in particular) and 1/4 lemon cut into 3 pieces in the bottom of a cocktail shaker Add 2 oz. Bourbon and 1/2 oz. Simple Syrup. Fill with ice. Shake. Strain into an Old Fashioned glass over ice (crushed ice if you can manage it). Garnish with a mint sprig.
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Monday, July 26, 2021, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Bushwick Improvised Music Series
MUSIC
MONDAY, JULY 26, 2021 (weekly)
7:00 PM
Bushwick Public House
1288 Myrtle Avenue, Bushwick, Brooklyn
$15
https://gaucimusic.com/bushwick-series
Every Monday night, a galaxy of different agglomerations of improvising (mostly jazz-based) musicians assemble for a series of sets at the Bushwick Public House, and the unexpected occurs.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You'll obviously be drinking at the Bushwick Public House (if you have any sense of citizenship AT ALL). Before the show, grab some delicious if somewhat improbable Colombian-Italian fusion at the entirely delightful Maite (even if this is yet another place whose menu got simplified during Lockdown).
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Monday, July 26, 2021, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
John Jesurun: Chang in a Void Moon
THEATER
MONDAY, JULY 26, 2021 (new episodes each week through AUGUST 9)
7:00 PM
La Mama Stream
$5-$25
https://www.lamama.org/shows/chang2021
John Jesurun began this serialized theater piece about um international financial fraud — but really, just forget it — at the Pyramid Club in 1985, and he's still at it. Wild, allusive, FUN as all get-out.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Back to the '80s (I could swear I drank them in the '70s) (AND NOT SINCE) with a Long Island Iced Tea: pour 1/2 oz. each of Gin, light Rum, Vodka, Blanco Tequila, Triple Sec, and Simple Syrup, and 1/4 oz. each of lemon juice and lime juice, into an ice-filled Collins glass. Stir. Top with Coke. Garnish with a lemon wedge. (This isn't a case of Don't Try This At Home — this is a case of Only Try This At Home.)
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Mon, Jul 26, 2021, 7:00 AM – Sun, Aug 1, 2021, 7:00 PM
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 26 – AUGUST 1, 2021 (ongoing)
7:00 AM – 7:00 PM
#stillHERE IRL
Green-Wood Cemetery, Sunset Park Entrance
35th Street at 4th Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$7 or more for soundtrack
https://here.org/shows/cairns/
One of the first shows you could actually Go Out! to (although it's not quite "live"). Gelsey Bell, that vocal star of NYC Alt Classical, has conceived of a piece that walks you around Green-Wood Cemetery (starting at the Sunset Park Entrance). You download the soundtrack on your phone beforehand (the Times complains about how hard it is to download from Bandcamp to an iPhone — trust me: if I can figure out how to do it, anyone can). Bell wrote the text and narrates, with a co-composing assist from the inimitable Joe White. The Cemetery itself will do the performing. (You can also listen to the soundtrack at home and pretend you're walking around the Cemetery.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Sunset Park entrance is only a short walk from Hometown BBQ Industry City (if you go over the weekend, you can get the fabulous pastrami).
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Mon, Jul 26, 2021, 6:00 AM – Sun, Aug 1, 2021, 1:00 AM
Ellen Reid: SOUNDWALK
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 26 – AUGUST 1, 2021 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park
59th Street – 110th Street/Central Park West – 5th Avenue, Manhattan
Free (registration required)
https://www.ellenreidsoundwalk.com/new-york-philharmonic
The New York Phil hops aboard the walk-around-the-landscaped-space-with-soundtrack train (see below). The highly allusive soundtrack was put together by Ellen Reid, who is one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers. This walk isn't guided: you download an app that triggers sounds sent to your earphones from various cells around the Park as you wander. So you can do it over many times. (Speaking of wandering around Central Park, here's something that I, for one, never knew.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delicious pan-African at Teranga.
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Mon, Jul 26, 2021, 6:00 AM – Sun, Aug 1, 2021, 10:00 PM
Stephanie Fleischmann, Christina Campanella & Mallory Catlett: The Visitation
PERFORMANCE
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 26 – AUGUST 1, 2021 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 10:00 PM
HERE Arts Center Presentation
Jackie Robinson Park
Between Edgecombe & Bradhurst Aves. & 145 – 155 Sts., Sugar Hill, Manhattan
Pay what you wish
https://here.org/shows/the-visitation/
Another sound walk (I LOVE these!), this one set to avant-pop you access through Soundcloud.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Good beer, epic burgers at Harlem Public.
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Sunday, July 25, 2021, 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Sō Percussion feat. Dominic Shodekeh Talifero
MUSIC
SUNDAY, JULY 25, 2021
2:00 & 4:00 PM
Caramoor Center for Music & Arts
149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah, Westchester
2:00 PM: Free
4:00 PM: $32-$63
https://caramoor.org/event/so-percussion-summer-2021/
There are lots of good percussion ensembles around now, but the original is still the greatest. Joined by beatboxer Dominic Shodekeh Talifero, Sõ Percussion will pop up at various places on the Caramoor grounds playing brief pieces starting at 2 PM, and then will play a formal concert in the Venetian Room at 4 PM.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: A no-longer-New American menu so boring you can't believe it (no no you can believe it all too easily), but well prepared, at The Whitlock.
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Saturday, July 24, 2021, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Sun Ra Arkestra / Sistazz of the Nitty Gritty
MUSIC
SATURDAY, JULY 24, 2021
7:00 PM
Central Park Summerstage In Person & Live Stream
Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, Manhattan
Free
https://www.nycgovparks.org/events/2021/07/24/sun-ra-arkestra-sistazz-of-the-nitty-gritty
I don't usually recommend ghost bands — but Jesus Christ the Sun Ra Arkestra! (And are we really sure Sun Ra has fully departed this plane — not that he was fully here to begin with?!) And anyway, the opening act, Angel Bat Dawid's Sistazz of the Nitty Gritty, are very much in their prime.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Back to the problem that Uptown restaurants close early these days — so unless you're willing to travel to a more congenial neighborhood (as you should — but then you'll have to decide on a place on your own), you're stuck with the uncivilized expedient of eating before the show. How about the Uptown location one of the places that, in its former Downtown iteration, helped start the current, very welcome Georgian trendlet, Oda House?
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Sat, Jul 24, 2021, 7:00 PM – Sun, Jul 25, 2021, 8:00 PM
You Are Here
DANCE / PERFORMANCE
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, JULY 24 & 25, 2021 (continuing through JULY 30)
7:00 PM
Restart Stages
Lincoln Center Campus
Broadway & 64th Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan
Free (by lottery)
https://www.lincolncenter.org/lincoln-center-at-home/show/you-are-here-live-performancesandnbsp
In what may be too obvious a metaphor, audio portraits and sculptures that have been planted around the Lincoln Center campus will be replaced one-by-one by real actual people people. The good news is that there will be post-Gaga dance choreographed by Andrea Miller and music by avant-garde/R&B music-theater ace Justin Hicks. The bad news is that there will be a plethora of Lincoln Center personnel — all good people, I'm sure — sharing reflections and reminiscences of The Quarantine. The more I think about it, the lamer this seems.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Long-standing Italian favorite Gabriel's has moved to bigger digs — and more important, stays open to a reasonably late hour. Although it may not seem very Italian, do not fail to order a Martini.
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Sat, Jul 24, 2021, 2:00 PM – Sun, Jul 25, 2021, 5:00 PM
-
Fri, Jul 23, 2021, 8:00 PM – Sun, Jul 25, 2021, 6:00 PM
-
Friday, July 23, 2021, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
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Friday, July 23, 2021, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
ETHEL and Friends: Balcony Bar from Home
MUSIC
FRIDAY, JULY 23, 2021 (weekly)
5:00 PM
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Facebook
Free
https://www.metmuseum.org/events/programs/met-live-arts/ethel-online
The fab alt string quartet ETHEL brings its weekly recitals in the Met Balcony Bar home (theirs and yours). Expect old and new music, and surprise guests (from still more homes).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Amber Negroni: pour 1/2 oz. each of Gin and Braulio Amaro, and 1 oz. each of Lillet Blanc (with the usual preferred substitutions, especially Tempus Fugit Kino l'Áero d'Or) and lemon juice, with 3 dashes of Bitterman's Burlesque Bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a rosemary sprig.
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Thursday, July 22, 2021, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Ganavya: Let's Go Out and Play
MUSIC
THURSDAY, JULY 22, 2021
8:00 PM
Roulette In Person & Live Stream
509 Atlantic Avenue, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
Free live stream
$20 in advance/$25 door in person
https://roulette.org/event/ganavya-lets-go-out-and-play/
Ganavya takes her Carnatic background and runs wiith it, melding it with jazz to make music that can honestly be described as prayerful. Wait a minute, is that the great Immanuel Wilkins playing alto sax in the amazing Carnatic/jazz ensemble Ganavya has assembled for this gig?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: If you go to the show, fried and boiled shellfish for everyone at Claw Daddy's. (Where did all these crab boil places suddenly COME from?) At home, have a Watermelon Mojito: muddle about 3-1/2 oz. of watermelon flesh, cut into cubes, and 6-8 mint leaves, in the bottom of a cocktail shaker. Pour in 2 oz. dark Rum and 1 oz. each of lime juice and Simple Syrup. Fill with ice. Shake. Pour (do NOT strain) into a double rocks glass over ice. Shed a tear for Floyd Cardoz, at whose behest this drink was invented.
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Thursday, July 22, 2021, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Distant Pairs: Rasgad Becker & Fuji||||||||||ta
MUSIC
THURSDAY, JULY 22, 2021
8:00 PM
Not to Be or Not to Be
ISSUE Project Room Stream
Free
https://issueprojectroom.org/event/distant-pairs-rashad-becker-fujita-not-be-or-not-not-be
ISSUE revives its series of extremely remote collaborations. Some of these pairings are based on unexpectedness and surprise, but tonight's show features two artists of established compatability. One is Berlin's Rashad Becker, one of the more interesting musical figures on Planet Earth, whose medium can only be described as sound, broadly speaking. The other is Fuji||||||||||ta in Japan — about whom, come to think of it, the same could be said.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Chu-Hai: pour 2 oz. Shochu and 3/4 oz. each of lemon juice and Simple Syrup into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a Highball glass over ice. Top with club soda. Garnish with a lemon wheel. (I don't think anyone in history has ever stopped at one.)
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Thu, Jul 22, 2021, 7:00 PM – Sun, Jul 25, 2021, 3:00 PM
Whitney White: Definition
PERFORMANCE
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 22 – 25, 2021 (continuing through AUGUST 1)
7:00 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
Bushwick Starr at the Mercury Store
131 8th Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$20
https://www.thebushwickstarr.org/definition
Pending a staging of her surrealist musical exploring Black female experience, Whitney White has assembled a multi-media installation, with the participation of a multitude of artists, exploring the same theme.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Fletcher's Brooklyn Barbecue attempts to create a local Brooklyn style of barbecue. And succeeds!
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Thu, Jul 22, 2021, 6:00 PM – Sun, Jul 25, 2021, 5:00 PM
Vision Festival
MUSIC
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 22 – 25, 2021 (continuing on JULY 29 – 31)
6:00 PM THURSDAY & FRIDAY
3:00 PM SATURDAY
4:00 PM SUNDAY
THURSDAY & FRIDAY: Pioneer Works
159 Pioneer Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn
SATURDAY & SUNDAY: La Plaza, The Clemente
114 Norfolk Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$15/show live stream
$65/show in person
$75 festival pass live stream
$350 festival pass in person
https://www.artsforart.org/vision.html
The Vision Festival returns, with its usual blend of often amazing, celestial, never-to-be-repeated free jazz by some of the best musicians in the world and almost unbearably naive cultural politics.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Thursday and Friday in Red Hook, Red Hook Tavern has a burger almost as epic as the lineup at the Vision Festival. Saturday and Sunday on the Lower East Side, Bahamian-Chinese (this is a thing) at The Bun Hut.
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Thursday, July 22, 2021, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
-
Wednesday, July 21, 2021, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Malaby / Mintz / Van Hemmen / Warren
MUSIC
WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 2021
8:00 PM
Barbès in Person & Live Stream
376 Ninth Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20 suggested in person
Free-$10 live stream (registration required)
https://www.viewcy.com/e/malabymintzvan_hemm
The exploratory saxophonist Tony Malaby in an even more exploratory mood than usual.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: If you go, you'll be drinking at the venue, obvs. Soak them up at local favorite Pasta Louise. Livestreaming at home, have a Whiskey Smash: muddle 5-8 mint leaves (shoud really be spearmint) and 1/4 lemon cut into 3 pieces in the bottom of a cocktail shaker Add 2 oz. Bourbon and 1/2 oz. Simple Syrup. Fill with ice. Shake. Strain into an Old Fashioned glass over ice (crushed ice if you can manage it). Garnish with a mint sprig.
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Wednesday, July 21, 2021, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Distant Pairs: Louis Carnell & Okkyung Lee
MUSIC
WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 2021
8:00 PM
ISSUE Project Room Stream
Free
https://issueprojectroom.org/event/distant-pairs-louis-carnell-okkyung-lee
ISSUE revives its series of extremely remote collaborations. Tonight's show plays right into this List's not-very-sub subtext: contemporary classical isn't very (or any) different from at least some contemporary pop (or, to put it another way, genre distinctions are stupid). So we have Louis Carnell, whom you might know as the London electronic musician (although he's been getting kinda songful lately) Visionist, collaborating (from his grandmother's house) with the improvising-composing-conceptualizing cellist Okkyung Lee (from her parents' house).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Death in the Gulfstream: pour 2 oz. Genever, 1 oz. lime juice, and 1/2 oz. Simple Syrup, with 1 lime twist, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a rocks glass over crushed ice. Add 4 dashes of Angostura bitters. Garnish with a lime wedge. Drink through a (metal) straw.
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Wednesday, July 21, 2021, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
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Wednesday, July 21, 2021, 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM
Death of Classical / Bindlestiff Family Cirkus: Secret Mausoleum Music Club
PERFORMANCE / MUSIC
WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 2021
6:30 PM
Green-Wood Cemetery
500 25th Street, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$50
https://www.green-wood.com/event/secret-mausoleum-music-club-2021-07-21/2021-07-21/
You get to visit mausoleums that aren't usually open to the public (and more important: you get to leave!). You get to listen to musicians perched in various semi-expected spots. You get to watch a Bindlestiff Family Cirkus extravaganza. This sounds so great that I can only guess why last Summer's edition came across as corny instead. I'll be back, though. And I have nothing but praise for their adult beverage program.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Decent pub grub (although it must be said that the Lockdown devestated their menu), things you'll want to drink — and a giant acquarium behind the bar! — at Sea Witch Tavern.
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Wednesday, July 21, 2021, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
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Tue, Jul 20, 2021, 8:00 PM – Sun, Jul 25, 2021, 11:00 PM
Michel Hausmann: Seven Deadly Sins
THEATER / PERFORMANCE
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 20 – 25, 2021
8:00, 9:00 & 10:00 PM
Tectonic Theater Project
94 Gansevoort Street, Meatpacking District, Manhattan
$124-$155
https://www.sevendeadlysinsnyc.com/
Seven storefronts over three blocks, each housing a different short play by a different playwright concerning a different Sin. This looks great on paper. But I have to quote a passage from the promotional materials that's one of the funniest things I've yet read this Summer: "a thrilling evening that merges live theater with performance art, dazzling design, and CDC-mandated regulations". Thrilling! And the show lives up to its promo material: MOR bourgeois entertainment for straight people (in the cultural sense) who want to think they're edgy.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Remember when the original Pastis seemed to signal The End Of The Meatpacking District? Now, the new revival seems like a charming return.
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Tuesday, July 20, 2021, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
TUESDAY, JULY 20, 2021
7:30 PM
Naumberg Orchestral Concerts
Naumberg Bandshell, Central Park, Manhattan
Free
https://naumburgconcerts.org/upcoming/philharmonia-baroque-orchestra
Someday I'll explain to you why Baroque music is core for this List. But for now, let's attend to this show by the Bay Area's favorite period instruments band, under its excellent new Music Director, Richard Egarr. They're presenting a program of Early English Baroque, music with tunes that stick to your ribs. The participation of up-and-coming Baroque (and more!) soprano Rowan Pierce doesn't hurt.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: No place Uptown seems to be open past 9. So you'll have to grab dinner before the show (uncivilized as some of us believe that to be) (that's Uptown: uncivilized). And there's no better spot than Bilao: Filipino nurses cooking expertly for other Filipino nurses — but they don't mind if you stop by and have a taste yourself. Afterwards, go somewhere in your own neighborhood for drinks (I'm going to Bar Goto Niban myself).
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Tuesday, July 20, 2021, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Ellen Foley & Robert I Rubinsky: CLUB DADA (in difficult times)
MUSIC / THEATER
TUESDAY, JULY 20, 2021
7:00 PM
La Mama Stream
Free (donation requested)
https://www.lamama.org/shows/club-dada-in-difficult-times
Two NYC music-theater figures who have been performing FOREVER play two vaudevillians cursed by internal and external forces to perform FOREVER.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Here's a '70s cocktail that isn't as bad as you probably think, at least if you make it well. Tequila Sunrise: pour 2 oz. Blanco Tequila and 4 oz. orange juice into a Collins glass over ice. Stir gently. Pour in 1/4 oz. Grenadine and let it sink to the bottom; then give it a stir to create the "sunrise" effect. Garnish with an orange wheel.
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Tue, Jul 20, 2021, 6:30 PM – Sun, Jul 25, 2021, 8:30 PM
600 Highwaymen: A Thousand Ways (Part Two)
THEATER
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 20 – 25, 2021 (continuing through AUGUST 15)
6:30 & 8:00 PM TUESDAY – THURSDAY
6:30, 8:00 & 9:30 PM FRIDAY
1:00, 2:30, 6:30, 8:00 & 9:30 PM SATURDAY
1:00, 2:30, 6:30 & 8:00 PM SUNDAY
Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$35-$70
https://publictheater.org/productions/season/2021/a-thousands-ways2/
600 Highwaymen continue their exploration of connection, begun over the phone during the Quarantine. But this time, things being what they are, it's one-on-one in person. They encourage you to do the telephonic Part One first, if you haven't already.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Now that I've eaten there, I'm more excited than ever about the Shanghainese at CheLi: this is NOT the stuff you've had before.
-
Tue, Jul 20, 2021, 5:30 PM – Sun, Jul 25, 2021, 10:00 PM
Liminality
THEATER / PERFORMANCE
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 20 – 25, 2021 (continuing through AUGUST 31)
5:30, 7:00 & 10:00 PM TUESDAY – THURSDAY
5:00, 8:00, 9:30 & 11:00 PM FRIDAY
1:30, 3:00, 4:30, 8:00, 9:30 & 11:00 PM SATURDAY
12:00, 1:30, 3:00, 4:30, 8:00 & 9:30 PM SUNDAY
Museum of Future Experiences
148 Grand Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$75
https://mofe.co/products/liminality
An evening of immersive, sometmes VR, Future Theater. The visual VR effects are stunning. Too bad the content is lame New Age twaddle. Lap See Lam and Laurie Anderson/Hsin Chien-Huang (among others) are less clichéd thinkers who have done this kind of thing better.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Go to the new French/Italian brasserietoria Francie. Be sure to have an order of duck mortadella with your cocktail. After that, it's every diner for him or herself.
-
Tue, Jul 20, 2021, 3:00 PM – Sun, Jul 25, 2021, 9:00 PM
Lynn Nottage & Miranda Haymon: The Watering Hole
THEATER
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 20 – 25, 2021 (continuing through AUGUST 8)
TUESDAY – FRIDAY 3:00-5:00 & 7:00-9:00 PM (staggered times)
SATURDAY & SUNDAY 11:00 AM – 1:00, 3:00 – 5:00 & 7:00 – 9:00 PM (staggered times)
Signature Theatre
480 West 42nd Street, Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan
$0-$45
https://signaturetheatre.org/shows-and-events/Featured-Events/The-Watering-Hole.aspx
Lynn Nottage completes her interrupted residency at the Signature with an unexpected departure: an installation piece that has you wandering throughout the Signature's extensive plant, having different experiences as you go.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I don't think I knew that the West Village Moroccan spot Mémé had opened a branch in Hell's Kitchen.
-
Tue, Jul 20, 2021, 10:00 AM – Sun, Jul 25, 2021, 4:30 PM
-
Monday, July 19, 2021, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
John Jesurun: Chang in a Void Moon
THEATER
MONDAY, JULY 19, 2021 (new episodes each week through AUGUST 9)
7:00 PM
La Mama Stream
$5-$25
https://www.lamama.org/shows/chang2021
John Jesurun began this serialized theater piece about um international financial fraud — but really, just forget it — at the Pyramid Club in 1985, and he's still at it. Wild, allusive, FUN as all get-out.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Back to the '80s (I could swear I drank them in the '70s) (AND NOT SINCE) with a Long Island Iced Tea: pour 1/2 oz. each of Gin, light Rum, Vodka, Blanco Tequila, Triple Sec, and Simple Syrup, and 1/4 oz. each of lemon juice and lime juice, into an ice-filled Collins glass. Stir. Top with Coke. Garnish with a lemon wedge. (This isn't a case of Don't Try This At Home — this is a case of Only Try This At Home.)
-
Monday, July 19, 2021, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Bushwick Improvised Music Series
MUSIC
MONDAY, JULY 19, 2021 (weekly)
7:00 PM
Bushwick Public House
1288 Myrtle Avenue, Bushwick, Brooklyn
$15
https://gaucimusic.com/bushwick-series
Every Monday night, a galaxy of different agglomerations of improvising (mostly jazz-based) musicians assemble for a series of sets at the Bushwick Public House, and the unexpected occurs.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You'll obviously be drinking at the Bushwick Public House (if you have any sense of citizenship AT ALL). Before the show, grab some delicious if somewhat improbable Colombian-Italian fusion at the entirely delightful Maite (even if this is yet another place whose menu got simplified during Lockdown).
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Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 7:00 AM – Sun, Jul 25, 2021, 7:00 PM
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 19 – 25, 2021 (ongoing)
7:00 AM – 7:00 PM
#stillHERE IRL
Green-Wood Cemetery, Sunset Park Entrance
35th Street at 4th Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$7 or more for soundtrack
https://here.org/shows/cairns/
One of the first shows you could actually Go Out! to (although it's not quite "live"). Gelsey Bell, that vocal star of NYC Alt Classical, has conceived of a piece that walks you around Green-Wood Cemetery (starting at the Sunset Park Entrance). You download the soundtrack on your phone beforehand (the Times complains about how hard it is to download from Bandcamp to an iPhone — trust me: if I can figure out how to do it, anyone can). Bell wrote the text and narrates, with a co-composing assist from the inimitable Joe White. The Cemetery itself will do the performing. (You can also listen to the soundtrack at home and pretend you're walking around the Cemetery.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Sunset Park entrance is only a short walk from Hometown BBQ Industry City (if you go over the weekend, you can get the fabulous pastrami).
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Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 6:00 AM – Sun, Jul 25, 2021, 10:00 PM
Stephanie Fleischmann, Christina Campanella & Mallory Catlett: The Visitation
PERFORMANCE
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 19 – 25, 2021 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 10:00 PM
HERE Arts Center Presentation
Jackie Robinson Park
Between Edgecombe & Bradhurst Aves. & 145 – 155 Sts., Sugar Hill, Manhattan
Pay what you wish
https://here.org/shows/the-visitation/
Another sound walk (I LOVE these!), this one set to avant-pop you access through Soundcloud.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Good beer, epic burgers at Harlem Public.
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Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 6:00 AM – Sat, Jul 24, 2021, 1:00 AM
Ellen Reid: SOUNDWALK
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 19 – 25, 2021 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park
59th Street – 110th Street/Central Park West – 5th Avenue, Manhattan
Free (registration required)
https://www.ellenreidsoundwalk.com/new-york-philharmonic
The New York Phil hops aboard the walk-around-the-landscaped-space-with-soundtrack train (see below). The highly allusive soundtrack was put together by Ellen Reid, who is one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers. This walk isn't guided: you download an app that triggers sounds sent to your earphones from various cells around the Park as you wander. So you can do it over many times. (Speaking of wandering around Central Park, here's something that I, for one, never knew.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delicious pan-African at Teranga.
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Saturday, July 17, 2021, 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Yonatan Gat feat. Eastern Medicine Singers: Visuæls // Susie Ibarra
MUSIC
SATURDAY, JULY 17, 2021
9:00 PM
The Sultan Room, The Turk's Inn
234 Starr Street, Bushwick, Brooklyn
$20
https://thesultanroom.com/events/#event=155703646799
Guitarist/noisemaker/ritualist Yonatan Gat — who left his native Israel after he was banned from virtually every venue in the country — convenes one of his usual eye-poppingly eclectic groups of musicians. Opening is master percussionist Susie Ibarra, if anything an even more fascinating musician than Gat.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Sultan Room is located in The Turk's Inn, a reonstruction in Bushwick of a bizarre but hugely popular Midwestern supper club that featured Middle Eastern cuisine. The food isn't good, exactly (and they're now serving a wildly pared-down menu) — but you don't see decor like that every day (or ever).
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Saturday, July 17, 2021, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Wild Yaks / Champagne Superchillin / Sky Creature
MUSIC
SATURDAY, JULY 17, 2021
7:00 PM
Rippers
8601 Shore Front Parkway (Boardwalk at 86th Street), Rockaway Beach, Queens
Free
https://www.facebook.com/events/845645493036598/
List mega-fave Majel Connery (another artist who doesn't seem to know there's a difference between classical and pop as she mixes and matches both) (if I repeat that enough maybe it will get some traction out in the world beyond this List) debuts a new band, Sky Creature — on a bill topped by NYC punk/folk (sorta) phenoms Wild Yaks! Rounding out the bill are Champagne Superchillin', whose French pop/new wave you might find arch, but I am a sucker for. (Please note that the starting time is merely notional.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You are at Rippers, for God's sake. OF COURSE you're gonna have a burger. And a beer. And then a few more.
-
Sat, Jul 17, 2021, 2:00 PM – Sun, Jul 18, 2021, 5:00 PM
-
Fri, Jul 16, 2021, 8:00 PM – Sun, Jul 18, 2021, 10:00 PM
Michel Hausmann: Seven Deadly Sins
THEATER / PERFORMANCE
TUESDAY – WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 13 – 14 & 16 – 18, 2021 (continuing through JULY 25)
8:00, 9:00 & 10:00 PM
Tectonic Theater Project
94 Gansevoort Street, Meatpacking District, Manhattan
$55-$85
https://www.sevendeadlysinsnyc.com/
Seven storefronts over three blocks, each housing a different short play by a different playwright concerning a different Sin. This looks great on paper. But I have to quote a passage from the promotional materials that's one of the funniest things I've yet read this Summer: "a thrilling evening that merges live theater with performance art, dazzling design, and CDC-mandated regulations". Thrilling! And the show lives up to its promo material: MOR bourgeois entertainment for straight people (in the cultural sense) who want to think they're edgy.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Remember when the original Pastis seemed to signal The End Of The Meatpacking District? Now, the new revival seems like a charming return.
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Friday, July 16, 2021, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
ETHEL and Friends: Balcony Bar from Home
MUSIC
FRIDAY, JULY 16, 2021 (weekly)
5:00 PM
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Facebook
Free
https://www.metmuseum.org/events/programs/met-live-arts/ethel-online
The fab alt string quartet ETHEL brings its weekly recitals in the Met Balcony Bar home (theirs and yours). Expect old and new music, and surprise guests (from still more homes).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Amber Negroni: pour 1/2 oz. each of Gin and Braulio Amaro, and 1 oz. each of Lillet Blanc (with the usual preferred substitutions, especially Tempus Fugit Kino l'Áero d'Or) and lemon juice, with 3 dashes of Bitterman's Burlesque Bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a rosemary sprig.
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Fri, Jul 16, 2021, 4:00 PM – Sun, Jul 18, 2021, 8:00 PM
Stacey Derosier: Peep Show / Becca Blackwell: The Body Never Lies
THEATER
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 16 – 18, 2021
FRIDAY 4:00, 4:15, 4:30, 5:00, 5:15, 5:30, 6:15, 6:30 & 7:00 PM
SATURDAY & SUNDAY 2:00, 2:15, 2:30, 3:00, 3:15, 3:30, 4:00, 4:15, 4:30, 5:00, 5:15, 5:30, 6:00, 6:15, 6:30 & 7:00 PM
Soho Rep.
46 Walker Street, Tribeca, Manhattan
Free-$5
https://sohorep.org/the-body-never-lies-and-peep-show-credits
Two installations, one invoking memories, the other physicalities.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Early shows, grab a great sandwich or pastry at Frenchette Bakery. Later, grab some Frenchette food at Frenchette.
-
Thursday, July 15, 2021, 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM
-
Thursday, July 15, 2021, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Distant Pairs: Carmen Baliero & Cecilia Lopez: Aerosilla (El Turismo Posible)
MUSIC
THURSDAY, JULY 15, 2021
8:00 PM
ISSUE Project Room Stream
Free
https://issueprojectroom.org/event/distant-pairs-carmen-baliero-cecilia-lopez-aerosilla-el-turismo-posible
ISSUE revives its series of extremely remote collaborations. Tonight's show features two Buenos Aires natives — although Carmen Baliero's former composition student, Cecelia Lopez, is now based in New York. Together, they fantacize travel.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Captain Hook: pour 1-1/2 oz. Jamaican Rum, 1/2 oz. Smith & Cross or other pot still Rum, 1 oz. lime juice, and 3/4 oz. Simple Syrup into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Rinse a mug or glass with Absinthe. Fill 2/3 with crushed ice. Strain in the drink from the shaker. Add a float of Angostura bitters.
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Thu, Jul 15, 2021, 7:00 PM – Sun, Jul 18, 2021, 3:00 PM
Whitney White: Definition
PERFORMANCE
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 15 – 18, 2021
7:00 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
Bushwick Starr at the Mercury Store
131 8th Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$20
https://www.thebushwickstarr.org/definition
Pending a staging of her surrealist musical exploring Black female experience, Whitney White has assembled a multi-media installation, with the participation of a multitude of artists, exploring the same theme.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Fletcher's Brooklyn Barbecue attempts to create a local Brooklyn style of barbecue. And succeeds!
-
Thursday, July 15, 2021, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
-
Wednesday, July 14, 2021, 8:30 PM – 9:30 PM
-
Wednesday, July 14, 2021, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Distant Pairs: Viola Yip & Laeticia Sonami: Pineapple on a Lonely Island
MUSIC
WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 2021
8:00 PM
ISSUE Project Room Stream
Free
https://issueprojectroom.org/event/distant-pairs-viola-yip-and-laetitia-sonami-pineapple-lonely-island
ISSUE revives its series of extremely remote collaborations. Tonight we have an apt pairing of two sound artist/instrument builders in Oakland (Sonami) and Berlin (Yip).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Jungle Bird: pour 1-1/2 oz. dark Rum, 3/4 oz. Campari, 2 oz. pineapple juice, and 1/2 oz. each of lime juice and Simple Syrup (extra credit if it's Demerara Syrup) into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a tall glass over ice. Garnish with some mint sprigs.
-
Wednesday, July 14, 2021, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Pierre de Gaillande: BAD REPUTATION (sings George Brassens)
MUSIC
WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 2021
8:00 PM
Barbès in Person & Live Stream
376 Ninth Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20-$50 in person
Free-$10 live stream (registration required)
https://www.viewcy.com/e/bad_reputation_pierr
George Brassens was like a French Leonard Cohen, a poet who somehow contrived to write compelling melodies to support his words — although Brassens was less self-involved (not meant as a criticism, my fellow Cohen fanatics!) and melodically more varied (ditto!). Pierre de Guillande has done the Anglophone world the the distinct service of crafting faithful translations of Brassens's lyrics that perfectly fit the melodies. You willl thank me for this one.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: If you go, you'll be drinking at the venue, obvs. Soak them up with some basic bistro at Olivier Bistro. Livestreaming at home, have a Triple Ménace: pour 1-1/2 oz. Gin, 1 oz. Lilet Blanc, and 1/2 oz. Suze into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a tumbler (or rocks glass if you don't care about being stylish) over ice. Garnish with an orange or lemon twist.
-
Wed, Jul 14, 2021, 8:00 PM – Thu, Jul 15, 2021, 9:00 PM
Shauna Davis: BLACK.ECO
DANCE
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY, JULY 14 & 15, 2021
8:00 PM
La MaMa Stream
Free-$25
https://www.lamama.org/shows/black-eco
The marvelous LA dancer/choreographer Shauna Davis explores Black womanhood.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Fancy Free: pour 2-1/4 oz. Bourbon and 1/2 Maraschino liqueur. with 2 dashes of Angostura bitters and 1 dash of orange bitters, into an Old Fashioned glass over ice. Stir. Garnish with an orange twist.
-
Wed, Jul 14, 2021, 7:00 PM – Thu, Jul 15, 2021, 8:00 PM
Mary Lattimore / Loni Landon
MUSIC
THURSDAY & FRIDAY, JULY 14 & 15, 2021
7:00 PM
Open Air
Cedar Dell, Green-Wood Cemetery
500 25th Street, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$25
https://www.green-wood.com/event/open-air/2021-07-14/
Harp! Dance! Harp and dance!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Summer heat doesn't make your body scream out for Slovakian. But the attentively sourced, carefully prepared food at Korzo is SO GOOD.
-
Wednesday, July 14, 2021, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Luciform / Hedonism Bit / Pas Musique
MUSIC
WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 2021
7:00 PM
Wonderville
1186 Broadway, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Free (I think — bring some cash just in case)
https://www.wonderville.nyc/events/luciform-hedonismbit-pasmusique
Weird Music Night in Bed-Stuy. And just WAIT till you see the indie pinball and other games they have there!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You'll be drinking at the venue. Before the show, grab some outstanding tacos (the tortas/cemitas are good, too) at Santa Ana Deli & Grocery.
-
Wed, Jul 14, 2021, 7:00 PM – Thu, Jul 15, 2021, 8:00 PM
-
Wednesday, July 14, 2021, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Ensemble Connect
MUSIC
WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 2021
6:00 PM
Madison Square Park
Between Broadway & Madison Avenue and 23rd & 26th Streets, South of NoMad, Manhattan
Free
https://www.carnegiehall.org/calendar/2021/07/14/carnegie-hall-citywide-ensemble-connect-0600pm
Next to Maya Lin's Ghost Forest installation, Ensemble Connect plays a laundry list of List favorite composers, including among others Messiaen, Feldman, Cage, Kaija Saariaho, Jessie Montgomery, Reena Esmail, and Trad.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Surprising, very well done Korean-inflected French at LittleMäd.
-
Wednesday, July 14, 2021, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Brasil Summerfest
MUSIC
WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 2021
6:00 PM
Brooklyn Public Library Central Branch
10 Grand Army Plaza, across the street from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Free
https://www.brasilsummerfest.com/
Brazil may have a horrible government that is murdering the populace — but they have some of the best pop music in the world. And tonight you can hear some in fairly benign Brooklyn.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Fanciful drinks and bar snacks at midcentury throwback Bearded Lady.
-
Tue, Jul 13, 2021, 8:00 PM – Wed, Jul 14, 2021, 10:00 PM
Michel Hausmann: Seven Deadly Sins
THEATER / PERFORMANCE
TUESDAY – WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 13 – 14 & 16 – 18, 2021 (continuing through JULY 25)
8:00, 9:00 & 10:00 PM
Tectonic Theater Project
94 Gansevoort Street, Meatpacking District, Manhattan
$55-$85
https://www.sevendeadlysinsnyc.com/
Seven storefronts over three blocks, each housing a different short play by a different playwright concerning a different Sin. This looks great on paper. But I have to quote a passage from the promotional materials that's one of the funniest things I've yet read this Summer: "a thrilling evening that merges live theater with performance art, dazzling design, and CDC-mandated regulations". Thrilling! And the show lives up to its promo material: MOR bourgeois entertainment for straight people (in the cultural sense) who want to think they're edgy.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Remember when the original Pastis seemed to signal The End Of The Meatpacking District? Now, the new revival seems like a charming return.
-
Tuesday, July 13, 2021, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Ljova
MUSIC
TUESDAY, JULY 13, 2021
7:00 PM
Barbès in Person & Live Stream
376 Ninth Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20 suggested in person
Free-$10 live stream (registration required)
https://www.viewcy.com/e/ljova
Ljova, yet another musician who follows the List approach of refusing to draw deep distinctions between the classical and the vernacular (although since he's a couple of generations closer to Russia than I am, his vernacular is different from mine), continues his recent deep dive into the fadolín, a six-string violin-like instrument that can go as low as a cello. He also throws in a string trio for good measure.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: If you go, you'll be drinking at the venue, obvs. Soak them up at local favorite Pasta Louise. Livestreaming at home, have a Greyhound: pour 2 oz. Vodka and 4 oz. grapefruit juice into a rocks glass over ice. Stir. Gild the lily with a grapfruit slice.
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Tue, Jul 13, 2021, 6:30 PM – Sun, Jul 18, 2021, 9:00 PM
600 Highwaymen: A Thousand Ways (Part Two)
THEATER
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 13 – 18, 2021 (continuing through AUGUST 15)
6:30 & 8:00 PM TUESDAY – THURSDAY
6:30, 8:00 & 9:30 PM FRIDAY
1:00, 2:30, 6:30, 8:00 & 9:30 PM SATURDAY
1:00, 2:30, 6:30 & 8:00 PM SUNDAY
Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$35-$70
https://publictheater.org/productions/season/2021/a-thousands-ways2/
600 Highwaymen continue their exploration of connection, begun over the phone during the Quarantine. But this time, things being what they are, it's one-on-one in person. They encourage you to do the telephonic Part One first, if you haven't already.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Now that I've eaten there, I'm more excited than ever about the Shanghainese at CheLi: this is NOT the stuff you've had before.
-
Tue, Jul 13, 2021, 5:30 PM – Sun, Jul 18, 2021, 9:30 PM
Liminality
THEATER / PERFORMANCE
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 13 – 18, 2021 (continuing through AUGUST 31)
5:30, 7:00 & 10:00 PM TUESDAY – THURSDAY
5:00, 8:00, 9:30 & 11:00 PM FRIDAY
1:30, 3:00, 4:30, 8:00, 9:30 & 11:00 PM SATURDAY
12:00, 1:30, 3:00, 4:30, 8:00 & 9:30 PM SUNDAY
Museum of Future Experiences
148 Grand Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$75
https://mofe.co/products/liminality
An evening of immersive, sometmes VR, Future Theater. The visual VR effects are stunning. Too bad the content is lame New Age twaddle. Lap See Lam and Laurie Anderson/Hsin Chien-Huang (among others) are less clichéd thinkers who have done this kind of thing better.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Go to the new French/Italian brasserietoria Francie. Be sure to have an order of duck mortadella with your cocktail. After that, it's every diner for him or herself.
-
Tue, Jul 13, 2021, 3:00 PM – Sun, Jul 18, 2021, 9:00 PM
Lynn Nottage & Miranda Haymon: The Watering Hole
THEATER
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 13 – 18, 2021 (continuing through AUGUST 8)
TUESDAY – FRIDAY 3:00-5:00 & 7:00-9:00 PM (staggered times)
SATURDAY & SUNDAY 11:00 AM – 1:00, 3:00 – 5:00 & 7:00 – 9:00 PM (staggered times)
Signature Theatre
480 West 42nd Street, Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan
$0-$45
https://signaturetheatre.org/shows-and-events/Featured-Events/The-Watering-Hole.aspx
Lynn Nottage completes her interrupted residency at the Signature with an unexpected departure: an installation piece that has you wandering throughout the Signature's extensive plant, having different experiences as you go.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I don't think I knew that the West Village Moroccan spot Mémé had opened a branch in Hell's Kitchen.
-
Tue, Jul 13, 2021, 10:00 AM – Sun, Jul 18, 2021, 4:30 PM
-
Monday, July 12, 2021, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
John Jesurun: Chang in a Void Moon
THEATER
MONDAY, JULY 12, 2021 (new episodes each week through AUGUST 9)
7:00 PM
La Mama Stream
Free
https://www.lamama.org/shows/chang2021
John Jesurun began this serialized theater piece about um international financial fraud — but really, just forget it — at the Pyramid Club in 1985, and he's still at it. Wild, allusive, FUN as all get-out.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Back to the '80s (I could swear I drank them in the '70s) (AND NOT SINCE) with a Long Island Iced Tea: pour 1/2 oz. each of Gin, light Rum, Vodka, Blanco Tequila, Triple Sec, and Simple Syrup, and 1/4 oz. each of lemon juice and lime juice, into an ice-filled Collins glass. Stir. Top with Coke. Garnish with a lemon wedge. (This isn't a case of Don't Try This At Home — this is a case of Only Try This At Home.)
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Mon, Jul 12, 2021, 7:00 AM – Sun, Jul 18, 2021, 7:00 PM
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 12 – 18, 2021 (ongoing)
7:00 AM – 7:00 PM
#stillHERE IRL
Green-Wood Cemetery, Sunset Park Entrance
35th Street at 4th Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$7 or more for soundtrack
https://here.org/shows/cairns/
One of the first shows you could actually Go Out! to (although it's not quite "live"). Gelsey Bell, that vocal star of NYC Alt Classical, has conceived of a piece that walks you around Green-Wood Cemetery (starting at the Sunset Park Entrance). You download the soundtrack on your phone beforehand (the Times complains about how hard it is to download from Bandcamp to an iPhone — trust me: if I can figure out how to do it, anyone can). Bell wrote the text and narrates, with a co-composing assist from the inimitable Joe White. The Cemetery itself will do the performing. (You can also listen to the soundtrack at home and pretend you're walking around the Cemetery.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Sunset Park entrance is only a short walk from Hometown BBQ Industry City (if you go over the weekend, you can get the fabulous pastrami).
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Mon, Jul 12, 2021, 6:00 AM – Sun, Jul 18, 2021, 1:00 AM
Ellen Reid: SOUNDWALK
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 12 – 18, 2021 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park
59th Street – 110th Street/Central Park West – 5th Avenue, Manhattan
Free (registration required)
https://www.ellenreidsoundwalk.com/new-york-philharmonic
The New York Phil hops aboard the walk-around-the-landscaped-space-with-soundtrack train (see below). The highly allusive soundtrack was put together by Ellen Reid, who is one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers. This walk isn't guided: you download an app that triggers sounds sent to your earphones from various cells around the Park as you wander. So you can do it over many times. (Speaking of wandering around Central Park, here's something that I, for one, never knew.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delicious pan-African at Teranga.
-
Mon, Jul 12, 2021, 6:00 AM – Sun, Jul 18, 2021, 10:00 PM
Stephanie Fleischmann, Christina Campanella & Mallory Catlett: The Visitation
PERFORMANCE
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 12 – 18, 2021 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 10:00 PM
HERE Arts Center Presentation
Jackie Robinson Park
Between Edgecombe & Bradhurst Aves. & 145 – 155 Sts., Sugar Hill, Manhattan
Pay what you wish
https://here.org/shows/the-visitation/
Another sound walk (I LOVE these!), this one set to avant-pop you access through Soundcloud.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Good beer, epic burgers at Harlem Public.
-
Sat, Jul 10, 2021, 2:00 PM – Sun, Jul 11, 2021, 5:30 PM
-
Friday, July 9, 2021, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Stew's Baba Bibi / Baby Octopus
MUSIC
FRIDAY, JULY 9, 2021
8:00 PM
Barbès in Person & Live Stream
376 Ninth Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20 in person
Free-$20 live stream (registration required)
https://www.viewcy.com/e/stews_baba_bibi
A newish project by the fabulous rock singer-songwriter Stew, mashing up African-American and Asian influences, engages in an evening-long musical interchange with the art-pop band led by its violinist/keyboardist, Dana Lyn. Anything Stew does is worth attending to.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: If you go, you'll be drinking at the venue, obvs. The show will run late, so you'll have to grab dinner before — maybe at local favorite Pasta Louise. At home, have a New York Cocktail: pour 1-1/2 oz. Rye, 1/2 oz. lime juice, and 1/4 teaspoon of Grenadine, with 1/2 teaspoon of confectioners' sugar, into a cocktail shaker. Fill with ice. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with an orange twist.
-
Fri, Jul 9, 2021, 6:00 PM – Sat, Jul 10, 2021, 6:59 PM
Brasil Summerfest
MUSIC
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JULY 9 & 10, 2021 (also at another location JULY 14)
6:00 PM
DUMBO Archway
Water Street btw. Adams Street & Anchorage Street, DUMBO, Brooklyn
$17 advance; $20 day of show
https://www.brasilsummerfest.com/
Brazil may have a horrible government that is murdering the populace — but they have some of the best pop music in the world. And this weekend you can hear some in fairly benign Brooklyn.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: A hop and a skip to the scenic Mediterranean Celestine.
-
Friday, July 9, 2021, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
ETHEL and Friends: Balcony Bar from Home
MUSIC
FRIDAY, JULY 9, 2021 (weekly)
5:00 PM
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Facebook
Free
https://www.metmuseum.org/events/programs/met-live-arts/ethel-online
The fab alt string quartet ETHEL brings its weekly recitals in the Met Balcony Bar home (theirs and yours). Expect old and new music, and surprise guests (from still more homes).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Amber Negroni: pour 1/2 oz. each of Gin and Braulio Amaro, and 1 oz. each of Lillet Blanc (with the usual preferred substitutions, especially Tempus Fugit Kino l'Áero d'Or) and lemon juice, with 3 dashes of Bitterman's Burlesque Bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a rosemary sprig.
-
Fri, Jul 9, 2021, 4:00 PM – Sun, Jul 11, 2021, 8:00 PM
Stacey Derosier: Peep Show / Becca Blackwell: The Body Never Lies
THEATER
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 9 – 11, 2021 (through JULY 18)
FRIDAY 4:00, 4:15, 4:30, 5:00, 5:15, 5:30, 6:15, 6:30 & 7:00 PM
SATURDAY & SUNDAY 2:00, 2:15, 2:30, 3:00, 3:15, 3:30, 4:00, 4:15, 4:30, 5:00, 5:15, 5:30, 6:00, 6:15, 6:30 & 7:00 PM
Soho Rep.
46 Walker Street, Tribeca, Manhattan
Free-$5
https://sohorep.org/the-body-never-lies-and-peep-show-credits
Two installations, one invoking memories, the other physicalities.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Early shows, grab a great sandwich or pastry at Frenchette Bakery. Later, grab some Frenchette food at Frenchette.
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Thursday, July 8, 2021, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Distant Pairs: Raven Chacon & Rob Thorne
MUSIC
THURSDAY, JULY 8, 2021
8:00 PM
ISSUE Project Room Stream
Free
https://issueprojectroom.org/event/distant-pairs-raven-chacon-rob-thorne
ISSUE revives its series of extremely remote collaborations. Here we have a very extremely remote collaboration, between the indigenous American composer/performer Raven Chacon and the indigenous New Zealand composer/performer Rob Thorne.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Mellow Corn Boulevardier: pour 1 oz. each of Mellow Corn Whiskey, sweet Vermouth, and Campari into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Marini glass or coupe. Garnish with an orange twist.
-
Thu, Jul 8, 2021, 8:00 PM – Sat, Jul 10, 2021, 9:00 PM
Scout, Garrett Allen & Anne Cecilia DeMelo: Fever Dream: A Return Performance Ritual
2021: The Brick: A New Year
PERFORMANCE
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, JULY 8 – 10, 2021
8:00 PM
The Brick
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20
https://www.bricktheater.com/event/fever-dream-a-return-performance-ritual/2021-07-08/
Queer camp trash as ritual as a pursuit of transcendence as a return to communal theatrical experience.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I, for one, cannot wait to have another pinsa — Roman flatbread pizza — at Montesacro.
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Thursday, July 8, 2021, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Gelsey Bell: mɔːnɪŋ
OPERA
THURSDAY, JULY 8, 2021
6:00 PM
RAW 2021
HERE
145 6th Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Hudson Square, Manhattan
Free-$50
https://here.org/shows/raw21-m%c9%94%cb%90n%c9%aan/
An outdoor (outside of HERE) concert performance by List über-super-mega-fave Gelsey Bell of her new opera following up on some of the environmental issues raised in her Green-Wood soundwalk. Expect vocal sounds you wouldn't expect.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Time to return for stylish Italian at Altro Paradiso.
-
Thursday, July 8, 2021, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
-
Thu, Jul 8, 2021, 6:00 PM – Fri, Jul 9, 2021, 8:00 PM
Min Kwon: America / Beautiful
MUSIC
THURSDAY & FRIDAY, JULY 8 & 9, 2021
6:00 & 7:30 PM
Angel's Share
The Catacombs, Green-Wood Center
500 25th Street, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$80
https://www.deathofclassical.com/angelshare/america-beautiful
In the midst of a Pandemic, a crisis of democracy, an economic collapse, and a racial reckoning, Pianist Min Kwon commissioned some 70 composers to write variations on "America the Beautiful". Here are some.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Appealing neighborhood Italian at Nostro Ristorante.
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Thu, Jul 8, 2021, 5:30 PM – Sat, Jul 10, 2021, 8:00 PM
Normandy Sherwood: Psychic Self Defense
THEATER
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, JULY 8 – 10, 2021
THURSDAY & FRIADAY 5:30 & 7:00 PM
SATURDAY 2:30, 4:30 & 7:00 PM
RAW 2021
HERE
145 6th Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Hudson Square, Manhattan
Free-$50
https://here.org/shows/raw21-psychic-self-defense/
This installation takes off from a 1930 occult self-help book that told readers how to protect themselves from such threats as ghosts and vampires. Now, what some people rather over-optimistically call "late" capitalism and the attention economy have given us much worse things to worry about. The advice is given by way of . . . curtain reveals?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: No need to protect yourself from the sensibly priced sushi at Sugarfish.
-
Thursday, July 8, 2021, 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Metropolis Ensemble: House Music
MUSIC
TUESDAY & THURSDAY, JULY 6 & 8, 2021 (usually semi-weekly)
10:00 AM
Metropolis Ensemble Stream
Free
https://metropolisensemble.org/house-music
Every Tuesday and Thursday, the Metropolis Ensemble showcases ace musicianassociated with its excellent self, or in any event friends of the ensemble, playing solo contemporary, classical, and newly commissioned pieces from home. Metropolis Ensemble has assured me that no musicians were woken early for these shows; they are (new) prerecordings prepared for this series.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Coffee.
-
Wed, Jul 7, 2021, 8:00 PM – Sun, Jul 11, 2021, 11:00 PM
Michel Hausmann: Seven Deadly Sins
THEATER / PERFORMANCE
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 7 – 11, 2021 (continuing through JULY 18)
8:00, 9:00 & 10:00 PM
Tectonic Theater Project
94 Gansevoort Street, Meatpacking District, Manhattan
$55-$75
https://www.sevendeadlysinsnyc.com/
Seven storefronts over three blocks, each housing a different short play by a different playwright concerning a different Sin. This looks great on paper. But I have to quote a passage from the promotional materials that's one of the funniest things I've yet read this Summer: "a thrilling evening that merges live theater with performance art, dazzling design, and CDC-mandated regulations". Thrilling! And the show lives up to its promo material: MOR bourgeois entertainment for straight people (in the cultural sense) who want to think they're edgy.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Remember when the original Pastis seemed to signal The End Of The Meatpacking District? Now, the new revival seems like a charming return.
-
Wednesday, July 7, 2021, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Distant Pairs: Sofia Jernberg & Tomeka Reid: Meditations for Cello & Voice
MUSIC
WEDNESDAY, JULY 7, 2021
8:00 PM
ISSUE Project Room Stream
Free
https://issueprojectroom.org/event/distant-pairs-sofia-jernberg-tomeka-reid-meditations-voice-and-cello
ISSUE revives its series of extremely remote collaborations. Here we have the very Eurojazz/classical vocal stylings of Sofia Jernberg (performing from Sweden) and the very Chicago-New York jazz cello of Tomeka Reid (performing from here).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: 21st Century: rinse a chilled Martini glass or coupe with Absinthe. Pour 2 oz. Blanco Tequila and 3/4 oz. each of white Crème de Cacao and lemon juice into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into the rinsed glass.
-
Wednesday, July 7, 2021, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Project-TAG feat. Hussein Smko: We are not a school
DANCE
WEDNESDAY, JULY 7, 2021
8:00 PM
2021: The Brick: A New Year
The Brick
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20
https://www.bricktheater.com/event/project-tag/2021-07-07/
Project-TAG presented this piece as video last month. Now, it's live! A Kurdish Iraqi dancer/choreographer leads an international troupe in an examination of social and ethnic distinctions (are they real?).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The rooftop at Peruvian smash Llama Inn is very nice.
-
Wed, Jul 7, 2021, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jul 11, 2021, 3:00 PM
-
Wed, Jul 7, 2021, 6:30 PM – Sun, Jul 11, 2021, 8:30 PM
600 Highwaymen: A Thousand Ways (Part Two)
THEATER
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 7 – 11, 2021 (continuing through AUGUST 15)
6:30 & 8:00 PM WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY
6:30, 8:00 & 9:30 PM FRIDAY
1:00, 2:30, 6:30, 8:00 & 9:30 PM SATURDAY
1:00, 2:30, 6:30 & 8:00 PM SUNDAY
Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$35-$70
https://publictheater.org/productions/season/2021/a-thousands-ways2/
600 Highwaymen continue their exploration of connection, begun over the phone during the Quarantine. But this time, things being what they are, it's one-on-one in person. They encourage you to do the telephonic Part One first, if you haven't already.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Now that I've eaten there, I'm more excited than ever about the Shanghainese at CheLi: this is NOT the stuff you've had before.
-
Tue, Jul 6, 2021, 5:30 PM – Sun, Jul 11, 2021, 9:30 PM
Liminality
THEATER / PERFORMANCE
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 6 – 11, 2021 (continuing through AUGUST 31)
5:30, 7:00 & 10:00 PM TUESDAY – THURSDAY
5:00, 8:00, 9:30 & 11:00 PM FRIDAY
1:30, 3:00, 4:30, 8:00, 9:30 & 11:00 PM SATURDAY
12:00, 1:30, 3:00, 4:30, 8:00 & 9:30 PM SUNDAY
Museum of Future Experiences
148 Grand Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$75
https://mofe.co/products/liminality
An evening of immersive, sometmes VR, Future Theater. The visual VR effects are stunning. Too bad the content is lame New Age twaddle. Lap See Lam and Laurie Anderson/Hsin Chien-Huang (among others) are less clichéd thinkers who have done better.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Go to the new French/Italian brasserietoria Francie. Be sure to have an order of duck mortadella with your cocktail. After that, it's every diner for him or herself.
-
Tue, Jul 6, 2021, 3:00 PM – Sun, Jul 11, 2021, 9:00 PM
Lynn Nottage & Miranda Haymon: The Watering Hole
THEATER
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 6 – 11, 2021 (continuing through AUGUST 8)
TUESDAY – FRIDAY 3:00-5:00 & 7:00-9:00 PM (staggered times)
SATURDAY & SUNDAY 11:00 – 1:00, 3:00 – 5:00 & 7:00 – 9:00 PM (staggered times)
Signature Theatre
480 West 42nd Street, Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan
$0-$45
https://signaturetheatre.org/shows-and-events/Featured-Events/The-Watering-Hole.aspx
Lynn Nottage completes her interrupted residency at the Signature with an unexpected departure: an installation piece that has you wandering throughout the Signature's extensive plant, having different experiences as you go.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I don't think I knew that the West Village Moroccan spot Mémé had opened a branch in Hell's Kitchen.
-
Tue, Jul 6, 2021, 10:00 AM – Sun, Jul 11, 2021, 4:30 PM
-
Tuesday, July 6, 2021, 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Metropolis Ensemble: House Music
MUSIC
TUESDAY & THURSDAY, JULY 6 & 8, 2021 (usually semi-weekly)
10:00 AM
Metropolis Ensemble Stream
Free
https://metropolisensemble.org/house-music
Every Tuesday and Thursday, the Metropolis Ensemble showcases ace musicianassociated with its excellent self, or in any event friends of the ensemble, playing solo contemporary, classical, and newly commissioned pieces from home. Metropolis Ensemble has assured me that no musicians were woken early for these shows; they are (new) prerecordings prepared for this series.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Coffee.
-
Mon, Jul 5, 2021, 7:00 PM – Sun, Jul 11, 2021, 7:00 PM
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 5 – 11, 2021 (ongoing)
7:00 AM – 7:00 PM
#stillHERE IRL
Green-Wood Cemetery, Sunset Park Entrance
35th Street at 4th Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$7 or more for soundtrack
https://here.org/shows/cairns/
One of the first shows you could actually Go Out! to (although it's not quite "live"). Gelsey Bell, that vocal star of NYC Alt Classical, has conceived of a piece that walks you around Green-Wood Cemetery (starting at the Sunset Park Entrance). You download the soundtrack on your phone beforehand (the Times complains about how hard it is to download from Bandcamp to an iPhone — trust me: if I can figure out how to do it, anyone can). Bell wrote the text and narrates, with a co-composing assist from the inimitable Joe White. The Cemetery itself will do the performing. (You can also listen to the soundtrack at home and pretend you're walking around the Cemetery.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Sunset Park entrance is only a short walk from Hometown BBQ Industry City (if you go over the weekend, you can get the fabulous pastrami).
-
Mon, Jul 5, 2021, 6:00 AM – Sun, Jul 11, 2021, 1:00 AM
Ellen Reid: SOUNDWALK
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 5 – 11, 2021 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park
59th Street – 110th Street/Central Park West – 5th Avenue, Manhattan
Free (registration required)
https://www.ellenreidsoundwalk.com/new-york-philharmonic
The New York Phil hops aboard the walk-around-the-landscaped-space-with-soundtrack train (see below). The highly allusive soundtrack was put together by Ellen Reid, who is one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers. This walk isn't guided: you download an app that triggers sounds sent to your earphones from various cells around the Park as you wander. So you can do it over many times. (Speaking of wandering around Central Park, here's something that I, for one, never knew.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delicious pan-African at Teranga.
-
Mon, Jul 5, 2021, 6:00 AM – Sun, Jul 11, 2021, 10:00 PM
Stephanie Fleischmann, Christina Campanella & Mallory Catlett: The Visitation
PERFORMANCE
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 5 – 11, 2021 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 10:00 PM
HERE Arts Center Presentation
Jackie Robinson Park
Between Edgecombe & Bradhurst Aves. & 145 – 155 Sts., Sugar Hill, Manhattan
Pay what you wish
https://here.org/shows/the-visitation/
Another sound walk (I LOVE these!), this one set to avant-pop you access through Soundcloud.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Good beer, epic burgers at Harlem Public.
-
Saturday, July 3, 2021, 7:30 PM – 8:45 PM
The Underground Cabaret
PERFORMANCE
SATURDAY, JULY 3, 2021 (continuing through JULY 17)
7:30 & 7:45 PM
DeKalb Stage, City Point
445 Albee Square West, Downtown, Brooklyn
$40 (just drinks — but you have to pay for the drinks and there's a minimum of two) & $135 (includes dinner)
https://www.anverentertainment.com/the-underground-cabaret
Dinner and a neo-circus, neo-burlesque, neo-variety show.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Dinner is by Israeli chain Minzon.
-
Sat, Jul 3, 2021, 2:00 PM – Sun, Jul 4, 2021, 5:00 PM
-
Friday, July 2, 2021, 10:00 PM – 11:00 PM
Zemog el Gallo Bueno
MUSIC
SATURDAY, JULY 2, 2021
10:00 PM
Barbès in Person & Live Stream
376 Ninth Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20-$100 in person
Free-$20 live stream (registration required)
https://www.viewcy.com/e/zemog_el_gallo_bueno
Art-roots post-salsa.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: If you go, you'll be drinking at the venue, obvs. Beforehand, have some stick-to-your-ribs Colombian at Columbia in Park Slope. At home, have a Barracuda: pour 1 oz. each of Rum and Manzanilla Sherry, and 3/4 oz. each of lime juice and Simple Syrup, with 2 dashes of orange bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain either into a chilled Martini glass or coupe (my preference) or into a tall glass over crushed ice. Either way, garnish with a lime wedge and a cocktail cherry.
-
Friday, July 2, 2021, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Pablo Giraudo Tango Quartet
MUSIC
FRIDAY, JULY 2, 2021
8:00 PM
Barbès in Person & Live Stream
376 Ninth Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20-$100 in person
Free-$20 live stream (registration required)
https://www.viewcy.com/e/pedro_giraudo_tango_q
Nuevo Tango that nods at the Viejo.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: If you go, you'll be drinking at the venue, obvs. Soak it up at local favorite Pasta Louise. At home, have an Argentina: pour 1 oz. each of Gin and dry Vermouth and 1/4 oz. each of Cointreau or other Triple Sec and Bènèdictine, with 1 dash each of orange bitters and Angostura bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Nick and Nora glass. Garnish with an orange twist.
-
Fri, Jul 2, 2021, 8:00 PM – Sun, Jul 4, 2021, 10:00 PM
Michel Hausmann: Seven Deadly Sins
THEATER / PERFORMANCE
TUESDAY – WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JUNE 29 – 30 & JULY 2 – 4, 2021 (continuing through JULY 18)
8:00, 9:00 & 10:00 PM
Tectonic Theater Project
94 Gansevoort Street, Meatpacking District, Manhattan
$55-$75
https://www.sevendeadlysinsnyc.com/
Seven storefronts over three blocks, each housing a different short play by a different playwright concerning a different Sin. This looks great. But I have to quote a passage from the promotional materials that's one of the funniest things I've read this Summer (OK: I'm writing this on the first day): "a thrilling evening that merges live theater with performance art, dazzling design, and CDC-mandated regulations". Thrilling!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Remember when the original Pastis seemed to signal The End Of The Meatpacking District? Now, the new revival seems like a charming return.
-
Friday, July 2, 2021, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
ETHEL and Friends: Balcony Bar from Home
MUSIC
FRIDAY, JULY 2, 2021 (weekly)
5:00 PM
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Facebook
Free
https://www.metmuseum.org/events/programs/met-live-arts/ethel-online
The fab alt string quartet ETHEL brings its weekly recitals in the Met Balcony Bar home (theirs and yours). Expect old and new music, and surprise guests (from still more homes).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Amber Negroni: pour 1/2 oz. each of Gin and Braulio Amaro, and 1 oz. each of Lillet Blanc (with the usual preferred substitutions, especially Tempus Fugit Kino l'Áero d'Or) and lemon juice, with 3 dashes of Bitterman's Burlesque Bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a rosemary sprig.
-
Thursday, July 1, 2021, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Andy Statman Trio
MUSIC
THURSDAY, JULY 1, 2021
8:00 PM
Barbès in Person & Live Stream
376 Ninth Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20-$100 in person
Free-$20 live stream (registration required)
https://www.viewcy.com/e/andy_statman_trio_set
Klezmer meets free jazz at the hands of this freewheeling clarinetist.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: If you go, you'll be drinking at the venue, obvs. Soak it up at local favorite Pasta Louise. At home, have a Cel-Ray & Aqavit (I swear to God this is a thing): pour 2 oz. Aqavit into a Highball glass. Fill with ice. Top with Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray. Garnish with a celery stalk and a cucumber slice.
-
Thursday, July 1, 2021, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
-
Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 8:30 PM – Thu, Jul 1, 2021, 9:30 PM
Shauna Davis: BLACK.ECO
DANCE
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY, JUNE 30 & JULY 1, 2021
8:30 PM
La MaMa Stream
$5-$20
https://www.lamama.org/shows/black-eco
Let's hope that this exploration of black womanhood is one of the last films — as opposed to live dance performances — we see. Which is no reflection on Shauna Davis, whose work is challenging, incisive, and wonderful.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I'm personally really jonesing for a Sazerac: rinse a chilled Old Fashioned glass with Absinthe. Muddle a sugar cube doused with 3 dashes of Peychaud's bitters in the bottom of a cocktail shaker (some people put in 1 teaspoon of club soda to help this process along). Pour in 2 oz. Rye and fill with ice. Stir. Strain into the rinsed glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.
-
Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:00 PM – Thu, Jul 1, 2021, 7:00 PM
Lisa Clair Group: The Mound
PERFORMANCE
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY, JUNE 30 & JULY 1, 2021
6:00 PM
Collapsable Hole
55 Bethune Street, West Village, Manhattan
Free (registration required)
WillasAuthentic@gmail.com
While we wait for crazy-like-a-fox theatrical madcap Lisa Clair's new theater piece, we can experience an immersive installation exploring its thematic and visual materials.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Austrian classic Wallsé is, amazingly, still good.
-
Tue, Jun 29, 2021, 7:30 PM – Sat, Jul 3, 2021, 2:00 PM
-
Tue, Jun 29, 2021, 7:00 PM – Sat, Jul 3, 2021, 5:30 PM
600 Highwaymen: A Thousand Ways (Part Two)
THEATER
TUESDAY – SATURDAY, JUNE 29 – JULY 3, 2021 (continuing through AUGUST 15)
7:00 & 8:30 PM TUESDAY – SATURDAY
10:00 PM FRIDAY
1:30, 3:00 & 5:30 PM SATURDAY
Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$35-$70
https://publictheater.org/productions/season/2021/a-thousands-ways2/
600 Highwaymen continue their exploration of connection, begun over the phone during the Quarantine. But this time, things being what they are, it's one-on-one in person. They encourage you to do the telephonic Part One first, if you haven't already.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Now that I've eaten there, I'm more excited than ever about the Shanghainese at CheLi: this is NOT the stuff you've had before.
-
Tue, Jun 29, 2021, 5:30 PM – Sun, Jul 4, 2021, 10:00 PM
Liminality
THEATER / PERFORMANCE
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JUNE 29 – JULY 4, 2021 (continuing through AUGUST 31)
5:30, 7:00 & 10:00 PM TUESDAY – THURSDAY
5:00, 8:00, 9:30 & 11:00 PM FRIDAY
1:30, 3:00, 4:30, 8:00, 9:30 & 11:00 PM SATURDAY
12:00, 1:30, 3:00, 4:30, 8:00 & 9:30 PM SUNDAY
Museum of Future Experiences
148 Grand Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$75
https://mofe.co/products/liminality
An evening of immersive, suggestive, often VR, Future Theater.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Go to the new French/Italian brasserietoria Francie. Be sure to have an order of duck mortadella with your cocktail. After that, it's every diner for him or herself.
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Tue, Jun 29, 2021, 3:00 PM – Fri, Jul 2, 2021, 1:00 PM
Lynn Nottage & Miranda Haymon: The Watering Hole
THEATER
TUESDAY – FRIDAY, JUNE 29 – JULY 2, 2021 (continuing through AUGUST 8)
TUESDAY – THURSDAY 3:00-5:00 & 7:00-9:00 PM (staggered times)
FRIDAY 11:00 – 1:00 PM (staggered times)
Signature Theatre
480 West 42nd Street, Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan
$0-$45
https://signaturetheatre.org/shows-and-events/Featured-Events/The-Watering-Hole.aspx
Lynn Nottage completes her interrupted residency at the Signature with an unexpected departure: an installation piece that has you wandering throughout the Signature's extensive plant, having different experiences as you go.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I don't think I knew that the West Village Moroccan spot Mémé had opened a branch in Hell's Kitchen.
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Tue, Jun 29, 2021, 10:00 AM – Sun, Jul 4, 2021, 4:30 PM
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Mon, Jun 28, 2021, 7:00 AM – Sun, Jul 4, 2021, 7:00 PM
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JUNE 28 – JULY 4, 2021 (ongoing)
7:00 AM – 7:00 PM
#stillHERE IRL
Green-Wood Cemetery, Sunset Park Entrance
35th Street at 4th Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$7 or more for soundtrack
https://here.org/shows/cairns/
One of the first shows you could actually Go Out! to (although it's not quite "live"). Gelsey Bell, that vocal star of NYC Alt Classical, has conceived of a piece that walks you around Green-Wood Cemetery (starting at the Sunset Park Entrance). You download the soundtrack on your phone beforehand (the Times complains about how hard it is to download from Bandcamp to an iPhone — trust me: if I can figure out how to do it, anyone can). Bell wrote the text and narrates, with a co-composing assist from the inimitable Joe White. The Cemetery itself will do the performing. (You can also listen to the soundtrack at home and pretend you're walking around the Cemetery.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Sunset Park entrance is only a short walk from Hometown BBQ Industry City (if you go over the weekend, you can get the fabulous pastrami).
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Mon, Jun 28, 2021, 6:00 AM – Sun, Jul 4, 2021, 1:00 AM
Ellen Reid: SOUNDWALK
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JUNE 28 – JULY 4, 2021 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park
59th Street – 110th Street/Central Park West – 5th Avenue, Manhattan
Free (registration required)
https://www.ellenreidsoundwalk.com/new-york-philharmonic
The New York Phil hops aboard the walk-around-the-landscaped-space-with-soundtrack train (see below). The highly allusive soundtrack was put together by Ellen Reid, who is one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers. This walk isn't guided: you download an app that triggers sounds sent to your earphones from various cells around the Park as you wander. So you can do it over many times. (Speaking of wandering around Central Park, here's something that I, for one, never knew.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delicious pan-African at Teranga.
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Mon, Jun 28, 2021, 6:00 AM – Sun, Jul 4, 2021, 10:00 PM
Stephanie Fleischmann, Christina Campanella & Mallory Catlett: The Visitation
PERFORMANCE
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JUNE 28 – JULY 4, 2021 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 10:00 PM
HERE Arts Center Presentation
Jackie Robinson Park
Between Edgecombe & Bradhurst Aves. & 145 – 155 Sts., Sugar Hill, Manhattan
Pay what you wish
https://here.org/shows/the-visitation/
Another sound walk (I LOVE these!), this one set to avant-pop you access through Soundcloud.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Good beer, epic burgers at Harlem Public.
