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Monday, July 31, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Mari Okubo: East West Harmolodic Opera Groove
MONDAY, JULY 31, 2023
8:00 PM
Zürcher Gallery
33 Bleecker Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Songs/arias written for vocalist Mari Okubo by none other than Ornette Coleman.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Southern (U.S., that is)/Korean mash-up at C as in Charlie.
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Monday, July 31, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Dana Lynn & Kyle Sanna
MONDAY, JULY 31, 2023
7:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Trad Irish goes mod, and thinks about the environment.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Better-than-Neighborhood Mexican at Fonda.
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Mon, Jul 31, 2023, 8:00 AM – Sun, Aug 6, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 31 – AUGUST 6, 2023 (ongoing)
8:00 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
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One of the first shows that you could actually Go Out! to back in the days of The Lockdown (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 (whose terrific new album you really ought to hear). 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 31, 2023, 6:00 AM – Sun, Aug 6, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: New York, New York
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 31 – AUGUST 6, 2023 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
What do you know? The New York Phil has gone and renamed Ellen Reid’s SOUNDWALK. Reid, one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers, put together a highly allusive soundtrack, played by members of the Philharmonic and a bunch of Alt Classical players about town. 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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Sunday, July 30, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Marta Sanchez Trio / Or Bareket
SUNDAY, JULY 30, 2023
8:00 PM
The Owl Music Parlor
497 Rogers Avenue, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn
$12
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Marta Sanchez is a pianist/composer whose works convey a real personality: you can tell there’s a person behind the music, and you can tell what she’s like, what she thinks about. Or Bareket is a bassist whose music has a distinct Levantine tinge — and, not unrelatedly, can be quite rhapsodic. He’s good enough to have been produced by Joel Ross. And in Savannah Harris, he has one fine drummer.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Winning neighborhood Roman at Camillo (have the Carciofi alla Giudia for Bareket).
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Sunday, July 30, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Bill MacKay & Ryley Walker / Wendy Eisenberg
SUNDAY, JULY 30, 2023
7:00 PM
Union Pool
484 Union Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$18.54
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Lots of guitar.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Classic Brooklyn Red Sauce at Bamonte’s.
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Sunday, July 30, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Crystal Palaces
SUNDAY, JULY 30, 2023
7:00 PM
Footlight Underground @ The Windjammer
552 Grandview Avenue, Ridgewood, Queens
$10-$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Ambient and instrumental music.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The opposite of an ambient music concert: Gottscheer Hall.
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Sunday, July 30, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Sunday, July 30, 2023, 3:30 PM – 11:59 PM
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Sunday, July 30, 2023, 3:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
King Britt: Blacktronika
SUNDAY, JULY 30, 2023
3:00 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$36.05
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Beatmaster and Blacktronika mastermind King Britt takes to the stage his collaboration with another beatmaster, Tyshawn Sorey. And if that weren’t enough, foundational Alt-Alt Hip-Hop innovators Antipop Consortium, still ahead of their time almost 25 years after.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: This show is in Public Records’s restaurant, so you might be tempted to eat there. Don’t. Go to Ghenet for excellent Ethiopian.
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Saturday, July 29, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, July 29, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Peter Stampfel and the Atomic Meta-Pagans
SATURDAY, JULY 29, 2023
8:00 PM
The Owl Music Parlor
497 Rogers Avenue, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn
$12
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Peter Stampfel has absolutely zero to do with the The List aesthetic. But I love the mid-60s co-inventor of Freak Folk so much, and have gotten so much pleasure from his antic REAL folk-rock over the last many decades, that I can’t not List this. (Also, how can I not List him when he once told a mutual acquaintance that a review I wrote of a concert of his in the ‘70s was one of the most perceptive he’d ever read?)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Seafood (and wine) at Kingfisher.
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Sat, Jul 29, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sun, Jul 30, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Beyoncé: “Renaissance” World Tour
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, JULY 29 & 30, 2023
8:00 PM
MetLife Stadium
1 MetLife Stadium Drive, East Rutherford, New Jersey
I honesty can’t figure out the pricing on big mainstream pop shows (but it’ll be expensive as hell)
SATURDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
SUNDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
Was any better music in any Western style released last year than Beyoncé’s Renaissance? If it was, this List didn’t hear it.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Legendary deep-fried Ripper hot dogs at Rutt’s Hut.
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Saturday, July 29, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:50 PM
DANCE
Crossing Boundaries
SATURDAY, JULY 29, 2023
7:00 PM
HOT! Festival
Dixon Place
161A Chrystie Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$18 advance; $22 door; $15 students/seniors advance; $18 students/seniors door
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Mixed dance.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Neo-Cantonese at Potluck Club.
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Saturday, July 29, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Damon Locks & Rob Mazurek feat. Lori Scacco
SATURDAY, JULY 29, 2023
7:00 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$30.90
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Damon Locks started out playing Punk with Fred Armisen (of all things), but he went on to sort of meld Conscious Jazz and Funk in a way that frees your ass and your mind at the same time, instead of one following the other. Instead of his fabulous little big band, tonight he’s joined by fellow Chicago scenesters Rob Mazurek and Lori Scacco (electronics).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can’t go anywhere but Bobbi’s Italian Beef after this Chicago show.
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Saturday, July 29, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, July 29, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Mdou Moctar
SATURDAY, JULY 29, 2023
6:00 PM
Summerstage
Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
If you don’t know it already, North African desert guitar music is THE SHIT — and Mdou Moctar waas last year’s exemplar.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: If Keys & Heels had opened as a speakeasy behind a fake locksmith/shoe repair in the East Village in 2007, you might have thought it was pretty cool. On the Upper East Side in 2023, you’ve got to worry about potential lameness.
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Fri, Jul 28, 2023, 8:30 PM – Sun, Jul 30, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
AnomalousCo: Beckett. Women.
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 28 – 30, 2023
8:30 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
4:00 PM SUNDAY
HERE
145 6th Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Soho, Manhattan
$22.75; $10 first 10 tickets each show
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Beckett’s three great short one-acts for women — Footfalls, Not I, and Rockaby — produced together. This is great stuff.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Raoul’s luncheonette, Revelie, is open for dinner!
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Friday, July 28, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Shoko Nagai: TOKALA
FRIDAY, JULY 28, 2023
8:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Seeing ancient Persian instruments and artwork displayed from Imperial storage in the Palace Museum in Nara, Japan, accordionist/composer Shoko Nagai wondered what it must have been like to hear Persian and Middle Eastern music, transported via the Silk Road, in Japan a thousand and more years ago. The band TOKALA is an attempt to imagine an answer — in a very broad, suggestive, contemporary sense.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Neighborhood Italian at Mariella.
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Friday, July 28, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Gold Dust
FRIDAY, JULY 28, 2023
8:00 PM
P.I.T.
411 South 5th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I find Gold Dust’s chiming guitars very appealing. So shoot me.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Pizza! Persian tapas at Masquerade.
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Fri, Jul 28, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sun, Jul 30, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Rachel Carey: Vermont
MONDAY – TUESDAY & FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 24 – 25 & 28 – 30, 2023
8:00 PM MONDAY – TUESDAY & FRIDAY – SATURDAY
3:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
The Wild Project
195 East 3rd Street, East Village, Manhattan
$25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A Gen X playwright pokes fun at Boomers (when the Boomers were young).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Mexican-inflected cocktails that read badly but taste just fine, and Mexican pub grub, at Superbueno.
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Fri, Jul 28, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sat, Jul 29, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Lenny Kaye: Golden Jubilee Anniversary! 50yr Celebration of the Nuggets
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JULY 28 & 29, 2023
8:00 PM
City Winery
25 11th Avenue, Chelsea, Manhattan
$35-$125
FRIDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
SATURDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
People seem to forget that Punk Rock wasn’t this thing that was invented at CBGB in 1975; that was really Neo-Punk. No, Punk Rock was originally garage music from the mid-’60s. And one of the things that brought it back to general attention in the early ‘70s (along with detailed examination in Creem magazine) was critic/guitarist Lenny Kaye’s epochal anthology on the Elektra label, Nuggets. Although this purports to be a Golden Anniversary celebration, that was 51 years ago (I think I bought it they day it came out). And on these nights, Kaye and a bunch of like-minded nostalgiasts including bandmate Patti Smith will play and sing those songs.
MAKE A NIGIHT OF IT: Good fresh Italian at Barbuto.
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Friday, July 28, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Friday, July 28, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Swamp Dogg
FRIDAY, JULY 28, 2023
8:00 PM
Knockdown Center
52-19 Flushing Avenue, Maspeth, Queens
$30.65
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Swamp Dogg’s voice is getting a little frayed — but let’s face it, it was rough to begin with. His countrfified Soul isn’t getting any less crazy, though.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Beer and sausage from Germans by way of Slovenia at Gottscheer Hall.
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Fri, Jul 28, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, Jul 29, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra: Classical to Neo-Classical
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JULY 28 & 29, 2023
7:30 PM
David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center
10 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$5-$105
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Classical is represented by Cimarosa and Bottesini (I think of Bottesini as more Romantic than Classical myself); Neo by a composition by guest contrabass soloist Xavier Folely and by Sowande and the first symphony of Adolphus Hailstork, which, fan though I am, I confess to not yet having heard (I think of Hailstork as more Neo-Romantic than Neo-Classical myself — but really he’s protean) (and ALWAYS welcome). Thomas Wilkins conducts.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I’ve heard that Kwame Onwuachi’s in-house Afro-Caribbean restaurant Tatiana is pretty good (oh I crack myself up).
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Friday, July 28, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Summer Scum 8
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JULY 28 & 29, 2023
7:00 PM FRIDAY
4:00 PM SATURDAY
TV Eye
1647 Weirfield Street, Ridgewood, Queens
$37.76 each night; $62.94 both nights
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Noise.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delightful Italianish American at Rolo’s — if you can get in.
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Fri, Jul 28, 2023, 12:00 PM – Sun, Jul 30, 2023, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Flux Factory: Feralpy
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 28 – 30, 2023 (continuing through AUGUST 6)
12:00 PM
Colonel’s Row Building 404A, Governors Island, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A month-long potpourri of installations, experiences, workshops (if they must), and performances.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Lots to eat and drink on Governors Island, but everybody loves Little Eva’s.
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Friday, July 28, 2023, 7:30 AM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Miho Hatori x Esther Sibiude
FRIDAY, JULY 28, 2023
7:30 PM
47 Canal
291 Grand Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
How much Pop-inflected self-referential ArtMusic do you want? Well, you’ll get all of it tonight!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The best slice pizza in New York City at Scarr’s.
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Thu, Jul 27, 2023, 8:00 PM – Fri, Jul 28, 2023, 11:59 PM
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Thursday, July 27, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Stefan Tcherepnin & Emanuel Rossetti: An Evening of Staged Worlds
THURSDAY, JULY 27, 2023
7:30 PM
Blank Forms
468 Grand Avenue, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A merger of performative, sculptural, musical, and ambient elements.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The newly revived, slightly relocated Nigerian spot Buka is now fully reopened. And boy is it good.
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Thu, Jul 27, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jul 30, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Ben Holbrook & Nate Weida: The Dastardly Thornes v. The Town of Goldhaven
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 27 – 30, 2023 (continuing through AUGUST 12)
7:30 PM
The Brick
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20-$50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A metamusical exploring Colonialism, toxicity, beans, and other unpleasant truths underlying the myth of the Old West.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I don’t know about you, but I haven’t been for barbecue to Fette Sau in ages (probably because they’ve dumbed down their menu since their freewheeling opening days).
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Thu, Jul 27, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sat, Jul 29, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER / PERFORMANCE
Theodora Skipitares: Views from the Miniature City
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, JULY 27 – 29, 2023
7:00 PM THURSDAY & FRIDAY
5:00 PM SATURDAY
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Theodora Skipitares presents a pocket version of the early ‘80s piece that kicked off her career as a puppeteer, involving various Manhattan interior tableaux.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Vegan Soul Food sounds like an absurdity. But people who’ve eaten at Cadence sure don’t think so.
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Thursday, July 27, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Patrick Brennan: s0nic 0penings
THURSDAY, JULY 27, 2023
7:00 PM
Soup & Sound
292 Lefferts Boulevard, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn
Donation
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Saxophonist Patrick Brennan leads his band in laser-focused collective improvisations.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Soup will indeed be served. If you want a nightcap after the show, Any Thing will be waiting with its warm welcome and frankly not very good cocktails.
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Thursday, July 27, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Pekka Kuusisto & Nico Muhly
THURSDAY, JULY 27, 2023
7:00 PM
Caramoor
149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah, Westchester
$29-$68; $14.50-$68 children
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Contemporary Classical (and mainstream classical) violin sensation Pekka Kuusisto duets with Contemporary Classical composer sensation Nico Muhly (on piano). They’ll be playing the kind of music Muhly obviously likes, such as that of Philip Glass, Arvo Pärt, and Muhly himself.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: FFF (that’s Fancy Fucking French to you) at La Crémaillère.
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Thu, Jul 27, 2023, 5:00 PM – Sun, Jul 30, 2023, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Asi Wind: Inner Circle
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 27 – 30, 2023 (continuing through JANUARY 7, 2024)
5:00 & 8:00 PM THURSDAY
7:00 & 9:30 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
4:00 & 7:00 PM SUNDAY
The Gym at Judson
243 Thompson Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$110-$265
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I’ve been sleeping on this magic show (probably its massive mainstream success shielded it from my view). But contrary to how things might appear, just because people like something doesn’t mean it can’t get Listed.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Classic Red Sauce at Monte’s Trattoria.
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Thursday, July 27, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Dayna Stephens Quartet
THURSDAY, JULY 27, 2023
5:00 PM
Hudson Eats Jazz
The Jazz Gallery @ Hudson Eats, Brookfield Place
230 Vesey Street, Brookfield Place, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Saxophonist Dayna Stephens is more Inside than most people who get Listed here. But he’s just so good. And he really does bring something fresh to The Tradition.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I guess the point is you’re supposed to munch out and drink during the show with stuff from the (mediocre) Hudson Eats food court.
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Wed, Jul 26, 2023, 8:30 PM – Sat, Jul 29, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Stone Residencies: Zoh Amba
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, JULY 26 – 29, 2023
8:30 PM
The Stone
Stiefel Hall, The New School
55 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A week of saxophonist Zoh Amba. This is exciting.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: No one better to take over the old Café Loup space than NYC Front of House vet Michael Cechhi-Azzolina with his American Bistro Cecchi’s.
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Wednesday, July 26, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Wed, Jul 26, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, Jul 29, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Lydia Blaisdell: gerstl took the easy way out
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, JULY 26 – 29, 2023
7:30 PM
Ice Factory In Person & THURSDAY Live Stream
New Ohio Theatre
154 Christopher Street, West Village, Manhattan
$20; $17 students/seniors; $18 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I was going to make some snide comment about how the easy way out is apparently not bothering to hit shift to capitalize. But then I found out that the titular Gerstl (er, gerstl) is the pre-Expressionist painter Richard Gerstl, and this is a metatheatrical non-linear comedy about his affair with Mathilde Schoenberg, wife of his close friend Arnold (Gerstl committed suicide by both stabbing and hanging himself when Mathilde returned to Arnold: that’s how funny this all is). Sounds right up my alley.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, Korean noodles at Jeju Noodle Bar. Streaming at home, have a Spritzer: pour 2 oz. chilled Gemischter Satz white wine into a white wine glass. Top with 2 oz. chilled soda water.
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Wed, Jul 26, 2023, 7:00 PM – Thu, Jul 27, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Tashi Dorji / Otay:onii
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY, JULY 26 & 27, 2023
7:00 PM
Sundownstairs, Sundown Bar
68-38 Forest Avenue, Ridgewood, Queens
$18.07
WEDNESDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
THURSDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
Toshi Dorji is an experimental guitarist who doesn’t mind being mellifluous sometimes (his son Mila is also on the bill). Otay:onii similarly leavens her noise with melody (indeed, melody derived from Chinese folk music).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You’re in a bar with good cocktails. For something more solid, Nepalese-New York fusion (Toshi Dorji is from Bhutan himself) at While in Kathmandu.
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Wednesday, July 26, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
DANCE
Ephrat Asherie Dance: UNDERSCORED
WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 2023
6:00 PM
Manhattan West Plaza, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
New York club dancing, as transmitting down through succeeding generations from Paradise Garage to now.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Boring in theory, delicious in practice Italian from the big oven at Ci Siamo.
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Wednesday, July 26, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Aizuri Quartet
WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 2023
6:00 PM
Carnegie Hall Citywide
Madison Square Park, Madison Square, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
It’s always a treat to hear the fabulous Aizuri Quartet (even if the one-hopes-temporarily reconfigured line-up playing this Summer lacks fireball violist Ayane Kozawa). They’re doing a lot of Armenian folklorist Komitas in their Summer 2023 stand at Madison Square Park, and in this show also some Hildegard von Bingen, Bartók, Haydn, and Tanya Tagaq.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Taiwanese fried chicken (and pork, rice, and mushroom wrapped in chicken skin!) at TKK Fried Chicken.
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Wednesday, July 26, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Soless Dialtone
WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 2023
5:00 PM
Pioneer Works @ NASDAQ
Broadway & West 43rd Street, Midtown, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Is Soless Dialtone’s almost songform almost pop Art Electropop just what this List likes? Well, it’s one of the things this List likes.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Can you guess what’s on the menu at Los Tacos No. 1?
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Tuesday, July 25, 2023, 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM
MUSIC
Orchestra of St. Luke’s: World Premieres for Chamber Orchestra
TUESDAY, JULY 25, 2023
7:00 PM
DiMenna Center
450 West 37th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
New pieces for chamber orchestra by Molly Herron, whom I know well and recommend, and Carlos Bandera and the antic Tommy Daugherty, whom I know less well but recommend based on what I do — all under the tutilege of Anna Clyne (who knows a thing or two about writing for chamber orchestra).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Mighty Central Asian at Farida.
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Tuesday, July 25, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Kid Koala x Lealani
TUESDAY, JULY 25, 2023
8:00 PM
(Le) Poisson Rouge
158 Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$60
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Kid Koala’s Scratch meets Lealani’s insistent Art Electropop for indiscreet fun.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Now that Tuscan charmer I Sodi has moved into a bigger new location, think it’ll be easier to get into? Me neither.
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Tuesday, July 25, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Nosky’s Baroque Band
TUESDAY, JULY 25, 2023
7:30 PM
Naumburg Bandshell, Central Park, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Violinist Aislinn Nosky leads her band in an appealing mixed Baroque program.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: A legendary burger at J.G. Melon.
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Tuesday, July 25, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
-
Tue, Jul 25, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, Jul 30, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Inua Ellams: The Half-God of Rainfall
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 25 – 30, 2023 (continuing through AUGUST 20)
7:00 PM TUESDAY – THURSDAY & SUNDAY
8:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
New York Theater Workshop
79 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$25-$35
INFORMATION + TICKETS
Greek myth goes to Nigeria and plays basketball. But it’s much less whimsical than that sounds. This is tough stuff.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Pub grub that is far better than it has any right to be at Sidney’s Five.
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Tue, Jul 25, 2023, 3:00 PM – Sun, Jul 30, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
SONIC SPHERE
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 25 – 30, 2023
3:00, 4:30, 6:00 & 7:30 PM TUESDAY – THURSDAY
1:00, 2:30, 4:00, 5:30, 7:00, 8:30 & 10:00 PM FRIDAY
11:30 AM & 1:00, 2:30, 4:00, 5:30, 7:00, 8:30 & 10:00 PM SATURDAY
11:30 AM & 1:00, 2:30, 4:00, 5:30 & 7:00 PM SUNDAY
The Shed
545 West 30th Street, Hudson Yards, Manhattan
$51; $46 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
You go into this huge floating sculptural sphere and hear 45-minutes sets of music comprising either remixes of albums by people like The xx or Steve Reich or playlists curated by people like Carl Craig(!). The live shows are over.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Excellent Spanish at Casa Dani.
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Tue, Jul 25, 2023, 10:30 AM – Sun, Jul 30, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell & Joseph White: Meander
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 25 – 30, 2023 (ongoing)
10:00 AM – 8:30 PM TUESDAY & THURSDAY
10:00 AM – 6:00 PM WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY – SUNDAY
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
150 Eastern Parkway, across the street from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
$18; $12 students/seniors; free children under 12
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Having created a wonderful sound walk through Green-Wood Cemetery, the dream team of Gelsey Bell and Joe White do the same for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (one of my favorite places on earth, if you want to know). The soundtrack is available on the BBG website.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Early, the best pancakes in town (and other great stuff) at Tom’s Restaurant. Later, meet the Guadalajaran Torta Ahogada — sure to become your new obsession — at Cruz del Sur.
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Monday, July 24, 2023, 9:30 PM – 11:59 PM
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Mon, Jul 24, 2023, 8:00 PM – Tue, Jul 25, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Rachel Carey: Vermont
MONDAY – TUESDAY & FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 24 – 25 & 28 – 30, 2023
8:00 PM MONDAY – TUESDAY & FRIDAY – SATURDAY
3:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
The Wild Project
195 East 3rd Street, East Village, Manhattan
$25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A Gen X playwright pokes fun at Boomers (when the Boomers were young).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Mexican-inflected cocktails that read badly but taste just fine, and Mexican pub grub, at Superbueno.
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Monday, July 24, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Angélica Negrón, Darian Donovan Thomas & Raquel Acevedo Klein: Floresta: Soundbath
MONDAY, JULY 24, 2023
7:30 PM
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
990 Washington Avenue, across the street from Crown Heights, Brooklyn
$43.30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Three of the most exciting composer/performers in New York City collaborate on a soundscape inspired by trees’ ability to communicate with each other through their root systems. And plants themselves will also collaborate, by means of tech that converts their biodata into sound.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: American Bistro at Leland Eating and Drinking House.
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Mon, Jul 24, 2023, 8:00 AM – Sun, Jul 30, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 24 – 30, 2023 (ongoing)
8:00 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
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One of the first shows that you could actually Go Out! to back in the days of The Lockdown (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 (whose terrific new album you really ought to hear). 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 24, 2023, 6:00 AM – Sun, Jul 30, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: New York, New York
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 24 – 30, 2023 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
What do you know? The New York Phil has gone and renamed Ellen Reid’s SOUNDWALK. Reid, one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers, put together a highly allusive soundtrack, played by members of the Philharmonic and a bunch of Alt Classical players about town. 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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Sunday, July 23, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Heavy Florals II: Amirtha Kidambi Quartet / Lesley Mok-Shara Lunon-Chris Williams-Shahzad Ismaily
SUNDAY, JULY 23, 2023
8:00 PM
Sisters
900 Fulton Street, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The always fascinating vocalist Amirtha Kidambi leads a quartet. And drummer Lesley Mok, vocalist Shara Lunon, trumpeter Christopher Williams, and multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily — four musicians who always seem to be playing all the time everywhere in New York City — now play together.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can eat and drink perfectly well at Sisters.
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Sunday, July 23, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Andrew Smiley & Kate Gentile: Flagrances / Matt Mitchell
SUNDAY, JULY 23, 2023
8:00 PM
IBeam
168 7th Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$20; $25 cover + Flagrances CD
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Guitarist Andrew Smiley and drummer Kate Gentile celebrate the release of their new duo album Flagrances (the track I heard was really good: I love Smiley’s earthy, buoyant guitar style) by playing it. At some point they’ll be joined on modular synths by Matt Mitchell, who will also play a solo set.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Appealing eclectic New Americanish at Runner & Stone.
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Sunday, July 23, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Ricardo Gallo: Horse’s Mouth
SUNDAY, JULY 23, 2023
6:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$15-$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Pianist/composer Ricardo Gallo’s music is informed by South American folk forms — but also by Monk and Andrew Hill.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Peruvian at Mikhuy.
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Sunday, July 23, 2023, 4:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Oneida / Steve Gunn-Ryan Sawyer Duo
SUNDAY, JULY 23, 2023
4:00 PM
Caracas
16-01 Shore Front Parkway, Rockaway Beach, Queens
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This is actually real. The great Psych/Krautrock/Minimalism/Post-Rock fusion of Oneida. The Not-Quite-Post-Rock guitar/drums jams of Steve Gunn and Ryan Sawyer. On the boardwalk. For free. (Maybe they’ll all play surf music.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Since you’re like there, might as well have some arepas and sangria at Caracas.
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Sunday, July 23, 2023, 4:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Sunday, July 23, 2023, 3:30 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, July 22, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, July 22, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Stanford Cheung / eüsh / Will Graefe / Shahzad Ismaily
SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2023
8:00 PM
The Owl Music Parlor
497 Rogers Avenue, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn
$12
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Let’s talk about Stanford Cheung and Shahzad Ismaily. Stanford Cheung plays contemporary classical and his own often glitchy often electro-acousitic compositions and improvisations. Speaking of improvisation, bassist/keyboardist/lots else Shahzad Ismaily has been one of the crucial improvising musicians for years — but now he’s being widely recognized for it.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Seafood (and wine) at Kingfisher.
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Saturday, July 22, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, July 22, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, July 22, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, July 22, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Dither: Plays Laurie Spiegel: The Expanding Universe / Leila Bourdreuil
SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2023
7:00 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$25.75
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Musician (Juilliard)/programmer (Bell Labs) Laurie Spiegel produced a bunch of spectacular electronic music in the late ‘70s/early ‘80s (this was back in the days when computers took up whole rooms), before abandoning music altogether (SPOILER: she came back) for programming. I won’t say her 1980 album The Expanding Universe is her best, but it’s my favorite (especially in its expanded edition): spacy, playful, both cosmic and earthbound. Tonight the fantastic guitar quartet Dither plays music from it — with the participation of Spiegel herself (and boy is Public Records’s fabulous sound system gonna strut!). Important. Opener Leila Bordreuil, sonic explorer and cellist, is icing on the cake.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Café Mars, with its Italian in space, is the only place to go from this.
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Saturday, July 22, 2023, 1:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Fri, Jul 21, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jul 23, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Ben Holbrook & Nate Weida: The Dastardly Thornes v. The Town of Goldhaven
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 21 – 23, 2023 (continuing through AUGUST 12)
7:30 PM
The Brick
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20-$50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A metamusical exploring Colonialism, toxicity, beans, and other unpleasant truths underlying the myth of the Old West.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I don’t know about you, but I haven’t been for barbecue to Fette Sau in ages (probably because they’ve dumbed down their menu since their freewheeling opening days).
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Friday, July 21, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Chelsea Symphony feat. Lady Jess / Lucrecia Dalt
FRIDAY, JULY 21, 2023
7:30 PM
Celebrate Brooklyn
Lena Horn Bandshell, Prospect Park, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Go for opener Lucrecia Dalt, whose electronic music is expansive and enthralling. But don’t feel you have to stay. The Chelsea Symphony is dedicated to doing two things (both in the name of “outreach”): (1) playing repertoire by marginalized composers, and (2) playing new music in pop classical styles like the one they confusingly call “Neo-Classical” in the UK. As for (2), I call bullshit on that music; I’m sticking with Brooklyn. As for (1), there’s a lot of music out there that deserves to be played but hasn’t been, for the worst possible reasons (just ask Alvin Singleton, or — not that he can answer you — Joseph White). But that doesn’t mean we need to attend to more backward-looking superannuated Late Romantic gunk just because its composers were unfairly discriminated against during their lifetimes. I mean, sure, their works should be played if similar works by non-marginalized composers are. But that doesn’t mean I need to listen.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: LORE presents Indian fusion that somehow works.
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Friday, July 21, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Jeremy Dutton: Anyone Is Better than Here
FRIDAY, JULY 21, 2023
7:30 & 9:30 PM
The Jazz Gallery In Person & Live Stream
1158 Broadway (entrance on West 27th Street), NoMad, Manhattan
$33-$44 in person; $22 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Drummer Jeremy Dutton has shown himself to be a fine, low-key but focused composer. His band tonight may not be quite as starry as the one that plays on his album, but the material (and fuck it, the playing: these guys are fine) will shine.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: José Andés cocktails and bar snacks at the sky-high Nubeluz. Streaming at home, have a Brave: pour 1 oz. each of Mezcal and blanco Tequila (or Sotol if you’re feeling particularly brave), 1/2 oz. Averna amaro, and 1/4 oz. Royal Combier or Grand Marnier into a wine glass. Swirl to combine. Give it three mists of Angostura bitters if you have an atomizer or just put in 1 dash if, like me, you don’t. Flame in an orange peel.
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Friday, July 21, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
CT::SWaM Plasticity Office: DM R
FRIDAY, JULY 20, 2023
7:00 PM
Fridman Gallery
169 Bowery, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The CT::SWaM Plasticity Office is a sound installation and temporary spacial sound studio concocted by artist/engineer Daniel Neumann. A rotation of performers will activate or otherwise effectuate it. And tonight’s activator is this List’s Sensational Composer Find of 2023, DM R!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Snacky somewhat fusiony Indonesian beach food at Ma·Dé.
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Friday, July 21, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Magos Herrera feat. The Knights: Aire
FRIDAY, JULY 21, 2023
7:00 PM
Bryant Park, Midtown, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Eloquent singer-songwriter Magos Herrera plays her new album, featuring her new compositions and Latin-American standards.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Upscale Sichuan at Café China.
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Friday, July 21, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Warm Up 2023
FRIDAY, JULY 21, 2023
5:00 PM
MoMA PS1
20-25 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, Queens
$17
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Various kinds of electronic music, not all for dancing (but most). My fave on tonight’s bill is Dreamcrusher with their extreme noise. But maybe you’ll like something different.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Fab Québécois bistro M. Wells is on fire right now.
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Fri, Jul 21, 2023, 12:00 PM – Sun, Jul 23, 2023, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Flux Factory: Feralpy
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 21 – 23, 2023 (continuing through AUGUST 6)
12:00 PM
Colonel’s Row Building 404A, Governors Island, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A month-long potpourri of installations, experiences, workshops (if they must), and performances.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Lots to eat and drink on Governors Island, but everybody loves Little Eva’s.
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Thursday, July 20, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Killer Mike & The Midnight Revival: The High & the Holy
THURSDAY, JULY 20, 2023
8:00 PM
Apollo Theater
253 West 125th Street, Harlem, Manhattan
$51.40-$115.05
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Killer Mike — half of the mighty Run the Jewels (the band whose tee shirts I have the most of by a good margin) — is having A Moment. And if I were you, I’d share in it.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delightful French at Maison Harlem.
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Thursday, July 20, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Adam Kolker & Jeremy Stratton feat. Ingrid Laubrock & Tom Rainey
THURSDAY, JULY 20, 2023
8:00 PM
Bar Bayeux
1066 Nostrand Avenue, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn
Free (tip the band)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The First Couple of Brooklyn Jazz get together with saxophonist Adam Kolker and bassist Jeremy Stratton.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Good neighborhood Roman at Camillo.
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Thursday, July 20, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
THEATER / MUSIC
Ellen Foley & Robert I Rubinsky: Club Dada / Cabaret Kaput
THURSDAY, JULY 20, 2023
7:30 PM
Dixon Place
161A Chrystie Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$25 advance; $30 door
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Meatloaf veteran (DO NOT click that last link if you know what's good for you) Ellen Foley and Hair veteran Robert I Rubinsky play ancient vaudevillians compelled by memories of past glory and by outside forces to continue to absurdly belt and hoof into eternity (critiquing ageism on the way). Their resumes suggest it shouldn't be a stretch.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Sicilian at Pasquale Jones sibling Bar Pasquale.
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Thursday, July 20, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Anthony Hawley feat. Aakash Mittal, Fay Victor & Lesley Mok: Geograpologies (Gore-chewer, Drone-catcher, Night-dredger)
THURSDAY, JULY 20, 2023
7:30 PM
Lubov
5 East Broadway, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Responding musically to the phosphorescent plexiglass sculptures of Anthony Hawley will be saxophonist Aakash Mittal, vocalist Fay Victor, and drummer Lesley Mok.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Dim Sum Go Go is right downstairs, for God’s sake.
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Thu, Jul 20, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jul 23, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Sophie Dushko: Galatea 2.0
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 20 – 23, 2023
7:30 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
Brooklyn Art Haus
24 Marcy Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A riff on Pygmalion — very much Shaw’s, since both he and Mrs. Campbell figure as characters — except instead of a statue transforming into a woman we have a sex worker hired to pretend to be a sex doll that had broke (bet you saw that coming). The two actresses who play the sex worker and the sex doll flip a coin onstage before each night’s performance to determine which will play which.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Great great wine and actually good food at Four Horsemen.
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Thursday, July 20, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
People’s Champs: Starr Busby / Lollise / Jackary
THURSDAY, JULY 20, 2023
7:30 PM
C’mon Everybody
325 Franklin Avenue, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
$12.36
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This List likes the conscious diva Pop-Soul of Starr Busby and the Jitterfunk of Jachary. But it loves the Art Afropop of Lollise.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Pilar Cuban Eatery really is astonishingly good.
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Thursday, July 20, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Chris Tordini Quartet
THURSDAY, JULY 20, 2023
7:30 & 9:30 PM
The Jazz Gallery
1158 Broadway (entrance on West 27th Street), NoMad, Manhattan
$22.50-$33
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Bassist about town Chris Tordini gets to lead (and focus on his own compositions) for a change. The good thing about being a first-call bassist is that, when you lead, you get to to get great people to play with you: tonight, saxophonist Steve Lehman, pianist Matt Mitchell, and drummer Dan Weiss.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Fancy Austrian at Koloman.
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Thursday, July 20, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Thu, Jul 20, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sat, Jul 22, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Theodora Skipitares: Views from the Miniature City
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, JULY 20 – 22, 2023 (continuing through JULY 29)
7:00 PM THURSDAY & FRIDAY
5:00 PM SATURDAY
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Theodora Skipitares presents a pocket version of the early ‘80s piece that kicked off her career as a puppeteer, involving various Manhattan interior tableaux.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Vegan Soul Food sounds like an absurdity. But people who’ve eaten at Cadence sure don’t think so.
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Thursday, July 20, 2023, 6:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Summer Sounds: Shoko Nagai
THURSDAY, JULY 20, 2023
6:30 PM
Fotografiska
281 Park Avenue South, Gramercy, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Accordion! (And piano if she must.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: English steak at Hawksmoor.
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Thu, Jul 20, 2023, 5:00 PM – Sun, Jul 23, 2023, 11:59 PM
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Wed, Jul 19, 2023, 8:30 PM – Sat, Jul 22, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Stone Residencies: Suphala
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, JULY 19 – 22, 2023
8:30 PM
The Stone
Stiefel Hall, The New School
55 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Four nights of Suphala’s mod tablas! (Note the relocation of these concerts for the week) (within the same building, though).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: No one better to take over the old Café Loup space than NYC Front of House vet Michael Cechhi-Azzolina with his American Bistro Cecchi’s.
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Wednesday, July 19, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Brooklyn Improv Orchestra: Conducted Improvisation
WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 2023
8:00 PM
FourOneOne
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Everybody’s doing conduction these days. Fine with me.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Before, the best fast-casual duck and rice you’ve ever had at Milu. After, maybe some good cocktails, great interior, and snacky seafood at Deux Chats.
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Wednesday, July 19, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Wednesday, July 19, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Charlotte Greve, Chris Tordini & Vinnie Sperrazza: The Choir Invisible
WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 2023
8:00 & 9:30 PM
Bar Bayeux
1066 Nostrand Avenue, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn
Free (tip the band)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Saxophonist Charlotte Greve, bassist Chris Tordini, and drummer Vinnie Sperrazza: three players you want to hear. And make no mistake: this assemblage is a band, with a cohesive, deceptively delicate sound.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Ham and wine at & Sons Ham Bar.
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Wednesday, July 19, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Wed, Jul 19, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, Jul 22, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Beth Golison: here i fall up
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, JULY 19 – 22, 2023
7:30 PM
Ice Factory In Person & THURSDAY Live Stream
New Ohio Theatre
154 Christopher Street, West Village, Manhattan
$20; $17 students/seniors; $18 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A folk-jazz musical, for all you Hadestown fans (actually, it’s more Ghost Quartet — but that work is so great that any comparison to it would be unfair).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, Korean noodles at Jeju Noodle Bar. Streaming at home, have a Green Ghost: pour 2 oz. Gin and 1/2 oz. each of green Chartreuse (if you can find any) and lime juice into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a lime slice and a cocktail cherry.
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Wednesday, July 19, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Aeolus Quartet
WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 2023
6:00 PM
Carnegie Hall Citywide
Madison Square Park, Madison Square, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Aoelus plays Jessie Montgomery’s Strum — a marvelous piece — and some Reena Esmail. Some William Bolcom rags for fun. And um other stuff.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I’ve gotten through my recent Singaporean food obsession, but that’s no reason not to go to Sinagpura for some more.
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Wednesday, July 19, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Melissa Almaguer Quartet
THURSDAY, JULY 20, 2023
5:00 PM
Hudson Eats Jazz
The Jazz Gallery @ Hudson Eats, Brookfield Place
230 Vesey Street, Brookfield Place, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A bunch of people are doing that tap-dancer-as-improvising-musician-playing-as-part-of-the-band thing right now. But Melissa Almaguer does it better than most.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I guess the point is you’re supposed to munch out and drink during the show with stuff from the (mediocre) Hudson Eats food court.
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Wednesday, July 19, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Brent Arnold: Solo Cello & Electronics
WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 2023
5:00 PM
Pioneer Works @ NASDAQ
Broadway & West 43rd Street, Midtown, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Brent Arnold plays enhanced music on his cello that is sometimes mellifluous, but thankfully not always.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Can you guess what’s on the menu at Los Tacos No. 1?
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Tuesday, July 18, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Assembly #7: DoYeon Kim / Mike Haldeman / Nate Wooley: Mutual Aid Music
TUESDAY, JULY 18, 2023
8:00 PM
Sisters
900 Fulton Street, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Trumpeter Nate Wooley combines notated and unnotated music in his amazing ensemble. DoYeon Kim is a leading member of NYC’s avant-Korean squad, taking her gayageum places it hasn’t previously gone. There aren’t that many places the guitar hasn’t previously gone, but Mike Haldeman stays away from the more familiar ones.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can eat and drink perfectly well at Sisters.
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Tue, Jul 18, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, Jul 23, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Inua Ellams: The Half-God of Rainfall
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 18 – 23, 2023 (continuing through AUGUST 20)
7:00 PM TUESDAY – THURSDAY & SUNDAY
8:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
New York Theater Workshop
79 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$25-$35
INFORMATION + TICKETS
Greek myth goes to Nigeria and plays basketball. But it’s much less whimsical than that sounds. This is tough stuff.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Pub grub that is far better than it has any right to be at Sidney’s Five.
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Tuesday, July 18, 2023, 6:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
DMG 32nd ANNIVERSARY IN-STORE FREE MUSIC SERIES: Guitar Quadruple Header!
TUESDAY, JULY 18, 2023
6:30 PM
Downtown Music Gallery
13 Monroe Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
What it says.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Modern-Korean-inflected Golden Diner.
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Tuesday, July 18, 2023, 3:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
SONIC SPHERE
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 18 – 23, 2023 (continuing through JULY 30)
3:00, 4:30, 6:00 & 7:30 PM TUESDAY – THURSDAY
1:00, 2:30, 4:00, 5:30, 7:00, 8:30 & 10:00 PM FRIDAY
11:30 AM & 1:00, 2:30, 4:00, 5:30, 7:00, 8:30 & 10:00 PM SATURDAY
11:30 AM & 1:00, 2:30, 4:00, 5:30 & 7:00 PM SUNDAY
The Shed
545 West 30th Street, Hudson Yards, Manhattan
$51; $46 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
You go into this huge floating sculptural sphere and hear 45-minutes sets of music comprising either remixes of albums by people like The xx or Steve Reich or playlists curated by people like Carl Craig(!). The live shows are over.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Excellent Spanish at Casa Dani.
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Tue, Jul 18, 2023, 10:00 AM – Sun, Jul 23, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell & Joseph White: Meander
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 18 – 23, 2023 (ongoing)
10:00 AM – 8:30 PM TUESDAY & THURSDAY
10:00 AM – 6:00 PM WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY – SUNDAY
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
150 Eastern Parkway, across the street from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
$18; $12 students/seniors; free children under 12
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Having created a wonderful sound walk through Green-Wood Cemetery, the dream team of Gelsey Bell and Joe White do the same for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (one of my favorite places on earth, if you want to know). The soundtrack is available on the BBG website.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Early, the best pancakes in town (and other great stuff) at Tom’s Restaurant. Later, meet the Guadalajaran Torta Ahogada — sure to become your new obsession — at Cruz del Sur.
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Monday, July 17, 2023, 9:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Charlotte Greve: Wood River
TUESDAY, JULY 18, 2023
9:00 & 10:15 PM
LunÀtico
486 Halsey Street, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Wood River is saxophonist Charlotte Greve’s songform Art Pop band. And it’s good. (We’ll be seeing Greve doing other things elsewhere tomorrow.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You should at least buy some drinks from the venue. But if you want some more interesting and substantial food than LunÀtico serves, nice pizza and tapas at Saraghina.
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Monday, July 17, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Abasement #63
MONDAY, JULY 17, 2023
7:00 PM
Artists Space
11 Cortland Alley, Tribeca (not really), Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Experimental music with visual projections. Among the many notables on tonight’s line-up are Phill Niblock and Katherine Liberovskaya.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Fancy Cantonese that ought to be much better known than it is at August Gatherings.
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Mon, Jul 17, 2023, 8:00 AM – Sun, Jul 23, 2023, 11:59 AM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 17 – 23, 2023 (ongoing)
8:00 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
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One of the first shows that you could actually Go Out! to back in the days of The Lockdown (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 (whose terrific new album you really ought to hear). 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 17, 2023, 6:00 AM – Sun, Jul 23, 2023, 11:59 AM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: New York, New York
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 17 – 23, 2023 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
What do you know? The New York Phil has gone and renamed Ellen Reid’s SOUNDWALK. Reid, one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers, put together a highly allusive soundtrack, played by members of the Philharmonic and a bunch of Alt Classical players about town. 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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Sunday, July 16, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Sunday, July 16, 2023, 3:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Arts for Art: InGardens
SUNDAY, JULY 16, 2023
3:30 PM
Children’s Magical Garden
129 Stanton Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A trio led by Free Jazz bassist William Parker, one of the crucial musicians of ourtime.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Slight return of Bereket, and some of the best doner kebab in the City, at Ankara #3.
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Sunday, July 16, 2023, 2:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, July 15, 2023, 10:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Ellen Allien
SATURDAY, JULY 15, 2023
10:00 PM
Elsewhere
599 Johnson Avenue, Bushwick, Brooklyn
$28.77-$40.79
TICKETS + INFORMATION
After all these years, Ellen Allien’s tricked-up Berlin dance music is still great.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The best Vietnamese-Mexican food you ever had at Falansai.
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Saturday, July 15, 2023, 10:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Yotoco
SATURDAY, JULY 15, 2023
10:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Yotoco plays Pan-Latin American dance-rock music. Usually, such musical syncretism is a recipe for disaster (or at least anodynity) — but they pull it off.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The band is named after a town in Colombia. So OF COURSE you’d go to Colombia in Park Slope.
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Saturday, July 15, 2023, 9:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
75 Dollar Bill: Little Big Band + Duo
SATURDAY, JULY 15, 2023
9:00 PM
ISSUE Project Room @ The Old American Can Factory Courtyard
232 3rd Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
75 Dollar Bill celebrates more than 10 years of being one of the most vital and interesting bands in New York City with a show featuring its two main incarnations: the OG duo of homemade-string-master Che Chen and wooden-crate-master Rick Brown, and the Little Big Band that expanded their sonic palette. Think of psychedelic jamming listening to Minimalism while winking at Free Jazz and dancing to Mauritanian desert music — then forget about all that and just GO. (You’ll also get your first peak at the new renovation of The American Can Factory into an arts center!)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Italian in space at Café Mars.
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Saturday, July 15, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Balance / Anna Webber & Matt Mitchell
SATURDAY, JULY 15, 2023
8:00 PM
The Owl Music Parlor
497 Rogers Avenue, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn
$12
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Two sax-piano duos. Balance is out of Detroit; they have an expansive conception that belies the spare instrumentation. Anna Webber and Matt Mitchell are from here, and they never fail to surprise.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Seafood (and wine) at Kingfisher.
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Saturday, July 15, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Endless Life Music Series: Michaël Attias, Max Johnson & Tomas Fujiwara
SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2023
8:00 PM
Endless Life Brewery
585 Franklin Avenue, Crown Heights, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Three interesting musicians.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Of course you’ll be drinking in the taproom you’re in. To eat, very appealing New American at Mayfield.
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Saturday, July 15, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sanda Weigl: Lost in the Stars — The Music of Kurt Weill
SATURDAY, JULY 15, 2023
8:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
If anyone has a right to sing this repertoire, it’s Sanda Weigl, a gifted cabaret stylist who’s a relative of Bertolt Brecht.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Serviceable neighborhood Italian at Bar Toto.
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Saturday, July 15, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Irreversible Entanglements Pres Speakeasy Vol. 1: Moor Mother feat. Hisham Akira Baroocha
SATURDAY, JULY 15, 2023
7:00 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$25.75
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Irreversible Entanglements, that great Neo-Free Jazz band, presents (among other things), band member poet-conceptual artist Moor Mother in a collaboration with the former drummer from Black Dice. Wait a minute! Now I’m hearing that saxophone great David Murray will be playing!!!!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Mediterranean-inflected New American out of the big oven at Victor.
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Saturday, July 15, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Attorneys General / Toto Alvarez
SATURDAY, JULY 15, 2023
7:00 PM
P.I.T.
411 South 5th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Attorneys General are three veteran Downtown/Brooklyn Experimental Guitarists fucking around with live mixing. Toto Alvarez is a rad Chilean guitarist who’s been playing around the City lately, and if he hasn’t made quite the impression that this List’s new Guitar Hero Nina Garcia did when she played around the City a couple of months ago, well, that’s a pretty high bar: Alvarez is still great.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Unexpected but not really incongrouous Japanese-Ashkenazi mash-up at Shalom Japan.
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Saturday, July 15, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Quantum Piñata: A Deranged Talent Show of Doom
SATURDAY, JULY 15, 2023
7:00 PM
Pioneer Works
159 Pioneer Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn
$28 advance; $35 day of
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This is going to be one great night. PUPPETS! by Poncili Creación. Music by Nu Jazz and one of its constituents, Ex Wiish, and (more noisily) by Evicshen. World-building by Laser Days.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: A really fine burger — and a really really fine shrimp cocktail — at Red Hook Tavern.
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Saturday, July 15, 2023, 3:00 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Anna Parisi: Sankofa
SATURDAY, JULY 15, 2023
3:00 & 5:00 PM
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council
The Arts Center on Governors Island
Soissons Landing, Governors Island, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A fantasia exploring a young Black woman’s issues with self-image and self-acceptance.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Lots to eat and drink on Governors Island, with my usual shout out to the almost ridiculously scenic and pleasant Island Oyster, which doesn’t need to have food (and drink!) nearly as good as it does.
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Friday, July 14, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
DakhaBrakha
FRIDAY, JULY 14, 2023
8:00 PM
Caramoor
149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah, Westchester
$59; $29 children
TICKETS + INFORMATION
DhakaBrakha’s theatrical, punked-out trad Ukrainian is terrific, just terrific.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Bedford Post Inn.
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Friday, July 14, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:30 PM
PERFORMANCE
Nile Harris: this house is not a home
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 14 – 16, 2023
8:00 PM
Abrons Arts Center
466 Grand Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$24.28
TICKETS + INFORMATION
It’s DEFINITELY not a home: it’s an inflatable bounce castle, framing or forming the backdrop for madcap invocations of very serious themes. You know what? This looks really good.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Ernesto’s for great Basque.
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Fri, Jul 14, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jul 16, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
WOW Summer Festival
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 14 –16, 2023
7:30 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
Ibeam Brooklyn
168 7th Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$25
FRIDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
SATURDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
SUNDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
Three programs of local jazz (with the understanding that when you’re talking about New York City, “local” means something different than it does with respect to other places). Saturday’s and Sunday’s line-ups are merely great. Friday’s is mind-boggling.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Appealing eclectic New Americanish at Runner & Stone.
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Friday, July 14, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Habbina Habbina
FRIDAY, JULY 14, 2023
7:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Dick Dale was half-Lebanese, and “Misirlou” was originally a Levantine tune. So Middle Eastern Surf music not only isn’t a stretch: it isn’t even a reach.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Falafel and its friends at Taim Mediterranean Kitchen.
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Friday, July 14, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Nick Hakim / June McDoom / Edgar Wright
FRIDAY, JULY 14, 2023
6:00 PM
Summerstage
Von King Park
670 Lafayette Avenue, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Nick Hakim’s Alt R&B features good songs, interesting textures: nice for a Summer night. June McDoom also creates interesting textures: she’s one of the current breed of singer-songwriters who thanks be don’t shy from using electronics to roughen up their sound (so her work is dark and challenging and not so nice). Evan Wright’s music proves two things: (1) this List doesn’t like everything that’s spacy and (2) texture isn’t everything: in pop and pop-adjacent music, good tunes matter.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Shockingly good Cuban at Pilar Cuban Eatery.
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Friday, July 14, 2023, 12:00 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Flux Factory: Feralpy
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 14 – 16, 2023 (continuing through AUGUST 6)
12:00 PM
Colonel’s Row Building 404A, Governors Island, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A month-long potpourri of installations, experiences, workshops (if they must), and performances.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Lots to eat and drink on Governors Island, but everybody loves Little Eva’s.
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Thursday, July 13, 2023, 9:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Thursday, July 13, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sandip Bhattacharjee
THURSDAY, JULY 13, 2023
8:00 PM
FourOneOne
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sandip Bhattacharjee sings in the Kirana Gharana style: people from the borderline Carnatic south of India essentially playing northern Hindustani — the result perhaps surprisingly turning out to have added executory precision (which, since the point of Indian music and dance is using the most refined techniques to evoke the most extreme feelings, is quite consequential).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Maybe some good cocktails, great interior, and snacky seafood at Deux Chats.
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Thursday, July 13, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Henry Fraser: Solo Double Bass Performance
THURSDAY, JULY 13, 2023
8:00 PM
Zürcher Gallery
33 Bleecker Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I’m sure they bothered to give a name to this recital because it’s so funny to say “solo double bass”. In any even, Henry Fraser is a monster player who can improvise fruitfully and also composes beautifully (listen to his song-form band The Full Salon some time: great stuff) — which is important when you’re a master of an instrument with almost no solo repertoire.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Southern (U.S., that is)/Korean mash-up at C as in Charlie.
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Thursday, July 13, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
DANCE
Rennie Harris Puremovement Street Dance Theater
THURSDAY, JULY 13, 2023
8:00 PM
Celebrate Brooklyn
Lena Horn Bandshell, Prospect Park, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Rennie Harris has gone from being an upstart introducing Hip-Hop to stage dance to being a universally respected elder. But he hasn’t become any less vital in the process.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: LORE presents Indian fusion that somehow works.
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Thursday, July 13, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Elliot Sharp & Don McKenzie
THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2023
8:00 PM
Seeyabajo @ Seeyamañana
49 West 27th Street, NoMad, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Electronic-oriented music from this great avant-guitarist and drummer.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You’re listening to music with no cover charge in a venue with Baja-style food and cocktails. You know what to do.
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Thursday, July 13, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Brooklyn Raga Massive: Colors of Raga: Hidayat Hussain Khan & Anubrata Chaterjee
THURSDAY, JULY 13, 2023
7:30 PM
Gaia NoMaya
510 Flatbush Avenue, Prospect Lefferts Garden, Brooklyn
$25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Hidayat Hussain Khan is an astonishingly good, astonishingly affecting sitarist/vocalist. I really can’t overemphasize how totally wonderful these Colors of Raga shows at Gaia NoMaya are.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Some of the best pastrami in Brooklyn at Moe’s Pastrami & Burger.
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Thu, Jul 13, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jul 16, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Sophie Dushko: Galatea 2.0
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 13 – 16, 2023 (continuing through JULY 23)
7:30 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
Brooklyn Art Haus
24 Marcy Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A riff on Pygmalion — very much Shaw’s, since both he and Mrs. Campbell figure as characters — except instead of a statue transforming into a woman we have a sex worker hired to pretend to be a sex doll that had broke (bet you saw that coming). The two actresses who play the sex worker and the sex doll flip a coin onstage before each night’s performance to determine which will play which.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Great great wine and actually good food at Four Horsemen.
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Thursday, July 13, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Luciane Dom
THURSDAY, JULY 13, 2023
7:30 PM
Brasil Summerfest
David Rubenstein Atrium, Lincoln Center
61 West 62nd Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Luciane Dom: positive but not sappy, lilting but not not dippy. In other words, good Brazilian pop music.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Walk down to Nelore Grill for some nice Brazilian.
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Thursday, July 13, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
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Thursday, July 13, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Thursday, July 13, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Thu, Jul 13, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, Jul 16, 2023, 1:59 PM
THEATER
Inua Ellams: The Half-God of Rainfall
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 13 – 16, 2023 (continuing through AUGUST 20)
7:00 PM THURSDAY & SUNDAY
8:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
New York Theater Workshop
79 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$25-$35
INFORMATION + TICKETS
Greek myth goes to Nigeria and plays basketball. But it’s much less whimsical than that sounds. This is tough stuff.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Pub grub that is far better than it has any right to be at Sidney’s Five.
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Thursday, July 13, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Mute Duo / Gift Horse
THURSDAY, JULY 13, 2023
6:00 PM
P.I.T.
411 South 5th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
You can dismiss Mute Duo’s pedal steel/drums ‘n’ stuff explorations as spacy mush. But I think it’s much more enjoyable to relax and float downstream. As for the opener, there was a guitar pop band called Gift Horse playing in New York City like ten years ago. This couldn’t be them, could it?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Persian tapas at Masquerade.
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Thu, Jul 13, 2023, 5:00 PM – Sun, Jul 16, 2023, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Asi Wind: Inner Circle
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 13 – 16, 2023 (continuing through JANUARY 7, 2024)
5:00 & 8:00 PM THURSDAY
7:00 & 9:30 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
4:00 & 7:00 PM SUNDAY
The Gym at Judson
243 Thompson Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$110-$265
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I’ve been sleeping on this magic show (probably its massive mainstream success shielded it from my view). But contrary to how things might appear, just because people like something doesn’t mean it can’t get Listed.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Classic Red Sauce at Monte’s Trattoria.
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Thursday, July 13, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
to and fro: Cory Smythe
THURSDAY, JULY 13, 2023
5:00 PM
FourOneOne
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Pianist-composer Cory Smythe is another artist who pretty definitively establishes that there’s no generic difference between avant-jazz and contemporary classical.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The best fast-casual duck and rice you’ve ever had at Milu.
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Wed, Jul 12, 2023, 8:30 PM – Sat, Jul 15, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Stone Residencies: Jessica Pavone
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, JULY 12 – 15, 2023
8:30 PM
The Stone
Glass Box Theater, The New School
55 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Microtonal violist Jessica Pavone does enough different things that she won’t come close to repeating herself over the course of this residency. I’m sorry she doesn’t recur to songform anymore, though.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: No one better to take over the old Café Loup space than NYC Front of House vet Michael Cechhi-Azzolina with his new American Bistro Cecchi’s.
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Wednesday, July 12, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Alfredo Colón Quartet feat. Marta Sanchez, Lester St. Louis & Connor Parks
WEDNESDAY, JULY 12, 2023
8:00 & 9:30 PM
Bar Bayeux
1066 Nostrand Avenue, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn
Free (tip the band)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Saxophonist Alfredo Colón plays Modern Jazz in the Coltrane/Shorter tradition, but he doesn’t let you forget that his family came from the Dominican Republic. Quite a quartet he’s leading tonight.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Ham and wine at & Sons Ham Bar.
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Wed, Jul 12, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, Jul 15, 2023, 11:59 PM
OPERA
PPL: On the Cranial Nerves of Barbarians II: A Carp Sanctuary
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, JULY 12 – 15, 2023
7:30 PM
Ice Factory In Person & THURSDAY Live Stream
New Ohio Theatre
154 Christopher Street, West Village, Manhattan
$20; $17 students/seniors; $18 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Rumors you may have heard here of the conclusion of the the final season of Ice Factory theater festival are greatly exaggerated. The festival rolls on with an operetta touching on consciousness, AI, and carp.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, Korean noodles at Jeju Noodle Bar. Streaming at home, have a Fish House Punch: pour 3/4 oz. each of Dark (or Gold) Rum, Cognac, and peach brandy, 1/2 oz. each of lemon juice and Simple Syrup, and 1/4 oz. of lime juice into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a Collins glass over ice. Garnish with a lime slice and a cocktail cherry.
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Wed, Jul 12, 2023, 7:30 PM – Thu, Jul 13, 2023, 11:59 PM
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Wednesday, July 12, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Aizuri Quartet
WEDNESDAY, JULY 12, 2023
6:00 PM
Carnegie Hall Citywide
Madison Square Park, Madison Square, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
It’s always a treat to hear the fabulous Aizuri Quartet (even if the one-hopes-temporarily reconfigured line-up playing tonight lacks fireball violist Ayane Kozawa). They’re doing a lot of Armenian folklorist Komitas in their Summer 2023 stand at Madison Square Park, and in this show also some Eleanor Alberga — also always a treat to hear — and the reliably vivacious Paul Wiancko (who knows the missing Ayane Kozawa very well).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I know I must sound like a broken record, but you really ought to go to Mark’s Off Madison for Mark Straussman’s delightful Italian-with-some-Askenazic-ringers food.
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Wednesday, July 12, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Zabelê
WEDNESDAY, JULY 12, 2023
6:00 PM
Brasil Summerfest
DUMBO Archway
155 Water Street (underneath the Manhattan Bridge), DUMBO, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Zabelê would once have been called MPB royalty (her parents were movement leaders in the ‘70s); now she’d be derided as a Nepo Baby — if, that is, she hadn’t made some kicking records over the last several years.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Vietnamese (as you might guess) at Em Vietnamese Bistro.
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Wednesday, July 12, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
DANCE
LayeRhythm
WEDNESDAY, JULY 12, 2023
6:00 PM
Manhattan West Plaza, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Vernacular dance styles, choreographed and improvised (excitingly).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Boring in theory, delicious in practice Italian from the big oven at Ci Siamo.
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Tuesday, July 11, 2023, 9:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Brandon Seabrook String Society feat. Erica Dicker & Henry Fraser
TUESDAY, JULY 11, 2023
9:00 & 10:15 PM
LunÀtico
486 Halsey Street, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Wow. Three of the most interesting string players in New York get together to make what will undoubtedly be interesting string music.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You should at least buy some drinks from the venue. But if you want some more interesting and substantial food than LunÀtico serves, get some Southern at Peaches.
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Tuesday, July 11, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
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Tuesday, July 11, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Tuesday, July 11, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Tuesday, July 11, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Lesley Mok / Yuma Uesaka
TUESDAY, JULY 11, 2023
7:00 PM
Soup & Sound
Aberdeen Street Community Garden
98 Aberdeen Street, Brownsville, Brooklyn
Donation
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Lesley Mok, one of the most distinctive and interesting drummers in town, will do a solo set of drums and electronics. Yuma Uesaka will do the same with winds and electronics.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: They’ll be dishing out some of Aunt Magda’s Hungarian Sour Cherry Soup at the show (the sour cherries at the Greenmarket this weekend were goooooood). You could also consider the unique and delicious Caribbean-style pizza at Cuts & Slices.
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Tue, Jul 11, 2023, 1:30 PM – Sun, Jul 16, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
SONIC SPHERE
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 11 – 16, 2023 (continuing through JULY 30)
1:30, 3:00, 4:30, 6:00 & 7:30 PM TUESDAY
1:30, 3:00, 4:30, 6:00, 7:30 & 9:00 PM WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY
1:00, 2:30, 4:00, 5:30, 7:00, 8:30 & 10:00 PM FRIDAY
11:30 AM & 1:00, 2:30, 4:00, 5:30, 7:00, 8:30 & 10:00 PM SATURDAY
11:30 AM & 1:00, 2:30, 4:00, 5:30 & 7:00 PM SUNDAY
The Shed
545 West 30th Street, Hudson Yards, Manhattan
$51 for taped shows; $46 students/seniors for taped shows; $54-$122 live shows
TICKETS + INFORMATION
You go into this huge floating sculptural sphere and hear 45-minutes sets of music comprising either remixes of albums by people like The xx or Steve Reich or playlists curated by people like Carl Craig(!) or live performances by people like drummer (formerly for M.I.A.!)/electronic dance musician/feminist activist Madame Gandhi (this weekend).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Excellent Spanish at Casa Dani.
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Tue, Jul 11, 2023, 10:00 AM – Sun, Jul 16, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell & Joseph White: Meander
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 11 – 16, 2023 (ongoing)
10:00 AM – 8:30 PM TUESDAY & THURSDAY
10:00 AM – 6:00 PM WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY – SUNDAY
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
150 Eastern Parkway, across the street from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
$18; $12 students/seniors; free children under 12
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Having created a wonderful sound walk through Green-Wood Cemetery, the dream team of Gelsey Bell and Joe White do the same for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (one of my favorite places on earth, if you want to know). The soundtrack is available on the BBG website.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Early, the best pancakes in town (and other great stuff) at Tom’s Restaurant. Later, meet the Guadalajaran Torta Ahogada — sure to become your new obsession — at Cruz del Sur.
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Monday, July 10, 2023, 9:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Monday, July 10, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE / MUSIC
Vjoltron
MONDAY, JULY 10, 2023
8:00 PM
Wonderville
1186 Broadway, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
$5
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Performative video, audio/video.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Cool Thai in a cinema (eating serious food at the movies is a thing in Thailand) at Mao Mao.
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Mon, Jul 10, 2023, 8:00 PM – Tue, Jul 11, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Brandon Lopez, Fred Moten & Gerald Cleaver Residency
MONDAY & TUESDAY, JULY 10 & 11, 2023
8:00 PM
FourOneOne
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The last nights of a residency of a trio with a master rhythm section comprising two of the more distinctive proponents of their instruments, bassist Brandon Lopez and drummer Gerald Cleaver, underneath master motivator Fred Moten. There’ll be a different opener every night: Monday it’s a duo of saxophoist Ingrid Laubrock and sound artist Cecelia Lopez, two musicians seemingly incapable of failing to be interesting; Tuesday it’s saxophonist Matt Nelson playing solo.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Amazingly good pub grub at Meckelberg’s.
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Monday, July 10, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
BIG|BRAVE / Gnaw / Kid Millions & Sarah Bernstein / Otay:onii
MONDAY, JULY 10, 2023
8:00 PM
TV Eye
1647 Weirfield Street, Ridgewood, Queens
$18.89
TICKETS + INFORMATION
BIG|BRAVE started out kind of folkie but they brought on the noise soon enough. Gnaw were noisy from the start — and have stayed that way for decades. The drums-violin duo of Kid Millions and Sarah Bernstein consistently fascinate — and keep things moving. Best of all, though, might be Otay:onni, who has a vivid theatrical conception and who leavens her noise with melody (indeed, melody derived from Chinese folk music).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: More than just cachapas at Cachapas y Mas.
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Monday, July 10, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
La Bruja de Texcoco
MONDAY, JULY 10, 2023
7:00 PM
Americas Society
680 Park Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Deep Mexican culture — with trans-femininity replacing the toxic masculinity.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Despite what they claim, Mission Ceviche doesn’t serve the best ceviche in New York City (that’s got to be Caletta 111 in Richmond Hill). But they unquestionably serve the best ceviche within walking distance of the Americas Society.
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Monday, July 10, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Halluci Nation / Salt Cathedral
MONDAY, JULY 10, 2023
7:00 PM
Elsewhere
599 Johnson Avenue, Bushwick, Brooklyn
$27.40
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Halluci Nation bring their First Nations EDM down south from Canada. And Salt Cathedral return with their catchy out-of-Colombia dance-pop.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: A nice night for the stroll from Persian gem Eyval.
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Mon, Jul 10, 2023, 8:00 AM – Sun, Jul 16, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 10 – 16, 2023 (ongoing)
8:00 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
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One of the first shows that you could actually Go Out! to back in the days of The Lockdown (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 (whose terrific new album you really ought to hear). 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 10, 2023, 6:00 AM – Sun, Jul 16, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: New York, New York
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 10 – 16, 2023 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
What do you know? The New York Phil has gone and renamed Ellen Reid’s SOUNDWALK. Reid, one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers, put together a highly allusive soundtrack, played by members of the Philharmonic and a bunch of Alt Classical players about town. 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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Sunday, July 9, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Brandon Lopez, Fred Moten & Gerald Cleaver Residency
SUNDAY, JULY 9, 2023 (continuing through JULY 11)
8:00 PM
FourOneOne
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A three-night residency of a trio of a master rhythm section comprising two of the more interesting proponents of their instruments, bassist Brandon Lopez and drummer Gerald Cleaver, underneath master motivator Fred Moten. There’ll be a different opener every night; tonight it's hornman Darius Jones playing a solo set (and shit his are fascinating).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, Riverside sea food at Sea Wolf Waterfront.
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Sunday, July 9, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Duda Beat
SUNDAY, JULY 9, 2023
7:30 PM
Brasil Summerfest
Damrosch Park, Lincoln Center, Upper West Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
You can dislike Duda Beat’s glossing Brega with Reggaeton if you want — but I can’t imagine why.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Good basic Brazilian at Nelore Grill.
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Sunday, July 9, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Avant Guitar Cookout
SUNDAY, JULY 9, 2023
5:00 PM
Soup & Sound
292 Lefferts Boulevard, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn
Donation
TICKETS + INFORMATION
From 5 to 7 PM, grill whatever protein you’ve brought with you on the grill that will be provided, and then eat it. Then, starting at 7, be blown out by the avant-guitars of Erhard Hirt, Hans Tammen, and Nick Didkovsky.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Be sure to bring some beer or wine to have with your grilled protein. If you want a nightcap after the show, Any Thing will be waiting with its warm welcome and frankly not very good cocktails.
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Sunday, July 9, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Second Sunday: Sun Ra Arkestra feat. Ahmed Abdullah
SUNDAY, JULY 9, 2023
5:00 PM
Pioneer Works
159 Pioneer Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
First, trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah reads from his memoir of his time in the Archestra (the first ever published by an Arkestra musician). Then the Arkestra convenes to take you out past Saturn.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I’m still bursting with excitement over the new Piemonte-leaning Bar Mario.
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Sunday, July 9, 2023, 4:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Bang on a Can Music Series: Tomas Fujiwara
SUNDAY, JULY 9, 2022
4:00 PM
The Noguchi Museum
9-01 33rd Road, Long Island City, Queens
$12; $6 students/seniors; free under 12
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Master drummer Tomas Fujiwara revives his autobiographical suite for percussion quartet Dream Up, featuring Fujiwara’s own great drums, mixed percussion, Taiko drum(!!!!), and secret weapon Patricia Brennan on vibes.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You walk past the classic Bel Aire Diner and you want to go in.
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Sunday, July 9, 2023, 4:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Ted Hearne: FARMING
SUNDAY, JULY 9, 2023
4:00 PM
Caramoor
149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah, Westchester
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Crossing vocal ensemble presents a major peice by Ted Hearne, who incorporates a lot of pop/R&B drive into his excellent music (and who was proud to have been beaten out by Kendrick Lamar for a Pulitzer). The piece explores the effects of colonialism on current labor practices. This performance must be at least semi-staged, as the endlessly inventive Ashley Tata is listed as director.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Bedford Post Inn.
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Sunday, July 9, 2023, 3:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Arts for Art: InGardens
SUNDAY, JULY 9, 2023
3:00 PM
Children’s Magical Garden
129 Stanton Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Voices, dance, and drums.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Slight return of the beloved Bereket, and some of the best doner kebab in the City, at Ankara #3.
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Sunday, July 9, 2023, 2:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, July 8, 2023, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
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Saturday, July 8, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Lucian Ban & Mat Manieri: Transylvanian Concert
SATURDAY, JULY 8, 2023
8:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
It’s been more than a decade since Transylvanian pianist Lucian Ban got together with American violist Mat Manieri to make composed/improvised music (you know: jazz) that it is highly evocative (although not of anything cheery). Be warned, though: if there’s one this music isn’t, it’s fast.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Better-than-neighborhood Mexican at Fonda (not surprisingly, since it’s now branched into so many other neighborhoods).
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Saturday, July 8, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Kelela / li.ve
SATURDAY, JULY 8, 2023
7:30 PM
Celebrate Brooklyn
Lena Horn Bandshell, Prospect Park, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
OK, Kelela’s Alt R&B is terrific (although if I were being really honest I’d say her most recent stuff is a little self-serious for me). But can I tell you how much I love li.ve? Nu R&B with a sharp edge. Several of them, actually.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Indonesian at Java.
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Saturday, July 8, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
THEATER
Sam Walsh: Salem
SATURDAY, JULY 8, 2023
7:00 PM
Brick Aux
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$12
TICKETS + INFORMATION
It was pretty high-key to be a teenager in Salem in the 1690s.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: An old cheese shop lets its products strut on the plate at Pecoraro Latteria.
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Saturday, July 8, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, July 8, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Catalan Sounds: Queralt Lahoz / Marala / Lia Kali
SATURDAY, JULY 8, 2023
6:00 PM
Summerstage
Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Catalan pop music would be eclectic to a fault if their pan-regional mashups weren’t so compulsively listenable. (Actually, this show includes ringers from the Balearics and Valencia as well).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It would be nice if there were a good Catalan restaurant nearby to send you to. Fat chance.
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Saturday, July 8, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Harlem Chamber Players feat. Mark Peskanov: ACROSS SPIRITUALITIES
SATURDAY, JULY 8, 2023
6:00 PM
Bargemusic
1 Water Street, Fulton Ferry Landing, Brooklyn
$35
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Jessie Montgomery we all know and love around here: I’ll repeat my assertion that she’s the best writer of string music now working in New York. Frederick Tillis’s Spiritual Fantasy No. 12, which belatedly gives the mid-20th Century Neo-Romantic treatment to what used to be called Negro Spirituals, is one of those pieces where the first time you hear it you go, “why isn’t this appealing music played all the time?????” (Wait, I know!) Oh, and Mozart’s G-Minor String Quintet, rounding out the program, is one of the best pieces of music ever written by a European (even if his later ones are even better).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Snacky seafood on the Ferry Landing (with a spectacular view!) at High Tide.
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Saturday, July 8, 2023, 4:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Celia Lopez & Toto Alvarez / Thee Reps / Slüthaven
SATURDAY, JULY 8, 2023
4:00 PM
Mama Tried
787 Third Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
Free (tip the bands)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The big news here for me at least is Thee Reps. They like to call themselves as mashup of Krautrock, Minimalism, and Post-Rock. But I like to think of them as what Prog would have been if it were good. And I mean, look at the band’s line-up: Sam Morrison, Dave Ruder, Jeff Tobias, Andie Tanning, and Mike McCurdy; you can have blind faith in this unit. Meanwhile, the invaluable electronic musician Celia Lopez crosses the Andes to team up with guitarist etc. Toto Alvarez. Slüthaven has an umlaut.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The food at the venue, Mama Tried, is totally edible. And the drinks are fine (they make their own vermouth!).
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Saturday, July 8, 2023, 1:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Experiments in Jazz: William Hooker Trio
SATURDAY, JULY 8, 2023
1:00 & 3:00 PM
Nolan Park Building 10B , Governors Island, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The mighty Free Jazz drummer William Hooker brings a trio.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Dislike Island Oyster: I double-dare you.
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Sat, Jul 8, 2023, 12:00 PM – Sun, Jul 9, 2023, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Flux Factory: Feralpy
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, JULY 8 & 9, 2023 (continuing through AUGUST 6)
12:00 PM
Colonel’s Row Building 404A, Governors Island, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A month-long potpourri of installations, experiences, workshops (if they must), and performances.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Lots to eat and drink on Governors Island, but everybody loves Little Eva’s.
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Saturday, July 8, 2023, 11:00 AM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Boryana Petkova: Mother Tongue
SATURDAY, JULY 8, 2023
11:00 AM
Colonel’s Row Building 404B, Governors Island, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A six-hour durational piece by performance artist Boryana Petkova: very physical, very oriented to women’s experience (in an appropriately abstract — but visceral — way).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Lots to eat and drink on Governors Island, but today let’s pay special attention to the pan-Eritrean-Ethiopian Makina truck.
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Friday, July 7, 2023, 9:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
East Axis feat. Matthew Shipp, Scott Robinson, Kevin Ray & Newman Taylor
SATURDAY, JULY 8, 2023
9:30 PM
Joe’s Pub, Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Pianist Matthew Shipp not only has some of the best fingers in current music, but even more important one of the best minds.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Yakitori Taisho may not have the absolute best yakitori in New York, but it certainly has some of the latest. (And it’s good: don’t get me wrong.)
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Friday, July 7, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Friday, July 7, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Ruckus
FRIDAY, JULY 7, 2023
8:00 PM
Caramoor
149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah, Westchester
$29-$69; $14.50-$69 children
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Flautist Emi Ferguson and the lively Baroque band Ruckus play pastoral music: from 18th Century England, from 18th Century New England, and from now.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Bedford Post Inn.
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Friday, July 7, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Friday, July 7, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
DANCE
HOT Dance!
FRIDAY, JULY 7, 2023
7:30 PM
HOT Festival!
Dixon Place
161A Chrystie Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$17 advance; $20 door; $15 students/seniors advance; $17 students/seniors door
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Mixed dance.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Stylish but homey Thai at Wayla.
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Fri, Jul 7, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jul 9, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Hillary Gao: would you set the table if I asked you to?
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 7 – 9, 2023 (continuing through JULY 13)
7:30 PM FRIDAY – SUNDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
The Brick
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20-$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Family dynamics.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It would be nice if you could get into the neo-Cantonese-American sensation Bonnie’s — especially since you get to walk past the Manhattan Special factory on the way.
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Friday, July 7, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
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Fri, Jul 7, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, Jul 9, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Short Films for Short Nights
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 7 – 9, 2023
7:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium, Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
Free (with Museum admission)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Each night has a great program of short films (mainly silent) by the likes of Méliès, the Lumiére brothers, Deren, Brakhage, the Fleischer brothers, Keaton, others. With live accompaniment by superb improvisers: bassist Brandon Lopez on Friday, sax player Matana Roberts on Saturday, and reeds player/noisemaker Lea Bertucci and electrician Ben Vida on Sunday.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Quatorze remains one of the very best French bistros in New York — even if no one seems to remember.
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Friday, July 7, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Friday, July 7, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Cleo Reed / Joy Guidry / Lester St. Louis
FRIDAY, JULY 7, 2023
7:00 PM
Fridman Gallery
169 Bowery, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Cleo Reed does this Black American Art music that is so good, that pulls you in so hard, you can’t believe it. Joy Guidry grabs their bassoon and bears their soul. Cellist Lester St. Louis gets Listed every damn week.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Stylish Indonesian at Wayan.
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Fri, Jul 7, 2023, 2:00 PM – Sat, Jul 8, 2023, 11:59 PM
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Thursday, July 6, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Isabel Crespo Pardo feat. Warp Duo: el rostro (des)cubierto
THURSDAY, JULY 6, 2023
8:00 PM
FourOneOne
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Isabel Crespo Pardo, whose mercurial music is deeply conceptual, plays her excellent new album el rostro (des)cubierto, a song cycle that takes Latinx folk styles and spaces them out. The violin-electronics Warp Duo pays along.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Mexican party at Aldama.
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Thu, Jul 6, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, Jul 8, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
The DynamitExperience: In Lieu of the Option is What?
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, JULY 6 – 8, 2023
7:30 PM
JACK
20 Putnam Avenue, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Dance and live jazz consideration of the sociopolical atmosphere that engenders the stripping of choice from women, people of color, and gays. (Unfortunately for the creators, they can barely keep up with events.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Very appealing Irish pub grub at Hartley’s.
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Thursday, July 6, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
THEATER
Mallory Catlett / Restless NYC: DECODER: Nova Express
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 6 – 9, 2023
7:30 PM
Chocolate Factory
38-33 24th Street, Long Island City, Queens
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Visionary director Mallory Catlett and her crew complete their traversal of William Burroughs’s Nova Trilogy, using the aleatory cut-up technique Burroughs employed in writing the novels and taking it into the realm of stage tech. To say the previous installments were a trip would be stating the obvious.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Nice family Brazilian at Beija Flor.
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Thursday, July 6, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
THEATER
Rachel Resnik: A Really Real Seriously Written Play
THURSDAY, JULY 6, 2023
7:30 PM
HOT Festival!
Dixon Place
161A Chrystie Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$18 advance; $22 door; $15 students/seniors advance; $18 students/seniors door
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Wait, is this really an all-clown version of A Streetcar Named Desire?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Balian beach food at Ma·dé.
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Thu, Jul 6, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jul 9, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Sophie Dushko: Galatea 2.0
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 6 – 9, 2023 (continuing through JULY 23)
7:30 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
Brooklyn Art Haus
24 Marcy Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Another riff on Pygmalion — very much Shaw’s this time, since both he and Mrs. Campbell figure as characters — except instead of a statue transforming into a woman we have a sex worker hired to pretend to be a sex doll that had broke (bet you saw that coming). The two actresses who play the sex worker and the sex doll flip a coin onstage before each night’s performance to determine which will play which.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Great great wine and actually good food at Four Horsemen.
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Thu, Jul 6, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, Jul 9, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Brooklyn Cumbia Festival
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 6 – 9, 2023 (continuing on JULY 10)
Various Times
Joe’s Pub, Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street, NoHo, Manhattan
Good Life
50 Goodwin Place, Bushwick, Brooklyn
Onyx Room, House of Yes
8 Wyckoff Avenue, Bushwick, Brooklyn
TV Eye
1647 Weirfield Street, Ridgewod, Queens
Maria Hernandez Park, Bushwick, Brooklyn
Various prices
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Cumbia made by immigrants from Colombia and other points south, in many cases incorporating influences they found here. So on the one hand you get Maraca Bruja’s pretty music straight recreation of Gaita Colombiana, a vivacious regional pipes-and-drums music from the Caribbean coast; and on the other you get Tropa Magica’s Punk-Psych Cumbia. And there’s lots more.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: If you go to Maraca Bruja in the Good Life community garden in Bushwick on Friday, there’ll be food vendors on site. If you go to hear Tropa Magica at TV Eye in Ridgewood on Saturday, gotta be Rolo’s.
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Thursday, July 6, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Miró Quartet
THURSDAY, JULY 6, 2023
7:00 PM
Caramoor
149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah, Westchester
$38-$91; $19-$91 children
TICKETS + INFORMATION
You get George Walker’s lovely Lyric for Strings — Exhibit A for the proposition that Mainstream Classical’s decision to stop ignoring composers who aren’t White men is resulting not in a tokenist decline in quality but rather in the programming of fresh music that always should have been widely performed — and some Caroline Shaw. You also get some Brahms, whose string quartets Your Generally Brahms-Positive Compiler finds rather heavy going. And some Schumann — but mercifully only a movement.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: FFF (that’s Fancy Fucking French to you) at La Crémaillère.
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Thu, Jul 6, 2023, 5:00 PM – Sun, Jul 9, 2023, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Asi Wind: Inner Circle
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 6 – 9, 2023 (continuing through JANUARY 7, 2024)
5:00 & 8:00 PM THURSDAY
7:00 & 9:30 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
4:00 & 7:00 PM SUNDAY
The Gym at Judson
243 Thompson Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$110-$265
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I’ve been sleeping on this magic show (probably its massive mainstream success shielded it from my view). But contrary to how things might appear, just because people like something doesn’t mean it can’t get Listed.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Classic Red Sauce at Monte’s Trattoria.
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Wed, Jul 5, 2023, 8:30 PM – Sat, Jul 8, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Stone Residencies: Larry Ochs
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, JULY 5 – 8, 2023
8:30 PM
The Stone
Glass Box Theater, The New School
55 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I actually don’t know saxophonist Larry Ochs. But I sure know all the great people he’s playing with.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It’s still nice to go back to the comfortable Emilia-Romagnan food at Da Andrea (do yourself a favor and start with the Tigelle Modenesi con Prosciutto).
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Wednesday, July 5, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Andy Statman Trio
WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2023
8:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Andy Statman, a Klezmer musician playing avant-jazz (and Klezmer).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Let’s fail to get into Indian sensation Masalawala & Sons again!
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Wednesday, July 5, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
MV Carbon / Ryan Sawyer, Lester St. Louis & Wendy Eisenberg
WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2023
8:00 PM
FourOneOne
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
For this List, this counts as an all-star show.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Before the show, the best fast-casual duck and rice you’ve ever had at Milu.
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Wednesday, July 5, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Tamar-Kali: Freedom Is a Constant Struggle
WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2023
8:00 PM
Damrosch Park, Lincoln Center, Upper West Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Much as you want to like it, Tamar-Kali’s rock music is neither here nor there. So hopes aren’t high for this foray into classical forms — especially since it’s fully in keeping with Lincoln Center’s current beat-the-audience-over-the-head-with-didactic-tell-don’t-show-social-relevance-appealing-directly-to-its-preconceptions-and-not-daring-to-challenge-it-at-all approach, an insult both to audiences and to art. But OTOH the music is going to draw explicitly on Tamar-Kali’s Gullah-Geechee Sea Islands roots, so who knows? The price is certainly right.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Now that it’s Summer, you can’t do better than to grab some Charles Pan-Fried Chicken and take it into the Park.
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Wed, Jul 5, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, Jul 8, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
AnomalousCo & Wistaria Project: Zebra 2.0
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, JULY 5 – JULY 8, 2023
7:30 PM
Ice Factory In Person & THURSDAY Live Stream
New Ohio Theatre
154 Christopher Street, West Village, Manhattan
$20; $17 students/seniors; $18 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The final season of Ice Factory has been on a roll this Summer. This last show is a techy presentation of a love story between an undocumented and AI.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, Korean noodles at Jeju Noodle Bar. Streaming at home, have a 20th Century: pour 1-1/2 oz. Gin and 3/4 oz. each of Kina l’Aero d’Or (or Cocchi Americano), white Crème de Cacao, and lemon juice into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a lemon twist.
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Wednesday, July 5, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
DANCE
The Missing Element
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 2023
6:00, 7:00 & 8:00 PM
Manhattan West Plaza, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Beatbox (all music guaranteed created solely by human bodies) and breakdancing, flexn, krump, etc.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Boring in theory, delicious in practice Italian from the big oven at Ci Siamo.
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Wed, Jul 5, 2023, 2:00 PM – Sun, Jul 9, 2023, 11:59 PM
-
Wed, Jul 5, 2023, 11:30 AM – Fri, Jul 7, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
SONIC SPHERE
MONDAY & WEDNESDAY – FRIDAY, JULY 3 & 5 – 7, 2023 (continuing through JULY 13)
3:00, 4:30, 6:00, 7:30 & 9:00 PM MONDAY
11:30 AM & 1:00, 2:30, 4:00, 5:30, 7:00, 8:30 & 10:00 PM WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY
The Shed
545 West 30th Street, Hudson Yards, Manhattan
$51 for taped shows; $46 students/seniors for taped shows; $54-$122 live shows
TICKETS + INFORMATION
You go into this huge floating sculptural sphere and hear 45-minutes sets of music comprising either remixes of albums by people like The xx or Steve Reich or playlists curated by people like Carl Craig(!) or live performances, although there are none this week.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Excellent Spanish at Casa Dani.
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Tue, Jul 4, 2023, 10:00 AM – Sun, Jul 9, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell & Joseph White: Meander
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 4 – 9, 2023 (ongoing)
10:00 AM – 8:30 PM TUESDAY & THURSDAY
10:00 AM – 6:00 PM WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY – SUNDAY
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
150 Eastern Parkway, across the street from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
$18; $12 students/seniors; free children under 12
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Having created a wonderful sound walk through Green-Wood Cemetery, the dream team of Gelsey Bell and Joe White do the same for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (one of my favorite places on earth, if you want to know). The soundtrack is available on the BBG website.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Early, the best pancakes in town (and other great stuff) at Tom’s Restaurant. Later, meet the Guadalajaran Torta Ahogada — sure to become your new obsession — at Cruz del Sur.
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Monday, July 3, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Musics
MONDAY, JULY 3, 2023
7:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Modern Georgian Tsinadze brothers join up with their avant-jazz buds Chris Tordini (bass) and Jason Nazary (drums) to form the most generically named ensemble possible.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I only wish there were some Georgian restaurant nearby to send you to. So I’ll ask you to try Mikhuy Peruvian and let me know how it is.
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Monday, July 3, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ryuichi Sakamoto & Tin Drum: KAGAMI
MONDAY & WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 3 & 5 – 9, 2023
5:00, 6:30 & 8:00 PM MONDAY
3:30, 5:00, 6:30 & 8:00 PM WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY
3:00, 4:30, 6:00, 7:30 & 9:00 PM FRIDAY
12:00, 1:30, 3:00, 4:30, 6:00 & 7:30 PM SATURDAY
12:00, 1:30, 3:00 & 4:30 PM SUNDAY
The Shed
545 West 30th Street, Hudson Yards, Manhattan
$60; $54 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The last of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s collaborations with Tin Drum, in which Tin Drum’s VR creates what appear to be landscapes surrounding the audience — including, in this show, the appearance that the late composer Sakamoto is performing the music for this show in the hall.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Spanish from the grill at Leña.
-
Monday, July 3, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ryuichi Sakamoto & Tin Drum: KAGAMI
MONDAY & WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 3 & 5 – 9, 2023
5:00, 6:30 & 8:00 PM MONDAY
3:30, 5:00, 6:30 & 8:00 PM WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY
3:00, 4:30, 6:00, 7:30 & 9:00 PM FRIDAY
12:00, 1:30, 3:00, 4:30, 6:00 & 7:30 PM SATURDAY
12:00, 1:30, 3:00 & 4:30 PM SUNDAY
The Shed
545 West 30th Street, Hudson Yards, Manhattan
$60; $54 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The last of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s collaborations with Tin Drum, in which Tin Drum’s VR creates what appear to be landscapes surrounding the audience — including, in this show, the appearance that the late composer Sakamoto is performing the music for this show in the hall.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Spanish from the grill at Leña.
-
Monday, July 3, 2023, 3:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
SONIC SPHERE
MONDAY & WEDNESDAY – FRIDAY, JULY 3 & 5 – 7, 2023 (continuing through JULY 13)
3:00, 4:30, 6:00, 7:30 & 9:00 PM MONDAY
11:30 AM & 1:00, 2:30, 4:00, 5:30, 7:00, 8:30 & 10:00 PM WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY
The Shed
545 West 30th Street, Hudson Yards, Manhattan
$51 for taped shows; $46 students/seniors for taped shows; $54-$122 live shows
TICKETS + INFORMATION
You go into this huge floating sculptural sphere and hear 45-minutes sets of music comprising either remixes of albums by people like The xx or Steve Reich or playlists curated by people like Carl Craig(!) or live performances, although there are none this week.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Excellent Spanish at Casa Dani.
-
Mon, Jul 3, 2023, 8:00 AM – Sun, Jul 9, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 3 – 9, 2023 (ongoing)
8:00 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
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One of the first shows that you could actually Go Out! to back in the days of The Lockdown (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 (whose terrific new album you really ought to hear). 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 3, 2023, 6:00 AM – Sun, Jul 9, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: New York, New York
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 3 – 9, 2023 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
What do you know? The New York Phil has gone and renamed Ellen Reid’s SOUNDWALK. Reid, one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers, put together a highly allusive soundtrack, played by members of the Philharmonic and a bunch of Alt Classical players about town. 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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Sunday, July 2, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
-
Sunday, July 2, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Marisa Monte
SUNDAY, JULY 2, 2023
6:00 PM
Summerstage
Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I’m sure you all care, but as I told you last week, Marisa Monte’s 1994 Rose and Charcoal may be my single favorite Brazilian pop album. The lilting rhythms, the indelible melodies — all toughened by a clear conversance with the avant-garde (Philip Glass and Laurie Anderson participate). I was worried she wasn’t going to be good any more — you know how it is with pop musicians — but her last album (her first in 10 years) put that worry to bed.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Go to Berimbau in the Village for great Brazilian before the show and then samba up to the Park.
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Sunday, July 2, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, July 1, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, July 1, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
First Saturday: Africa Fashion
SATURDAY, JULY 1, 2023
5:00 PM
Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway, across the street from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
It’s enough that Art-Pop sensation Lollise is doing a set. But so is Eli Fola, with his live sax, techno/house tracks, and West African groove
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: New Orleans so fine at Lowerline.
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Saturday, July 1, 2023, 4:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Juan Atkins
SATURDAY, JULY 1, 2023
4:00 PM
Superior Ingredients
74 Wythe Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$33.99
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Juan Atkins: one of the architects of Detroit Techno. Meaning, one of the most important American musicians of the last quarter of the 20th Century.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Let’s hope Michael Solomonov’s K’Far Bakery is better than Lazer Wolf upstairs.
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Saturday, July 1, 2023, 4:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Interstellar Overpass: Beech Creeps / NOPE / Blank Account
SATURDAY, JULY 1, 2023
4:00 PM
Mama Tried
787 Third Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
Free (tip the bands)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Pre-Post-Punk from Beech Creeps. Blank Account: a bass-bass-drums power trio with actual good material. And NOPE is the p.e. collective dropping its pop moves and going totally experimental.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The food at the venue, Mama Tried, is totally edible. The drinks are fine (they make their own vermouth!).
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Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 11:00 PM – Sun, Jul 2, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Bob Bieleckie & David Behrman: Spindrifter / Around the Corner
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JUNE 30 – JULY 1, 2023 (continuing throgh AUGUST 27)
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Harvestworks Art & Technology Building
Nolan Park Building 10a , Governors Island, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Two sound installations. Spindrifter uses special recording and playback technologies developed by Bob Bielecki to create sound that is placed almost holographically. Along with recorded natural sounds are bits of the Minimalist music of David Behrman. Around the Corner invites active exploration by listeners. (You might want to wait till Saturday next [July 8] to attend this, as the artists are expected to be present that day.) (OTOH, maybe you’d prefer to be able to respond to the pieces without their being around!)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Plenty to eat and drink on the Island, but let me give a special shout-out to the soul food from Cooking With Corey.
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Thu, Jun 29, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jul 2, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Mallory Catlett / Restless NYC: DECODER: Nova Express
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JUNE 29 – JULY 2, 2023 (continuing through JULY 9)
7:30 PM
Chocolate Factory
38-33 24th Street, Long Island City, Queens
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Visionary director Mallory Catlett and her crew complete their traversal of William Burroughs’s Nova Trilogy, using the aleatory cut-up technique Burroughs employed in writing the novels — and taking it into the realm of stage tech. To say the previous installments were a trip would be stating the obvious.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Nice family Brazilian at Beija Flor.
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Thu, Jun 29, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jul 2, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE / THEATER
Sufjan Stevens, Jackie Sibblies Drury & Justin Peck: Illinois
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JUNE 29 – JULY 2, 2023
7:30 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
SummerScape
Fisher Center, Bard College
60 Manor Avenue, Red Hook, Dutchess County
$59.50-$154.50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Choreographer Justin Peck and and the great playwright Jackie Sibblies “Fairview” Drury took Sufjan Stevens’s terrific album Illinois and crafted a story around its songs, which Peck then choreographed. I’m not much for imposing narratives on record albums — but this is quite an album. When they get to the song about losing a loved one to cancer (a subject I know something about), I don’t think I’d be able to contains myself.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: New Old American at Stissing House.
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Wed, Jun 28, 2023, 8:30 PM – Sat, Jul 1, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Stone Residencies: Mark Dresser
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, JUNE 28 – JULY 1, 2023
8:30 PM
The Stone
Glass Box Theater, The New School
55 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Bassmaster Mark Dresser hardly needs my commendation. Nothing much to choose between the various excellent programs (although Saturday’s show featuring Anthony Braxton material played with Marilyn Crispell and Gerry Hemingway does seem kind of special).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It’s still nice to go back to the comfortable Emilia-Romagnan food at Da Andrea (do yourself a favor and start with the Tigelle Modenesi con Prosciutto).
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Wed, Jun 28, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, Jul 1, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
The Goat Exchange: Deadclass, Ohio
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, JUNE 28 – JULY 1, 2023
7:30 PM
Ice Factory
New Ohio Theatre
154 Christopher Street, West Village, Manhattan
$20; $17 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A seance at a Jewish cemetery in Ohio — out of Tadeusz Kantor.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Korean noodles at Jeju Noodle Bar.
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Tue, Jun 27, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jul 2, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins: The Comeuppance
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JUNE 27 – JULY 2, 2023 (continuing through JULY 9)
7:30 PM TUESDAY – FRIDAY
8:00 PM SATURDAY
2:00 PM WEDNESDAY, SATURDAY & SUNDAY
The Pershing Square Signature Theater Center
480 West 42nd Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$49-$159
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One of the great things about writing an arts newsletter is that you get to make absolutely ridiculous pronouncements, like this: the best American play of the last 10 years was Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins’s An Octoroon. There: I’ve said it and I believe it. So his latest, about a decades-later reunion of a self-proclaimed high school “Multi-Ethnic Reject Group” has got to be worth your attention.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Let’s see how Greek classic Molyvos is in its new location.
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Tue, Jun 27, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jul 2, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Lucas Hnath feat. Steve Cuiffo: A Simulacrum
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JUNE 27 – JULY 2, 2023
7:30 PM TUESDAY – SATURDAY
2:30 PM WEDNESDAY, SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Stage 2, The Atlantic Theater Company
330 West 16th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
$77-87
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Lucas Hnath, one of America’s best current playwrights, joins stage magician Steve Cuiffo for a theater piece about Steve’s teaching Lucas magic tricks.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Homestyle Palestinian at Qanoon.
-
Tue, Jun 27, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jul 2, 2023, 11:59 PM
-
Tue, Jun 27, 2023, 3:00 PM – Sun, Jul 2, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
SONIC SPHERE
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JUNE 27 – JULY 2, 2023 (continuing through JULY 7)
3:00, 4:30, 6:00, 7:30 & 9:00 PM TUESDAY – THURSDAY
1:00, 2:30, 4:00, 5:30, 7:00, 8:30 & 10:00 PM FRIDAY
11:30 AM & 1:00, 2:30, 4:00, 5:30, 7:00, 8:30 & 10:00 PM SATURDAY
11:30 AM & 1:00, 2:30, 4:00, 5:30 & 7:00 PM SUNDAY
The Shed
545 West 30th Street, Hudson Yards, Manhattan
$51 for taped shows; $46 students/seniors for taped shows; $54-$122 live shows
TICKETS + INFORMATION
You go into this huge floating sculptural sphere and hear 45-minutes sets of music comprising either remixes of albums by people like The xx or Steve Reich or playlists curated by people like Carl Craig(!) or live performances by people like Igor Levit(!) (this weekend).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Excellent Spanish at Casa Dani.
-
Tue, Jun 27, 2023, 12:30 PM – Sun, Jul 2, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ryuichi Sakamoto & Tin Drum: KAGAMI
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JUNE 27 – JULY 2, 2023
12:30, 2:00, 3:30, 5:00, 6:30 & 8:00 PM TUESDAY – THURSDAY
12:00, 1:30, 3:00, 4:30, 6:00, 7:30 & 9:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
12:00, 1:30, 3:00, 4:30, 6:00 & 7:30 PM SUNDAY
The Shed
545 West 30th Street, Hudson Yards, Manhattan
$60; $54 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The last of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s collaborations with Tin Drum, in which Tin Drum’s VR creates what appear to be landscapes surrounding the audience — including, in this show, the appearance that the late composer Sakamoto is performing the music for this show in the hall.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Spanish from the grill at Leña.
-
Tue, Jun 27, 2023, 10:00 AM – Sun, Jul 2, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell & Joseph White: Meander
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JUNE 27 – JULY 2, 2023 (ongoing)
10:00 AM – 6:00 PM TUESDAY – WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY – SUNDAY
10:00 AM – 8:30 PM THURSDAY
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
150 Eastern Parkway, across the street from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
$18; $12 students/seniors; free children under 12
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Having created a wonderful sound walk through Green-Wood Cemetery, the dream team of Gelsey Bell and Joe White do the same for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (one of my favorite places on earth, if you want to know). The soundtrack is available on the BBG website.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Early, the best pancakes in town (and other great stuff) at Tom’s Restaurant. Later, meet the Guadalajaran Torta Ahogada — sure to become your new obsession — at Cruz del Sur.
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Mon, Jun 26, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, Jul 1, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Liza Berkenmeier: Grief Hotel
MONDAY – SATURDAY, JUNE 26 – JULY 1, 2023
7:30 PM
Summerworks
Clubbed Thumb @ The Wild Project
195 East 3rd Street, East Village, Manhattan
$30-$60; $25 students
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Does Liza Birkenmeier write funnily about unfunny things? Or is it that nothing isn’t potentially funny? This one’s about the commodification of healing.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Roberta’s opens a wine-and-pasta bar in the East Village with Foul Witch.
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Mon, Jun 26, 2023, 8:00 AM – Sun, Jul 2, 2023, 11:59 AM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JUNE 26 – JULY 2, 2023 (ongoing)
8:00 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
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One of the first shows that you could actually Go Out! to back in the days of The Lockdown (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 (whose terrific new album you really ought to hear). 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, Jun 26, 2023, 6:00 AM – Sun, Jul 2, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: New York, New York
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JUNE 26 – JULY 2, 2023 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
What do you know? The New York Phil has gone and renamed Ellen Reid’s SOUNDWALK. Reid, one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers, put together a highly allusive soundtrack, played by members of the Philharmonic and a bunch of Alt Classical players about town. 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.
