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Wed, Aug 31, 2022, 8:30 PM – Sat, Sep 3, 2022, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Stone Residencies: Elias Stemeseder
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2022
8:30 PM
The Stone
Glass Box Theater, The New School
55 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sorta jazz/sorta classical pianist Elias Stemeseder has quietly been one of the more interesting musicians in New York since he moved here from Berlin (he’s originally from Salzburg) in 2015. It’s hard to choose between the several different ensembles he’s assembled for this run.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It’ll be 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, August 31, 2022, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Wednesday, August 31, 2022, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Attias/Formanek/Ferber: MF2
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022
7:00 PM
Barbès In Person & Live Stream
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20 in person; free-$10 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Michaël Attias, a questing saxophonist with a long past with this venue, leads a sterling trio whose rhythm section consists entirely of people whose initials are MF.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, uninteresting but not unsound neighborhood Italian at Bar Toto. Streaming at home, have a Walk in the Park: pour 1 oz. each of amber Rum, Vermouth Blanc, and Limoncello into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a rocks glass over ice. Garnish with a (big) lemon peel.
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Tuesday, August 30, 2022, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Experimental Night: The Spaceman/T.J. Borden/Leo Chang
TUESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2022
8:00 PM
Footlight Underground @ The Windjammer
552 Grandview Avenue, Ridgewood, Queens
$10 advance; $12 door
TICKETS + INFORMATION
You know what to expect.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Before or after Experimental Night, the militantly normal German (by way of Slovenia) beer and sausage palace Gottscheer Hall.
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Tue, Aug 30, 2022, 7:00 PM – Sun, Sep 4, 2022, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Daniel K. Isaac: ONCE UPON A (korean) TIME
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 30 – SEPTEMBER 4, 2022 (continuing through SEPTEMBER 18)
7:00 PM TUESDAY – SUNDAY
1:00 PM SATURDAY
Summer Shares
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$45-$65 TUESDAY; $60-$80 WEDNESDAY–SUNDAY
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Ma-Yi Theater Company presents a fabulist multi-generational account of a Korean-American family (and the prejudice they faced duh).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Modern Korean at Soogil.
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Tuesday, August 30, 2022, 4:00 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Cecilia Vicuña: Ex-termination Living Quipu
TUESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2022
4:00 PM
Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
$20; $10 students
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Artist/filmmaker (and that’s just the start of it) Cecilia Vicuña leads the assembled audience group from the Guggenheim to various outdoor sites (including on the water) in which they participate in a ceremony for the weaving of the land and sea.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Light Viennese at Café Sabarsky.
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Tue, Aug 30, 2022, 10:00 AM – Sun, Sep 4, 2022, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell & Joseph White: Meander
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 30 – SEPTEMBER 4, 2022 (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
Advance ticket required: $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: New Orleans at Lowerline.
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Monday, August 29, 2022, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Mon, Aug 29, 2022, 8:00 AM – Sun, Sep 4, 2022, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 29 – SEPTEMBER 4, 2022 (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 during Quarantine that you could actually Go Out! to (although it's not quite "live"). Gelsey Bell, that vocal star of NYC Alt Classical, has conceived of a piece that walks you around Green-Wood Cemetery (starting at the Sunset Park Entrance). You download the soundtrack on your phone beforehand (the Times complains about how hard it is to download from Bandcamp to an iPhone — trust me: if I can figure out how to do it, anyone can). Bell wrote the text and narrates, with a co-composing assist from the inimitable Joe White (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, Aug 29, 2022, 6:00 AM – Sun, Sep 4, 2022, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: SOUNDWALK
MONDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 29 – SEPTEMBER 4, 2022 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park, Manhattan
Free (registration required)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The New York Phil hops aboard the walk-around-the-landscaped-space-with-soundtrack train. The highly allusive soundtrack was put together by Ellen Reid, who is one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers. This walk isn't guided: you download an app that triggers sounds sent to your earphones from various cells around the Park as you wander. So you can do it over many times. (Speaking of wandering around Central Park, here's something that I, for one, never knew.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delicious pan-African at Teranga.
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Sun, Aug 28, 2022, 8:00 PM – Mon, Aug 29, 2022, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Garlan Jude: 3.0 — Magazine Cut Out
SUNDAY & MONDAY, AUGUST 28 & 29, 2022
8:00 PM
The Brick
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$15-$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Performance goes POP! Also: tarot readings.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It’s Sunday. Have some spaghetti with gravy at Bamonte’s.
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Sunday, August 28, 2022, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
OPERA
Opera on Tap: Songs of the Sea
SUNDAY, AUGUST 28, 2022
5:00 PM
Pier I
Riverside Park, Upper West Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Songs relating to the sea. From a Coney Island fortune-telling machine. Plus inflatable shimmering sea anenomie!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: A good time to go to Uptown Brasserie Café Luxembourg, still chugging away.
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Sunday, August 28, 2022, 4:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Yoko Reikano Kimura & Elizabeth Brown: Four Seasons in New York: Gems of Japanese Music Vol. 24
SUNDAY, AUGUST 28, 2022
4:00 PM
Center for Remembering and Sharing
123 Fourth Avenue, NoHo, Manhattan
$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Trad Japanese music for koto/vocals/shamisen and shakuhachi.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: If you could manage to get a seat at the fantastic yakitori omakase counter Torien afterward, that would be like perfect.
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Sunday, August 28, 2022, 3:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Sunday, August 28, 2022, 2:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Summer Thunder: The Sun Ra Arkestra
SUNDAY, AUGUST 28, 2022
2:00 PM
Union Pool
484 Union Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I’m going to stop apologizing for continuing to recommend this ghost band: can a cosmic spirit like Sun Ra really die?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Williamsburg Birria-Landia Truck, an offshoot of the truck that started the Great NYC Birria Craze.
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Saturday, August 27, 2022, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, August 27, 2022, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, August 27, 2022, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Morgan Manifacier & Daniel Keene
SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2022
7:30 PM
Scholes Street Studio
375 Lorimer Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
What’s better than Rennaisance lute songs? Nothing!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Nice Venezuelan at Casa Ora.
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Saturday, August 27, 2022, 4:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Outline: Summer
SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2022
4:00 PM
Knockdown Center
52-19 Flushing Avenue, Maspeth, Queens
$32.71-$46.10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Various forms of avant- and experimental pop music. This Hyperpop-crazed List will highlight Alice Longyu Gao and umru, but really there’s something for everyone (everyone who likes avant- and experimental pop music, anyway).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Expect the würst at Gottscheer Hall.
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Saturday, August 27, 2022, 2:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Melody Loveless: Performance featuring live coding and vocal sampling.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2022
2:00 PM
Harvestworks Art and Technology Building
Nolan Park Building 10a, Governors Island, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Multimedia artist Melody Loveless does vocal sampling accompanied by a live-coding synthesizer.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Lots to eat and drink on Governors Island. It’s worth noting that douchey Riviera Maya transplant Gitano Island has opened for the season. I tend to prefer Island Oyster myself. But, if you can do without the cocktails (I can’t myself), don’t forget that The Real Mother Shuckers have set up shop on the Island, too.
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Sat, Aug 27, 2022, 12:00 AM – Sun, Aug 28, 2022, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Bindlestiff Family Cirkus: Flatbed Follies
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, AUGUST 27 – 28, 2022
Times TBD
SATURDAY: Blake Avenue btw. Rockaway Avenue & Mother Gaston Boulevard, Brownsville, Brooklyn
SUNDAY: Kelly Street btw. East 163rd Street & Intervale Avenue, Longwood, Bronx
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus takes it to the street!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Saturday in Brownsville, Caribbean at Tropical Taste Restaurant & Bakery. Sunday in Williamsburg, cocktails and oysters (it’s ALMOST September) at Maison Premiere.
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Friday, August 26, 2022, 9:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Mario Diaz de Leon feat. Michael Beharie: “Heart Thread” Album Release Event
FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 2022
9:00 PM
Littlefield
635 Sackett Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$12 advance; $15 day of
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Mario Diaz de Leon continues to prove this List’s contention that there isn’t much difference between Contemporary Classical and Pop-Adjacent Electronic Music by making both.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Solid — indeed excellent — Ethiopian at Ghenet.
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Fri, Aug 26, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sun, Aug 28, 2022, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Machine de Cirque: Robot Infidèle
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 26 – 28, 2022
8:00 PM
The Amph
Little Island, Meatpacking District, Manhattan
$25
FRIDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
SATURDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
SUNDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
I’ll be honest: I’m kind of over Nouvelle Cirque. It’s devolved to the point of being consistently twee and New Agey, fronting as profound while advancing the most banal platitudes, the presentations getting slicker and slicker. Nevertheless, I for one continue to be amazed by demonstrations of what the human body is capable of (theirs — certainly not mine).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Have you been to the new iteration of Jonathan Waxman’s Barbuto yet?
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Fri, Aug 26, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sat, Aug 27, 2022, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Loki Circus Theater: The Rainbow is Enuf
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, AUGUST 26 & 27, 2022
8:00 PM
The Muse
350 Moffat Street, Bushwick, Brooklyn
$25 advance; $30 day of
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A circus show inspired (as you might guess) by Ntozake Shange’s play.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I don’t know anyone who’s been to the eclectic Mediterraneanish Rolo’s who didn’t love it.
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Friday, August 26, 2022, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
THEATER
Hammer Beaten Sky: Heavy Sleeper — Phase One
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, AUGUST 26 & 27, 2022
8:00 PM
The Brick
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$15-$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Foreboding forces threaten (like for instance a sleeping killer).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Roman pinsa pizza at Montesacro.
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Friday, August 26, 2022, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
TIME:SPANS Festival: Bozzini Quartet
FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 2022
7:30 PM
DiMenna Center
450 West 37th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$20; $10 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The formidable Bozzini Quartet come from Montreal with music that’s gnarly or noisy or just strung out.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Some of the best Spanish food in New York at least in recent memory at Casa Dani.
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Friday, August 26, 2022, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Habibi Festival Pop-Up
FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 2022
7:00 PM
Bryant Park, Midtown, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A foretaste of a festival of music from the Levant and the Maghreb coming this Fall. Tonight, trad-based music from Palestine and Algeria/Morocco and Afro-jazz from Tunisia.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You know, sitting at the oyster counter at the Grand Central Oyster Bar and having some bivalves on the half shell or a heavenly Pan-Roast is still an unbeatable experience.
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Friday, August 26, 2022, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Theo Walentiny/Wayles Skelton/Sonya Belaya & Miriam Elhajli
FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 2022
7:00 PM
Spectrum
481 Van Brunt Street, Door 7A, Red Hook, Brooklyn
$15; $10 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Ho-hum. Another great night of improvised and/or experimental music at Spectrum. Including a rather Jeffersonian new project of List fave Gabriel Zucker!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Korean-inflected tavern food at The Good Fork Pub.
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Thu, Aug 25, 2022, 7:30 PM – Fri, Aug 26, 2022, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE / MUSIC
The Dragon Sisters: The Quick Flight Tour
THURSDAY & FRIDAY, AUGUST 24 & 25, 2022
7:30 PM
JACK
20 Putnam Avenue, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Fashion queens, nightlife icons (at least in their own minds), art-hyperpopsters (hip-hop division): The Dragon Sisters are just what we love here on this List.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I can’t keep myself from continuing to send you to Brooklyn Hots for the artisanal Rochester vernacular food. I’m sorry (NOT).
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Thursday, August 25, 2022, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
TIME:SPANS Festival: JACK Quartet
THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 2022
7:30 PM
DiMenna Center
450 West 37th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$20; $10 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The world-beating JACK Quartet plays a brand-new quartet by Eric Wubbels, who manages to bring together threads of American Minimalism and the High Modern European Avant-Garde (and now he’s adding something almost akin to jazz into the mix). Then something by Catherine Lamb, another of the current composers (she’s Wandelweiser-adjacent) who are really following in the expansive footsteps of Bruckner (even if they don’t know it).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Spanish seafood at Mar.
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Thu, Aug 25, 2022, 7:00 PM – Fri, Aug 26, 2022, 11:59 PM
THEATER
MJ Kaufman: GALATEA
THURSDAY & FRIDAY, AUGUST 25 & 26, 2022
7:00 PM
Pier 6, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS & INFORMATION
A trans love story set against the background of climate crisis (as things tend to be these days) — all inspired by John Lyly’s 1585 comedy about two women dressed as men who fall in love with each other, each believing the other to be a man.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Normally I’d tell you to walk over to the delightful neo-Red Sauce Cafe Spaghetti — but given current circumstances, it might be hard to get in (although to tell you the truth, I’ve never had the slightest bit of trouble walking into the bar). So maybe stop for the always interesting (and tasty!) Italian/Southern U.S. mash-up at Popina.
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Thursday, August 25, 2022, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Spectral: Gábor Lázár/Kamran Sedeghi
THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022
7:00 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$20.40
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Two really interesting electronic musician/sounds artists.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Somewhat Mediterranean-inflected (but not as much as they want you to think) New American out of the big oven at Victor.
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Wed, Aug 24, 2022, 8:30 PM – Sat, Aug 27, 2022, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Stone Residencies: John King
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, AUGUST 24 – 27, 2022
8:30 PM
The Stone
Glass Box Theater, The New School
55 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Perennial Downtown guitarist/composer/conceptualist/troublemaker John King in a variety of interesting contexts. Note the world premiere of a “micro tetropera” on Saturday, featuring Gelsey Bell and Paul Pinto!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It’ll be 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, August 24, 2022, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
HEATER / PERFORMANCE / MUSIC
Tristan Allen: Tin Iso and the Dawn
TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23 & 24, 2022
8:00 PM
The Brick
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$15-$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A shadow puppet symphony!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: A fantasia on American Cantonese at Bonnie’s.
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Wednesday, August 24, 2022, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Jeremiah Chiu & Marta Sofia Honer/Booker Stardrum
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022
7:30 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$23.86
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Electronics and viola. Opener Booker Stardrum, percussionist/soundscaper, is also the son of a famous father.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Oaxacan food at Claro is really good — and the backyard garden is a wonderful place to eat.
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Wednesday, August 24, 2022, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
TIME:SPANS Festival: Yarn/Wire
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022
7:30 PM
DiMenna Center
450 West 37th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$20; $10 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The unique piano/percussion quartet Yarn/Wire shows off its new line-up with a typically intriguing program.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Too hot for Farida again! I’d recommend you walk up to Tulcingo del Valle, which if it isn’t the single very best Pueblan spot in New York is close enough to make no difference. Also, they now have a bar!
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Wed, Aug 24, 2022, 6:00 PM – Sun, Aug 28, 2022, 11:59 PM
THEATER
We Players: Mother Lear
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 24 – 28, 2022
6:00 PM WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY
1:00 PM SATURDAY
4:00 PM SUNDAY
Children’s Garden Pavilion, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
150 Eastern Parkway, across the street from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
$40
TICKETS + INFORMATION
San Francisco’s masters of site-specific park theater come to Brooklyn with a two-person show about an irascible (aren’t they always in the theater?) middle-aged scholar whose dementia renders her capable of communicating with her daughter only by means of quotations from Lear.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Guadalajaran Tortas Ahogadas are unbelievably good at Cruz del Sur.
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Wed, Aug 24, 2022, 5:30 PM – Sun, Aug 28, 2022, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Charlie Parker Jazz Festival
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 24 – 28, 2022
Various Times
Various Locations
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This awesome festival — scaled down from previous years, but what isn’t? — doesn’t start in earnest till Friday (which is why it’s included in this List rather than the last one), but there are scattered events on Wednesday and also on Thursday. The big event is Sunday afternoon’s show in Tompkins Square Park, featuring among others Archie Shepp and Jason Moran playing with Cecile McLorin Salvant (HOLY SHIT) and a set by Melissa Aldana (whom I think I first heard at a Parker Festival show several years ago). I can’t imagine skipping that (although the competing Sun Ra Arkestra show — wait for Friday’s List — poses an interesting dilemma).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I’m not gonna try to cover everywhere this Festival is taking place. But if you go to Sunday afternoon’s show at Tompkins Square — and you should — then keep the Festival going (or get it started beforehand) at Miss Lily’s 7A Cafe: FUN Jamaican!
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Tuesday, August 23, 2022, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
THEATER / PERFORMANCE / MUSIC
Tristan Allen: Tin Iso and the Dawn
TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23 & 24, 2022
8:00 PM
The Brick
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$15-$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A shadow puppet symphony!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: A fantasia on American Cantonese at Bonnie’s.
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Tuesday, August 23, 2022, 7:45 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Gabriel Zucker/Claire Dickson/Fun Facts
TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2022
7:45 PM
Footlight Underground @ The Windjammer
552 Grandview Avenue, Ridgewood, Queens
$10 advance; $12 door
TICKETS + INFORMATION
You’re probably sick of my telling you how great pianist/composer/bandleader (but tonight it looks like he’s soloing) Gabriel Zucker is, with his integrated blend of jazz, rock, and some classical. Go hear for yourself.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Red Sauce at Joe’s.
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Tue, Aug 23, 2022, 7:00 PM – Sun, Aug 28, 2022, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Daniel K. Isaac: ONCE UPON A (korean) TIME
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 23 – 28, 2022 (continuing through SEPTEMBER 18)
7:00 PM TUESDAY – SUNDAY
1:00 PM SATURDAY
Summer Shares
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$45-$65
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Ma-Yi Theater Company presents a fabulist multi-generational account of a Korean-American family (and the prejudice they faced duh).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Modern Korean at Soogil.
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Tue, Aug 23, 2022, 10:00 AM – Sun, Aug 28, 2022, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell & Joseph White: Meander
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 23 – 28, 2022 (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
Advance ticket required: $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: New Orleans at Lowerline.
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Monday, August 22, 2022, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Monday, August 22, 2022, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Kamari Carter & Julian Day: To Be Held
MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022
7:30 PM
Microscope Gallery In Person & Live Stream
525 West 29th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
$10; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Carter does real-time sonic responses to glowing words on LEDs activated by Day in real time.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, fun faux Southern at Porchlight. Streaming at home, let’s go back to the ‘00s and have the first big revived pre-Prohibition cocktail, the now unfairly reviled Aviation: pour 2 oz. Gin, 3/4 oz. lemon juice, 1 teaspoon each of Maraschino liqueur and Crème de Violette, and 1/4 oz. Simple Syrup into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a cocktail cherry.
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Monday, August 22, 2022, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
TIME:SPANS Festival: Yaron Deutsch
MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022
7:30 PM
DiMenna Center
450 West 37th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$20; $10 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Guitarist Yaron Deutsch plays a full rewarding program. But the reason this List is jumping up and down with happy excitement is the inclusion a piece by List idol Fausto Romitelli, who if he had lived past 2004 would have seen his conception melding classical music with the least reputable byways of pop culture take over, if not the world, at least Brooklyn.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Theoretically boring, in practice delicious, Italian from the oven at Ci Siamo.
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Monday, August 22, 2022, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Peter Evans
MONDAY – THURSDAY, AUGUST 22 – 25, 2022
7:30 PM
Sisters
900 Fulton Street, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Questing trumpeter Peter Evans in a four-night residency. Wednesday and Thursday, featuring his searingly contemplative quartet Being & Becoming, are good bets. But Tuesday’s show, featuring an ensemble including such NYC Alt Classical stalwarts as Alice Teyssier on voice and flute and Levy Lorenzo on percussion (and if we’re lucky, electronics), is hard to pass up.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can eat and drink perfectly well at Sisters.
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Mon, Aug 22, 2022, 8:00 AM – Sun, Aug 28, 2022, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 22 – 28, 2022 (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 during Quarantine that you could actually Go Out! to (although it's not quite "live"). Gelsey Bell, that vocal star of NYC Alt Classical, has conceived of a piece that walks you around Green-Wood Cemetery (starting at the Sunset Park Entrance). You download the soundtrack on your phone beforehand (the Times complains about how hard it is to download from Bandcamp to an iPhone — trust me: if I can figure out how to do it, anyone can). Bell wrote the text and narrates, with a co-composing assist from the inimitable Joe White (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, Aug 22, 2022, 6:00 AM – Sun, Aug 28, 2022, 11:59 AM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: SOUNDWALK
MONDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 22 – 28, 2022 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park, Manhattan
Free (registration required)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The New York Phil hops aboard the walk-around-the-landscaped-space-with-soundtrack train. The highly allusive soundtrack was put together by Ellen Reid, who is one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers. This walk isn't guided: you download an app that triggers sounds sent to your earphones from various cells around the Park as you wander. So you can do it over many times. (Speaking of wandering around Central Park, here's something that I, for one, never knew.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delicious pan-African at Teranga.
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Sunday, August 21, 2022, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Ned Rothenberg feat. Mary Halvorson, Sylvie Courvoisier & Tomas Fujiwara: Crossings Quartet
SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2022
8:00 PM
Soapbox Gallery In Person & Live Stream
636 Dean Street, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
$25 in person; pay what you can live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
You look at that line-up, and all you can say is, “Holy shit.”
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, the Midwestern food at Patti Ann’s is tasty enough. Too bad it’s so rich, and the portions are so big, that you can’t actually eat (or at least come near finishing) it. Streaming at home, have a Gin Rickey: pour 2 oz. Gin and 1/2 oz. lime juice into a Highball glass over ice. Top with club soda. Garnish with a lime wedge.
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Sunday, August 21, 2022, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Zenizen feat. Nappy Nina & special guests
SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2022
6:00 PM
The Sultan Room
234 Starr Street, Bushwick, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Zenizen is good Nu R&B; I can pretty much promise you’ll be glad to make their acquaintance. Nappy Nina is fabulous Alt Hip-Hop; I’m assuming you know her already.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Peter’s Crunchy Red Tacos truck outside the Jefferson Avenue L stop is really superb.
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Sunday, August 21, 2022, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
OPERA
Opera on Tap: Songs of the Sea
SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2022 (also on AUGUST 28)
5:00 PM
Pier I
Riverside Park, Upper West Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Songs relating to the sea. From a Coney Island fortune-telling machine.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: A good time to go to Uptown Brasserie Café Luxembourg, still chugging away.
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Sunday, August 21, 2022, 3:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Pitchfork Presents
SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2022
3:00 PM
Knockdown Center
52-19 Flushing Avenue, Maspeth, Queens
$36.65-$46.10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Pitchfork goes all New Orleans with bounce queen Big Freedia and Afrofuturist diva Dawn Richard. But that’s just the start (well, the ending, really).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: An odd combination of burgers and Red Sauce at ECB.
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Sunday, August 21, 2022, 2:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Sunday, August 21, 2022, 2:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Summer Thunder: Malcom Mooney & Band (playing the songs of CAN)//Sawyer/Gunn/Ismaily Trio
SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2022
2:00 PM
Union Pool
484 Union Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Malcolm Mooney, visual artist and poet, sings some of the songs he sang back in the day as the original lead singer of Krautrock legends CAN. What they don’t tell you is that the “& Band” is ex-Sonic Youth Steve Shelley, forever Yo La Tengo James McNew, and avant-shred goddess Ava Mendoza! Sawyer, Gunn, and Ismaily should also bring the noise.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Williamsburg Birria-Landia Truck, an offshoot of the truck that started the Great NYC Birria Craze.
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Saturday, August 20, 2022, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, August 20, 2022, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Alex Offenkrantz: Card Tricks
SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 2022
8:00 PM
The Brick
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A magician finds he can only make personal disclosures by way of card tricks.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Neo-Cantonese-American partyfest Bonnie’s (you’ll need a magic trick to get in, though).
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Saturday, August 20, 2022, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Réma Hatsumi: Oto Mugen
SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 2022
8:00 PM
Scholes Street Studio
375 Lorimer Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Admission unspecified (which usually means $10 or $20 at the door)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Keyboardist/vocalist Réma Hatsumi leads a trio in a sculpted soundscape.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Nice Venezuelan at Casa Ora.
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Saturday, August 20, 2022, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
TIME:SPANS Festival: International Contemporary Ensemble
SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 2022
7:30 PM
DiMenna Center
450 West 37th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Has George Lewis — the current Artistic Director of this peerless Ensemble — acceded to the position of Dean of American Composers? Certainly seems so: it’s hard to think of a living American composer who’s better or more authoritative. Lots of Lewis on this program. Also pieces by Lewis’s AACM colleagues Wadada Leo Smith and Nicolle Mitchell (who guests on flute). And so this isn’t entirely a program of Olds, the extremely exciting Jessie Cox.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Excellent Spanish at Casa Dani.
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Saturday, August 20, 2022, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Ingrid Laubrock & Andy Milne: “Fragile” Album Release
SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 2022
7:30 & 9:30 PM
The Jazz Gallery
1158 Broadway (entrance on West 27th Street), NoMad, Manhattan
$25-$35
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A duo comprising that excellent sax player Ingrid Laubrock and Andy Milne, a pianist-composer many of us remember fondly from the M-Base Collective.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Hand rolls at KazuNori.
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Saturday, August 20, 2022, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
DANCE / MUSIC
Burnt Sugar/Danz: Maroons & Suffragettes: A Greg Tate Tribute Concert Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Burnt Sugar/Danz
SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 2022
6:00 PM
SummerStage
Richard Rodgers Amphitheater
Marcus Garvey Park, Harlem, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Twenty years ago, the late Greg Tate — cultural critic, bandleader — had the idea of integrating dance into his conception of a conducted funk orchestra. This show revives the idea. Guest appearance by the great avant-power trio Harriet Tubman — if you don’t know them, believe that this is one of the best tips I’ve ever given you!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Inclusive Peruvian at Contento.
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Saturday, August 20, 2022, 4:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
ElectroNoise Festival
SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 2022
4:00 PM
Trans-Pecos
915 Wyckoff Avenue, Ridgewood, Queens
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
And if you prefer your electronics a little noisier, there’s this.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: All-day Saturday at Rollo’s.
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Saturday, August 20, 2022, 3:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Sat, Aug 20, 2022, 2:00 PM – Sun, Aug 21, 2022, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
x: High Functioning X.O
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, AUGUST 20 & 21, 2022
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
7:00 PM SATURDAY
Subletseries: Co-op
HERE
145 6th Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Hudson Square, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
X makes the audience experience their perception of their disabled, abused, suicidal, and other experiences from 1999 through 2021 — for better or worse.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: LA-style Mexican at Lupe’s East L.A. Kitchen.
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Fri, Aug 19, 2022, 8:30 PM – Sun, Aug 21, 2022, 11:59 PM
THEATER
The How: My Favorite Person
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 19 – 21, 2022
8:30 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
4:00 PM SUNDAY
Subletseries: Co-op
HERE
145 6th Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Hudson Square, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
True Love v. The Needs Of The Self. (I’m a simp, but I vote for True Love.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Raoul’s bistro, for old time’s sake.
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Friday, August 19, 2022, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Via App/Dreamcrushter/Emme/Drumloop/Sadomahigammora
FRIDAY, AUGUST 19, 2022
8:00 PM
Trans-Pecos
915 Wyckoff Avenue, Ridgewood, Queens
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Glitchy electronics. Noisy electronics. From List regulars and their friends.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Asianish food, good wine at Porcelain.
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Friday, August 19, 2022, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Ethan Iverson Trio feat. Larry Grenadier & Kush Abedy
FRIDAY, AUGUST 19, 2022
7:30 & 9:30 PM
The Jazz Gallery
1158 Broadway (entrance on West 27th Street), NoMad, Manhattan
$25-$35
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Pianist Ethan Iverson: logical and funny.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Korean offal barbecue(!!!!!!) at Jongro Gopchang.
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Friday, August 19, 2022, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
TIME:SPANS Festival: Ensemble Signal/Dana Jessen & Eli Stine
FRIDAY, AUGUST 19, 2022
7:30 PM
DiMenna Center
450 West 37th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The expert Ensemble Signal (with guest flautist Nicole Mitchell!) and the bassoon/electronics duo of Dana Jessen and Eli Stine play a lot of (the great) George Lewis (of course a colleague of Mitchell’s in AACM) and some Darian Donovan Thomas.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Now that the nights are (finally) cooling off, I can in good conscience send you back to Farida for some hearty Central Asian (with iffy air conditioning).
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Friday, August 19, 2022, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Priya Darshini feat. Karsh Kale, Sunny Jain, Max ZT & Moto Fukushima
FRIDAY, AUGUST 19, 2022
7:00 PM
Joe’s Pub, Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Indian and a few other Asian musics fused into Western dance and pop usages.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Incendiary Hunanese at Chef Tan.
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Friday, August 19, 2022, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Rafiq Bhatia & Ian Chang
FRIDAY, AUGUST 19, 2022
7:00 PM
Bryant Park, Midtown, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Or, two put it another way, two-thirds of Son Lux. Two amazingly interesting, distinctive musicians — guitar and drums — who think well together.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Classy Sichuan at Café China.
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Friday, August 19, 2022, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
String Slam
FRIDAY, AUGUST 19, 2022
7:00 PM
Spectrum
481 Van Brunt Street, Door 7A, Red Hook, Brooklyn
$15; $10 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Lotsa guitars — and a violin.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Korean-inflected tavern food at The Good Fork Pub.
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Fri, Aug 19, 2022, 5:00 PM – Sun, Aug 21, 2022, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Bindlestiff Family Cirkus: Flatbed Follies
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 19 – 21, 2022
5:00 & 7:00 PM FRIDAY
9:00 & 10:30 AM, 12:00 & 5:00 PM SATURDAY
1:30 & 4:00 PM SUNDAY
FRIDAY: Lowery & Bliss Plazas, Sunnyside, Queens
SATURDAY 9:00 & 10:30 AM & 12:00 PM: East 109th Street btw. Park Avenue & Lexington Avenue, East Harlem, Manhattan
SATURDAY 5:00 PM: Osborn Street btw. Lott Avenue & Newport Street, Brownsville, Brooklyn
SUNDAY: Kelly Street btw. East 163rd Street & Intervale Avenue, Longwood, The Bronx
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus takes it to the street!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Friday, no llama on the menu, but delicious sloppy sandwhiches, at Bolivian Llama Party. Saturday early in East Harlem, epic Tacos El Pastor at Taco Mix. Saturday afternoon in Brownsville, Caribbean at Tropical Taste Restaurant & Bakery. Sunday in Longwood, White Castle.
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Friday, August 19, 2022, 12:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC / DANCE
Gamelan Dharma Swara: Percussive Music
FRIDAY, AUGUST 19, 2022
12:30 PM
Little Island, Meatpacking District, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
New York’s crack Gamelan Dharma Swara presents small-band gamelan with Balinese dance accompaniment. Gamelan — an orchestra of gongs — is transfixing and invigorating, and the accompanying dance style, highly formal but immediately communicative, is, too. Just the thing for when you’re looking out over the water at New Jersey.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It was hard to believe the original iteraton of the brasserie Pastis was good, and it’s even harder to believe the new iteration is. But it is.
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Thursday, August 18, 2022, 10:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Tall Juan
THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022
10:00 PM
Baby’s All Right
146 Broadway, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
If you’ve got a hankering for Punk Rockabilly gone Pan-South American, have I got a guy for you.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: CDMX-style Mexican at Aldama.
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Thu, Aug 18, 2022, 8:00 PM – Fri, Aug 19, 2022, 11:59 PM
HEATER
William Syndey: You Are the Proletariat, Baby!
THURSDAY – FRIDAY, AUGUST 18 & 19, 2022
8:00 PM
The Brick
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$15-$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A trio of short plays addressing “all the topics: war, peace, parricide, Walter Benjamin”.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Roman pinsa pizza at Montesacro.
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Thursday, August 18, 2022, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Julien Ottavi: ELECTROPIXEL 12
THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022
8:00 PM
Shift
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$10-$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This is billed as “a festival of emerging digital cultures and free electronic practices”, but people like Phill Niblock and Dafna Naphtali emerged long ago.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In keeping with my current obsession with Old Skool Red Sauce places, I give you Giando on the Water.
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Thursday, August 18, 2022, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
WARPER Party
THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022
8:00 PM
H0L0
1090 Wyckoff Avenue, Ridgewood, Queens
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A showcase for experimental electronic musicians and like-minded visual/video artists.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: New American (with the usual Mediterranean accents) Rolo’s is delightful.
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Thu, Aug 18, 2022, 8:00 PM – Fri, Aug 19, 2022, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE / MUSIC
The Dragon Sisters: The Quick Flight Tour
THURSDAY & FRIDAY, AUGUST 24 & 25, 2022
7:30 PM
JACK
20 Putnam Avenue, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Fashion queens, nightlife icons (at least in their own minds), art-hyperpopsters (hip-hop division): The Dragon Sisters are just what we love here on this List.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I can’t keep myself from continuing to send you to Brooklyn Hots for the artisanal Rochester vernacular food. I’m sorry (NOT).
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Thursday, August 18, 2022, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Last Poets feat. Jamaaladeen Tacuma’s Band of Resistance
THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022
8:00 PM
SummerStage
Richard Rodgers Amphitheater
Marcus Garvey Park, Harlem, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
It would be a stretch to claim that The Last Poets invented rap back in the late 1960s. But they’re ancestors. It’s no stretch at all to claim that Jamaaladeen Tacuma invented Harmelodic electric bass.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You don’t see a Puerto Rican/Ecuadorean/Bengali mash-up every day — unless you’re at Archer & Goat.
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Thursday, August 18, 2022, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Fabian Almazan Trio
THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022
7:30 & 9:30 PM
The Jazz Gallery
1158 Broadway (entrance on West 27th Street), NoMad, Manhattan
$25-$35
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Pianist/composer Fabian Almazan’s compositions and improvisations are clear and lucid — he’s one of those musicians where you can hear him think. Of course, the important thing is that his thoughts are interesting and surprising. His trio includes ace bassist Linda May Han Oh and, and drums, Almazan’s longtime collaborator Henry Cole, who plays quite elegantly while never hiding a raging storm within the music.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Infused cocktails that are either too much or just enough, depending on how you like at Apotheke, which just opened a new branch uptown in NoMad.
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Thursday, August 18, 2022, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
DANCE
Mark Morris Dance Group: Water/Greek to Me/Suite from “Orfeo ed Euridice”/Dancing Honeymoon
THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022
7:00 PM
Queens Botanic Garden
4350 Main Street, Flushing, Queens
$6; $4 students/seniors; $2 children aged 4-12; free children under 4
TICKETS + INFORMATION
More Mark Morrisian fabulousness. For List purposes, we’ll note that Greek to Me is set to Harry Partch, and that Dancing Honeymoon is a stone campy blast.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You’ll have to go before the performance, but any visit to the Queens Botanic Garden (on a Thursday through Sunday, when the restaurant is open) requires a visit to Nurlan Uyghur Restaurant across the street: one of the best spots in the City for Uyghur cuisine — kind of Chinese food as conceived by hungry burly Central Asians.
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Wed, Aug 17, 2022, 8:30 PM – Sat, Aug 20, 2022, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Stone Residencies: Brandon Lopez
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, AUGUST 17 – 20, 2022
8:30 PM
The Stone
Glass Box Theater, The New School
55 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Bassist/composer Brandon Lopez is one of the most interesting musicians in New York — so much so that you won’t even bother to think about the meaningless question whether he’s jazz or classical. Of course each context in which he’s being presented on these nights is promising — but check out that quartet on Friday!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It’ll be 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, August 17, 2022, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Overflow Undertow
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2022
8:00 PM
Shift
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$10-$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
LeLe Dai curates a variety show of electronic/musique concrète/other stuff (with performative aspects). Is this the coolest place to be tonight?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Riverside sea food at Sea Wolf Waterfront.
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Wednesday, August 17, 2022, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
TIME:SPANS Festival: Sō Percussion
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2022
7:30 PM
DiMenna Center
450 West 37th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A particularly attractive TIME:SPANS entry (so WHY does it have to be the same night as Overflow Undertow at Shift??????). Sō Percussion — the godfathers of the current percussion-band boom — do a brand new piece by Julia Wolfe, as well as stuff by Angélica Negrón and Vijay Iyer!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Spanish from the brasa at Leña.
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Tue, Aug 16, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sun, Aug 21, 2022, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Bill Frisell Five
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 16 – 21, 2022
8:00 & 10:00 PM
Village Vanguard
178 7th Avenue South, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$40
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Bill Frisell on guitar with two basses and two drums. How could you not be intrigued?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Now that the Vin Sur Vignt wine bar has moved to more spacious quarters across the street, it’s less cute. But I’ll bet it’s still pretty good. (And it’s even than closer than before to the Vanguard.)
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Tuesday, August 16, 2022, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
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Tuesday, August 16, 2022, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Ralph Alessi & Baida Quartet
TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2022
7:30 & 9:30 PM
Dizzy’s Club, Jazz at Lincoln Center In Person & Live Stream
10 Columbus Circle, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$35 in person; $25 students in person; $10 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Ralph Alessi is an assured, distinctive trumpet player — one of the best around right now, really — who should be better-known than he is. This is simply an astonishingly good quartet (Kris Davis is swapped in on piano for Jason Moran from the original iteration — and the shocking thing to realize is, it’s an even trade).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, drink at the Club (although, do they even have cocktails?) — but for God’s sake don’t eat there. Why not jaunt down to the Russian Samovar for some late-night Russian (dissident) goodness? Streaming at home, have a John Collins: pour 1-1/2 oz. Bourbon, 1 oz. lemon juice, and 1/2 oz. Simple Syrup into a Collins glass over ice. Stir. Top with club soda. Garnish with an orange slice and a cocktail cherry.
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Tuesday, August 16, 2022, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Tue, Aug 16, 2022, 10:00 AM – Sun, Aug 21, 2022, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell & Joseph White: Meander
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 16 – 21, 2022 (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
Advance ticket required: $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: New Orleans at Lowerline.
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Monday, August 15, 2022, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
TIME:SPANS Festival: Splinter Reeds
MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2022
7:30 PM
DiMenna Center
450 West 37th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Splinter Reeds is, as you can guess, a wind ensemble. The line-up of composers is estimable: Michael Gordon (a world premiere), Sam Pluta (also a world premiere — with the composer providing electronics), Sky Macklay, and a fascinating Cypriot composer whose works don’t get played here too often, Yannis Kyriakides.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Theoretically boring, in practice delicious, Italian from the oven at Ci Siamo.
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Monday, August 15, 2022, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Ricardo Gallo: Horse’s Mouth
MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2022
7:00 PM
Barbès In Person & Live Stream
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$15 in person; free-$10 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Ricardo Gallo is a sharp, angular jazz pianist-composer who’s also interested in exploring the folk musics of his native South America.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, the self-explanatory Colombia in Park Slope, serving the food of Gallo’s home country. Streaming at home, have a Billionaire: pour 2 oz. Bourbon, 1 oz. lemon juice, 1/2 oz. each of Grenadine and Simple Syrup, and 1/4 oz. Absinthe into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a lemon wheel.
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Mon, Aug 15, 2022, 8:00 AM – Sun, Aug 21, 2022, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 15 – 21, 2022 (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 during Quarantine that you could actually Go Out! to (although it's not quite "live"). Gelsey Bell, that vocal star of NYC Alt Classical, has conceived of a piece that walks you around Green-Wood Cemetery (starting at the Sunset Park Entrance). You download the soundtrack on your phone beforehand (the Times complains about how hard it is to download from Bandcamp to an iPhone — trust me: if I can figure out how to do it, anyone can). Bell wrote the text and narrates, with a co-composing assist from the inimitable Joe White (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, Aug 15, 2022, 6:00 AM – Sun, Aug 21, 2022, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: SOUNDWALK
MONDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 15 – 21, 2022 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park
59th Street – 110th Street/Central Park West – 5th Avenue, Manhattan
Free (registration required)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The New York Phil hops aboard the walk-around-the-landscaped-space-with-soundtrack train. The highly allusive soundtrack was put together by Ellen Reid, who is one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers. This walk isn't guided: you download an app that triggers sounds sent to your earphones from various cells around the Park as you wander. So you can do it over many times. (Speaking of wandering around Central Park, here's something that I, for one, never knew.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delicious pan-African at Teranga.
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Sunday, August 14, 2022, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
TIME:SPANS Festival: Ning Yu
SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 2022
7:30 PM
DiMenna Center
450 West 37th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$20; $10 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Jointed by Levy Lorenzo on electronics, Yarn/Wire stalwart Ning Yu plays an expanded piano recital featuring the fascinating Belgian composer Stefan Prins, who has never written an expected note or sound (and his works involve sounds more than notes). The same goes for our own David Bird — and both those composers are not uninterested in the performative aspects of performance, making for extremely compelling live experiences. Speaking of compelling live experiences, Germany’s Michael Beil contributes a piece for pianist without piano (and live video and tape).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Spanish from the brasa at Leña.
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Saturday, August 13, 2022, 9:30 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, August 13, 2022, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
TIME:SPANS Festival: Orpheus Chamber Orchestra/ Rebekah Heller & Maciej Lewandowski
SATURDAY, AUGUST 13, 2022
7:30 PM
DiMenna Center
450 West 37th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$20; $10 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The estimable Orpheus Chamber Orchestra doesn’t usually do much New Music. So it’s nice to see the TIME:SPANS Festival inducing them to take a dive — and who better to join them for the ride than the questing bassoonist Rebekah Heller and electrician Maciej Lewandowski? Heller and Lewandowski will play Felipe Lara; the Orchestra will play Amy Williams and Schoenberg (the latter not really New, OK).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Theoretically boring, in practice delicious, Italian from the oven at Ci Siamo.
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Saturday, August 13, 2022, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Tashi Wada feat. Julia Holter
SATURDAY, AUGUST 13, 2022
7:00 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$29.63
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Tashi Wada (son of a FLUXUS member!) makes electronic music that explores extended tunings, harmonies, tonalities, and structures. Julia Holter makes poptronica that is sometimes lush, sometimes spare — but always affecting. They should be playing both separately and, magically, together.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Oaxacan food at Claro is really good — and the backyard garden is a wonderful place to eat.
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Saturday, August 13, 2022, 4:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Sat, Aug 13, 2022, 2:00 PM – Sun, Aug 14, 2022, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Peakaboo Pointe: Yes, Please
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, AUGUST 13 & 14, 2022
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
7:00 PM SATURDAY
Subletseries: Co-op
HERE
145 6th Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Hudson Square, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Peakaboo Pointe and a troupe of queer former sex workers explore sexuality and eroticism and PLEASURE as sources of empowerment.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: LA-style Mexican at Lupe’s East L.A. Kitchen.
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Saturday, August 13, 2022, 12:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
WARPER House @ HARVESTWORKS
SATURDAY, AUGUST 13, 2022
12:00 PM
Nolan Park Building 10a, Governors Island, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A showcase for local electronic musicians and their visual allies.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Lots to eat and drink on Governors Island. It’s worth noting that douchey Riviera Maya transplant Gitano Island has opened for the season. I myself have taken to walking over to the wonderful Neo-Red Sauce spot Cafe Spaghetti in Carroll Gardens/Columbia Waterfront from the Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 6 Ferry Landing after a day on Governers Island.
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Fri, Aug 12, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sat, Aug 13, 2022, 11:59 PM
DANCE / PERFORMANCE
Tanya O’Debra: Shut UP, Emily Dickinson
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, AUGUST 12 & 13, 2022
7:30 PM
Abrons Arts Center
466 Grand Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$31; $21 students
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Tanya O’Debra thinks Emily Dickinson occupies a whole lot of space.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: At Wu’s Won Ton King you feel like you’re the king.
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Thu, Aug 11, 2022, 8:30 PM – Sun, Aug 14, 2022, 11:59 PM
THEATER / PERFORMANCE
Arif Silverman & Lillian White: Dream of Rays
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 11 – 14, 2022
8:30 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
4:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Subletseries: Co-op
HERE
145 6th Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Hudson Square, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Seafaring renegades tasked with restoring a dying world. Puppets!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Altro Paradiso: not the best Italian restaurant in New York, far from the worst — but it’s right there.
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Thursday, August 11, 2022, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Matmos: in north am
THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2022
8:00 PM
(Le) Poisson Rouge
158 Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$22.32
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sonic madmen Matmos can (and do) make music from anything. Opening is Jeff Carey; I myself wish his noisy electronic sounds had more substance.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Georgian at Old Tbilisi Garden.
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Thu, Aug 11, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sun, Aug 14, 2022, 11:59 PM
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Thu, Aug 11, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sat, Aug 13, 2022, 11:59 PM
DANCE
A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham: Requiem: Fire in the Air of the Earth
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, AUGUST 11 – 13, 2022
8:00 PM
Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center
10 Columbus Circle, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$5-$85
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Kyle Abraham, one of the best choreographers around, sets an Afrofuturist work to an electronic reworking of Mozart’s Requiem by art-Footwork prophet Jlin!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Fun Cuban at Guantanamera.
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Thursday, August 11, 2022, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
David Leon: Bird’s Eye
THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2022
7:30 & 9:30 PM
The Jazz Gallery
1158 Broadway (entrance on West 27th Street), NoMad, Manhattan
$25-$35
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A Cuban-Korean mashup when saxaphonist David Leon is joined by the avant-Korean zither player Doyeon Kim, with the incredibly interesting and subtle Lesley Mok on drums (and glockenspiel!).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Infused cocktails that are either too much or just enough, depending on how you like at Apotheke, which just opened a new branch uptown in NoMad.
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Thu, Aug 11, 2022, 7:00 PM – Sun, Aug 14, 2022, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
CUNY PhD Theatre and Performance department practice+research ensemble: The Ivory Tower and the Open Worlds
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 11 – 14, 2022
7:00 PM THURSDAY, FRIDAY & SUNDAY
1:00 & 6:00 PM SATURDAY
4:00 PM SUNDAY
The Brick
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$5-$100
TICKETS + INFORMATION.
A hybrid of performance and conference, in which audience members — encouraged to come and go over the course of the presentation’s four days — will encounter various types of performances by various artists.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Excellent slice pizza at Sal’s.
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Wed, Aug 10, 2022, 8:30 PM – Sat, Aug 13, 2022, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Stone Residencies: Micah Thomas
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, AUGUST 10 – 13, 2022
8:30 PM
The Stone
Glass Box Theater, The New School
55 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This week’s resident is Micah Thomas, a pianist of strenght, inciveness and imagination.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It’ll be 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, August 10, 2022, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Forbes Graham feat. Celia Lopez & Brandon Lopez/gabby fluke-mogul, Tcheser Holmes & Mara Rosenbloom
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2022
8:00 PM
Shift
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$10-$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Forbes Graham — a trumpet player/composer whose work sounds in jazz, contemporary classical, sometimes even something like rock — fronts a trio with Celia Lopez on analogue synth and Brandon Lopez on bass. Then, gabby fluke-mogul, a violinist on the fronteir, plays with Tcheser Holmes (another terrific drummer) and the rising pianist Mara Rosenbloom.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Riverside sea food at Sea Wolf Waterfront.
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Wed, Aug 10, 2022, 6:30 PM – Thu, Aug 11, 2022, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Concert in the Catacombs: Zeena Parkins
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY, AUGUST 10 & 11, 2022
6:30 & 8:00 PM
The Catacombs, Green-Wood Cemetery
500 25th Street, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$45
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Harpist/inventor/explorer Zeena Parkins does a four-show two-night stand in the Catacombs. Each show — all featuring Parkins and drummer/explorer Brian Chase — is different. Early Wednesday, Parkins and Chase each performs solos. Late Wednesday, Parkins and Chase perform duos. Early Thursday, Parkins performs duos with Chase and with bassist Brandon Lopez. Late Thursday — my pick — are duos, trios, and a quartet among Parkins, Chase, Lopez, and Ka Baird on flute.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Good pub grub, good drink at Sea Witch.
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Tuesday, August 9, 2022, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
DANCE / THEATER
The Million Underscores: The Observatory
TUESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2022
8:00 PM
The Brick
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Million Underscores — there stuff is really fun — present a dance-theater piece (or rather an onslaught of brief pieces) that explore humanity’s relationship with the sky and the ideas and images we have projected on it throughout history, going from (in the company’s words) “lunar landings to interplanetary sex, alien ballets to Babylonian texts, from the dramas of 16th century Renaissance scientists to the astronomy hot line of Walter Mercado”. This sounds GOOD.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Roman pinsa pizza at Montesacro.
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Tue, Aug 9, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sun, Aug 14, 2022, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Bill Frisell Three
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 9 – 14, 2022
8:00 & 10:00 PM
Village Vanguard
178 7th Avenue South, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$40
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The great avant-Americana guitarist (that doesn’t begin to describe him, but it’ll have to do for now) Bill Frisell leads a guitar-sax-drums trio.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Speaking of Americana, Shaker food at The Commerce Inn.
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Tue, Aug 9, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sun, Aug 14, 2022, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Rennie Harris: LIFTED: A Gospel House Musical
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 9 – 14, 2022
7:30 PM TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY
8:00 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
The Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Avenue, Chelsea, Manhattan
$10-$71
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Rennie Harris promises a Black interpretation of Oliver Twist. A little feel-good for this List — but what’s so bad about feeling good?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Go to Stella’s Pizza. But instead of one of the (excellent) slices, order a meatball parm hero. You’ll thank me.
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Tue, Aug 9, 2022, 7:00 PM – Thu, Aug 11, 2022, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Rachael Mauney & Telmo Branco: Matrilineal
TUESDAY – THURSDAY, AUGUST 9 – 11, 2022
7:00 PM
Subletseries: Co-op
HERE
145 6th Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Hudson Square, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
An interdisciplinary piece arguing that heteronormative family structures lead to domestic violence.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Sicilian at Piccolo Cucina Osteria.
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Tuesday, August 9, 2022, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
The Birdsong Project: For the Birds
TUESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2022
6:00 PM
Lily Pond, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
150 Eastern Parkway, across the street from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
$18; $12 students/seniors; free children under 12
TICKETS + INFORMATION
First you get a tour of the artist-created birdhouses placed throughout the Garden as part of The Birdsong Project. Then you get to hear some of the vast corpus of contemporary classical and adjacent musics commissioned by the Project from exactly the kind of people we List here.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Guadalajaran Tortas Ahogadas are unbelievably good at Cruz del Sur.
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Mon, Aug 8, 2022, 10:00 AM – Sun, Aug 14, 2022, 6:00 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell & Joseph White: Meander
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 9 – 14, 2022 (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: New Orleans at Lowerline.
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Mon, Aug 8, 2022, 8:00 AM – Sun, Aug 14, 2022, 7:00 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 8 – 14, 2022 (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 during Quarantine that you could actually Go Out! to (although it's not quite "live"). Gelsey Bell, that vocal star of NYC Alt Classical, has conceived of a piece that walks you around Green-Wood Cemetery (starting at the Sunset Park Entrance). You download the soundtrack on your phone beforehand (the Times complains about how hard it is to download from Bandcamp to an iPhone — trust me: if I can figure out how to do it, anyone can). Bell wrote the text and narrates, with a co-composing assist from the inimitable Joe White (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, Aug 8, 2022, 6:00 AM – Sun, Aug 14, 2022, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: SOUNDWALK
MONDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 8 – 14, 2022 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park
59th Street – 110th Street/Central Park West – 5th Avenue, Manhattan
Free (registration required)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The New York Phil hops aboard the walk-around-the-landscaped-space-with-soundtrack train. The highly allusive soundtrack was put together by Ellen Reid, who is one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers. This walk isn't guided: you download an app that triggers sounds sent to your earphones from various cells around the Park as you wander. So you can do it over many times. (Speaking of wandering around Central Park, here's something that I, for one, never knew.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delicious pan-African at Teranga.
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Sunday, August 7, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
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Sunday, August 7, 2022, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
MUSIC
William Hooker: Silver Fleece
SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2022
3:00 PM
Colonel’s Row Building 10A, Governors Island, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The great Free Jazz drummer William Hooker presents a “suite for outdoors”.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Lots to eat and drink on Governors Island. Island Oyster remains so much better than it has to be, given its fabulous location and view, that you have to thank The Gods Of Capitalism for occasionally letting such things pass. For those who take the same ferry as I do, I’ll note that at The Long Island Bar near the Pier 6 Ferry Landing in Brooklyn Bridge Park the great Phil Ward is often at the stick Sunday nights.
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Saturday, August 6, 2022, 9:30 PM – 10:30 PM
PERFORMANCE / MUSIC
Black Bliss Rangers: Every Nigga Is a Star Trek
SATURDAY, AUGUST 6, 2022
9:30 PM
Pink Flamingos: Clubs in Flux
the cell theatre
338 West 23rd Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
$15-$20 suggested donation
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Bliss! Meditation! VOGUING!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Have more fun eating good Spanish food in New York than you thought possible at El Quijote.
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Saturday, August 6, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MUSIC
Drew McDowall: Time Machines
SATURDAY, AUGUST 6, 2022
8:00 PM
Ambient Church
Church of the Heavenly Rest
1085 Fifth Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
$50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
These Ambient Church concerts really are great: ambient electronic music in ornate churches, with lights and visuals keyed to the church’s architectural features. They really do take you somewhere. This is an appealing bill, too. Drew McDowall, ex-Psychic TV and Coil collaborator, has moved farther toward the Emperean as his career has progressed. Tonight he’s revisiting Coil (in particular, a longform work intended to recreate the experience induced by hallucinogens). Opener Lucy Liyou is more earth-based, basing her electronic explorations on field recordings.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Very good tacos at El Paso Taqueria.
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Saturday, August 6, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Electropixel 12: Nature and Cities
SATURDAY, AUGUST 6, 2022
7:00 PM
Colonel’s Row Building 10A, Governors Island, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sound art and live cinema combining sounds of nature with found sounds from various cities around the world.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Lots to eat and drink on Governors Island. It’s worth noting that douchey Riviera Maya transplant Gitano Island has opened for the season. I myself have taken to walking over to the wonderful Neo-Red Sauce spot Cafe Spaghetti in Carroll Gardens/Columbia Waterfront from the Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 6 Ferry Landing after a day on Governors Island.
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Sat, Aug 6, 2022, 6:00 PM – Sun, Aug 7, 2022, 7:00 PM
DANCE
Reunions
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, AUGUST 6 & 7, 2022
6:00 PM
Hearst Plaza, Lincoln Center, Upper West Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
All you need to know about these programs of mixed dance is that they’re curated by Kyle Abraham, one of the best choreographers around.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can’t do better than to get some supernal fried chicken at the UWS branch of Charles Pan-Fried Chicken and take it to the Park to eat.
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Saturday, August 6, 2022, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
MUSIC
Ana Tijoux / Meridian Brothers
SATURDAY, AUGUST 6, 2022
5:00 PM
Summerstage In Person & Live Stream
Corporal Thompson Park
166 Broadway, West New Brighton, Staten Island
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Ana Tijoux is a socially committed French-Chilean rapper turned singer-songwriter, excellent. But even more to this List’s taste are the Meridan Brothers. You might describe their highly conceptualized music as Fake Salsa — but unlike the Fake Music progenitors The Lounge Lizards, their music always works (fantastically) as what it takes off from.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, you might not expect a warm welcome at a neighborhood German place in Staten Island, but you’ll get one at Nurnberger Bierhaus. The food and drink are really good — and you won’t leave hungry (or thirsty), that’s for sure. Streaming at home, have a Terremoto: put a scoop of pineapple ice cream at the bottom of a medium-tall drinking glass. Pour in 1-1/2 oz. Grenadine. Top with Pipeño wine (you’ll thank me for inducing you to have some of this around). Finish with a splash of Fernet (some use Pisco instead, but I think Fernet adds a kick to the drink).
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Saturday, August 6, 2022, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
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Sat, Aug 6, 2022, 2:00 PM – Sun, Aug 7, 2022, 8:00 PM
DANCE
Et Alia Theater: Stella, Come Home
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, AUGUST 6 & 7, 2022
2:00 PM SATURDAY
7:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Subletseries: Co-op
HERE
145 6th Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Hudson Square, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A Streetcar Named Desire – danced. Can you draw a parallel between the Mid-20th Century Southerners falling out of the upper class in Streetcar and Et Alia Theater’s immigrant women in 21st Century New York? Et Alia certainly thinks so.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: LA-style Mexican at Lupe’s East L.A. Kitchen.
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Sat, Aug 6, 2022, 1:00 PM – Sun, Aug 7, 2022, 12:00 PM
PERFORMANCE
Bindlestiff Family Cirkus: Flatbed Follies
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, AUGUST 6 & 7, 2022
1:00 & 5:00 PM SATURDAY
11:00 AM SUNDAY
SATURDAY 1:00 PM: Plaza de las Americas, Washington Heights, Manhattan
SATURDAY 5:00 PM: Blake Avenue btw. Rockaway Avenue & Mother Gaston Gaston Boulevard, Brownsville, Brooklyn
SUNDAY: 34th Avenue btw. 93rd Street & 94th Street, Jackson Heights, Queens
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus takes it to the street!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Saturday afternoon in Washington Heights, excellent Dominican (with some Cuban leftovers from the restaurant’s previous incarnation) at Malecon (and on Saturdays they serve their supernal Chivo Guisado as a special!). Saturday evening in Brownsville, Caribbean at Tropical Taste Restaurant & Bakery. Sunday, legendary tacos at Tacos Morelos.
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Friday, August 5, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MUSIC
Les Arts Florissants Trio: Les Recettes de l’Amour
Caramoor
149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah, Westchester
FRIDAY, AUGUST 5, 2022
8:00 PM
$40-$85; 50% off children on select tickets
TICKETS + INFORMATION
If anything is worth schlepping to Katohah for, it’s this recital by a trio offshoot of the world’s greatest Baroque ensemble, Les Arts Florissants, comprising the sapid mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre and her regular partner, lutenist Thomas Dunford, together with that International Champion Of Baroque Performance, William Christie, on harpsichord. The all-French program won’t just be French Baroque, though, but will extend to Reynaldo Hahn, Michel Legrand, the great chanteuse Barbara, and who can guess what else.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Really all I know that’s good near there is STILL the Bedford Post Inn.
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Fri, Aug 5, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sun, Aug 7, 2022, 6:00 PM
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Fri, Aug 5, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sun, Aug 7, 2022, 8:30 PM
MUSIC
Kendrick Lamar
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 5 – 7, 2022
7:30 PM
FRIDAY & SATURDAY: Barclays Center
620 Atlantic Avenue, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
SUNDAY: UBS Arena
2400 Hempstead Turnpike, Elmont, Nassau County
Dynamic pricing so who the fuck knows (but it’ll cost you)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I don’t usually List arena shows by big pop stars using dynamic pricing. But if there’s any better or more important musician in pop music than Kendrick Lamar, I don’t know about them.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Friday and Saturday, plausible tacos and stuff at Tiny’s Cantina. Sunday, while you’re in Elmont, you might as well find a way to neighboring Floral Park for rare Keralan (from Southern India) food at Kuttandan.
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Fri, Aug 5, 2022, 6:30 PM – Sun, Aug 7, 2022, 7:30 PM
THEATER
inFLUX Theatre Collective: The Choice
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 5 – 7, 2022
6:30 PM
Subletseries: Co-op
HERE
145 6th Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Hudson Square, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The audience participates in three women’s decisions whether to have children.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Altro Paradiso: not the best Italian restaurant in New York, far from the worst — but it’s right there.
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Thu, Aug 4, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sat, Aug 6, 2022, 8:59 PM
THEATER
Gestating Baby Volume 2: Jess Barbagallo / Aeneas Sagar Hemphill
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, AUGUST 4 – 6, 2022
8:00 PM
The Brick
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$15-$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Two playwrights each presents a short piece. Jess Barbagallo presents the “Greatest Hits” from his Weekend at Barry’s, about how hard it is to make a living in the arts when your name is Barry (I swear I had nothing to do with this). Aeneas Sagar Hemphill presents The Empire Live (1/?), about how First World countries need to create fake foreign “terrorist” enemies in order to distract their populations from the citizens’ real antagoinists, e.g., Global Capitalism.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Classic Brooklyn Red Sauce at Bamonte’s.
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Thursday, August 4, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
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Thursday, August 4, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
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Thu, Aug 4, 2022, 7:30 PM – Fri, Aug 5, 2022, 10:00 PM
MUSIC
Adam O’Farrill: For These Streets
THURSDAY & FRIDAY, AUGUST 4 & 5, 2022
7:30 & 9:30 PM
The Jazz Gallery
1158 Broadway (entrance on West 27th Street), NoMad, Manhattan
$25-$35
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Have their been any three-generation lineages in jazz to match the O’Farrills? Trumpeter Adam is worthy of the family name: not only a fabulous player but a really interesting composer. This amazingly staffed big band includes Mary Halvorson on guitar!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Infused cocktails that are either too much or just enough, depending on how you like them, at Apotheke, which just opened a new branch uptown in NoMad.
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Thu, Aug 4, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sat, Aug 6, 2022, 8:29 PM
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Thu, Aug 4, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sun, Aug 7, 2022, 8:30 PM
OPERA
Kirsten Volness: Letters That You Will Not Get: Women’s Voices from the Great War
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 4 – 7, 2022
7:30 PM
Irondale
85 South Oxford Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Settings of letters to soldiers in World War I from women on both sides, showing the women’s experience of the Great War. Kirsten Volness is a composer of great freshness and appeal.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Great great great New Israeli at Miss Ada.
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Wed, Aug 3, 2022, 8:30 PM – Sat, Aug 6, 2022, 9:30 PM
-
Wednesday, August 3, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MUSIC
Ryley Walker & J.R. Bohannon / Ståle Lavik Solberg feat. Sana Nagano & David Watson
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2022
8:00 PM
Shift
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$10-$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Intriguing improvisation tonight. Ryley Walker, a folkie singer-songwriter who is also, through some miracle of music, an excellent exploratory guitarist, duets with Brooklyn’s J.R. Bohannon, a guitarist who sort of takes Americana to the fringe. Norwegian drummer Ståle Lavik Solberg plays with noise violinist Sana Nagano and Shift honcho David Watson, the most out-there known bagpiper (although tonight he might be playing guitar).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Riverside sea food at Sea Wolf Waterfront.
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Wednesday, August 3, 2022, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
MUSIC
Isabel Castro: Mija
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2022
6:00 PM
Summerstage
Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This is billed as a screening of Isabel Castro’s documentary about Latinx pop music, Mija. But it’s Listed for the accompanying live performances, not only by people in the film, but by Helado Negro, whose expressive emotive Latinx electronica started as a surprise (this kind of music isn’t usually so expressive and emotive) and has become a reliable pleasure.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: A legendary burger at JG Melon.
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Tue, Aug 2, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sun, Aug 7, 2022, 10:00 PM
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Tuesday, August 2, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
MUSIC
Adolphus Hailstork: Sonata di Chiesa
TUESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2022
7:30 PM
East Coast Chamber Orchestra
Naumburg Bandshell, Central Park, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I had sort of decided not to List this as too backward-looking. But I’ve reconsidered. This List has made its nostalgia for Mid-Century American Symphonic Modernism. Well here’s someone who’s still alive today, still writing in that style. (I mean, he even studied with Nadia Boulanger!) So let’s all be thankful Adolphus Hailstorck is still among us, still productive.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You will be let out into Manhattan’s worst neighborhood for dining and drinking. I throw up my hands.
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Tue, Aug 2, 2022, 7:30 PM – Wed, Aug 3, 2022, 8:30 PM
MUSIC
Carlos Simon: Fate Now Conquers
TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2 & 3, 2022
7:30 PM
Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra
Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center
1941 Broadway, Upper West Side, Manhattan
Choose What You Pay $5-$85
TICKETS + INFORMATION
You get a chance to hear Jonathon Heyward, whose new appointment at the Baltimore Symphony makes him the first African-American music director of a major American orchestra (depending on how you define “major”: James DePreist was kind of a great conductor at the Oregon). Not only that, you get to hear him conducting a piece by the excellent Carlos Simon. The rest of the program is less worth going Uptown for — although far be it from me to deny the enormous appeal of Beethoven’s Second Symphony.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Cadillac Burger at P.J. Clarke’s, preceded by some clams on the half shell with a Martini.
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Tuesday, August 2, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
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Tue, Aug 2, 2022, 6:30 PM – Thu, Aug 4, 2022, 7:30 PM
THEATER
Eliya Smith: Memonica
TUESDAY – THURSDAY, AUGUST 2 – 4, 2022
6:30 PM
Subletseries: Co-op
HERE
145 6th Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Hudson Square, Manhattan
$20-$50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A fantasia on Monica Lewinsky, invoking, among other things, history, not-history, memory, and The Music Man.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Sicilian at Piccolo Cucina Osteria.
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Tue, Aug 2, 2022, 10:00 AM – Sun, Aug 7, 2022, 6:00 PM
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Monday, August 1, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
MUSIC
Gold Dime / Thee Reps
MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 2022
7:00 PM
Mama Tried
787 Third Avenue, Sunset Park, Brooklyn
Donation expected
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Thee Reps make the kind of rock music you’d expect from classical-adjacent musicians (and no that doesn’t mean they sound like ELO). Gold Dime make the kind of rock music you’d expect from people who really miss the late 70s/early 80s.
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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Mon, Aug 1, 2022, 8:00 AM – Sun, Aug 7, 2022, 7:00 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 1 – 7, 2022 (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 during Quarantine that you could actually Go Out! to (although it's not quite "live"). Gelsey Bell, that vocal star of NYC Alt Classical, has conceived of a piece that walks you around Green-Wood Cemetery (starting at the Sunset Park Entrance). You download the soundtrack on your phone beforehand (the Times complains about how hard it is to download from Bandcamp to an iPhone — trust me: if I can figure out how to do it, anyone can). Bell wrote the text and narrates, with a co-composing assist from the inimitable Joe White (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, Aug 1, 2022, 6:00 AM – Sun, Aug 7, 2022, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: SOUNDWALK
MONDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 1 – 7, 2022 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park
59th Street – 110th Street/Central Park West – 5th Avenue, Manhattan
Free (registration required)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The New York Phil hops aboard the walk-around-the-landscaped-space-with-soundtrack train. The highly allusive soundtrack was put together by Ellen Reid, who is one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers. This walk isn't guided: you download an app that triggers sounds sent to your earphones from various cells around the Park as you wander. So you can do it over many times. (Speaking of wandering around Central Park, here's something that I, for one, never knew.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delicious pan-African at Teranga.
