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Thu, Aug 31, 2023, 10:00 PM – Sun, Sep 3, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Chloe Xtina : Joan of Arc in a Supermarket in California!
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2023
10:00 PM
The Tank @ E’s Wholesome Foods Grocery Store
98 Montgomery Street, Crown Heights, Brooklyn
$43.47-$105.97
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Just what the title says, sort of (with the California supermarket being impersonated by a Crown Heights organic grocery) (the ticket price includes a $5 voucher!).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Very cheffed-up Hungarian at Agi’s Counter.
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Thursday, August 31, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Tim Berne
THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 2023
8:00 & 9:30 PM
Lowlands
543 3rd Avenue, Gowanus, Brooklyn
TBD
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The tough in-and-out alto saxophonist Tim Berne has somewhat kindred spirit Aurora Nealand (who connects early New Orleans collective improvisation with Free Jazz and aleatory classical) (and who plays ACCORDION when she isn’t playing sax!) playing with him and his ace rhythm section.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Cool Mexican at Alma Negra.
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Thursday, August 31, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Curtis Hasselbring & His Curhachestra
THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 2023
8:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Mock-retro jazz with not-so-secret avant leanings. (How interesting that they should be competing in this time slot with Aurora Nealand!)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Neighborhood Italian at Mariella.
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Thursday, August 31, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Lava Gulls / Devin Schaeffer / Issei Herr
THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 2023
7:00 PM
Sundownstairs, Sundown Bar
68-38 Forest Avenue, Ridgewood, Queens
$14.85-$18.07
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A nice night of Pop and Almost-Pop. Lava Gulls’ bouncy Future Pop. Devin Schaeffer’s slightly mopy Dream-Pop. Issei Herr’s melifluous cello dreamscapes.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You’re in a bar with a pretty good cocktail program. For something more solid, Nepalese-New York fusion (cuz why not?) at While in Kathmandu.
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Thursday, August 31, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Habbina Habbina / Combo Daguerre
THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 2023
7:00 PM
The Sultan Room Rooftop
234 Starr Street, Bushwick, Brooklyn
$19.57
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Surf the Levantine Mediterranean with Habbina Habbina. Go to Paris (and take hallucinogens) with Combo Daguerre.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Souped-up Venezuelan hot dogs at Santa Salsa.
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Thursday, August 31, 2023, 6:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Summer Sounds: Sasha Berliner & Lynn Ligammari Duo
THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 2023
6:30 PM
Fotografiska
281 Park Avenue South, Gramercy, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A sax-vibes duo.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: English steak at Hawksmoor.
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Thu, Aug 31, 2023, 5:00 PM – Sun, Sep 3, 2023, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Asi Wind: Inner Circle
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 3, 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, Aug 30, 2023, 8:30 PM – Sat, Sep 2, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Stone Residencies: Evynd Kang
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, AUGUST 30 – SEPTEMBER 2, 2023
8:30 PM
The Stone
Glass Box Theater, The New School
55 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Evynd Kang’s principal axe is the viola, so naturally he plays a lot of other things as well. (No no really, actually I love mid-range instruments like the viola.) Another musician who was instrumental in destroying any idea of a divide between classical and jazz (which is why he finds himself In this Zorn-curated series).
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, August 30, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Chase Elodia: Perennials / Drinking Bird
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2023
8:00 PM
Threes Brewing
333 Douglass Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$15-$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Two bands that do jazz or jazz-adjacent improvised music that’s quite melodic. Ace drummer Chase Elodia’s Perennials are more songform (with the wonderful Claire Dickson handling vocals) (although one listen and you can tell this is a band led by a drummer). Drinking Bird are spacier.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Might as well have a few beers and a burger at Threes Brewing.
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Wednesday, August 30, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
CLAK / CGI Jesus / Blase
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2023
8:00 PM
TV Eye
1647 Weirfield Street, Ridgewood, Queens
$19.57
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Post-Rock. Of most interest to this List is CLAK, a project of experimental percussionist Aaron Edgcomb.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delightful Italianish American at Rolo’s — if you can get in.
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Wednesday, August 30, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Wednesday, August 30, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:30 PM
MUSIC
Aaron Burnett & The Big Machine: Quantum Breaks
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2023
8:00 PM
Roulette
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$25 advance; $30 door; $20 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Jazz informed by electronic music and drum ‘n’ bass.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Top-level neighborhood French at French Louie.
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Wednesday, August 30, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Cirkus Moxie
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2023
7:30 PM
Brooklyn Art Haus
24 Marcy Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Circus!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Great great wine and actually good food at Four Horsemen.
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Wednesday, August 30, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Tuesday, August 29, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Rodolphe Coster & Band / Sunwatchers / Cinemartyr
TUESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2023
8:00 PM
TV Eye
1647 Weirfield Street, Ridgewood, Queens
$13.04
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Rodolphe Coster somehow makes singer-songwriter Indie Rock sound relevant in 2023. Cuz he’s Belgian? Anyway, his musical horizons are a bit wider than just that — as is evidenced by the heavy participation of a Sunwatchers member in Coster’s most recent record. Speaking of which, that glorious Psych-Free Jazz-Secretly Classical-Jam band are also on the bill! Cinemartyr: meh Neo-Post-Punk.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: See what’s brewing at Evil Twin Brewing Ridgewood Taproom.
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Tue, Aug 29, 2023, 8:00 PM – Wed, Aug 30, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
0 // 23 Public Visuals: Activate
TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29 & 30, 2023
8:00 PM
Location disclosed upon ticketing, Bushwick, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Experimental audio, video, and audiovideo.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: They obviously like their encebollados (onion-fish cocktails) at the Ecuadorian spot El Encebollado de Rossy, but I doff my hat to their offerings of more different tripe stews than I’ve ever seen in one place.
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Tue, Aug 29, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, Sep 3, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Annie Baker: Infinite Life
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 29 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2023 (continuing through OCTOBER 8)
7:00 PM TUESDAY, THURSDAY & SUNDAY
8:00 PM WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY & SATURDAY
2:00 SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Atlantic Theater Company
Linda Gross Theater
366 West 20th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
$87-$107
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Dear God if there must be naturalist mainstream theater in American (and duh there must) let it be Annie Baker: smart, spare, suggestive. And funny as she wants to be.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: We can now go to Fonda for Mexican in Chelsea!
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Tuesday, August 29, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Renku
TUESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2023
7:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This questing trio, comprising saxophonist Michaël Attias, bassist John Hébert, and drummer Satoshi Takeishi, played their first gig ever at this very venue some 20 years ago. Their occasional revivals are still special.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Neighborhood sushi at Sushi Yashin.
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Tuesday, August 29, 2023, 6:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
DMG FREE WEEKLY IN-STORE MUSIC SERIES
TUESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2023
6:30 PM
Downtown Music Gallery
13 Monroe Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Among other things, an intriguing two bass flute-one fula flute ensemble; guitarist Marco Cappelli (can’t spit on the street without hitting him these last few weeks) playing with drummer James Paul Nadien; and a trio having the excellent Nate Wooley on trumpet and Tom Rainey on drums playing with Hery Paz, a newish saxophonist with a really distinctive insinuating style.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Modern-Korean-inflected Golden Diner.
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Tue, Aug 29, 2023, 10:00 AM – Sun, Sep 3, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell & Joseph White: Meander
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 29 – SEPTEMBER 3, 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. (FUN FACT: I believe Cruz del Sur is next door to the apartment Aaron Copland grew up in.)
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Monday, August 28, 2023, 9:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Tropical Vortex: Yotoco
MONDAY, AUGUST 28, 2023
9:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$15
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. For this show, they’ll be joined by a bunch of friends.
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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Monday, August 28, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sam Weinberg Trio feat. Tom Rainey & Henry Fraser / Kieran Daly
MONDAY, AUGUST 28, 2023
8:00 PM
Sisters
900 Fulton Street, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Free/Noise Jazz saxophonist Sam Weinberg has as good a rhythm section as New York City can now supply. Kieran Daly is a guitarist out of the Chicago Jazz Scene who, instead of improvising on the harmonies in the Be-Bop manner, fragments the melody in a Post-Modern one.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can eat and drink perfectly well at Sisters.
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Monday, August 28, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Dana Lynn & Kyle Sanna feat. Johnny Gandelsman
MONDAY, AUGUST 28, 2023
7:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Trad Irish goes mod and thinks about the environment. And is joined by Brooklyn violin star Johnny Gandelsman!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Better-than-Neighborhood Mexican at Fonda.
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Monday, August 28, 2023, 5:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Accordions Around the World
MONDAY, AUGUST 28, 2023 (also on SEPTEMBER 4 & 11)
5:30 PM
Bryant Park, Midtown, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Accordions! All over the Park!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Upscale Sichuan at Café China.
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Mon, Aug 28, 2023, 8:00 AM – Sun, Sep 3, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 3, 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, Aug 28, 2023, 6:00 AM – Sun, Sep 3, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: New York, New York
MONDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 3, 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, August 27, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Zorn@70: John Zorn, Laurie Anderson, Sean Ono Lennon
SUNDAY, AUGUST 27, 2023
8:00 PM
Roulette
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$35 advance; $30 door; $25 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Why NOT an improvisational trio of John Zorn, Laurie Anderson, and Sean Ono Lennon?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Superb Palestinian at AlBadawi.
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Sunday, August 27, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Brandon Lopez-Ingrid Laubrock-Tom Rainey
SUNDAY, AUGUST 27, 2023
8:00 PM
P.I.T.
411 South 5th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Three players — sax, bass, drums — with wide-ranging minds, great logical rigor, and nonpareil technique. (Brandon Lopez and Tom Rainey are also beasts, Ingrid Laubrock tending to stay cooler.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Persian tapas at Masquerade.
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Sunday, August 27, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Playback 003: Ghostly International
SUNDAY, AUGUST 27, 2023
6:00 PM
Bar Laika
224 Greene Avenue, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
As a supporter of live performance, I don’t usually List sessions where somone plays records for you. But it’s late Summer, so let’s loosen up for a bit. And Ann Arbor-to-Brooklyn Ghostly International is such a geat electronic music label, it’ll be fascinating to see what they dig out of their archives.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Very good food, very good wine at Place des Fêtes.
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Sunday, August 27, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Max Johnson Five
SUNDAY, AUGUST 27, 2023
6:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Bassist Max Johnson plays a lot of different kinds of music. But this new quintet is a jazz band.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Once Cuban, now Dominican, still good, at El Viejo Yayo 2.
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Sunday, August 27, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Music in the Art Park
SUNDAY, AUGUST 27, 2023
5:00 PM
First Street Garden Art Park
33 East 1st Street, East Village, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Trumpeter Peter Evans, intense and devotional, is always worth hearing; here he’s in a duo with drummer Mike Pride, whom I believe put this program together. The rising bassist Jeong Lim Yang is also worth a listen. As for Miriam Elhajli, well, a lot of people like folkie singer-songwriters more than I do.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: No matter what the time of day, Katz's will give you more food than is appropriate.
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Sunday, August 27, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
OPERA
Opera on Tap: Songs of the Sea
SUNDAY, AUGUST 27, 2023
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. With performing inflatable sea anemone! And mermaids!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: A good time to go to Uptown Brasserie Café Luxembourg, still chugging away.
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Sunday, August 27, 2023, 4:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Bang on a Can Music Series: Issei Herr / Matt Evans
SUNDAY, AUGUST 27, 2022
4:00 PM
The Noguchi Museum
9-01 33rd Road, Long Island City, Queens
$12; $6 students/seniors; free under 12
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Issei Herr’s gorgeous cello soundscapes could easily become cloying — but they don’t. Matt Evans’s percussion extensions draw you right in.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You walk past the classic Bel Aire Diner and you want to go in.
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Sunday, August 27, 2023, 4:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sunday Salon: Augustus Arnone / Jacob Rhodebeck
SUNDAY, AUGUST 27, 2023
4:00 PM
Spectrum
481 Van Brunt Street, Door 7A, Red Hook, Brooklyn
$15; $10 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Spectrum shows off its new Steinway B with two adventurous pianists playing gnarly stuff (yeah, Bach is gnarly, too).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I am so excited about the new Piemontese-leaning Bar Mario that I could burst.
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Sunday, August 27, 2023, 4:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Cuerpo y Alma: Shara Lunon & Luke Stewarti/iSaturn Lavenderi/ Justine Lee Hooper
SUNDAY, AUGUST 27, 2023
4:00 PM
Cooper Street Community Garden, Bushwick, Brooklyn
Free (donations to bands recommended)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Avant/political from Shara Lunon and Luke Stewart. Fun electronics from Saturn Lavender. Funky flute and electronics from Justine Lee Hooper. A nice evening in the garden.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: There’ll be food in the garden, but if you’re hungrier you can go for the Caribbean-inflected pizza at Cuts & Slices.
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Sunday, August 27, 2023, 2:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Summer Thunder: Sun Ra Arkestra
SUNDAY, AUGUST 27, 2023
2:00 PM
Union Pool
484 Union Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Is it really a Ghost Band if you’re not sure whether Sun Ra died or just went home to Saturn?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It remains very big news that Windsor Terrace’s Dog Day Afternoon (located on the very block the movie was filmed on) is now serving their supernal Chicago-Style Hot Dogs at a new Williamsburg bar (H&H Reserve) at reasonable hours!
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Saturday, August 26, 2023, 10:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Yotoco
SATURDAY, AUGUST 26, 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, August 26, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Michaël Attias Quartet
SATURDAY, AUGUST 26, 2023
8:00 & 9:30 PM
Bar Bayeux
1066 Nostrand Avenue, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn
Free (tip the band)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Questing saxperson Michaël Attias leads his reqular quartet.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The drinks at Bar Bayeaux are good enough that you won’t want to stop at the one-drink minimum. If you’re hungry as well as thirsty, ham and wine at & Sons Ham Bar.
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Saturday, August 26, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Lucian Ban & Alex Harding feat. Bob Stewart: TUBA Project
SATURDAY, AUGUST 26, 2023
8:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The great Bob Stewart playing jazz tuba is always a ticket to a good time.
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, August 26, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sam Newsome & Max Johnson: CD Release for “Inky Folly Orchid Gleam”
SATURDAY, AUGUST 26, 2023
7:30 PM
IBeam
168 7th Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Is Sam Newsome the Don Cherry of the soprano sax? No, but I’ll throw it out there anyway. Max Johnson is one imaginative bassist.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I hope it’s not too ghoulish to be recommending a Hawaiian restaurant: Sweet Talk.
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Saturday, August 26, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
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Sat, Aug 26, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, Aug 27, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Jodi Melnick & Maya Lee-Parritz: Água Viva
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, AUGUST 26 & 27, 2023
7:00 PM SATURDAY
4:00 PM SUNDAY
Hudson Hall
327 Warren Street, Hudson, Hudson Valley
$15-$35
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Jodi Melnick is one of my absolute favorite dancers and Clarice Lispector one of my absolute favorite fiction writers. So Melnick on Lispector is kind of a big thing (at least for me). Don’t expect narrative.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Excellent Oaxacan at El Sabor de Oaxaca. You might want to stop at BackBar for drinks on the way. And at some point maybe an ice cream at Culture Cream, across the street from the venue.
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Saturday, August 26, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Roulette Intermedium: Immanuel Wilkins / 75 Dollar Bill / Ka Baird
SATURDAY, AUGUST 26, 2023
7:00 PM
Bryant Park, Midtown, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Celebrating 45 years of Roulette with some really major artists. From the advanced mainstream jazz of Immanuel Wilkins to the avant-Jam of 75 Dollar Bill to the vocal explorations of Ka Baird, it’s hard for me to imagine anyone who reads this List and is around this weekend skipping this (unless they’re going to the Beach Session in Rockaway).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Munich in Midtown at Reichenbach Hall.
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Saturday, August 26, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
DANCE
Bill T. Jones / Arnie Zane Company: A Dance for Sunset
SATURDAY, AUGUST 26, 2023
6:00 PM
Post-Morrow Foundation
16 Bay Road, Brookhaven, Long Island
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The fabulous Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company perform, with live musical accompaniment, in a preserved wetland.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Seafood, some Red Sauce, and roast duck cuz it’s Long Island at Varney’s.
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Saturday, August 26, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Marco Cappelli & Elliot Sharp
SATURDAY, AUGUST 26, 2023
6:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
All this is, is two of the best and most interesting guitarists now before the public playing together.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Not likely, perhaps, but if you’re really lucky Reyes Deli & Grocery will have some of their fabulous weekend tamales and barbacoa left.
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Saturday, August 26, 2023, 5:45 PM – 11:59 PM
DANCE
Beach Sessions Dance Series: Merce Cunningham: Beach Birds / Sarah Michelson: A Response
SATURDAY, AUGUST 26, 2023
5:45 PM
On the Sand
Beach 108 Street, Rockaway Beach, Queens
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Merce Cunningham’s Beach Birds performed, for the first time ever, on an actual beach! With a response choreographed by Sarah Michelson, who is sort of paradigmatic of the approach this List favors: never putting things on a plate in front of you and telling you what to think or feel, but rather giving you a set of inputs and letting you make of them what you will (she will never ever explicate her work). (Yvonne Rainer has said she’s renounced her No Manifesto, but I still believe in most of it.) (Leave me my camp, though!) No wonder Michelson was chosen to respond to her former boss! It’s hard for me to imagine anyone who reads this List and is around this weekend skipping this (unless they’re going to the Roulette show in Bryant Park).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You probably know what you’re in for at the Caracas Arepa Bar.
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Saturday, August 26, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Direct Action: Ricardo Gallo & Amirtha Kidambi
SATURDAY, AUGUST 26, 2023
5:00 PM
Storefront for Art & Architecture
97 Kenmare Street, Nolita, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Now HERE’S an interesting and unexpected combination: Ricardo Gallo, who presumably will be presenting his more avant side (and perhaps his South American vernacular side) rather than his Monk/Hill side, and Amirtha Kidambi, whose Bhajan-inflected experimental vocalism is seldom less than riveting.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Eat like an Egyptian at Zööba.
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Sat, Aug 26, 2023, 2:00 PM – Sun, Aug 27, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
In Gardens at Governors Island
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, AUGUST 26 & 27, 2023
2:00 PM
Nolan Park Building 10B , Governors Island, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Two drummerless vocal trios, Saturday’s led by violist Melanie Dyer (and featuring Mara Rosenblum on piano) and Sunday’s led by pianist Alexis Marcelo.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Plenty to eat and drink on Governors Island, but this weekend a special shoutout to Makina Café’s delicious Eritrean.
-
Sat, Aug 26, 2023, 12:00 PM – Sun, Aug 27, 2023, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Bindlestiff Family Cirkus: Flatbed Follies
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, AUGUST 26 & 27, 2023
12:00 & 3:00 PM SATURDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
SATURDAY: 141 Road btw. 224 Street & 225 St , Laurelton, Queens
SUNDAY: Frederick Douglas Boulevard & West 116th Street, Harlem, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus takes it to the street!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Saturday in Laurelton, stroll over to Rosedale for Jamaican at Breezes Island Grill. Sunday in Harlem, unlike another famous Harlem Soul Food restaurant one could name, Melba’s is still excellent.
-
Sat, Aug 26, 2023, 12:00 PM – Sun, Aug 27, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Afropunk Brooklyn: Circus of Soul
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, AUGUST 26 & 27, 2023
12:00 PM
Skyline Drive In
1 Oak Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
$133.13-$263.75 per day; $165.46-$500.86 both days
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Afropunk Festival is one day less awesome than previously (and a good deal farther north). I’ll just mention Flying Lotus (theming back to Friday night, Alice Coltrane’s nephew), Sudan Archives, and Cleo Reed, and let you browse the rest of the line-up yourself.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: A (less homey) continuation of the lamented Japanese charmer Bessou at Lingo.
-
Friday, August 25, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
DANCE
Nidal Abdo & collective nafass: Habitus
FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 2023
8:00 PM
The Invisible Dog
51 Bergen Street, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Nidal Abdo’s work explores the relationship between bodies and the territories they’re in, bodies that are displaced, exiled. As the son of a Ukrainian mother and a Palestinian father, raised in a Syrian refugee camp, he should know.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Some of the best cocktails in New York — and surprisingly solid food — at The Clover Club.
-
Fri, Aug 25, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, Aug 26, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Testu Collective x Public Visuals: Haptic Drift
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, AUGUST 25 & 26, 2023
7:30 PM
Theaterlab
357 West 36th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A bunch of artists in various disciplines from Japan and North and South America collaborate on work that mixes acoustic and electronic, video and audio.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Good cocktails at Dear Irving on Hudson.
-
Friday, August 25, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Nappy Nina / Defprez / Rich Jones
SATURDAY, AUGUST 26, 2023
7:00 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$23.69
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I was gonna say that Alt Hip-Hopper Nappy Nina is celebrating her very good recent album, but “celebrate” isn’t a word to use in connection with such a(n affectingly) morose work.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Mediterranean-inflected New American out of the big oven at Victor.
-
Friday, August 25, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Black Science Fiction Presents “Happy Birthday Alice Coltrane”: Akeema-Zane/duendita/Cathy Watson Francillon & Val Jeanty
FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 2023
7:00 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$25.75
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Funny how these things work: Alice Coltrane’s music seems more relevant and indeed undeniable now than it did in ‘60s-’70s, when it was controversial even (especially) among vanguardists. Various vanguard artists pay birthday tribute to her tonight (and don’t worry: there’ll be a harpist).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Celebrate Alice Coltrane’s birthday with pizza in the style of her native Detroit at La Rose Pizza (maybe you can get them to put candles on it!).
-
Friday, August 25, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Accordions Around the World
FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 2023
7:00 PM
Bryant Park, Midtown, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Accordions! Played by people with vulvae (or identifying as such)!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Upscale Sichuan at Café China.
-
Friday, August 25, 2023, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
MUSIC
Music in the Art Park
SUNDAY, AUGUST 27, 2023
5:00 PM
First Street Garden Art Park
33 East 1st Street, East Village, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Trumpeter Peter Evans, intense and devotional, is always worth hearing; here he’s in a duo with drummer Mike Pride, whom I believe put this program together. The rising bassist Jeong Lim Yang is also worth a listen. As for Miriam Elhajli, well, a lot of people like folkie songwriters more than I do.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: No matter what the time of day, Katz's will give you more food than is appropriate.
-
Friday, August 25, 2023, 1:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
PUBLIQuartet: What Is American
FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 2023
1:00 & 3:00 PM
Rite of Summer
Castle Williams, Governors Island, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The excellent PUBLIQuartet plays selections from their album tracing the Black (obvious) and Indigenous (less so) bases of seemingly European-derived American music.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Lots to eat and drink on Governors Island, but Island Oyster has a special appeal.
-
Thu, Aug 24, 2023, 10:00 PM – Sat, Aug 26, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Chloe Xtina : Joan of Arc in a Supermarket in California!
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, AUGUST 24 – 26, 2023 (continuing through SEPTEMBER 3)
10:00 PM
The Tank @ E’s Wholesome Foods Grocery Store
98 Montgomery Street, Crown Heights, Brooklyn
$43.47-$105.97
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Just what the title says, sort of (with the California supermarket being impersonated by a Crown Heights organic grocery) (the ticket price includes a $5 voucher!).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Very cheffed-up Hungarian at Agi’s Counter.
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Thursday, August 24, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Shoko Nagai: TOKALA
THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 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. For this show, avant-Klezmer trumpeter (really he can play anything) Frank London sits in.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Neighborhood Italian at Mariella.
-
Thu, Aug 24, 2023, 8:00 PM – Fri, Aug 25, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
CT::SWaM Plasticity Office
THURSDAY & FRIDAY, AUGUST 24 & 25, 2023
8:00 PM THURSDAY
7:00 PM FRIDAY
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 believe me, they’re all people you want to hear.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Snacky somewhat fusiony Indonesian beach food at Ma·Dé.
-
Thursday, August 24, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
-
Thu, Aug 24, 2023, 8:00 PM – Fri, Aug 25, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Julia Antinozzi: What Light / But, Soft
THURSDAY & FRIDAY, AUGUST 24 & 25, 2023
8:00 PM
Pageant
70 Graham Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$10-$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Julia Antinozzi is one of those artists whose work manages to be both cerebrally vanguard and appealingly accessible. I mean, she’s done a piece based on Moonstruck (but don’t worry: not narrative). These pieces — one of them brand new — draw on another famous rom (albiet not a com).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Mexican snacks and mad desserts at Maya’s Snack Bar.
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Thu, Aug 24, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, Aug 26, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
TIME:SPANS Festival
MONDAY – TUESDAY & THURSDAY – SATURDAY, AUGUST 21 – 22 & 24 – 26, 2023 (continuing through AUGUST 26)
7:30 PM
DiMenna Center
450 West 37th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$23.18; $12.51 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Earle Brown Foundation (now there’s a possible answer to the question: who’s the single most underappreciated American composer?) puts on its annual festival of New Music (much of it much gnarlier than anything Browne wrote). This final week features three List fave ensembles — Ekmeles, Yarn/Wire, and the International Contemporary Ensemble — whose taste is so congruent with ours that we almost don’t have check who they’re playing/singing. Trumpeter-about-town (and current loadbanger — right where he belongs) Andrew Kozar of course also has congruent taste, as the program for his duo with vocalist Corrine Byrne shows. List readers can go to any of those shows with full confidence. The Talea Ensemble closes the festival with a evening of Enno Poppe, a very Euro New Music composer (not sounding unlike Earle Brown in some ways — but with a lot more notes) — but one who’s been played by Yarn/Wire!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Theoretically boring, in practice delicious, Italian from the oven at Ci Siamo.
-
Thursday, August 24, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Lollise
THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2023
7:00 PM
The Sultan Room
234 Starr Street, Bushwick, Brooklyn
$20.81
TICKETS + INFORMATION
What can I say? Lollise’s Art-Afropop is just what I like (and maybe you, too).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Peter’s Crunchy Red Tacos truck outside the Jefferson Avenue L stop is really superb.
-
Thursday, August 24, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Bilal
THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2023
6:00 PM
Chambers Plaza, NJPAC
1 Center Street, Newark, New Jersey
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Bilal was great in the heyday of Neo-Soul, and he’s still chugging along now.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Really good Portuguese at Adega Grill.
-
Thu, Aug 24, 2023, 5:00 PM – Sun, Aug 27, 2023, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Asi Wind: Inner Circle
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 24 – 27, 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, Aug 23, 2023, 8:30 PM – Sat, Aug 26, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Stone Residencies: Linda May Han Oh
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, AUGUST 23 – 26, 2023
8:30 PM
The Stone
Glass Box Theater, The New School
55 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The eloquent bass player Linda May Han Oh gets a week. Look for her duo with the marvelous sax player Melissa Aldana on Saturday.
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.
-
Wednesday, August 23, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Mat Maneri Quartet
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2023
8:00 PM
FourOneOne
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Alto sax player Paul Desmond used to joke about how slow he played. But violinist Mat Maneri makes him look like a speed demon.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Mexico City party at Aldama.
-
Wednesday, August 23, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Alfredo Colón / Maldito Dinero
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2023
8:00 PM
FourOneOne
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Saxophonist Alfredo Colón says he likes Free Jazzers Sonny Sharrock, Ornette Coleman, and Pharoah Sanders because of their melodic approach to improvisation. Which is exactly why I like them, too. How’d he leave out Albert Ayler, though? Maldito Dinero is a new improvisatory collaboration between pianist Hans Young Binter, guitarist Lyle Rivera, and violinist Sabrina Salmone (who is going to kill me over that link).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Incredibly fun Brazilian at Miss Favela.
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Wednesday, August 23, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Cirkus Moxie
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2023 (continuing through AUGUST 30)
7:30 PM
Brooklyn Art Haus
24 Marcy Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Circus!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Great great wine and actually good food at Four Horsemen.
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Wednesday, August 23, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Diaphanous Ensemble / Borey Shin
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2023
7:30 PM
Lunita Loft
576 3rd Avenue, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$10-$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The brand-new Diaphanous Ensemble plays a program of new music (as distinct from New Music) for I think strings. Borey Shin makes electronic music that’s usually pretty diaphanous itself, but sometimes bright.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Peruvian at Surfish Bistro.
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Wednesday, August 23, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
ladyybirdd
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2023
7:00 PM
Joe’s Pub, Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$15 advance; $20 door
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Ladyybirdd is flautist Gina Izzo, who celebrates the release of her new album of music that splits the difference between electroacoustic and jazz. The people she’s playing with tonight include Jonathan Finlayson and Erika Dohi (but you should see who plays on the album!).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Incendiary Hunanese at Chef Tan.
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Wednesday, August 23, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Mara Rosenbloom Trio: Resonance
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2023
7:00 PM
Open Sound
Open Source Gallery
306 17th Street, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
TBD
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Pianist Mara Rosenbloom is one of those players who play lyrically but incisively hard-hitting. It’s a real plus that her trio includes soprano saxophonist Sam Newsome.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The smart people who read this List can probably figure out what they serve at Giusepinna’s Brick Oven Pizza.
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Wed, Aug 23, 2023, 5:30 PM – Sun, Aug 27, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Charlie Parker Jazz Festival
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 23 – 27, 2023
Various Times
Richard Rodgers Amphitheater
Marcus Garvey Park, Harlem, Manhattan
Tompkins Square Park, East Village, Manhattan
Various Other Locations, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
There are various satellite shows all around town — Eddie Henderson at the Harlem Rose Garden at 5:30 Friday evening is mighty tempting — but the main events are the three big concerts at Marcus Garvey Park (FRIDAY and SATURDAY) and Tompkins Square (SUNDAY). My pick of the festival is Friday night’s show, featuring Orrin Evans’s Captain Black Big Band with no less than Bilal (and Lisa Fischer) guesting.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: If you go to either Marcus Garvey Park or the Harlem Rose Garden, it’ll be a good opportunity to see if Marcus Samuelsson’s Red Rooster is still good (let me know!).
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Tuesday, August 22, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:57 PM
MUSIC
Ethan Philbrick: Re:Group Works
TUESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2023
8:00 PM
The Kitchen @ Westbeth
163 Bank Street, West Village, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Ethan Philbrick — his day job is as a cellist — takes his new book, Group Works: Art, Politics, and Collective Ambivalence, to the stage. The book pairs group pieces from the Downtown ‘60s and ‘70s with recent group pieces for discussion. And tonight, various current performers present their performative responses.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Austrian at Wallsé. For old times’ sake.
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Tue, Aug 22, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sat, Aug 26, 2023, 11:59 PM
-
Tue, Aug 22, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sun, Aug 27, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Joe Lovano: Trio Tapestry
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 22 – 27, 2023
8:00 & 10:00 PM
Village Vanguard
178 7th Avenue South, West Village, Manhattan
$40
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Saxophonist Joe Lovano and pianist Marilyn Crispell are certainly two of the more thought-provoking musicians out there. Lovano homie Carmen Castaldi drums.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Forgo the bad drinks at the Vanguard and have a great drink at the newly revived ‘n’ relocated Angel’s Share.
-
Tuesday, August 22, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
-
Tue, Aug 22, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, Aug 27, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Annie Baker: Infinite Life
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 22 – 27, 2023 (continuing through OCTOBER 8)
7:00 PM TUESDAY, THURSDAY & SUNDAY
8:00 PM WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY & SATURDAY
2:00 SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Atlantic Theater Company
Linda Gross Theater
366 West 20th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
$87-$107
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Dear God if there must be naturalist mainstream theater in American (and duh there must) let it be Annie Baker: smart, spare, suggestive. And funny as she wants to be.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: We can now go to Fonda for Mexican in Chelsea!
-
Tuesday, August 22, 2023, 6:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
DMG FREE WEEKLY IN-STORE MUSIC SERIES
TUESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2023
6:30 PM
Downtown Music Gallery
13 Monroe Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Among other things, cellist/noisemaker T.J. Borden plays with bassoonist (and sometime vocalist) Varun Rangaswamy, who lets a Carnatic background color their improvisations.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Modern-Korean-inflected Golden Diner.
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Tue, Aug 22, 2023, 10:00 AM – Sun, Aug 27, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell & Joseph White: Meander
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 22 – 27, 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, August 21, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Assembly #8: Nate Wooley: Mutual Aid Music / Weston Olencki / Chuck Bettis & Jerry Lim
MONDAY, AUGUST 21, 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. Weston Olencki combines trombone and electronics in consistently intriguing ways. Jerry Lim is a really interesting guitarist, but even more interesting is Chuck Bettis, who moved from DC Hardcore into NYC experimental voice-and-electronics (without getting any less noisy duh).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can eat and drink perfectly well at Sisters.
-
Mon, Aug 21, 2023, 7:30 PM – Tue, Aug 22, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
TIME:SPANS Festival
MONDAY – TUESDAY & THURSDAY – SATURDAY, AUGUST 21 – 22 & 24 – 26, 2023 (continuing through AUGUST 26)
7:30 PM
DiMenna Center
450 West 37th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$23.18; $12.51 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Earle Brown Foundation (now there’s a possible answer to the question: who’s the single most underappreciated American composer?) puts on its annual festival of New Music (much of it much gnarlier than anything Browne wrote). This final week features three List fave ensembles — Ekmeles, Yarn/Wire, and the International Contemporary Ensemble — whose taste is so congruent with ours that we almost don’t have check who they’re playing/singing. Trumpeter-about-town (and current loadbanger — right where he belongs) Andrew Kozar of course also has congruent taste, as the program for his duo with vocalist Corrine Byrne shows. List readers can go to any of those shows with full confidence. The Talea Ensemble closes the festival with a evening of Enno Poppe, a very Euro New Music composer (not sounding unlike Earle Brown in some ways — but with a lot more notes) — but one who’s been played by Yarn/Wire!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Theoretically boring, in practice delicious, Italian from the oven at Ci Siamo.
-
Mon, Aug 21, 2023, 8:00 AM – Sun, Aug 27, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 21 – 27, 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, Aug 21, 2023, 6:00 AM – Sun, Aug 27, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: New York, New York
MONDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 21 – 27, 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, August 20, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
-
Sunday, August 20, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
OPERA
Opera on Tap: Songs of the Sea
SUNDAY, AUGUST 20, 2022 (also on AUGUST 27)
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. With performing inflatable sea anemone! And mermaids!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: A good time to go to Uptown Brasserie Café Luxembourg, still chugging away.
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Saturday, August 19, 2023, 10:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Divino Niño
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2023
11:30 PM
DROM
85 Avenue A, East Village, Manhattan
$33.48
TICKETS + INFORMATION
As I was saying the other day, if you’re me, Divino Niño’s Psych-tinged Latin dance music (they’re of Colombian descent — but this isn’t Cumbia) is just what you like (well, one of them, anyway).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Wine and pasta from Roberta’s at Foul Witch.
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Saturday, August 19, 2023, 10:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Teksupport: Carl Craig / Moodymann
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2023
10:00 PM
99 Scott
99 Scott Avenue, Bushwick, Brooklyn
$80
TICKETS + INFORMATION
You all know the drill: one of the progenitors (this one is the leader of the Second Generation) of Detroit Techno plays the area, and this List Lists them. Is Carl Craig's More Songs about Food and Revolutionary Art from 1997 my single favorite Techno album? Might be! Moodymann, from the following generation, is pretty great himself.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Surprise yourself by liking mead, at Honey’s.
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Sat, Aug 19, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sun, Aug 20, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Nick Payne: Constellations
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, AUGUST 19 & 20, 2023
8:00 PM
The Wild Project
195 East 3rd Street, East Village, Manhattan
$30.23
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Nick Payne’s mashup of physics and romance made a big splash when it debuted a decade ago, even before the multiverse was A Thing.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Solid underrated seafood at Lamia’s Fish Market.
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Saturday, August 19, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Lucian Ban & Mat Manieri: Transylvanian Concert
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 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, August 19, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Chief Adjuah
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2023
7:30 PM
(Le) Poisson Rouge
158 Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$35 advance; $40 day of
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Artist Formerly Known As Christian Scott has moved so far beyond his former stance as a jazz fushioneer to an in-depth tracing of his New Orleans roots back to West Africa that he doesn’t even play the trumpet on his new album, but rather sings and plays a pan-West African string instrument of his own devising. And boy is this music good.
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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Saturday, August 19, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
fluke-mogul-Rosenbaum-Holmes / Jason Kao Hwang: Critical Response
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2023
7:30 PM
IBeam
168 7th Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
It’s true: I DO write about the same people all the time.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I hope it’s not too ghoulish to be recommending a Hawaiian restaurant: Sweet Talk.
-
Saturday, August 19, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
-
Saturday, August 19, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Lily Konigsberger
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2023
7:00 PM
Sundownstairs, Sundown Bar
68-38 Forest Avenue, Ridgewood, Queens
$18.07
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Don’t anybody tell Lily Konigsberg it’s not the ‘90s anymore: she does that Indie Pop-Rock thing really well.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Nepalese-New York fusion (cuz why not?) at While in Kathmandu.
-
Saturday, August 19, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
-
Saturday, August 19, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Cautious Clay: Karma & Friends Block Party
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2023
6:00 PM
Summerstage
Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Cautious Clay’s languorous Nu R&B: resistance is futile.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Am I sending you to JoJo? Faute de mieux.
-
Saturday, August 19, 2023, 11:30 AM – 11:59 PM
-
Saturday, August 19, 2023, 10:00 AM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Bent Duo: Dark Room
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, AUGUST 19 & 20, 2023
10:00 AM
Brick Aux
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20-$50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
You go to the Brick Aux by appointment sometime during the day and you get plopped into a chair, blindfolded in a dark room, for a half-hour or so and have a Sensory Experience. There’s something about it that’s supposed to make it Queer, but that remains to be seen. Or rather, not seen.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: An old cheese shop lets its products strut on the plate at Pecoraro Latteria.
-
Fri, Aug 18, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sat, Aug 19, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Parliament Funkadelic feat. George Clinton: Just for the Funk of It! Final Tour?!?
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, AUGUST 18 & 19, 2023
8:00 PM
FRIDAY: Capitol Theater
149 Westchester Avenue, Port Chester, Westchester
SATURDAY: The Wellmont Theater
5 Seymour Street, Montclair, New Jersey
FRIDAY: $49.50-$99.50
SATURDAY: $34.50-$99.50
FRIDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
SATURDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
I’m not even going to try to convey the sheer awesomeness of George Clinton and P-Funk. Are they as awesome as back in the day? Of course not — but they’re not just going through their oldies, either. Wait what, did they say FINAL TOUR?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Friday in Port Chester, Telly’s Taverna is one of the best Greek restaurants in Astoria, so you KNOW their northern branch is the best Greek restaurant in Port Chester. Saturday in Montclair, sunny French at Faubourg.
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Fri, Aug 18, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sun, Aug 20, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Annie Baker: Infinite Life
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 18 – 20, 2023 (continuing through OCTOBER 8)
8:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
2:00 & 7:00 PM SUNDAY
Atlantic Theater Company
Linda Gross Theater
366 West 20th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
$87-$107
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Dear God if there must be naturalist mainstream theater in American (and duh there must) let it be Annie Baker: smart, spare, suggestive. And funny as she wants to be.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: We can now go to Fonda for Mexican in Chelsea!
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Friday, August 18, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Roberts-Lopez-Fujiwara: BERLIN
FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 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; $20 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Reedsplayer/conceptualist Matana Roberts is one of the most vital musicians working in the United States today. For this project, she is joined by the key-player rhythm section of bassist Brandon Lopez and drummer Tomas Fujiwara to build upon the tenets of both the American and European strains of Free Jazz.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, José Andés cocktails and bar snacks at the sky-high Nubeluz. Streaming at home, have an Elephant: pour 1-1/3 oz. Gin, 1/3 oz. Lilet Rosé, and 1/8 tsp. Grenadine into a Highball glass over ice. Stir. Garnish with berries.
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Fri, Aug 18, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Aug 20, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
TIME:SPANS Festival
MONDAY – TUESDAY & FRIDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 14 – 15 & 18 – 20, 2023 (continuing through AUGUST 26)
7:30 PM
DiMenna Center
450 West 37th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$23.18; $12.51 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Earle Brown Foundation (now there’s a possible answer to the question: who’s the single most underappreciated American composer?) puts on its annual festival of New Music (much of it much gnarlier than anything Browne wrote). A highlight of this week is Friday’s concert utilizing the EMPAC High-Resolution Modular Loudspeaker Array for Wave Field Synthesis, which supposedly permits pinpoint placement of sounds but which I, for one, never find quite as awesome as they tell you it is (I’m more astonished at how precisely my two stereo speakers place sounds). Monday’s show by the JACK Quartet is of course a gimme — especially as it features music by two good composers, Clara Ionatta and Cenk Irgün (I’ma be honest and admit I’ve never heard of the third composer on the program, Seare Farhat). Tuesday’s Ensemble Signalconcert and Saturday’s Talea Ensembleconcert feature pieces by one of this List’s Secret Stashes, Agata Zubel, whom the List would have to be less smug about loving if she attained the widespread recognition her totally fun music warrants (she’s a terrific singer, too — and not just of classical). Sunday’s show features music by Earle Brown himself!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Theoretically boring, in practice delicious, Italian from the oven at Ci Siamo.
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Friday, August 18, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Alicia Svigals & Donald Sosin: Man Without a World
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2023
7:30 PM
Tompkins Corners Cultural Center
729 Peekskill Hollow Road, Putnam Valley, Hudson Valley
$21.72
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Another of epic fiddler Alicia Svigals — one of the great musicians of our time, as I never tire of saying — and pianist Donald Sosin’s live Klezmer-inflected accompaniments to a Jewish-themed silent film. This one has a meta twist, though: although the film appears for all the world to be an example of early Soviet cinema, it was made in California (by Eleanor Antin, no less) in the ‘90s.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I’ve actually had the good barbecue at Holy Smoke. What in the world was I doing there?
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Friday, August 18, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
-
Friday, August 18, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Jason Moran & The Big Bandwagon: James Reese Europe and The Harlem Hellfighters: From the Dancehall to the Battlefield
FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2023
7:00 PM
SummerStage
Richard Rodgers Amphitheater
Marcus Garvey Park, Harlem, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Jason Moran explores the music and legacy of James Reese Europe, who not only could be argued to have invented Big Band Jazz, but could also be argued, while on combat duty with the Harlem Hellfighters in World War I, to have started the French jazz mania — all before jazz was even formulated as a kind of music.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Extremely pleasant wine and French food at Barawine.
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Friday, August 18, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
iLe / Divino Niño / Sara Curruchich
FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2023
7:00 PM
Celebrate Brooklyn
Lena Horne Bandshell, Prospect Park, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
It seems as if iLe has every style of Latin/Tropical pop music, past and present, under her command. And what a fucking voice! If you’re me, Divino Niño’s Psych-tinged Latin dance music (they’re of Colombian descent — but this isn’t Cumbia) is just what you like (well, one of them, anyway) (they’ll be at DROM tomorrow). I find Sara Curruchich (from Guatemala) too earnest — but maybe you won’t.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Unlikely (or at least unlikely it would be this good) Indian fusion at LORE.
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Thursday, August 17, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
-
Thursday, August 17, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE / MUSIC
Sympoiesis: HYPERLIFE
THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 2023
8:00 PM
Brick Aux
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$10 advance; $13 door
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Experimental visual art, film, and video — and very noisy music.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Free pizza at the Alligator Lounge!
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Thu, Aug 17, 2023, 8:00 PM – Fri, Aug 18, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Angelina Hoffman: Tracy’s Game
THURSDAY & FRIDAY, AUGUST 17 & 18, 2023
8:00 PM
Pageant
70 Graham Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$10-$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I don’t know much about Angelina Hoffman. But she’s a Pageant regular — and Pageant is pretty great.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Mexican snacks and mad desserts at Maya’s Snack Bar.
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Thursday, August 17, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Brooklyn Raga Massive: Colors of Raga: Vrinda Acharya feat. Arun Ramamurthy & Sriram Raman
THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 2023
7:30 PM
Gaia NoMaya
510 Flatbush Avenue, Prospect Lefferts Garden, Brooklyn
$25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Riveting Carnatic vocal music. I really can’t overemphasize how totally wonderful these Colors of Raga shows at Gaia NoMaya are (in other words, YES I’m saying Gelsey and Joe definitely ought to go to this).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Some of the best pastrami in Brooklyn at Moe’s Pastrami & Burger.
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Thursday, August 17, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Ralph Alessi: Baida Quartet
THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 2023
7:30 & 9:30 PM
The Jazz Gallery In Person & Live Stream
1158 Broadway (entrance on West 27th Street), NoMad, Manhattan
$22.50-$33 in person; $22 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Ralph Alessi is one of the better trumpeters in current jazz, and his Baida Quartet one of the better ensembles. I mean, Craig Taborn taking a piano seat that has also been occupied by Jason Moran and Kris Davis, Drew Gress on bass, and Nasheet Waits on drums. Music to think to, that still gets to you viscerally — if quietly (if you’re thinking of Miles Davis’s Second Great Quintet, you’re not thinking wrong). (And Alessi’s brother Joe is one of the two or three best orchestral trombonists now playing: that’s a family with a lot of brass!)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, fancy Austrian at Koloman. Streaming at home, have a San Francisco: pour 1 oz. each of Sloe Gin, dry Vermouth, and sweet Vermouth, with 1 dash each of Peychaud’s bitters and orange bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into an ice-filled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a cocktail cherry.
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Thursday, August 17, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
DANCE
The Missing Element feat. The Beatbox House / LayeRythm
THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 2023
7:00 PM
SummerStage
Richard Rodgers Amphitheater
Marcus Garvey Park, Harlem, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A night of NYC vernacular dance. The Missing Element brings Beatbox (all music guaranteed created solely by human bodies) and breakdancing, flexn, krump, etc. LayeRhythm might use actual instruments.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Inclusive Peruvian at Contento.
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Thu, Aug 17, 2023, 5:00 PM – Sun, Aug 20, 2023, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Asi Wind: Inner Circle
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 17 – 20, 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, Aug 16, 2023, 8:30 PM – Sat, Aug 19, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Stone Residencies: Tomeka Reid
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, AUGUST 16 – 19, 2023
8:30 PM
The Stone
Glass Box Theater, The New School
55 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The really excellent jazz cellist Tomeka Reid gets a week. It’s hard not to get especially excited about her quartet featuring world-beating guitarist Mary Halvorson on Saturday. But then there’s a rendition of Julius Hemphill’s string quartet music on Wednesday (one of the violinists is Curtis Stewart!).
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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Wed, Aug 16, 2023, 8:00 PM – Fri, Aug 18, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
CT::SWaM Plasticity Office
WEDNESDAY – FRIDAY & SUNDAY, AUGUST 16 – 18 & 20, 2023 (continuing through AUGUST 25)
8:00 PM WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY & SUNDAY
5:00 PM THURSDAY
4:00 & 6:00 PM SUNDAY
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 believe me, they’re all people you want to hear.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Snacky somewhat fusiony Indonesian beach food at Ma·Dé.
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Wed, Aug 16, 2023, 8:00 PM – Fri, Aug 18, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
CT::SWaM Plasticity Office
WEDNESDAY – FRIDAY & SUNDAY, AUGUST 16 – 18 & 20, 2023 (continuing through AUGUST 25)
8:00 PM WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY & SUNDAY
5:00 PM THURSDAY
4:00 & 6:00 PM SUNDAY
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 believe me, they’re all people you want to hear.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Snacky somewhat fusiony Indonesian beach food at Ma·Dé.
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Wednesday, August 16, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
David First: Secret Sounds Workshop Orchestra
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2023
8:00 PM
FourOneOne
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I first heard David First when he was playing guitar in the Post-Punk/No Wave band The Notekillers in the late ‘70s (I don’t know why I enjoy announcing how old I am); since then he’s evolved into one of the most consistently fascinating musicians in New York, composing drones of amazing rhythmic complexity — something no one else really does.
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, August 16, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Bebel Gilberto
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2023
8:00 PM
(Le) Poisson Rouge
158 Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$35-$60
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Bebel Gilberto pays tribute to her father, whose musical legacy is as vast as can be imagined (her mother isn’t Astrud, BTW). I used to share a cleaning lady with Bebel; you’d think in New York City there’d be a word for that relationship.
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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Wednesday, August 16, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Cirkus Moxie
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2023 (continuing through AUGUST 30)
7:30 PM
Brooklyn Art Haus
24 Marcy Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Circus!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Great great wine and actually good food at Four Horsemen.
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Wednesday, August 16, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Bouquets (Duets with the BQE)
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2023
7:00 PM
Mama Tried
787 Third Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
Free (tip the bands)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
THEY say: “A rotating cast of avant noisemakers play along with a mic’d up elevated highway”. I say: if you’ve ever been to Mama Tried you’ll be surprised they think they need to mic up the BQE over there.
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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Wednesday, August 16, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Governor Vomit / fleshmecha / Julia Santoli / Tricycle
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2023
7:00 PM
Paragon
990 Broadway, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
$13.60
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Julia Santoli’s theatricalized vocal/electronic explorations you all know by now. But do you know Governor Vomit’s popping electronics?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Eat Thai in a movie house (which is apparently a thing in Thailand) at Mao Mao.
-
Wednesday, August 16, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Gauci Music: Improvised Music At The Main Drag
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2023
7:00 PM
Main Drag Music
50 South First Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This show gives you a chance to see guitarist Marco Cappelli flexing his avant-garde muscles before going Pop later in the week.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Very spicy Chinese at Antidote.
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Wednesday, August 16, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Chutneys
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2023
5:00 PM
Pioneer Works Commuter Series
Broadway & West 43rd Street, Midtown, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Chutneys are the avant-Post-Punk-very-Freak-Folk supergroup of vocalist Gelsey Bell, guitarist Chris Cochrane, and percussionist Fast Forward (and boy does this List love them!). No question of their being drowned out by Times Square street noise — the only issue is whether you’ll be able to tell the difference.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Can you guess what’s on the menu at Los Tacos No. 1?
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Wednesday, August 16, 2023, 12:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
J. Hoard
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2023
12:00 PM
The Hugh Plaza
601 Lexington Avenue, Midtown, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Brooklyn Nu R&B fave J. Hoard ventures to the Bridge-and-Tunnel Midtown neighborhood.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You’re not going to believe it, but the $29 hot dog at Alex Stupak’s Ashkenazic fantasia Mischa is totally worth it.
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Tuesday, August 15, 2023, 9:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Michaël Attias: Lumisong Band
TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2023
9:00 & 10:15 PM
LunÀtico
486 Halsey Street, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Questing saxophonist Michaël Attias, who manages to be fierce and calming at the same time, leads an agile quartet.
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, Southern at Peaches.
-
Tue, Aug 15, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sat, Aug 19, 2023, 11:59 PM
-
Tue, Aug 15, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sun, Aug 20, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Bill Frisell Five
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 15 – 20, 2023
8:00 & 10:00 PM
Village Vanguard
178 7th Avenue South, West Village, Manhattan
$40
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The great jazz-cum-Americana guitarist Bill Frisell finishes his annual Summertime two-week stand at the Vanguard. This week it’s a quintet with a spin: no additional melody instruments, but two basses and two drums.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Edible Americana at The Commerce Inn.
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Tuesday, August 15, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Pool 45
TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2023
7:30 PM
Record Shop
360 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn
$10-$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
People are coming from all over to make noise here. REEk from Seattle (you can see them at Trans-Pecos Wednesday night, too — but this bill is better). Visceral Realists from New Zealand (not Mexico City, as you might think). Aliya Ultan (OK, she’s from here). Tizia Zimmerman and Kevin Murray (OK, they’re from here, too) (and she plays ACCORDION!).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Fort Defiance, a great cocktail bar with good food, is back!
-
Tuesday, August 15, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
-
Tue, Aug 15, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, Aug 20, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Inua Ellams: The Half-God of Rainfall
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 15 – 20, 2023
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, Aug 15, 2023, 10:00 AM – Sun, Aug 20, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell & Joseph White: Meander
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 15 – 20, 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, August 14, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE / MUSIC
Vjoltronwave
MONDAY, AUGUST 14, 2023
8:00 PM
Wonderville
1186 Broadway, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Performative video, audio/video.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Before the show, grab some outstanding tacos (the tortas/cemitas are good, too) at Santa Ana Deli & Grocery.
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Mon, Aug 14, 2023, 7:30 PM – Tue, Aug 15, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
TIME:SPANS Festival
MONDAY – TUESDAY & FRIDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 14 – 15 & 18 – 20, 2023 (continuing through AUGUST 26)
7:30 PM
DiMenna Center
450 West 37th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$23.18; $12.51 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Earle Brown Foundation (now there’s a possible answer to the question: who’s the single most underappreciated American composer?) puts on its annual festival of New Music (much of it much gnarlier than anything Browne wrote). A highlight of this week is Friday’s concert utilizing the EMPAC High-Resolution Modular Loudspeaker Array for Wave Field Synthesis, which supposedly permits pinpoint placement of sounds but which I, for one, never find quite as awesome as they tell you it is (I’m more astonished at how precisely my two stereo speakers place sounds). Monday’s show by the JACK Quartet is of course a gimme — especially as it features music by two good composers, Clara Ionatta and Cenk Irgün (I’ma be honest and admit I’ve never heard of the third composer on the program, Seare Farhat). Tuesday’s Ensemble Signalconcert and Saturday’s Talea Ensembleconcert feature pieces by one of this List’s Secret Stashes, Agata Zubel, whom the List would have to be less smug about loving if she attained the widespread recognition her totally fun music warrants (she’s a terrific singer, too — and not just of classical). Sunday’s show features music by Earle Brown himself!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Theoretically boring, in practice delicious, Italian from the oven at Ci Siamo.
-
Monday, August 14, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Cooler Nite #4: Voluminous Artists Residents feat. Gavilán Rayna Russom & Tivali Thomas
MONDAY, AUGUST 14, 2023
7:00 PM
Center for Art, Research and Alliances
225 West 13th Street, West Village, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Evoking the artist-curated “Monday Nite” series at The Cooler in the ‘90s, and featuring the person who put it together, LCD Soundsystem’s electronics wiz Gavilán Rayna Russom, and artists from their record label.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: English at Tea & Sympathy.
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Mon, Aug 14, 2023, 8:00 AM – Sun, Aug 20, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 14 – 20, 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, Aug 14, 2023, 6:00 AM – Sun, Aug 20, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: New York, New York
MONDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 14 – 20, 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, August 13, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
CT::SWaM Plasticity Office
MONDAY – TUESDAY, FRIDAY & SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 8, 11 & 13, 2023 (continuing through AUGUST 25)
8:00 PM MONDAY – TUESDAY, FRIDAY & SUNDAY
2:00 PM TUESDAY
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 believe me, they’re all people you want to hear.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Snacky somewhat fusiony Indonesian beach food at Ma·Dé.
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Sunday, August 13, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Zorn@70: Cobra
SUNDAY, AUGUST 13, 2023
8:00 PM
Roulette
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$35 advance; $30 door; $25 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
As part of his 70th Birthday celebration, John Zorn presents an iteration of his famous game piece Cobra. Cobra is a group improvisation in which the ensemble is instructed what, in general, to do by cue cards held up by a "prompter", who in turn is guided in his or her selection of cues by what the ensemble did in response to the last cue. It all depends, of course, on the imagination and acuity of the players in the ensemble -- and this one includes (among many others) (and not to make any invidious selections) electronics whiz Ikue Mori, the ubiquitous guitar of Wendy Eisenberg, and Next Big NYC percussionist Sae Hashimoto.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Superb Palestinian at AlBadawi.
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Sunday, August 13, 2023, 4:00 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Bindlestiff Family Cirkus: Flatbed Follies
SUNDAY, AUGUST 13, 2023
4:00 PM
1590 Park Avenue, Spanish Harlem, Queens
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus takes it to the street!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Taste like this will probably kill me, but I LOVE cuchifritos, and the ones at CuchiFritos are top notch.
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Sunday, August 13, 2023, 2:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Summer Thunder: June McDoom
SUNDAY, AUGUST 13, 2023
2:00 PM
Union Pool
484 Union Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
June McDoom is one of the current breed of singer-songwriters, who thanks be don’t shy from using electronics to roughen up their sound. Kate Davis has veered from jazz to singer-songwriter to, lately, Indie Rock — which in the 2020s is a strange place to veer. Good thing she’s good at it.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It remains very big news that Windsor Terrace’s Dog Day Afternoon (located on the very block the movie was filmed on) is now serving their supernal Chicago-Style Hot Dogs at a new Williamsburg bar (H&H Reserve) at reasonable hours!
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Saturday, August 12, 2023, 10:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
PUTF: Bergsonist / Geng PTP
SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 2023
10:00 PM
Bossa Nova Civic Club
1271 Myrtle Avenue, Bushwick, Brooklyn
Free before 11:00 PM
INFORMATION + TICKETS
Multi-media culturefuck with Bergsonist. Geng PTP, meanwhile, is King Vision Ultra, whose music is a virtual compendium of extreme ‘90s pop styles (the Altest of Alt Hip-Hop, the hardest of Hardcore).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Charming mother-daughter French at Le Garage.
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Saturday, August 12, 2023, 10:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Habbina Habbina: Mediterranean Surf
SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 2023
10:00 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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Saturday, August 12, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
James Carney Quartet / Martina Liviero feat. Julian Shore
SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 2023
8:00 PM
The Owl Music Parlor
497 Rogers Avenue, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn
$12
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Even if you don’t know pianist/composer James Carney — and he’s way underrecognized — when you see his quartet is rounded out by trumpeter Ralph Alessi, bassist Marc Helias, and drummer Tom Rainey (the cream of New York jazz players), you figure he’s up to something. Martina Liviera, meanwhile, is just the kind of mildly off-center artist the Owl specializes in: a Buenos Aires-in-New York who leavens the music of her home continent with lots of jazz and some classical.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Seafood (and wine) at Kingfisher.
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Saturday, August 12, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sanda Weigel: Gypsy in a Tree
SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 2023
8:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
There are "can a White man sing the blues?" issues with non-Gypsy performers of Gypsy music. But Romanian former child rock star Sanda Weigl's take on Balkan Gypsy music is good the way the early Stones were: the rhythms, while losing all subtlety (I said "good", not "as good"), become harder hitting — and the ironic self-awareness Q is through the ceiling. Meaning, it's not anything like as good as the The Real Thing, but it has its compensations. In any event, Weigl has been making an honest woman of herself by jazzing up her style, making it almost into a Balkan Gypsy/jazz/cabaret fusion.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Yet another chance to fail to get into Unapologetic Indian sensation Masalawala & Sons.
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Sat, Aug 12, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Aug 13, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
TIME:SPANS Festival
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, AUGUST 12 & 13, 2023 (continuing through AUGUST 26)
7:30 PM
DiMenna Center
450 West 37th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$23.18; $12.51 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Earle Brown Foundation (now there’s a possible answer to the question: who’s the single most underappreciated American composer?) puts on its annual festival of New Music (much of it much gnarlier than anything Browne wrote). The first night has two German ensembles, the SWR Experimentalstudio and Ensemble Experimental (ENEX), playing Nono (who sort of splits the difference between Gnarly European Modernism and Brown’s Pre-Post-Modern New York School). The second night kicks off a two-night stand by the world-beating JACK Quartet, this night playing Helmut Lachenmann (not totally unlike Brown — but a lot angstier).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Theoretically boring, in practice delicious, Italian from the oven at Ci Siamo.
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Saturday, August 12, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Direct Action: Cecelia Vicuña & Ricardo Gallo
SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 2023
5:00 PM
Storefront for Art & Architecture
97 Kenmare Street, Nolita, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Two performers who’ve been Listed before, whom you wouldn’t necessarily expect to see collaborating: artist/filmmaker (and that’s just the start of it) Cecilia Vicuña and pianist/composer Ricardo Gallo, who presumably will be presenting his more avant side rather than his Monk/Hill side.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Eat like an Egyptian at Zööba.
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Saturday, August 12, 2023, 1:30 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Paola Fernanda Guzmán Figueroa: Time Travel
SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 2023
1:30 PM
Colonel’s Row Building 404B, Governors Island, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Actually, this performance ends up on Colonel’s Row. Starting from the Soisson’s Landing Welcome Center, performance artist Paola Fernanda Guzmán Figueroa leads the audience around — wearing an aquarium on her head that contains water and her hair. This, she claims, will “explore the emotions of longing and the desire for reviving past life as air and life are infused into the contained hair“.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Lots to eat and drink on Governors Island, but this week let’s pay special attention to Cooking with Corey’s soul food.
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Friday, August 11, 2023, 10:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Zemog
FRIDAY, AUGUST 11, 2023
10:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This Art-Roots post-Salsa with all kinds of psych and even experimental influences is exactly what Barbès is good for.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Jamaican with a side of Trinidadian at Stella’s.
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Friday, August 11, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
CT::SWaM Plasticity Office
MONDAY – TUESDAY, FRIDAY & SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 8, 11 & 13, 2023 (continuing through AUGUST 25)
8:00 PM MONDAY – TUESDAY, FRIDAY & SUNDAY
2:00 PM TUESDAY
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 believe me, they’re all people you want to hear.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Snacky somewhat fusiony Indonesian beach food at Ma·Dé.
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Friday, August 11, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Friday, August 11, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Synethesia: Pirate Utopias
FRIDAY, AUGUST 11, 2023
8:00 PM
Location Disclosed Upon R.S.V.P.
$23.18
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Experimental electronic by folks List readers know — Princess Jesus (featuring Hans Tammen); a duo of Shoko Nagai (on her accordion!) and Dafna Naphtali; and EM KVLT — with visual projections.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Again, we don’t know where this will be. But think about great pizza and even better wine at Ops.
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Friday, August 11, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Friday, August 11, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Hu Vibrational
SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 2023
7:00 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$25.75
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Hu Vibrational is Adam Rudolph’s (augmented) percussion orchestra, fusing World (I hate that Eurocentric, almost Colonialist, term), Hip-Hop, and Electronica.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Middle American food boom continues apace at Ruthie’s.
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Friday, August 11, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Balún
FRIDAY, AUGUST 11, 2023
7:00 PM
Caramoor
149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah, Westchester
$39; $19 children
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Balún is composer Angélica Negrón’s Tropical Electro-Dance band. Are they good? No: they’re fucking GREAT.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: FFF (that’s Fancy Fucking French to you) at La Crémaillère.
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Friday, August 11, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Warm Up 2023
FRIDAY, AUGUST 11, 2023
5:00 PM
MoMA PS1
20-25 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, Queens
$17
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Various kinds of electronic and related musics, not all for dancing (but most). My fave on tonight’s bill is Fatherhood with their jumpy beats. 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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Friday, August 11, 2023, 3:00 PM – 11:59 PM
DANCE
Distance Anatomy II
FRIDAY, AUGUST 11, 2023
3:00 PM
Brooklyn Art Haus In Person & Live Stream
24 Marcy Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$25; $15 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sound artists in London, dance artists in the UK, united by super low-latency technology. Too bad they couldn’t do anything about the time difference. (There will also be some video manipulation that may or may not be visible only on the Zoom livestream.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, Gertie for Ashkenazic brunch/lunch before; Leo for great wine and pizza after. Streaming at home, start cocktail hour early with a Hanky Panky: pour 1-1/2 oz each of Gin and sweet Vermouth, with 1/4 tsp. Fernet, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with an orange twist.
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Thursday, August 10, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Wu-Tang Clan
THURSDAY, AUGUST 10, 2023
8:00 PM
Knockdown Center
52-19 Flushing Avenue, Maspeth, Queens
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Don’t List Oldies shows here, right right. But a free show by one of the great bands ever? Fuck.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Korean(ish) pizza and other unorthodox Korean(ish) treats at Nowon Bushwick.
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Thu, Aug 10, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sun, Aug 13, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Sarah Kane: Crave
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 10 – 13, 2023
8:00 PM
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$33.29
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I’ve had my problems with Stairwell Theater productions in the past: they can seem amateurish in a bad way. But Sarah Kane was one of the most piercing — you could even say acrid if that didn’t come across as pejorative (to say that this one might be the mildest of her plays only shows you how crushing the others are) (but her works are beautifully written as well) — playwrights of the last years of the last century, and every performance of the few plays she left us is an event.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Mexican insect cuisine (and they don’t even make it to escamoles) at The Black Ant.
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Thursday, August 10, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Phong Tran / Julia Patinella / Dustin Carlson
THURSDAY, AUGUST 10, 2023
8:00 PM
The Owl Music Parlor
497 Rogers Avenue, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn
$12
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Electronic musician Phong Tran is one of this List’s very favorites: his music is exuberant but with an underlying rigor. Then there’s guitarist/composer Dustin Carlson, who’s at least three musicians in one: he does spacey songform Americana; he plays (rocky) jazz; and he composes creditable Contemporary Classical. Whichever of them shows up tonight, it’s all good! As for Julia Pantinella, if you’re told someone started out as a trained Flamenco singer and then decided to explore her own Sicilian musical roots, you’d be intrigued right?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Ham and wine at & Sons.
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Thursday, August 10, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Alfredo Colón
THURSDAY, AUGUST 10, 2023
7:30 & 9:30 PM
The Jazz Gallery In Person & Live Stream
1158 Broadway (entrance on West 27th Street), NoMad, Manhattan
$22.50-$33 in person; $22 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Saxophonist Alfredo Colón says he likes Free Jazzers Sonny Sharrock, Ornette Coleman, and Pharoah Sanders because of their melodic approach to improvisation. Which is exactly why I like them, too. How’d he leave out Albert Ayler, though?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, fancy Austrian at Koloman. Streaming at home, have a Santo Libre: pour 1 oz. white Rum into a Highball glass over ice. Add the juice of half a lemon. Top with Sprite. Stir. Throw in 3 mint leaves. Garnish with the rest of the lemon cut into wedges.
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Thursday, August 10, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Wendy Eisenberg & David Grubbs/ Asemix/ Post Moves / Seminar Shadow
THURSDAY, AUGUST 10, 2023
7:30 PM
Location Disclosed Upon R.S.V.P.
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
An evening of sonic exploration, most but not all of it electronic. Post Moves plays guitar drones — taking one aspect of John Fahey and running very far with it — that sound electronic. Guitarists Wendy Eisenberg and David Grubbs List readers know already. It might not be immediately apparent to readers without long memories that Seminar Shadow comprises multi-instrumentalists Lucie Vítková and Teerapat Parnmongkol, also familiar to List readers. And the electronic duo of Asemix, who helped organize this show, you’ll just love.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: We don’t know where this show will be yet. But something tells me you might want to bear in mind Hakka Cuisine, serving the umami-laden and highly textural food of the Hakka people.
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Thu, Aug 10, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, Aug 13, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Joey Arias
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 10 – 13, 2023
7:00 & 9:30 PM FRIDAY
9:30 PM SATURDAY
8:30 PM SUNDAY
Joe’s Pub, Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Joey Arias does drag cabaret fit for a queen. Or, since there’s a lot of Rock in his current program, a Queen.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Fun Taiwanese at 886.
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Thursday, August 10, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ambient Chaos: Out of Space Series: Art Action: Jung Nam Lee & Pas Musique
THURSDAY, AUGUST 10, 2023
6:00 PM
Pictor Gallery
547 West 27th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Ten years ago, electronic madpeople Pas Musique backed up visual artist Jung Nam Lee as he did live action painting. They all must have enjoyed it, as now, 10 years later, they’re doing it again.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Swedish-Ethiopian again? At Hav & Mar.
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Thu, Aug 10, 2023, 5:00 PM – Sun, Aug 13, 2023, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Asi Wind: Inner Circle
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 10 – 13, 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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Wednesday, August 9, 2023, 9:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Roy Nathanson & Friends
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2023
9:00 & 10:15 PM
LunÀtico
486 Halsey Street, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Saxophonist Roy Nathanson and his musical brother, trombone player Curtis Folkes — key players on the NYC Funny Jazz scene for decades — lead a band of players much younger than themselves.
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, Southern at Peaches.
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Wed, Aug 9, 2023, 8:30 PM – Sat, Aug 12, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Stone Residencies: Brian Chase
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, AUGUST 9 – 12, 2023
8:30 PM
The Stone
Glass Box Theater, The New School
55 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Brian Chase, a genuinely experimental musician who also drummed in a famous band, gets a week — and every night looks great.
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, August 9, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Anthony Coleman & Yoona Kim/Zoh Amba feat. Rahul Carlberg & Chris Corsano
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2023
8:00 PM
FourOneOne
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The incredibly wide-ranging pianist Anthony Coleman plays with Yoona Kim, another of the squad of avant-Koreans enlivening the current improvised music scene. And Zoh Amba has got to be one of the best, most distinctive emerging sax players in New York right now.
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, August 9, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Ali Omar El-Farouk
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2023
8:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Ali Omar El-Farouk plays traditional and modern music for the oud. Look, we all have things that get to us, and the rhythms of Arabic music is one of mine.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Let’s fail to get into Indian sensation Masalawala & Sons again!
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Wed, Aug 9, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, Aug 12, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Ben Holbrook & Nate Weida: The Dastardly Thornes v. The Town of Goldhaven
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, AUGUST 9 – 12, 2023
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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Wed, Aug 9, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, Aug 12, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Daniel Irizarry & Robert Lyons: Ultra Left Violence
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, AUGUST 9 – 12, 2023
7:30 PM
Ice Factory In Person & THURSDAY Live Stream
New Ohio Theatre
154 Christopher Street, West Village, Manhattan
$23.50; $21.50 students/seniors; $18 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The team behind the certifiable My Onliness takes on anti-Capitalist leftism, apparently because the tremendously more absurd pro-Capitalist position just isn’t funny. After the Saturday show, the New Ohio Theater closes down for good.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, Libertine is The Bistro Of The Moment. Streaming at home, another Sam Ross modern classic, the Left Hand: pour 1-1/2 oz. Bourbon and 3/4 oz. each of sweet Vermouth and Campari, with 2 dashes of chocolate bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a cocktail cherry.
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Wednesday, August 9, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Gauci Music: Improvised Music At The Main Drag
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2023
7:00 PM
Main Drag Music
50 South First Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Featuring a guitar orchestra led by Adam Caine — and including Anders Nilsson.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Very spicy Chinese at Antidote.
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Wednesday, August 9, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Farasha Party: Felukah / Nadine El Roubi / Omar Offendum
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2023
7:00 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$30.90
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I suppose you could resist Felukah’s Egyptian Hip-Hop/Nu R&B. But why bother?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Standout Ethiopian at Ghenet.
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Wed, Aug 9, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, Aug 13, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Charles Green: In the Castle of the Eternal Sunset: A Module for Ten 0th Level Characters
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 9 – 13, 2023
7:00 PM WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY
8:30 PM THURSDAY – SUNDAY
Brick Aux
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20-$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Two boys play Dungeons & Dragons one Autumn day in 2004. And both their futures and the participation of the audience are determined by throws of the dice.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Free pizza at the Alligator Lounge!
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Wed, Aug 9, 2023, 6:00 PM – Sun, Aug 13, 2023, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
International Puppet Fringe Festival
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 9 – 13, 2023
Various Times
The Clemente
114 Norfolk Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Free–$23.26 individual shows; $265.10 festival pass; $82.81 day passes
TICKETS + INFORMATION
PUPPETS! From all over!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Good Haitian and (usually) great music at Rebel.
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Wednesday, August 9, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Corrine Jasmin
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2023
5:00 PM
Pioneer Works Commuter Series
Broadway & West 43rd Street, Midtown, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sometimes multimedia artist Corrine Jasmin is too spoken-wordy and head-on direct, and is a drag. Sometimes she’s beaty and more suggestive and you get swept right into the stories she tells.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Can you guess what’s on the menu at Los Tacos No. 1?
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Wednesday, August 9, 2023, 12:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Tuesday, August 8, 2023, 9:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Frank London: Klezmer Brass All-Stars
TUESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2022
9:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Trumpeter Frank London’s — he’s a great great musician — throwback to the drunken reprobate roots of Klezmer.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Keep the party going at Colombia in Park Slope.
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Tue, Aug 8, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sun, Aug 13, 2023, 11:59 PM
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Tue, Aug 8, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, Aug 12, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Mark Morris Dance Group
TUESDAY – SATURDAY, AUGUST 8 – 12, 2023
7:30 PM TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY
8:00 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY
The Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Avenue, Chelsea, Manhattan
$10-$91
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Is there any artist in the so-called vanguard whose work is more sheerly likeable than Mark Morris’s? A different program each week: new stuff, old favorites. I actually dreamt I was watching Grand Duo a couple of nights ago. That’s on Program A.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: How nice that Basque fave Txikito is open again and probably even better than it was before.
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Tue, Aug 8, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, Aug 13, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Inua Ellams: The Half-God of Rainfall
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 8 – 13, 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, August 8, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Wendy Eisenberg & gabby fluke-mogul / Motte / Asher White
TUESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2023
7:00 PM
Union Pool
484 Union Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$15.15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
It wouldn’t be a List without guitarist Wendy Eisenberg and violinist gabby fluke-mogul. I find the Electropop of Motte, coming all the way from New Zealand, either twee or winning, depending on my mood. I find the Electropop of Asher White, coming all the way from Providence, consistently winning because it’s twee on purpose.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Chill Brazilian at Beco.
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Tuesday, August 8, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
seriousmusic: 75 Dollar Bill / Isabel Crespo Pardo & Chris Williams / Laura Cocks
TUESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2023
7:00 PM
Sundownstairs, Sundown Bar
68-38 Forest Avenue, Ridgewood, Queens
$18.07-$23.41
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This monthly series is really terrific, consistently fielding triple bills that are great from top to bottom. Tonight, the indescribable 75 Dollar Bill, a jam band for people with brains (yeah I know: I’ve described them) (I guess I should have said “ineffable”). A duo of two consistently fascinating musicians, vocalist/conceptualist Isabel Crespo Pardo and trumpeter Chris Williams. And a solo set by flautist Laura Cocks, whom we usually hear involving herself in interesting ensembles.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You’re in a bar that takes its cocktails seriously. For something more solid, Nepalese-New York fusion (cuz why not?) at While in Kathmandu.
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Tuesday, August 8, 2023, 6:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
DMG FREE WEEKLY IN-STORE MUSIC SERIES
TUESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2023
6:30 PM
Downtown Music Gallery
13 Monroe Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Among the joys of this week’s strong line-up are saxophonist Caroline Davis playing with multi-stylistic guitarist Dustin Carlson, and the antic guitarist Sally Gates in a rather unexpected duo with Free Jazz local hero Daniel Carter.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Modern-Korean-inflected Golden Diner.
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Tue, Aug 8, 2023, 10:00 AM – Sun, Aug 13, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell & Joseph White: Meander
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 8 – 13, 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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Mon, Aug 7, 2023, 8:00 PM – Tue, Aug 8, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
CT::SWaM Plasticity Office
MONDAY – TUESDAY, FRIDAY & SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 8, 11 & 13, 2023 (continuing through AUGUST 25)
8:00 PM MONDAY – TUESDAY, FRIDAY & SUNDAY
2:00 PM TUESDAY
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 believe me, they’re all people you want to hear.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Snacky somewhat fusiony Indonesian beach food at Ma·Dé.
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Monday, August 7, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Abasement #64
MONDAY, AUGUST 7, 2023
7:00 PM
Artists Space
11 Cortland Alley, Tribeca (not really), Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Experimental music with visual projections. And a great line-up: two clarinets and a trumpet (and not just any clarinets and trumpet); Macula Dog, who are sort of what DEVO would have been if they had meant it; and what seems to be a collaboration between vanguard vocal veteran Shelley Hirsch and Chris Williams and Lester St. Louis’s HxH electronics project.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Fancy Cantonese that ought to be much better known than it is at August Gatherings.
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Monday, August 7, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Cooler Nite #4: Ikue Mori/LN Celestine/sadnoise/Many Many Girls
MONDAY, AUGUST 7, 2023
7:00 PM
Center for Art, Research and Alliances
225 West 13th Street, West Village, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Evoking the artist-curated “Monday Nite” series at The Cooler in the ‘90s, people from Gavilán Rayna Russom’s record label put together a bunch of Pop-adjacent electronic and experimental music.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: English at Tea & Sympathy.
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Monday, August 7, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Musics
MONDAY, AUGUST 7, 2023
7:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Modern Georgian Tsinadzebrothers 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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Mon, Aug 7, 2023, 8:00 AM – Sun, Aug 13, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 7 – 13, 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, Aug 7, 2023, 6:00 AM – Sun, Aug 13, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: New York, New York
MONDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 7 – 13, 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, August 6, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Two Sisters Inc. / F.L.U.X.U.S/ Jason Kao Wang, Che Chen & Dave Sewelson
SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 2023
8:00 PM
Sisters
900 Fulton Street, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$20 suggested
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sisters continues with this week’s reeds obsession with Two Sisters Inc., supplemented by F.L.U.X.X.U.S’s glitchy electronics and a trio of musicians you see all the time in New York City — but never enough.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can eat and drink perfectly well at Sisters.
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Sunday, August 6, 2023, 3:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Arts for Art: InGardens
SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 2023
3:30 PM
Children’s Magical Garden
129 Stanton Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I don’t think of avant-shredder Ava Mendoza as being that child-friendly. But here she is.
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, August 6, 2023, 3:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Sunday, August 6, 2023, 2:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Summer Thunder: Xylouris White/Ismaily, Jones & Sawyer Trio
SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 2023
2:00 PM
Union Pool
484 Union Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Xylouris White is the unexpected combination Cretan lutenist and a Rock/Post-Rock drummer. It shouldn’t work — but it does. And then another ensemble of musicians you hear all the time in NYC (and I List all the time in NYC), and never tire of.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Classic Brooklyn Red Sauce at Bamonte’s.
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Sunday, August 6, 2023, 1:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, August 5, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Chris Corsano-Patrick Holmes-Lester St. Louis
SATURDAY, AUGUST 5, 2023
8:00 PM
P.I.T.
411 South 5th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Drummer Chris Corsano, clarinetist Patrick Holmes, and cellist Lester St. Louis play near each other all the time. But this is the first time they’ve ever played as a trio.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Pizza!
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Saturday, August 5, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Bachataria: From the Fields to the Palace
SATURDAY, AUGUST 5, 2023
8:00 PM
United Palace
4040 Broadway, Washington Heights, Manhattan
$10-$100
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Bachata rose from the poor Dominican countryside to international prominence by splitting the difference between melodramatic Bolero and danceable Son. This show traces its history and future, headed by Lenny Santos, mastermind of Aventura, the Bronx band that did at least as much as anyone to bring this music to the world. This is the week for Bronx music!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Across the street to Malecon. Right?
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Sat, Aug 5, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sun, Aug 6, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Pamela Z: Simultaneous
THURSDAY & SATURDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 3 & 5 – 6, 2023
8:00 PM THURSDAY & SATURDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
The Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Studio, Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd Street, Midtown, Manhattan
$15 THURSDAY & SATURDAY; $5 students/seniors THURSDAY & SATURDAY; free with museum admission SUNDAY
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Pamela Z is this List on a plate: she’s avant-garde (we need to come up with a less embarrassing term than that) and she’s fun. In this piece, her voice and electronics are accompanied by a chamber ensemble — and speech samples, mainly taped during her 2020 Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: All the Singaporean food you want at Urban Hawker.
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Saturday, August 5, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Clara Warnaar: “A New Age for a New Age” Album Release
SATURDAY, AUGUST 5, 2023
6:00 PM
cityWell Spa
496 President Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$80
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One thing about our current regime of pop omnivorousness/anti-genre theorizing is that any genre is ripe for appreciation. It might be a sign of how Quarantine either mellowed or addled my mind that I came to see some good things about New Age music (I mean, Beverly Glenn-Copeland: GREAT! Am I right?). I mean, how different is it from Ambient? And apparently I'm not alone. Percussionist-about-town Clara Warnaar (a really key performer on the local Alt Classical/Alt Pop/Alt What's The Difference? scene) curates a series called A New Age for New Age wherein she and her fellow scenesters reinterpret New Age. Their latest album is called Music for and From the Spa. And for your $80 here, you get to listen to it in an actual spa, with full use of the spa facilities (and light snacks). And then . . . .
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: A free (to ticketholders) after-party at The Commissioner.
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Saturday, August 5, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Outline
SATURDAY, AUGUST 5, 2023
6:00 PM
Knockdown Center
52-19 Flushing Avenue, Maspeth, Queens
$37.86-$51.25 advance; $56.40 day of
TICKETS + INFORMATION
An appropriately light Outline for the Summer. Psych from Crumb and Palm. Put-on Synth-Pop from U.S. Girls. Neo-Post-Punk from Model/Actriz. And more.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: ECB is really your best bet around Knockdown, for burgers and now, oddly, Red Sauce.
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Saturday, August 5, 2023, 4:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Interstellar Overpass: Sunwatchers / Upper Wilds / J.R. Bohannon
SATURDAY, AUGUST 5, 2023
4:00 PM
Mama Tried
787 Third Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
Free (tip the bands)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sunwatchers: Free Jazz! Minimalism! North African! Jams! Upper Wilds: Space! Fuzz! Distortion! Melody! J.R. Bohannon: Blues! Folk! Drone! Another great Saturday afternoon next to the BQE.
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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Saturday, August 5, 2023, 4:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
globalFEST
SATURDAY, AUGUST 5, 2023
4:00 PM
Summer for the City
Lincoln Center, Upper West Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A World Music (yeah, I hate that term, too) takeover of the Lincoln Center campus. A few picks among the plethora of offerings: Juana Molina’s seductive multi-textured electronic pop from Argentina; RAM’s Voodoo-Rock Mizik Rasin from Haiti; and Rāginī Ensemble’s exploration of the music of the Indian diaspora, from Brooklyn. The Rasa Yātra Indian classical music ensemble seems like it should be good, too, but I honestly don’t know anything about them.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: If you had told me the hottest restaurant in New York City would be in David Geffen Hall I’d have told you you were crazy: Tatiana.
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Saturday, August 5, 2023, 2:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, August 5, 2023, 1:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Friday, August 4, 2023, 10:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
ESCAPE: Juliana Huxtable / Bearcat / ÆON + E-Saggila / Nick Klein
FRIDAY, AUGUST 4, 2023
10:00 PM
Paragon
990 Broadway, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
Free-$31.25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
They’ve really put together a good night of electronic music of varying degrees of danciness.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Eat Thai in a movie house (which is apparently A Thing in Thailand) at Mao Mao.
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Friday, August 4, 2023, 10:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Fri, Aug 4, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sun, Aug 6, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Creepy Theater Double Feature
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 4 – 6, 2023
8:00 PM
Brick Aux
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20-$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Two creepy plays, one a PUPPET folk musical reimagining the three Fates as factory wardens, and the other a horror comedy engaging the creepiest topic of all: family dynamics.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Free pizza at the Alligator Lounge!
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Friday, August 4, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Los Èsplifs
FRIDAY, AUGUST 4, 2023
7:00 PM
Union Pool
484 Union Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$15.15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Most American Psych-Cumbia or Chicha bands are pretty lame. But Phoenix’s Los Èsplifs really make it. Are they like if Question Mark and The Mysterians played Cumbia? Actually, sort of, sometimes — if the Mysterians could actually play. Opener Evan Wright shows that this List doesn’t indiscriminately like all spacey guitar pop.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: For some reason unknown to me, Dog Day Afternoon serves not only supernal Chicago hot dogs but also outstanding Tex-Mex. So tonight go to their counter at H&H Reserve and get a Frito Pie along with your dog.
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Fri, Aug 4, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, Aug 6, 2023, 11:59 PM
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Friday, August 4, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
CT::SWaM Plasticity Office
TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 2 & 4, 2023 (continuing through AUGUST 25)
7:00 PM
Fridman Gallery
169 Bowery, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$10
TUESDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
WEDNESDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
FRIDAY 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 believe me, they’re all people you want to hear.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Snacky somewhat fusiony Indonesian beach food at Ma·Dé.
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Friday, August 4, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Warm Up 2023
FRIDAY, AUGUST 4, 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 Bergsonist with her multi-media culturefuck. 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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Friday, August 4, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Grandmaster Flash & Friends: Birth of a Culture: The 4 Elements Block Party
FRIDAY, AUGUST 4, 2023
5:00 PM
Summerstage
Crotona Park
1700 Crotona Avenue, Crotona, Bronx
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Yeah, I know, we don’t do Oldies Shows here at The List. But in his heyday, Grandmaster Flash and his crew were the most important musicians in the US (so important that a NYC Clash audience found it necessary to throw things at them onstage when The Clash chose them to open, showing not only how impactful Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five were, but how despicable — and conservative! — even the so-called left wing of the White Rock Audience is). Respect.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I remember when Roberto’s opened, it was like a New Wave had come to the Belmont/Arthur Avenue scene. That was in 1989 — only a decade and a half after Hip-Hop was formed. Now, like Grandmaster Flash, it’s resolutely Old Skool.
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Fri, Aug 4, 2023, 12:00 PM – Sun, Aug 6, 2023, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Flux Factory: Feralpy
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 4 – 6, 2023
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 comes to an end.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Lots to eat and drink on Governors Island, but everybody loves Little Eva’s.
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Thursday, August 3, 2023, 10:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Syntheside: Ana Gartner
THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 2023
10:00 PM
Bossa Nova Civic Club
1271 Myrtle Avenue, Bushwick, Brooklyn
Free before 11:00 PM
INFORMATION + TICKETS
Is it a big deal that Ana Gartner is bringing her bouncy-but-not-stoopid synthesizers up from Colombia? Actually, it is.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: A perfect spot for dinner before: charming and interesting (and delicious!) Italian-Colombian mashup at Maite.
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Thursday, August 3, 2023, 9:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sara Cabral
THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 2023
9:00 & 10:15 PM
LunÀtico
486 Halsey Street, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Modern Samba, melded with jazz, avant-garde, and classical in that Brazilian manner.
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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Thursday, August 3, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Grim Streaker / P.E. / Tiers La Familia
THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 2022
8:00 PM
The Broadway
1272 Broadway, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
$12 advance: $15 day of
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Grim Streaker take very early Talking Heads and run with it (even if they don’t know that’s what they’re doing). P.E. plays music you have to call Avant-Pop cuz you can’t call it anything else. Tiers La Familia go from Avant-Pop to just nuts (I say admiringly).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Excellent Haitian at Grandchamps.
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Thu, Aug 3, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sun, Aug 6, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Sarah Kane: Crave
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 3 – 6, 2023 (continuing through AUGUST 13)
8:00 PM
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$33.29
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I’ve had my problems with Stairwell Theater productions in the past: they can seem amateurish in a bad way. But Sarah Kane was one of the most piercing — you could even say acrid if that didn’t come across as pejorative (to say that this one might be the mildest of her plays only shows you how crushing the others are) (but her works are beautifully written as well) — playwrights of the last years of the last century, and every performance of the few plays she left us is an event.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Mexican insect cuisine (and they don’t even make it to escamoles) at The Black Ant.
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Thursday, August 3, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Jorge Drexler / Cimafunk / Julieta Rada
THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 2023
7:00 PM
Celebrate Brooklyn
Lena Horn Bandshell, Prospect Park, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Latin-American pop music that’s so good you won’t believe it. Jorge Drexler, the dean of Uruguayan singer-songwriters, whose music encompasses the styles of much of his continent. Julieta Rada, sinuous second-generation Uruguayan-Argentine pop. And Cimafunk from Cuba, making sure you hear the Afro in Afro-Cuban.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: LORE presents Indian fusion that somehow works.
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Thu, Aug 3, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sat, Aug 5, 2023, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Theodora Skipitares: Views from the Miniature City
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, AUGUST 3 – 5, 2023
7:00 PM THURSDAY & FRIDAY
6:00 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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Thu, Aug 3, 2023, 5:00 PM – Sun, Aug 6, 2023, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Asi Wind: Inner Circle
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 3 – 6, 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, Aug 2, 2023, 8:30 PM – Sat, Aug 5, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Stone Residencies: Sita Chay
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, AUGUST 2 – 5, 2023
8:30 PM
The Stone
Glass Box Theater, The New School
55 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$20 all nights but THURSDAY; $30 THURSDAY
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sita Chay plays Mariachi on violin. She plays Korean, avant- and trad. She plays Modern Jazz. The pick of the week is the premium-priced Multidimensionally Human ensemble on Thursday. I’ve been declining to List previous, more multi-media, iterations of that project, as they’ve been mired in therapeutism (I’m an Old: I think people should be more outer-directed, and instead of devoting their time and energy to figuring themselves out they should devote them to smashing Capitalism). But show me an ensemble including Frank London, Shoko Nagai, and a percussionist, and I’m interested.
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, August 2, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Satellite: Psychic Liberation Special: Nick Klein / Wilted Woman
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2023
8:00 PM
Bar Laika
224 Greene Avenue, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
For someone purportedly based in Berlin, Nick Klein has been doing an awful lot in New York City recently. Good for us! Electronics and visuals with real impact. The consistently intriguing Elizabeth Davis (in Wilted Woman guise) will also come from Berlin to do a DJ set.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Very good food, very good wine at Place des Fêtes.
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Wednesday, August 2, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Wednesday, August 2, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Andy Statman Trio
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2, 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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Wed, Aug 2, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Aug 6, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Ben Holbrook & Nate Weida: The Dastardly Thornes v. The Town of Goldhaven
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 2 – 6, 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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Wed, Aug 2, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, Aug 5, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
The Disappearing Ensemble & Chuang Stage: How I Disappeared
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, AUGUST 2 – 5, 2023
7:30 PM
Ice Factory In Person & THURSDAY Live Stream
New Ohio Theatre
154 Christopher Street, West Village, Manhattan
$23.50; $21.50 students/seniors; $18 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Taking off from Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities (a very good place to start), six recent female Chinese immigrants present New York as “a living being who collects, preserves, and destroys people’s dreams” — with PUPPETS!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, Libertine is The Bistro Of The Moment. Streaming at home, have an Orange Blossom: pour 1 oz. each of Gin, sweet Vermouth, and orange juice into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with an orange twist.
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Wednesday, August 2, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Comet Is Coming
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2023
6:00 PM
Summerstage
Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Even if the London Jazz Scene is predictably slowing down, The Comet Is Coming’s wide-eyed commingling of Sun Ra and Alice Coltrane remains hugely enjoyable. The opening acts are good, too: Ibeyi, who piquantly season their Modern R&B with Yoruba; and another chance to hear Aja Monet, who brings Gil-Scott Heron into the present (even if she abandoned Brooklyn for LA).
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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Wednesday, August 2, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Issei Herr
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2023
5:00 PM
Pioneer Works @ NASDAQ
Broadway & West 43rd Street, Midtown, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Issei Herr’s looped cello recital raises a big question: will you be able to hear her in the middle of Times Square?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Can you guess what’s on the menu at Los Tacos No. 1?
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Tue, Aug 1, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sun, Aug 6, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Andrew Cyrille Quartet
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 1 – 6, 2023
8:00 & 10:00 PM
Village Vanguard
178 7th Avenue South, West Village, Manhattan
$40; late shows $30 advance
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Andrew Cyrille: the most stylish and probably the most sheerly enjoyable drummer in Free Jazz. And with a quartet comprising Bill Frisell, David Virelles, and Ben Street!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Really interesting — and really delicious — Unapologetic Southern Indian at Semma.
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Tue, Aug 1, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, Aug 5, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Mark Morris Dance Group
TUESDAY – SATURDAY, AUGUST 1 – 5, 2023 (continuing through AUGUST 12)
7:30 PM TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY
8:00 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY
The Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Avenue, Chelsea, Manhattan
$10-$91
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Is there any artist in the so-called vanguard whose work is more sheerly likeable than Mark Morris’s? A different program each week: new stuff, old favorites. I actually dreamt I was watching Grand Duo a couple of nights ago. That’s on Program A.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: How nice that Basque fave Txikito is open again and probably even better than it was before.
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Tue, Aug 1, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, Aug 6, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Inua Ellams: The Half-God of Rainfall
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 1 – 6, 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, Aug 1, 2023, 7:00 PM – Wed, Aug 2, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
CT::SWaM Plasticity Office
TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 2 & 4, 2023 (continuing through AUGUST 25)
7:00 PM
Fridman Gallery
169 Bowery, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$10
TUESDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
WEDNESDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
FRIDAY 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 believe me, they’re all people you want to hear.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Snacky somewhat fusiony Indonesian beach food at Ma·Dé.
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Tue, Aug 1, 2023, 10:00 AM – Sun, Aug 6, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell & Joseph White: Meander
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 1 – 6, 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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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.
