Pencil This In

MOVIE: The First Time I Was Twenty is playing tonight as part of the New York Jewish Film Festival. According to Paper, French director Lorraine Levy "tells the story of a smart, chubby Jewish girl who endures rampant sexism and anti-Semitism in order to fulfill her dream of joining her high school’s all-male jazz band. Pretty in Pink it is not."

6pm // Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center [165 W. 65th St] // $10

THEATER: Hustler, WI, a play by Michael Scott-Price, is described as an ‘ode’ to the gritty New York immortalized in films like Mean Streets and Dog Day Afternoon. It’s about a young man from the Midwest, recently out of the service, who relocates to the city on a quixotic search for buried treasure. A couple of unsavory characters step up, Taxi Driver-style, to lend a hand. The play originally premiered at last year’s Philadelphia Fringe Festival; it’s the work of a theater company named after the Little Prince’s home, Asteroid B612. - John Del Signore

8pm // Chashama [217 East 42nd Street] // Tickets cost $19

EVENT: We'll start this out with the important part: Jack and Coke open bar from 9 to 10! The All England Club is back honoring Gorillaz Damon Albarn. Celebrating the release of his latest project, The Good, The Bad and the Queen - the night will be filled with Albarn music (ncluding Blur and Gorillaz, on top of the new stuff).

9pm to 2am // Lolita [Broome and Allen] // Free

MUSIC: Did you blink and miss out on tickets to the "secret" Clap You Hands Say Yeah show tonight at Mercury Lounge? The $10 tickets for the 12:30am show went on sale and were sold out in minutes once word got out. The Essex Green and Camera Obscura at Warsaw: also sold out. There is more to do though! The Subjects, Looker, Apache Beat and Scary Mansion are at The Annex (check out The Subjects at Movable Hype, here).

8:30pm // Annex [152 Orchard St] // Price TBA

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Carlson in Arts and Events on January 24, 2007 3:40 PM

Comments [rss]

Brian Van Nieuwenhoven

Then my question is, how come that info never makes it onto the general news blogs? In the years I've read Gawker, Gothamist, Upcoming, and all the other local blogs of NYC hipsters, I usually see just announcements of shows of the type where it's already sold out by the time I hear about it (and usually in a painfully small venue). Rarely, if ever, have I seen info regarding a show that I have more than a day to decide about tickets.

I know I'd probably get that sort of info if I read dedicated music blogs, but in terms of daily reading, the S/N ratio of sites like Pitchfork is way too low for my reading tastes, and therefore I tend to skim headlines only (and usually skip even doing that). I do rely on the local blogs for info about shows that are on sale, but usually tough tickets are long gone by the time the info gets published. (in a few rare instances, we've gotten announcements about some shows, but as it turns out it's stuff that sells out in 5 minutes)

Also, stubborn as I am, I stand on the point that it's ridiculous for a big-draw band to play small venues. And in a funny way. What if Dave Matthews played Mercury Lounge when he came into town? Houston street would cave into the F train tunnel.

jen

"Why play Mercury Lounge when there's venues in town booking 3,000 seats?"

well, they did just play two shows in new york, in the past month, at much bigger venues - with plenty of tickets available. they sent out info on this show today to their email list/myspace friends.

Brian Van Nieuwenhoven

I will assuredly pencil in my calendar that I missed another bunch of sold-out shows because I learned about them more than 5 minutes after they went on sale.

It's insane to have such problems seeing "popular" music acts. Why play Mercury Lounge when there's venues in town booking 3,000 seats? I won't go see CYHSY if I know it's going to be a clusterfuck; I won't enjoy it and it's not worth scalping tickets to get crushed to death in a 200-capacity SRO venue.

Can you support a blacklash against this? Help out some honest music listeners out there. These hipster bands should play more local shows with more seats, defeating scalpers, making the purchasing process easier for average people, and providing comfort to people who come to see the show.