Arts and Events: November 2009 Archives

              

Ladies in over-the-top lingerie get-ups stomped down the runway at the Lexington Avenue Armory for Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. According to Newsday, "Some 2,000 showgoers including Jay-Z, Michelle Trachtenberg and Virgin Atlantic's Richard Branson (a 'fashion show virgin,' he said) were treated to the extravaganza of bra-and-panty clad Victoria's Secret angels - much more modest than in years past - strutting down a runway with adjacent mosh-pits, wearing massive wings, lunar sculptures, branches and glitzy accessories that conjured a 'magical journey' from space voyage, old world train travel, an enchanted forest and a happy hippie segment that included a giant inflatable pink polka-dot puppy that rose from the floor."

The latest public art project to glean some attention can fit right in your pocket... but it's gonna cost ya. The NY Times reports that seven million MetroCards were distributed starting in September, all containing the word "optimism" on the back. The MTA, perhaps seeing it as a way to brainwash unhappy customers, oversaw the project.

       

Following her trip on the Hudson, Swoon got a bit more adventurous and gathered up more than 30 other artists to help her take her Swimming Cities to the Adriatic Sea. Three handcrafted vessels navigated the waters, and ended up crashing the Venice Biennale in Italy. Luckily Tod Seelie was on hand to capture it all, and now his photographs will be on exhibit, starting tonight, at the Anonymous Gallery.

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It's hard to feel bad for Jude Law when we all lack privacy in the city — in much less swank digs. Turns out the actor moved in right next to the NYU freshman dorm Hayden Hall, and the student body is enjoying their new view. The dubious dorm dwellers have now leaked their secret to the NY Post (with paparazzi style photos), saying whenever they spot Law on his Washington Square balcony (sometimes with his son), there's complete chaos.

While tUnE-YaRdS may sound like a band comprised of more than one, it is just one woman: Merrill Garbus. During live shows she's accompanied by Nate Brenner — and currently they're both on tour with Dirty Projectors. They're in town all weekend (at Music Hall of Williamsburg and Bowery Ballroom) — and they're even adding on a free show at Permanent Records (7 p.m.) in Brooklyn tonight. So you have no excuse not to catch them. This week Garbus told us a bit about Jay-Z, her ultimate supergroup, and why she insists on aLtErNaTiNg caps with lowercase.

In February, FLAG Art Foundation will be presenting "Size DOES Matter," an exhibition showcasing the element of scale in contemporary art in February with the 7'1'' center for the Cleveland Cavaliers drafted to curate. Yes, Shaquille O'Neal has selected—and even commissioned some—52 pieces of art for the show.

Though it's not what he's known for, Andy Warhol created some really cute illustrations for a children's book series! And now a set of those illustrations is headed toward the auction block next month as part of Bloomsbury's Illustrated Books auction. Reportedly "they were drawn by Warhol early in his career, between 1957 and 1959, for the Doubleday Book Club's popular series Best in Children's Books."

Another day, another Bridgeversary! This Saturday the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge turns a youthful 45 years old. The folks at Inside the Apple have a full history, noting that when it opened in 1964, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world. The bridge connects Staten Island to Bay Ridge (or Yellow Hook), and was the "last major arterial road in Robert Moses's grand plan to connect all of New York by automobile."

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Wife of Christo, and artist herself, Jeanne-Claude has died at age 74. She co-created the 2005 "Gates" installation, that spanned 23 miles in Central Park, alongside her husband (the installation brought $254 million to the local economy here). Mayor Bloomberg spoke with Christo this morning to offer condolences on the behalf of the city, where Jeanne-Claude died last night of a brain aneurysm.

New York-born actress Olivia Wilde may garner some attention for her looks, but the 25-year-old also has quite a resume under her belt. You may know her as Thirteen on the television show House, you may have seen her around town while she was filming the Black Donnelleys, or you may just have spotted her browsing the Brooklyn Flea. Currently she's promoting the film Fix, which her husband (who is a real life prince, by the way) Tao Ruspoli directed. It opens at the Village East tomorrow, and earlier this week she told us a little bit about the film, her favorite books, and where to get the best taco in the city.

The Radio City Rockettes are definitely busy these days—this morning, they will be on a Nostalgia Train! NYC Transit says the 1930's era IND Nostalgia Train will leave the Chambers Street E platform at about 10 a.m. and "will make stops enroute to the D line at West 4th Street, arriving at 47-50 St/Rockefeller Center station." Well, naturally the destination is Rockefeller Center, which is right by Radio City Music Hall, where the Christmas Spectacular is playing.

Perhaps crazier than the mystery of where 5th and Broadway was in Williamsburg... the blogger at Pardon Me For Asking dug up an old map showing something called Yellow Hook. Indeed, there was a Yellow Hook! The NYPL (where there's currently a great exhibit mapping New York's shoreline), has some more evidence of this magical land, which was south of Red Hook.

Now that Williamsburg has become a popular destination for tour groups and fashion students, the hipsters who took over the neighborhood years ago are losing their precious Pool Parties. Circle of life. We're told that with the deadline quickly approaching to find a new spot, there's no agreement in place and "the end could be near." As such, Senator Chuck Schumer is requesting that the community show some support—this summer the very same Senator Schumer pledged to the audience at one show that the free concerts would be back on the waterfront in 2010.

Be warned: this video of Sad Panda will melt even the coldest of hearts. The fact is that Sad Panda (sometimes Spongebob Squarepants) is actually pretty sad, and that makes us Sad Humans.

Seems like just yesterday we were unable to afford the iconic Givenchy black dress that Audrey Hepburn wore in Breakfast at Tiffany's, and this weekend more of her glamorous garb is going on the block.

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Déjà vu! Yesterday the Radio City Rockettes had some help in lighting The Empire State Building up, from their furry friend King Kong. The lights were green, white and red last night in celebration of the opening night of the 2009 Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Here's a little bit of history on the dance troupe, who first took the stage at Radio City on December 27, 1932.

At least one heavy metal deejay and musician is aware of how loud he can be. Benjamin Sachwald might be bringing the noise at night, but at his day job he's rewriting the noise code! Metro reports that at his firm, AKRF, he's "updated the sound standards for the 21st century, adding requirements for Mister Softee trucks. The company also does readings for fed-up tenants living above bars and developers planning projects by elevated subways."

       

The Bronx Zoo opened on November 8th, 1899 with 843 animals (there are now over 4,000). Upon its 110th birthday, the Daily News lists off 110 other things you should know about the place (leaving out the time they caged a Congolese pygmy for a "Human Exhibit").

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Yesterday afternoon it was reported that Ken Ober, best known as the host of MTV's Remote Control, died on Sunday at the age of 52. The cause of death hasn't been announced, but his agent has come out with some details, saying: "His body was discovered in his home. The last person to have spoken to him was on Saturday morning. No foul play is suspected, no suicide, it looks like natural causes, just no one knows the exact cause yet."

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been almost eight years since the release of Jonathan Safran Foer’s best-selling first novel, “Everything is Illuminated,”. Since then, among other things, he’s released another novel, "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," wrote a libretto for an opera, and been called everything from a "luminous talent" to "a fraud and a hack." His newest book, “Eating Animals,” is a personal account of his own struggles with and journey toward vegetarianism, and was inspired in part by the birth of his son. We talked to Foer about the process of researching, the factory farming system, and how his critics view him.

All afternoon rumors have been flying around the internet with news that Ken Ober has died. We weren't about to fall for another Zach Braff-esque death scare, but sadly it has now been confirmed that the former host of MTV's Remote Control died suddenly over the weekend.

Are you guys totally stoked for the crazy two-day Leonid meteor shower that's about to go down? Our man on the street, with his eye on the sky, Joe Schumacher tells us: "It looks like there will be two peaks, a lesser one starting around 4 a.m. EST on Tuesday and the larger one about 12-13 hours later. The first one should have 2-3 dozen meteors per hour." While the light pollution will likely block the experience for many, the skies will be clear and cooperating.

       

Print isn't dead just yet, it's living on as art. The Museum of the City of New York has put together a nostalgic exhibit comprised of photographs from the now defunct LOOK Magazine. The publication reached peak circulation (of nearly 8 million) in the late 1960s, with nationwide readers who were attracted to the Only in New York-esque photographs (some of them taken by the likes of Stanley Kubrick). So naturally, the exhibit is called "Only in New York: Photographs from LOOK Magazine" (as is the book).

       

Last week the new Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree arrived at 30 Rock after being torn from its roots in Easton, Connecticut. It will now have until December 2nd to be adorned with lights (last year folks were not impressed by the energy-efficient LED lights), before being plugged in for holiday revelers to enjoy. Here's some history on the tree tradition, which started about 77 years ago — and a look back at trees of the past (in 1938 there were two!).

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The last two decades have found comic writer Jonathan Ames, known for his slanted wit and brutal honesty, become a veritable chameleon of pop-culture mediums. By turns novelist, essayist, journalist, theatrical performer, and amateur boxer, the Ames style has remained unmistakable—as the Times put it, Ames "has rarely strayed far from himself."

One of the most memorable plays we saw last year was The Walworth Farce, a pitch-black comedy by Irish playwright Enda Walsh. The story concerned a menacing father who every day forces his two sons to join him in performing a farcical play he wrote about a phony brain surgeon's attempt to cheat his estranged brother out of his inheritance. In that frenzied, hysterical production, the family's shabby apartment doubled as their stage, and all nine parts were played by the housebound men, as a sort of elaborate domestic ritual for an audience of none.

The complete history of Eldridge Street between Stanton and Rivington has all been visually played out in this 12-second video. Don't blink, you might miss that time it was Delancey Farm.

Good news everyone: street artist Posterchild has brought superhero changing stations to NYC! How convenient for the caped and masked crusaders amongst us, and much needed since traditional phone booths are nearly extinct.

            

Click on the film stills for details and reviews on this week's new releases and repertory screenings, which include 2012, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Messenger, Oh my God?, Pirate Radio, Ten9Eight, Uncertainty, William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe, Women in Trouble, The Red Shoes, Goonies, and All Tomorrow's Parties.

                            

Yesterday, with a bit (a lot) of inspiration from Andrew Sullivan, we asked that you send us your views. Submissions came in from Kensington to Washington Heights... and we'd love to see more. What do you see when you look out the window? Send a photo and location.

It's amazing that anyone wants to celebrate the G train, but the NY Post is reporting that Williamsburg's City Reliquary is hosting a pageant to do just that. They report that the museum and civic organization will hold the pageant on November 19th in conjunction a photography exhibit documenting past Miss Subways winners.

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William Kunstler was one of America's most famous radical lawyers. In the 1960s and 1970s, he defended civil rights protesters, Martin Luther King, Jr., and The Chicago Seven. He was called in by the inmates during the Attica prison uprising, and defended members of the American Indian Movement during their 71-day standoff with the federal government at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Later in his career, he took on a string of controversial cases, including defending clients accused in the Central Park Jogger beating, the murder of Meir Kahane, and the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Tonight, "William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe" opens at theaters in New York and Boston, with a national expansion to follow. It was directed by his daughters, Emily and Sarah— we asked them some questions about their father's controversial life.

Earlier this year a reader spotted a tourist group coming off the Bedford Avenue L in Williamsburg. So it shouldn't come as too much of a shock that there's now a course at FIT called "Williamsburg, The New Style Frontier." Or at least, there was on October 24th.

Italian illustrator Matteo Pericoli "has executed an intimate collection of drawings — glimpses of the city, as seen from the windows of prominent New Yorkers." CityRoom takes a look at his new book The City Out My Window: 63 Views of New York, which includes drawings and stories inspired by them. For example, Stephen Colbert says of his view: "Because my studio is directly across from a windowless telecommunications skyscraper whose peak bristles with microwave transmitters, when I think of my view mostly I think about cancer, so I try not to think about it at all."

Are aliens checking out Manhattan? One man says he filmed a "red craft" UFO for four nights straight this month, and has some footage to back up his claim. He says he filmed from The Great Hill in Central Park, saying, "When I started filming, it hovers about then suddenly I descends near the Reservoir. Slowly and vanishes. After about 30 min, when I got home, It popped up again for about 40 more minutes and morphed into a Plane... I know its sounds crazy... Its been out for about 4 nights so far... For some reason it knows I'm filming it."

                     

New York's newest Apple Store, at West 67th and Broadway, is officially opening up its doors this Saturday at 10 a.m. (we're told they will be giving out t-shirts). We're about to head inside for a special sneak peek, and will be updating with more images over the course of the day. First impression: that's a lot of glass! And the roof is glass, too. And this is their fourth glass staircase.

It's time for your annual subway reef moment of zen. Last November the Today Show gave us an up-close look at the watery graves that some subways will meet. Now the NY Times points out that tonight's National Geographic Ultimate Factories program visits a plant that produces the new subway cars, "telling us for almost an hour about all the welding and wiring and safety inspections that go into making the things." That's right, see the subway car that will inevitably cause you to be late for something, before it even hits the track, and way before it hits the surf.

     

Did you know that of the 150ish historical statues in all of New York City there are only five of real women? According to NYC Statues, Joan of Arc was the first, and the others are Eleanor Roosevelt, Gertrude Stein, Golda Mier, and Harriet Tubman — who was the last one, put up in 2007.

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Tis the season to chop down thriving trees! This year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree hails from Easton, Connecticut and will be arriving at 30 Rock today. The Daily News reports that the 76-foot Norway spruce is 50 years old and was growing in the yard of teacher Maria Corti. Once the tree is set up in its new temporary home, it will take about two weeks to decorate, with the official lighting ceremony on December 2nd.

What on earth is the General Lee doing in New York City? The replica of the Dukes of Hazzard car was spotted in Brooklyn over the weekend, and it isn't the first Confederate flag to make it to the borough. Chances are you'll see it around town, those are New York plates! The Brooklyn Eagle ran it to it as well, parked over on Union Street in the Columbia Waterfront District. Let's us know if you see it catching some air.

Yesterday we posted an old photo of a lone brownstone located somewhere in the East 60s, which in 1959 was about to be demolished for a future development. So where was the brownstone when it met its end? Our commenters figured it out... good job! The building was at 215 East 68th Street.

What can't James Franco do? The actor, who will soon appear on General Hospital, is allegedly looking to obtain a Ph.D at Yale University after completing his masters of fine arts degree at Columbia. This is all while he's also enrolled as a filmmaking student at NYU. He told the Yale Daily News, "I'm applying to Ph.D. programs next year so I came out (to Yale) to see what the program was like."

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Congressman Fiorello LaGuardia once declared: "No greater monument to the life and activity of the Republic can be imagined than Governors Island as a national airport." Today the Daily News looks back at one of the ideas for the island that never quite came to be...

Anecdotal evidence suggests that transit police have been cracking down on musicians and other performers busking in the subway system—even though the MTA's own rules permit low-volume performance under certain conditions. A number of musicians and a busker advocacy group tell amNY that "police harassment has grown to disturbing levels in recent months."

      

An intense traveling art exhibit that aims to enlighten people about the horrors of sex trafficking has arrived in New York. Called "Journey," the installation consists of seven shipping containers with work by international artists intended to evoke the experience of being a sex trafficking victim. It opened yesterday on Washington Place, and will remain open through Sunday. This video shows the interior of one of the containers, in which Coco de Mer founder Sam Roddick recreates a room in a brothel:

Street gangs used to have way cooler names — like, say, the Devil's Rebels for instance. Now there's some amazing footage that's resurfaced of the '70s Bushwick gang, originally broadcast as part of a 1976 newscast. The footage was allegedly captured using a night vision lens and concealed cameras, and Bushwick BK notes that it all goes down in the 83rd Precinct, "a battleground for the police and young street criminals, where a teenage gang roams the streets at night looking for trouble."

We happened upon this photo in the LIFE magazine archives. The caption reads: "Construction in NYC: land being cleared for 20 story building in East 60s — still occupied brownstone is soon to go." It was still occupied! The photo was taken in 1959... any guesses as to what block it was on?

              

Yesterday, a day before its 40th birthday, Sesame Street was designated with a temporary street naming at... 64th and Broadway? While there are many neighborhoods that went into the set design for the show, many seem to think the Upper West Side isn't the best spot to dedicate a street in its name. However, while the show is filmed in Astoria, the corporate headquarters are actually on the, wait for it, UWS.

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It took 40 years, but earlier today Sesame Street was honored with their own corner of New York (64th and Broadway, to be exact). We're told, "On the eve of the program’s big birthday, a temporary street sign was unveiled and a Mayoral Proclamation bestowed by the City of New York, proclaiming November 10 Sesame Street Day.” Do we get off for that?

You've probably walked by the Marble Cemetery on 2nd Avenue before, but have you ever dared peek inside? The Scout recently took a closer look at the pretty commonly known, yet nearly hidden space (between 2nd and 3rd Streets), coming back with some amazing photos of what can be found once you get past the gate and down the narrow alleyway.

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He materializes upstage wearing dark skirts, some sort of plastic tube stuffed in his mouth, his hair tied in a spiky pony-tail, a plastic duck in a birdcage hugged to his chest. The classic Chordettes oldie Mr. Sandman is playing, and in a flash we're once again transported to Foremanland, a singular dimension of feverish theatrical provocation, devoid of conventional narrative but rich with humor and deliciously inspired tableaux.

After news that Goldman Sachs (and Citigroup) received 200 swine flu vaccines out of 5,400 requested, which is the same amount as Memorial Sloan-Kettering received for its 27,000+ request for its workers, Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update decided to tap into the populist outrage.

If you don't have a rooftop or illegal fire escape garden, but you crave the taste of fresh thyme and basil for your homecooking... then you might to check out the possibility of window farming. New Yorkers Britta Riley and Rebecca Bray created Window Farms since growing food inside New York apartments is such a challenge. They simply channeled the "hydroponics research conducted by NASA scientists and marijuana farmers" — now through a drip system made from recycled water bottles, they've been growing beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, arugula, basil, lettuce and kale! CoolHunting stopped by to get a closer look:

This would have made a great Halloween costume. Fred Lebain has a new series of photographs that blend New Yorkers right into New York. Animal notes that "After shooting the scene, Lebain returned with a large-format print that he then photographed again using tripods and other ubiquitous poster-holding techniques." Perfect for a city where pretty much everyone is invisible.

As you've probably noticed from Google's art this week, it's Sesame Street's birthday! Oh the times we've shared. The television show is in its 40th year (here's the pitch), and there's lots of celebrating going on. This coming Monday "the City of New York will unveil a proclamation and announce a temporary street naming in honor of the program’s permanence and everlasting impact on New York City’s history and four generations of children across the country." Yep, Sesame Street is getting a street! The dedication will take place at noon at 64th and Columbus Avenue.

          

Click on the film stills for more details and reviews for this week's new releases and repertory screenings, which include Precious, The Men Who Stare at Goats, Fourth Kind, A Christmas Carol, The Box, Collapse, Turning Green, That Evening Sun, And Now For Something Completely Different, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

             

The crisp and clear weather was perfect for a Yankees 27th World Series Championship ticker tape parade—so perfect that the streets along the Canyon of Heroes were teeming with excited people celebrating the Bronx Bombers victory. In fact, check out the Gothamist Newsmap and see the incidents of "large crowd," "unruly crowd," and "airmail" (things larger than confetti/streamers being thrown) in the area.

The massive project is falling further behind schedule, it's millions of dollars in the hole, and will need a miracle to meet a looming make-or-break deadline. All we need now are a string of eminent-domain lawsuits, and Julie Taymor's wildly ambitious Broadway adaptation of Spider-Man might as well change its name to Atlantic Yards: The Musical. (Starring Harvey Fierstein as embattled developer Bruce Ratner!) Today Taymor is meeting with producers to decide whether to proceed or postpone the technically insane project, which is hemorrhaging money like Mr. Orange gushing blood in the back seat of Mr. White's car. Is it gonna be okaaay?

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Eco-experimenter Mary Mattingly is taking her next project ashore. Earlier this year she was living in her waterpod, and now she's off to Metropolitan Exchange Building at 33 Flatbush Avenue to create something called “Air Ship Air City," according to the Brooklyn Paper.

Set your DVRs: Starting November 20th actor/student/dreamboat James Franco will be making his debut on General Hospital—which inexplicably is just way more exciting than his upcoming cameo on 30 Rock.

The Beatrice Inn shut down earlier this year after neighbors had enough of the A-list crowd partying it up at all hours. As the same war is being waged by neighbors of the Jane Hotel, against their late night ballroom antics, word is that the Beatrice may reopen.

The crazy steam-spewing Union Square "Metronome" clock is off by 52 minutes! Does anyone even know how to read this thing? One blogger explains just how to decipher it:

The 15 numbers of the digital clock display time going and coming relative to midnight. Read time going left to right and time coming in the opposite direction. So, if the clock reads 180746***135205 it means that it is 6:07 P.M. (18 hours/07 minutes/46 seconds since midnight) and that there are 5 hours/52 minutes/13 seconds remaining until midnight. The three numbers in between are a blur of moving numbers. It is like a digital hourglass.

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New Jersey's 2nd favorite son Bon Jovi has signed on to become the first "artist-in-residence" at NBC. In a feature in this week's Observer, Felix Gillette traces the strange pairing, profiling both the pragmatism of self-described CEO Bon Jovi, as well as NBC's love of synergy and refusal to acknowledge criticism.

Revel New York has released another video in their amazing series, which profiles all sorts of New Yorkers. You already met the Pigeon Lady, but they've also talked to Hester Diamond (Mike D's mom) and now their latest piece delves into the world of Brooklyn boxer Danny Jacobs.

For the love of everything that is good and pure in this world, the next time there are multiple Lloyd Doblers around town, please alert us! Yesterday there were not 1, not 2, but approximately a zillion trench-coat wearing, boom-box-over-head-holding Lloyd Doblers right in this very city. Did you see them? USA Today reports that the self-dubbed "Mobler" hit up Penn Station, NYU, Union Square and landed in Times Square to meet up with a band called the Lloyd Dobler Effect, who sang "In Your Eyes."

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Have you been asking yourself: where is all this candy coming from? So has the New York Times, and what they found may shock you: It is leftover candy from Halloween! The exclusive scoop reveals that some are so sick of seemingly harmless miniature candy bars that they bring the excess into the the office to unload on coworkers... who were apparently confused about this process until now.

Now that Halloween is out of the way, it's time to talk turkey. The annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is just around the corner, and it's getting a new route this year. As previously mentioned, the route will no longer go down Broadway after Columbus Circle and will instead had down 7th Avenue and then 6th Avenue towards Macy's. One reason is the new pedestrian plazas in Times Square while another is the fact that 6th and 7th Avenues are wider than Broadway. As previously mentioned, the route will no longer go down Broadway after Columbus Circle and will instead had down 7th Avenue and then 6th Avenue towards Macy's.

The Cooper Square Hotel is draping itself in glamorously gritty graffiti. They've commissioned artists Joyce Pensato, Nick 1, Vizie and Shinique to deck the walls of an adjacent building it recently bought, according to the NY Post. Vizie told the paper, "The only real unifying theme is the colors, black and white," but his section is "a tribute to a friend who died over the summer."

We received our smiley-face laden wristbands so that we may gain entry to the Vice 15th Anniversary + Halloween party this past Saturday — but around 11 p.m. that night we were already hearing that the 1994-themed extravaganza was total mayhem, so we took our flannel elsewhere.

Who can't use a little cute animal "news" on a Monday? Prospect Park Zoo recently introduced "a trio of new yellow footed rock wallabies in the Australian Walkabout on Discovery Trail," and they sent us this photo of one of them with a pumpkin! Since the WCS loves giving its animals pumpkin treats around Halloween, even the snow leopard had some fun with one at Central Park Zoo recently:

As reported over the weekend, the revival of Neil Simon's "Brighton Beach Memoirs" ended its run yesterday after only one week due to poor ticket sales. Today, the NY Times asks what went wrong, and came up with several possible answers: Simon's old-fashioned brand of comedy, the lack of star power, a slumping Broadway economy, an ever-evolving zeitgeist...actually, it seems like everything is what went wrong.

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Yesterday's 40th running of the ING NYC Marathon saw over 40,000 people traveling across the five boroughs to clock in 26.2 miles of running, walking, handcycling, and more. Besides the men's and women's race winners Meb Kelflizighi and Derartu Tulu, there were other champs:

                                   

It may have been raining, but the annual Village Halloween Parade still attracted thousands of costumed marchers and spectators. Check out these photographs from our readers (and thank you for sharing them!).