Under the Radar isn't the only genre-busting experimental theater festival happening this month—P.S. 122 has just kicked off its 7th annual COIL Festival of experimental dance, theater and performance works. Formerly lasting about a week, COIL has been greatly expanded and will now run through January 29th. There are a lot of intriguing productions in the works this year, staged at various venues downtown while P.S. 122 undergoes an extensive renovation. (One space at the legendary performance mecca is still in use.) more ›

This is depressing. This morning Chris Brown performed on the Today show, where fans had been lined up and camped out for days to catch a glimpse of his performance. One man on Twitter noted, "They're comparing the line for Chris Brown's Today show appearance to a Harry Potter midnight screening." Except with Harry Potter everything is magical, and with Chris Brown everything seems to be abusive and homophobic. more ›

Man on wire and prankster extraordinaire Phillipe Petit (you may remember him as the man who walked between the Twin Towers on a tightrope in 1974, or who taught us to wire walk last summer) is putting two feet on the ground this weekend for his one-man show at the Abrons Art Center, Wireless! (exclamation point Petit's). more ›

If the blazing heat this week has you wishing for Arctic climes, here's a teaser for an upcoming show at BAM that will have you wishing for the days of shorts and sandals in no time. Master marionette craftsman Erik Sanko (who wowed us with The Fortune Teller) has been working on a new show at BAM called 69°South, following the trials and tribulations of Arctic explorer Ernest Shackleton in 1916. more ›

Can the spaghetti-eating philistines of the underground appreciate some perfectly-spewed Shakespearen prose? Two Brooklyn-based fellas—twenty-somethings Paul Marino and Fred Jones—are currently acting out scenes from Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, and Julius Caesar. And they're doing it right on the moving, oft-crowded subway cars. more ›

Has this year's Marina Abramovic arrived? Five piano players (rotating) have trapped themselves in the middle of a piano for a performance piece at MoMA. WCBS went to check out the work—created by Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla—which consists of a piano player standing inside of a carved hole in the piano, and playing Beethoven... upside down. Each performance lasts about 30 minutes, during which time the player is also pushing the piano around; Julliard grad Evan Shinners says, “It’s got some good wheels. I’m driving a piano. It’s a hybrid." Ladies and gents, he'll be there all weekend (the performance only goes through Monday). more ›

On November 5th, Kanye West was on a Delta flight to New York City and decided to give his fellow passengers an impromptu concert. According to Hollywood Life, Kanye was sitting in First Class and after about 30 minutes in the air he came on the loud speaker and rapped The Good Life and Gold Digger. One passenger on board told them, “He was like, ‘Yo, this your n***a, Kanye.' Then he couldn’t decide if he wanted to do The Good Life or Gold Digger, so he was like, ‘I’ll just do a little bit of both.’ It was awesome… but I still have no idea how he got into the cockpit.” (Note: it's unclear if he actually was in the cockpit or not.) more ›

Yesterday was the last day of the free performance Bodies In Urban Spaces, created by Vienna-based Will Dorner. The project tucked colorfully clothed performers into the cracks of downtown New York City, one of them told the Daily News, "It was really fun climbing onto the stock exchange and not getting arrested." Did you spot them? Send along your photos or video and we'll add to this post. more ›

You know what's offensive? Fake blood. That's what managers at the Highline Ballroom told singer Kayvon Zand, who often incorporates fetish gear, fire eating and fake blood into his acts. So after being told there could be no fire eating or fake blood in his performance on Thursday, he settled for the next best thing: sex. more ›

50 Cent doesn't even need to perform anymore, he's spent the summer in the headlines for canceling a Queens show when neighbors became concerned about safety. But now the NY Post reports that the rapper could possibly be attending a picnic in the borough tomorrow, at PS 40. more ›

While performance artist Thoth, beloved by many, awaits his court date in August after getting arrested for "prayforming," the Parks Department has gotten back to us with their somewhat canned comment on the incident. Parks spokesperson Philip Abramson explains:

"There are many spaces in Central Park where unamplified music may be played without a permit. However, the Bethesda Terrace area has been designated a 'quiet zone' for many years. The Parks Department routinely asks musicians and performers to move from Bethesda to other areas of the park such as the Bandshell and Dead Road. more ›

This Sunday the Bodies of Pyongyang installation was set up outside of St. Mark's Church. The project is by artist Yoonhye Park and features 20 female performers inside of a 70"x70"x70" clear plexiglass cube, all with the aim of bringing awareness to women's issues in North Korea. "These tightly packed schoolgirls try to move about the enclosed cube box expressing their emotional pain and struggle. Red strings symbolizing their dual inner states of suppression and resistance entangle the girls further confining their freedom to move within their already limited and hermetic space." The installation will be back May 2nd (Washington Square) and May 9th (Tompkins Square). more ›

There's good news and bad news in Mayor Bloomberg's latest status update on the city's performance. According to the mandated "Mayor's Management Report" for Fiscal Year 2009, major felony crime decreased 3% during the first four months of the fiscal year (July to October), while homicides rose 10.6% and grand larceny auto also increased, compared to the same time period in 2007. The annual report is an early indicator of how the city will fare this year; here are some other findings:
• Traffic fatalities decreased, from 112 to 102.
• The 311 customer service center received 12% more calls, from 4.78 million to 5.37 million.
• The number of trees planted nearly tripled, to 1,028, due to projects associated with the Million Trees Program. (Only about 999,000 more to meet the goal!)
• Less cacophony? The city received 15,275 noise complaints compared to 19,998 last year.
• The Department of Homeless Services saw an across-the-board increase in single adults and families entering the shelter services system, including an increase of 38% for families with children.
• The number of persons receiving food stamps increased by 18.1%. Among these recipients, the number of non-cash assistance persons receiving food stamps increased 25.8%, reaching an all-time high.
• The number of syphilis cases rose by 30%, reflecting national trends.

In his hugely influential book The Empty Space, universally well-regarded director Peter Brook writes, "I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all I need for an act of theatre to be engaged." Brook's aesthetic has gone through many permutations since he first burst onto the scene in the '60s with his rigorous and radical interpretations of such plays as Marat/Sade, but his defining characteristic has always been his passion for stripping away excesses to get to the essential. more ›

Following Billy Joel's two-night performance bidding farewell to Shea Stadium, rumors are whirling around who the Yankees might book for their goodbye in November. The Daily News reports that George Steinbrenner is looking to the other The Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen, for the closing ceremony extravaganza--but another rumor is pointing at former Beatle Paul McCartney. If it's true, wouldn't he be turning his back on Shea, where he first played the U.S. 43 years ago (and played again last month with Joel)? The News also notes that "sources close to both rockers weren't aware of any discussions." Can't wait for the Madonna/Lenny Kravitz double-bill rumor! Now that would awkward. more ›

Jack Moelmann is making a name for himself, at least for one night at Radio City Music Hall. 1010Wins says the 67-year-old retired Air Force colonel has always wanted to play the Wurlitzer organ at the venue, which was installed in 1932. On his website he says, "I believe the stage is the largest in the world being some 144 feet wide (a city block)...there are two identical consoles which make up the organ, one on either side of the stage literally a city block apart both of which control the same organ components." more ›

Jen Dunlap, a painter, and Celia Rowlson-Hall, a writer-director-choreographer, decided to combine their many talents for a one-of-a-kind art show. Wanna Come to My Place? will saturate Supreme Trading with their art, performance and everyday life tomorrow night. They even traveled all the way to Coney Island to create a video invite. more ›

Joshua Camp, one part of the band One Ring Zero, will be paying tribute to Charles Ives this weekend, 100 years after his ground-breaking piece Central Park In The Dark -- with his own piece honoring Prospect Park. 8 Prospects is a suite for six musicians and "reflects Brooklyn’s most-loved park and a new century of urban sounds." It will be performed the next two Sundays at Brooklyn's Barbès, and hopefully one day in the park it was written for! This week Camp told us about 8 Prospects, its muse, and Charles Ives. more ›

(Le) Poisson Rouge somewhat quietly opened the doors to 158 Bleecker Street a little over a week ago. The renovated space is still undergoing some final touches before their grand opening in September, but they are currently partially open and hosting shows (view the calendar here). The venue has a pretty legendary history, from the press release:

"The Village Gate operated at 158 Bleecker Street from the late '50s until 1993, and played host to icons ranging from John Cage, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Nina Simone, and Aretha Franklin, to Jimi Hendrix, Allen Ginsberg, Jim Morrison, Timothy Leary, Andy Warhol, and the Velvet Underground. It is this same experimental, genre-bending spirit that (Le) Poisson Rouge hopes to carry forward as it re-opens the doors."

Each summer the Met offers a free outdoor performance, and the one-night-only event is going down in Prospect Park later this evening. Two of the opera world's biggest stars, Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna, will be belting out duets as Ion Marin conducts the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus. more ›

With venues closing down left and right, it's nice to see some opening as well -- especially in Manhattan where most are getting priced out. "(Le) Poisson Rouge is "an 800-capacity multimedia art cabaret founded by musicians on the site of the historic Village Gate." The space, located at 158 Bleecker, will be opening once their ongoing major remodeling work is complete. Right now there are some events booked for June, but they tell us they'll be officially opening in September. more ›

Madonna, who recently stated that NYC gives her the zzz's, was stirring things up in town for an intimate performance last night. Her Madgesty took the Roseland Ballroom stage in front of 2,200 fans, for a show which demanded die-hards wait in line for what turned out to be 60 hours, just for a chance to get into. Fanatics? No. One of them, a Brooklynite, swears, “I’m not fanatical. But I do collect Madonna magazine covers, and I’ve got maybe 170 of them.” more ›

Lots of chefs consider their food to be art, but few artists see their art as food. A new festival called Umami – a Japanese word meaning "savory" or "meaty" – is trying to change all that. The ten day smorgasbord, which started Tuesday, spotlights artists and performers who use food as a medium, and also features culinary events ranging from “water tastings” to a weekend workshop for kids called “Paint With Your Food.” Just what every parent needs! more ›

I'm Not There Nails It We went into seeing I'm Not There yesterday afternoon kind of expecting to hate it, thinking it would be vague and pretentious and a chore to absorb. But boy were we wrong! The movie avoids many annoying biopic clichés, presenting 6 separate, yet surprisingly straightforward stories based on the life of Bob Dylan. While non-linear, the narratives are complete and engrossing. The film is shot beautifully, and needless to say... more ›

THEATER: Eugene O’Neill’s early one-act plays get a rare blast of daylight in The Pioneer, a new production that stages four of his nascent gems plus a whimsical monologue O’Neill wrote from the point of view of his dog. The plays boast O’Neill’s signature assortment of furious, flailing characters that would come to dominate his full-length work. Writing for the Times, Rachel Saltz notes that the plays range from “interesting” to “wonderful” and concludes that... more ›

City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein characterized last year's assessment test scores as "good," but critics say that they represent a lack of progress and a failure of Mayor Bloomberg's efforts to reform city schools. City kids' scores stayed flat on national assessment exams in math and reading, with a slight improvement in 4th graders' math scores and a drop in 8th graders' reading scores. "New York City’s eighth graders have made no significant progress in... more ›

Performance artist and activist Bill Talen, AKA Reverend Billy, has been raising hell in New York City for so long now it’s hard to imagine this town without him. Since first seizing his sidewalk pulpit in the late 90s to combat the Disneyfication of Times Square, the reverend has been consistently down with a host of local and international progressive causes. With the help of his raucous Stop Shopping Gospel Choir, he also puts on a hilarious and inspirational theatrical show. (Not to take anything away from Other Love, his quite moving solo piece.) November will see the release of a documentary concerning the cross-country travels of Reverend Billy and his choir, What Would Jesus Buy?, produced by Morgan Spurlock of Supersize Me fame. Tonight the Reverend brings his righteous lefty heat to Gothamist House; all are invited to come on down and testify. more ›

SPA: FreeNYC tells us that "in honor of their 20th Anniversary, Nina's European Day Spa is offering up some free and discounted treatments!" Get there before 7pm and you'll get a free eyebrow threading or waxing, free mini microdermabrasion, and free hand treatments. Free: it's a beautiful price. more ›

This weekend, you could take a trip back to the 1860s with a visit to Governors Island. It's the Civil War Weekend, and the 119th New York Volunteer Historical Association will "recreate garrison life on Governors Island during the Civil War, portraying officers, soldiers and guards in the Regular Army conducting drills, a guard mount and historic weapons demonstrations." Here's a schedule of events for both Saturday and Sunday:

10:00: Witness the morning calls (sick, breakfast, officers’) at the Garrison and Confederate prisoners being marched to Castle Williams under guard more ›