PUNK PHOTOS: Two simultaneous shows at the Steven Kasher Gallery illuminate rock and punk rock through graphic design and photography. "Rude and Reckless: Punk/Post-Punk Graphics, 1976-82" examines punk and post-punk graphic design with posters, flyers, clothing and other items from a private collection. "Laura Levine: Musicians" chronicles musicians at the forefront of "rock, punk, indie rock, post-punk, hip-hop, New Wave, and No Wave" through the artist's vintage gelatin silver prints, many of which are one of a kind. Both shows run through August 19.
Tuesday, July 26 // 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. // Steven Kasher Gallery [521 West 23rd St] // Free
ALTERNATIVE ART: Lower East Side art haven culturefix challenges five artists to completely transform their gallery space in just six hours with a site-specific installation that stays up for only one night. Each artist represents an "alternative medium," including sound, installation art, film/video, sculpture and new media and will take over the space every other night for 12 nights. The first opening night for "Opening Reception" begins July 27th but check back on alternating evenings through August 7th for an all-new art experience each time.
Wednesday, July 27 // 7- 10 p.m. // culturefix [9 Clinton St] // Free
FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF: You won't want to play hooky from this outdoor movie. Grab your acid wash jeans and hunker down for the classic John Hughes flick Ferris Bueller's Day Off, starring a puppy dog-eyed Matthew Broderick in his most endearing role as a charming high schooler who cuts class for day of sightseeing in Chicago. It's part of EPIX Movie Free-For-All and The L Magazine's SummerScreen series in McCarren Park. Gates to the screening will open at 6 p.m. with the film starting at dusk; arrive before dark to enjoy live music and Happy Hours specials.
Wednesday, July 27 // 6 p.m. // McCarren Park Ballfields [Bedford and North 12th Sts, Brooklyn] // Free
ART WALK: Art fans rejoice-- the second annual Chelsea Art Walk is set to return today. Over 125 galleries will participate in the self-guided stroll that offers artist talks, receptions, and other special events to showcase the vibrancy of the summer arts scene in Chelsea, while local sponsors will offer food and drink specials throughout the evening. As an added bonus, the galleries are right off of the newly opened second phase of the High Line!
Thursday, July 28th // 5-8p.m. // Various locations // Free
RECESS RAP: World Up, a non profit arts organization, aims to bring the world together through education by way of hip-hop. The organization's new salon series, Recess, will unite creative thinkers from the global hip hop, education and technology communities. Asahi beer will be served cold, and the beats will be served hot!
Thursday, July 28 // 6-10p.m. // Hostelling International [891 Amsterdam Ave] // Free
THEY MIGHT BE ON THE WATERFRONT: They Might Be Giants and gigantic rounds of laughter are heading to the Williamsburg Waterfront! Tonight, the famed indie band/ sometimes children's troubadours will headline the outdoor venue on the East River. Funnymen Patton Oswalt and Eugen Mirman and their crew will get the crowds laughing before the Giants perform.
Friday, July 29 // 5:30p.m. // Williamsburg Waterfront [Kent and N. 10th St, Brooklyn ??] // Free
WONDERDONK: New Yorkers craving a little quality time with the likes of Pterri the Pterodactyl and Clocky: the 2(w)heels Collective and Cinebeasts have just the event for you. The first evening of the Wonderdonk Bike-In Movie Series will woo nostalgic cinema-goers to the pleasantly pastoral grounds LINK of the Van der Ende-Onderdonk House for an al fresco viewing of Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. To sweeten the pot, there will be an opening screening of classically quirky The Red Balloon.
Friday, July 29 // 8:30 p.m. // Van der Ende-Onderdonk House [1820 Flushing Ave., Queens] // Suggested donation of $7, kids free
KINGS OF NEW YORK: Since chances of seeing a post-Batman Christian Bale doing song-and-dance numbers in a pageboy seem...low, indulge your inner musical fan at The Bell House, where the folks from Secret Formula present the latest installment of their 90s Sing-Alongs series: Newsies. The based-on-a-true-story live action cult classic is sure to draw a crowd worthy of a headline, and songs are subtitled, so, if--for shame!--audience members don't recall every word to "Seize the Day," the show can still go on.
Friday, July 29 // 8 p.m. // The Bell House [149 7th Street, Brooklyn] // $8
EPIC RIDE: Not that Brooklyn cyclists ever need an excuse to get on the ol' velocipede, but now they have some seriously just cause. Starting in Greenpoint and ending at the food vendors in Rockaway Beach, the 3rd Annual Brooklyn Waterfront Epic Ride is a 40-mile bike ride along what could potentially be a Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway combined with a completed Jamaica Bay Greenway. Proceeds benefit the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative, and it's sure to be a beautiful ride.
Saturday, July 30 // 9 a.m. // Start at Manhattan Ave at Newton Creek, Brooklyn // $20
ODE TO...THE GOWANUS CANAL?: The Gowanus Canal is not just the scourge of sinuses in western Brooklyn--now it's art, too. In "Shrines of the Gowanus Canal," Anne Percoco, an artist with the The Gowanus Studio Space, will refurbish an old boat with mostly scrap and recycled materials, converting it into a mobile shrine and sailing it down the EPA Superfund site of the Gowanus Canal. Presented by Brooklyn art collective Flux Factory, the boat-shrine sets first sail today, and tours will be available. Ships ahoy!
Saturday, July 30 // Gowanus Studio Space [166 7th St, Brooklyn] // Free
POETRY BROTHEL: This weekend the First Annual New York Poetry Festival fills a zany Governor's Island festival niche we didn't realize we were missing, uniting poetry enthusiasts across NYC. Poetry scene linchpins The Bowery Poetry Club, KGB, and the Nuyorican team up with the Poetry Brothel to revive the allure of verse for today's plebes, even sexing it up in a brothel-styled set-up where one audience member and one "poet-misfit-aesthete" share in lyrical beauty in a private room in a mansion on Colonel's Row. Kinky!
Saturday, July 30 // 12 - 5 p.m. // Governor's Island // free
TRIPLE FEATURE: There's a small part of each one of us that (not-so) begrudgingly loves musical movies. We remember Saturday Night Fever and Grease with love and affection, and apparently, so does the Anthology Film Archives, whose series Hollywood Musicals of the 1980s, will screen the ultimate triple feature this Sunday. Eighties nostalgia peaks at back to back to back favorites like Dolly Parton and Burt Reynold's The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, True Stories directed by Talking Heads' lead singer David Byrne, and one of the first movies to show outsiders the beauty of hip-hop, Beat Street.
Sunday, July 31 // first film at 4:15 p.m., second at 6:45 p.m., third at 9 p.m. // 32 Second Ave // $9 general admission, $7 students and children
THE ART OF REAL ESTATE?:Rutenberg Realty is revealing to the world a thriving enclave of real estate agent combo artists we never knew existed at their exhibit this Sunday. Most of these rare hybrid artists with day jobs will feature their work alongside established New York graffiti artists Fernando Romero and Mike Baca, who will create a mural during the exhibit itself. Fittingly, ten percent of the exhibit's proceeds will go to the NYC Department of Homeless Services.
Sunday, July 31 // 12- 4 p.m. // 127 East 56th St // free
THE SHRINKS ARE AWAY! Join other neurotic New Yorkers for this annual celebration of books to "soothe crazy psyches and calm impending mental breakdowns." With this reading, host Susan Shapiro provides an outlet for those whose shrinks have abandoned them for a summer vacation. Joining her are authors Molly Jong-Fast (The Social Climber's Handbook), Harvey Shapiro (How Charlie Shavers Died & Other Poems) and others.
Monday, August 1 // 7 p.m. // McNally Jackson Books [52 Prince St] // Free
BEATSCAPE: The Yale grads who form drumsound quartet So Percussion normally construct "conceptual dreamscapes" as homage to the music of Reich, Iannis Xenakis, John Cage. This time they channel beat doctor Dan Deacon, as he joins them on stage at Le Poisson Rouge. We commend them for perpetuating what we've always known: rhythm just feels better when it's hot.
Monday, August 1 // 7 p.m. // 158 Bleecker St // $15
Contributions from Nell Casey, Elyssa Goldberg, Rachel Pincus, Bethany O'Grady and Eva Saviano.
