Archive for November, 2005

Symphony Space offers some of the best entertainment in the city; movies, lectures, dance, live music and theatre. But because of my financial situation(or lack thereof), often I’m torn between my desire to be well cultured and my desire to eat.

That’s where the Symphony Space Card comes in handy. For $30 you can get “The Card“, and then whenever you buy tickets, you get a discount:
selected readings - from $25 to $15
movies - from $10 to $6 (plus four free passes with free popcorn)
selected music events - $21 to $16
and all other events are available to you at member prices, which are usually about $5-10 cheaper than regular price. Even if all you do is use the free movie passes it’s completely worth it.

Buy one now, cause I just got an email saying it’s a special introductory offer, so who knows how long it’ll last.

Wonder Women Rock Merce Cunningham Studio

By Guest Reviewer: Shannon Jowett

There’s nothing I love more than the sound of performers tromping to their places on a dark stage. It’s a moment of anticipation both tendered by trepidation (could this be the most painful 70 minutes of my life?) and rife with hope for something fresh, pleasurable, and engaging.

The ladies of Esse Aficionado did not disappoint with their recent program, Readymade, at the Merce Cunningham Studio.

In History, lights came up on 9 women of all different sizes and shapes. Uniformed by considerable skill and Gina Graham’s punchy choreography, they barked the occasional count and worked themselves into near-testosterone aggression while dressed in black, trunk-cut panties and clear plastic, hip-length smocks that rustled furiously with every gesture. Their blocky-solidness–most of it straight-backed with a hearty tilt from the torso–gave way to a recurrent hunching inward dive cut occasionally by broad scissor steps. Hard-edged with lots of stops and starts, the movement was chunky but never clunky (except a brief moment of unison circle work that struck me as that other Graham’s “Primitive Mysteries” for the Jazzercise set.)

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In order to celebrate their 40th anniversary on Monday night, Dance Theatre Workshop transformed their offices into a four-story performance space. Every 10 minutes from 5pm to 9pm a performance began somewhere in the building. No corner was unused, from the box office to the conference room. People lined up outside for the free event after the place filled to capacity (rumored to be 1,800 at one point).

The highlight of the evening was Beehive, a piece performed by Third Rail Projects and Productions in DTW’s tiny kitchen. Audiences crowded around, curious to see why a bee was standing in the doorway holding up a tape cassette recorder. What followed was clever, innovative and delightfully campy. Members of the troupe made cookies while wrapped in blue cellophane, donning bright blue beehive wigs and climbing all over the kitchen in a way that evoked synchronized swimming, with space-age lounge music playing in the background.

Go to Max Fish (178 Ludlow between Houston and Stanton)tonight to check out new art by Anders Olson.

Wilco’s new double live CD, Kicking Television, is not released until Nov 15th, but drunk roommate has a free copy to givaway!!!

This is the trivia question:
Why is the sky blue?

Send answers to iwantthewilcocd [at] gmail [dot] com

This is serious people. Don’t fuck around.

When Fearsome left the stage after their new show at The P.I.T. tonight, an audience member turned to me, with a big smile, and said “They just keep getting more disgusting.”

And really what more can you say about an evening of sketch comedy that includes a rhinoceros gynecologist that spears an unborn child with his giant tusk, a menage-a-trios involving a woman who has a giant vagina on her stomach (”it’s just higher!”) and a kindergarten teacher who lets her students feel her newly filled-in nest.

You might think by the above description that the show Fearsome. . . and Such resembles a bad frat party filled with nothing but jockstraps and fart jokes, but the opposite is true. The six members of the troupe have created an evening of comedy that manages to bow to the lowest common denominator in a most intelligent way. One creepy love scene between Sade fans places two troupe members on opposite sides of the stage, and with perfectly timed movements the audience is able to see from both actors points of view.

Their unique style flows one scene into another, never giving you time to actually realize how brilliant and flawless their segues have been. You don’t know exactly how you got from the albino time traveling mishap to the groundhog day wedding reception , but somehow they got you there. The only problem with this style is that without a break between each sketch, the audience did not have time to applaud and cheer, which they obviously wanted to do.

Fearsome . . . and Such will be at The P.I.T. every Friday night through December 16 (except the Friday after Thanksgiving). Tickets are going to sell out fast, so buy them in advance here.

Normally we only post about New York events, but this is too good to ignore.

The $9 Sale

New York to the Bahamas for only $9

What are you waiting for? Go get a ticket!

Wouldn’t you rather be here?