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Cleverly named venue announces first set of bookings
Tue Jul 10
Few surprises on the just-announced calendar for the Music Hall of Williamsburg, though a new venue getting out of the gate sure-footed would certainly involve keeping risks to a minimum (and besides, there are few surprises anywhere on the NYC live-music horizon). The opening night with Patti Smith is already sold-out, but tickets will go on sale either this Friday at noon or next week for: Joseph Arthur (Sept 7); the fast-rising local act Vampire Weekend (Sept 8); Clap Your Hands and Impeach the Vice President (Sept 10); the Walkmen (Sept 14); Bonde Do Role (Sept 15); the Black Lips (Sept 19); Les Savy Fav (Sept 21); Medeski, Martin & Wood (Sept 27); Fujiya & Miyagi (Sept 28); Jose Gonzalez (Sept 29); Boris + Damon & Naomi + Michio Kurihara—now that's a bill (Oct 3); Sunset Rubdown (Oct 8); and High on Fire + Mono + Panthers, also a killer show, on Oct 9 (tix on sale Jul 20). For tickets, try here or here.
Free parking
Mon Jul 9
Confession: I haven't been outside since 10 o'clock this morning. Afraid to stray from air-conditioned sanctuaries, many of us are missing out on outside happenings—not to mention fresh air. Switch off that AC for a couple hours and venture out to Chelsea at 8pm Wednesday for a free parking-lot screening of films by the Cuban-Dominican artist Quisqueya Henrquez, who is renowned for her sensory invocations of city life in places much closer to the equator than you are. Anticipating a survey of works by Henrquez opening at the Bronx Museum in September, the screening will include four videos, beginning with the 46-minute El mundo de afuera ("the world outside") (2006), which culls from footage taken over the course of three years from the artist's balcony in Santo Domingo. The film witnesses sailing ships and quotidian activities, all accompanied by a discordant soundtrack. Three shorter films will follow, concluding with the three-minute Saln de baile ("dance hall") (2004), which...
Overcoming fighter's block
Mon Jul 9
To promote his fisticuffs-friendly debut novel, The Fighter, Craig Davidson has sought to enter the ring with Wake Up, Sir! scribe Jonathan Ames, who tried his hand at boxing with performance artist David Leslie in 1999. Not only did Ames accept the challenge (bringing to mind a bout between P.G. Wodehouse and Chuck Palahniuk), but the proposed match was looking downright official—it was going to be part of Rumble on the River, a USA Boxing-sanctioned event for serious amateur punchers. But we have bad news for everyone who planned to attend RotR for this historic fight: It has been canceled. Rules dictate that the age difference between contestants cannot exceed ten years, and Ames, 43, has a decade-plus on the 31-year-old Davidson. But modern-day Mailers, keep your chin up: The two authors will still fight—on July 24, at 8pm. They're simply moving to Gleason's Gym (83 Front St, Dumbo, Brooklyn), where there are apparently no ageist rules against older novelists who want to get...
Game over?
Mon Jul 9
Manhattan, circa 1609, juxtaposed with Manhattan, circa 2006 *
Have you ever wondered what would happen if humans simply disappeared from the planet? Well, if you haven't, don't stress, because science writer and author Alan Weisman has, and he's mapped out exactly how he imagines thing would be in his new book The World Without Us. TONY features Weisman in this week's "3 questions" in the Out There section. To hear more about his controversial theories and what specifically would occur in Gotham, read on:
So how do you suppose we'd all disappear?
Well, if you read the introduction to my book, you know I list them very quickly. A Homo sapiens specific virus, space aliens or Jesus raptures us away, something like that. But then once we get beyond that, you know, if we theoretically wipe human begins off the planet, suddenly all of our stuff is not in the way, at least all of our activity, all the noise that we make. And for the first time you'd be able to hear the planet. I've...
Today: Monday, July 9
Mon Jul 9
Perhaps tomorrow I'll tell you about the time I made my coworkers take a tap dancing class with me!
How's it hanging, my sweet kadota figs? Enjoying the heat? I'm not, but then that's because I'm a human being, not an iguana, camel, dromedary, lizard or anteater (the previous is the result of my turning to my coworkers and asking, "What's an animal that likes the heat?" Michael misheard me though and thought I said, "What's an animal that likes to eat," hence anteater) and so I do better in temperate climes than in this inferno wrapped in a fire doused in a blaze sitting on a hellmouth that I call Tenth Avenue. You know? Also, I tend to get beads of sweat on my upper lip, which is unattractive no matter how you slice it, or wipe it away as the case may be. And let's say you've been reading the newspaper or something so you have some newsprint on your hands and then you go to wipe your upper lip then you're putting a smudge there so instead of a sweat 'stache you're pretty...
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