Team America

FRIDAY 20: Sake + rockabilly
Take your love dumpling to Forbidden City, the late-night dim sum spot where dishes like the salt-and-pepper squid pair nicely with an impressive selection of hot and cold sake. Then jive and bop till the wee hours at the Rebel Night Rockabilly Dance Party; revelers are encouraged to don white tees, slick pompadours and polka dots galore. DJs will spin ’50s and ‘60s rock & roll, blues and country, but don’t sweat it if you’re lost when it comes to all that twistin’—short how-tos precede select tunes.

SATURDAY 21: Profanity + burgers
Eff yeah! Celebrate marionettes and freedom at 92Y Tribeca’s Team America: World Police Sing- & Swear-Along. Trey Parker’s 2004 film will be screened with lyrics for each of the movie’s profanity-ridden ditties. A free beer is included with the $13 ticket, which’ll help when you have to croon “Only a Woman” to your lover. Afterward, pen an entirely different ode on the paper tablecloths at The Ear Inn. The bar, housed in an early-19th-century building, doesn’t close until 4am, and you can order a burger or roast as late 1am.

SUNDAY 22: Tim Burton + pop-up eats
“Tim Burton,” the much-anticipated career retrospective on the Jack Skellington–of-all-trades, opens today at the Museum of Modern Art. Cruise the drawings, paintings, props and other film memorabilia from Burton’s personal archives (think never-before-seen student art and unfinished project sketches), then bounce over to the PerkStreet Lounge (a.k.a. the 303Grand pop-up space) for an early Turkey Day. The “Thrifty Thanksgiving” includes booze and festive fall tastings of butternut squash bisque, maple-glazed turkey and pear-and-gingersnap cheesecake—all courtesy of local vendors. R.S.V.P. is required; bring canned goods for a local food pantry.

Photographs by Jolie Ruben

Last night, hundreds of fabulously dressed, devilishly handsome (not to mention rich and successful) young gay men filled a purple-tinted, music-pumping Exit Art gallery (conveniently right downstairs from TONY headquarters) to celebrate the Stonewall Foundation’s annual fund-raiser Revel 2009. Music by award-winning DJ Corey Craig and a five-hour open bar courtesy of Stoli drew a packed house where the handsome young donors from major New York City organizations rubbed elbows and drank exotic concoctions served by equally handsome bartenders. Read more »

Yesterday, we told you about a BYOB opera event in an art gallery. Consider tonight part two of your high-culture misadventures when you make your way over to Ido Sushi (29 Seventh Ave South at Bedford St; 212-691-7177, idosushi.com) for the restaurant’s weekly opera night. This time, there’s no staged production, though—the series is completely open-mike. Singers just show up with sheet music for the pianist and start belting out the arias.

Chef and part owner Tora recognizes the uniqueness of using a sushi joint as a classical-music venue, but he remains steadfast: “Some people got shocked by the high-frequency voices. So they left, and I said, ‘Bye bye.’” Tora, who takes voice lessons himself and encourages his daughter to practice on the upright Yamaha in the corner of the restaurant, is interested in creating an open environment for musicians and opera lovers. It seems to be working—between six and ten singers usually show up for the performance, which runs from 8 to 10pm. Should you have a song in your heart, you’re welcome to take the mike. “This is open for anybody,” says Tora. “If you have music, you can sing here.”

Image via Ido Sushi

TGIF! Your perfect weekend is here, and it’s a work of art. Start in Times Square with the opening of “Leonardo da Vinci’s Workshop,” a re-creation of the Renaissance man’s studio, complete with a walking 3-D model of a mechanical lion and a robot knight. Continue to probe the world of nightmarish animals at “Subliminal Communication,” an exhibition of Surrealist works by Gilbert Oh and Joe Vaux—check out a piece called Deep Sea Diva, featuring a she-octopus chopping up whales with her tentacles.

Animals of a third kind can be found at the book launch of Sandhogs (it turns out they’re humans who’ve been digging a new city water tunnel 800 feet below the streets of Manhattan since the ’70s). And if all of this wackiness is a bit too much to handle this early in the weekend, head to the Town Hall to catch Ray Davies, who will revisit the Kinks’ back catalog with the aid of the Dessoff Chamber Choir, making for a quintessentially British perfect Friday.

Books
Jayne Anne Phillips
Phillips, recently nominated for a National Book Award, reads from her latest novel, Lark & Termite, which alternates between scenes of war and the story of two siblings living in the South.

Event
Sandhogs book launch
Photographer Gina LeVay shares a slide show and discusses her book about sandhogs—urban miners who dig tunnels beneath the streets of Manhattan.

Art
“Remembering the Fulton Fish Market”
Artist Naima Rauam stages the fourth edition of this exhibit, which features her sketches and paintings of the Fulton Fish Market from its days in South Street Seaport.

Cover image via Amazon.com

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Win a dildo made from 24k gold!

Happy Ending Lounge (302 Broome St between Eldridge and Forsyth Sts; 212-334-9676, happyendinglounge.com) lives up to its euphemistic name tonight—expect things to get hot and heavy at the fourth anniversary of the “In the Flesh” reading series (8pm, free), hosted by erotic writer and cupcake connoisseur Rachel Kramer Bussel. To celebrate in style, she’ll feature some of the steamiest readers from over the years, including memoirists Lily Burana (Strip City) and Isobella Jade (Model Life), as well as the organizers of the 2010 Sex Blogger Calendar.

As its longevity suggests, the event is very popular, so it’s advisable to get there by 7:30pm to snag a seat. You’ll also want to put yourself in prime position to bogart one of the 300 cupcakes Bussel’s baking for the occasion (check out her cupcake-themed blog here). Erotic giveaways throughout the evening include a paddle and slapper from Extreme Restraints, a $100 Babeland gift card and the prize of all prizes, a 24k gold dildo from Jimmyjane.

Image of dildo via Jimmyjane

Don’t miss out on an evening of opera and booze at ICO Gallery (606 W 26th St at Eleventh Ave; 212-966-3897, icogallery.com) in Chelsea tonight. Starting at 7:30pm, the multiuse gallery will host a performance of Madama Butterfly, produced by Opera Company of Brooklyn. This progressive company has been supporting young opera singers and musicians since 2000 and loves attracting new audiences through performances in unique venues. So bring some tissues and let yourself get carried away by the tragic love story—it certainly beats getting your heart broken for real.

Keep in mind the event is BYOB—just make a pit stop on the way over. We’re not exactly experts on wine-opera pairings, but the work was scored by Puccini, so we’re going to recommend something Italian. Tickets can still be purchased here for $20-35.

Image via icogallery.com

Video shot by Mandela Gregoire, edited by Elizabeth Kreutz

A lost female astronaut has wandered the streets of New York for the past two weeks. The performance piece by artist Alicia Framis is part of the art biennial Performa 09, and ironically responds to the exclusion of women from the race to the moon 40 years ago. We caught up with Framis to chat about the project and grabbed footage from her videographer Mandela Gregoire.

The lost astronaut followed instructions written by authors and artists including New Yorker writer Michael Shulman, artist and Hercules and Love Affair alum Kim Ann Foxman, and performance artist Marina Abramovic.

Although the performances are over, the astronaut’s base camp—which displays logs and photos of her excursions and architectural models of moon homes—is on view at APF Lab (15 Wooster St between Broome and Canal Sts; 212-966-0193, artproductionfund.org; daily, noon–6pm) through November 22. See more photos from the project after the jump. Read more »

Yigal Azrouël
Don’t be a chump who pays full price. Instead, head to this Israeli designer’s sale, where you can score up to 70 percent off current in-store merchandise. Women’s belted knit cardigans are marked down from $795 to $215, jersey cowl-neck dresses are $230 (were $760), and men’s Fair Isle alpaca cardigans are $130 (instead of $430). 225 W 39th St between Seventh and Eighth Aves, seventh floor (212-302-1194). Subway: N, Q, R, W, 42nd St S, 1, 2, 3, 7 to 42nd St–Times Sq. Thu 19 8am–7pm.

Tracy Reese
No need to blow your budget on a festive outfit for your office holiday party (if you’re actually having one) thanks to the abundance of chic loot from this flirty label. Impress your coworkers in a strapless ruffled frock, lowered from $300 to $120; a floral-print number for $120 (normally $260); or a patchwork-print minidress, sliced from $525 to $190. 260 W 39th St between Seventh and Eighth Aves, fifth floor (646-438-6928). Subway: A, C, E to 42nd St–Port Authority; N, Q, R, W, 42nd St S, 1, 2, 3, 7 to 42nd St–Times Sq. Thu 19, Fri 20 9am–7pm.

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Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon passed away yesterday at the age of 74. As the famous artistic duo Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the husband-and-wife team has been creating large-scale temporary installations together since 1961. The two are known for their ambitious creations, which have included wrapping islands, museums and monuments in lengths of cloth, a Running Fence composed of 24.5 miles of white nylon fabric extending from just north of San Francisco to the Pacific Ocean at Bodega Bay, and the brightly colored Gates that graced Central Park in 2005. Jeanne-Claude spent her artistic career and her marriage constantly endeavoring to bring beautiful art to the world, hoping that through beauty she could inspire joy.—Emily Bauman

Click here for the obituary in The New York Times.

Steven Alan
Line up for scads of stylish garb and accessories at this hip chainlet’s legendary bargainfest. Get there early if you want to score Steven Alan’s cotton button-downs, now $55 to $65 (instead of $148 to $168). Also up for grabs are discounted threads from Sophomore, Demylee, Spring and Clifton and Relwen. 87 Franklin St between Broadway and Church St (212-219-3305). Subway: 1 to Franklin St. Thu 19, Fri 20 8:30am–8pm; Sat 21 noon–7pm; Sun 22 noon–5pm.

Inhabit
Winter is more bearable when you’re wrapped in cozy cashmere. Women can keep warm in cashmere hoodies, slashed from $644 to $80, and men can stock up on classic cashmere crews for $80 (usually $368). 1441 Broadway between 40th and 41st Sts, 24th floor (inhabitny.com). Subway: A, C, E to 42nd St–Port Authority; N, Q, R, W, 42nd St S, 1, 2, 3, 7 to 42nd St–Times Sq. Thu 19 10am–6pm.

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Photographs: Diana Sonis

Fancy ladies (and gents) in fancy hats. What more can we say about the Milliners Guild’s fourth annual St. Catherine’s Day Fete? Except gaze upon the exquisite glory of the handcrafted headpieces. Moved to purchase an extravagant chapeau? Peruse a list of the guild’s members here.

From left: Sammy Buck, Alan Kistler, Chelsea Doyle, Andi Teran (Photograph: Cloe Seldman/Michael Priest Photography)

You would think that prior to a mini–vampire convention, the straitlaced Paley Center would be bustling with at least a dozen adolescents wearing lacy, Stevie Nicks–gone-supergoth outfits and holding frenetic conversations about what sort of Twilight tribute tattoo they were getting to commemorate the premiere of New Moon. It was not so. We looked for them everywhere, but the only people we saw smoking outside, holding programs (not proposed skin-ink sketches), were a couple of middle-aged ladies who looked like our mom. This was typical: The appeal of vampires, and most specifically, the vampires in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series, transcends age, gender and embarrassment.

It is perfectly acceptable to be old and harbor an intense lit crush on the Twilight version of the ideal, heroic male, Mr. Sexy Vampire the First, esquire (a.k.a. Edward Cullen), because we are—as this past Saturday’s Dark Shadows at Twilight: A Paley Center Vampire Weekend event proved—in the midst of an explosion in the popularity of vampires in pop culture. A panel of six journalists and editors, corralled by moderator and Entertainment Weekly editor-at-large Ken Tucker, were prepared to defend their vampires of choice and debate exactly how important each of them is. “We are gathered here today to celebrate the vampire,” Tucker intoned in his introduction. He forgot to say that if toddlers thought Twilight’s heroine, Bella Swan, was as cool as Aladdin’s Princess Jasmine, Disney would have to rush a High School Musical: Vampires in College OMG edition into production. And they’d have to like it, because Zac Efron would be wearing fake fangs. (And stop tanning so much.)

Read more »

Video by Karina Granda and Elizabeth Kreutz

Did you miss our third annual live showcase as part of the New York Comedy Festival? Enjoy a snippet from each of the fantastic performers; it will have to be enough to tide you over until next year.

Read profiles of the comics here, here and here.

Dance
AUNTS Roadshow
Soak up the collective spirit of AUNTS with these simultaneous dance performances.

Book
“Getting Work: Labor Issues in the 21st Century”
The literary review Bookforum hosts what promises to be a lively roundtable about the contemporary workplace.

Clubs
Deep See: Patrice Scott
A Motor City master of evocative house plays an intimate set at Bar 13.

Comedy
Craig Robinson
The Office star employs every ounce of his abundant smoothness to make you laugh.

Event
“Jewish Comedians: On Woody Allen”
Columbia Professor Jeremy Dauber heads to the 92nd Street Y to discuss Allen’s impressive but overlooked early career as a comedian (7:30pm, $27).

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Books
Greil Marcus: Lipstick Traces
Marcus, pictured, wrote his seminal work on punk and the Situationist movement 20 years ago, but it still rocks.

Party
Post-Apocalypse Survival Party
Join party-lovin’ musician Andrew W.K., comedian Matt McCarthy, author Tony O’Neill and more at this discussion, which doubles as a launch party for Pomp and Circumstance magazine.

Event
When Everything Changed
New York Times op-ed columnist Gail Collins discusses her new book about the women’s liberation movement. R.S.V.P. to events@tenement.org.

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It’s all going down in a couple hours at Hammerstein Ballroom (311 W 34th St between Eighth and Ninth Aves, 212-279-774): Sixteen of the best B-boys from around the world face off in a one-on-one, single-elimination-format competition to crown a champion of Red Bull BC One 2009. Think of it as America’s Best Dance Crew, minus the crew part and Mario Lopez. Instead, you get host KRS-One (who will lend his legendary mike skills to the proceedings throughout the evening), as well as live performances from Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek, Rock Steady Crew and the National Double Dutch League. Oh, and no Lil Mama or JC Chasez, either—winners will be chosen by B-boy godfather Crazy Legs and former Red Bull BC One winner Ronnie Abaldonado.

What else do you need to know? Check out the footage of this year’s contestants settling into NYC (with a stop at graffiti mecca 5Pointz), then backflip over to the Hammerstein stat!

Do you have a heap of old pajamas and stinky T-shirts in your closet that you’ve been meaning to get rid of since 2004? Give them the new home they’ve been waiting for at “This Fable Is Intended for You: A Work Energy Principle,” an interactive art project cosponsored by the arts>World Financial Center and Under the Radar Festival. All you have to do is show up at 1 New York Plaza (Water St at Whitehall St) from now until Dec 20 and drop off any clothes you don’t want anymore; come January, the piece will be used in a performance piece that makes use of giant used-clothing ropes, all sourced from the dregs of New Yorkers’ closets.

“This is an opportunity for the community to actively engage in a common project from start to finish,” says artist MK Guth. That may be artist-speak for “Please help, I don’t want my large-scale public art piece to suck!” But still, it’s a good alternative to the Salvation Army (which only takes still-decent, usable clothes). To see the work-in-progress and chat with the artist, feel free to stop by Muth’s space anytime Tuesday to Friday from noon to 5pm. You’ll find him in an abandoned storefront between a Dunkin’ Donuts and a Subway.

Coraline, one of Selick's creations.

If you don’t know who Henry Selick is, a quick glance at his directing credits—Coraline, The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, etc.—should give you a sense of his status as one of the premier auteurs of the animation world. Tonight at 7pm, join him at the Crosby Street Hotel (79 Crosby St between Prince and Spring Sts; 212-226-6400, crosbystreethotel.com) for an intimate discussion of his career and craft, including clips from his oeuvre ($20; go to movingimage.us or call 718-784-4520 for tickets).

If you want to do something beforehand, look no further than the hotel bar. You can order high tea until 5:30pm, or pop in for a quick cocktail before the event. Committed stop-motion geeks can also catch Selick again tomorrow night at the Director’s Guild Theater (7:30pm, $20), where he’ll chat with Museum of the Moving Image chief curator David Schwartz, following a screening of Coraline in 3-D. And, of course, you’ll eventually want to bring your newfound Nightmare Before Christmas knowledge to the new Tim Burton retrospective at MoMA.

At last night’s annual fundraiser for storytelling powerhouse the Moth, the superstars of the world of the narrative celebrated and gave their support. We asked each the same question: “What will be the opening line of your next memoir, real or imaginary?”

“If you know me, please don’t read this.”
Jonathan Ames, essayist, HBO character

“I was completely unprepared for this.”
Sarah Jones, playwright

“Thank God for my two families, my original and my present.”
Albert Maysles, documentary filmmaker

“I am sitting in a Starbucks trying to fill the page so they’ll pay me.”
Mike Birbiglia, comedian and author

“I wish I’d never gotten involved with storytelling.”
George Dawes Green, novelist and founder of the Moth

“It was on Labor Day, lying on a massage table with a woman squeezing my glutes and talking about Jesus, when I realized that I was suffering a stroke.”
Garrison Keillor, Prairie Homesteader

“This is an ambush and I’m outraged.”
Tony Hendra, satirist, Ian Faith

“57 and not getting any taller.”
Simon Doonan, creative director of Barneys

“There are the things we can see and the things we can’t.”
Jennifer Stein, poet and writer

“Let’s see, where was I…”
Tommy Tune, Broadway director and choreographer

“My name is Adam Wade, and I’m originally from New Hampshire.”
Adam Wade, Moth GrandSlam Winner

“Everything changed once I was able to hold two ideas in my head at the same time: that life wasn’t fair and that I was really lucky to be here.”
Ed Gavagan, Moth GrandSlam Winner

Photographs of Jonathan Ames (top) and Garrison Keillor by Sarah Stacke.