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Porcine lovers filed into the Morgan Avenue studios this past Sunday in search of free Colt 45s, pork, rice, beans and Mexi slaw at 3rd Ward’s Second Annual Pig Roast & Dance Party. The 195-pound pig—prepared by cult butcher Tom Mylan and chef Eric Sherman of Marlow & Sons—was in such demand, an hour-long line wrapped through the courtyard, back into the building, down a hallway and into the main lobby.
Bluesy punk rockers Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers kept everyone’s minds off their growling stomachs with their high-energy set prior to the food’s arrival, followed by Brooklyn rock band In Cadeo, who hasn’t had much luck avoiding the rain this summer. In Cadeo’s last three gigs have ended in downpours and yesterday’s show was no different: The heavens opened at the end of their first song, forcing the crowd of hungry masses to wait out the storm, drinking spiked lemonades blended by Artistic Evolution until their voracious appetites were, at long last, sated with $3 plates of pork taco. Pig power.
Head over to the World Financial Center Winter Garden for the Bang on a Can Marathon. Created by Michael Gordon, David Lang and Julia Wolfe, Bang on a Can started as a one-day festival and has grown into an accomplished organization that focuses on making innovative and often unknown music accessible to global audiences. Today’s 12-hour festival features performances by Japanese electronica pioneer Ryuichi Sakamoto, choral-music trailblazer Paul Hillier, the Smith Quartet and Chicago instrumental-rock force Tortoise.
While you’re there, be sure to check out Ars Nova Copenhagen, a European vocal collective making their New York debut. Catch them at 6pm performing Three Stages by Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen and Rise Up, My Love by Howard Skempton. We assure you by the time the night’s over, you’ll be searching for many of the festival’s participants on iTunes.
Celebrate all things Japanese with Central Park’s Japan Day. Watch the International Karate Organization Kyokushinkaikan smash blocks of ice with their bare hands and listen to Osaka duo Orange Pekoe’s bossa-jazz fusion. Compete in or watch the four-mile Japan Run and fuel up afterward with free samples of gyoza dumplings.
Celebrate the last day of bike month by stocking up on bike gear at The Brooklyn Bike Jumble. Pick out some accessories for you and your pup and ride over to the second annual Doggie Pedal Parade in Tompkins Square Park where canines will be carried on trailers and in baskets to help raise awareness of the benefits of pet adoption.
The concept behind Stewart Matthew’s “Green Aria” ScentOpera at Guggenheim is so intriguing, we’re sniffing the air in anticipation. “Scent microphones” will pump out perfume mixed by fragrance designer Christophe Laudamiel; they’re there to enhance an original piece of music composed by Nico Muhly and Valgeir Sigurdsson. Each perfume—earth, fire, etc.—has been created to invoke a special meaning within the context of the narrative. As long as there’s no reference to Dutch ovens, you should be good to go.
Catch the Norwegian band I Was King for a free 4pm show today at the cozy Greenpoint record shop Permanent Records. This is the first time the band is bringing its retrofied psych-pop to the states, and Sufjan Stevens, Daniel Smith of Danielson, and Gary Olson of Ladybug Transistor liked them enough to contribute to the self-titled new album.
If you like what you hear, know that seeing the show for free today will only up your cred with the folks who go to the show at Mercury Lounge tonight and a 9pm show at Park Slope’s Union Hall Sunday night.
When it’s 4am and you’re completely toasted, any meat on a skewer tastes like manna from heaven. But if you want to gorge on quality, home-cooked shish kebab, haul ass here. FREEOur Lady of Lebanon Cathedral, 113 Remsen St between Clinton and Henry Sts, Brooklyn Heights (718-624-7228). Fri, Sat 11am–10pm; Sun noon–7pm.
Switch boroughs for unusual musical entertainment at the New York Uke Fest where you’ll join about 700 ukulele fans for performances and workshops. Highlights include Bill “Duke of Uke” Tapia’s Saturday-evening performance, a fingerpicking workshop and Sunday’s indoor luau. Don’t forget your grass skirt. Visit nyukefest.com for locations and a full schedule. $40–$135.
Head to Coney Island today for recession drama when unemployed New Yorkers take on Wall Streeters in an ultimate game of tug-of-war. Additional binary oppositions such as firefighters vs. police officers and vegans vs. carnivores will also compete.
If the recession’s got you you looking for a more aristocratic adventure, head over to Governors Island to watch Prince Harry of Wales face off against Argentine polo star and (Ralph Lauren model) Nacho Figueras at the Veuve Clicquot Manhattan Polo Classic.
Regain your populist ire and turn yourtrash into someone else’s treasure at the SCORE pop-up swap shop, where you can trade your never-been-worn impulse buys with other shoppers.
Finish off your perfect day by wearing your new duds to You’re Not Alone, a mash-up event featuring comedy from Todd Barry and Eugene Mirman, music by Matthew Caws, and readings by the likes of Amy Tan and Anthony Swofford.
Get all the details and find more options for Saturday here.
Comedy Unwigged & Unplugged
Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer play songs from This Is Spinal Tap and A Mighty Wind at Beacon Theatre—without costumes or amps.
Eat Out Fresh screening Get your first glimpse of this documentary, which follows people who are reinventing our food system to make healthy, green food available to the masses.
Books Dennis Cooper
The infamously shocking author has just released the extremely comedic Ugly Man and appears tonight with burlesque performer Joe Boobs.
Pillow talk How I Learned About Sex
For a good time, catch comedians Craig Baldo and Claudia Cogan, author David Heatly and actor musician Cynthia Kaplan tell hilarious but true sex tales.
Music Sarah Siskind
Bon Iver often covers her song “Lovin’s for Fools.” You can become a fan of this Nashville singer-songwriter at the Living Room tonight.
It might be the last day of your Memorial Day weekend, but that doesn’t mean the fun speedometer needs to come to a halt. First hit up the concert “NYC’s Buried Treasure: A Musical Portrait” at Green-Wood Cemetery, for a mix of songs from a range of famous composers including Fred Ebb and Leonard Bernstein. Make sure to plan enough time between your Sunday activities; the 45-minute trolley tour after the show should not be missed.
Continue the ghoulish fun at HiChristina’s Faux Amusement Ride Fun House, where hosts Christina Ewald and Fritz Donnelly will attempt to mimic your ideal roller-coaster experience on the spot. Think wisely before making your request or you may end up splattered with water balloons.
Read up on the details and more Sunday activities here.
Make some progress on your dream beach bod and have fun doing it. Head over to the Morocco Academy of Mid-Eastern Dance for a serious workout. Beginner classes on Mondays and Fridays will teach you the hip-jutting basics of raqs sharqi, a social folk dance commonly known as belly dancing.
Today at noon, studio owner Morocco—whom we last saw at the Dance Parade—will be teaching a traditional schikhatt. Now the next time you’re at a pool party you can impress your friends with rock-hard abs and smooth dance moves.
For more Moroccan destinations and activities check out TONY’s Passport NY Morocco.
Celebritydom is questionable these days with all those darn reality stars running around. Party with the D-listers on the NYC Memorial Day Party Cruise and get some tips on scoring your 15 minutes of MTV fame.
If hanging out with A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila’s Vanessa Romanelli doesn’t make you want to get off the couch travel back in time to a more exciting era. Help the 12-piece Dreamland Orchestra raise funds for its Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island scheduled for June by attending a speakeasy-themed Dreamland Gala. Play dress-up with flat-caps and flapper fringe and bid on silent-auction items from Olive’s Very Vintage. Dust off those old-timey dance moves or sign-up for an impromptu dance lesson. It was the Roaring ’20s after all.
Check out all the details and more Sunday recommendations here.
If you’ve never been involved with Improv Everywhere this gorgeous Saturday makes for the perfect occassion. Join hundreds of New Yorkers on often-forgotten Roosevelt Island for today’s sixth-annual excursion. Download a free MP3 from Improv Everywhere.com–don’t listen to it until you get there–and rock out while simultaneously pressing play on your iPod. If you’re not sure what to expect watch the above clip from the MP3 Experiment held on Governor’s Island last September. We wonder what Charlie Todd has up his sleeves this time. We’re pretty sure he’s proved that using earbuds doesn’t have to be an antisocial experience.
Memorial Day weekend continues with a host of Fleet Week activities at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. Throw on some loop terry short-shorts and get in some midday exercises with tug-of-war at noon and stem-to-stern races at 2pm. After all, you never know what hunky sailor you might run into.
Add a sweatband and drop-neck T-shirt to your outfit and you’re ready for the Flashdance Into Summer Skate Party over at Lola Staar’s Dreamland Roller Rink. Skate and sip iced Astro-mochas with your new boy-toy as you wait for the Flashdance-themed costume contest. What more could you want for your Saturday night?
Grab all the deets and additional Saturday events here.
Beat you to it Prom Dress Rugby Round Robin Watch women rugby players repurpose their prom dresses while competing in this dangerously fun contact sport.
Eat Out Super Fantastic Rosé Festival Wine and literature make a great combination at Le Dû’s, where you can sample five of the wineshop’s rosés and hear Mike Edison read from I Have Fun Everywhere I Go.
Bon Voyage Great Hudson River Swim
Cheer on swimmers in a 1.3-mile race that leaves from the West Village and finishes at North Cove Yacht Harbor in Battery Park.
Clubs Afrokinetic: Brooklyn Bridges Join DJ Chris Annibell at Park Slope’s Royale as he spins Afro-Latin and jazz beats through spring.
The Lower East Side is known for all things creative, so it’s fitting that the neighborhood will host the 14th annual Festival of the Arts this weekend. The event showcases work from more than 100 poets, playwrights and performers; it kicks off today with ID Studio Theater, Poez and Rod Rodgers Dance Company. The latter will perform dances set to Nina Simone’s sultry tunes.
On Saturday, check out the all-day film and video festival or Human Kinetics‘ beautifully choreographed, site-specific movement installation. These back-bending performance artists use a combination of fabric and dance to create slow-moving human sculptures that evolve throughout the installation.
Sunday wraps up with a full-day set including comedian Reno, Diesel/Fusion Dance Company and an excerpt from Maria Micheles’s Photo Play, a short play inspired by Diane Arbus’s photo shoot in a nudist colony.
Celebrate Morrissey’s 50th birthday with this Glasslands tribute party where [relatively] early birds will snag free Colt 45s from 9:30 to 10:30pm. Watch bands like Boston’s Bodega Girls and Stationary Set cover Smiths and Morrissey songs throughout the night and bond with other Morrissey fanatics. Maybe you’ll even run into Smiths-obsessed comedian Dave Hill.
If you started your Memorial Day weekend by sleeping in rather than waiting in the Good Morning America line to see Green Day, don’t worry. There are still more exciting weekend events to come, sleepyhead.
Today, check out The University of Trash at SculptureCenter. This interactive installment functions as a temporary college and includes a Free Skool course program. At 2:30pm, artist Athena Kokoronis will host “Not Your Typical PE Class,” which may include a combination of cooking and qigong.
Simply Marvelous Complimentary hair treatments
Look glamorous on the cheap and head to Mark Garrison salon to indulge in a free Kérastase signature treatment of your choice and blow-dry (a $100+ value).
Comedy Joan Rivers
Watch Rivers deliver her signature raunchy stand-up act, and help benefit God’s Love We Deliver. Score some of their delicious brownies while you’re there.
Eat Out A history of television cooking shows
Find out how cooking programs reflect the way we eat and live at this tele-gastronomy lecture by Kathleen Collins, author of Watching What We Eat: The Evolution of Television Cooking Shows.
Music St. Vincent
Catch the dark and dreamy St. Vincent sing film-inspired songs off her latest album, Actor at Webster Hall.
Books Phillip Lopate
Listen to Lopate, author of the newly released Notes on Sontag, discuss the outspoken writer with Ben Taylor.
Theater Christmas Is Miles Away
Catch this realistic, coming-of-age story by Chloe Moss, now through May 23, and revisit the vertigo of your youth.
Clubs Giant Step: Afrika Bambaataa
The electropop godfather will be working the ones and twos at another jam-packed Giant Step soiree.
Comedy The Improvised Shakespeare Company
This improve company mixes faux British accents, Elizabethan-era speech and Shakespearean tropes for a can’t-miss show.
Block-head Creative Block
Catch the 54th annual Obie Awards for an avante-garde party that includes acrobatic burlesque, indie0rock bands and a mash-up dance posse.
Music Jason Anderson + The Wailing Wall + Alden Barton
Known for his sticky-sweet tunes under the pseudonym Wolf Colonel, Anderson takes his recent solo album, Tonight, to new rock & roll heights. Catch his free gig at the Cake Shop tonight.
More than 1,500 New Yorkers—and a few out-of-staters—dressed in colorful, quirky costumes shook their booties down Broadway Saturday as part of the third annual Dance Parade. In celebration of this cross-cultural form of self-expression, 115 organizations represented 53 countries and styles of dance including modern, contemporary ballet, African and roller disco. We’re not sure what bikes, stilts, gorilla costumes and hula hoops had to do with dance, but House Coalition, Rubulad and Fairytale Experiment had some of the best outfits in the parade. Of course, who can forget the mysterious roller mermaid that shows up every year to twirl about in her gauzy, aqua fins?
By the time the Pacha float made its way to Tompkins Square Park the festival had begun. Free dance classes and this year’s new social mixer gave festivalgoers their chance to walk it out, but the main event was the Dancefest. The four-hour performance showcased 22 companies and individuals and kicked off with Cirkulock, a circus street-dance group that did backflips off the stage, engaging—thankfully not kicking—the kids lined up in front.
Highlights are Eidolon Ballet, Nzassa Dance Company and Neville Dance Theatre. The latter melded their various styles into one dance includingIrish step dancing and ballroom.Though it was hard not to feel like some of the performances were merely advertising for studios, watching the dancers’ agility and technique was inspiring and entertaining.The audience went ballistic whooping and clapping for NYC Bhangra soon after their dance had started. The 35 company members demonstrated just how fun this dance style is with their enthusiastic facial expressions and fierce moves. Their ethnic diversity and audience’s intense reception is proof that bhangra is becoming a more widely accepted dance form here in New York.
Dance Parade 2009 accomplished what it set out to do. It celebrated dance’s historical roots and created a community that cut across cultural lines.“We’re thrilled with the turnout.… It keeps getting more and more dynamic,” said Yana Landowne, co–executive director. “We’re really trying to champion…the diversity of dance as an expressive art form.”
Make some noise for your borough and listen to eight bands from Queens and Brooklyn spar at Battle of the Bands: BKLYN VS QNS. Not from either zip code? Bike Month peddles on with Folds Up! Folding Bike Race and Festival where you’ll find ergonomic folding cycles on this 10-mile ride. You can also watch people race on 20-inch bike wheels at the Small-wheeled Bike Race in Central Park.
Keep up your momentum with a bone-crushing performance by Gotham Girls Roller Derby. Watch the Brooklyn Bombshells take on the Manhattan Mayhem. If the result is too gory for you join the second annual Lit Crawl NYC where you can hear readings and participate in literary trivia.
Finish the night off by slipping on a pair of high-waisted, black leather pants and head down to the Grease 2 sing-along to take your drunken karaoke skills to a whole different level.
Find all the deets and more recommended events here.
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