Books
Zoë Heller
Heller celebrates the paperback release of The Believers, a satire about a New York secular Jewish family that begins to fall apart—and question its core beliefs—after its civil-rights-lawyer patriarch falls ill.
Books
Elaine Showalter and Erica Jong
Literary critic Showalter discusses her book about American women writers, A Jury of Her Peers, with Fear of Flying novelist Erica Jong.
Opera & Classical
Ensemble ACJW
Consistently one of the best games in town, tonight’s program pairs Robert Schumann’s Märchenerzählungen with Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio in G minor.
Music
Keith Ganz and Kate McGarry
Just a few months after they moved away to Virginia, guitarist Keith Ganz and vocalist Kate McGarry are back for a visit.
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Festival
5 Dutch Days
Kick of this Dutch-themed festival with free food and Netherlands-ish trivia at the Dutch Quiz Quest.
Event
“Lower East Side Stories: Apartment Tales”
This regular storytelling series turns to a topic we can all relate to: NYC apartments, and the horror stories contained therein.
Discussion
Obsolete: An Encyclopedia of Once-Common Things Passing Us By
Author Anna Jane Grossman will discuss things that are no longer in common use (e.g., mixtapes and getting lost), then open the floor to audience members who want to argue about them.
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Eat Out
William Grimes at Tenement Talks
The former New York Times dining critic offers a primer on the evolution of New York restaurants.
Lecture
“Darwin on Facebook: How Culture Transforms Human Evolution”
Anthropologist Peter Richerson breaks down his theory that it’s social interaction—online or off—that drives human evolution. Survival of the twittest?
Gay & Lesbian
Wednesgayz
DJ Tikka hosts this new weekly dance party with a rotating lineup of hand-selected guest DJs and down-to-earth Bed-Stuy queers.
Book cover via Amazon.
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Lecture
Million Trees NYC
Learn about the strategy and mission of Million Trees NYC, an initiative to plant (you guessed it) 1 million trees in the five boroughs by 2017.
Music
Stereogum/The Believer showcase
R.S.V.P. at stereogum.com for free passes to see Cold Cave, the Golden Filter, Free Energy and Glasser.
Event
The New York Times Book of New York: Stories of the People, the Streets, and the Life of the City Past and Present
Current and former New York Times editors and writers, including Sewell Chan and Anna Quindlen, discuss the newspaper’s latest book, and their own New York stories.
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This SlideShowPro photo gallery requires the Flash Player plugin and a web browser with JavaScript enabled.
As every New Yorker knows, strange sights are a dime a dozen on 14th Street. So, on a block where only a man with aquamarine dreadlocks may stand out, it is easy to miss some of the gems that Art in Odd Places (AiOP) has to offer.
Michele Brody’s Tea House Productions, on the corner of 14th Street at Irving Place, is one of the many unobtrusive works in AiOP, an art exhibition of performances and interventions (running October 1 through 26) all along 14th Street. Housed inside a metal and Plexiglas coffee cart—the kind seen on almost every corner in Manhattan—the display in the windows comprises used teabags, instead of the regular fare of doughnuts and other assorted pastries. Brody invites pedestrians to join her inside, offering a cup of tea to anyone willing to stop and join her for a chat. In our conversation, I learned that Brody didn’t begin the project as a performance, but that it stemmed from her background in fiber studies, a fascination with tea stains and an interest in daily rituals. The works that inspired Tea House Productions—and the ones that come out of it—are the transcriptions of her conversations over tea, scrawled onto the dried teabags that were used.
AiOP offers many other ways to become part of the art, along with several subtle surprises demonstrating that art can be found in the details of a busy street. Go for a walk this month from the Hudson to the East River, or check out our slide show for a quick preview.—Emily Bauman
Tea House Productions will be repeated Oct 16–18 2–6pm, and Brody’s Tea Cart Stories will be on display at The Tenement Museum through December.
Books
St. Marks Bookshop Reading Series
James Guida offers a series of incisive, strange and often philosophically compelling aphorisms, and Devin Johnston communes with nature.
Gay and Lesbian
Trembling Before G-d
Filmmaker Sandi DuBowski screens his award-winning doc about homosexuality in the Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish communities.
Event
“Lower East Side Stories: Kids in Gotham”
Tales of growing up in NYC take center stage at this gathering of storytellers, where you can join in on the act (as long as your story’s under three minutes).
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