Mad Labs: “Is the Universe Infinite?” with Janna Levin
Dec. 4, 92YTribeca, 200 Hudson St. (betw.Debrosses and Watts Sts.), 7:30, $12Hot young Barnard physics professor (and author of PEN-awarded novel A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines) Janna Levin “explains” whether the universe ends to a no-doubt appreciatively hip, hiply appreciative tussle-haired Chuck-Taylor-and-corduroy-blazer clad Sol Moscot-spectacle-wearing group of downtown pseudo-intellectuals. They may not be science minded, but they’ll be confident they can grasp complex processes using their small liberal arts education and their ability for critical reasoning.
Bottom Line: If anyone can make complex physics concepts accessible to the layman, it’s Professor Levin—who is not only a physicist but also an engaging novelist.
STACKS and BRACKO: A Reading and Performance
Dec. 4, Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, New York University, 566 LaGuardia Pl. (at Washington Square South), 8, $10
This collaboration has more partners than a bukkake photo shoot and more legends than a map store. (Hey-O!) Young buck Jonah Bokaer, an ex-Merce Cunningham dancer who struck out on his own, teams up with the poet Anne Carson, the sculptor Peter Cole, the avant-hard choreographer Elizabeth Streb plus a few other Cunningham dancers for an evening of interdisciplinary collaboration (a dance based on a poem based on a sculpture (pictured right) based on a dance based on a…) that could only be the child of the Creative Writing Program at NYU, which sponsored the piece.
Bottom Line: These things usually suck (too much concept, too little follow through) but the high caliber of tonight’s collaborators safeguard against too much bullshit.
Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Resurrection
Dec. 8, Avery Fisher Hall, 132 W. 65th St. (betw. Amsterdam Ave. & Broadway), 8, $25-$100.Akin to the Superbowl of the New York Philharmonic, this program features Gustav Mahler’s sweeping Second Symphony. It’s a big deal because the symphony is so ambitious and the event comes with all sorts of frills, including a pre-concert multimedia presentation about
the music. Conducting is the Eli Manning of Mahler, Gilbert Kaplan, who has conducted the symphony over 50 times.
Bottom Line: Shit, shower, shave and go to the symphony. Mahler’s moving and Kaplan’s the man to move him.
Smithsonian
Dec. 2, Beauty Bar NY, 231 E. 14th St. (betw. 2nd & 3rd Aves.), 10, FREE
Once upon a time, there were four Smiths. Now there are none. Morrissey went on to a great solo career and refuses to reunite. Guitarist Johnny Marr joined Modest Mouse in 2006. Which leaves two—bassist Andy Rourke and drummer Mike Joyce—faffing about, looking for ways to fill their days. Sad for them but good for us. Beauty Bar inaugurates a Tuesday Smiths night with a DJ set by Mr. Rourke (now a Mancunian DJ) tonight and Mr. Joyce the following.
Bottom Line: What Beauty Bar Tuesdays lack in Sway’s Sunday Morrissey Night cachet, it makes up for by having actual ex-Smiths on the turntables.
Mystery of Claywoman
Dec. 5, The Wild Project, 195 E. 3rd St. (betw. Aves. A & B), 8, $12
I’m not going to lie to you; I’m not quite sure what to make of this event.What I do know is that Mystery of Claywoman is part documentary, part lecture, part performance art by Michael Cavadias (he was a drag queen in Wonderboys; performed as DJ Lily of the Valley at Pyramid; is a good guy). I like this event for the film’s cast list, which includes Justin Bond, Alan Cumming, Deborah Harry, Amy Poehler and others.
Bottom Line: For the courageous and the cognoscenti, Mystery of Claywoman, whatever it is, shouldn’t be missed.The run stretches from Dec. 4 to 14. Presumably by then the mystery will be solved.
