A couple weeks ago singer-songwriter Kimya Dawson played at the Music Hall of Williamsburg.  During the show, I stepped outside with my friend as a gaggle of 17-year-old kids came out to smoke. We had seen them earlier when a drunken hula-hooping girl attempted to bum cigarettes and hold a hooping contest.  They were flustered as they excitedly explained their recent encounter with hula-hoop girl.  “And then, Kimya told that girl to be quiet, and it was so cool!” one boy gushed.  I told Dawson this and she just laughed and knew exactly whom I was talking about.  Turns out not only did she tell her to “be quiet” and respect the artist who was paying homage to his dead friend. But, when the girl refused to do so, the wild haired, plump, and pretty veteran member of Moldy Peaches had her kicked out...

Continue reading "Kimya Dawson" here.
[ read more... ]

Be the first to comment on this post

Audio and visual—a techy match made in heaven. But what if you don’t do sound? Or your creative eye is limited to the ear? Maybe you should try AVSwap 2008, an event that brings filmmakers and musicians together. Organized in 2004 in Houston, Texas, by Michelle Hempton, this year marks the fifth AVSwap. It started
[ read more... ]

Be the first to comment on this post

For the second year they have built it and they have come. By the hundreds in fact for the new Apple iPhone 3G. The three-gigabytes is twice as fast as the old, more expensive iPhone, and supposedly you can use your new phone anywhere in the world. Great. Now all you have to do is
[ read more... ]

Be the first to comment on this post

I think it started with the Serbian girls sitting next to me.  One stood up in her seat and began swaying her hips and clapping in rhythm.  The other two joined her, oblivious to the people pointing and smiling.  How could they? This was a concert hall!  This was the Lincoln Center and good money was spent to sit and watch Goran Bregovic’s Wedding and Funeral Band. Yet the horns called, more people stood, and soon the aisles were full of women, and a few men, holding hands and dancing to the infectious Balkan brass sounds as Bregovic played songs from both his albums and his many film scores including Underground, Arizona Dream and Time of the Gypsies.

Continue reading "Goran Bregovich" here.
[ read more... ]

Be the first to comment on this post

When I woke up this morning Kimya Dawson’s song “I Like Giants” circulated in my head.  “Cause I, like, giants. Eee-special-leee girl giants…” over and over again.  I wasn’t too surprised, Dawson’s songs often have a catchy, whistle-friendly tune to them and last night she played at the Music Hall of Williamsburg.  Joining her were a collection of her friends including Paleface, Levy, and Graham Wilkinson & The Underground Township.   The over four-hour show also acted as a benefit for the Aaron Wilkinson Memorial Playground in Texas, a tribute to Graham’s brother and a good friend of Dawson’s who died two years ago.

I don’t know if the show felt exceptionally emotional because of the memorial aspect, or if it’s just Dawson’s nature.  Most of the time while she sang it sounded as if tears hung in her throat and that at any minute she might break down and cry.

Continue reading "Kimya Dawson" here.
[ read more... ]

Be the first to comment on this post

Summertime means many things to people, but for me, the hot and humid nights call for a romp to Coney Island.  Every Friday night among the glittering games, towering Wonder Wheel and loud-booming music pouring from the Polar Express, fireworks are set off about 9:30 on the beach.  They are so close you can smell the burning explosives mingling with French fries and Nathan’s hot dogs, which by the way you now let you know just how many calories you are pumping into you sweaty beach bound body. 

One of the best parts about going to Coney Island is stopping by Sideshows by the Seashore, a classic “freak show” and cabaret venue.  Take a break at their freak show bar on your way to the Cyclone and sample a Coney Island craft lager by Shmaltz.  Choose your favorite freak from the “Sword Swallower” steel hop lager to “Albino Python” white lager, all images modeled after real, live freaks. And, if you happen to be there on a Thursday or Friday night, indulge in the wonderful world of burlesque and Sideshows weekly Burlesque on the Beach. 

This past Friday I was treated to The Peach Tartes, a storytelling burlesque troupe, and their special guest, The World Famous *BOB* and her “big top.” And yes, that top is big...

Continue reading "Peach Tartes" here.
[ read more... ]

Be the first to comment on this post

Mushroom margaritas and absinthe gummy bears: a liquefied gastro
[ read more... ]

Be the first to comment on this post

Which sounds better, tables laden with top-notch Belgium chocolate bars and specialty olives from Greece? Or a bar teeming with locally produced “mind-altering meats” and creamy ricotta?  Maybe both?  Tasty option number one is just a small example of over 180,000 specialty foods that will be featured at the Fancy Food Show at the Javits
[ read more... ]

Be the first to comment on this post

The artist whom people best know for his melting clocks, baguette-crowned bicyclists and crawling ants, not only painted and drew, but also had an avid interest in film. This Sunday, the Museum of Modern Art will open the exhibit Dalí: Painting and Film, the first retrospective of Salvador Dalí’s work in-house since 1941.  Focusing on his films, the show has six galleries dedicated to single projects and important time periods in Dalí’s film career.

The exhibit aptly displays a side of Dalí that is less talked about, and it does it well.  The rooms of the exhibit are easy to navigate and the rich content sticks with the theme while enhancing the films.  As an avid Dalí fan, I have been to dozens of museums and shows highlighting his career, and it was nice to go to a show that I felt I hadn’t been to before...

Continue reading "Hello Dali" here.
[ read more... ]

Be the first to comment on this post

Movie stars, spies, secret weapons and science do exist together outside of a Hollywood blockbuster. The tale of film icon Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil’s invention of an anti-jamming device used to control torpedoes proved as true as it did strange. The oddity of the story is brought out even more in the play Frequency Hopping, produced by the Hourglass Group and showing at 3LD Art & Technology Center.

Written and directed by Elyse Singer, Frequency Hopping chronicles how Antheil (Joseph Urla) and Lamarr (Erica Newhouse) thought up the logistics of one of Lamarr’s inventions and the strange sort of relationship they had together. They kiss once in the play but it never becomes clear if Antheil, who was married, and Lamarr, divorced twice, did more then that...

Continue reading "Frequency Hopping" here.
[ read more... ]

Be the first to comment on this post