(Photoshop by John Ambrosio, images via Psychic TV, Psychic Twin)
Ok, give me your hands and I’ll read your mind. Hmmm. Interesting. You don’t know the difference between Psychic Twin and Psychic TV? That’s understandable, really—their names are pretty close, and they both have new material out and upcoming shows. I don’t know why you put this shortcoming in the “deepest shame box” in your subconscious, but I do know that the latest installment of Bands Apart can help you get it out of there.
This fall, fans of modern classical music will basically be rolling in a sonic leaf pile, as three modern masters make the scene.
Glenn Branca Symphonies, at the Red Bull Music Academy Festival.
Glenn Branca
Glenn Branca– whose sprawling guitar symphonies were a big influence on early Sonic Youth, among others– once collaborated with David Bowie on an audio-visual installation, as he mentioned during his 65th birthday celebration a few years ago and reminded us during his recent appearance a the Red Bull Music Academy festival. To honor his “hero,” Branca is debuting a new work, “The Light (for David),” at Roulette on Oct. 8 (advance tickets are $25-$30). He’ll also unleash a revised version of “The Third Ascension,” a followup to 1981’s acclaimed “The Ascension” that made its US premiere at The Kitchen in February. Bring earplugs, cuz Branca’s work can be ear-shattering and mind-melting.
(Flyer courtesy of Shark Party Media)
As part of the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival, happening in two weeks in Park Slope, comedian Eliot Glazer is taking his popular show, Haunting Renditions, to the Bell House. The Sept. 17 event is part comedy show/part karaoke show in which comedians take on the vapid, popular music hits of today with the help of a backing band and reimagine them in order to “find new, deeper meaning in otherwise lightweight compositions.”
Basically it’s like a more judgmental (and probably funnier) version of Carpool Karaoke. Joining Glazer on this installment of the show are comedians Ilana Glazer and Jon Glaser. Glazer, Glazer and Glaser will—oh jeeze. I am honestly not even sure which one the host is anymore. Wow, ok we’re gonna have to suss this whole thing out.
(Photo: via Union Hall)
MONDAY
Pasic and Platt: The Orgy
Monday August 29, 8 p.m. at Union Hall: $5
Mo Fry Pasic and Tim Platt are two comedians who have teamed up a few times in the past to disgust, bring dread and even break up. Now, the two are moving their show to Union Hall where they’ll be taking the next logical step and hosting an orgy. Sort of. As the event description explains, they’ll be hosting this show as “a modern couple trying to organize an orgy for, undeniably, the wrong reasons.” It’ll be a show with fewer fast, ridiculous comedy scenes and more slow, serious acting around a ridiculous idea. They’re also joined by a bill packed with other great comedians and actors, including Carmen Christopher, Aaron Jackson, Betsy Kenney and Anna Drezen.
(Photo: ugotsoul on Flickr).
Brian Chase isn’t just the Jonathan Safran Foer doppelganger who drums in the Yeah Yeah Yeahs: whether he’s sidelining with a supergroup or helping pay tribute to Lou Reed and Bowie, the guy is somewhat of a renaissance man. Unbeknownst to 99.99999% of people who have “Maps” in their iTunes library, he regularly sits in at John Zorn’s East Village venue The Stone, and has also appeared on some recordings released by Zorn’s record label, Tzadik. So it’s no surprise The Stone has tapped him to be an artist in residence in October.
“Raymond Pettibon, No Title (This feeling is), 2011. Pen and ink on paper, 37 ¼ x 49 ½ in (94.6 x 125.7 cm). Private collection. Courtesy Regen Projects, Los Angeles.”
It’s been two years since Raymond Pettibon’s surfer art went on display on the Upper East Side. Wait, wha? The artist who did the anarchic drawings that graced the cover of Black Flag albums and concert posters? On the Upper East Side? If that seemed weird, this makes more sense: downtown’s own New Museum has announced that, in February, it will put on the city’s first major museum survey of Pettibon’s work, featuring more than 700 drawings across three floors.
(Photos: Endrit Slaughter via The Sloodge’s Facebook)
If you were recently enjoying a peaceful night in your quiet apartment in Park Slope when, all of a sudden, a crowd of nearby 20-and-30-somethings start chanting “U.S.A” and beating each other up and ruining your evening, well, Matt Proctor might be the person to blame.Proctor, an artist and member of the performance collective/show house the Sloodge, recently staged a DIY wrestling show—the first of the new Brooklyn Backyard Wrestling promotion—in his backyard in Brooklyn where, of course, things got weird.
Alamo NYC’s lobby mural. (Photo: Alamo’s FB)
Ever since Tim League revealed that he was opening an Alamo Drafthouse in Brooklyn this summer, we’ve been waiting for an exact opening date with baited breath, with only some enticing details about the menu to tide us over. But wait, what’s this? On the Fandango app right now, it says that Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is screening there on September 1. Could it be that Alamo will finally be open by then? After all, the Fandango listing even lets you reserve seats, offering a glimpse into the layout of one of the theaters.
(Photoshop by John Ambrosio, images via Peaches, Porches)
Now, I know that my excellent Photoshop skills have no doubt tricked you into believing that this (see above) is simply your average, un-doctored photo, but— and you’ll have to just take my word on this— it’s actually a composite of two promotional photos. The image on the right was used in ads for indie band Porches’ latest album, Pool, whereas the hotdog’d one on the left was used by performance artist/electronic musician Peaches.
THURSDAY
(Flyer via Summer Fling)
Summer Fling
Thursday August 25, 9 pm at Union Hall: $10
Hosted by Lacey Jeka and Kristen Buckels (Between Two Bushes), this show is stacked. I mean seriously, you’re telling me that you’ve got Aparna Nancherla and Jo Firestone– who by the way also host some great shows together— and Brett Davis, the cult-obsessed audience antagonizer, plus a great young man named Gary Richardson, all on the same bill?
Also, the show is only $10? And it’s on a Thursday and at a reasonable hour? Wait, there’s a flyer for it? Uh, yes please. Like, on all accounts. This show might only last one night, but, oh man, what a summer fling it will be.
(Photo: Courtesy of Jess Thoubboron)
When Jess Thoubboron wanted to screen her new short film, Strangers, she thought about how to showcase it in a way that connected to her motivation for making the film in the first place.
Strangers, Thoubboron’s directorial debut, is about two strangers who meet and instantly form a special bond and encourage one another to traverse their self-imposed boundaries and reexamine how they perceived themselves.
(Via Twillerama)
A quick hypothetical for you: if real people host film festivals with “real films,” then wouldn’t it make sense that an animated film festival should be hosted by animated people? Crazy, I know, but filmmaker Morgan Miller seems to think it’s worth a shot.
After completing an animated short starring the characters Jeff Twiller and Randy—two coarse guys who enjoy the simple things in life and “like to hang out at the dump” in a place “kind of like Queens”—Miller decided that they’d be perfect hosts for their own film festival.