Two long-standing annual fundraisers make for a constellation of downtown superstars; this year’s lineups are impressive as ever.
New Year’s Day Marathon at The Poetry Project
January 1, 3pm to January 2, 2am, at The Poetry Project, 131 E 10th St, tickets $20 in advance, $25 at the door.
The venerable Poetry Project is celebrating 50 years at St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery. As recounted in a history of the intellectual incubator in this week’s Village Voice, the Project has hosted the likes of William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Spalding Gray, Jim Carroll, Robert Lowell, Patti Smith, and countless others. The 43rd installment of its annual marathon will feature living legends Penny Arcade, Justin Vivian Bond, Grace Dunham (yes, Lena’s sis), Jonas Mekas, Thurston Moore and his Sonic Youth bandmate Lee Ranaldo, Eileen Myles, Elliott Sharp, Lynne Tillman, Anne Waldman, and some 140 others. This is the only reason to work off that New Year’s hangover in a church.