A Capital anticipations list: Aureole, the New Museum, Lucky Dragons, rap battles, Gloria Steinem
Chad Harbach's book, The Art of Fielding.
4:38 pm Feb. 9, 2012
Each week, Capital's editors and writers will offer a list of the events, activities, releases and personal obsessions that we are looking forward to during the next week. Here is a list of our anticipations.
Aureole and The Art of Fielding
Dana: Tonight, for Restaurant Week, I'm going to Aureole at the bottom of the shiny new One Bryant Park skyscraper. I'm looking forward to the company, I'm looking forward to eating dinner at fancier-than-normal surroundings, but I can't say I'm looking forward to the food. The Restaurant Week prix fixe vegetarian option is risotto, a generally dull dish that, for what seemed like ages, reigned as the vegetarian option of choice at every nice restaurant in town. I'd hoped that trend had long since passed. Alas, it has not.
Otherwise, my plans this weekend are modest ones. There will be two days of sleeping into the very late morning, and two days of brunch at yet-to-be-determined restaurants. There will, I hope, be reading. My roommate recommended The Art of Fielding, which the Times describes as "slow, precious and altogether excellent." Or, as my roomate put it, "Who doesn't love college baseball, May-December gay love and the Midwest?"
The New Museum's "The Ungovernables," Ed Askew, Lucky Dragons,
Gabe: A very nice Valentine's present, I think, will be getting to see "The Ungovernables," the New Museum's latest "Generational" exhibit and the follow-up to their 2009 "Younger Than Jesus" show that was such a huge sensation. Like any group show, this one ought to be deliriously messy, but it's always exciting to see what anyone thinks sums up a generation of contemporary artists. Stay tuned for more on the show next week.
Next Thursday two shows will be splitting my attentions and desires right down the middle. The first is a performance at Union Pool by the amazing Ed Askew, a helium-voiced folksinger who got involved in the legendary, legendarily strange Connecticut folk scene in the '60s and never looked back. Playing the miniature-guitar-like, ten-stringed Martin Tiple, he toured around the region for two decades, releasing just one record, 1968's Ask the Unicorn, on the freak-jazz-folk-awesome ESP-Disk label.
The second is the New York record release party at 285 Kent for the Existers album from Lucky Dragons, (known to friends, of which I count myself, luckily, one, as Luke Fischbeck and Sarah Rara). Based out of L.A., the band is hard to describe, and that's not a copout, because as they will tell you, they are more an "approach" than a "band." That approach centers on participation, whether in the form of invented instruments that depend on an audience to make them run (basically "Touch this object. Now touch that person. Now have them touch the object…" and the tones change and burble and knock and turn). Just watch the video.
Lefty vs. Aukes, the rap battle
Azi: I'm looking forward to trolling through the first-quarter tryouts for the Don't Flop rap-battle league, held in London earlier this week. I caught a few minutes of one battle, Lefty vs Aukes.
Lefty accuses Aukes of being a fan of Justin Bieber and getting into clubs by carrying Drake music albums. Aukes accused Lefty of having ears so big he can fly.
The London scene is worth checking out. It's also worth looking back across the pond at some of the more established leagues, who have undergone a pretty significant shake-up.
The founder of Grind Time Now, Drect, recently departed the organization he founded when he was just a "broke college student who used my last $1,000 to invest in a camera." In his parting note, he provides an invaluable history about the origins of this scene, which combines equal parts live performance art and the most updated social media tools to create something few others have been able to replicate, anywhere.
I've been obsessed with this stuff for some time, especially after what happened in New York City in 2007. A championship battle. Stolen tapes. Ransom money. It was amazing.
Marco & Pepe
Joe: With the news that "Jersey Shore" co-stars Snooki and JWoww will be moving next door to my favorite restaurant, Marco & Pepe, next Friday, I figure I should really make the most of my weekly pilgrimage to the eatery this Friday, since it may or may not be the last time for the next month-and-a-half when one doesn't run the risk of encountering film crews, photographers and miscellaneous gawkers in or around the premises. In the Fox 5 clip above, Marco & Peper general manager Ethan Urban, who can always be relied upon to make sure you don't wait too long for a table or spot at the bar even when it's packed to the gills, weighs in on the restaurant's new neighbors.
Jean Grae at Word and Gloria Steinham at the Athena Film Festival
Gillian: Jean Grae, one of my favorite M.C.s (her 2003 E.P. Bootleg of the Bootleg is perennial listening for me) is reading about her broken heart at Word Brooklyn this Friday, in honor of Valentine's Day. Also, Barnard is hosting their annual Athena Film Festival and there is so much to see. On Saturday, Gloria Steinem will be speaking at a screening of HBO’s Gloria: In Her Own Words, a documentary about her life from budding journalist to leader of the late-'60s and '70s feminist movement. Both events are worth leaving your apartment for, even if it's snowing.
