Results tagged “shows”

Over the past three years, we have slowly and steadily interviewed each of the four members of the trailblazing DC band Fugazi... except one: inimitable singer and guitarist Guy Picciotto. Today we complete the set, and we're going to have to find a new goal in life. (Counting Crows, maybe?) The chance to finally to speak with Picciotto arose because he's performing twice this week in NYC with Vic Chestnutt, whose haunting and heartfelt new album At the Cut features Picciotto.

Our CMJ show (which we're co-hosting with the lovely people at Brooklyn Based) is TONIGHT at the Bell House [149 7th Street in Gowanus]. The show is FREE, and no CMJ badge is required. You can RSVP right here, and the details are below:

    

There is actually quite a lot out there for tourists and locals seeking diversion in New York City today. Many Broadway shows are still performing, though at different times than usual, and TKTS in Times Square will be selling discounted theater tickets from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. (The Brooklyn and South Street Seaport locations are closed.) There are also a couple performances of The Big Apple Circus scheduled for 12:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. And the Radio City Christmas Spectacular isn't about to let a national holiday get those gams down; there are three performances today at 1 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.

The Fringe, the Summer Play Festival, the Ice Factory—all that's behind us. With summer all but over, it's time for the big dogs of Broadway take center stage once again. Today the Times arts section is packed with ads and articles about the upcoming theater season, which critic Charles Isherwood has dubbed A Season of Men. That's mainly because there are two David Mamet plays set to open, Arthur Miller's All My Sons (with its gender-specific title) is being revived, and a naked Daniel Radcliffe can now be seen onstage at the Broadhurst Theatre. All that and a few other highlights from Broadway and Off Broadway below.

America's Next Top Model is back in New York and in its second episode, which airs tonight, things are getting a little bit real. The episode brings the fourteen newest model wannabes to the not always fashionable streets. After the troupe mingles with the tourists at their fashion show in Times Square, it's off to their first photo shoot.

Merging urban exploration with something akin to La Blogotheque's Take Away Shows, the below video gives a glimpse at what's hidden in the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel underneath Downtown Brooklyn while performer Greg "Cosmo D" Heffernan scores the journey.

What has Conan O'Brien been doing in his spare time? His writers have only been putting pen to paper for their picket signs, and even though he returned to his late night desk earlier this month -- he's been a one-man show, lacking his trusty troupe of scribes. Alone and living in a world of reruns, he's been unloading in his diary strike journal.

MTV is getting all old school and reporting on relevant music! The channel traveled all the way to Brooklyn for a piece on bands closely associated with the Todd P scene. Best of all, they declare Manhattan's LES dead! Not a great way to promote their new vLES, we suppose.

MOVIES: A lavishly restored print of Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky’s visionary film The Holy Mountain has been making the rounds this year; it’s back again this weekend at IFC Center for a pair of midnight screenings. First released in 1973, The Holy Mountain has grown into a cult classic for its surreal, psychedelic imagery and a serpentine, metaphysical storyline, which takes as inspiration, among other things, "The Ascent of Mt. Carmel" by St. John of the Cross and the idea of a mountain uniting heaven and earth.

I’ve been covering theater on Gothamist for exactly one year now, so I thought it might be worthwhile to gaze wistfully back at all the theatrical peaks and valleys and call attention to some of the more noteworthy summits. (Okay, maybe one bleak valley deserves special mention.) And since I’m on vacation until the end of the month, what better time to bust out the internet equivalent of a sitcom clips show? I hasten to disclaim that although the word “Best” is bandied about a lot below, it should really be read (in a mock-stentorian McSweeney’s voice) as “Best of Several Other Bests and for Myriad Highly Subjective Reasons (and Also Kindly Keeping in Mind I Am Selecting Only From the Shows I Saw.)”

(718) 230-0221

Last year we posted about a little documentary on The National, a snapshot of their life on the road for seven days called One Week with The National. Seems we're not the only ones with a crush on the band. Now, following the release of their latest album, Boxer, there's another documentary about the Brooklynites.

Earlier this week, Interpol (who if you haven't noticed is suddenly on the verge of massive international superstardom) played a local, intimate show at Bowery Ballroom to a select group of friends, label people and fans lucky enough to snag tickets when they quietly went on sale last week. The show was excellent and the band certainly proved that they've got the chops to push it to much bigger stages, even if their lonely, isolated sound feels much warmer from close up. The more exciting development, however, is that Bowery Ballroom seems to be the go-to spot for big bands playing intimate shows these days. Next week the club will play host to both Franz Ferdinand and the suddenly semi-respectable Maroon 5. As the battle for venue and promoter dominance heats up, we can only hope for more shows like this, in an effort to one-up the competition. Looks like so far, Bowery Presents is winning this battle. (Though Rufus Wainwright at the Gramercy Theatre is a strong counter). (Pic via Bao.)

Okay Conor, we get it: you have cool friends. This week, during the Bright Eyes 7-night run at Town Hall, the band promised a special guest each night. So far he's brought out the likes of Lou Reed, Steve Earle, Jenny Lewis, Norah Jones and Ben Kweller. Each played a few songs of their own mid set before joining in jamming with the rest of the group. On the night we went, we were treated to a mini acoustic set by Ben Gibbard and a sit in by Nick Zinner, who among other songs, played the haunting Daniel Johnston cover "Devil Town." But as far as Bright Eyes goes, no matter what you think of the guy and his music, there's no denying that he always makes the extra effort to please his fans in NYC. Whether it be avoiding the larger, expensive venues, playing intimate shows or pulling stunts like this. Conor went out of his way to make each of these shows special, and as a fan, we really appreciate that.

News that Senator Barack Obama had raised at least $25 million for his presidential campaign during the first quarter has now put the spotlight on how Senator Hillary Clinton's camp may feel. Just a few days ago, the $26 million Clinton raised during the quarter was touted as "historic" and "record-setting," but now Obama's take is getting the ink - the NY Times' headline is Obama Shows His Strength in a Fund-Raising Feat on Par With Clinton while the Post and Daily News put the news on their covers.

After Monday's mercaptany-smell attack on our noses, various city officials tried to reassure New Yorkers that the odor, however disgusting, was completely harmless. That conclusion was based on various tests conducted as well as the chemical detection systems at different locations. Above is a photograph of one sensor at Penn Station (yes, that's what the thing is!). The MTA says, "We do have very good, sophisticated devices in place" to detect biological agents. Apparently the monitors are better at detecting scents (remember the stories of how they would think cleaning fluids were dangerous?) and now have cameras installed, too. We wonder if the air monitors can someday gauge how gross non-dangerous smells are, because those are a sort of terror.

7:30 - TBA!

Photo from Big Doolie by Stephen Kunken.

Exactly one month from today, the New York Fringe Festival opens -- consider yourself warned! But the week before, the granddaddy of indie theater festivals, Edinburgh's Fringe, roars to life; as usual, a number of American shows are making their way over there, and eight of them are warming up in front of the home crowd one more time, in the "East to Edinburgh" festival that starts today. Shows include Godlight's spectacular staging of Fahrenheit 451 (which we reviewed in April), Anna Deavere Smith's equally incendiary Twilight Los Angeles: 1992 (about the Rodney King riots, in case the date doesn’t ring a bell), and Justin Sherin's Mickey Mouse is Dead, a tale of Hollywood in 1952 when paranoia about Communism barged into Hollywood, brutally upending life in “the happiest place on Earth.” That show is presented, appropriately enough, by the Spankin' Yanks', who won a Fringe First prize in Edinburgh in 2004 and should have good odds again with such a feisty, relevant work – but all of the shows have better than fighting chances, so go cheer them on – it’s a perfect way to start the countdown to our own Fringe.

Looking for a list of free summer shows in the city this summer? Check out Prefixmag's guide to free concerts. There's a lot to take in, here's what we'll be heading to:

If you haven't already, you probably want to add MySpace Secret Shows as a friend on MySpace.com, and also add them to your "top 8" on the site. The site has been putting on secret shows for a while now, and that is the only way to get in.

It’s almost April, do you know where your Broadway mega-shows are? Cate Blanchett and Hedda Gabler got things off to a smash start, and the rest of the big guns are revving up: Tarzan, Lestat , Julia Roberts in Three Days of Rain, Ali MacGraw and Julianna Margulies in Festen…and more. We’ll spare you (and ourselves) the wallet strain and the eye-rolling – there are plenty of worthy littler shows crying out to be seen.

For a change of pace, this week we bring you a glimpse of the working process of a small New York theater company, a hint at the seams that underlie the shows we normally see from a plush chair in the house of the theater and then review for you. The company in question is LightBox, which is just about five years old now; the show is Ajax: 100% Fun, which opens on Wednesday at the Culture Project. Yesterday, at the invitation of director Ellen Beckerman, we went to a rehearsal at the Trisha Brown dance studios, where – in the absence of set or costumes or footlights – we gained a measure of insight into how the theatre creations we love so much actually come together.

Manhattan User's Guide is a constant source of interesting tidbids. Take for instance some miscellaneous facts they dug up about our fair city:

Not that you were asking, but we know you wanted it. The obligatory Best of '05 List. We chose to list off the Best NYC Shows in 2005. We compiled this list after closely surveying and consulting...ourselves. Here are our Top 11 NYC Shows of 2005. That's right, we said ELEVEN.

Andres du Bouchet is a busy man. A few weeks ago we recommended his Naked Trampoline Hamlet monologues, which our friends at the Apiary could not curb their enthusiasm for in their coverage. This week he begins a two month run of Hilarilogues at the PIT[154 W.29th Street] with each show promising a mix of new and different material. Thursdays in November and December at 11pm. $5.

While it's all about the season premieres this month, there's one season finale tonight that we're excited about. Gothamist has really gotten into watching Rescue Me, catching up on this season by watching the first season DVD, and we've been loving it. Rescue Me is profane, racist, questionable, hilarious, sweet and tragic, with characters that seem like real people and less like stereotypes networks revert to because that'll make advertisers happy (probably why it's on FX). And it's shot in New York; Gothamist remembers reading how Denis Leary paid a Mr. Softee truck driver to stop playing the song...only to have more Mr. Softee trucks come to the location, looking for some easy money. The second season finale is at 10PM on FX and looks to be distressing and disturbing; we originally thought it'd be dark to counterbalance watching The Gilmore Girls, but New York magazine's John Leonard says that season premiere (tonight at 8PM on the WB) is "angry and sad."

Desperate Housewives and Will & Grace both received 15 Emmy nominations today, proving that like every other awards organization, Gothamist just doesn't jibe with the voters. Sure, we're happy that Arrested Development, Scrubs, and Lost got some recognition. But there is no love for programs we'll actually stay at home to watch: Veronica Mars, Nip/Tuck, Gilmore Girls. Even The O.C., which faltered last season - you have to give Peter Gallagher some credit. And why won't the Academy acknowledge the brilliance of America's Next Top Model? But of course we'll watch because Gothamist we can't wait to see the expressions of the Desperate Housewives that don't win.

In L.A., Un-Cabaret has been a fixture of the alternative comedy scene for over a decade. Founder Beth Lapides started it after growing tired of what mainstream stand-up comedy was offering, and brought in friends over the years like David Cross and Bob Odenkirk, Michael Patrick King, Scott Thompson and Patton Oswalt to break new ground and showcase their material. Today it has grown into a tiny empire with live shows, writing classes and contests for aspiring writers. This week several venues around our fair city play host to The Uncabaret Micro-Festival where never before seen TV pilots will air and comedy workshops will be held, and for comedy nerds (redundant, I know) the lineup is pretty great.

There are so many reasons why this season's America's Next Top Model has helped secure its place as one of the greatest shows ever (fainting spells! questionable mental capacity from contestants! Janice Dickinson telling a would-be model that it looks like she has a penis!), but last night's episode, The Girl Who Would Be Contagious, was incredible. The pandemonium caused by admittedly disgusting skin sores was amazing: A bunch of overreactive, stupid girls deciding not to consult a doctor or the Internet - or even someone with the Internet - and instead relying on other people's dumb thoughts to judge people. Gothamist would not put it past the producers for giving Michelle impetigo and then somehow causing the media to have covered lots of flesh-eating baceteria stories so the other wannabes' parents could fan the flames of their insanity. Lesson: If you start a rumor that someone is afflicted with a flesh-eating bacteria, you deserve to be booted off a UPN reality show that claims to but doesn't really produce America's Next Top Model; you'll also be booted off if you're not model-y. Good riddance.