Reverend Billy & The Life After Shopping Gospel Choir
There is something about watching Glenn Beck remark to former Green Party mayoral candidate Rev. Billy: “You strike me as someone who is not entirely serious,” in the video above that seems as if you are watching a black hole develop in the studios of Fox News.
Rev. Billy leads the Life After Shopping Gospel Choir—a radical performance community dedicated to the earth, justice, a fair economy and the return of free expression to public space—who believe that Consumerism (with a capital C) is overwhelming our lives. They advocate for less shopping, less corporatism, less consumerism, and more community. Trav S.D. in the Downtown Express wrote:
I’ve presented this man, I’ve interviewed him, I’ve talked to him, I’ve watched him perform – and I still don’t know what the hell he is. He’s kind of a cross between Andy Kaufman and Abby Hoffman. While he seems to be portraying a Jimmy Swaggart-esque preacher, everything he says could be coming out of the mouth of Michael Moore — and onstage or off, he never drops character.
Next Sat, Feb 6, you can see it for yourself at 92YTribeca when Reverend Billy & The Life After Shopping Gospel Choir take over our stage. “ If you don’t dig his politics,” Trav continued, “his weirdness alone is sufficient spectacle — plus his gospel choir is amazing.”
Coming up at 92YTribeca:
Damon & Naomi’s 1001 Nights: An Evening of Music, Film and Conversation with Special Guests Michio Kurihara, Sharon Van Etten and Haden Guest: Jan 30
On Jan 26, Mediaite’s Panel Nerds (@PanelNerds) came by for the Garry Trudeau program. On Jan 27 they were here again for Andy Borowitz and last night for Justice Ginsburg. Their reports are fantastic, informative, and comprehensive, offering analysis, quotes, and thoughts. We have suggested they take up residence here, and while they probably aren’t going to take us up on that, they do agree that we serve up the most-and-best talks in the city, and all three talks got a Thumbs Up. Here is a quick recap of their reviews:
Panel Nerds on The Andy Borowitz Report: Obama’s First Year (video here): “Here we have a president who only escalated one war and he gets the Nobel Peace Prize. Think about how low the bar was set by President Bush.” - Jeffrey Toobin makes us wonder what escalating no wars would earn.
She said it was crucial to have more than one woman (she was the sole woman on the court for three years between Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s retirement and Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s appointment) so that people don’t think that women are all identical in thought and approach. Having multiple women express different opinions is a way to demonstrate diversity. In an argument for further diversity, she said that during the time she shared the bench with O’Connor, once a year a lawyer would call her “Justice O’Connor” or call Justice O’Connor “Justice Ginsburg.” No one has called her Justice Sotomayor so far.
The Things That Happen Bewteen 92YTribeca and the 92nd Street Y
You might have heard about the man and his chicken on the 6 train, yes? A passenger casually rode the train all the way uptown while laying on the floor with his chicken. And no, it was not Ernie Anastos. Finally, at the 86th Street station, New York’s finest took action:
“Easy way or the hard way, pal,” one of them said. “You can’t be on here with that [pointing to the chicken], with this [pointing to the cart] or in the state you’re in [either an assumed drunkenness or an implied mental instability].” After some back and forth, they all left. “You’re going to secure that bird too, right?” one of the cops asked him, to a mumbled reply.
That’s the account from one of our patrons, writing on the blog Inverted Soapbox. He was on his way to the Adam Golfer photo exhibit , (y’know, the one with a photo of Snoop Dog) at the 92nd Street Y and happened to be on the train from Canal to 96th, because he traveled to 92YTribeca by an accident!
92Y Video: Howard Zinn’s Introduction of A Young People’s History of the United States
Legendary historian and activist Howard Zinn passed away yesterday and we share in the world’s mourning of a true inspiration. Noam Chomsky remarked: “He’s made an amazing contribution to American intellectual and moral culture. He’s changed the conscience of America in a highly constructive way. I really can’t think of anyone I can compare him to in this respect.”
Zinn is perhaps best known for his groundbreaking A People’s History of the United States, which has sold over a million copies and was commemorated at the 92nd Street Y in February 2003 with a famous reading including Alice Walker, Kurt Vonnegut, Danny Glover and many others. You can watch it here.
Zinn returned in May 2009 to host another special reading, this one for the newly released, updated and illustrated A Young People’s History of the United States that highlights the words of America’s youngest rebels, dissenters and visionaries, from our past and present. You can watch his introduction above. Spoken-word performer and activist Staceyann Chin who read at the event returns to 92Y on Feb 7.
Anthony Arnove, Zinn’s co-editor on Voices of a People’s History of the United States, will also appear at 92Y on Monday, Feb 1 with award-winning playwright and actor Wallace Shawn to discuss creativity, controversy, the writing life and, surely, Howard Zinn. Alice Walker, who called him “the best teacher I ever had,” returns in April to discuss activism and her new book, Overcoming Speechlessness, with Democracy Now!‘s Amy Goodman.
How many of you have wanted to know a simple tap dance routine to spice up your exits? You’ve all wanted to tap dance out the door when leaving somewhere, instead of a just simply walking out, right? We have, and asked 92Y Dance faculty Juli Greenberg to do our latest 92Y How-To Video Series: How To: Tap Shuffle Off To Buffalo.
Here at the 92nd Street Y, Andy Borowitz, Jeffrey Toobin, Calvin Trillin, Janeane Garofalo and Jonathan Alter offered their own thoughts on Obama and his first year in office. NBC Niteside was there:
“For someone not even from [this country], he’s doing an excellent job” Borowitz deadpanned. “He’s basically an exchange student.”
The New Yorker humorist and sometime-standup had the audience in stitches, denouncing President Obama for his inability to rid the high seas of bloodthirsty Somali pirates and dubbing the Republican party—after hearing Toobin call them a bunch of tax-cutting nihilists—“The Sex Pistols of politics.”
The Huffington Post was there as well, who reported that Toobin said: “Here we have a president who has only escalated one war and he gets a Nobel Peace Prize—it makes you think about how low the bar is that George Bush set.”
Sam Shepard and Patti Smith, on stage at the 92nd Street Y / Photo Credit: Nancy Crampton
Wall Street Journal blog Speakeasy on Patti Smith and Sam Sheppard at the 92nd Street Y last week:
“I thought this could make a good story,” Sam Shepard said last night at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan, going on to outline a premise whereby two people are together for a year, go their separate ways for the next four decades, marry other lovers and start families, have separate careers, become a rock singer in the case of one, and then, “forty years later they get back together and see what happens.”
Patti Smith, who was sharing the stage with Shepard, laughed and said, “That is what happens.”
On January 24, in conjunction with SMITH Magazine‘s Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser, the 92nd Street Y, hosted an evening dedicated to the six-word memoir project with a focus on New York, The Big Apple in Six Words, a collection in the spirit of Ernest Hemingway’s legendary six word story - “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” The thought of boiling down a person’s life experiences into a six word memoir seems almost laughably restrictive, but most of the speakers at the event acknowledged that the rigid format was freeing in a way. A blank piece of paper doesn’t look so intimidating if your starting point is six words.
Smith and Fershleiser recounted their experiences culling together the memoirs to include in the book and then turned the floor over to the panel of memoirists consisting of A.J. Jacobs, author of The Guinea Pig Diaries, Amy Sohn, writer of Prospect Park West, and Ben Yagoda, writer of the recently released Memoir: a History.
Following the panel discussion, contest winners and contributors, including former Page Six gossip scribe Corynne Steindler and comedian Julia Segal, were invited up to the microphone to read their memoirs. The tone of the memoirs varied from sardonic ("I hope it’s not a tapeworm") to jarringly honest ("Born a boy; raised a girl") while others lamented change in New York ("Brooklyn was better before everyone came"). Despite the ample inspiration, the best I can come up with for myself is “Good taste, bad men; what happened?” and “Memoirists [a real word, turns out].”
To learn more, visit the SMITH Magazine website where you can read hundreds of six word memoirs and contribute your own.
Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo Has a Message For Obama
Guest post by Christa Avampato
We hold a certain fondness in our hearts for the improbable journey and for the travelers who take those journeys. Last night at the 92nd Street Y, Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo gave us something to think about as he described his own improbable journey from his childhood immigrant household in South Jamaica, Queens to his 12 years as the Governor of New York. His talk kicked off a new series at 92Y entitled Lecture of My Life™, an initiative to bring the most distinguished visitors back to the stage to share their greatest life lessons.
Cuomo discussed politics, religion, and falling in love with the lady of the law. He talked about his wife Matilda, and his 5 children, particularly Andrew Cuomo, who is a likely candidate for the same seat in Albany that his father occupied for 12 years. He shared his views on the state of the union as well as the state of the world, U.S. schools, and the healthcare system. Adamantly, he drove home the idea that the role of government is to assure opportunity and the role of every citizen is to take up personal responsibility for our lives and our communities.
When asked by an audience member if he had any direct advice on life and on the time we live in, he had a few choice words of consideration for President Obama as he reflects on his first year in office and for us as we reflect on our own existence. For President Obama, Cuomo had the following heartfelt advice:
Luxury on Any Budget: William W. Stubbs and Bunny Williams
The New York Times attended a talk by renowned designers William W. Stubbs and Bunny Williams as part of a lecture series at the Decoration & Design Building last week:
Ms. Williams, a decorator who — as you would know if you had been invited — got her start with Albert Hadley and Sister Parish, provided the wry commentary to Mr. Stubbs’s rollicking, dishy spritz: “One lesson I learned from Albert and Mrs. Parish, when you install a job, you install a job in one day, not a sofa one day, a lamp the next week. It never looks good until it is a whole. You always want to make magic, and the magic comes with finishing it.”
“With my upper-end kinds of projects,” Mr. Stubbs added, “I put my clients up at the Four Seasons.”
It is rather moving to see genuine awe descend upon a room of sophisticated New Yorkers, Ms. Williams included. “I don’t do that,” she said.
“I used to work at the Four Seasons,” Mr. Stubbs said. “The Four Seasons says ‘yes’ to everything and then figures out how to bill for it. You all go, ‘Oooh, I’m not going to spend that kind of money.’ Just figure out how to bill for it!”
“That sofa just got a little more expensive,” Ms. Williams said.
What are your dinner plans this Friday? Oh, you’re not sure? Well...you might consider Tu B’Shevat Shabbat Dinner at 92YTribeca with leaders of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) to celebrate Tu B’Shevat, the Jewish New Year for Trees. With a menu carefully designed by Executive Chef Russell Moss and Food and Beverage Director Alexander (Sasha) Chack, we’ll partake in a special fruit seder, a tasting of new and exotic fruits unique to Tu B’Shevat. Afterwards, we’ll dine on a delicious farm-fresh dinner prepared with the best of nature’s bounty. After dinner, Morissa Falk, a Leadership Cabinet member of JNFuture, will talk about some of the ways we can become more environmentally conscious during the winter months. Purchase your tickets here.
Coming up, we also have Joshua Nelson: Shabbat Dinner + Kosher Gospel Performance on Feb 5, and the Jewmongous’ Passover Extravaganza! on Apr 3.
92Y Interview: Paul O’Dette, Co-curator of the Guitar Marathon
Paul O’Dette, Co-curator of Guitar Marathon: Bach series talked with the 92nd Street Y about creating the Marathon, Bach’s lasting legacy on the 325th anniversary of his birth, why he chose to include a few non-Bach works, and more. Some highlights follow:
How was the theme for this year’s Guitar Marathon chosen?
In previous Marathons, guitarists performed a wide range of repertoire over many centuries, but this year we wanted to offer diverse interpretations of a very specific repertoire. Co-curator David Spelman proposed the music of Bach, since it plays such an important part in the programming of most classical guitarists and of course lutenists.
How have you selected the artists?
David and I wanted to assemble a group of brilliant instrumentalists who have invested considerable time and thought into the performance of Bach, and whose approaches demonstrate a variety of ways in which his music may be brought to life. Bach is so universal that hearing different interpretations side by side should make for a very interesting and varied day of music-making.
What is it about Bach that brings artists to him again and again?
As with all great art, Bach’s music is multi-layered. It certainly is enjoyable the first time through, but the complexities and depth can only be fully appreciated after repeated probing and exploration. To convey the overall architecture as well as the intricate details is a challenge of which one never grows tired.
You have included a few non-Bach works— Can you tell us why?
We wanted to provide a taste of the lute music Bach listened to and emulated. His admiration for the music of Sylvius Leopold Weiss was such that he borrowed an entire Weiss lute suite. He used the lute solo as an obbligato harpsichord part over which he composed a new violin part. This Violin Sonata, BWV 1025, is not often performed because many players don’t quite know what to make of it. But we’ll perform both in order to compare Weiss’ lute version with Bach’s setting of it, in order to understand exactly how Bach put it together.
What is your personal favorite Bach lute and non-lute work?
The Fugue from BWV 1001 has been a favorite of mine since childhood, and I still find new things in it each time I play it. I am always deeply moved by the St. John Passion. The dramatic construction and pacing are so tight and the balance of affects so brilliantly judged that it feels like an opera to me. The final chorus, “Ruht wohl,” is one of my all-time favorite pieces of music.
Fifteen artists will explore the many facets of Johann Sebastian Bach’s artistry during the 92Y biennial guitar extravaganza, Guitar Marathon: Bach on Sun, Jan 31, with sessions at 2 and 7 pm. Tickets can be purchased here, and those 35 and under can purchase tickets at a discount.
What You Missed: Comedy Below Canal™: Some Folks with Wyatt Cenac featuring Colin Quinn, and More
At 92YTribeca for last Thursday’s Comedy Below Canal™, we learned that Wyatt Cenac dropped out of college for a year when he was 19 to intern at SNL. While at SNL, Wyatt told us, Colin took him under his wing and encouraged him to get into comedy writing, which played a large part in Wyatt’s decision to do just that.
Last Thursday was the first time they had seen each other in 13 years! And as you can see in the photo above, Wyatt still holds Colin in high regard, peeking at his mentor from behind the curtain, before coming out to join him. Check out a complete set of photos from the evening in a slide show at 92YTribeca’s Flickr.
The next Comedy Below Canal™: Witstream Live with Michael Ian Black, Amy Schumer, Myq Kaplan, Pete Holmes, Kumail Nanjiani and More, happens this Thu, Jan 28.
The Andy Borowitz Report: Obama’s First Year. Andy Borowitz, Jeffrey Toobin, Calvin Trillin, Janeane Garofalo and Jonathan Alter will be in attendance.
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On Jan 26, Mediaite’s 
You might have heard about the 
Here at the 92nd Street Y, Andy Borowitz, Jeffrey Toobin, Calvin Trillin, Janeane Garofalo and Jonathan Alter offered their own thoughts on Obama and his first year in office. 
Guest post by Christa Avampato
Ms. Williams, a decorator who — as you would know if you had been invited — got her start with Albert Hadley and Sister Parish, provided the wry commentary to Mr. Stubbs’s rollicking, dishy spritz: “One lesson I learned from Albert and Mrs. Parish, when you install a job, you install a job in one day, not a sofa one day, a lamp the next week. It never looks good until it is a whole. You always want to make magic, and the magic comes with finishing it.”
What are your dinner plans this Friday? Oh, you’re not sure? Well...you might consider 
In previous Marathons, guitarists performed a wide range of repertoire over many centuries, but this year we wanted to offer diverse interpretations of a very specific repertoire. Co-curator David Spelman proposed the music of Bach, since it plays such an important part in the programming of most classical guitarists and of course lutenists.
