This Monday was Thanksgiving in Canada, and we spent the day being thankful for Canadian comedian Kevin Janus. Kevin’s taking a break from trolling Toronto Blue Jays stats blogs long enough to host The Comedy Igloo this Thursday at 92YTribeca (Oct 13), with special guests Leo Allen and Matt McCarthy. We’re really looking forward to hearing more about Celine Dion and the “Friday Night Lights” season 2 murder plotline.
Super Kevin Janus fans (and stalkers), can get a bigger fix below, with the 92Y Culture Klatsch Q&A With Kevin Janus. That’s where you’ll learn you won’t find him on Facebook. “I’m a conscientious objector to Facebook,” he told us.
Where do you go for news when you start your day?
To keep up with serious Canadian news, like the guy who broke into Celine Dion’s house and took a bath, I follow CTV News on Twitter and read The Toronto Star online. For more trivial news, I read the print edition of The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times online.
What are your favorite websites?
Honestly, I don’t really go directly to websites anymore. I follow every one of my favorite websites on Twitter. All 846 of them. One of the few websites I do still visit directly is called Batter’s Box. It’s a nerdy, stats-heavy Toronto Blue Jays baseball blog. Because yes. Canadians do love baseball.
How much do you use Twitter and Facebook (or other social networking services)?
I use Twitter all the time. But I refuse to have a Facebook account. I’m a conscientious objector to Facebook. I’m sorry, what? No. That’s perfectly consistent.
Film: Dead Alive: Lionel Cosgrove is a devoted mama’s boy—so devoted that when she is bitten by a strange monkey and starts behaving outrageously, he lovingly comes to her aid, whether gluing her skin back on or apologizing when she eats a dog.
Film: Re-Animator: When genius medical student Herbert West creates a serum that brings the dead back to life, he naturally does not foresee the trouble it will cause.
Music: 92YTribeca and Nuyorican Poets Cafe are thrilled to present Nisha Asnani Live In Concert: a masterful songstress who infuses jazz and funk melodies with the vocal prowess of a bygone era.
Film: James Glickenhaus Double Feature: The Exterminator and Shakedown. Director James Glickenhaus will be in person for a post-screening Q&A, moderated by Sean Price Williams.
92Y Video: The Jewish Connection: Sukkot Rabbi David Kalb
The Jewish Connection: Sukkot with Rabbi David Kalb: “I think,” Rabbi Kalb said, “what it’s really talking about is the experience of journey. That’s what Sukkot is really about… A journey to transform ourselves as people.”
Tomorrow, join us for a Sukkot Open House. And after the jump below, read Rabbi Kalb’s script for the Sukkot video.
Social Good Summit: Behind The Scenes Video with Mandy Moore
In this behind the scenes video at the Social Good Summit, actress/activist Mandy Moore talks about how students and youth can use social media to help the prevention of Malaria and her trip to Cameroon where it is the #1 cause of death. You can watch all of the videos - including clips with Richard Gere, Jeffrey Sachs and Christy Turlington among others - and read recaps of this inspiring week-long event here.
To stay informed of upcoming special events at 92Y, sign up for Student10 text message alerts to get $10 advance tickets to concerts, readings, debates, talks and screenings at 92Y and 92YTribeca. Students will be required to present their student IDs at the Box Office to retrieve tickets.
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92Y Video: From the Poetry Center Archive: Seamus Heaney
The Unterberg Poetry Center opened its 73rd season of literary events with a reading by Seamus Heaney on September 26. The video above features excerpts from the end of Heaney’s reading that night—two poems from his “Clearances” sequence, then “In the Attic” and “A Kite for Aibhín.”
Heaney first appeared at 92Y more than forty years ago, and it was a thrill to welcome him back. He was introduced by Atsuro Riley, who credited Heaney’s work for “for embodying that rare wholeness and consonance we feel in a musical chord, that habitable space made & held for us within a musical chord.” He added: “I want to credit this chord that got worked up from its root-note in Mossbawn, County Derry, in the north of Ireland. The chord in which the crucial concept of ‘home-ground’ has been given by now a full sounding: the originary, the formative, the sensory; the avian and the arboreal; the archaeological, the etymological, the mineral.”
In an ongoing effort to share with our readers some of the great literary moments which the Poetry Center has presented across the decades, this blog has begun to feature regular postings of archival recordings. For access to other recordings, please click here.
Unterberg Poetry Center webcasts and access to our archive are made possible in part by the generous support of the Sidney E. Frank Foundation.
Caroline Kennedy: In this unique event, Caroline Kennedy discusses her new book, Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy.
Autumn Ballroom: Welcome seasoned ballroom hosts Gene Eagle and Jeni Breen for stardust evenings of ballroom classics – fox trot, waltz, cha-cha and your favorite tangos. Cash bar with drink special available all evening.
Opus Dance Theatre: Join ODT’s Artistic Director Leonard Meek and his company of exciting young dancers for a performance that promotes the full spectrum of the Pan-African experience.
Israeliness: Join in an Israeli-style, biweekly program for families with children age 6 months-2nd grade, featuring art, music and Israeli culture, and conducted entirely in Hebrew.
Maimonides with Dr. Menahem Ben-Sasson. Maimonides is considered by many to be among the greatest Torah scholars of all time, and his lessons continue to pro-foundly influence Jewish thought, ethics and law nearly 10 centuries after his death.
Paul Lewis begins a two-part exploration into the late piano works of Franz Schubert on October 18 at 92nd Street Y. His appearance at 92Y is part of a Schubert cycle that is taking him around the world. In the following joint interview with Chicago’s Symphony Center, which presented Mr. Lewis earlier this year, he discusses his feelings toward Schubert, 92Y and the cycle approach to programming.
In a recent interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, you called Schubert “endlessly fascinating.” What distinguishes him for you?
Many things, but if I had to point to one particular aspect of Schubert, it would be the way in which he creates a sense of drama. Normally when a composer wants to convey something dramatic, it’s far more common for them to write something demonstrative which jumps off the stage at the listener—and Schubert sometimes does that too. But more often, the drama of his music is of an inward looking nature. When Schubert wants to tell you something important, he will usually lower his voice rather than raise it—he draws you into the message, rather than projects it out to you. His moments of extreme despair seem primarily to be conveyed in that way—which, for me, makes them all the more powerful.
What do you as a musician discover by exploring one composer in depth? How does it change your perspective?
That’s hard to describe, as it’s such a gradual process. Sometimes you might stumble upon a musical “solution” to something that has been eluding you via a different work by that composer. There’s one specific element of the way he writes which I’ve come to see in a different light as a result of studying some of the songs recently. Schubert often writes repeated figures, sometimes just repeated single notes, and it’s easy to see that as an accompaniment—something that shouldn’t be heard too much in the forefront.
But when you look at songs such as “Die Liebe Farbe” from Die Schöne Müllerin, or “Der Wegweiser” from Winterreise, you see that those insistent repeated notes are in fact of huge significance. There’s a sense of fate, or of not being able to escape, which of course represents a certain reality for Schubert himself after his diagnosis of syphilis in 1822-23. This has made me think again about similar passages in the solo piano music, such as the repeated notes in the first Impromptu of D. 899—every strand of Schubert’s writing has its significance, and this particular strand is, I feel, of great importance.
As if you didn’t know, the “poetry scene” in New York City is legendary. And the establishments fostering this scene stretch from the Lower East Side to the Upper East Side, and beyond. From The New York Times today:
When you imagine a poetry reading, the scene that comes to mind probably doesn’t involve battalions of underwear-slinging admirers. Poetry is supposed to be dusty stuff, the reading of which can inspire even a hyperactive 4-year-old to go gentle into that good nap. And yet here is Dylan Thomas’s wife, Caitlin, describing her husband’s famous 1953 performances at the Poetry Center in New York, now part of the 92nd Street Y, “I used to come in late and hear, through the mikes, the breath-strained panting ... booming blue thunder into the teenagers’ delighted bras and briefs.”
As signs of performative triumph go, happy underwear surely beats a standing ovation.
Not that Thomas’s success should be surprising. Poetry has a long tradition of being not only read but also performed vigorously and well, and 50 years after Thomas, New York is still one of the best places in America to hear poetry out loud, whether it’s being declaimed from a stage, whispered in an auditorium or shouted in a bar. All of which is in keeping with the history of poetry as an oral art.
As The Times noted in the article, Seamus Heaney was here on September 26, to kick-off the 92Y Poetry Main Reading Series. We’ll share a video clip from that evening soon, here on the 92Y Blog. Check back next week!
Next in the Main Reading Series: Chinese/US Poetry Exchange with Xi Chuan, Zhou Zan, Marilyn Chin and Li-Young Lee on October 10.
We were honored to welcome to him in March, part of our 92Y Arts & Entertainments Talks. Above are video highlights from that evening. Care to share your own favorite Mellencamp moment or song? Leave a comment below!
Coming up in 92Y Arts & Entertainment Talks: Paula Deen with Dr. Gail Saltz (Oct 11); Caroline Kennedy (Oct 13); Fashion Icons With Fern Mallis: Calvin Klein (Oct 17); Andy Borowitz Presents: The Funniest American Writers (Oct 19).
Above is great video, recorded by an audience member, featuring the “Shababa Mamas” singing Eyn Keloheynu at Rosh Hashana Family Services on September 29 at 92nd Street Y. The services were led by Karina Zilberman, Director of Jewish Family Life and Culture at 92Y. See more videos of the Shababa Mamas on the 92Y Shababa Facebook page.
Photo: Ray N. Fredrick III – former national jump rope champion and member of the 7-time US champion Bouncing Bulldogs jump rope team
What was once considered a playground activity for urban girls, jump rope has evolved into an internationally competitive league sport with active lobbying underway to make jump rope an Olympic sporting event. We like the sport’s chances of achieving that milestone given its scheduled demo appearance in the upcoming London Olympics, and how less physically demanding activities involving vigorous thumb movement have been given serious consideration in the past.
Next week, we’ll feature a Q&A with Ray N. Fredrick III – a former national jump rope champion and member of the 7-time US champion Bouncing Bulldogs jump rope team – where he will share his thoughts about how jump rope can teach children important lessons in leadership and collaboration. Fredrick is a childrens’ fitness instructor at 92Y for Jumping Beyond the Ropes class.
Comedian Liam McEneaney gives us a peek inside the wonderland of his brain in the latest edition of Culture Klatsch. He’s hosting “Liam McEneaney’s Writings with Music,” tomorrow, October 6 at 92YTribeca with special guests Myla Goldberg, Christopher Weingarten, and Kambri Crews. If he’s half as good at asking questions as he is at answering ours, tomorrow night will be seriously fun. We’ll assume (and hope) that Liam will discuss his penchant for pets in funny outfits at length with Mr. Weingarten, founder of Hipster Puppies, tomorrow.
Where do you go for news when you start your day?
I used to go to morning news shows, it doesn’t matter which one because it’s the same show on every channel; because instead of news about the world, I like cooking tips and pets in funny outfits. When I want a view of the world from someone slightly more knowledgeable and informative than the TV news, I like to read Youtube comments.
What are your favorite websites?
As far as I’m concerned, 92Y.org is the only website on the Internet.
How much do you use Twitter and Facebook (or other social networking services)?
Are you asking how often I update @heyitsliam, my personal account? Or are you talking about @tyfcomedy, which is the Twitter handle for my weekly show Tell Your Friends! Or maybe you mean @tyfconcertfilm, which is the Twitter feed for the concert film based on that show?
In any case, I am usually too busy on Youtube, posting my hilarious “7-11 was an inside job” comments to bother with any of that.
Julianne Moore With Leonard Lopate At 92Y Last Night
Our colleague took this great Instagram photo of Julianna Moore and Leonard Lopate at 92nd Street Y last night that we wanted to share with our 92Y Blog readers.
Maybe we should start a photo album online of 92Y guests snapped in an Instagram photo? Next in the series could be Hugh Jackman and special guest Shawn Levy, here tonight as part of Annette Insdorf’s Reel Pieces series.
What Would You Ask Michael Moore?
