Stop the Stop Shopping, long enough to buy Reverend Billy’s new book.
BOOK RELEASE: REVEREND BILLY’S “THE END OF THE WORLD”
No definitive word from the mountain as to whether the world will end with a bang or a whimper — but when it does, you can tell the desperate citizens fighting over the last Twinkie that Reverend Billy tried to warn us all. The righteous trickster in a shiny white suit and clerical collar, who cut his teeth with social justice flash mob actions that have become the stuff of legend, has brought his brimstone teach-ins to profit palaces such as the Disney Store and Chase Bank. This night, though, the good man of the cloth touches down at Culture Project — to celebrate the release of “The End of the World.” Reverend Billy’s short, often bittersweet and frequently brilliant tome will be read aloud from the stage by some of the greats — including Tony Torn, Malachy McCourt, Penny Arcade, Donald Gallagher, Georgina Young-Ellis, Mark Read and Dick Zigun (the Mayor of Coney Island). The Stop Shopping Gospel Choir will sing, conducted by Nehemia Luckett. Selections include a new song (composed by Sister Diva Laura Newman) that takes its message, and title, from the Reverend’s book.
Free. Sun., Feb. 24, 3pm. At The Culture Project (45 Bleecker St., at Lafayette St.). Visit revbilly.com.
Marion Lane’s “Bird Spirit” (painted and unpainted aluminum, 50x38x8 in.).
WESTBETH GALLERY PRESENTS MARION LANE, DIANA T. SOORIKIAN & REBECCA DANKER
Westbeth Gallery brings together three gifted artists in this exhibit of paintings, wall sculptures and drawings. Marion Lane says of her creative process, “The possibilities of color, shape and line invites and delights me. It is always a new experience that I find impelling and often beautiful.” For Diana T. Soorikian, “The human body, without narrative or locale, dominates my work. I welcome the struggle between the opposites of figuration and the imperatives of paint.” Color moves Rebecca Danker into “deciding how it can be applied, and how to combine it with shapes, the resulting composition can be an abstraction, with or without figurative elements.”
Feb. 23 to March 10 (opening reception, 6-8pm, Feb. 23). At Westbeth Gallery (55 Bethune St., corner of Washington St.). Gallery Hours: Thurs.-Sun., 1-6pm. For info, call 212-989-4650 or visit westbeth.org. Also visit marionlanestudio.com, columbia.edu/cu/arts/varchive/soorikian and rebeccadpaintings.com.
The West Village Chorale has cleared away the decorations from its December concert, for a musical event marking the spirit of the Lenten season.
THE WEST VILLAGE CHORALE WINTER CONCERT: “THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY”
The West Village Chorale marks the Lenten season with this spiritually evocative winter concert traversing the realms of penitence and reflection to the heights of transcendent joy. The program includes selections from the German repertoire of three centuries: Allegri and Schein (representing the 17th century), the Romantic period (Brahms) and the 20th century (Hugo Distler’s rarely performed masterpiece “Fürwahr, er trug unsere Krankheit”) — plus arrangements of spirituals (“Sinner Man,” “Steal Away,” “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child”) and Eric Whitacre’s rhapsodic “Alleluia.” Music Director Michael Conley’s 2010 composition “The Quiet Mind” (a setting of a 16th century Tudor England text) will also be performed, with pianist Elena Belli.
Sun., Feb. 24, at 6:30pm. At Judson Memorial Church (55 Washington Square South, at Thompson St.). Tickets: $25, $10 for students. Chorale Info Line: (212) 517-1776. Visit westvillagechorale.org.
On Feb. 27, see the film — and stay for a panel discussion on current legislation.
FILM: “AFTER I PICK THE FRUIT”
Bookended by scenes from the apple orchards around Sodus, NY — with stops in between at the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas, the orange groves of Florida and the Capitol Building in Albany — this feature-length documentary follows the lives of five immigrant farmworker women (three of them undocumented) over a ten-year period as they struggle to fulfill their roles as workers, wives, mothers and members of an isolated community. “I was inspired to make the film after seeing women working in the fields and orchards near my hometown of Sodus,” says director Nancy Ghertner. “I wanted to meet them, to understand how they lived and what happened — after they picked the fruit.” The film will be followed by a panel discussion on current legislation (the Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act) which would grant farmworkers the same rights as every other worker in New York.
Free. Wed., Feb. 27, at 7:30pm. At New York Law School (185 West Broadway, btw. Leonard & Worth Sts.). RSVP to mloresto@nyclu.org. Visit afteripickthefruit.com.
