By sarah norris – sarah@thevillager.com
Volume 77 / Number 44 – April 02 – 08, 2008
West and East Village, Chelsea, Soho, Noho, Little Italy, Chinatown and Lower East Side, Since 1933
ART
EXCAVATION
A live performance of visual art, “Excavation” features action painter Naoki Iwakawa as he tackles an enormous canvas in a series of 13 one-hour sessions set to music by pianist Carlo Altomare. Videos of previous sessions are simultaneously projected onto the work as Iwakawa creates layers of hidden paintings. The objective is a kind of archaeological art that possesses buried evidence of all of the painting performances. When the series is finished, the canvas will be presented in an installation with slides, video projections, and audio to offer proof of the entire process. April 3 and 10 at 8 p.m. Theaterlab’s 14th Street Gallery. 137 W. 14th St. 212-929-2545, theaterlabnyc.com
CONCERT
Reverend Billy and the Stop Eviction Gospel Choir
East Village institution Reverend Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping have, according to The Villager, “transmogrified from parody into a very real anti-corporate gadfly, crusading against Starbucks, Disney, Wal-Mart and those who propagate the sin of excessive consumerism.” In an attempt to head off a Shopocalypse, they took their show on the road for a 2007 documentary. Now, Reverend Bill, backed by the Stop Eviction Gospel Choir and the Not Buying It Band, preaches the importance of resisting “demon monoculture” in the face of chain stores. They’re joined by “sainted guest” Angelo Fontana, the cobbler recently evicted from the intersection of 10th Street and 2nd Ave., where he worked for 45 years. April 6 at 6 p.m. St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery. 131 E 10th St. revbilly.com
MUSIC
SONIC UKE
The annual “Ukulele Rejects” show celebrates all the wrong ways of playing the instrument—distorted, electric, de-tuned, loud, and angry—with wigs, clowns and smoke machines. Hosted by outlaw ukulele band Sonic Uke as part of the Ukulele Caravan, a convergence of uke players from around the world. April 4 at 11 p.m. Stage 43 at Jimmy’s. 43 E. 7th St. ukulelecaravan.com NY UkeFest 2008 features four days of concerts and workshops described by Mayor Bloomberg as the “ukulele event of the year.” Musical theater at the fest includes the comedy “Sex! Drugs! & Ukuleles!” and “God Loves Tiny Tim.” April 3-6. Theater for the New City. 155 E. First Ave. 212-254-1109, theaterforthenewcity.net
DANCE
MANDANCE PROJECT
Eliot Feld’s Ballet Tech presents “Mandance Project,” two weeks of performances by Feld’s dancers as well as two shows (April 16 & 17) by Taiwanese guest company Horse, an all male, six-member group, and four kids’ matinees (April 12, 13, 19, & 20 at 2 p.m.) Premieres include “Isis in Transit,” a solo for Fang-Yi Sheu (pictured) set to Steve Reich’s 1967 “Violin Phase,” and “Undergo” for Wu-Kang Chen, danced to the haunting music of Meredith Monk. April 9-20. The Joyce. 175 Eighth Ave. 212-242-0800, joyce.org.
READINGS
GEORGE OPPEN SYMPOSIUM
To commemorate the artist’s centennial and the publication of his “Selected Prose, Daybooks, and Papers,” poets and scholars gather to honor his life. A member of the Objectivist poets, Oppen is almost as well known for his political activism as his poetry, for which he won the 1969 Pulitzer Prize. A dialogue about his literary and philosophical reach follows a two-hour biographical-historical panel discussion at 3 p.m. At 7:30, writers Harvey Shapiro, Thom Donovan, Peter O’Leary, John Taggert, and others read his poems. April 8 from 3-9 p.m. Tribeca Performing Arts Center. 199 Chambers St. 212-431-7920, poetshouse.org.
