THU.JAN.26
No Angie Dickinson
Indie rock icon Joan Wasser’s “Joan as Police Woman” features new songs from her forthcoming album, “Real Life” with her rhythm section–Rainy Orteca on bass and Ben Perowsky on drums. Each week, different special guest musicians and vocalists will join the band. Scheduled to appear are Rufus Wainright, Joseph Arthur, and Antony, all of whom Joan has intimately collaborated with on their music, and now on her own. Tonight and Feb, 2 at 8 p.m. at The Living Room, 154 Ludlow St., btwn. Stanton & Rivington Sts. Free; no reservations. For information 212-533-7235.
Lost & Found
Drunken! Careening! Writers! is a monthly reading series dedicated to the proposition that readings should be: excellent, well-read pieces that have at least one thing in them that makes people laugh and don’t run more than 15 minutes each. Carol Novack is a lapsed criminal defense lawyer with an unused MSW. A book of her poems, “Living Alone Without a Dictionary,” was published in Australia. Greg Sanders’ short stories have appeared or are forthcoming in numerous journals. Todd Zuniga is the founding editor of Opium Magazine. Kathleen Warnock hosts. For more information, CareeningWriters@aol.com. KGB Bar, 85 E. Fourth St. at Second Ave. 212-505-3360 or KGBBar.com. 7 p.m. Free.
The Studio Visit
Exit Art features the work of more than 160 artists invited to create a short video on the subject of their workspace. The works are presented as projections or on single channel monitors throughout the studio, or in smaller artists spaces created throughout Exit. The aim is to offer the public the opportunity usually reserved for curators, critics, collectors, and friends to view an artist’s private workspace. Seven artists—Chris Clary, Aaron Krach, J. Morrison, Francis Palazzolo, Joyce Pensato, Cynthia von Buhler, and Paul Wirhun—actually create a studio in the gallery’s windows that face the street. Krach, with a video on himself swimming, forged a beach setting that looks out on 36th St. For complete information, visit exitart.org. Thu.-Sat., 7 to 10 p.m. through Jan. 28. 475 10th Ave. at 36th St.
Violent Ends
“The End of Reality,” a new theater work by Richard Maxwell, explores violence; physical exchanges are as significant as dialogue. Set in a “lobby-citadel,” guards attempt to secure a vulnerable area against unidentified intruders. The resulting confusion and conflict take the audience to a place that is both new and distinctly American. The Kitchen, 512 W. 19th St., Thu.-Sat. through Jan. 28 at 8 p.m. $15 at 212-255-5793 x11 or thekitchen.org.
FRI.JAN.27
Performance and media
Zone: Chelsea Center for the Arts presents a retrospective of video installation works by artist Molly Davies, who started making experimental films in the late 1960s. She became well known in the 1970s for her innovative work with film and performance, collaborating with contemporary choreographers, performers and composers. The exhibition includes “David Tudor’s Ocean” (1991), a six-channel piece, documenting three performances of the first tour of Merce Cunningham Dance Company’s acclaimed work “Ocean,” with composer David Tudor and Takehisa Kosugi performing live. “Sea Tails” (1983), a three-channel, six monitor piece, that integrates an evocative electronic score by David Tudor with film footage of French artist Jackie Matisse’s extraordinary underwater kites will also be on display. The exhibit also features the premiere of “Desire” (2002), a three-channel, three- screen installation with text by renowned poet Anne Carson. 601 W. 26th St., #302. 212-255-2177 or zonechelsea.org. Through Feb. 18, Tue.-Sat. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Best Lesbian Alt Shorts
Mix, mingle, and watch these—and other—award-winning short films: “Open,” directed by Teale Failla and produced/written by Sandra Grace and Teale Failla., in which an open relationship turns the lives of three women into a hilarious whirlwind of betrayal, bingo, and sex toys; “A Girl and a Goldfish” directed by Kelly Sebastian, about the emotional aftermath of a passionate one night stand; “Risk,” directed by Melanie LaRosa, wherein a. sexy caterer on the Staten Island ferry challenges a new client to rethink her lesbian marriage; and “I Love You,” directed by Valerie Weiss, about a high-fashion photographer determined to find out the true obsession of his model and muse. $10, $6 members. The LGBT Center, 210 W. 13th St. 212-620-7310. 7:30 p.m.
Gen-Bend Tunes
Directed by Anand Ramaswamy, with musical direction by Rachel Kaufman, “Boy Sings Girl,” written and performed by Jon Wilcox, is one man’s musical odyssey of coming to terms with gender and sexuality. The story is told through musical theater and popular songs originally written for women by Stephen Sondheim, Galt MacDermot, Richard Maltby and David Shire, Stephen Schwartz, Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, Andrew Lloyd Webber, William Finn, and Richard Carpenter. From a childhood in Minnesota in the 1970s, where singing “girl songs” from musicals like “Hair,” or pop songs by The Carpenters and Mama Cass felt perfectly natural, “Boy Sings Girl” follows Wilcox’s journey through teenaged years as shame put an end to such performances. The story continues through years as a would-be Broadway star in New York, where the ecstasy of coming out was quickly replaced by the fear of AIDS in the 1980s. Fears about gender identity and sexuality are finally overcome in a transformation that coincides with meeting his 18-year-old son for the first time. Upstairs at Rose’s Turn Cabaret, 55 Grove St. btwn. Seventh Ave. & Bleecker St. $10 plus two-drink minimum, 9 p.m. Reservations at 212-366-5438 after 4 p.m.
NEUROfest
Untitled Theater Company #61, artistic director Edward Einhorn, present the first theater festival dedicated to neurological conditions. The festival is partly inspired by the work of famed neurologist and author Oliver Sacks, a writer well regarded for his exploration of the creative revelations made through neurology. Science has long since been a bedfellow to the arts, and NEUROfest will combine the two in a festival of over 20 plays, seminars and readings about neurological conditions, ranging from aphasia to savantism to autism to Tourette’s. Theater 5, 311 W. 43rd St., fifth fl. Through Jan 29. Tickets are $15 212-352-3101 or theatermania.com.
SAT.JAN.28
Mariposas
This spoken word event, a benefit for SOMOS, a project of the Latino Commission on AIDS, features Dino Foxx, Emanuel Xavier, Simply Rob, and Robert Ortiz, and is hosted by Elizabeth Latex. SOMOS is an innovative HIV prevention project that will focus on homophobia, as a cause of higher rates of HIV transmission among Latino gay and bisexual men. SOMOS’ goal is to increase sexual self-regulation by addressing the cultural scripts that decrease self-esteem, lower sexual control and competency, decrease social isolation and address the sense of fatalism among Latino gay and bisexual men, and change external factors causing these cultural scripts the undermine the enactment of safer sex intentions through community-level interventions which address homophobia in New York’s Latino communities. Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery at Bleecker St., 212-614-0505 or bowerypoetry.com. For more information about SOMOS, latinoaids.org/programs/mano_somos.htm. 6-8 p.m. $5 suggested.
Live-Action Video Game
The theatrical extravaganza “Gun Play,” conceived and directed by Chocolate Factory founder/artistic director Brian Rogers, draws parallels between real violence and imagined violence, recreating the world of 3-D first-person-shooter games on stage, while integrating game footage using high-tech video and computers. The audience, wearing headphones—Quake Convention style—watch the gun and gamer world come to life with an all-star cast of real-life gun relevant personalities like Hunter S. Thompson, Ted Nugent, William S. Burroughs, and John Carmack, who developed the games Doom and Quake. 5-49 49th Ave. in Long Island City. $15 at 212-352-3101 or theatermania.com. Thursday is “Pay What You Can” for Queens residents. For more information, chocolatefactorytheater.org. Thu.-Sat. at 8 p.m. Through Feb. 4.
SUN.JAN.29
Revolutionary Storytelling Series
Born in Panama City and immigrating to the Bronx in 1961, Vincente “Panama” Alba began his political activism in protest against the Vietnam war and joined the Young Lords Party in 1970. In 1977, Panama was arrested and spent six months in jail for alleged ties to Fuerzas Amadas de Liberación Nacional (FALN). Five years later, he was acquitted. Panama was involved in two takeovers of the Statue of Liberty as part of campaigns supporting Puerto Rican Nationalist Prisoners and in support of the people of Vieques. He is a founding member of numerous organizations, including The South Bronx Clean Air Coalition, The Vieques Brigade, and The National Congress of Puerto Rican Rights. In 2004, he was awarded the El Award by El Diario-La Prensa. He is currently an executive board member and delegate of Laborers’ Local 108 (L.I.U.N.A.) AFL/CIO. Bluestockings, 172 Allen St. btwn. Stanton & Rivington. 212-777-6028. 7 p.m. $5 Suggested.
Movement Research
This free, high visibility, low-tech weekly forum for the exploration of movement-based ideas continues in the 2005/06 season at locations around town, due to construction at the Judson Memorial Church. Tonight’s artists include Naomi Goldberg-Haas, Magnetic Laboratorium, and Ani Weinstein. Admission is free. No reservations and seating is limited so arrive early. For more information, 212-539-2611 or movementresearch.org. Dance Theater Workshop, 219 W. 19th St. at 8 p.m.
MON.JAN.30
Puccini’s First and Final
The Collegiate Chorale, led by Music Director Robert Bass, continues its 64th season at 8p.m. at Carnegie Hall with Puccini’s first and last operas, “Le Villi” and Turandot “Act III, with Luciano Berio’s ending. “Le Villi” has not been performed at the Met since 1909. The cast includes: Aprile Millo as Anna in “Le Villi” and Turandot in “Turandot;” Franco Farina as Roberto in “Le Villi” and Calaf in “Turandot;” Hei-Kyung Hong as Liú in “Turandot;” Valentin Peitchinoff as Timur in “Turandot;” Carlo Guelfi as Guglielmo in “Le Villi;” Lester Lynch as Ping in “Turandot;” Richard Cox as Pang in “Turandot;” Douglas Purcell as Pong in Turandot. Tickets are $25-$155 at 917-322-2140 or 212-247-7800.
SMUT
The weekly program of no-holds-barred performance every Monday at Galapagos, hosted by Desiree Burch, with comedians Michelle Collins and Jenny Rubin tonight. 70 N. Sixth St. btwn. Kent and Wythe in Williamsburg. 718-782-5188. 8 p.m., free.
Flag-Waving Lefties
In the new book “The Intellectuals And The Flag,” Todd Gitlin defends the comprehensive ambitions of an earlier generation of intellectuals, criticizes the academic left for abandoning real politics, and argues that an American patriotism coming from the political left would undermine the political right. Todd Gitlin is a professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University, and the author of 11 books, including: “The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage,” “The Whole World Is Watching,” and “Letters to a Young Activist.” Bluestockings, 172 Allen St. btwn. Stanton & Rivington. 212-777-6028. 7 p.m. Free.
TUE.JAN.31
Interview with John Berendt
The author of the record-breaking bestseller “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” John Berendt will talk about his revealing portrait of contemporary Venice in “The City of Falling Angels,” his new nonfiction work. Berendt’s story opens on January 29, 1996, when a catastrophic fire destroys the historic Fenice Opera House, where five of Verdi’s operas premiered. Berendt becomes a kind of detective—inquiring into the nature of life in this unique city, while gradually revealing the truth about the fire. Book sales and signing. $10, $7 OP members 212-462-9255 or outprofessionals.org. 7 p.m. at The LGBT Center, 210 W. 13th St.
Fats and Fields
The New York Festival of Song, with artistic director Steven Blier and associate artistic director Michael Barrett, will present a tribute to the song legacies of brilliant lyricist Dorothy Fields and prodigious piano virtuoso/singer/ songwriter Fats Waller—tracing their wide-ranging, occasionally crisscrossing musical paths from the Cotton Club to Broadway to Hollywood, via Tin Pan Alley. Judy Kaye, Jennifer Aylmer, Jason Graae, and James Martin are featured. Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center, 129 W. 67th St., 8 p.m. Tickets are $45 at 212-501-3330.
Women’s Poetry Jam
Sharon Dolin will read from her new manuscript “Burn and Dodge,” a poetic collection about such vices as regret, guilt, indecision, anxiety, and envy. She will also read from “Realm of the Possible.” Kathleen Willoughby’s poetry is stark and eloquent, revealing the complex layers of joy and pain in women’s lives. Women’s Poetry Jam is hosted by Vittoria Repetto. Open mike sign-up starts at 7 p.m., so come and deliver (up to) eight minutes of your poetry, prose, songs, and spoken word. Bluestockings, 172 Allen St. btwn. Stanton & Rivington Sts. 212-777-6028. 7 p.m. $3 to $5 suggested.
Disorder
Jeremy Wade returns to Dance Theater Workshop with his naked duet “Glory” and the new solo “Fiction.” Post-Performance discussion tonight with moderator Keely Garfield. $20, $12 members at 212-924-0077 or dtw.org. 219 W. 19th St. Through Feb. 4 at 7:30 p.m.
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