Week 9: July 25 – July 31 (Weekend Edition)

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.
I think I can raise $1,000 by end of day Sunday, July 31, if all of you visitors out there take a moment open up your wallets and make a contribution large or small.
Because it’s all for a good cause and it’s fully tax deductible.
The buttons right over there on the left.

I think I can, I think we can . . . what do you think?


DC Adventures

Thursday

Asia After Dark: One Thousand and One Nights
Event Type: All hail the Cocktails, Music and Art
Location: Freer Gallery of Art (1050 Independence Avenue Southwest)
Time: 6:30 PM – 10:30 PM
Cost: $25.00

Shock Value: How a Few Eccentric Outsiders Gave Us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, and Invented Modern Horror
Event Type: Book talk
Location: Politics and Prose (5015 Connecticut Ave. NW)
Time: 7:00 PM
Cost: FREE

Friday

Incendio
Event Type: the Friday standby
Location: National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden (National Mall at 7th Street and Constitution Avenue NW)
Time: 5:30 PM – 8:00 PM
Cost: FREE

Birds of a Feather (thru August 7th)
Event Type: A new york tale of 2 bird families and all the animals are played by actors . . . what’s that you say Pale Male?
Location: John Swayze Theatre (9431 Silver King Ct, Fairfax VA)
Time: 8:00 PM and 2:00 PM
Cost: $25.00

Saturday

Break It Down Like James Brown
Event Type: James Brown and a larger than life painting
Location: Corcoran Gallery (500 Seventeenth Street NW)
Time: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Cost: FREE

Sunday

Big Cherry Block Party
Event Type: Cherry blossom festival in July
Location: Downtown Silver Spring (916 Ellsworth Drive, Silver Spring MD)
Time: 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Cost: FREE

Ain't Misbehavin' : The Fats Waller Musical Show (thru August 20th)
Event Type: We’re swingin’ in Harlem in the 1930s
Location: Elden Street Players Industrial Strength Theatre (269 Sunset Business ParkHerndon VA)
Time: 7:00 PM, 3:00 PM
Cost: $22.00

Revolution Immortalized: a Tribute to the Prophetic Work of Gil Scott Heron
Event Type: Music, Poetry, and Video performances to celebrate soul and jazz poet Gil Scott-Heron
Location: Bus Boys and Poets (1025 5th St. NW, at K St)
Time: 5:00 PM
Cost: Suggested donation $5 - $10

NY Adventures

Thursday

Movies with a View: Basquait
Event Type: to watch the film or enjoy the Manhattan skyline . . . dilemma
Location: Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 1, Harbor View Lawn
Time: 6:00 PM
Cost: FREE

Mark Morris Dance Group with The Brooklyn Philharmonic & The Brooklyn Interdenominational Choir
Event Type: Dancing in Circles
Location: Prospect Park Bandshell
Time: 8:00 PM
Cost: $3.00 Suggested donation



Friday

Newsies Sing-Along
Event Type: Christian Bale pre-Batman sings his little teeny bopper hart out
Location: The Bell House (149 7th Street, btw 2nd + 3rd Ave)
Time: 8:00 PM
Cost: $8.00

They Might Be Giants with Eugene Mirman & Pretty Good Friends w/ Kristen Schaal & Surprise Guests
Event Type: Outdoor connections . . . reconnect with your 1990s self
Location: Williamsburg Waterfront (93 Kent Avenue, Brooklyn)
Time: 5:30PM
Cost: FREE

Saturday

Dr. John & The Lower 911 with Chuck Brown and Red Baraat
Event Type: Break out the brass I wanna hear those horns and you know you never miss a Red Baraat show. . .
Location: Prospect Park Bandshell
Time: 6:30 PM
Cost: $3.00 Suggested donation

Mad Decent Block Party
Event Type: Diplo’s block party
Location: South Street Seaport, Pier 17
Time: 12:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Cost: FREE RSVP Required maddecentblockparty.com

Sunday

Yemen Blues; Watcha Clan; Shabate; Awesome Tapes from Africa
Event Type: World music, African Flavor
Location: Central Park Summer Stage, Rumsey Playfield
Time: 3:00 PM
Cost: FREE

High Line Rink (thru Sept. 26)
Event Type: 8K square foot outdoor roller rink
Location: The Lot (W. 30th St., at Tenth Ave)
Time: 11:00 AM – 11:00 PM
Cost: $12.00 includes skate rental)


Adventures Elsewhere:

Seattle, WA
I know you’re sad you missed the Sunset Music event in DC, but fear not now you can enjoy the Seattle version:

Saturday, July 30
Sunset + Music
Location: Carkeek Park Time: arrive by 8:30 PM, Event starts @ 8:47 PM
Cost: FREE

North Adams, MA

Saturday, July 30
Bang on a Can Marathon
Location: MassMoCA
Time: 4:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Cost: $24.00

Week 9: Happy Hump Day!

Week 8: July 18 - July 24 (Weekend Edition)

Wherever you are Adventure:

Sunday, July 24, 2011
PREMIERE: Life in a Day
Event Type: one-year anniversary of Life in a Day with a special one-night screening event in cities all across the U.S
Location: Across the Country



DC Adventures

Friday
1460 Wall Mountables – Opening Reception
Event Type: Gallery opening
Location: DC Arts Center 2438 18th Street NW (Adams Morgan)
Time: 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Cost: FREE

Saturday
8th Annual Dance DC Festival (thru July 24)
Event Type: dancing around town
Location: Various
Time: 12:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Cost: FREE

Sunday

Special Event Hosted by Yours Truly
Sunset + Music 2011: Assemblage
Event Type: The sound of the Sunset in DC
Location: Constitution Gardens (56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence Memorial)
Time: 8:10 PM
Cost: FREE
** The back-story: http://www.washingtonian.com/blogarticles/20032.html**

NY Adventures

Friday
52nd Street Project: Heads or Tails
Event Type: plays created and developed by adult-kid duos, featuring Former beauty queen shut-ins, crazed ninjas, and hamster lawyers.Location: Five Angels Theater, 789 Tenth Ave., b/t 53rd & 54th Sts
Time: 7:30 PM and 3:00 PM
Cost: FREE, reservations required212-642-5052

Saturday
Meatopia
Event type: Culinary weekend Meat eating splurge of ginormous proportion
Location: Pier 5, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Joralemon St., at Furman St.
Time: 5:30 PM – 9:30 PM
Cost: $85.00 - $95.00

Sunday

Week 8: Happy Hump Day!

Week 8: July 18 – July 24

DC Adventures

Monday

Fort Reno: The NRIs, The Gift, The Union of Sgt. Teddy
Event Type: Concert in the Park
Location: Fort Reno Park (3800 Donaldson Place Northwest, Washington, DC)
Time: 7:15 PM – 9:30 PM
Cost: FREE

Vertigo
Event Type: Hitchcock says don’t look down
Location: The National Theatre (1321 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC)
Time: 6:30 PM
Cost: FREE, Tickets required

Wednesday

Kiu Haghighi & Tooraj Moshref-Zadeh
Event Type: The sounds of Persia
Location: The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (2700 F Street, NW Washington, DC)
Time: 6:00 PM
Cost: FREE

Science in the Cinema Film and Discussion Series: The King’s Speech
Event Type: The Science of Stuttering
Location: AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center (8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring MD)
Time: 7:00 PM – 9:30 PM
Cost: FREE, Tickets required (tickets distributed 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM)

Thursday

Music, Kandinsky, and the K Series
Event Type: Gallery Talk and Tour, the musical influence on the works of Kandinsky and StellaL
ocation: The Phillips Collection (1600 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC)
Time: 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM
Cost: $12.00

Friday

Elikeh
Event Type: Afro Funk Jazz
Location: National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden (National Mall at 7th Street and Constitution Avenue NW)
Time: 5:30 PM – 8:00 PM
Cost: FREE

Saturday

Asian Festival (thru July 24)
Event Type: More than just rice
Location: George Mason University Main Campus (4400 University Dr., Fairfax, VA)
Time: SAT 10:00 AM – 10:00 PM, SUN 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Cost: FREE

Special Event Hosted by Yours Truly: Sunday, July 24, 2011

Sunset + Music 2011: Assemblage
Event Type: The sound of the Sunset in DC
Location: Constitution Gardens (56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence Memorial)
Time: 8:10 PM
Cost: FREE
** The back-story: http://www.washingtonian.com/blogarticles/20032.html**

NYC Adventures

Monday

Spanglish Fly
Event Type: The sounds of 1960s Spanish Harlem
Location: Barbes (376 9th St., Brooklyn)
Time: 9:30 PM
Cost: $10.00

Portraits in Dramatic Time: A Special Symposium
Event Type: A breakdown of facial expressions
Location: Bruno Walter Auditorium, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (Amsterdam Avenue between West 62nd and West 65th Streets)
Time: 6:00 PM
Cost: FREE

Tuesday
Metropolitan Opera Summer Recital Series
Event Type: The Met’s taken it to the streets
Location: Crotona Park, Bronx (Fulton Avenue, Crotona Park North, South, East)
Time: 7:00 PM
Cost: FREE

Thursday

West Side Story Dance- & Sing-Along
Event Type: Sharks v. Jets, which gang do you belong to?
Location: Prospect Park Bandshell (9th Street & Prospect Park West, Brooklyn)
Time: 8:00 PM
Cost: FREE

Balkan Beat Box
Event Type: Classic good times with a Balkan flare
Location: Brooklyn Bowl (61 Wythe Avenue Brooklyn, NY)
Time: 6:00 PM Doors, 8:00 PM Show
Cost: $12.00

Setting the Stage: the RSC in The Greene Space – The Actors
Event Type: Inside the Actors Studio RSC style
Location: Greene Space (44 Charlton Street, on the corner of Charlton and Varick)
Time: 7:00 PM
Cost: FREE, Tickets required

Saturday

Let’s Fly a Kite
Event Type: Free kites for a little fun in the sun on the island
Location: Governors Island, Parade Grounds
Time: 11:00 AM
Cost: FREE

Week 6: July 5 – July 10 (Weekend Edition)

I hope some of you were able to make it up to Spanish Harlem on Wednesday for the unveiling of the new Mural SOLDADERAS at the Modesto Flores Garden. If you missed the big event you can still stop by and check it out the work as you make your way to visit Art for Change or the El Museo del Barrio. . .

Reminder: We’re doubling down on our June gamble as we try and raise $1,000 by July 30th, to support Art for Change so lets dig deep, spread the word and see if we can make a little magic happen.

DC Adventures

Friday

Atlas Summer Film Series: Dreamgirls
Event Type: Musicals, musicals, musicals
Location: Atlas Performing Arts Center (1333 H Street, NE, Washington, DC)
Time: 8:00 PM
Cost: $2.00

Capitol Hill Arts Workshop: Tango
Event Type: If you like shoes you’ll love tango!
Location: Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (545 7th Street, SE, Washington DC)
Time: 6:30 PM – 9:00 PM
Cost: FREE

NSO: PLAY! A Video Game Symphony
Event Type: A little culture for the gamers out there
Location: WolfTrap (1645 Trap Road, Vienna VA)
Time: 8:30 PM
Cost: $20.00 and up

Saturday

Corcoran Gallery Free Summer Saturdays
Event Type: The Corcoran joins the free museum party entrance party
Location: Corcoran Gallery (500 Seventeenth Street NW )
Time: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Cost: FREE

French Festival & Bastille Day After Party
Event Type: Get your French Kicks
Location: Hillwood Museum and Alliance Française
Time: 1:00 PM – 10:-00 PM
Cost: Varies

Washington National Opera: Opera Institute
Event Type: Opera Free, Free Opera . . .
Location: Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (2700 F Street, NW Washington, DC)
Time: 6:00 PM
Cost: FREE

Sunday

Steinway Series: VERGE Ensemble
Event Type: Chamber music and American art . . .
Location: American Museum of Art (8th and F Streets, NW, Washington DC)
Time: 3:00 PM
Cost: FREE

Washington DC/Philadelphia Exchange
Event Type: dance, dance, dance on a proper stage by actual dancers (or so I’ve been told)Location: Dance Place (3225 8th Street NE, Washington DC)
Time: 7:00 PM
Cost: $22.00


NYC Adventures

Ongoing thru August 14th:
Lincoln Center Festival
Event Type: Dance, Theatre, Music from around the world
Cost: Prices Vary
Festival Highlight: Royal Shakespeare Company’s New York Residency performing King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It, The Winter’s Tale, Julius Caesar

Saturday

Collograph Printmaking
Event Type: children’s art studio with guest teaching artist Ellen Coleman Izzo
Location: Art for Change Gallery 1699 Lexington Ave, Lower Level (btwn. 106th & 107th St.)
Time: 1:30-3:30pm
Cost: FREE

FEAST #11
Event Type: Eat, Drink and Support beause all of the cool kids are doing it!
Location: Church of the Messiah (129 Russell Street, Brooklyn)
Time: 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Cost: $20.00

Mid Summer Night Swing: Ray Collins’ Hot Club
Event Type: your Lindy Hop may be a little rusty but that won’t stop you from dancing
Location: Damrosch Park (62nd Street between Columbus and Amsterdam)
Time: 6:30 PM Dance Lessons, 7:30 PM Band
Cost: $17.00 (but you know the layout . . . lots of space in the surrounding areas to ease drop)

Sunday

Bastille Day (Week)
Event Type: vive la france!
Location: 60th Street Manhattan (Fifth to Lexington Avenues) , Smith Street Brooklyn (Bergen and Pacific Streets)
Time: 12:00 PM – 5:00 P M
Cost: FREE

Cook Out NYC
Event Type: NYC’s county fair and cookout . . . what more do you want out of summer?
Location: Governors Island, Colonel’s Row
Time: 11:30 AM – 5:00 PM
Cost: $40.00 advance $45.00 at the gate

MoonDance with the David Berger Jazz Orchestra
Event Type: Swingin’ on the pier and hopefully not off the pier
Location: Pier 84 at W. 44th St.
Time: 6:30 PM free dance lessons, 7:00 PM jazz performance
Cost: FREE

Sundays at St. Paul’s - New Music Now
Event Type: new works by Missy Mazzoli, Paola Prestini and choral works by Nico Muhly
Location: St. Paul’s Chapel (209 Broadway, New York)
Time: 8:00 PM
Cost: FREE

Week 6: Happy Hump Day!

Week 6: July 5 – July 10

We missed the $500 goal for June by just $90, but I like to gamble .. . . (this whole blog is a gamble) so let’s double the stakes for July. $1,000 by July 30th, lets dig deep, spread the word and see if we can make a little magic happen.

And for those of you in NYC take a trip up to Spanish Harlem and check out Art or Change in Action with the unveiling of a new Mural SOLDADERAS at the Modesto Flores Garden. I would go if I could but DC’s holding on pretty type these days.

DC Adventures

Tuesday

Fort Reno: The Blackberry Belles, Cane & The Sticks, Wild Fruit
Event Type: Concert in the Park
Location: Fort Reno Park (3800 Donaldson Place Northwest, Washington, DC)
Time: 7:15 PM – 9:30 PM
Cost: FREE

Wednesday

Chopteeth Afrofunk Big Band
Event Type: Afro Funk Big Band
Location: Strathmore (5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD)
Time: 7:00 PM
Cost: FREE

Thursday

Folger Talks: To Catch a Thief: Recovering the Durham First Folio
Event Type: a tale of Cuban mistresses, FBI and Scotland Yard detectives, a trial, and the eventual repatriation of the book to Durham
Location: Folger Theater (201 East Capitol Street, SE, Washington, DC)
Time: 7:00 PM
Cost: FREE, Reserve your tix

Friday

Sixteenth Annual Made in Hong Kong Film Festival (thru August 21)
Event Type: Film Fest, Hong Kong Style
Location: Freer/Sackler (Jefferson Drive at 12th St SW)
Time: Various
Cost: FREE

NY Adventures

Tuesday

New York Asian Film Festival (thru July 14)
Event Type: Film Fest Asian Style
Location: Film Society of Lincoln Center (70 Lincoln Center Plaza,Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York)
Time: Varies
Cost: $13.00

Wednesday

Art for Change: SOLDADERAS
Event Type: Mural Unveiling
Location: Modesto Flores Garden (Lexington Ave. between 104th & 105th St)
Time: 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Cost: FREE before 7:00 PM, $5.00 - $10.00

Khaira Arby and Her Band
Event Type: A Little African Bowling Music
Location: Brooklyn Bowl ( 61 Wythe Avenue Brooklyn, NY)
Time: 6:00 PM Doors, 8:00 PM Show
Cost: FREE before 7:00 PM, $5.00 - $10.00

New York Classical Theatre: Henry V (thru July 24)
Event Type: Panoramic theatre, from England (Battery Park) across the English Channel (New York Harbor) by boat to France (Governors Island)
Location: Starts at Battery Park
Time: 7:00 PM (travel wristbands available beginning at 5:00 PM)
Cost: FREE

Thursday

Staged Reading of Six Degrees of Separation
Event Type: Story time for grownups and because you loved will smith in the film
Location: The Phillips Collection (1600 21st Street, NW)
Time: 6:30 PM
Cost: $20.00 registration required

Week 5: June 27– July 3 . . . 4th (4th of July Edition)

DC Adventures

Friday

No Scrubs: 90's Dance Party with DJs Will Eastman and Brian Billion
Event Type: I can see you smiling . . .
Location: 930 Club (815 V ST. N.W. WASHINGTON DC)
Time: 9:00 PM
Cost: $15.00

Burger Eating Championship
Event Type: Since you can’t make it up to NYC this weekend for the hotdog contest. . .
Location: Z-burger, Tenleytown (4321 Wisconsin Ave., Washington DC)
Time: 12:30 PM
Cost: FREE

Saturday

The Uncle Sam Jam
Event Type: Patriotic Music Festival
Location: The National Harbor Pavilion (Maryland)
Time: 2:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Cost: $40.00

Sunday

National Freedom Fest (thru July 4)
Event Type: 40+ bands rocking out for the Red, White, and Blue
Location: The Yards Park
Time: 2:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Cost: $19.99 and up

Aires del Campo + Group Cabrestero
Event Type: Columbian folk music
Location: Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Millennium Stage (2700 F Street, NW Washington, DC)
Time: 6:00 PM
Cost: FREE

Monday: 4th of July

National Independence Day Parade
Event Type: Old School 4th of July festivities
Location: Constitution Avenue from 7th to 17th Street
Time: 11:45 AM
Cost: FREE

National Archives 4th of July Celebration
Event Type: Family day of patriotism at the Archives
Location: National Archives (700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC)
Time: 8:30 AM – 2:00 PM
Cost: FREE

The Palisades Annual July 4th Parade & Picnic
Event Type: Old School 4th of July festivities
Location: The Parade (Whitehaven Pkwy NW and MacArthur Blvd. and ends at the Palisades Recreation Center on Sherier Place NW), Picnic (Palisades Rec Center)
Time: 11:00 AM
Cost: FREE


New York

Friday

40th Annual International African Arts Festival (thru July 4)
Event Type: A tribute to the arts and culture of the motherland
Location: Commodore Barry Park (Park Ave., Navy St., Flushing Ave. and North Eliot Pl. Brooklyn)
Time: 2:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Cost: FREE, Donations suggested

Saturday

P.S. 1 Warm Up Kicks Off (thru Sept 3)
Event Type: Art, Music, People + Watching in Long Island City
Location: PS1 (22-25 Jackson Ave, LIC)
Time: 2:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Cost: $15.00

Mid Summer Night’s Swing: Aurora y Zon del Barrio with special guests Larry Harlow and Eddy Zervigon
Event Type: Get your Salsa and Mambo on
Location: Lincoln Center Damrosch Park (62nd Street between Columbus and Amsterdam)
Time: 6:30 PM
Cost: $17.00

Sunday

Crawfish Boil at the Village Pourhouse Downtown
Event Type: Crawfish, Crawfish, Crawfish and maybe a beer (or two)
Location: Village Pourhouse Downtown (64 Third Ave. at 11th St.)
Time: 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Cost: $40.00

Monday: 4th of July

Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Challenge
Event Type: Horrifying but fascinating scenes of gluttony
Location: Nathan’s, Coney Island (1310 Surf Avenue)
Time: Preshow 10:00 AM, Women @ 11:30, Men @ 12:00 PM
Cost: FREE

Looking Ahead:
NYC Restaurant Week (July 11 – 24)