Daily Awesome 8/5-8/11

[Naomi Huth]

Anyone interested in a very long hike/plane ride ending with a relaxing nap on a pink bunny’s stomach?

Please continue to let me know whom to add onto this list. A lot of you are involved in the arts, so if you know of any events that I should be aware of, please tell me about them.

Enjoy. Naomi

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Wednesday August 5th
ART: Beach Blanket Bingo: A Summer Mixer @ Jonathan Levine Gallery, Manhattan
FILM: Fame @ Ballfields at McCarren Park, Brooklyn
READING: Indigest 1207 Reading Series @ Le Poisson Rouge, Manhattan
MUSIC: Lincoln Center Out Of Doors @ Pier 54, Manhattan
FILM: Tropic Thunder @ Pier 54, Manhattan
SPORT: Hoop (There It Is) @ The Bell House, Brooklyn
Thursday August 6th
ART: Young Curators, New Ideas II @P.P.O.W. Gallery, Manhattan
FILM: The Return Of The Pink Panther @ Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn
DANCE: Turning Heads, Frocks in Flight @ South Cove Plaza in Battery Park City, Manhattan
Friday August 7th
PARTY: Tokyo @ Exit, Brooklyn
MUSIC: Baby Teeth @ Cake Shop, Manhattan
MUSIC: Antifolk Festival @ Sidewalk Café, Manhattan
Saturday August 8th
SPORT: YoYo Open 2009 @ South Street Seaport, Manhattan
PARTY: Sideshow Shipwreck @ Meet at 949 Grand St, Brooklyn
BURLESQUE: Video Game Vixens @ The Tank, Manhattan
MUSIC: Antifolk Festival @ Sidewalk Café, Manhattan
FESTIVAL: Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival @ Meadow Lake, Queens
Sunday August 9th
MUSIC: Jelly presents The Pool Parties 2009 @ East River State Park, Brooklyn
FILM: Cinema 16 @ The Bell House, Brooklyn
MUSIC: Antifolk Festival @ Sidewalk Café, Manhattan
FILM/MUSIC/SPORT: Red Heroine @ On the lawn of Automotive High School, Brooklyn
FESTIVAL: Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival @ Meadow Lake, Queens
Monday August 10th
ART: Instant Art History Immediately: the Fak'try (a 24Hr Art Movement) @ Lyons Wier Gallery, Manhattan
FILM: Magnificent 7 @ Bryant Park, Manhatan
DANCE: Turning Heads, Frocks in Flight @ South Cove Plaza in Battery Park City, Manhattan
MUSIC: Antifolk Festival @ Sidewalk Café, Manhattan
Tuesday August 11th
LECTURE: Secret Science Club @ The Bell House, Brooklyn
DANCE: Turning Heads, Frocks in Flight @ South Cove Plaza in Battery Park City, Manhattan
MUSIC: Antifolk Festival @ Sidewalk Café, Manhattan

******* Ongoing ******
August 6th, 10th, 11th & 13th 12:30pm August 5th & 12th 6:30PM
Turning Heads, Frocks in Flight @ South Cove Plaza in Battery Park City, Mary Miss Staircase
Free; Gabrielle Lansner and Company’s Turning Heads, Frocks in Flight is an exuberant dance inspired by “Dresses of Transformation,” a series of colorful and fanciful dresses by artist Caterina Bertolotto. Part dance and part dancing parade, Turning Heads will be a celebration of freedom and personal transformation performed by women of many cultural backgrounds to reflect the diversity of New York City. Created in collaboration with the company, the dance will reflect elements of each woman’s personal experience and will feature new music by composer Nancy Magarill. South Cove is an environmental landscape recess along the Hudson River waterfront.

August 8th & 9th 9:00am-5:00pm
Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival @ Meadow Lake, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens
Free; Long, elegant boats shaped like dragons will whip through the waters of Meadow Lake during the 19th annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival.  See over 100 teams race these sleek boats, take in cultural performances and hit the international food court. www.hkdbf-ny.org

August 7th-16th
Antifolk Festival @ Sidewalk Café, 94 Ave A
The Summer Antifolk Festival is taking place August 7th through 16th at Sidewalk Cafe in NYC (94 Ave A). Some highlights over the two-plus-week festival include Jason & Rachel Trachtenburg, Jaymay, Soft Black, Dufus and Larkin Grimm. Celebrating 25 years of semi-annual Antifolk performances (a winter event mirrors the summer one), the festival is a showcase for a diverse cast of talented musicians and spoken-word performers, newcomers and veterans alike. New York City's Antifolk community has been a welcoming launching pad for well-known artists such as Beck, The Moldy Peaches, Jeffrey Lewis, Regina Spektor, Hamell on Trial, and Nellie McKay. The Sidewalk Café has been the scene's proud stomping ground since 1992. http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2009/07/sidewalk_cafes.html

******* Wednesday August 5th ******
August 5th 6:00-8:00pm
Beach Blanket Bingo: A Summer Mixer @ Jonathan Levine Gallery, 529 W 20th St, 9th Floor
Free; Jonathan LeVine Gallery is pleased to present Beach Blanket Bingo: A Summer Mixer. This group exhibition features new works by a total of over thirty artists—some local, others International; some represented, alongside others who will be showing at the gallery for the first time. Participating artists include: Adam Wallacavage, AJ Fosik, Alex Hornest (aka: Onesto), Ana Bagayan, Andrew Foster, Anthony Lister, Cleon Peterson, Dan Witz, Dave Cooper, David Ellis, Elbow-toe, Erik Mark Sandberg, EZO, Glenn Barr, Jack Long, Korin Faught, Logan Hicks, Martin Wittfooth, Matt Haber, Meredith Dittmar, Natalia Fabia, Nicola Verlato,Ray Caesar, Rich Jacobs, Richard Colman, Rick Froberg, Ron English, Scott Radke, Seonna Hong, Skinner, Turf One, and Xiaoqing Ding.

August 5th 6:30pm music/movie starts at dusk
Fame @ Ballfields at McCarren Park, N. 12th & Bedford, Brooklyn
Free; The L Magazine’s outdoor film series, Summerscreen, returns this year to North Brooklyn but in a new home. http://summerscreen.org

August 5th 7:00pm (6:00pm doors)
Indigest 1207 Reading Series @ Le Poisson Rouge, Gallery, 158 Bleeker St.
Free; At their monthly reading series, online literary magazine InDigest takes it's mission of creating a dialogue between and about the arts of the screen and into the bar. The series steps apart from other readings in it's efforts to bring in musicians, artists, fiction and poetry into a literary cabaret where authors read their own work as well as the work of other influential authors. With drink specials, great readings, and a free party following every reading. Tonight's edition features John Wray, author of Lowboy, Marlon James, author of The Book of Night Women, and Ronaldo V. Wilson, author of Narrative of the Life of the Brown Boy and the White Man.

August 5th 7:30-9:30pm
Lincoln Center Out Of Doors @ Pier 54, 14th St. and the Hudson River
Free; Iraqi-American trumpeter Amir ElSaffar’s expanded jazz-cum-Arabic music ensemble unveils a hauntingly beautiful avant-blend that infuses ancient Iraqi maqams with a contemporary intensity. Legendary pianist Dave Brubeck, who has incorporated Middle Eastern influences for a half century, returns to Out of Doors to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his landmark album Time Out, plus debuts a first-time collaboration with famed oud virtuoso Simon Shaheen.

August 5th Dusk (around 8:30pm)
Tropic Thunder @ Pier 54, 14th St. and the Hudson River
Free; On top of getting to watch movies overlooking Hudson River on beautiful summer nights, the other thing I like about River Flicks is that every year they pick a central theme for their screenings. This year's they "know what you did last summer" and screen films released in 2008. Tonight's film is the Ben Stiller comedy Tropic Thunder.

August 5th 9:00pm
Hoop (There It Is) @ The Bell House, 149 7th St, Brooklyn
$5; A summertime dance party & hula hoop jam! Bring your hoop down to the Bell House for an out of control dance party spectacular! We'll have special hoops you can use too! Special guest DJs TBA. Hoops will be for sale.

******* Thursday August 6th ******
August 6th 6:00-8:00pm
Young Curators, New Ideas II @P.P.O.W. Gallery, 511 West 25th Street, Room 301
Free; amani olu projects, in conjunction with P.P.O.W Gallery, is pleased to present Young Curators, New Ideas II, a curator focused exhibition that examines new voices in contemporary art through the perspective of seven New York based curators. These varied micro-exhibitions experiment with curatorial practice and an exploration of ideas as physical form.

August 6th dusk
The Return Of The Pink Panther @ Brooklyn Bridge Park, 1 Main Street, Brooklyn
Free; DJs from Brooklyn Radio will provide the pre-film musical entertainment; the Manhattan skyline will provide the breathtaking backdrop. http://www.brooklynbridgepark.org

******* Friday August 7th ******
August 7th 8:30pm
Baby Teeth @ Cake Shop, 152 Ludlow
$8; With Skygreen Leopards and outrageous Cherry.

August 7th 9:00pm-5:00am
Tokyo @ Exit, 149 Greenpoint Ave, Brooklyn $15 before midnight/$20; Take a trip to the depths of Tokyo's underground. Jack into the neural net. Yakuza battle robotic freedom fighters. Samurai rendezvous with cyborg geisha in dazzling neon love hotels. Embrace the virtual world. Giant monsters attack the city! Ninja and harajuku girl costumes strongly encouraged; Costumed monster battles.

******* SaturdayAugust 8th ******
August 8th 11:30am-6:00pm
YoYo Open 2009 @ South Street Seaport, Pier 17
Free; World-class yo-yo talent will once again the stage deep in the heart of the Big Apple! The 3rd Annual International Yo-Yo Open and New York State Yo-Yo Contest, presented by YoYoNation.com, brings the world's best yo-yo players to the Big Apple for a day of entertainment, education, and eye-popping yo-yo ability. This international yo-yo showdown will draw competitors from all over the world. In addition to watching head-spinning yo-yo tricks and the crowning of this year's International Open and New York State yo-yo champions, visitors can check out live music, DJs, breakdancers, jugglers, and spin-top and diabolo performers, and mini-contests and giveaways -- as well as try out the best in yo-yo equipment for beginner yo-yo players and expert yo-yo masters alike. Check out http://www.yoyoopen.com for more info.

August 8th
Sideshow Shipwreck @ Meet at 949 Grand St, Brooklyn
$10 RSVP & Camouflage/$15 RSVP or Camouflage/$20 No RSVP & lookin pretty; Enter our realm of painful debacles where a secret carnival of trash sailors, bum clowns, sewer freaks, and pirate rodents will conspire to hijack an ocean liner and sail it to the garbage oasis of the low seas. Other maniacs: Jelly Boy the Clown, Cooking with Gas: Octopus's getting cooked with flamethrowers, Slummy & Douggie the Clowns, The Snake Sewer Goddess, Tasteful Clown face painting with Kendalle, The biggest Cockroaches in the fuckin world, Obscene movie screens on neighboring boats by Jefe Cacossa. Also, Manhattan tribal belly dance, Witches serving gumbo from a cauldron, Toxic smoothies, shoot the bottle off the boat, trash sculptures of people, and other damaging obscenities.

August 8th 9:30pm
Video Game Vixens @ The Tank, 354 45th St
$15; As part of The Tank's "Geek Week" Festival, Schaffer the Darklord (STDNYC @ PSN) and Nelson Lugo (PieManAlaMode @ XBLA) present epic evening of video-game themed burlesque starring some of the most elite waggle performers Gotham has to offer. An evening filled with music, laughs and magic...but mostly, scantily clad burlesque beauties paying homage to some of our most beloved electronic interactive entertainments. Come for the boobies. Stay for the cake. Stay later for Rock Band with boobies while eating cake. Rest assured, Video Game Vixens will give new meaning to the phrase "level up."

******* Sunday August 9th ******
August 9th 6:00pm
Jelly presents The Pool Parties 2009 @ East River State Park, 90 Kent Ave, Brooklyn
Free; Simian Mobile Disco (DJ set), Fiery Furnaces, Dark Meat, and The Netherlands. www.thepoolparties.com

August 9th 6:00pm
Cinema 16 @ The Bell House, Brooklyn
$10; Featuring original scores by cutting edge musicians for a series of curated short films.
Lazaro Valiente Scoring the films Even as You and I, The Furies, and Meat Love. Nathan Mckee Scoring the film Coney Island as well as two Rare cartoons from the 1930s.

August 9th 8:00pm
Red Heroine @ On the lawn of Automotive High School, 50 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn
$9; The Devil Music Ensemble performs a live score, accompanying the only surviving Chinese silent martial arts film, Hong Xia's 1929 film, Red Heroine. 8:30pm: Martial Arts Demonstration by Si-Hing Zak Kell of empire city self defense( www.empirecitywt.com) Williamsburg Brooklyn. 8:45-9:00pm: Martial Arts Demonstration by Wang Rengang of International Dachengdoa Elmhurst Queens (www.dachengdao.org) with Manits sword and form, plus stunt fighting. 9:00pm: Red Heroine, with a score performed live by The Devil Music Ensemble

******* Monday August 10th ******
August 10th 6:00-9:00m
Instant Art History Immediately: the Fak'try (a 24Hr Art Movement) @ Lyons Wier Gallery, 175 Seventh Avenue
Free; In the late 60's Andy Warhol's Factory served as the nucleus of the POP art movement. This hip hangout for the artsy crowd was also famed for its parties. Throughout his career, Warhol's subsequent studios were also dubbed The Factory and remained a haven for artists, musicians, writers, critics and socialites. Several filmmakers and photographers documented the culture of the Factory making it a historically relevant site and source of creative energy.

August 10th Films begin at Dusk (about 8ish)
Magnificent 7 @ Bryant Park, 40th and 42nd Sts & Fifth and Sixth Aves
Free; Bring your picnic baskets and pull up some lawn for an evening under the stars with the HBO Bryant Park Summer Film Festival. Every Monday throughout the summer HBO dusts off some classic movies and plays them on a big screen in Bryant Park. Tonight, get a look at The Magnificent Seven. One of the most beloved Westerns of all time with one of the greatest scores of all time (by Elmer Bernstein). Seven mercenaries, including Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn, and Charles Bronson are hired to protect a Mexican village under siege by large group of bandits led by Eli Wallach.

******* Tuesday August 11th ******
August 11th 7:30pm
Secret Science Club @ The Bell House, 149 7th St, Brooklyn
Free; The Secret Science Club returns to the Bell House with more flower-powered lectures, equatorial libations, and photosynthesizing sounds! Jungle Love! The Secret Science Club presents botanical explorer Susan Pell.