Tuesday 5/ 8 @ Radio City Music Hall
Florence Welch and her cast of collaborators channel the gothic pop of fellow UK eccentrics Kate Bush and Annie Lennox. Florence & the Machine's debut album, Lungs, nailed an impressive range of styles, showcasing a Fiona Apple-esque soul-inspired swagger. Florence & the Machine also share a pedigree with other British indie acts that have made waves in recent years, thanks to in-studio assistance from producers who have worked with Bloc Party, Arctic Monkeys, and Pulp. She's touring now in support of her (so far, equally acclaimed) second album, Ceremonials, which she cut at Abbey Road with help from Adele's producer, Paul Epworth.
Coming Up
Today @ Mary Boone Gallery 541 West 24th St New York, NY 10001
Sunflower Seeds, the installation by internationally renowned artist and activist Ai Weiwei, is on view for the first time in New York. Each "seed" is a piece of porcelain hand-painted by an artisan to look like an actual seed and was produced in the historic city of Jingdezhen in northern Jiangxi, China known for its porcelain. The resulting mass is a clean 5-ton rectangular patch on the floor that looks uniform from a distance but remarkably variegated upon closer inspection — a comment by the artist, in part, on the individual versus the masses and on China's history of labor-intensive production. While you could walk on the seeds at the show at the Tate Modern in London in 2010, don't try it here. Because of the porcelain dust, walking is not permitted. But you can look very very closely, hang out, and enjoy the almost unnaturally peaceful environment.
Today @ Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center
Calling these things puppets is like calling the Yankees a baseball team. What they are able to create on stage (for which the puppeteers won a special Tony award) is phenomenal. The "horses" are the true stars of this show, galloping across the fields and through the trenches of the first World War. Very moving. ...
Today @ Brooklyn Museum
The exhibition Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties presents the work of 68 painters, sculptors, and photographers who explored a new mode of modern realism embodying the vibrant ethos of the Jazz Age. These vibrant nudes and intimate close-up portraits celebrate the sexual freedom that was characteristic of the age, in which defiance of the limiting routines of mechanical labor and the stresses of modern urban life was the order of the day.
Today @ Kaufman Center
A celebration of the instrument that virtuoso classical musician Andre Segovia described as "the easiest instrument to play, and the hardest to play well," the New York Guitar Festival has been championing emerging talent and supporting innovative collaborations since 1999. Over the course of three weeks, more than 35 guitarists, who strum across a range of musical styles, unite under the festival's banner. Highlights include a free galactic tribute to Brian Eno featuring Larry Campbell, Tortoise's Jeff Parker and Phish's Mike Gordon, an Alternative Guitar Summit with Nels Cline and Thurston Moore, an all-day guitar marathon, and Silent Films/Live Guitars, a program in which 11 silent films by Buster Keaton are accompanied by original scores performed live by the likes of Califone, Buke and Gase, Dan Zanes, Kaki King, My Brightest Diamond and Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo.
