Summer Culture Calendar

[music]

Brigid Bergin: It's the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. I'm Brigid Bergin, a politics reporter in the WNYC and Gothamist newsroom, filling in for Brian who's off today. If you've spent some time walking around the city on a recent summer weekend, you may have noticed there is a lot going on these days. Outdoor art, music, movies, it's all back. If you're looking for some good ideas of fun things to do around the city this summer, WNYC's Jennifer Vanasco, news and culture editor is here to tell us all about where to get your arts and culture fix. Hey Jay.

Jennifer Vanasco: Hey Brigid. Oh, it's so good to hear your voice.

Brigid Bergin: Oh, it's great to hear you too. Listeners, we also want to hear your suggestions. What kind of arts and culture are you checking out this summer in the city or in New Jersey? Let us know your favorite local outdoor finds. Give us a call at 646-435-7280. That number, 646-435-7280 with your picks for summer in the city. Jay is someone who truly loves the quirky things of New York. How does it feel to see things finally opening up?

Jennifer Vanasco: I actually have all the feelings. Of course, I feel relief and excitement. I've been seeing a lot of theater. I'm going to art, but again, FOMO, fear of missing out is back. Everything seems to be opening all at once. We all have this limited time. It feels both so precious to see people and go to arts events and it's also, I think, a bit of a shock to the system. I think a lot of people kind of feel both those things.

Brigid Bergin: Oh, a lot of us New Yorkers love performances around the city. I know you're a big fan of the Restart Stages at Lincoln Center. Can you tell us about that initiative?

Jennifer Vanasco: This is so great. Back in May, I went through a walkthrough at Lincoln Center and what really struck me was how giddy folks were there to finally have an audience. With this initiative, they're really kind of putting out a welcome mat for the city. They're saying you belong here. There's something for you. What they've done is really amazing. They have 10 outdoor performance spaces. This week alone you can hear jazz, there's storytelling for kids. There's a musical tribute to bandleader and composer, Billy Taylor.

Tonight, you can see a documentary about Alvin Ailey, and then this week there's also this really incredible piece called You Are Here by Andrea Miller. It's a little difficult to describe, but it starts off as these statues by Mimi Lien. They're these human-like figures and these explosive almost jazz-like dance poses. They're dressed in actual clothes and covered in flowers and each of them has a speaker. There's this sound installation. You can go near the statue and you can hear, they're based on real people who are part of the Lincoln Center community, but it just means part of New York. You can hear them tell their stories.

It includes a security guard, a nurse who was on COVID front lines, a composer, a dancer. Then the last week of July, the actual people, these portrait performers, the community members, they come together to do dance pieces for the dance company. I talked with the choreographer about this and she said she wanted a space for people to just take a breath, to just process everything that's happened to all of us. She said, we're all go, go, go. Let's reopen. Really she said, let's not rush forward and forget what's actually happened to us.

Brigid Bergin: It sounds so striking in terms of the intimacy, particularly when you consider how many people have been disconnected from others and maybe have lacked that connection on such a small scale, hearing those small stories. It sounds like a really powerful exhibit. It's also really great to hear that music is back this summer in Lincoln Center. I was really happy to learn that some of our biggest city-sponsored music festivals are back too, like SummerStage and Celebrate Brooklyn. What can you tell us about this year's lineups?

Jennifer Vanasco: Oh, yes, so SummerStage, of course, is across the city. It's been going on since mid-June. It's Rumsey Playfield and Central Park, Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem, Flushing Meadows in Queens, Coney Island Amphitheater. Really it's a bit of something for everyone. Hip hop, Latin, indie rock, contemporary, jazz, global music. There are some big names as there are every year. Gloria Gaynor, she's coming up this Saturday at Coney Island. Later in the summer, there's Patti Smith, George Clinton, Ani DiFranco, Indigo Girls, plus also the Met Opera is coming, as usual, the Harlem Symphony Orchestra.

This Wednesday there's Bastille Day Celebration in Central Park. That starts with the jazz band and it ends with a movie, this French comedy, My Donkey, My Lover & I. I know nothing-- It just sounds very French, right? I know nothing about this movie except The Guardian in their review called it, Eat Bray, Love, which I really want to see it. This year, this is important about SummerStage, there aren't tickets for free performances. Free performances are first come first serve to capacity. If you're unvaccinated, you need to wear a mask. If you can't make it in person, a lot of the performances will be live-streamed.

Celebrate Brooklyn, which you also mentioned, that starts at the end of the month. It runs through September at the Prospect Park Bandshell as usual. I just learned recently that actually, it's one of our longest-running music festivals. It started in 1979, which I didn't know. I know. That's free, you have to RSVP. The concert's there to run the gamut, Buffy Sainte-Marie, who's a climate and social justice activist, singer-songwriter, Trombone Shorty with his brass funk band.

Brigid Bergin: Oh, wow.

Jennifer Vanasco: I know. I cannot wait to see him, that's in September. The RNB singer, Ari Lennox. Skip Marley who's the grandson of Bob Marley. There's soul, hip hop, jazz. Pretty much if you like music, you're going to find something great at Celebrate Brooklyn. Also, I should add that there's a lot of online workshops even now, almost every day. How to make a movie on your phone, how to edit your podcasts, fundamentals of screenwriting. You should really check that out too.

Brigid Bergin: Oh, well we are getting great suggestions from our callers as well. Let's start with Gregory in Woodside, Queens. Gregory, what is on your culture calendar?

Gregory: Hello. I am so excited that tonight I'm going to I think one of my first in-person cultural events in a year and a half, which is the Inwood Art Works Quarantine Film Festival. This is the public screening of a contest in film festival that was online-only last year. This year, tonight, they're screening that up Inwood at a restaurant called the Hudson, and I'm so proud of my wife, Polly who received the award for best in Queens short-

Brigid Bergin: Oh, wow. Congratulations, Polly.

Gregory: -so I'll be going to see her live. Thank you.

Brigid Bergin: That's wonderful. Gregory, thanks so much for that suggestion. Let's go to Jen in Dumbo. Jen, what's your cultural calendar event?

Jen: Oh, I just love going to the Dumbo Archway. Every Friday they have Americana Happy Hour. It's in the Archway in Dumbo that actually is part of the Anchorage of the Manhattan Bridge. Then just across the street there is Superfine, you'll have the longest-running Bluegrass jazz and Country Brunch in Dumbo, more than 20 years. We've actually got [unintelligible 00:07:58]. I'm going to go see her play there next Sunday. Every Friday in the Archway in Dumbo from 5:00 till 7:00, there is Americana bands. We've got Queen Esther, I'm going to see, and Miss Tess is coming up.

That's all free and actually, they have stuff in the Dumbo every day now. It's called the Daily Dose of Dumbo and it's all leading up to the Brooklyn Americana Music Festival which happens in September, which is a free festival in Brooklyn Bridge Park, in the Dumbo Archway, in Sunny's and Superfine and Jalopy Theatre in Red Hook.

Brigid Bergin: Oh, wow. Jen, thank you so much. Lots of live music options for folks who want to get up at that York Street stop and visit, check out things around the Dumbo area. Jay, we heard film suggestions, music suggestions. Let's talk for a minute about film. What events are around the city for city film lovers? A lot of us have watched everything available on every streaming service this past year, so those who want to finally get out and catch a movie, what other outdoor spaces would you recommend?

Jennifer Vanasco: There are so many outside movies right now. I want to say that almost every night, you could probably watch a movie outside. A lot of these you've probably seen already, but it's still such a great experience to get your blanket outside and sit under, if not the stars, then the lampposts [chuckles] to see a movie with other people. Bryant Park is one of the big favorites. They're coming back at the end of August. If people haven't done that before, it's really kind of like a running of the bull, so you really need to be there at 5:00. Even though the films don't start till eight o'clock and people bring board games and cards.

What's fun about that this year is that they are showing three films of shows that will be on Broadway in the fall, Moulin Rouge, Mrs. Doubtfire, and Phantom of the Opera, which is super cool. Movies under the stars is really great because it's in every borough and it tends to show very family-friendly movies. This week alone, there's Incredibles 2, Minions, Raya and the Last Dragon, Trolls World Tour, Sonic the Hedgehog. Basically, if you have a kid [chuckles] there's a movie for your kid, and that's free.

Brigid Bergin: Oh, wow.

Jennifer Vanasco: They're in parks all over the city. You just bring your chair or your blanket, find a spot, and relax. Rooftop Films is back. They call themselves Underground Films outdoors. They're more indie films and international films, short films.

Brigid Bergin: Well, Jay, we're going to start to run out of time here, and so let's zoom through. You can hit me with some of the other events that you think are exciting. I guess there is a roller-skating experience in Queens we should have on our radar. Can you hit me with a few more of your events real quick?

Jennifer Vanasco: Yes, okay so Rollerama. It's at the TWA Hotel at Kennedy Airport on the tarmac.

Brigid Bergin: Oh my gosh. [chuckles]

Jennifer Vanasco: I know, it's very retro. It's very cool. There's a 1958 Lockheed Constellation Airplane right next to it. There's also, in Brooklyn, there's Dreamland Roller Disco on Friday night. It is adults only. People wear costumes. There's a red carpet. That's at the LeFrak Center, everybody should go.

Brigid Bergin: Oh, I know there's more and we'll have to leave it there. My guest has been Jennifer Vanasco, WNYC's news and culture editor. Jay, thank you so much for the recommendations. Enjoy this wonderful summer weather.

Jennifer Vanasco: Oh, you too. It's gorgeous.

Brigid Bergin: I'm Brigid Bergin, and this is the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Thanks so much for listening.

[music]

 

Copyright © 2021 New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information.

New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of New York Public Radio’s programming is the audio record.