Week of May 19
Summer Preview + Weekly Bests ⛱️
Hi. You look nice! So does this week.
First: a quick plug for great summer programming that you’ll want to grab tickets to now.
🎟️ Summer Preview: Great Tickets 🎟️
Some of the best people we know are about to launch incredible shows in New York. Snag these tickets before they sell out:
Taylor Mac’s Prosperous Fools at the Theatre for a New Audience, runs June 1-29
Young Boy Dancing Group, Sun Ra Arkestra, and others present Dripping at Pioneer Works on June 20
Josh Sharp’s Josh Sharp ta-da! (directed by Oh, Mary!’s Sam Pinkleton) at the Greenwich House Theater, runs July 7 - August 23
Julio Torres’ Color Theories at Performance Space, runs September 3-21 (talk to us about how September is the summer and the season’s best month by far)
Rufus Wainwright’s stage adaptation of John Cassavetes' Opening Night at Town Hall on September 15
We feel conflicted about the CBGB one-day revival at Under the K Bridge on September 27. On the one hand, we love to see Iggy Pop dancing topless well into his 70’s. And it’s another chance to see YHWH Nailgun, who should receive a Pulitzer for their live performances.
On the other hand, we feel protective of the CBGBs legacy. (Absolutely nobody asked us, of course.) The legendary punk venue has already suffered grave humiliations: first, being turned into a John Varvatos store, then being remade as a bar in Newark Airport’s Terminal C. Give this girl a break. May her legacy rest in peace and not a prematurely nostalgic brand activation.
Anyway! Let’s get into the week.
🆓 = costs $0, 🎨 = art, 🎼 = music, 🎬 = film, 📚= books, 🌳 = nature, 🎭 = performance, 🧠 = extra smart people, 🍸 = drinks available, 🦩 = party/friendly vibe, 🗽= extra New Yorky
🔑 Click the venue link under each listing for full event details.
Monday, May 19
Lorna Simpson: Source Notes opens at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Hauser & Wirth is the captain of museums now, taking over the Met with this new show from Lorna Simpson—the first to represent her full body of work to date. With over 30 works on display, “this focused exhibition presents a selection of Simpson’s major paintings, including examples from her acclaimed Venice Biennale debut in 2015 and her celebrated series Special Characters, along with recent sculptures and related collages.”
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Upper East Side
Mon from 10a-5p 🎨 (runs through November 2)
Other Monday events, briefly noted:
Music Mondays presents: Claremont Trio & Paul Appleby performing some Fauré, some Schubert, and a world debut of new music from Jessica Meyerat at Advent Lutheran Church (Upper East Side), 6:45p doors, 7:30p show 🆓 🎼
Susan Dominus talks about her new book The Family Dynamic: A Journey into the Mystery of Sibling Success with writer Taffy Brodesser-Akner, other writer Lauren Groff, and Groff’s Olympian sister Sarah True at the 92nd St Y (Upper East Side and online), 7:30p 📚 🧠
Comedy geniuses Spike Einbinder and Honey Pluton present Invention at C’Mon Everybody (Bed Stuy), 7:30p 🎭 🍸
Hot Fella Mario “Anthony Marentino” Cantone kicks off a run at Cafe Carlyle (Upper East Side), 8:45p 🎭 🎼 🍸 (also May 22-25)
Tuesday, May 20
Opening receptions for Erik Nieminen’s Soft Horizons at Plato Gallery
Soft Horizons is a show from Erik Nieminen that explores the cyclical, hamster-wheel nature of time through a mashup of figures and styles across big canvases. “Civilizations rise and fall, nature reclaims what was built and, from the ruins, new structures emerge. Soft Horizons is an exploration of this eternal loop – where myth, technology and entropy converge in a meditation on power and identity.” We’re into it.
Also opening tonight: Diana Sinclair’s Threaded Blue. Plato is a new-ish gallery founded by art world veteran Elena Platonova and we’re rooting for its success.
Plato Gallery, Bowery
Tues from 6-8p 🆓 🎨 🍷
Other Tuesday events, briefly noted:
To Speak In Threads: Anna Burckhardt Pérez, Hellen Ascoli and Siu Vásquez talk about textiles, painting and storytelling at the American Folk Art Museum (Upper West Side), 1-2:30p 🆓 🎨
Russell Shorto talks about his new book Taking Manhattan: The Extraordinary Events that Created New York and Shaped America at The New York Public Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (Bryant Park and online), 7-8p 🆓 📚 🗽
Self Publishing Workshops, A Treasure Hunt for Ideas on producing your own zines kicks off at Secret Riso Club (Bushwick), 7p 📚 🎨
Wednesday, May 21
For Scale print issue 2 launch party
For Scale is an architecture/interior design-focused Substack with a delightfully chaotic style. Its creator, David Michon, hosts a party tonight to celebrate the launch of the second ever edition of For Scale in print. As Design Week wraps up, this is probably the most friendly design-forward party you’ll find. There will be food, an open bar, and 100 free copies of Issue 2.
Ace Hotel, Downtown Brooklyn
Wed from 6-9p 🆓 📚🍸🦩
Other Wednesday events, briefly noted:
Lecture: The Unseen Revelers: A Brief History of Female Nightlife Activists in the Village presented by The Village Preservation Society (Online), 5:30p 🆓 🗽 🧠
Book launch for Kathy Huang’s Wonder Women: Art of the Asian Diaspora featuring Nom Wah food at Jeffrey Deitch on 76 Grand Street (SoHo), 6-8p 🆓 📚🎨
Fun Home author and famous test proxy Alison Bechdel presents Spent at the First Unitarian Church (Brooklyn Heights and online), 7-8p 📚
The Poetry Project presents Rachel Blau DuPlessis & Friends reading at St. Mark’s Church (East Village), 8p 🎭 📚
Thursday, May 22
The East Village in Music, Art, & Words at Tompkins Square Library
The New York music historian and author Jesse Rifkin interviews Julia Gorton and Rick Brown, the brains behind the late 70’s punk zine, Beat It! (the issues were published as a marvelous book last year). Tonight, “Rick and Julia will discuss their initiations into the East Village punk scene, their championing of the No Wave music scene, how they documented it all, and how it feels to republish their zine four decades later.”
This event feels like a good foil to something like the CBGBs Festival. The Beat It! anthology lets you visit the 1970s New York punk scene without pretending that you’re living in it. The past has, unfortunately, passed away and there’s no use trying to revive it.
Tompkins Square Library, East Village
Thurs from 6-7:15p 🆓 🗽 📚 🎨
In Short reading group: Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron with Jacqueline Ahl
If you can’t commit to a full book or book club, consider taking one of The Center for Fiction’s great In Short reading groups. A smart person takes you through a great short story in an hour and a half—that’s it! Tonight, writer and educator Jacqueline Ahl guides a session on one of Vonnegut’s best, most ethically tricky stories: Harrison Bergeron.
The Center for Fiction, online
Thurs from 7-8:30p 📚 🧠
Other Thursday events, briefly noted:
Last day to see Enzo Cucchi’s Mostra Coagula at Vito Schnabel (Chelsea), 10a-6p 🆓 🎨
Ben Lerner: An Evening of Poetry at the Morgan (Midtown), 6-8:30p 🎭 📚
Gay Talese talks his new book, A Town Without Time: Gay Talese’s New York with Alex Vadukul at Rizzoli Bookstore (Nomad), 6-8p 🆓 🗽 📚
Life Drawing with Elena Redmond at DIMIN (Tribeca), 6-8p 🆓 (RSVP required) 🎨
IMPULSE Magazine’s inaugural new talk series IMPULSE Forum at Lumka (Lower East Side), 6p (after party afterwards, location at a TBD bar nearby) 🆓 📚 🎨
McNally Jackson’s Preservation of Record fest presents Trans/Literation
Lucy Sante & Harron Walker at McNally Jackson (South Street Seaport), 6:30p 📚🍸🧠Interaction: A Fred Sandback Book Launch at Dia Chelsea (Chelsea), 6:30p 🆓 (with RSVP) 📚 🎨
Friend of the List Kevin Nguyen talks about his genius novel Mỹ Documents at The New York Public Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (Bryant Park and online), 7-8p 🆓 📚
A Reading with The Center for Fiction / Susan Kamil 2024–2025 Emerging Writer Fellows at The Center for Fiction (Fort Greene and online), 7p 📚
Book launch and discussion: Queer Happened Here by Marc Zinaman with Ande Whyland at the Center (Greenwich Village), 7p 🆓 🗽 📚
Michael Lazarus in conversation with Martin Hägglund and J. M. Bernstein to discuss his new book Absolute Ethical Life: Aristotle, Hegel and Marx at 192 Books (Chelsea and online), 7p 🆓 📚
Brooklyn Reads: Marsha with Tourmaline and Phoebe Robinson at the Brooklyn Museum (Crown Heights), 7-10p 📚 🗽
Friday, May 23
Last day to see Élise Peroi’s For Thirsting Flowers at Carvalho Park
If you have a soft spot for soft textile art, you’re going to scream when you see this show. Élise Peroi’s work on painted silk and linen is so delicate and pretty, and it’s presented beautifully in Carvalho Park’s big, bright East Williamsburg space. Today is your last chance to catch the show.
Carvalho Park, East Williamsburg
Fri from 12-6p 🆓 🎨
Other Friday events, briefly noted:
Last day to see 30 Years of the New York City Book Awards at the New York Society Library (Upper East Side), 📚
Ben Shahn’s On Nonconformity opens at the Jewish Museum (Upper East Side), 11a-6p 🎨
Biome: a design assemblage curated by Lichen reception at Lichen Showroom (Ridgewood), 12-5p 🆓 🎨
Humanist Happy Hour at the New York Society for Ethical Culture (Upper West Side), 7-9p
DanceAfrica 2025 kicks off at BAM’s Howard Gilman Opera House (Fort Greene), 7:30p (runs through May 26) 🎭
FilmAfrica 2025 kicks off at BAM (Fort Greene), various times through May 29 🎬
Saturday, May 24
Last day to see Leonor Fini: Small Faces, the inaugural show at the new art gallery Nagas (Nomad), 🆓 🎨
The Red Shoes, one of our favorite old movies that is a visual masterpiece, screening at Nitehawk Cinema (South Slope), 11a 🎬
Sunday, May 25
Last day to see The Book of Marvels: Imagining the Medieval World at the Morgan (Midtown), 🎨
Last day to see Madalena Santos Reinbolt: A Head Full of Planets at the American Folk Art Museum (Lincoln Square), 🎨 (museum closes tomorrow for the summer; she’ll be back Fall 2025)
Last day to see kimi malka hanauer’s ungovernable at Printed Matter (Chelsea), 11a-7p 🆓 🎨
RISO 101: Intro to Riso Printing at Secret Riso Club (Bushwick), 1-5p 🎨
Meet the BIG LIST
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THAT’S ALL, FOLKS
Have tips? Feedback? Requests? Want to say hi? Just reply to this email or drop us a line at daysnightslist@gmail.com. Catch you next week.