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From: "Jeff Stark" <jstark@nonsensenyc.com>
Subject: nonsensenyc: 8.13 to 8.26 super double issue
Date: August 13th 2010

Friday, August 13
* 3D13 Dimensional Dance Party and Friday the 13th Affair, Brooklyn * Midsummer Night's Wedgie, Williamsburg * Rental Car Rally
* The Bad Luck Revue, Manhattan
* Born Under a Bad Sign, Williamsburg

Saturday, August 14
* Tunnel Vision: A Film and Music Event in the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel, Brooklyn * A Triple Meltdown Brooklyn Style, Brooklyn * Blackout Anniversary Re-enactment, Brooklyn * CouchCrash 2010
* NestFest 2010, Brooklyn
* Flicks, Flacks, and Floozies Afloat, Manhattan * Zombies vs. Commandos: Capture the Flag on Governors Island * Images NYC, Brooklyn
* The Princes of Persuasion: Recipes for Romance, Manhattan * Cheryl, Brooklyn
* Improv Party II With Cackalack, Brooklyn * Hey, I'm Walkin' Here! Bronx
* Brooklyn Boogie, Brooklyn

Sunday, August 15
* Board Game Olympics, Brooklyn
* A Surreal Science Fiction Film Fest, Brooklyn

Tuesday, August 17
* The Moon, Williamsburg

Wednesday, August 18
* The Gallery Walks: Presented By the Robert Moses Walk Project, Manhattan

Friday August 20
* Sky Box End of Summer Variety Show, Brookyn

Saturday, August 21
* Wonder Wheel Music Marathon, Brooklyn * The Ritual, Manhattan

Sunday, August 22
* Volkswagen Traffic Jam Classic VW Car Show, Governor's Island

Tuesday, August 24
* Giant Found Object Sculptures, Queens

Wednesday, August 25
* Fish Out of Agua, Manhattan
* Community and Resistance on the Gulf Coast: Five Years After Hurricane Katrina, Four Months After the BP Drilling Disaster, Manhattan

Thursday, August 26
* Tarot of the Boroughs, Manhattan

Wishlist
* Maker projects

All That We've Met
* Todd Chandler

Spectre
* Priceless or Worthless

Learning
* Glass

Help
* Experiments in Visual Perception

NOTE: For some navigation help, or an explanation for what this is all about, scroll all the way down to NONSENSE. You'll find snarky editorial comments and little bits of praise littered throughout this list. These nuggets are marked with all caps, like this: NOTE. Also, we make a lot of mistakes, especially with dates; you should always double check our work. And you can donate to this project at nonsensenyc.com/special.

XXXXX COVER ART XXXXX

Men harvesting sunflowers.

XXXXX FRIDAY, AUGUST 13 XXXXX

3D13 Dimensional Dance Party and Friday the 13th Affair

Surreal Estate NYC, the largest and most surprising communal house in all of Brooklyn, opens up its 3 floors for a dance party of the most delightful and intriguing variety.

Open Air Terrace: Open Jam Session with Big Tasty. Arrive before 11p with instrument/soundmaker. With Underground Horns (six-piece brass band), Sal P (of Liquid Liquid), Third Ear Syndrome (psychedelic electro). Spiritual Haze: hookah lounge with free 3D glasses. Video Projection by Levitation Theory, Fluorescent Deco by Ocular Delight, DJ Ivan Yamazaki, DJ Poodlecannon, DJ TV Party, the Russian (Liquid D&B). 3rd Floor 3d Lair: Electrik Psybotik, KnoB, Psyko Zombie, and Psychedelikunz.

Surreal Estate NYC
15 Thames Street, Brooklyn
10p-5a; $10
facebook.com/event.php?eid=138244512859945&ref=mf

***** Also on FRIDAY *****

Midsummer Night's Wedgie

Superstitions welcome, Friday the 13th. Think Atomic Wedgies, Fairies, Donkey Punches and cheep beer. It's hot. We have AC and iced shots. Chill with the crew that brought you the Wedge, the most dangerous installation on the playa last year. Preview this year's installation: Park Porch -- "a more intimate way to get your wedge burn." Multiple lofts, DJ Tarquinn, Abe, MPH..., Cirque du Soleil Clowns (be afraid), sexy person auction, and drink specials all night long.

The Windmill Factory
151 North 3rd Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn 10:03p-5:17a; $10 includes a free drink. RSVP for better treatment: donthewindmillfactory.com

***** Also on FRIDAY *****

Rental Car Rally

Longtime listener first time caller: I run an event called Rental Car Rally. It's a city to city competitive road trip between costumed teams competing for a golden gas pump. It's kinda like Cannonball Run, but with even less respect for nuns.

Tickets available now.

rentalcarrally.com

***** Also on FRIDAY *****

The Bad Luck Revue

An evening of dark cabaret and the most mystical of outre entertainment. Our Bedouin dancing girl, astounded sideshow acts and music inspired by the dark tents of turn-of-the-century circuses are all on view at this carnival of aural curiosities.

Dark Weimar punk band Amour Obscur and This Way to the Egress are joined by belly dancing harem darling Sarah Hassan and Hamburger James of the Ratt Brother's Sideshow.

Parkside Lounge
317 East Houston, at Attorney, Manhattan 10:45p; $10
amourobscur.com

***** Also on FRIDAY *****

Born Under a Bad Sign

An exhibition of 20-dollar woodcuts and massive woodcut collages by Cannonball Press. Neo-Pagan World Kings of scruffy musky-pirated black-and-white hillbilly printmaking, New York’s legendary Cannonball Press hits Williamsburg's 99 Percent Gallery with a huge new pile of limited-edition prints (seriously, we've been printing new stuff all summer), two massive woodcut collages of sordid debauchery, and huge new 4x8 foot woodcuts on canvas!!

For a solid decade, Martin Mazorra and Mike Houston have been publishing high-quality $20 limited-edition relief cuts, and are proud to represent the following wicken of printmakers: The Amazing Hancock Bros., Ms. Katy Seals, Joseph Velasquez, Prof. Derrick Riley, Bill Fick, Damarak the Destroyer, Meghan O’Connor, Bill “Creeper” McRight, Sean Star Wars, and many more.

99 Percent Gallery
99 North 10th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn ninetyninegallery.com

XXXXX SATURDAY, AUGUST 14 XXXXX

Tunnel Vision: A Film and Music Event in the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel

Multimedia curators Tunnel Vision present a film and music event inside the world's oldest subway tunnel, beneath Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. The program includes short films featuring trains, railways, and transit culture, including films by Thomas A. Edison, D.W. Griffith, D.A. Pennebaker, Stan Brakhage, the Lumière brothers, Charles and Ray Eames, and Jules Engels, among others. Local musicians will perform original musical scores to accompany the silent film portion of the evening.

Tunnel Vision is a truly underground affair. Comfortable shoes and flashlights are highly recommended, as entrance to the tunnel requires guests to climb down a manhole in the middle of Atlantic Avenue. (No high heels). An after party will be held at Floyd. The first 100 guests at the screening will receive a free beer at the after party, courtesy of Floyd, NY.

Atlantic Avenue Tunnel
Line forms at the southwest corner of Atlantic Avenue and Court Street, Brooklyn 4p; $15
tunnelvisionnygmail.com
tunnelvisionny.eventbrite.com

***** Also on SATURDAY *****

Blackout Anniversary Re-enactment

If you weren't here for the magical epic blackout of 2003 you might not know what we're going for. If you were here, well then you do. No riot at all, instead it was the largest naturally-occurring party in human history, so giddily transcendent that it's become an annual holiday. Admission is bring your own flashlight, or you can't come in. Ice cream potluck (preferably single servings format). Human / battery / crank / pedal powered sound systems only. Art Gangs represent. All party elements must be blackout-accurate. Please come as how would you deal.

1089 Broadway, Brooklyn
Starting at dusk; $free
office.of.popular.holidaysgmail.com

***** Also on SATURDAY *****

The Party That Never Was presents:

A Triple Meltdown Brooklyn Style

Brooklyn Zoo and Catch the Flag Afterparty and Your Favorite DJs. Three scenes converge in one magical place. Two stages and chill out rooms. Dubstep, electro, etnoteck, house, hip hop, and more. Roam three floors (and rooftop) and Secret Rooms in Secret Underground Williamsburg location. It's the place you've all been hearing about and everyone is talking about. The party with no name.

In Hell featuring: Joro Boro, Morphous and Shizaru, Shakey and DJ Barney Iller, and DJ Mojo and direct from Turkey DJ Eya.

In Heaven featuring: Hiro Tha Jap, WcKids, DJ Sav, DJ Steve Nieves, Dj O.K.Drums.

Rsvp for Password and location, Williamsburg, Brooklyn $10-15
18 and over
thepartythatneverwas.com

***** Also on SATURDAY *****

New York City’s CouchSurfing community is proud to announce:

CouchCrash 2010

From August 14-22nd, we will be having city tours, dinners, museum trips, art projects, bike rides, workshops, parties, and a Saturday night concert. Best of all, these events are all either free or really, really cheap.

LaunchPad will be hosting an introduction to CouchSurfing, followed by a community potluck. The bloggers from TrappistPunks will be taking us on a tour of New York City’s best beer bars and answering all of our questions about beer styles and brewing science. BrooklynByBike and Vendr.tv will be teaming up for a ride from Brooklyn to Queens to check out Roosevelt Avenue’s street food. Joe Che, of Page Not Found, will be hosting a movable feast and a night of Chaos Cooking. The Eaten Path is taking us around the Village for a pizza pub crawl before our weekly Revival. NoNeck will be taking us out to Governors Island, followed by a picnic. Guilt Free Pleasures will be closing out the week with a concert featuring Locksley.

We’ll be out in the sun, exploring the city on foot, by bike and on kayak. CouchSurfers will be leading tours of Harlem, Columbia University, Queens, the Village, Central Park and Times Square. We’ll be eating food from around the world. We’ll be learning about coffee, beer, and self-defense. We’ll be taking photos and sharing stories. We’ll be learning languages, yoga, salsa, and maybe even pole dancing. You’ll be untagging yourself from facebook photos after nights of dancing, hookah, and karaoke. Most of all, you’ll meet amazing people from around the world and around the corner.

If you’re already a CouchSurfer, you can find more information here: http://bit.ly/CouchCrash2010 Otherwise, check us out on the CouchCrash website, Facebook, or Twitter.

***** Also on SATURDAY ****

NestFest 2010

A bird-themed party for the bird in every one of us. Music, art, dancing, drinks, eats, backyard market. Dress as birdlike as you want. Bird's the word.

Backyard market opens at 4p. With vendors Love Anjia with handmade clothes from Brooklyn, Pigeon Be Pigeon with stylin handprinted tees, Perusha with artisan Peruvian imports, Frances Maisie with beautiful handmade beadwork, Earrings by Olivia with feathery earrings for the bird in you, LuvKoKo with inspired by nature and crafted with luv.

In Flight Open Mic from 5-7p. Come show your skills. 8-12pm Bands, Bobreezy, The Suite Unraveling, Neon Dynamite, OTis, and Madame Beak. After that, David Powers and DJ Wave from the Verbal Graffiti crew will be spinning the funk, hiphop, and soul keeping the dance party going all night long.

Cheap yummy eats from Abigail Weg. Live drawing by Oh10 M1ke.

The Nest
548 Willoughby Avenue, Brooklyn
4p-4a; $5, free before 7p

***** Also on SATURDAY *****

Flicks, Flacks, and Floozies Afloat

My name is Caroline Golum, and I am the head of public relations for Cinebeasts, a small film society that prefers unusual films in unconventional venues. Our next event is this Saturday -- it's a free film screening, with cheap beer and a live band, on a 77-year-old ship moored off Pier 40. I've pasted a little information below, but there is also a full press release attached, just in case.

The Moonlighters bring the hot jazz, Cinebeasts brings the weird movies, and a beer company brings the cheap beer. We're screening Duck Soup and a number of other oddities, plus a raffle, dancing, and all-purpose cavorting.

The Lilac
Pier 40, Houston and the Hudson River, Manhattan 7p doors, 7:30p show; $free, with donation, all proceeds go to the Lilac Preservation Project, caretakers of the evening's boat-venue

***** Also on SATURDAY *****

NYCentric Events presents:

Zombies vs. Commandos: Capture the Flag on Governors Island

NYCentric and Chaos Brigade bring you another fun, frenetic, thematic day of fun. This time, come to the car-free, historic paradise of Governors Island. Dress up as a camouflaged commando or a shredded-up bloody zombie and chase other commandos / zombies around the century-old Victorian homes of Colonel's Row in search of prisoners, jail-breaks, and the all-important beanbag flag.

The game will start at 2:30 and last until 5:30, until the zombies feast on commandos flesh / the commandos annihilate the zombies limbs and they can't grab the flag. BYO Zombie or Commando getup.

Colonel's Row, Governors Island
Leave from the Battery Maritime Building in Manhattan every half hour and from Pier 6 at Atlantic Avenue every 15 minutes 2:30p; $free
RSVP your team to jonahlevysuniqueny.com levysuniqueny.com/events/zombies-vs-commandos-governors-island/

***** Also on SATURDAY *****

Images NYC

Open Source Gallery is pleased to present Images NYC. Curated by 17 year old Malissa Williams, (who also participates in the exhibition), this depiction of New York City is based on the views of four unique young female artists. Hailing from various parts of the world, and in different states of young adulthood, these young women offer their varying drawing styles to create a prism projecting nascent hopes and desires and a picture of the New York of tomorrow.

Curator’s Statement: Participating artists Jen Kaplan, Anna Mytko, Kseniya Kopitko, and I, depict New York City based on our particular and personal views. We are of different ages, come from various cultures, and live in disparate parts of the country. These distinctions and our divergent experiences determine our views of NYC. Anna, originally from Belarus, is currently a Sophmore at Kent State University in Ohio. Jen Kaplan is moving to NYC from Cleveland to attend college, (she plans to live in New York for the rest of her life). Kseniya and I are Juniors at LaGuardia High School in New York City. Because the two of us are native New Yorkers, we offer an inside perspective about neighborhoods and places that are off the beaten path. We hope that by giving you views from different angles and unique personalities, we present a colorful portrait of the city we love.

Open Source Gallery
255 17th Street, between 5th and 6th avenues, Brooklyn 7-10p; $free
infoopen-source-gallery.org
open-source-gallery.org

***** Also on SATURDAY *****

The Princes of Persuasion: Recipes for Romance

My show is called the Princes of Persuasion: Recipes for Romance. It stars four robotic puppets and myself and we're all members of a pop band. It's a cross between a pop concert and a late-night talk show and the puppetry is unique in that there are no puppeteers. It's a puppet show for adults with original music; it's funny and strange. It's playing as part of the NYC Fringe Festival. Running time is one hour.

Here Arts Center
145 6th Avenue, at Dominick, Manhattan
8:45p; $?
Continues various days through THURSDAY August 26 princesofpersuasion.com

***** Also on SATURDAY *****

Cheryl (the dance party that will ruin your life) presents:

Silky and Jumbo Since 2008

South Brooklyn’s most insane disco bloodbath, aka Cheryl: the Dance Party That Will Ruin Your Life, celebrates two years of dance floor suicide.

No theme. No explanations. No excuses. Just a real-life, life-ruining dance party. Cat masks and shin splints. Blood. Hair. Glitter. Shoulder pads. Keeping it Cheryl. Do whatever the fuck you want. Wear an insane (clown posse) costume.

Choose your own theme! We're on brain vacation this summer. We just wanna dance die dance die. Need costume inspiration? Think pony hoof puff face, mannequin arm glitter, diaper buttz, gay sauce, ham and pineapple, steamy apricot jazzcastle. Human pizza, asian tapas, astral spanx. Dr. Bouillabaisse. T-boz. Tapeheads. Kitten hearts. Frostyfruitycacklybootyfuckface!

DJ DSO spins disco for the powergayz from 11p-12:30a. DJ Applesauce spins ultra high-powered electronic superpump JEMZ from 12:30-2a. DJ Lloydski spins a seamless blend of free trade brain-hijacking rhythmic cray biz till 4a.

Cheryl is a dance party that explores the themes of mortality, mania, the feline-human connection, the limits of shoulders, the flammability of dollar-store hair extensions, and the staining power of fake blood. Through themes ranging from topical to bizarre, the Cheryls revel in the joyous power of dance-induced psychosis/euphoria. Cheryl has been bringing its particular brand of FreshmagickTM to New York City since colonial times, and has since acquired a dedicated cult following and media attention for over-the-top happenings involving outrageous costumes, exuberant dance moves, and participatory dance floor suicide.

Bell House
149 7th Street, Brooklyn
11p–4a; $5, $10 after midnight
vimeo.com/12773386
cherylwillruinyourlife.info

***** Also on SATURDAY *****

Improv Party II With Cackalack

An evening of improvised groups playing improvised notes on improvised terms, followed by the free-jazz stylings of Cackalack.

Here's how it works: everyone's name is in a hat. We'll start by choosing a name, and then a number, which represents how many people will compose this newly formed group. So, for example, if your name is called along with the number 4, you will choose three other people to join you on stage, at which point everyone gets to choose their instruments and the jam begins. We'll mix things up as the day goes on but this is the general format.

We got great feedback from our first improv party and now we wanna keep up the open-mic style, anything-goes, creative flow; all positive, informal, and rock n' roll with cupcakes. So bring some food, bring some booze, bring some noise, bring some funk, and bring some friends. You can bring your own instrument if you'd like (or if you, say, play the accordian) but we've got a full set of amps, guitars, drums, and pitched objects to keep you going.

The Freedom Garden is a DIY backyard music and art forum emerging from the rubble that is Brooklyn's soil. We're founded on the simple idea that talent, no matter for what, is appreciated and savored as soon as it shows itself. See, you don't need to know how to play music to make music (and the music's the magic, and magic's in you???). Come play.

The Freedom Garden
294 Troutman Street, 1L, Brooklyn
7p-11:30p; $free
314 440 1465
bushwickbackyards.com
thefreedomgardengmail.com

***** Also on SATURDAY *****

Hey, I'm Walkin' Here!

Hey, I'm Walkin' Here is a group of folks who just like to walk as they make a series of treks around the five boroughs.

Today: High Bridge to Pelham Bay, including all of Tremont Avenue, the longest street in the Bronx. Fourteen miles. The Subway's 4 train is running local in Manhattan and Broooklyn this weekend so allow yourself a little extra time to get there.

Meet at 176th Street and Jerome Avenue, Bronx 4 train to 176th Street station
noon; $free
MosesGatesgmail.com
burnsomedust.com

***** Also on SATURDAY *****

Brooklyn Boogie

A relaxed, playful, non-alcoholic barefoot dance party at the Gym Park in Greenpoint. Barefoot Boogie is a relaxed, playful dance party that happens twice a month in New York City, and in other cities around the country. Dress code is very casual, comfortable, and self-expressive. People of all backgrounds, ages, and physical abilities are welcome and celebrated. There are no drugs, alcohol, or smoking.

The Gym Park is a gymnastics and play center with a foam-carpeted spring floor, 20-foot trampoline, rigs for aerial silk and yoga, flying rings, soft colorful mats, and 2,700 square feet of gymnastics equipment.

Gymnastics coach and physical comedian Coach Dave will lead a 60-minute class of interactive gymnastics and dance starting at 8:30. Community circle at 9:30, followed by dance party until 11:30. Come prepared to dance, sing at the top of your lungs, start a silly face contest, bust out into impromptu jams, make up a pantomime game, find a random game of ninja tag or humans vs. zombies, jump into a human pyramid, and fall down laughing.

81 Oak Street, at Kent, Brooklyn
G train to Greenpoint Avenue station
8:30p; $10
347 665 5976
infothegympark.com
thegympark.com
barefootboogie.org

XXXXX SUNDAY, AUGUST 15 XXXXX

Board Game Olympics

We will accept 12 teams of four people. Registration fills up ahead of time, so sign up today. You and your compatriots will compete – sometimes as a team, sometimes two-on-two, and sometimes mano a mano.

Pursue trivia across the Trivial Pursuit board, battle ships in Battleship, behave relatively appropriately in Taboo, connect four checkers in Connect Four, and remember what you turned over already in Memory, and uh, jenga the Jenga jenga jenga.

Union Hall, Brooklyn
702 Union Street, Brooklyn
7–11p; $30 per team
metrometroland.com/events.htm

***** Also on SUNDAY *****

A Surreal Science Fiction Film Fest

Featuring three priceless 1970s sci-fi flicks: Zardoz, starring Sean Connery, Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451, and the Man Who Fell to Earth, starring David Bowie.

Watch one, two, or all three movies. There will be a lounge area for tired eyes. To fuel our film filled evening, Chef J. Surreal will be preparing tempeh skewers, sushi, dumplings, rice, and other scrumptious goodies for cheap.

Surreal Estate
15 Thames Street, Brooklyn
4-10p; $free
facebook.com/event.php?eid=145052872179529&ref=mf

XXXXX TUESDAY, AUGUST 17 XXXXX

The Moon

The Moon is a variety show in classic sense of the word, like the Muppet Show without Muppets. Hosts Bob Walles and Nat Towsen (Zebro), accompanied by a cast of characters and house musicians, bring you a themed show with recurring segments, an original video series, and a narrative through-line where certain things could go wrong and sometimes do to varying degrees of zaniness. Featuring New York's best talent in the fields of comedy, dance, storytelling, music, characters, tap dancing, clowning, burlesque, and more. This week: Nate Bargatze, Jon Gabrus, Jamie Kilstein, and Myq Kaplan.

The Royal Oak
594 Union Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn 8p; $free
themoonshow.com
truefactsaboutthe44thpresident.blogspot.com

XXXXX WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18 XXXXX

The Gallery Walks: Presented By the Robert Moses Walk Project

A series of three tours and receptions hosted by interdisciplinary artist Chloë Bass. The tours will take visitors through the urban sculptural works of Robert Moses, exploring their unique situation as functional art. The walks will examine three locations; this, the second, will eulogize Central Park's Tavern on the Green.

Opened in 1934, Tavern on the Green quickly became not only the social highlight of the summer, but an icon for generations of New Yorkers and tourists alike. The restaurant, known for its twinkling fairy lights and delicate topiary menagerie, was an extravagant architectural representation of the American Dream. Tavern on the Green had its last seating on December 31, 2009. Join us as we mark not only the end of an era, but also what remains: the architecture of Central Park, like the United States Constitution, must evolve with the times. Each tour will be followed by a private reception. Attendance is limited to 12.

RSVP for exact location, Manhattan
6:30p; $5 includes participation on the tour and entry to the reception blakeuntitledwalkproject.org

XXXXX FRIDAY, AUGUST 20 XXXXX

Sky Box End of Summer Variety Show

Monthly Variety Shows are extra special because they happen every month. After a huge success in July with our largest crowd ever and a write up in the New York Times, we've put together an all new line up of all-star aerial acts for August. Whether your missed last month's epic show or you want to come back for more, August's show is a great opportunity to see what all the fuss about aerial is about. Featuring Sky Box co-founder Jordann Baker and burlesque and trapeze wonder Harvest Moon, this month's show will also include doubles lyra, corde lisse, rope, silk, trapeze and whatever surprises MC Kae Burke has up her sequined sleeves!

The House of Yes
342 Maujer Street, at Morgan Avenue, Brooklyn L train to Grand Street station
8p doors, 9p show; $10
theskybox.org

XXXXX SATURDAY, AUGUST 21 XXXXX

Wonder Wheel Music Marathon

Host: Deb Noble Blue Stingray. With Reverb Galaxy, Sean Kershaw and the Terrible Twos, Strange But Surf, the Octomen, Superbug, and Alien Surfer Babes (debut) with the Octomen.

12th Street, on the boardwalk, in front of Deno's Wonder Wheel, Brooklyn 2-8p; $free
917 748 9205

***** Also on SATURDAY, AUGUST 21 *****

The Ritual

Inspired by Jacob’s Ladder and Angel Heart, Michael Alan presents a five-hour performance / installation happening. Staged and performed in front of the metal doors in the main lobby, on the stairs, and inside the second theater of the Gershwin. A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. The term excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers.

Everything happens for a reason we live by accepting our darkest hour. The Ritual will ask you to focus on a time and place that can't be explained only witnessed. Seven performers will create jittery movement, possessed dishevelment, and body brutality. repetitive action, sacred dance, and attempts to raise the dead. What will be built? What will be left? What will be found?

Join us for our version of horror, no noise, no screams, fear through illusions of body gesture.

The Gershwin Hotel
7 East 27th Street, Manhattan
7p-midnight; $17 online, $20 door
michaelalanart.com

XXXXX SUNDAY, AUGUST 22 XXXXX

Volkswagen Traffic Jam Classic VW Car Show

More than 75 vintage Volkswagens roll onto Governors Island for a first-of-its-kind car show and picnic that is open to all. Meet beetles, buses, Things, dune buggies, and other colorful, classic VWs from the 1950s–1970s and the drivers who love them. People's Choice wins this car show and spectators attend free. So come vote on your favorites and picnic with us for a day of VDub love, food, drink, music, events, and more.

Governors Island
Leave from the Battery Maritime Building in Manhattan every half hour and from Pier 6 at Atlantic Avenue every 15 minutes 10a-4p, 2:30p awards
718 857 9022
volkswagentrafficjam.com

XXXXX TUESDAY, AUGUST 24 XXXXX

Giant Found Object Sculptures

Throughout the end of August, Giant Found Object Sculptures will be constructed on various sidewalks and streetcorners throughout New York. You are invited to come help build these sculptures. It is vital that many people participate. In a project that engages residential communities in the arts, sponsored by the Queens Council on the Arts and others, the art group Free Style Arts Association is setting up these giant buildable Sculptures and making materials available at public locations, coaxing people walking by to add to the sculptures and join in the artmaking.

Participate in some of the sculptures. Today: Sunnyside. Check the website for complete listings of various locations through the end of the week.

46th Street, at Queens Boulevard, Queens 7 train to 46 Street station
2–6p; $free
646 288 8291
johnfreestyleart.org

XXXXX WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25 XXXXX

Fish Out of Agua

Launch Party for Fish Out of Agua: My Life on Neither Side of the (Subway) Tracks by Michele Carlo. Come hear an only-in-NYC story from the book, with music by EddyJo (Lone Vein) Martinez, a video screening, and other surprises. Hosted by LES Stories' H.R. Britton.

Free drinks and snacks including our world-famous Triple X Coquito.

Lower East Side Tenement Museum
97 Orchard Street, at Delancey, Manhattan 6:30–8:30p; $free
michelecarlo.com

NOTE: Michele Carlo and her events (and events where she's performed) have been on the Nonsense list since the very beginning. We first saw her as a performance artist named Carmen Mofongo back in the days of underground venues like Collective Unconscious and Surf Reality. Later we met her when she took over editing Nonsense's now-extinct sister list Toxic Pop. A couple years back we got lucky and finally got to work with her on a play that took place in the New York City subway system. We've been fast friends ever since. Michele is a great storyteller, and more importantly she's a singular voice, a believer in the power of art and the power of New York City. There's really no one else like her.

***** Also on WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25 *****

Community and Resistance on the Gulf Coast: Five Years After Hurricane Katrina, Four Months After the BP Drilling Disaster

Featuring: Shantrelle Lewis, Rosa Clemente, and Jordan Flaherty. Days before the fifth anniversary of Katrina, a discussion with activists and organizers from New Orleans and others who have worked for social justice in the Gulf. Featuring short films, images, and first-hand accounts from grassroots struggles on the Gulf Coast. Co-Presented by the Brecht Forum and the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI). It's not your average nonsense event, but I do think it will be different and special -- films, images, ideas, discussion. Maybe even some performance.

Brecht Forum
451 West Street, Manhattan
7:30p; $?

XXXXX THURSDAY, AUGUST 26 XXXXX

Tarot of the Boroughs

Launch party. CourtneyW's Tarot of the Boroughs is a Tarot deck set in New York City, composed of spectacular, original photography by George Courtney. Inspired by the classic Tarot, Tarot of the Boroughs captures the Tarot's timeless images in contemporary incarnations and features New Yorkers from all walks of life as well as well-known, including Moby, Jonathan Ames, Reverend Jen Miller, Reverend Billy, and more.

With performances by several of our models, including Imakhu Mwt Shekemet, Francis Faceboy Hall, Master Lee and Chink Floyd, and more. Plus readings by dynamic Witches, raffle giveaways of the new deck, and Question and Answer with the creators. The deck will be there and available for purchase.

Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery, between Bleecker and Houston, Manhattan 8-9:30p; $TBD
tarotoftheboroughs.com
bowerypoetry.com

XXXXX UPCOMING XXXXX

Flux Factory's Going Places Doing Stuff all summer
Stranded III: The Forbidden City, September 4

XXXXX ONGOING XXXXX

Nonsense is too long. The great thing about the internet is that it doesn't really cost much to run long listings and exhaustive descriptions. It turns out that's ... exhausting. After several complaints and a little deliberation, we're trying a new format: On the first Friday of the month we will run updated ongoing listings in each section: events, learning, and help. Other weeks we're going for leaner, meaner sections. If you're desperate for something to do on an off-Tuesday night we suggest you either look back a few issues ago in your inbox, or poke through our online archives, which you can find under the subscribe page.

Also, a note about better rock shows. Nonsense does not straight list rock shows in New York unless they occur in tandem with puppet shows or jump rope tournaments or in subway tunnels or in graveyards. For listings of good shows, especially shows that feature independent bands at quality venues like Death by Audio and those booked by hard-working promoters like Todd P or Sleep When Dead, consult resources like ohmyrockness.com, brooklynvegan.com/, sleepwhendeadnyc.com/calendar/, garagepunknyc.com, and eardrumnyc.com. For the most exhaustive list of underground shows at unusual venues, track down a copy of the extremely useful -- and handsome -- Showpaper.

XXXXX WISHLIST XXXXX

What have you been wishing for? Collaborators, grant monies, a new home? Please send brief listings to Alita at alitanonsensenyc.com. We only list available apartments, lofts, studios, and one-off rentals -- not spaces wanted.

***** ARTY STUFF *****

Throughout the end of August, Giant Found Object Sculptures will be constructed on various sidewalks and streetcorners throughout New York. You are invited to come help build these sculptures. It is vital that many people participate. In a project that engages residential communities in the arts, sponsored by The Queens Council on the Arts and others, the art group Free Style Arts Association is setting up these giant buildable sculptures and making materials available at public locations, coaxing people walking by to add to the sculptures and join in the artmaking. See our website for schedule, or contact John Cloud Kaiser, 646 288 8291, John(at)freestyleart.org.
August 15 is the deadline for site-specific proposals for a group show at Smack Mellon. See: smackmellon.org/index.php/opportunities/site_92_call_for_proposals1/
Bring the Creative Center's Artist-in-Residence Program to your hospital: Livestrong (Lance Armstrong Foundation) is providing up to 20 grants to replicate the Creative Center's Hospital Artist-in-Residence Program. These grants are available to cancer centers, hospitals and community-based organizations to implement our hospital Artist-in-Residence Program. To review the available awards see: livestrong.org/community and click on the Creative Center. The application is now available and will be open until September 15.
Maker Faire applications due: It's a two-day family-fun event, a blend of art, technology and science, combined with participation, robots, craft and do-it-yourself ethics. It is the brainchild of MAKE magazine (makezine.com). Maker Faire will be taking place in NYC next month, September 25-26, at the New York Hall of Science (nysci.org) in Queens -- a site of the original '39 and '64 Worlds Fairs in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Over 300 Makers, artists and vendors will be participating in this inaugural event, and we're expecting daily crowds in the 20-30k range. We already have: blimps that draw, homemade chariot races, low-earth orbit photography, wet plate collodium printing, yarn bombing, craft van, homemade synths, sound caves, girlzilla bot, lifesize mousetrap, and over 200 other projects. I'm still looking for: beer & wine makers, worm projects, soap making, mutant bikes, art cars, wind power, kite making and flying, beekeeping and making hives, glass blowers, wear able electronics, LED art, talking paintings, homemade engines, mycology, canning and jarring, computer mods, insect bots, carpentry projects, animatronics, puppet arts, circus arts and all things craft and DIY! If you make something that is DIY and the world needs to see more of it, I want you involved! It could be something so simple it's beautiful. Or it could stand 12 feet tall and shoot flames. Or it could be a total work-in-progress that you build there and then. Or live repair and fixing workshops. You get the picture. So fill out an application already. World Maker Faire NYC Call for Makers: bit.ly/mfny2010. Deadline: August 15. Contact Nick Normal, nicknormal(at)gmail.com.
Seeking individual artist or collective interested in green/environmental art. Brooklyn is full of backyards that go unattended and unloved. Here's your chance to take over a 50 by 25-foot plot of land and make it beautiful. The BabySkinGlove studio will offer up to $1000 to the best proposal to renovate the studio's backyard into a fully functional garden and communal space. This project would involve manual labor as well as creative collaboration. You must have some knowledge of and experience with farming, flowers, and dirt. Proposals due by Wednesday August 18; project to begin immediately. Please label all documents with name, date, and project title: 1. Proposal (2,000 words or less) 2. Resume 3. Brief Biography 4. Sample budget 5. Portfolio or Website Note: Drawings and sketches are encouraged. We will read everything you send us. Serious inquiries need only apply. Contact babyskinglove(at)gmail.com. See: BabySkinGlove.com.

***** SPACES *****

Seeking an unusual space for arts collective. Waterfront, rooftop, indoor/outdoor? We are looking for a space for daytime art studio, evening meeting facility (only two-three nights a week) for members of arts collective. 400-1400 square feet or possibly larger. No living necessary, though we'd consider a dual-function space. Private preferred with 24/7 access. Along the Gowanus? Newtown Creek? Structure in a storage/parking yard? Storefront? Treehouse? Ideal areas would be Greenpoint, Bushwick, Williamsburg, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights, Carroll Gardens, Vinegar Hill, possibly Red Hook. But, we are open to all possibilities and leads. Contact alita, alita(at)nonsensenyc.com.
Sublet available for the month of September: Live in a co-operative with 13 wonderful people in Bed-Stuy. We have weekly dinner, meeting, and chores. We have three chickens in the backyard. We enjoy cooking, drinking, dancing, and being merry with each other. My room is on the second floor, is small in square footage but has larger window and enough space for all your basics. The price is $450, plus utilities and food (the kitchen is fully stocked with grub for you to cook and enjoy) which comes out to grand total of $570. Also, there is another room available for a total of $620. Tell a bit about yourself, and what appeals to you about this living situation. Contact carly.liebman(at)gmail.com.
Large sunny fully furnished two-bedroom apartment available for sublet starting September 1. Rent is $1775 per month. Lovely pre-war apartment is going to be vacant for at least three months, potentially longer. The location is great. One block from the Brooklyn Library, a couple blocks from Prospect Park, one block off Vanderbilt Avenue, close to B/Q/2/3 subway lines. The place is big, the layout is great for two people, with very separate rooms. I am also open to renting each room individually. Pets OK. Contact Mark at akawildman(at)gmail.com.
Medium-big (for New York) size room available in top-floor brownstone apartment in Harlem with: huge living room, lots of storage space, hardwood floors, bay window, plants, decent-size kitchen, checkered bathroom floor, four short blocks from 2/3 train, eleven blocks from Central Park, farmers market next door in Marcus Garvey park (also there's a pool). I have lived in this apartment for five years and I love it. I am very messy; I'm also a teacher and have a painting studio nearby (where I will probably be spending a lot of after-school and weekend time). As a teacher, I keep fairly early hours- I don't mind if you don't, but I would like to be not too rowdy on schoolnights. I have a CSA farmshare, and I like to cook a lot (I'm not vegetarian). I love sharing food with people and cooking with people, but I am happy to independently do food as well. I like to go out and do lots of fun things too. I'm usually at home the majority of weeknights from 7 or 8 on, and probably out most weekend nights and doing stuff weekend days. I like to have dinner parties and once in a while a big party. I am welcoming to out-of-town guests as well. I am fun and energetic. If you are super-neat, this may not work out so well. I would like to say that I'll get better, but I really am messy. This apartment would probably be ideal for someone doing grad school uptown (TC, bank st, Man music school, Columbia, City College), but it is obviously not limited to that. I work in the East Village and it's a pretty easy commute. I would like to live with someone who is friendly, and I would like for the place to feel comfortable, welcoming, and a nice place to end up at the end of the day. Rent is $800 per month, utilties about $50. Contact Alexis, alneider(at)gmail.com.
I have a space in a shared studio in Williamsburg that's available September 1. It's a share with two other painters, about 150 square feet for $263 a month, two big windows, 15-foot ceilings at South 11th Street and Berry in an old toy factory. Two bathrooms, elevators, great views on the roof. Very old building with circuses and such in it. We prefer painters, but definitely someone quiet and considerate. I can be reached at devilsgarden2003(at)yahoo.com. My name is Stewart.

XXXXX ALL THAT WE'VE MET XXXXX

All That We've Met is Pauline Pechin's series of interviews with artists, underground influencers, and people with interesting stories. You can email her here: pauline.pechingmail.com

This week: Director Todd Chandler

What's the best conversation that you can remember?

"My 96-year-old grandmother and I just had a really interesting and unexpected conversation about white privilege and cultural assimilation."

Read the complete interview at allthatwevemet.com/2010/08/todd-chandler-recommends-sitting-next.html

XXXXX SPECTRE PRIORITY XXXXX

Before we had a name, the Spectre Event Horizon Group used to meet at a bar to commiserate and trade what our business friends like to call best practices. The group has expanded since then, but it remains focused on smartening the crowd mind. There are no subject limits; our favorite is the incredible sci-fi present, or anything that goes toward a better understanding of human behavior and our universe's ecology. Our simple intent is to connect good minds with as much quality mind-blowing information as we can freely locate and create a space for the informal trade of specialized investigative research, presented for the non-specialist.

The Spectre email list, which is a separate group from this column, is a moderated open forum. People are encouraged to join and to post. The list is compiled for Nonsense by J. Sinopoli. Contact us at spectre.event.horizon.group gmail com or spectregroup.org. Here's some of what came in this week:

***** Priceless or Worthless? *****

http://spectregroup.wordpress.com/2010/08/11/priceless-or-worthless

Deliberate Extinction
latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-sci-seed-bank-ruling-20100812,0,7445908.story "A Russian seed bank preserving more than 5,000 rare fruits, including unique varieties of strawberries, plums, pears, apples, and currants, moved one step closer to demolition after losing a court hearing Wednesday, in which rights to the federally-owned land were granted to a government housing development agency. The Vavilov Research Institute, which manages the bank as well as 11 other crop development and conservation facilities across Russia, immediately filed an appeal. Another hearing will follow in about a month, at which point the land's future will be finalized. It is unlikely, however, that the ruling will be changed, said Cary Fowler, director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust. Even Sergey Alexanian, deputy director of foreign relations at the Vavilov Institute, acknowledged that the Russian Housing Development Foundation is legally in the right. The seed bank's final hope is to win the support of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev or Prime Minister Vladimir Puti n, who have the power to overrule the court's decision. So far, neither has responded to letters."

Private Homes vs Global Good
latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-russian-seed-bank-20100811,0,5738442.story "The threatened plants are part of a collection of rare berries and other fruits growing at the Pavlovsk Experimental Station, a seed bank that blankets over 200 acres of prime land about 20 miles outside St. Petersburg; 90 percent of the bank's plant varietals are found nowhere else. "Saving varieties is critical for breeding," said Kent Bradford, a plant scientist at UC Davis. "When breeders are faced with a new issue, like a disease or growing in a new area, they need to go back to that diversity to see which ones are resistant or have traits that they like." The Pavlovsk facility is one of about 1,400 such operations in the world. The best known is probably the Svalbard Global Seed Vault on the remote Norwegian island of Spitzbergen in the Arctic, which keeps frozen seeds as backup for collections around the world, but that facility's stores are far from complete. Moreover, not all plants can grow from frozen seeds -- such as most of those at the Russian station. Furtherm ore, there is little possibility of relocating the Russian facility. An appropriate backup site isn't available, and moving all the plants would be expensive and labor-intensive. "These are not some boxes to move to another location; these are trees," Alexanian said. In short, if the fields are razed, the particular varietals that grow there will be gone forever. "There's no backup for this collection, and that's the real tragedy of it all," said Cary Fowler. "This is extinction on a scale that I've not seen in my professional lifetime, and it can't be replaced."

Oldest Global Seed Bank
guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/08/pavlovsk-seed-bank-russia "In what appears Kafkaesque logic, the property developers argue that because the station contains a "priceless collection," no monetary value can be assigned to it and so it is worthless. In another nod to Kafka, the government's federal fund of residential real estate development has argued that the collection was never registered and thus does not officially exist. "It is a bitter irony that the single most deliberately destructive act against crop diversity could be about to happen in the country that invented the modern seed bank," said Cary Fowler. "Russia taught the world about the importance of crop collections for the future of agriculture. A decision to destroy Pavlovsk would forever tarnish a cause that generations of Russian plant scientists have lived and, quite literally, died, to protect." The station was established in 1926 by Nikolai Vavilov, the man credited with creating the idea of seed banks as repositories of plant diversity that could be used to breed n ew varieties in response to threats to food production. During the siege of Leningrad, 12 scientists chose to starve to death while protecting the diversity amassed by Vavilov, even though the seeds of rice, peas, corn and wheat that they were protecting could have sustained them."

Nikolai Vavilov
vir.nw.ru/history/vav_sp.htm
vir.nw.ru/history/vavilov.htm
"Vavilov is recognized as the foremost plant geographer of contemporary times. To explore the major agricultural centers in this country and abroad, Vavilov organized and took part in over 100 collecting missions. Vavilov, the symbol of glory of the national science, is at the same time the symbol of its tragedy. As early as in the beginning of the 1930s his scientific programs were being deprived of governmental support. In the stifling atmosphere of a totalitarian state, the institute headed by Vavilov turned into a resistance point to the pseudo-scientific concepts of Trofim D.Lysenco. As a result of this controversy, Vavilov was arrested in August 1940, and his closest associates were also sacked and imprisoned. He died in the Saratov prison of dystrophia on 26 January 1943 and was buried in a common prison grave. Nevertheless, the memory of Vavilov has been preserved by his followers. During that tragic period they kept on gathering Vavilov's manuscripts, documents and p ictures. Since mid-50s, after the official rehabilitation of Vavilov, hundreds of books and articles devoted to his life and scientific accomplishments have been published. The name of Vavilov is now born by the Russian Society of Geneticists and Breeders, the Institute of General Genetics of the Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Plant Industry, and the Saratov Agricultural Institute."

Dear Mr. President
croptrust.org/main/index.php?itemid=773 eng.letters.kremlin.ru/
change.org/croptrust/petitions/view/tell_the_president_of_russia_to_stop_the_destruction_of_the_future_of_food Medvedev's New Twitter Account : "@KremlinRussia_E Mr. President, please protect #Pavlovsk Station"

Previously on Spectre : Guarded by Polar Bears, For Now spectregroup.wordpress.com/2006/06/20/guarded-by-polar-bears-for-now/

Only 150 Plants in Cultivation (Down from 7000) cchronicle.com/2009/11/from-india-six-lessons/ fao.org/DOCREP/004/V1430E/V1430E04.htm
nytimes.com/2005/08/17/world/europe/17iht-food.html "Historically, humans utilized more than 7,000 plant species to meet their basic food needs. Today, due to the limitations of modern large-scale, mechanized farming, only 150 plant species are under cultivation, and the majority of humans live on only 12 plant species, according to research by the Food and Agriculture Organization. In the last century, dozens of varieties of corn, wheat and potato have disappeared. "This is not nearly as sexy as a panda going extinct, but the losses are far more dangerous for our survival," Esquinas said. The consequences are potentially dire: Of the nearly 8,000 varieties of apple that grew in the United States at the turn of the century, more than 95 percent no longer exist. In Mexico, only 20 percent of the corn types recorded in 1930 can now be found. Only 10 percent of the 10,000 wheat varieties grown in China in 1949 remain in use."

XXXXX LEARNING XXXXX

We look for the sort of classes you circled in college course catalogs but never managed to fit into your schedule. And we also look for the kind of things that no college could teach. Cheap and eclectic is the rule, though all rules get broken occasionally, and we especially love workshops, round-tables, and teachers who won’t take your work out of your hands and show you how to do it right. One-time listings are categorized weekly, with general recurring classes listed at the end on the first Friday of each month. We thrive on your suggestions, so make sure to tell us about upcoming classes that you think are nifty-keen.

Learning is compiled and edited weekly by Libby Sentz. Send listing suggestions to libby(at)nonsensenyc.com.

***** LEARNING: FRIDAY 8/13 *****

Open House at Scanlan Glass

Join the folks at Scanlan Glass for their free open house. There will be glass blowing demonstrations, music, and refreshments as well as the opportunity for you to make a marble or paperweight. Join the party, experience the thrill of watching hot glass being turned into unique creations, and experience working with hot glass yourself.

Scanlan Glass
103 14th Street, Brooklyn
6-9p; $free
718-369-3645

***** LEARNING: SATURDAY 8/14 *****

Speed Language Exchange

Join hostellers, couch surfers, and local friends to create a tower of Babel and get to know many people quickly, and hear them speaking (at least part-time) in their languages. You will meet some new international friends at this language exchange social. Afterward, look to join the Trappist Punks’ guided beer crawl at 9p.

HI (Hostel International)
891 Amsterdam Avenue
Manhattan
6:30-8:30p; $free
facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=143398329022978