SCENE: PBR hits NYC!

No, hipsters, not that PBR!

The Professional Bull Riders "Built Ford Tough" invitational hits Madison Square Garden for 3 days beginning Friday, January 9. Yeehaw!

STAGE: Disfarmer @ St. Ann's Warehouse

In the small mountain town of Heber Springs, the Arkansas artist known as Disfarmer captured the lives and emotions of the people of rural America between 1939-1945. Critics have hailed Disfarmer's remarkable black and white portraits as "a work of artistic genius" and "a classical episode in the history of American photography."

JAN. 27 - FEB. 8 @ St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn: Dan Hurlin, who last presented at St. Ann's Warehouse in 2004 with his award-winning puppet-theater work, Hiroshima Maiden, returns with the World Premiere of Disfarmer. The story is inspired by the over forty-year career (1915-1959) of portrait photographer Mike Disfarmer, who for decades shunned his family and neighbors while operating the only portrait studio for miles around Heber Springs, Arkansas. Using "Table-top puppetry," an oddly funny text by Sally Oswald and an original banjo score by Dan Moses Schreier, Hurlin's Disfarmer seeks to create a visceral sense of the photographer's interior and exterior worlds, illuminating the contradictions in the life of this American hermit whose intimate and revealing portraiture documented an entire community.

In addition, for the first time since the discovery of Mike Disfarmer's unique body of work, archival quality limited edition Disfarmer prints are available for purchase online authorized through Disfarmer.com.

SCENE: Alabama Stitch in Brooklyn!

Being a huge fan of Natalie "Alabama" Chanin, I'm excited to see that SpaceCraft Brooklyn is holding some Alabama Stitch classes in a few weeks!

Per Stella, "The class is affiliated with Natalie Chanin. One of her trained stitchers Caroline Priebe is teaching the class, and in it you get to make either a scarf, a garment or a moleskein cover."

The class is Jan. 22nd, and 26th. from 7-9pm. Call the store if you have any questions 718-599-2718

SCENE: A Street Car Named Phunny!

7PM Tonight in New Orleans: The Phunny Phorty Phellows herald the arrival of the Mardi Gras season with its annual streetcar parade ride.

The costumed and masked krewe will assemble on Twelfth Night, January 6, 2009 at Canal Street Station (Canal & N. White) at 6:30pm. At 7pm sharp, the Phunny Phorty Phellows will board the streetcar and begin their ride to "Herarld the Arrival of Carnival" down the St. Charles Ave. Streetcar Line.

The Phellows, commonly referred to as the "Dessert of Carnival," are an historic Mardi Gras organization that first took to the streets 1878 through 1898. They were known for their satirical parades and today's krewe members’ costumes often reflect topical themes. The group was revived in 1981.

A full schedule of season parades can be found here. Mardi Gras day itself is February 24, 2009.

STAGE: Streamers @ Roundabout Theatre in NYC

David Rabe's award-winning drama, Streamers, is playing at Roundabout's Laura Pels Theatre in NYC thru January 11, 1009.

Set in 1965 Virginia, Streamers is the story of four soldiers just out of bootcamp who, according to NY Mag, grapple "with race, class, and sexuality as tensions rise in Vietnam."

BOOK: Holy Roller by Diane Wilson

In this rollicking memoir, Diane Wilson—a fourth generation Texas Gulf Coast shrimper and the author of the highly acclaimed An Unreasonable Woman—takes readers back to her childhood in rural Texas and into her family of Holy Rollers. By night at tent revivals, Wilson gets religion from Brother Dynamite, an ex-con who finds Jesus in a baloney sandwich and handles masses of squirming poisonous snakes under the protection of the Holy Ghost. By day, Wilson scratches secret messages to Jesus into the paint on her windowsill and lies down in the middle of the road to see how long she can sleep in between passing trucks.

Holy Roller is a fast-paced, hilarious, sometimes shocking experience readers won’t soon forget. It is the prequel to Wilson’s first book, telling the story of the Texas childhood of a fierce little girl who will grow up to become An Unreasonable Woman, take on Big Industry, and win. One of the best Southern writers of her generation, Wilson’s voice twangs with a style and accent all its own, as true and individual as her boundless originality and wild youth. (source)

EAT: Ring in some luck & money for 2009!

above photo from myrecipes.com

If you are planning to celebrate the New Year in the Southeast, it is most likely that you will be offered black-eyed peas in some form, either just after midnight or on New Year's Day. From grand gala gourmet dinners to small casual gatherings with friends and family, these flavorful legumes are traditionally, according to Southern folklore, the first food to be eaten on New Year's Day for luck and prosperity throughout the year ahead. The tradition of eating black-eyed peas for the New Year has evolved into a number of variations and embellishments of the luck and prosperity theme including: Served with greens (collards, mustard or turnip greens, which varies regionally), the peas represent coins and the greens represent paper money. In some areas cabbage is used in place of the greens. Cornbread, often served with black-eyed peas and greens, represents gold. (Source: About.com. Read the whole article here).