SCENE: Beer, Bourbon & BBQ Festival (1/30)

January 30th - Saturday
TWO SESSIONS

Noon - 4pm The VIP Whole Hog

and Bacon Session

5pm - 9pm Afternoon Session

at la.venue
608 West 28th Street, NYC 10001 (11th & 28th)

EAT: Gumbo!

With Mardi Gras almost right around the corner (2/16), it's never too soon to start planning your menu. Time Out NY's Gumbo pick is definitely on my list!

Gumbo at the Green Table
This frequent special is the only NYC gumbo we can get behind. NOLA transplant Brent Sims knows his way around a roux, plus he cooks with what’s in season. This time of year, that means a bowl packed with house-made sausage and chicken or roasted duck. Chelsea Market, 75 Ninth Ave at 16th St (212-741-6623). $18.

ART: William Christenberry "House and Car and"

Now thru 2/6 @ Pace MacGill midtown:

William Christenberry: House and Car and,” a selection of photographs, encaustic paintings, drawings, sculpture and found signs. The exhibition illuminates Christenberry’s multimedia approach to capturing the spirit of his

native South as reflected by the culture, natural landscape, and vernacular architecture of rural Alabama.

William Christenberry returns to his home in Hale County, Alabama annually. Like Walker Evans, his images of the region’s architectural sites and material culture provide a window into the rural South by offering prolonged studies of a place over time. For example, Christenberry’s sequence of 20 photographs, House and Car, near Akron, Alabama (1978-2005), chronicles the physical transformation of a

single building over the course of 27 years. A related sculpture gives three-dimensional form to the photographed building, however,it is not intended to be seen as a replica. Rather, the sculpture is a hybrid of both the actual image and Christenberry’s own memory of it. Christenberry elaborates: “[t]hey are not models. They are re-creations. Imaginative re-creations, like dreams.” The powerful combination of memory and imagination is particularly evident in Christenberry’s abstract drawings of gourd trees that reference the regional tradition of hanging hollow gourds to attract nesting birds and generate new life.

The iconography of the rural American South is intrinsic to Christenberry’s oeuvre. His found signs are literal records of place, while his images of egg crate crosses on graves and gourd trees allude to deeper cultural legacies. Perhaps the most potent symbol is an elongated, conical shape suggesting Ku Klux Klan members’ hoods. Christenberry translates this symbol into a more gestural, inverted “V” in a variety of his pieces, including the painted triptych, K House (1998).

William Christenberry was born in 1936 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

(text from exhibition press release - issued by Pace MacGill)

SHOP: Bureau of Friends fundraiser for Haiti

These new Billy Reid wingtips are up for auction on eBay until 1/28 as part of the The Bureau of Friends fundraiser for Haiti.

See all items here.

SCREEN: Mine

Not to be confused with my new endeavor, also called MINE (but more on that another time) - MINE the movie is a documentary about the pets left behind by Hurricane Katrina and all the thorny issues surrounding that.

RIP MLK

Fried Chicken Friday!

Starting next week (1/22) - Charles Gabriel (whose fried chicken is hailed by many restaurant critics as the best in the city) will be moonlighting every friday from 5PM - 11PM at Aretsky's Patroon.

Read more here and here.

RIP Jay Reatard

From the Commercial Appeal:

In an interview with The New York Times last August, Memphis punk artist Jay Reatard uttered what, in retrospect, was a haunting phrase:

"Everything I do," Reatard said, "is motivated by the fear of running out of time."

That statement rang terribly true early Wednesday as the 29-year-old musician was found dead in his bed in the Cooper-Young home he'd bought just a few months ago.

Read more here.

Just something I like and feel like sharing

Jasper Johns

Map

1962

In 1960, artist Robert Rauschenberg gave Jasper Johns mimeographed maps of the United States that inspired Johns to begin working with the motif; he ultimately made three large Map paintings in addition to smaller paintings, prints, and drawings, sometimes rendered directly on the mimeographed sheets. During this time, Johns was beginning to employ monochromatic gray or blue palettes and, in 1962, he rendered Map almost entirely in shades of gray. Of his work of this period, he insisted: “My primary concern is visual form. The visual meaning may be discovered afterward—by those who look at it.”

Jasper Johns (b. 1930, Augusta, Georgia; lives and works in New York)
Map, 1962
Encaustic and collage on canvas
60 x 93 in.
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Gift of Marcia Simon Wiseman

SCENE: Southern Writers Reading Series

The Southern Writers Reading Series continues tonight (1/13) @ Happy Ending Lounge @ 7:30PM. Free open mic begins after featured authors perform.

Featuring:


Evan Burton was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Now he lives and writes in Brooklyn.

Jason Reynolds is graduate of the University of Maryland at College Park, where he received a B.A. in English, with a concentration in Literature. While in college, Reynolds performed spoken word all over the east coast, as well as published his first book, a collection of poetry entitled, Let Me Speak. By the time he graduated, he had sold a few thousand copies, as well as produced a second collection, Jacob’s Ladder. After college, he joined forces with artist Jason Griffin, and created SELF, an artistic collaboration of art and poetry. Reynolds also toured the country with Liquid Lounge Tour, and served as a Paul Robeson Artist in Residence at Penn State, where he taught a creative writing class and served on panels with literary icons, Sonia Sanchez and Amiri Baraka. Jason resides in Brooklyn, NY.

Samantha Thornhill travels the globe performing poetry, delivering lectures, and facilitating writing workshops. Both a poet and published author, her performance poem, Little Odetta, inspired by the late folk legend, is forthcoming from Scholastic Press in the form of a picture book. Also, her young adult novel Seventeen Seasons is soon to be published by Penguin Books. Samantha earned her MFA in poetry from the University of Virginia while coaching the VA slam team. In New York City she fulfills her position as poetry professor at the Juilliard School. She also serves as writer in residence at the Bronx Academy of Letters where she teaches creative writing and journalism courses to middle and high school youth.

EAT: Shrimp n' Grits

All this cold weather has got me thinking of a big dish of warm & comforting shrimp n' grits! I hear they do a good job of it at the new-ish Joseph Leonard. But I also found this great recipe on the Anson Mills site:

Equipment Mise en Place
For this recipe you will need a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan; a fine, conical strainer; a small (1-quart) saucepan; a large nonstick skillet; a set of tongs; and a whisk.

Ingredients
1 pound medium-sized, shell-on shrimp
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, small dice
1 small stalk celery, small dice
2 large garlic cloves, sliced
4 cups spring or filtered water
1 teaspoon tomato paste
3 full sprigs fresh thyme
1 Turkish bay leaf
1 teaspoon whole, cracked black peppercorns
1 strip lemon peel
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon flour
2 ounces thick smoked bacon or real country ham, minced (3 tablespoons)
2 large shallots, minced (1/4 cup)
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 scallion, white and green part, thinly sliced
1 recipe hot, freshly prepared Anson Mills Antebellum Coarse or Carolina Quick Grits

Directions
1. Peel and devein the shrimp, reserving the shells. Dry the shrimp between layers of paper towels and refrigerate until ready to use. Heat the olive oil in a medium-sized, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Add the shrimp shells, onion, celery, and garlic and sauté until the shells are crisp and the aromatics tender, 10 minutes. Add the water, tomato paste, thyme, bay, peppercorns, and lemon peel. Cover and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the stock is flavorful and reduced, about 1 hour. Strain the stock into a small saucepan (there should be about 1 1/2 cups), and keep hot.

2. While the stock is cooking, mash the butter and flour into a smooth paste in a small bowl and set aside.

3. Sauté the bacon or ham in a large, nonstick skillet over medium-low heat until crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. Move it to the periphery of the skillet and increase the heat to medium. Arrange the shrimp in a single layer and sear until pink. Sprinkle the shallots over the shrimp, toss, and cook until the shrimp is done, about one minute. Add salt, red pepper flakes, and black pepper. Using tongs, transfer the shrimp to a warm plate. Add the hot stock to the skillet and bring to a boil over high heat. Whisk in the reserved butter and flour mixture. Cook until thickened, about 20 seconds. Return the shrimp to the pan and taste sauce for seasoning.

4. To serve, spoon the hot grits into shallow bowls. Top with shrimp and sauce. Sprinkle with chopped scallions.

SCREEN: The Loss Of A Teardrop Diamond (playing now)

Tells the story of Fisher Willow, the disliked 1920s Memphis débutante daughter of a plantation owner with a distaste for narrow-minded people and a penchant for shocking and insulting those around her. After returning from studies overseas, Fisher falls in love with Jimmy, the down-and-out son of an alcoholic father and an insane mother who works at a store on her family's plantation. She tries to pass him off as an upper-class suitor to appease the spinster aunt who controls her family's fortune, but when she loses a diamond, it places their tenuous relationship in further jeopardy.

A young and rebellious socialite Fisher Willow, tainted by a family scandal, boldly hires farm hand Jimmy Dobyne to be her escort for the elaborate party season. As her passion for Jimmy grows, Fisher defies social convention and the burden of history to risk everything for a chance at real love... until the loss of a priceless diamond sets off a series of accusations and betrayals that threaten to shatter their hopes for the future. With his indelible characters and breathtaking Southern backdrops, Williams paints a heartbreaking tale of seduction and loss.

Source: IMDB

PBR @ MSG Tonight (1/8)

Things are gettin' ornery in the big apple for the next three days as the Professional Bull Riders Association stampedes into Madison Square Garden 1/8 - 10.

SOUNDS: Export NOLA tonight (1/8)

Export NOLA: Experience New Orleans Music!
Two Venues For One Ticket!

Sullivan Hall Lineup:
Funky Butt Revisted featuring
Big Sam Williams, Christian Scott, Jon Batiste, Will Bernard, Doug Wimbish,
Adam Deitch & more /
Jason Marsalis’ Vibes Quartet /
John Ellis and Double-Wide/
Christian Scott / The Jon Batiste Band /
Paul Sanchez Duo (feat. Matt Perrine)

The Bitter End Lineup:
The Iguanas / Rosie Ledet and the Zydeco Playboys / Paul Sanchez /
Jamie McLean Band / Mia Borders

MORE LIVE SHOWS (Fri 1/7 & Sat 1/8 - roundup!)

FRIDAY, JANUARY 7, 2010

James Cotton (of Muddy Waters fame) @ BB King's

SATURDAY, JANUARY 8, 2010

The Dixons & Defibulators (Brooklyn honky tonkers) @ Southpaw

Pine Leaf Boys ("rockin cajun from Louisiana") @ Connolly's Pub

Del McCoury Band w/Preservation Hall Jazz Band @ BB King's

ART: William Eggleston @ Cheim & Read (1/7 - 2/13)

An exhibit of new Eggleston photos opens today @ the Cheim & Read gallery thru 2/13!

From the C&R site: William Eggleston, born in 1939 in Memphis, Tennessee, is widely credited with having elevated the medium of color photography to the status of serious art. In the 1960s and 70s color photography was most commonly associated with such middle-brow phenomena as commercial advertising and the family snapshot, and only the black and white photograph was
deemed acceptable for display in a museum or gallery setting.

Indeed, Eggleston’s first one-man show at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 1976, organized by John Szarkowski, marks the moment in the history of photography when color
photographs were first admitted for exhibition to the ranks of a major museum.

Eggleston’s most recent photographs, exhibited at Cheim & Read, give themselves over almost entirely to problems of composition, color, and texture; and yet they do so – remarkably – only within the confines of what could have been seen by the casual observer, whose distracted glance would normally pass-over the surfaces of the world and retain virtually nothing of it.

For instance, Eggleston’s photograph of bags of ice in a frosted-over freezer (the sort one finds at a gas station or convenience store on the outskirts of town) initially reads as a study in the subtle gradations of color and texture in the freezer’s whitish blue-green interior, thickly coated in tiny ice crystals, which form horizontal ridges that run from edge to edge of the vertically-oriented picture. Only when we make-out the red lettering on the clear plastic bags of “party ice,” are we able to orient ourselves with respect to what the photograph is a photograph of: a freezer of ice.

Eggleston’s photographs of the American south, for which he is best known, are highly regarded for the candor with which they document the ordinary barrenness of the rural and suburban southern landscape. But it is a mistake to regard Eggleston’s project as essentially documentary in nature. The artist’s painstaking attention to formal concerns such as color saturation and
pictorial composition in the images he captures gives his photographs a particular strikingness that stuns the viewer, compelling him or her to fixate his or her concentrated attention on the photographic image. Eggleston himself has explained his approach to photography as follows: “Essentially what I was doing was applying intelligent painting theory to color photography.” Perhaps we do best to understand Eggleston’s photographic practice in terms of the artist’s visual acuity, his gift for being able first to discern, then to isolate, those exceedingly rare moments when the banal materials of the everyday world are aligned just so to make that perfect, momentary image which transcends its own fleetingness through its coincidental engagement with artistic convention.

SOUNDS: Levon Helm @ Terminal 5 (tonight 1/7)

From Time Out NY: Levon Helm is simply one of the purest remaining icons of American roots rock. His heart-wrenching vocal twang and loosey-goosey bounce behind the drum kit contributed greatly to the Band’s signature weight, and his down-home persona has even led to a respectable acting career for the Arkansas native. Opening is Okkervil River, whose Will Sheff has (rightly) always been noted for the literate, narrative quality of his lyrics.

Tonight (1/7) at Terminal 5 in Manhattan

SOUNDS: Jim White @ Joe's Pub tonight (1/6)

Tonight @ 7PM @ Joe's Pub:

Happy Ending Music and Reading Series:

America Night featuring Jonathan Dee ("The Privileges"), Rich Benjamin (Whitopia), Colum McCann and musical guest Jim White

Jim White is a prophet of human loss who sings about Southern misfits in a sly, haunted tenor. Saved as a Pentecostal at fifteen and lost again shortly thereafter, White did stints as a professional surfer, fashion model, taxi driver, and filmmaker before his music was discovered by David Byrne...

The consistently sold out, Happy Ending Music and Reading Series, chosen by New York Magazine and NY Press as the best reading series in NYC, and singled out by the New York Times Magazine for helping to "Keep downtown alive," features the most interesting storytellers, writers, musicians, raconteurs and personalities, and requires the readers to take one public risk, while the musicians, who perform two short sets with their original, lyric-driven music, are required to play one cover song and try to get the audience to sing along. Called the “most vital authors’ series in the city,” by Time Out NY, and known for its consistently good taste, Happy Ending has launched careers and proudly, ended none

RIP - Willie Mitchell

From the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper:

One of the great pillars of the Memphis sound, Willie Mitchell, has died. The musician, songwriter, producer and label head died this morning at about 7:30 a.m. at Methodist University Hospital. He was 81.

Born on March 1, 1928, Mitchell remained at the forefront of Memphis music for more than six decades, as a trumpeter, bandleader and record maker. He would eventually go on to create one of the most important musical kingdoms with his South Memphis-based Hi Records and Royal Studios.

At Hi he sired some of the most famous instrumental hits of the '60s and shepherded the careers of Al Green and Ann Peebles in the '70s. Even in later years Mitchell stayed busy at his studio, working with up-and-coming talents like John Mayer and Anthony Hamilton.

read more here

SCENE: Roseanne Cash @ The Times Center

Friday | January 8, 2010 6 – 7:15 PM
	Rosanne Cash
	The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter on “The List,” her latest album of the essential American songs her father, the legendary Johnny Cash, gave her to learn. Conversation with performance. Interviewed by Jon Pareles.

Buy tix here

STAGE: The Orphans' Home Cycle

Part III of The Orphans' Home Cycle, Horton Foote's "nine play rural epic," opens this Thursday, January 7, joining Parts I & II which opened in Nov & Dec of 09. All three parts run thru the end of March. Read the Signature Theatre Company synopsis here.

Get you some!

Yep, it's time to boil you up a mess of peas & greens to get your luck & money right for 2010. I'm fixin' to try these Southern Living recipes this year:

Hoppin' John

• 1 (16-ounce) package dried black-eyed peas
• 2 large ham hocks (about 3/4 pound)
• 2 tablespoons bacon drippings
• 4 cups water
• 1 large onion, cut into wedges
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 chicken bouillon cube
• Hot cooked white rice

Preparation

Bring dried black-eyed peas and water to cover to a boil in a Dutch oven; remove from heat, and let stand 1 hour. Drain.

Remove skin from ham hocks. Chop meat from ham hocks, reserving bones.

Sauté meat in hot bacon drippings in a large skillet over medium-high heat 3 minutes or until slightly browned.

Combine peas, meat, bones, 4 cups water, and next 8 ingredients in Dutch oven. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, gently stirring occasionally, 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until peas are tender. Remove and discard bones. Serve over rice.

Collard Greens

• 1 smoked turkey wing, skinned
• 1/2 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 dried Anaheim chile, stemmed and chopped (about 3 tablespoons)
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 (16-ounce) package collard greens, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

Preparation

Remove meat from turkey wing; chop and reserve 1/2 cup. Reserve remaining turkey meat for another use. Separate wing bone at the joint; reserve drumstick portion of wing. Discard remaining bones.

Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add Anaheim chile; sauté 30 seconds. Add onion; sauté 2 minutes. Add garlic; sauté 30 seconds. Add reserved drumstick bone, collard greens, salt, red pepper, and black pepper to pot; cover with water to 1 inch above greens. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, for 2 hours.

Drain collard greens in a colander over a bowl, reserving cooking liquid. Discard turkey drumstick bone. Return cooking liquid to pan, and cook over high heat until reduced to 3/4 cup (about 40 minutes). Add greens and reserved 1/2 cup chopped turkey meat to pan; reduce heat, and cook 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring frequently. Stir in 2 teaspoons lemon juice. Serve warm.

Enoy!

NEW YEAR'S AUCTION @ Sterling Sold

ANNUAL NEW YEARS DAY AUCTION-OVER 200 ITEMS SOLD BY CATALOGUE PLUS OVER 300 ITEMS UNCATALOGUED SOLD TO IN HOUSE BIDDERS

Date: Friday, January 1, 2010
Time:11:00 a.m.
Kimball M. Sterling presents The 20th Annual New Years Day Auction

Here is the link to the catalogue.

Outsider Art, Fine Antiques, Pedal Cars, Jewelry and Antique Watches, Toys, Large Advertising Tin and Dipper Collection, China and Glassware, Carpets, Furniture from Many Periods, Comic Books, and many Fine Estate Items. Coins Indian rugs, art, Cufflink collection, Toys and much more

This sale will also be carried live on the net at liveauctioneers.com. They will sell about 200 items by catalogue and over 300 items which are not catalogued for internet bidders

Two gallon cobalt jug attributed to Lewis Haun of Greene County Tennessee, Native American paintings by Edwin Deming, Combination Table Company display table, East Tennessee Railroad stock certificate, Collection of early pedal cars including Murray plane-Jolly Roger boat and many more, Large collection of peanut butter tins, Quarter hour 14kt gold repeater watch, Movado Calendar wrist watch, Navaho Rugs, Massive ice cream scoop collection, Outsider art including three works by Linville Barker, large Barker cat, Mary Proctor, Prison Art, Collection of Tennessee History and Appalachian books, Fine Persian carpets, Bakelite flatware, Fine paintings, Country store items, Fine jewelry, Gene Autry boys bicycle, Schwinn Phantom bicycle, Early tricycles and ride-on items, antique canes, gentleman’s cuffs link in gold and silver, fine dining china, coins, 5.00 gold piece, over 75 pieces of outsider art, Longines Military type d pocket watch, a collection of George Washington wax seals from a decendant of the former president and the Father of our country, rare jewelry store display case, group of hunting case pocket watches, nautical keel table, fine country and formal furniture, carved African-American Jacksonville pipe, early toys, Oils by Jack Savisky, early midwifery book, Bicycle inkwell, Tennessee Jackson Press, Early large framed religious crochet, braided rugs, string instruments, stamp collection, Mahogany highboy, French style bedroom suite, sterling flatware and serving pieces, large collection of comic books,William Cross Stone Collection, military items, large collection of interesting antique smalls, three pre 1900 Bowie knives, Custom high grade early French 16ga. double barrel, and more to list soon

Cash or check 10% BP

Preview 9:30 a.m.