We've Moved!

Literally and literally. Southernist began as a way to document southern things happening in New York City. We'll be staying on the Georgia/Alabama border for the next two years so Southernist will now be used to document our time living in Dixie. Hopefully you'll redirect by clicking on www.southernist.com and continue to follow along on our adventures. Stay sweet, y'all!

STAGE: 23 Coins

In the world of revivalist preaching, a man on the verge of losing his charisma latches onto a woman and her young daughter. The child he raises up as a child preacher - but what is his hold on them? What is the secret the mother has? This world premiere musical combines live music, DV projections, recorded sound and a cast of 11 to explore the distinction between religion, spirituality, voodoo and true faith. (source)

23 Coins is in production thru 10/25 at Spoon Theater.

ART: Cy Twombly @ Gagosian thru 10/31

Gagosian Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of new bronze sculptures by Cy Twombly.

Since 1946 Twombly has fashioned sculptures from everyday materials and objects, usually painted with white gesso. In 1979 he began casting some of them in bronze, thus unifying, preserving, and transforming them into cohesive wholes, independent from the original bricolages. The surface and patina of these cast bronzes evoke weathered artifacts that have been exhumed from the earth, an effect that is heightened in those that have been coated in white oil paint.

Born in 1928 in Lexington, VA, Cy Twombly studied art at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1947–49); the Art Students League, New York (1950–51); and Black Mountain College, NC (1951–52). In the mid 1950s, following travels in Europe and Africa, he emerged as a prominent figure among a group of artists working in New York that included Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. In 1959, Twombly settled permanently in Italy. In 1968, the Milwaukee Art Center mounted his first retrospective. This was followed by major retrospectives at the Kunsthaus Zürich (1987) travelling to Madrid, London and Paris; the Museum of Modern Art, New York (1994) (travelling to Houston, Los Angeles, and Berlin) and the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich (2006). In 1995, the Cy Twombly Gallery opened at The Menil Collection, Houston, exhibiting works made by the artist since 1954. The European retrospective "Cy Twombly: Cycles and Seasons" opened at the Tate Modern, London in June 2008, with subsequent versions at the Guggenheim Bilbao and the Museum of Modern Art in Rome in 2009.

Twombly lives in Lexington, VA, and Italy.

ART: Sally Mann @ Gagosian thru 10/31

Gagosian Gallery is pleased to present "Proud Flesh", a series of new photographs by Sally Mann.

Children, landscape, lovers—these iconic subjects are as common to the photographic lexicon as light itself. But Mann's take on them, rendered through processes both traditional and esoteric, is anything but common.

Her latest photographic study of her husband Larry Mann, taken over six years, has resulted in a series of candid nude studies of a mature male body that neither objectifies nor celebrates the focus of its gaze. Rather it suggests a profoundly trusting relationship between woman and man, artist and model that has produced a full range of impressions – erotic, brutally frank, disarmingly tender, and more. While the relation of artist and model is, traditionally, a male-dominated field that has yielded countless appraisals of the female body and psyche, Mann reverses the role by turning the camera on her husband during some of his most vulnerable moments.

Mann's technical methods and process further emphasize the emotional and temporal aspects of these fragile life studies. The images are contact prints made from wet-plate collodion negatives, produced by coating a sheet of glass with ether-based collodion and submerging it in silver nitrate. Mann exploits the surface aberrations that can result from the unpredictability of the process to produce painterly photographs marked by stark contrasts of light and dark, with areas that resemble scar tissue. In works such as Hephaestus and Ponder Heart, the scratches and marks incurred in the production process become inseparable from the physical reality of Larry's body.

Sally Mann was born in Lexington, VA in 1951. She has received numerous awards, including three National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Her photographs are in the permanent collections of major museums and private collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, and The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and The Corcoran Museum of Art, Washington, D.C. (source)

STAGE: Blind Lemon Blues

Playing now thru October 4: Blind Lemon Blues celebrates the legacy of Blind Lemon Jefferson and his profound influence upon the development of American popular music. Jefferson was a blind street musician, who played his guitar at the corner of Elm Street and Central Avenue in Dallas, Texas, until a Paramount Records scout discovered him. Between 1926 and 1929, Jefferson made more than 80 records and became the biggest-selling country blues singer in America.

Blind Lemon Blues is set in New York City in 1948 at the last recording session of the legendary Huddie Ledbetter, better known as Lead Belly, and combines elements of traditional blues, gospel, rhythm and blues, soul, doo-wop, and rap to evoke the enduring legacy of Blind Lemon and his contemporaries, Blind Willie Johnson, Lillian Glinn, Hattie Hudson, Bobbie Cadillac, Lillian Miller and Lead Belly himself. (source)

STAGE: Sweet Storm

In 1960 Florida, Ruthie and Bo, two young newlyweds, enter their honeymoon suite in the sky, a tree house. A romantic gesture from the young groom to his wife. Yet Bo’s expectations of living happily ever after in the sky are soon grounded by Ruthie’s realization that marriage comes with many unforeseen — and frightening — challenges. The two lovers struggle to fortify themselves against forces both inside and outside the tree house. (source)

Sweet Storm, and its "basketful of Southernisms" (Time Out NY), is playing now thru August 16 @ The Kirk Theatre.

SCREEN: Beeswax + director @ Film Forum this weekend

Director Andrew Bujalski (Funny Ha Ha, Mutual Appreciation) comes to NYC this weekend with his new film, Beeswax.

Beeswax revolves around the personal and professional entanglements of twin sisters Jeannie and Lauren – played by newcomers Tilly and Maggie Hatcher – living in Austin, Texas. Jeannie co-owns a vintage clothing store with Amanda, a semi-estranged friend who she fears is trying to end their partnership. Lauren leads a looser, less tethered existence and is considering getting out of the country altogether. When Jeannie receives an email from Amanda threatening a lawsuit, she calls her law student ex-boyfriend Merrill for help. Eager for distraction from his own problems, he begins helping the sisters with theirs. "Beeswax" is a story about families, friends, lovers and those awkward moments that bring all of them together. (source)

See ANDREW BUJALSKI IN PERSON at Film Forum on Fri (8/7) & Sat (8/8) at the 7:50 & 10pm shows, and Sunday (8/9) at the 3:15 show.

BOOK: Reasons For And Advantages of Breathing

Nashvillian (via Virginia, via Boston) Lydia Peelle reads tomorrow (7/29) afternoon (12:30PM - 1:45PM) at Bryant Park Reading Room.

"Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing conveys an almost Faulknerian ache for the pre-modern South, for a landscape and a way of life lost to the ravages of money and technology.....'Mule Killers' evokes the end of an era and of a grandfather's dreams when he decides to replace animal power on his farm with tractors. Two restless young girls in 'Sweethearts of the Rodeo' live out their last summer of innocence, riding ponies recklessly and spying on their boss and the wealthy women who visit him. In 'Phantom Pain,' the Tennessee woods are a sliver of what they once were, men now hunt with GPS and cell phones, and the rumor of a dangerous panther on the loose stirs up a small town." (source)

BONUS: The Bryant Park Reading Room has a really cool history: "The original Reading Room began in August of 1935 as a public response to the Depression Era job losses in New York. Many people did not have anywhere to go during the day, and no prospects for jobs. The New York Public Library opened the “Open Air Library” to give these out-of-work businessmen and intellectuals a place to go where they did not need money, a valid address, a library card, or any identification to enjoy the reading materials."

SOUNDS: Terence Blanchard in NY thru 7/26

New Orleanian Terence Blanchard (jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, arranger, Golden Globe-nominated film score composer, and Artistic Director at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz) wraps up a week long stint at Jazz Standard on 7/26.

SOUNDS: DMB + OCMS = NYC (7/21 & 22)

Necklace by Seize The Night (Etsy)

Nashvillians (via NYC & NC) Old Crow Medicine Show join Charlottesville, VA (via South Africa) megastars the Dave Matthews Band tonight (7/21) and tomorrow night (7/22) at the Nikon Theater at Jones Beach.

You Are Invited to Concord , Virginia

Concord, Virginia - Performance and Book Release Party tonight (7/7) @ 7PM at Dixon Place (161 Chrystie Street, NYC).

Having begun the saga of Concord, Virginia: A Southern Town in Eleven Stories at HOT! 2006, Peter Neofotis celebrates St. Martin Press’s release of his award-winning book - based on his Dixon Place show series - by performing The Botanist, a gay trial tale; and The Builders, a Prometheus Bound story. (source)

St. Martin's says:“In the places set between folds in the Earth, voices echo against mountains…”

So begins the story of Concord, Virginia, one of those places set between folds in the Earth. It’s a place like almost any other Southern town, filled with self-righteous preachers, descendants of slaves, upstanding town leaders, and the ladies of the local bridge club. But Concord has something else: a dark heart. A church has been abandoned. Vultures have been roosting in the trees at George MacJenkins’s house. Poisonous snakes follow Rachel Stetson into the river for a swim. And the ghost of Thomas Jefferson has recently spoken through a man chained to fate. Deftly spinning a web of stories from the voices of the town, Peter Neofotis creates a captivating portrait---comic, dramatic, bombastic, and tragic---of a place trapped in time and possessed by the valley landscape that surrounds it. In the tradition of great Southern gothic writing, Peter Neofotis brings to life the town of Concord, Virginia, allowing even the ancient voices there to swirl through the glazed brick streets like the Fork River. It’s a pulse-raising debut by a writer who’s created a place the reader will never forget.

SCENE: SEC Happy Hour tonight!

Southeastern Conference Happy Hour 6:00 PM EST:

NYC Southeastern Conference Happy Hour

Wednesday, June 24, 2009 at 6:00 PM EST

It’s time for another Southeastern Conference Happy Hour and here are the details:

· Firefly Bar & Restaurant

· 54 Spring Street

· Between Lafayette & Mulberry Streets

· New York, NY 10012

· Bar: (212) 966-8716

· Web Site: www.fireflynyc.com

· Time: 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM

Food & Drink Specials from 6 PM to 7 PM

SOUNDS: Patterson Hood in NYC 6/23 & 24

Patterson Hood will release Murdering Oscar (and other love songs) today on Ruth St. Records. The second solo record from the leader of the Drive-By Truckers has been 15 years in the making. The album was produced by Hood and long-time DBT producer David Barbe (Sugar). Most of his DBT band mates join him on the album as well as Don Chambers, Will Johnson and Scott Danbom from Centro-matic/South San Gabriel. This is also the first time Hood’s father David Hood, famed Muscle Shoals bass player, joins him on a record.

The album was recorded at Chase Park Transduction Studios in Athens, GA and will also be released on 180 gram vinyl. The vinyl release will include three exclusive bonus tracks. An a cappella version of “Range War” will also be available exclusively with iTunes. “Pollyanna” and “Pride of the Yankees” are available to preview on his Myspace page.

Hood and the Screwtopians will start the first leg of their tour in Nashville and end with a headlining slot at AthFest in Hood’s hometown of Athens, GA. Joining Hood on tour will be Brad Morgan (drums), John Neff (guitar/steel), Scott Danbom (keys/fiddle), Will Johnson (guitar) and David Barbe (bass), who has not toured since his days with Sugar. Will Johnson will open the shows. (source)

Patterson Hood plays the Music Hall of Williamsburg in BK tonight, and Bowery Ballroom tomorrow.

SCENE: U of ARK Chancellor tonight in NYC

Second Annual Academic Series Guest Speaker 6:00 PM EST: Razorback alum are excited to announce that Chancellor G. David Gearhart will be the Guest Speaker for their Second Annual Academic Series event tonight. All are welcome:

Papillon Bistro & Bar
22 East 54th Street
Between Fifth and Madison Avenue
Private Dining Room One
New York, NY 10022
Bistro: (212) 754-9006

Drink Specials: Draft Beer $5.00 per Pint in Private Dining Room One only.

SCENE: Alabama Poet Jeanie Thompson in NYC 6/10 & 13

Highly esteemed Alabama poet Jeanie Thompson will be in NYC to share work from her new book The Seasons Bear Us this week.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10 @ 7:30Pm at
The Southern Writers Reading Series
at the Happy Ending Lounge in lower Manhattan

SATURDAY, JUNE 13 @ 7PM at
KGB Bar's "Trumpet Fiction" night
in the East Village

Jeanie Thompson, MFA (poetry). Jeanie Thompson has published four collections of poetry, The Seasons Bear Us (River City Publishing, 2009), White for Harvest: New and Selected Poems (River City Publishing, 2001), Witness (Black Belt Press, 1995), and How to Enter the River (Holy Cow! Press, 1985), three chapbooks and has co-edited The Remembered Gate: Memoirs by Alabama Writers, (University of Alabama Press, 2002) with Jay Lamar. Witness won a Benjamin Franklin Award from the Publishers Marketing Association in 1996. Her poems, interviews with writers, and critical articles have appeared in Antaeus, Crazyhorse, Ironwood, North American Review, New England Review, and Southern Review. Jeanie holds the MFA from the University of Alabama, where she was founding editor of the literary journal Black Warrior Review. She has taught at the University of New Orleans and the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts, as well as in the poetry-in-the schools program in New Orleans and in Alabama. Jeanie has received Individual Artist fellowships from the Louisiana State Arts Council and the Alabama State Council on the Arts and was a Walter Dakin Fellow at the Sewanee Writers Conference 2000. Jeanie is founding director of the award-winning Alabama Writers' Forum, a statewide literary arts organization in Montgomery.

EAT: Louisiana Crawfish and Shrimp Boil (6/11, 18 & 25)

THURSDAY evenings in June @ Duane Park restaurant
Louisiana Crawfish and Shrimp Boil,served with creole fries and roasted local corn.
Crawfish are flown in from Louisiana on Thursdays only and price will vary according to market price. Get your hands dirty while listening to the cool sounds of Jazz.

Of Duane Park, Eater says: As for food, the menu here follows the roots of chef Shawn Knight, who cooked for years in New Orleans with Emeril Lagasse, and features a number of Southern-influenced dishes.

READING: Warren St. John @ McNally Jackson tonight

In Outcasts United New York Times reporter (and Alabama native) Warren St. John tells the story of a group of refugee boys from all over the world (Sudan, Congo, Kosovo, Liberia, Iraq, Afghanistan….) who all play on the same soccer team, The Fugees, in Clarkston, Georgia. The story of the boys, their Jordanian coach, and the reluctant refugee haven of Clarkston itself form an unforgettable picture of community and identity.

St. John reads tonight at 7PM @ McNally Jackson Booksellers in Soho.

SCENE: SEC Happy Hour in NYC! (May 27 @ 6PM)

Southeastern Conference Happy Hour 6:00 PM EST:

Mad Hatter Saloon
360 Third Avenue
Corner of 26th Street
New York, NY 10016
Bar: (212) 696-2122
Time: 6:00 to 11:00 PM

Drink Specials:

$4.00 Drafts includes Bud Light, Lions Head, Pilsner, Miller Lite & World Famous Razorback Red Ale.

$4.00 Bottles includes Bud Light, Miller High Life, Miller Lite & Corona.

Food Specials:

$12.95 Hatter Platter includes Chicken Wings, Chicken Fingers, Cheese Sticks, Potatoes Skins & Jalapeno Poppers.

$12.95 New York Platter includes Vegetable Dumplings, Deep Fried Mushrooms, Onion Rings & Empanadita.

Half Priced Chicken Wings with Three Flavors includes Hot, Barbeque & Thai Chili.

STAGE: Things of Dry Hours @ NY Theatre Workshop

(image credit)

"Set in Depression-era Alabama, Things of Dry Hours tells the story of Tice Hogan (Lindo), an African American out-of-work Sunday school teacher and member of the Communist Party, and his daughter Cali (Ruff) whose lives get turned upside down when they take in a mysterious white factory worker (Dillahunt) on the run.

Naomi Wallace's Things of Dry Hours marks the return to the New York stage of famed stage and screen star Delroy Lindo, who received Tony Award and Drama Desk nominations for his last Broadway appearance in the original Joe Turner's Come and Gone. Lindo is joined on stage by OBIE Award-winner Roslyn Ruff, who just earned rave reviews for her performance in Athol Fugard's Coming Home at Long Wharf and Garret Dillahunt (No Country for Old Men). Tony Award-winning actor,writer and producer Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Lackawanna Blues, Seven Guitars) directs." (source)

Previews begin tonight at New York Theatre Workshop. The play runs 6/8 thru 6/28.

SOUNDS: Bonnie Prince Billy live @ The Apollo

Post punk/indie rocker/folkie Bonnie "Prince" Billy performs live tonight (5/21) at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, NYC baby! His latest album, Beware, was released by Drag City 3/17.