Moma's PS1 currently has a display on view called "Pole Dance" which is the work of the architectural firm Solid Objectives, winner of the eleventh annual MoMA/MoMA PS1Young Architects Program. The project is an interactive environment of sand and pebbles along with, among other things, poles that hold up a netting which is used for holding yoga balls. While it was hard for me to see how this work addressed the program's current goal of "focus[ing] on designs which address sustainability, recycling, and reuse", it was kinda neat. I can't say I really appreciated the sound design, which was a bit shrill and distorted and therefore rather unpleasant despite not being terribly loud. Had it not felt like an afterthought I might have given it a break, but considering it was nothing more than a sensor on each pole triggering independent sounds, those sounds should have at least been pleasant and playful, like the rest of the exhibit.

What really took the day, though, was having the chance to see Kyra Johannesen and some of her other pole dancing super stars actually perform a dance routine on the poles. Sadly that was not part of the regular exhibit, and just a one-time thing, but I managed to snap a few photos.

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 I finally saw Avatar. I am pleased to say I learned a lot of lessons that I'm glad are being passed on to children all over the world:

Amanda Ray in a Spooky Cave!

   Amanda Ray's Debut Album Mirrored Images recalls some of my old favorites like Massive Attack and Morcheeba, but also brings in the energy of electro-grunge bands like Garbage. Sade fans will also feel right at home in Ray's rich, deep vocals. While you, like me, may feel unable to not think of these other great musicians while you have Mirrored Images on your iTunes playlist (on repeat, maybe?) Ray adds her own voice and a smack of sci-fi to the unique mix. She draws from an era of music that is often considered stale by many music journalists (the 90's), but was actually rich with underground sounds and new forms of expression, which she has a keen ear for. Ray's soulful, powerful, yet subdued vocals bring the chill European-style hip-hop back beats to life. All together, I could see this album making an appearance wherever there is dancing, parties, lounging or just listening.

  One listen to Ray's striking vocals and it's clear that she's not new to music. She is new to making it her full-time career, though. Her first album was made in Atlanta while working a full-time job. Now she's in NYC with an intern, a new album and a tour in the works. This "black electronic sci-fi chick", as Trace magazine called her, has become a very busy woman! However, she made time to talk to us a little about songwriting and making a go as a career musician.

Arielle with her Electric Guitar
Photo by Rebecca Weiss Photography

        If you haven't had the pleasure of hearing Arielle perform in one of her numerous gigs throughout the Village club circuit, I can tell you first-hand you are missing out. Arielle is one of those rare breed of musicians who can draw you in without fancy synth beats, overwhelming noise, exotic instrumental backup, or gimmickry of any kind. When you listen to her play, regardless of venue, it feels as though you are being treated to an intimate performance in your living room. It is precisely this raw, vulnerable "just a girl and her guitar" quality that distinguishes Arielle from many of her acoustic folk/pop peers and keeps her fans coming back for more. Her voice, breathy and ethereal, is a stand-out, and her lyrics about inner conflict, love, and loss, are universally relateable.

       I recently contacted Arielle to discuss her music and her upcoming gig at Recoup Lounge in the Lower East Side on October 24th. I was given the scoop on everything from her musical inspirations to her thoughts on Kanye *cough*douche*cough* West.

 Well, it's fall and that means that once again the television networks are trying to get us interested. We asked our readers what's going to be flickering on their screens this fall:

  An excellent production and top notch cast helped draw attention to Wildflower, and its young, up and coming playwright Lila Rose Kaplan. Although a few reviews, including the New York Times, challenged or were uncomfortable with Kaplan's choice of ending, most, including variety and curtain up were charmed, as I was, by her characters and the tale of a mother and her unusual son who escaped from New York City to a small town known for its annual flower festival.

The cast of characters includes an ex-drag queen who becomes the family's emotional and literal source of nourishment, as both mentor and innkeeper who cooks; a hard-on-the-outside-but-soft-on-the-inside forest ranger; a misfit, bubbly teenage girl; a recently divorced, struggling mother; and her son who, while intelligent, clearly has more difficulty deciphering human relationships than your average teen. While this list certainly passes any east-village political correctness checklist, it's clear that they were not created with this purpose in mind: Kaplan weaves them together in a natural way that give the audience an opportunity to see what they all have in common, and the different paths they took to reach the same end. The beauty of these characters is their realness, even when most of them are completely out of place.

We recently spoke with Lila Rose to ask her a few questions about Wildflower and her upcoming projects...

Helle Mardahl looking relaxed just a few days before her first NYC show opens up

 It's not often that you meet someone who says she gave up her successful career to become an artist because she was sick of working so hard for so little money. But that's how Helle Mardahl came to be an artist. In fact, she told me, "I believe in destiny and destiny told me to calm down a bit."

 I met Mardahl recently at LaViolaBank Gallery, where she was preparing for her upcoming show, The Largest Possible Audience. She was white-washing a canvas in preparation for a projection, which seemed more like a Zen exercise than work. We discussed her art and her previous career in fashion and I noticed that she certainly had the energy, passion and vigor of someone in fashion, but at the same time I also noticed an air of relaxation and even contentment about her. The satisfaction she seems to have found in developing the complex and intricate works she was putting up might have surprised her a few years ago, but her drive and determination didn't mean she had the manic furvor I've seen in so many fashion designers.

 Despite the complexity of her works, she explained her ideas and inspiration in very simple terms. People's obsession with the royal family, which inspired her last show, and people's desire for attention which inspired this show, are so simple that you don't have to be a 'tellectual to understand what she's talking about.

Dames Aflame costume designer Stephanie Ludwig (Left) and director Shannon Newton (Right)
photo by Jimiflix

Interview with Dames Director Shannon Newton Plus Photos and Video

My friend, who agreed to speak with me about burlesque on terms of anonymity, recently came back from Atlanta with stars in his eyes and a newfound passion for the South.  None of us really got it until he told us about the Dames Aflame burlesque show that he had caught during his travels:

"You know I think New York women are hot.  And New York burlesque dancers are really hot, just not, well... beauty queen hot.  The Dames Aflame dancers are beauty queen hot.  All of them.  They appeal to men in the way that strippers do.  Which is why, in New York, you go to see naked women at a strip club if you're a man.  In Atlanta, you can go to a strip club — or you can go see a Dames Aflame show."

I  was curious and so I contacted Shannon Newton, who runs the Dames Aflame Dancers in Atlanta.  In a phone interview that felt more like a backstage pass, I got her to give me the inside scoop on why even mega-corporations think that her show is a stand-out.

Interview with Burlesque Superstar Angie Pontani

Seattle residents don't miss Angie and Murry Hill with the legendary Dita von Teese, Tomorrow Night, Wednesday April 1st at 7pm at the Triple Door.

"This is Burlesque" Star Angie Pontani
Photo by Dale Haris

From the first brick laid at the saloon, women – straight, gay and miscellany – have expressed curiosity about what goes on in entertainment venues where other women get naked. But while strip clubs may host a sprinkling of adventurous female patrons, burlesque shows can claim at least half – if not a majority – of women in their audience.

It’s Saturday night and I’m seated at “This is Burlesque,” one of the hottest tickets in the New York burlesque circuit and hosted in the intimate, sensual environs of Soho’s Corio eatery. The energy is as raucous as you would expect even if the patrons are not what you imagined: immediately behind me a decked-out bachelorette party glitters like a Christmas tree, and on every side women cheer the performers on while their dates – mostly men – look on with more quiet appreciation.  On the line to the ladies’ after the show, a modestly dressed woman in her twenties confesses: “This is one of my favorite things to do on a date. It’s much more original than the dinner and a movie thing. Plus you get to see if the guy knows how to have fun.”

Ida Maria's debut album "Fortress Round My Heart" album sells in the UK with a little sticker that says, "missing link between The Strokes and Amy Winehouse." While this sort of think makes any potential fans of Ida Maria immediately ill -- especially the Winehouse reference -- Ida Maria and Amy do have one thing in common: they both wear their personal problems on their sleeves. Indeed, Ida Maria sings deeply personal songs about abusing alcohol, nicotine, caffeine and, to a lesser extent, her boyfriends. The difference is that Winehouse hates herself and everything that she touches, but Ida Maria is utterly comfortable in her own skin.

  Someone familiar with Kevin Smith's movies - Mallrats, Clerks I and II, Chasing Amy -- may tingle with déjà vu when Zach (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) do the morning zombie shuffle through their platonically shared apartment in the opening scene of Zach and Miri Make a Porno.  No matter how disheveled each appear, and no matter how strong the "we're just roommates with no fringe benefits" vibe is initially conveyed, Kevin Smith is setting us up yet again.  She may not have had her coffee yet, but Miri is obviously the "really hot girl" which no amount of sleep deprivation can undo, while Zach is, in spite of all lattes he'll drink at his barrister job later that day, the not so great looking teddy bear that the really hot girl is going to fall for. 

       Stephanie Meyers' tween-hit novel Twilight breaks every literary commandment preached on the first day of Creative Writing Workshop 101:  "Thou shalt not commit clichés."  "Thou shalt not pen in platitudes."  "Thou shalt not write saccrine romances about impossibly beautiful teen vampires and insecure mortal heroines who don't know how beautiful they are and therefore evoke greater empathy from their female fan base." And, if we were in Creative Writing Workshop 102: "Thou shalt not use impossibly beautiful teen vampires and their courtship of mortal heroines as a coy mechanism to teach tweens and teeens how to abstain from sex until marriage."  Here you may want to give Meyers a few points for subversivenessness -- after all, what is more counterintuitive than a Mormon in vampire's clothing -- but a chaste vampire hottie does take a few teeth out of the erotically saturated genre of vampire fiction -- even if it is vampire fiction PG. Or perhaps G -- Bella and Edward, our Beauty and the Deceased, only get as far as first base.  Edward may be a vampire, but he is also made in his author's own very Christian image.

Nice... ahem... bike rack reminds us of Times Square of our youth.
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Thanks to bike enthusiast David Byrne you can checkout great racks all over the city. You might remember David Byrne as an artist or perhaps as singer of the Talking Heads.

This lovely piece of art, which will be sold after it's been shown for a year, is being shown close to Times Square. This is Times Square more or less how I remember it. For those looking for a smarter rack, you can head over to the fashion district...