Westfield World Trade Center has partnered with Sing for Hope to display a piano in the Oculus, painted by local artist Lance Johnson. The uniquely colorful piano, titled “Evolve” will be available for anyone and everyone to play, listen, interact with, and enjoy, from March 17 to March 27. At the conclusion of the piano’s public residency, it will be moved to a permanent home in a New York City school or community-based organization, where it will inspire lives for years to come.
In addition to the piano being open for the public to play, there will also be free and professional musical performances over the two weekends of its residency. Piano Soloist, Amir Farid, winner of the 2006 Australian National Piano Award, performs on March 19 and 26 from noon to 2:00 pm. The Sing for Hope Quintet will present performances of piano, violin, viola, and cello on March 20 and 27 from noon to 2:00 pm.
Local artist Lance Johnson poses with piano he painted, Evolve, as part of a project with Sing for Hope. Photo: Sing for Hope
The Sing for Hope Pianos program began in New York City in 2010. Today, it is one of the world’s largest annually recurring public arts programs, with more than 570 one-of-a-kind piano artworks in public spaces spanning from The Bronx to Beirut, and from Aspen to Athens. In addition to Westfield World Trade Center, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) will display pianos at Westfield UTC in San Diego, as well as Westfield Topanga and Westfield Century City in Los Angeles.
“New York City is one of our world’s most inspiring, resilient cities, and we’re thrilled to work with URW to share hope and healing through these beautiful community instruments,” said Monica Yunus, Sing for Hope Co-Founder. Continued Sing for Hope Co-Founder Camille Zamora, “Music and art bring people together, and as the world continues to emerge from the pandemic, the Sing for Hope Pianos continue to spread vital moments of joy, connection, and arts for all.” “We are so excited to host Sing for Hope at Westfield World Trade Center,” said Diana Grasso, Vice President, URW. “As we continue welcoming commuters, office workers, and local residents back to the Oculus, the power and joy of live music will further enhance our guests experience as they visit, shop, and dine with us.”
There is a tour de force coming straight out of Bed-Stuy, usually seen with some giant french fries dangling from her ears.
Her name is Miss Eaves. You may have read about her in the New York Times, Jezebel, or Glamour…or perhaps one of your friends sent you a link to her 2017 viral video Thunder Thighs, a balls-out anthem to body positivity that captivated over two million people.
Miss Eaves is a vivid onstage treasure. There is nothing precious about her performances. In a society hell-bent on silence and censorship in the name of propriety, Miss Eaves lets it all hang out in a stream of unfettered truths.
Her shows are a potent mix of John Waters, Amy Sedaris, and Missy Elliott. She is shocking, blunt, and funny as hell. She also isn’t shy on stage, playfully confronting her audience, calling out bad behavior and celebrating the good stuff of being human.
Despite her comical joie de vivre delivery, Miss Eaves still wields the power to shock…and she has a lot to discuss. Ghosters, manchildren, masturbation and the absurdity of self-hatred are all fair game for this modern-day Puck. From Fuccboi Salute, an anthem for the Tinder Generation, to Thunder Thighs, a bop about being comfortable in your skin, her raps resonate with anyone striking out with romance and true connection.
Miss Eaves recently dropped a new EP, called sad, written during the throes of Seasonal Affective Disorder. Since the album release, Miss Eaves spent this summer globetrotting all over Europe, Canada, and the US. Her April show at the Bowery Electric in NYC was a mix of uproarious laughter and, with the merry announcement of Bush For The Push, a song about pubic hair grooming…the shifty discomfort of your grade 4 sex-ed class.
“Don’t tell me I’m too hairy to eat
‘Cause I’m all natural: Bon Appetit!
In addition to her eight-year career as a feminist rapper, Miss Eaves’ alter-ego, Shanthony Exum, is an accomplished multimedia artist. She is also proudly DIY, self-funding her projects and occasionally collaborating with other talented artists and designers. She is particularly supportive of small businesses, particularly those that are queer-owned.
Miss Eaves recently released a video for Left Swipe Left, describing the depressing nature of Tinder dating. It will undoubtedly have you chanting along during your next attempt at online love….but “it’s ok, tho’.”
Eaves recently took her creative design sense to the streets with a clever guerrilla marketing campaign. Xeroxed street flyers of Eaves trapped in a cardboard Tinder world with the frantic heading “DATE ME! PLEAAAASE!” appeared in Manhattan and Brooklyn, complete with pull-off tabs linking to the video. Eaves hung them herself, documenting the results on her Facebook feed.
sad is now available on all streaming platforms. Get that plate of cheese and chocolate out and play this jam loud. You’re gonna be fine and she’ll tell you why.
Do you need a romantic dinner getaway but only have one evening? Get ready, because “Le Dîner en Blanc” is coming back to NYC. The French-inspired pop-up picnic presents unforgettable dinners in mystery locations. Guests dress up and gather for live music and dancing at an outdoor venue revealed at the very last minute. All you need–besides yourselves, your picnic basket, and your silverware–is an invitation. Of course, that’s easier said than done. Le Dîner en Blanc, despite its massive scope, is equally exclusive and elusive. If you’re just hearing about it now, you don’t have much time to act if you want to experience the picnic of a lifetime.
Hundreds of guests gather at one of Le Dîner en Blanc NYC’s pop-up locations in 2017.
Le Dîner en Blanc was founded in 1988 by François Pasquier. What started as a word-of-mouth tradition amongst friends has risen to global proportions–this year’s event aims to feed more than 130,000 people across 80 cities in 30 countries. New York City’s event alone will have 5,500 guests. Dîner en Blanc International was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada. It didn’t hit the US until 2011, when the first Dîner en Blanc opened in NYC.
Registration is always for two, and goes out in three phases: the first phase is for attendees of the previous year, the second is new members referred by phase one members, and the third is for people who signed up on a waiting list. Phase One has already begun, so find your closest Phase One member before it’s too late. Hit up your closest celebrity friend, or that woman at work who always talks about the coolest parties. If all else fails, hop on that wait list ASAP.
Let’s say you find your Phase One friend, or you get picked off of the waitlist. Congratulations! You and your plus one are on your way to a night out or romantic dinner. Now you need the outfit. The dress code calls for all-white clothes and elegance, but leaves the rest to the imagination. Creativity is encouraged. A white three-piece suit and top hat? Queen Victoria’s wedding gown set in an all-white punk aesthetic? Let your imagination soar, as long as it stays elegant and tasteful. Just make sure it’s something you can walk in.
NYC attendees pose in their Dîner en Blanc outfits.
Next comes supplies. You’ll need a folding table, two white chairs, and a white tablecloth. You’ll need a picnic basket filled with fine food, proper stemware, and white dinnerware. Catered picnic basket options will be available to those who reserve them upon registration, but many guests prepare their own individualized gourmet meals. Don’t forget a garbage bag (also white).
Le Dîner en Blanc guests set up their own romantic dinner settings.
So there you have it. Your chance to take part in a worldwide, top-secret picnic with you, a person of your choice, and 130,000 of your closest friends from around the world. Move quickly though, that waitlist had 64,000 people on it last year.
Artwork created by Pierre Fraiture, and Nikolai Fraiture of The Strokes, to benefit Luv Michael Foundation for Autism.
On April 3, Downtown Magazine attended a live art performance by Nikolai Fraiture of The Strokes, and his brother Pierre, a New York City artist. It was a captivating evening.
Jimmy Webb, Dara McQuillen, and David Godlis.
The cool downtown crowd included leather jackets and cool vibes, and Downtown Magazine friends like Jimmy Webb and David Godlis. That made it a thrilling evening all around.
The evening was the kick off for World Autism Awareness Month benefitting Luv Michael, a non-profit organization that trains, educates and employees individuals with autism. Pierre created a painting with the help of his brother, Nik, on the guitar, as well as performance artists who moved with the music.
Q&A with Nikolai Fraiture and Pierre Fraiture
DTM Are you still playing with the band The Strokes, and are you touring?
Nikolai, Yes, and yes The Strokes will be touring this summer.
DTM: It’s interesting, you are a musician with the band, The Strokes, and you are an artist. How did this performance come about and how did you get invoiced in raising awareness about autism?
Pierre, I have a very good relationship with the founders of the Luv Michael, and they gave us an opportunity this past summer to create a show benefitting individuals who have autism. Luv Michael’s mission is to train individuals with autism, and help them enter the work force. So we came up with this idea. We were in the countryside actually in a place called Pine Valley which is our family place in Connecticut. My brother starting playing music and I started painting, and it just jelled, we looked at each other and said do you feel what I feel? Nikolai said yes, all of a sudden a week later the foundation was building a kitchen in Tribeca for their foundation space, I created a painting and it sold for $11,000, and we used this money to help benefit the charity.
Nikolai: it was under construction at the time we kind of used all the elements, the contractor, railings into our show making it site-specific performance we used whatever we could. Just like for tonight’s performance we used the backdrop which is amazing, the memorial, the Oculus, all of this has a lot of meaning for us especially being from New York. It means a lot for us.
DTM Is this something you are going to continue to so for other charities or for Luv Michael?
Nik: It’s going pretty well right now, we have a good relationship and down the road we are not sure – we will do it again but wherever we are performing it’s part of the foundation we partner with, it’s part of the whole package.
Pierre: We are doing 12 different shows in 12 different cities, and this is the launch of that – we have much more planned around the world, we have people interested around the world.
DTM: And each different show you are going to use the elements and create from that?
Nikolai: Yes, every city and every show had a theme, this one was Awakening.
DTM Do you create the themes?
Nikolai: Yes, the next one will be Prophecy, in whatever city or for whatever foundation we partner with, we will find a gallery or space which we preform in, this is where the creative comes in.
Pierre: What’s great is that we’re brothers and we have been dreaming of doing something like this, these are ideas and thoughts we grew up sharing.
Nikolai: It’s been germinating for a long time.
DTM: Have you always been an artist and musician, were you always into art and music?
Nikolai: Yes, he was always into art and I was always into music and literature.
Pierre: We’re French and American so we grew up with wall to wall French books. So at 8 years old, we were picking up Camus, our parents read a lot so we have all of these philosophical ideas we want to share with others.
DTM Nik, you helped paint this artwork with your guitar. Did you plan that?
Nikolai: No, not really. It was spur of the moment. The last painting also benefited Luv Michael and it sold for 11k. But this painting from tonight is very special, as I helped to paint with my Fender guitar. We have a basic structure of what we were going to do, but I did not know that I would sit down in the audience in an empty seat while playing the guitar, many other things that were not really planned. That’s what we are really excited about, we work with other people and they incorporate their own personality into the performance.
Pierre: We also had the best cast, tonight we had Kim Tehan,Bethany Hughes,Laure Gourlant, and Fatou Sidibe.
Nikolai: We wanted it to recall the days of the 60s happenings. For us, this is what’s really exciting, the spontaneousness of this. For me, especially this is exciting. In my band The Strokes, we play a lot of 3-minute pop music whereas this type of art is really freeform, it’s very exciting and new. I’m excited to do more.
DTM: Where are you from?
Nikolai: We grew up in New York City, on the Upper East Side.
DTM: Do you live in NYC now?
Nikolai: Yes, I live in the West Village.
Pierre: I live on the Upper East Side.
DTM: What do think of this area, and the growth and changes downtown since after 9/11?
Nikolai: I mean personally, think it’s amazing, just to see the regeneration. That’s kinda the reason we were really excited about this site, specifically for this project, it’s a different place it feels completely different. It’s great that Rob Marcucci is down here. In a crazy twist of fate, he worked at a video store with us, our local video store on 84th and York. [Rob Marcucci, a childhood friend of Nik and Pierre, works for Silverstein Properties.]
Pierre: We all delivered videos together.
DTM: Rob, what was it like working with Nikolai and Pierre again?
Robert Marcucci: It was so refreshing. They are such good souls, and the kind of friends one hopes to have. So naturally, we were all on the same page with this project. Very good energy. It was a real highlight for me.
DTM: What do you think of their new live performance art?
RM: I purposely shielded myself from what the final performance would be. Of course I knew of the basic outline, but I wanted to be surprised. It was way different from what I expected. Nick’s music and sound design was experimental, much to my pleasure – and very well conceived for the performance. Pierre had a very interesting take on stage, almost like in a somnambulistic state, yet present. His art slowly formed in the same fashion. It was intriguing to follow. The same went for the accompanying performers. Very dreamlike. At first I was unsure of the individual parts of the piece, but they all seemed to blend, ultimately, forming a warm and sincere feeling.
Nikolai, that’s what’s so great about the energy in this building, there was beautiful energy in that video store many years ago, and now here. I think what Rob has done down here is great. I saw a show that he did here a few years ago, I told Rob when the timing is right, we must do something. I’ve never in my life seen a show like the one Rob put on down here a few years back, it was great.
DTM: Why is this area important to you?
Pierre: well, my brother’s band The Strokes broke on September 11, 2001.
Nikolai: The Strokes vinyl album came out on September 11, 2001. The message for the show tonight was Wake Up, it ties right into having an awareness to what’s important.
Pierre: And also, I think, the guitar… I’m just still trying to process this show tonight, it was great.
DTM: Last word for our readers?
Nikolai: We are going to be doing more of these types of performances it’s going to be international we are hoping to get into galleries, yeah, we are really excited about galleries.
Pierre: You know I’ve been doing art since I was a kid, this it’s kind of a step in for me. I’m planning to officially launch myself in the Fall so I’m looking for all opportunities.
Nikolai Fraiture of The Strokes and Pierre Fraiture.
The acclaimed Silent Films / Live Music series, curated by WNYC’s John Schaefer, returns to the Winter Garden at Brookfield Place (BFPL) for three nights from Wednesday, January 30 through Friday, February 1 starting at 7:30 p.m. The winter film series includes three unforgettable evenings filled with classic silent film screenings accompanied by live music. Presented by Arts Brookfield, these performances will bring new life to films with scores performed under the glass atrium at BFPL, the shopping, dining and cultural destination along the Hudson River in Lower Manhattan.
The series will kick off with renowned American guitarist and composer Marc Ribot’s sound accompaniment to 1920s classic, ‘The Kid.’ Next on the roster is the U.S. premiere of Nosferatu by Irish composers Irene Buckley and Linda Buckley. Alloy Orchestra concludes the series by bringing the the world’s first gangster film, Underworld, to life with a new score. Popcorn will be given away starting at 5:30 p.m. and will be available while supplies last.
FILM SCHEDULE:
January 30: The Kid (1921) with Marc Ribot – “The Kid” is an American silent comedy-drama film written by, produced by and starring Charlie Chaplin, and features Jackie Coogan as his adopted son and sidekick.
January 31: Nosferatu (1922) with Irene and Linda Buckley – Irish composers, sisters Irene and Linda Buckley present a reimagined score to the gothic classic Nosferatu for organ, electronics, viola and cello.
February 1: Underworld (1927) with Alloy Orchestra – “Underworld” was the film that launched Josef von Sternberg’s very successful career. A favorite of audiences and critics alike, Underworld is credited as the first gangster film, and the model for the popular genre.
“Arts Brookfield is excited to present a timeless collection of films by award-winning directors to Lower Manhattan, ” said Elysa Marden, Vice President, Arts Brookfield. “We are delighted to provide a space for visitors to enjoy music and film in an inspired environment.”
Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment is partnering with The Bowery Presents — AEG Presents’ regional partner — to acquire the operating rights and assets to Webster Hall, the legendary music and entertainment venue located in Manhattan’s East Village. The parties will assume the long-term lease to the building, which will continue to be owned by current owner, Unity Gallega.
“We are excited to build on the iconic history of Webster Hall,” said Brett Yormark, CEO of Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment. “Webster Hall provides us with an extraordinary opportunity to connect with artists early in their careers and expands BSE’s venue footprint into Manhattan. We appreciate all that the Ballinger family has done to make Webster Hall an industry leading venue and we are looking forward to working with them, The Bowery Presents and AEG Presents to make it an even greater destination for live music.”
“Partnering with The Bowery Presents and Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment to program and operate this iconic live facility will continue to enhance Webster Hall’s worldwide reputation as one of the industry’s most important venues,” said Jay Marciano, Chairman and CEO, AEG Presents.
Webster Hall has undergone several waves of transformation throughout the past century. In the 1920’s, Webster Hall notoriously held masquerade balls and was nicknamed “the Devil’s Playhouse.” RCA Records purchased Webster Hall in 1954 and renovated the venue to include a state-of-the-art acoustically-treated ballroom. Notable artists who recorded in Webster Hall’s studio during this time included Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan (his recording debut), Harry Belafonte, Tony Bennett, and Julie Andrews.
Beginning in the 1980’s, Webster Hall reemerged as a leading rock venue in the City, hosting artists such as Eric Clapton with Keith Richards, U2 (the band’s first-ever U.S. show), Tina Turner, The Beastie Boys, Prince, Sting, Metallica, Aerosmith, KISS, B.B. King and Guns N’ Roses. The Ballinger family began running the venue in 1989.
