Since the advent of VHS, discerning moviegoers have known that “made for television” and “direct to video” were kisses of death – signals the movie they were about to see, God help them, was the lowliest junk. Nascent cable channels and the dustiest recesses of Blockbuster were where the schlockiest horror, hardest soft-core, and cheapest action flicks were dumped by […]
Arts
Stagg party
Review of Sleeveless: Fashion, Image, Media, New York 2011-2019 by Natasha Stagg In another era, the worst thing you could be accused of was selling out. But for a younger generation, it’s become the objective: the new version of the American dream. No matter how old you are, the corporatization of our culture makes it common to talk about things […]
Four authors and an actor to gather in a 1920s Brooklyn ballroom to honor late writer Stephen Dixon
The late novelist and short story writer Stephen Dixon will be honored by authors and an actor at “Celebrating Stephen Dixon,” a literary event hosted by Murmrr in the Union Temple of Brooklyn, near Grand Army Plaza, on Thursday, February 27,, 2020 at 7:30 PM. Dixon, a Manhattan native, died this past November at the age of 83. Describing himself […]
‘Shahidul Alam: Truth to Power’ at the Rubin Museum
Among the most powerful recent exhibitions I’ve visited in the city, Shahidul Alam: Truth to Power at the Rubin Museum on West 17th Street chronicles the four-decade career of the prolific Bangladeshi photographer, writer, and activist Shahidul Alam. The first major U.S. museum retrospective of his work, the exhibition features both film and digital photography, Alam’s writing, contact sheets, and […]
Quinn on Books: ‘Horror Stories’ by Liz Phair
Horror Stories, the memoir by recording artist Liz Phair, is not a bad book, but it’s an odd one with which to have made her debut as a writer, and it’s certainly not the one fans of her music will wish she’d have written. Despite Phair’s assertion that it’s her “effort to slow everything down and take a look at […]
10 celebrities’ wigs that will be forever iconic
Wigs often become the scene-stealer when musicians, actors and actresses make a fashionable statement with colorful, avant-garde hairpieces. In no particular order, we’ve rounded up some of the best wigs worn by celebrities since the late 1960s. Diana Ross: This is Wig Bar founder Isaac Davidson’s favorite celebrity wig. Ross wore this while singing “I’m Gonna Wash That Man […]
A possible New York textile industry for the future
Robert Manning used to be a manufacturer in Sunset Park, and he’d like to be one again. As neighborhood groups fight to preserve and renew Brooklyn’s working waterfront amid a possible rezoning of Industry City, the New York City native hopes to make a case for his own longstanding proposal to create a textile manufacturing hub with the help of […]
PS 15 hosts youth theater
Off the Hook, a Falconworks program at Red Hook’s PS 15, continues to create original youth theater for 11-to-14-year-olds. The latest performances took place in November. There were 15 participants and three different plays (acts). The playwrights, who also act, all live in Red Hook. The authors were Ilse Menke (The Tea), Leryri Crus-Ramirez (The News) and Abigail Romero-Montero (Intoxicated). […]
Dustin Yellin’s big table, by John Buchanan
The following is an interview with artist Dustin Yellin, founder of Pioneer Works. RHSR: What’s the genesis of your work? Yellin: The works in this building are of the three hands: the Descriptive, the Prescriptive, and the Impossible. The Descriptive being how do you use different mediums to tell stories, narrative stories, and that’s what you see happening in the […]
Ditmas Park artist extraordinaire
Juan Carlos Pinto is our artist. Originally from Guatemala, Pinto has made Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, his home for the past ten years. Pinto and I met at Vox Pop in Ditmas Park. Now closed, Vox Pop was an artist cafe-bar. A place where people gathered to create. Unlike other gentrified parts of NYC, Vox Pop was a home to Brooklyn […]
Andro Wekua at Gladstone Gallery
Andro Wekua November 1 – December 21, 2019 515 West 24th Street, New York On the same block of Chelsea where I once spent a fantastic summer as an unpaid gallery intern is the W. 24th Street location of the infamous Gladstone Gallery. The gallery boasts a stunning roster of artists, from Robert Mapplethorpe to Amy Sillman. This month, I […]
‘Ras Kitchen,’ Ital cookin’, reggae music, and Jamaican culture
Like most people, my introduction to Jamaican music started with Bob Marley, whose aptly titled hits collection Legend set my standard for all other reggae music. Soon after I discovered Peter Tosh, Toots and The Maytals, Black Uhuru, and more. A family trip to Jamaica in the spring of ‘87 exposed me to the dancehall styles of Admiral Bailey and […]
A beautiful night celebrating Prince, by Kurt Gottschalk
For an artist of such enormous popularity for such a long period of time, Prince was never one to fall in line with expectations. He played sexuality and spirituality side by side, willfully crossed perceived lines of race, gender and musical genre and insisted on musical autonomy where most artists in his league happily cash the corporate checks. So an […]
