TimesTalks 2010
The TimesCenter – NYC
1/7 – 1/10/09

The 2010 New York Times Arts & Leisure Weekend will take place January 7 to 10.  The Times’s signature event is a four-day celebration of the arts featuring TimesTalks interviews between New York Times journalists and celebrated guests from film, media, music, television and theater.

This year’s guests include: the star of the new film “Crazy Heart,” Jeff Bridges interviewed by Lynn Hirschberg; the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash →

Exclusive Evil Monito Mix courtesy of Anthony Valadez

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KCRW Radio DJ Anthony Valadez has graciously offered Evil Monito an exclusive mix, showcasing the likes of folk romantics Beirut, fellow vinyl connoisseur Carlos Nino and pop sensation Michael Jackson, plus many more. Feel the love and dance, mellow out, nerd out or just vibe out to the rich, soulful, melodic and funky beats that Anthony has curated especially for Evil Monito listeners. For thirty-minutes, take a glimpse into Anthony ’s musical vault where artists bring a bit of something old and new to the forefront. →

Kandinsky in Performance
Guggenheim Museum – New York
9/17 – 9/25
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Works & Process, the performing arts program at the Guggenheim, celebrates its 25th anniversary along with the 50th Anniversary of the Guggenheim Museum in two newly commissioned works, offered in conjunction with the full-scale retrospective Kandinsky presented at the Guggenheim from September 18, 2009 to January 13, 2010. →

A reason regularly cited by non-theater people for not going to dramatic productions is that without knowing which are good and which are questionable, it can be a most expensive crapshoot. One answer is the Echo Theater Company’s free public reading series. Here’s an opportunity to see if this is a play you’d want to catch if finally produced and if you don’t like it, you aren’t out anything either. →

Photo courtesy of Jeff Croft, licensed under Creative Commons

39th Annual Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival
Seattle Center – Seattle, WA
9/5/09 – 9/7/09
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Seattle’s Bumbershoot Festival presents a truly comprehensive arts festival that includes performances and events in music, comedy, literature, visual arts, dance, theater and cinema. Across three days and 74 acres, the festival is located beneath the city’s iconic Space Needle. More event information and full music lineup after the jump… →

Photos courtesy of archdaily, licensed under Creative Commons

Italian skate/snowboarding collective Comvert has just introduced a flagship store/office for its Bastard brand in Milan, and it’s set our beloved Internet on fire!  Kanye West and a host of others have already covered it, and why not?  It’s an irresistible blend of skateboarding, architecture and childish fantasy that exemplifies modern-day urban architecture and skating. →

This past September, after twenty some odd years, the legendary comedy team of Cheech and Chong reunited to “Light Up America” with a yearlong tour.  For many of us they have existed only on worn out VHS tapes, figures of a bygone time when everyone seemed more comfortable with the fact that everybody else was high.  Definitive proof that our parent’s generation enjoyed the pleasures of herbs just as much as we do.  Finally putting their egos and money squabbling aside, it was time for the next round of burnouts to get a glimpse of the original form of stoner comedy.  →

When my friend Simon told me he had managed to secure tickets to the pre-release screening of the Watchmen I was excited, the event was run by “the secret cinema”. The poster for the event humbly stated that it had “film, music, performance and design fusing to create an immersive experience” in the SE1 club underneath London Bridge. I wasn’t really interested in that, I was just happy to see the film two days before general release. →

My friend teaches English in Vietnam and traveled extensively in Southeast Asia. During her trip to Myanmar (then Burma), she turned me on to this political tale of heartbreaking proportions.  Four world-wearied Burmese men who called themselves the Moustache Brothers were released from prison after eleven grueling years.  Although its been over a year since that release, the memory of their arbitrary treatment lives on in the collective memory of the Burmese citizens as they continue to deal with a totalitarian regime.

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Brooklyn-based choreographer Miguel Gutierrez combines contemporary dance and performance art to create novel, irreverent experiences for his audiences. His productions are not exactly carefully choreographed dance pieces as they are improvisational “happenings.” His unique vision has earned him critical acclaim →