Geek-rock stars liven it up
The Decemberists
Untitled Document
Terminal 5; November 1-2; 7:30 p.m.; $30; Album review; Tickets
For the kind of moony, literary geeks that these guys and a gal are, they sure do put on a classically adrenalizing rock show—and did before their last album, The Crane Wife, loosened up their baroque indie-pop sound, transforming it into a slow-burn, jam-ready take on (baroque) seventies-style arena rock. Now they’re the kind of band that we’re gonna say you have to see live, which means buying tickets now for one (or both) of the shows that will blow you away come November.
Do the gangsta slide!
“G-Slide/Tour Bus” For months we’ve had Lil Mama’s “Lip Gloss” as our ringtone, and no amount of sideways looks has been able to change that. But now this new track from the Brooklyn rapper born (in 1990!) Niata Kirkland has us searching for a way to hack into our phones and set the MP3 as our new alert. One part “Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round,” two parts elbow-swinging crunk, it has us gangsta-sliding across the kitchen floor in our socks. Lil Mama
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Prince Paul teams with funk master
Turn My Teeth Up! Prince Paul is hip-hop’s all-star vagabond (check Soul, De La; Diggaz, Grave; Kane, Big Daddy). And now that Handsome Boy Modeling School has been put to bed, Paul’s sojourning back home: Baby Elephant is his collaboration with boyhood idol Bernie Worrell, the keyboardist for Parliament and Funkadelic. Featuring guest turns from David Byrne and George Clinton, this disc is an eclectic, breezy, and deeply funky patchwork of sounds. Baby Elephant Godforsaken Music
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Comics give meta-readings
Celebrity Autobiographies For this “Best of” edition of the stand-up show that lampoons entertainment luminaries with verbatim readings from their memoirs, Jackie Hoffman, Seth Rudetsky, and Richard Kind will read (and ridicule) the immortal words of Ivana Trump, Star Jones, and Vanna White. Pentimento, this is not. But who wants Lillian Hellman’s insights when you can get something like this from Tommy Lee: Pineapple juice will make your cum sweet, and your girl will definitely love you for that. Zipper Factory 7:30 p.m
$35–$100
Tickets »
LES attracts ambitious installation
A Psychic Vacuum Creative Time is getting a foothold downtown—amid new galleries, a landmark museum, and Chelsea transplants—by bringing Brit Mike Nelson Stateside for his first major New York installation. The 2001 Turner Prize nominee has transformed the Essex Street Market: Using its derelict interior as his three-dimensional canvas, Nelson loads up on the literary, cultural, and historical references, and integrates elements from the building’s past lives as a tattoo parlor, Chinese restaurant, and psychic’s storefront. Mike Nelson
Creative Time
Essex Street Market
Through October 28
More info »
Take the older ones to a puppet show
Dogugaeshi We predict that tickets will start flying once word gets out about this hypnotic abstraction by puppet-artist extraordinaire Basil Twist, whose underwater Symphonie Fantastique was New York’s first puppetry hit. Based on an old Japanese tradition, the 60-minute show is a morphing animation of 100 painted screens coupled with music from a slowly spinning Shamisen player on a revolving platform. Dogugaeshi’s not for the young or restless; bring arty kids in the double digits. Basil Twist
Japan Society
September 12–22
$38
Tickets »
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