Thursday, March 13, 2014

Beloved Wordsmith and Living Treasure Honored...



HOWL! Festival 2014 
Names Steve Cannon
Poet Laureate 
Of the Lower East Side! 

HOWL! Arts Inc. is pleased to announce that Steve Cannon—Writer, Poet, Playwright, Teacher, and Sage— has been named 2014’s Poet Laureate of the Lower East Side (PLOTLES).  Cannon will be featured at the signature Allen Ginsberg Poetry Reading that opens the HOWL! Festival on Friday, MAY 30.   HOWL! Festival will take place in Tompkins Square Park Fri-Sun, May 30, 31 and June 1, 2014. 

Cannon’s work and life is part and parcel of the neighborhood. Founder of A Gathering of the Tribes, the iconic East Village Gallery and Performance space, Cannon has been a local legend and East Village treasure for more than twenty years.  Mentor and magnet to young poets and seasoned bards alike, his residence as salon has provided a nurturing forum for art exhibitions, poetry readings, musical events, and other activities which showcase the East Village’s cultural history, energy, and grit. For more on Steve’s remarkable life.

“Steve Cannon is the only admittedly blind gallery owner in New York City, as well as the only Paid Heckler in town,” says Dean of the Scene Bob Holman, founder/proprietor of the Bowery Poetry Club and board member of HOWL!. “When you walk into his gallery aka his living room, you know this is the secret portal to the real Art World—as open, creative, wild, and outside the establishment as it's been since the days of the Beat poets and Abstract Expressionist painters.” 

But as the neighborhood changes, artists and creative spaces are being displaced by rising rents and gentrification. “This is a call to arms,” says Holman, as Mr. Cannon is being threatened with eviction from his residence and Tribes as an incubator of visual and performing artists may be shuttered. To help out, contact Tribes Here

About Tribes
Tribes was conceived as a venue for underexposed artists, as well as a networking center and locus for the development of new talent. The formation of Tribes was motivated by the thriving artistic community in and around the Lower East Side: poetry at The Nuyorican Poets Café; performances and plays at the Living Theater; activist art at Bullet Space; as well as hundreds of artists trying to find and develop a voice in their medium and a place in which their work might be appreciated. Housed in a historic federal house built by the founder of The Nation magazine, (Hamilton Fish), Tribes is located on East 3rd Street between Avenues C and D.

About HOWL! Festival
Founded “to lionize, preserve, and advance the art, history, culture, and counterculture unique to the East Village and Lower East Side,” the HOWL! Festival is a call to arms across time and boundaries of culture, taste, and creative expression. Named the Village Voice’s Best Outdoor Festival, HOWL! Festival is the quintessential community event celebrating the history and creativity of the EV/LES. The spirit of Allen Ginsberg comes alive as more than 350 artists, poets, and performers, including youthful new talent, transform the Park into a participatory artwork infused with the creative energy, flamboyance, and panache that’s the hallmark of the neighborhood. A three-ring circus of wonderment and amusement, HOWL! Festival is entirely FREE. Signature Events include:
The Great HOWL! OUT LOUD Kids Carnival
Art Around the Park and Kids Around the Park
The group reading of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl
Riki Colon’s Men in Skirts
Chi Chi Valenti and Johnny Dynell’s Low Life 8
Soap Box Poets
The Beatification Station featuring dance and theater
And continuous performances on the Main and Kids Stages

X X X X X

For further information, high resolution images, interviews contact MartinMPR
Susan Martin / 505 685 4664 / susan@martinmpr.com 
or Norma Kelly / 818 395-1342 / norma@martimmpr.com

Friday, July 26, 2013

HOWL and Free Films In Tompkins Presents "Chico and Rita" on Thursday August 8th!


A very special tribute to the legendary Cuban pianist Bebo Valdés
, in collaboration with Spain Culture New York-Consulate General of Spain: a Member of the network Spain Arts and Culture, and Pragda and its CineArt Spain program...

CHICO and RITA


"Lushly scored and magical; the best music film in any genre in a long time!"
Michael Phillips, The Chicago Tribune





Thursday, August 8, 2013  
On the Lawn in Tompkins Square Park, NYC 
Free Admission

Gates open at 6 PM. 
Live Music By The Rebeca Vallejo Trio at 7 PM. 
Film at sundown.

Free Churros sponsored by La Churreria from Socarrat Paella Bar

Oscar®-winning director Fernando Trueba and Spain’s legendary illustrator Javier Mariscal celebrate their passion for the music and culture of Cuba with an epic story of love, passion, and heartbreak. Cuba, 1948. Chico is a young piano player with big dreams. Rita is a beautiful singer with an extraordinary voice. Music and desire unite them as they chase their dreams... and each other...  from Havana to New York to Paris, Hollywood and Las Vegas. With an original soundtrack by legendary five-time Grammy®-winning composer Bebo Valdés, one of the greatest Cuban Jazz musicians of all time who inspired the story of Chico.

Chico & Rita captures a defining moment in the evolution of history and jazz, featuring the music of Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Cole Porter, Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, and others. Recipient of multiple awards such as the Goya Award, the European Film Award, a Gaudi Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Film. 



Before the film, enjoy the sounds of the Rebeca Vallejo Trio with its Andalusian roots soaked in funk, bossa nova, soul, jazz and flamenco. Equal parts nomad and musician, Rebeca Vallejo's life has led her across several continents and infused her music with an awareness and understanding of a multitude of cultures. 

"Hailing from Spain, using her own body to incorporate percussive accents, she is an earthy grounding rod for some powerfully streaming wattage."  --Katie Bull The NYC Jazz Record. 


Churros y chocolate

Free Churros, the perfect movie-watching food,
will be offered by La Churreria
from Socarrat Paella Bar. These mouth-watering fried
 bits of sweet dough are often dipped in
or filled with chocolate or guava
or sprinkled with sugar, and nick-named the Spanish donut. 







Thursday, July 25, 2013

HOWL! & Free Films In Tompkins Presents 'THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW' ON THURSDAY AUGUST 1ST!


Free Films In Tompkins: THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW



The ultimate in audience participation films returns to the Village! Jim Sharman's 1975 musical comedy horror film didn't do very much for audiences and critics alike when it was first released... UNTIL 1976, when it was shown at midnight at the old Waverly Theater on Sixth Avenue. Twice a week, audiences began to participate in the onscreen action and dialogue, and show up dressed for the occasion...





Thursday August 1

  Gates Open At 6 PM, Film at Sundown


FREE Admission
The Lawn In Tompkins Square Park
Enter Through South-West Entrance, Avenue A and East 7th Street


Thursday August 1st: THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW... The ultimate in audience participation films returns to the Village! Jim Sharman's 1975 musical comedy horror film didn't do very much for audiences and critics alike when it was first released... UNTIL 1976, when it was shown at midnight at the old Waverly Theater on Sixth Avenue. Twice a week, audiences began to participate in the onscreen action and dialogue, and show up dressed for the occasion. In honor of this cross-dressing phenomenon and the fact that it is being shown tonight at the very same venue where WIGSTOCK got its start, HOWL Arts and Free Films in Tompkins is proud to present the Glam Rock God himself, MICHAEL T. performing his legendary rendition of "Sweet Transvestite" AND a costume contest with a $100. cash prize, sponsored by HOWL Arts. Your host for the evening is none other than that über-gothic eminence, Hattie Hathaway. Price-Waterhouse' Rikki Colon operates the absolutely famous and infallible Applause-O-Meter, and Torin Co-MC's with a vampish flair

THE GREAT ROCKY HORROR COSTUME CONTEST... $100. GRAND PRIZE... WORK THE LOOK OF YOUR FAVE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW CHARACTER...  SIGN UP AT THE HOWL HELP TABLE, JUDGING COMMENCES AT 8 PM!


 So... come dressed as Brad, Janet, Rocky, Little Nell or, best of all-- Dr. Frank N Furter-- and vie for a chance to walk away singing, with some cold, hard cash! The film stars Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Nell Campbell, and Meatloaf...PLUS before these wild antics occur, The mellifluous sounds of JASON TRACHTENBERG and THE PENDULUM SWINGS will get your heels a-tappin' to their boozy brand of Swing-time music!




Whether or not you enter the costume contest-- and believe me, one hundred smackers is nothing to sneeze at today (just as it was in 1975,) EVERYONE is encouraged to dress up in their own wildly interpretive versions of Rocky Horror cast members. Be as creative as you dare. You could walk home a winner!


The late Tim Curry: "So why don't you stay for the night? Or maybe a bite?"