Howl! Festival Blog- East Village Howler

Rosie's Theater Kids present Original Musical about Social Justice

2011-10-02T17:12:00.000-04:00

Come live the story of the "Student's on Strike !"
On Saturday Oct 15, Oct 22, and Oct 29 Rosie's Theater Kids present an original musical about Social Justice !

The story of Moton High School whose students walked out of their school and into history... To protest the overcrowded and inferior facilities at their Virginia school, 16-year-old Barbara Johns organized and led a two-week strike, during which students refused to attend classes. The students called upon lawyers from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) , to help them in their struggle for equal educational opportunities. Their case landed in the Supreme Court as part of Brown v. Board of Education, which declared segregation in public education unconstitutional... Rosie’s Theater Kids (RTKids) began in 2003 and has since touched over 60,000 New York students with their free arts-in-education programs. They serve the East Village and Lower East Side communities in classrooms at PS 19, PS 64, PS 34, PS 20, PS 142, PS 130, PS 110, & PS 15.

Advance Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/199364

More Information: http://www.rosiestheaterkids.org

Sat October 15, 22, 29
1 PM - 3 PM $10.00

Full Calendar of Events: http://www.howlfestival.com/festival/calendar/

In Memory Of Claire O'Connor

2011-08-26T04:47:00.004-04:00

Last month, I and the other board members of HOWL! Arts Inc. were stunned to learn that we had lost a friend, a colleague, a co-conspirator. We, the members of HOWL! Arts Inc. are the folks who bring you NYC's HOWL! Festival each year, outdoors in Tompkins Square Park. We've also established HOWL! H.E.L.P. an emergency medical and financial aid program administered by The Actors Fund for the EV/LES's un- & under-insured artists and performers.. whose numbers are legion.

Claire was a born-and-bred New York City girl with working-class roots, which made her exceptional even before you realized that, not only could she string two words or more together, and do it well, but she was championing the very same things that we were at about the very same time: original and thought- provoking performance, music and art. Most of it occurring after dark. In nightclubs, both big and small.

Claire got her start, so to speak, when she was hired as the publicist for that first famous, but then later infamous nightclub-in-an-old-church, Limelight. Since a publicist's job description is, by its very nature, both vague, vulgar and varied (one club owner simply told his new PR employee, "Just get the people here!") Claire wound up doing much more at the Limelight than getting the perennially reluctant press to write about that fledgling nightspot. She booked bands, threw parties, held events and created concepts. She did it until the Limelight was a place to "see and be seen," and a virtual "celebrity magnet." And this was all, indeed, many years before copious amounts of liquor and tax-free cash, the absence of even the flimsiest of moral compasses and a never-ending supply of the new, so-called designer drugs, combined to turn a clever but clueless Fordham University freshman named Michael Alig into the lunchbox-toting, clown-faced Party Monster now doing time for manslaughter at the correctional facility in Dannemora, New York.

Throughout this period as she was changing Peter Gatien from a Mongol into a Mogul, I had only a passing acquaintance with Claire. We were each busy in our own worlds: Claire at the Limelight and I at my own venue-- the Pyramid Club. It was only later, much later, when we had each been nominated to the HOWL! Board Of Directors and accepted, that we became friends. And much of that friendship developed over the telephone. Claire could always be found awake, up and working, and actually willing to pick up the phone at 2 or 3 or 4 AM. And I, after years on the New York nightlife graveyard shift, even though I no longer worked in the clubs, was always wide-awake post-midnight and at the computer banging out a press release... or a script.

"Claire, they are making me crazy... driving me nuts, the lot of 'em!" I complained. "Because N... (a certain play's director) sent me a complete cast-and-crew list from his play with over 50 names, more than half of them incorrectly spelled... I'd cut-and-pasted them into the release that I wrote for this piece of theatrical merde, because, well, N. had insisted on it. And now each of these ham actors is calling me and whining. Or emailing me and bitching about how unprofessional I am... And now even the poets are starting in about their names being misspelled..." After a few minutes of commiserating, we said goodnight and hung up. 15 minutes later, the phone rang. It was Claire again. "Hattie, check the blog," she said, as she replaced the receiver.

In 15 minutes she had dashed this off...

There Just Aren't Enough Letters In the Alphabet To Describe Howl! Festival's Esteemed Guest Poets

No two poets are alike, but we know three poets who have all, very recently, suffered comparable misfortune. Susan Scutti, Amy Ouzoonian and Thomas Fucaloro had their names misspelled on various Howl! Festival press materials and even on this blog. No doubt each of them will interpret the adversity with great individuality. Hopefully, they will exploit the incident creatively and for all to enjoy, rather than internalize the pain and bear it alone, wordlessly.

Susan Scutti, Amy Ouzoonian and Thomas Fucaloro, among others, will be appearing at the Howl! Festival’s opening night reading of the Allen Ginsberg poem, “Howl,” in Tompkins Square Park on Friday, September 10th, from 5-7PM. Below is a little background information on these three fine rhymesters, as well as photos.

Once you know what they look like and how to spell their names, it might be nice to approach them at the festival and impart some empathy regarding this flagrant inaccuracy. Remind them that this exact, same faux pas happens daily to Allen Ginsberg, long after his physical suffering has ended. Alan Ginsberg, Allan Ginsberg, Allen Ginzberg, Allen Ginsburg, Alan Ginzburg, Allan Ginsburg – it’s exasperating.

It is, however, much easier to speak the one name Allen Ginsberg than it is to pronounce the three names Susan Scutti, Amy Ouzoonian and Thomas Fucaloro.

Claire, all of us at HOWL! Arts will miss you.

Brian Butterick (AKA Hattie Hathaway)

The 2011 Howl! Festival in Tompkins Square Park was a grand success!

2011-07-13T14:33:00.001-04:00

Hosting an estimated 100,000 visitors, under mostly blue skies, and featuring an incredible children's section called The Howl! Out Loud Kid's Carnival.

Over 95 artists performed over the course of the Howl! weekend.

This year's stunning debut (with rave reviews from young and old alike) was The Hot Howl! Disco Tea Dance curated by DJ Johnny Dynell and Nathaniel Siegel.

The Children's Carnival included story-telling and performances by Rosie's Theater Kids among many others.

In addition, Howl! 2011 hosted perhaps the most diverse and interesting Art Around The Park we've ever had! 200 artists participated in the creation of beautiful works of art on 1100 square feet of canvas.

Misstress Formika at HOWL! 2011

Coming October 2011, a month-long cavalcade of theater, performance, music, spoken-word, dance, and film at Theatre 80-St. Marks all to benefit HOWL! HELP, an emergency medical and housing safety net for local artists in crisis.

HOWL! FESTIVAL 2011 AND THE JACKIE FACTORY PRESENT LOW LIFE 5: FLAMING QUEENS

2011-05-15T12:41:00.000-04:00

HOWL! FESTIVAL AND THE JACKIE FACTORY PRESENT
LOW LIFE 5: FLAMING QUEENS
SUNDAY JUNE 5, 2011
5-7 PM - WE START AND END ON TIME!
FREE ADMISSION
TOMPKINS SQUARE PARK, NYC
mothernyc.com/lowlife
howlfestival.com

On June 5, 2011, JACKIE FACTORY producers CHI CHI VALENTI and JOHNNY DYNELL will present their fifth annual LOW LIFE to crown the 2011 HOWL! FESTIVAL. LOW LIFE is the free and fabulous Sunday evening climax to HOWL! - a two hour spectacular inspired by East Village decades past. Each year's theme is served up in a lavishly costumed production starring dozens of downtown's finest. This year's LOW LIFE 5: FLAMING QUEENS celebrates the East Village (and its pivotal nightclubs and boites) as the birthplace of brilliant Gay, Trans and Lesbian performers and performance genres for over a century. LOW LIFE 5: FLAMING QUEENS pays homage to movements and moments including the mid-century 82 CLUB and its lavish shows, the protest performance art of ACT UP and GRAN FURY, Tompkins Square's own WIGSTOCK and the notorious 19th century Bleecker Street Tranny Bar THE SLIDE.

This hour and a half show features multiple dance companies, vocal and musical performances, burlesque and drag renderings and of course - brilliant lip synch! The bill (still in formation) includes showstopping trans songstress SADE PENDAVIS (Paris is Burning), HOWL! resident butoh company VANGELINE THEATER, Low Life chorines the PIXIE HARLOTS (costumed by MACHINE DAZZLE), former MISS BOYBAR HRH PRINCESS DIANDRA, Neue dance/performance ensemble the RACHEL KLEIN THEATER and the Low Life debut of Bowery Boylesque star Go-GO HARDER. LOW LIFE MC PAUL ALEXANDER (of THE ONES and JACKIE 60) will join SADE PENDAVIS and voguers from the HOUSE OF XTRAVAGANZA to debut the new 21 century Voguing Anthem BRING IT! from new Jackie Factory music label ENDLESS NIGHT MUSIC.

LOW LIFE events were inspired by the seminal LUC SANTE book "LOW LIFE: The Lures and Snares of Old New York" and are produced by local performance collective THE JACKIE FACTORY NYC. The annual LOW LIFE extravaganzas at HOWL! continue a body of work born at the seminal Meat Market nightclub JACKIE 60 in 1997, with past editions in London, Minneapolis and of course, the HOWL! FESTIVAL since 2007. For the show's producers, East Village residents for over two decades, this annual spectacular is a Valentine to the neighborhood's past, present and future stars.

THE HOWL! FESTIVAL, the East Village festival of the arts, was named in honor of the groundbreaking poem by ALLEN GINSBERG and began in 2002. This year HOWL ARTS, INC brings the 8th annual HOWL! to Tompkins Square Park from June 3-5 - moved from its former September dates to a new June weekend. This "exceptional, existential and uplifting weekend of cutting edge art, fantasy and fun" arrives just in time to celebrate Allen Ginsberg's 85th birthday on June 3. That evening, the stage opens at 5pm with the festival's traditional reading of Ginsberg's famed poem HOWL, his impassioned words delivered by his friends and contemporaries led by BOB HOLMAN and including Beat poets JOHN GIORNO, HETTIE JONES, ED SANDERS and BOB ROSENTHAL. This weekend of poetry, performance art, music and dance will once again feature ART AROUND THE PARK, a two day exhibit of EV/LES artists exhibiting their work as they create it; main stage performances of HIP HOP HOWL!, HOUSE OF HOWL and LOW LIFE and this year's brand new children's attraction, the Great HOWL! OUT LOUD Carnival for kids of all ages. Please visit HOWLFESTIVAL.COM for details on all of the weekend's exciting programming.

THE JACKIE FACTORY is the NYC based nightclub arts collective founded by husband and wife team CHI CHI VALENTI and JOHNNY DYNELL in 1990. Most famous for the 450 themed editions of its decade-long party JACKIE 60, venue MOTHER, and annual Stevie Nicks extravaganza NIGHT OF A THOUSAND STEVIES, THE FACTORY also creates large-scale spectacles in New York and cities nationwide and worldwide, including LOW LIFE @ HOWL!

More on the 2010 show at the LOW LIFE 2010 FLICKR SET

More on the 2009 show at the LOW LIFE @ HOWL 2009 FLICKR SET

Image: The 82 CLUB marches in the 1973 GAY PRIDE MARCH, photographer unknown, courtesy of queermusicheritage.us

HOWL! 2011: Saturday & Sunday In Tompkins Square Park

2011-05-15T12:32:00.003-04:00

Photo: Vangeline Theater

Saturday, June 4th, South (Adult) Stage (East 7th Street between Avenues A & B)

Starts at 2 PM

Performances include:

Ekayani and the Tom Glide Space

Timbila

Chris Rael

Bina Sharif

Vangeline Theater

Arthur's Landing

Sunday, June 5th, South (Adult) Stage (East 7th Street between Avenues A & B)

Hip Hop HOWL! 2 PM- A Massive live mixtape showcase featuring the hottest, up-and-coming hip-hop artists...

Images/Design: Jermaine Daniels

House Of HOWL!- 3 PM- Is a vivacious variety show featuring voguers, vocalists, dancers, and trendy fashion designers. This year's them is "The High Life" featuring JSTN, the star of Broadway's mega-hit, "Rent".

Low Life- 5 PM- Inspired by the seminal Luc Sante book, Low Life: The Lures and Snares of Old New York and produced by local performance collective The Jackie Factory NYC... The annual Low Life extravaganzas at HOWL! continue a body of work born at the seminal Meat Market nightclub Jackie 60. For the show's producers, colorful downtown self-described impersarios Chi Chi Valenti and Johnny Dynell, East Village residents for over two decades, this annual spectacular is a valentine to the neighborhood's past, present and future stars. This year's edition is entitled, "Flaming Queens."

The Eighth Annual HOWL! Festival Presents Poetry Circles Throughout Tompkins Square Park Saturday 6/4 & Sunday 6/5, 2011

2011-05-14T20:41:00.001-04:00

As part of the late Allen Ginsberg's 85th birthday celebration, HOWL! 2011 will be presenting more poetry/spoken word events than we've ever had before. This year, ALL poets are invited to participate in Open Air Poetry Circle Readings which will be featured throughout the park on both Saturday June 4th and Sunday June 5th.

Each poet will read for 5 minutes. To sign up, simply send an email to: poetrycircle@howlnyc.org with the following information:

1. Your name

2. A one sentence bio.

3. Any online links to website(s) blogs etc.

4. A photo with permission to post and photographer credit.

5. The day Saturday or Sunday you would like to read in one of the circles.

6. The preferred time you would like to read 12-1pm, 1pm-2pm, 2pm-3pm, 3pm-4pm, 4pm-5pm.

7. In a few words, describe your poetry.

The HOWL! Festival will confirm your participation by email in advance of the reading.

Space is limited only by the number of poetry circles we create, and that depends upon the number of poets who respond.

So... write poem (or two) today!

Photo From Art Around the Park: Nathaniel Siegel

The 8th Annual HOWL! Festival Takes Off!

2011-05-14T19:08:00.000-04:00

DOWNTOWN PERFORMERS AND ARTISTS

REV UP IN TOMPKINS SQUARE PARK  FOR THE

8TH ANNUAL HOWL! FESTIVAL

CELEBRATING ALLEN GINSBERG’S 85th BIRTHDAY WEEKEND

FRIDAY, SATURDAY AND SUNDAY

JUNE 3rd, 4th and 5th

FREE

In Tompkins Square Park, NYC: East Village

Howl Arts, Inc. brings its 8th Annual HOWL! Festival to Tompkins Square Park (located between 7th –and 10th Streets, between Avenues A and B, in Manhattan), from Friday June 3rd through Sunday night June 5th, for an exceptional, existential and uplifting weekend of cutting edge art, fantasy, fun and superb family entertainment.

With sculpture, interactive installations, poetry circles, yoga and acoustic performances in the park each day from 11am – 7pm, the HOWL! Festival, the East Village festival of the arts, arrives on June 3 just in time to celebrate the birthday of the late poet, Allen Ginsberg, who would have turned 85 years old on this day.

Opening the stage on June 3 at 5pm with the festival’s traditional reading of his famed poem HOWL, Ginsberg’s impassioned words will be delivered by his friends and contemporaries led by Bob Holman and Beat poets John Giorno, Hettie Jones, Ed Sanders, and Bob Rosenthal, just to name a few.

Paving the way for the customary weekend of poetry, performance art, music and dance, the HOWL! Festival will once again feature Art Around the Park, a two day exhibit of East Village/Lower East Side artists exhibiting their work as they create it; the live-on-stage performances of Hip Hop HOWL!, House of HOWL and LOW LIFE, as well as the amazing talents of Rosie’s Theater Kids, just the highlights of numerous performances on both the adult and children’s stages.

This year’s surprise addition introduces a brand new children’s attraction, the Great HOWL! OUT LOUD Carnival for kids of all ages, offering carnival games, fairway attractions, arts and crafts activities, miniature golf and live entertainment provided by Rosie’s Theater Kids among others... It's free fun for all ages!

Since its founding in 2002, thousands of artists and performing groups of every genre and background have taken to the streets, to the Park and to the stage when the HOWL! FESTIVAL roars through the East Village.

HOWL! Arts, Inc., a not-for-profit arts organization producing all things HOWL! also presents the HOWL! Arts Project (HAP), a month-long performance series which will take place throughout the month of October (2011) to benefit the HOWL Emergency Life Project (H.E.L.P). Administered by the Actors Fund, H.E.L.P is an emergency services and health fund available to East Village and downtown artists in need of assistance. HOWL! Arts Project is sponsored by Actors Fund (administrators of H.E.L.P) and presents poetry, theater, film, dance, music and performance art programs.

HOWL! Arts channels the spirit and artistic invention of the namesake poem and poet Allen Ginsberg to deliver firsthand examples of the creative, cultural, and historical forces that have made the highly original downtown arts of the EV/LES community world-renowned.

For information, photos, press passes, and to request interviews, please contact

Claire O’Connor Public Relations 212.245.5784 / email: oconnorpr@aol.com

Jane Friedman / HOWL! Arts Inc 917.749.9210 / email: aireps@aol.com

or press@howlfestival.com

Happy Birthday Allen Ginsberg!

2011-05-11T10:23:00.000-04:00

It just so happens that the opening of this year's HOWL! Festival (June 3-5, 2011) coincides with what would have been Allen Ginsberg's 85th birthday.

Click here to read HOWL

Each year we kick-off the open air festivities in NYC's Tompkins Square Park with a group reading of Allen's ground-breaking 1956 poem, Howl, just before dusk, conducted in a symphonic manner by Bowery Poetry Club mastermind, Bob Holman.

The line up of poets lending their voices to bringing Howl to life this year (in no particular order) include:

Darian Dauchan

Alice Whitwham

Nicole Wallace

Curtis Jensen

Julie Patton

Fay Chiang

Miguel Algarin

Andy Clausen

Eliot Katz

Bob Rosenthal

David Henderson

John Giorno

Hettie Jones

Steven Taylor

Ed Sanders

sick prose

Elisabeth Velasquez

Helena D. Lewis

Eliel Lucero

Nikhil Melnechuk

Jon Sands

It's a beautiful November day - never too late to read a new blog post about September's Howl Festival!

2010-11-03T16:35:00.001-04:00

http://poemroom.blogspot.com/2010/11/howl-festival-2010-another-public.html

Tonight! Last Chance to See the Tweed Fractured Classick "Raisinets in the Sunshine"

2010-09-18T09:24:00.001-04:00

The TWEED Fractured Classicks Series presents: RAISINETS IN THE SUNSHINE

Saturday, Sep 18 8 PM - 10 PM

$20.00

Theatre 80 St. Marks, 80 St. Marks Place

Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/123729

Fractured by Stephen Pell, Directed by Kevin Malony, with Costumes by Ramona Ponce... Featuring The Unsinkable Flotilla DeBarge, Jodi Lennon, Nicole Byer, David Ilku,Clark Beasley and Special Guest Stars... Produced by TWEED TheaterWorks and Kearns Artists Services...Door proceeds to benefit The Actors Fund for HOWL! HELP.

Photos from last night's performance by Nathaniel Siegel

"Poetica": An Evening With...Rachael Sage, Dave Eggar & Deoro

2010-09-17T14:21:00.000-04:00

Singer-songwriter and poet Rachael Sage joins long-time collaborator & friend Dave Eggar and his band Deoro for an eclectic mix of singer-songwriter fare and poetic material in honor of the Howl! Festival.

$10....

Poetry Royalty Participate in The Reading of Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" at the Opening Night of The Howl Festival in Tompkins Square Park

2010-09-16T22:24:00.003-04:00

The Rock Stars of Poetry: John Giorno, Anne Waldman and Bob Holman
photo by Lawrence Schwartzwald/SplashNews

Bob Holman Dances on Air (and Walks on Water!)
photo by Lawrence Schwartzwald/Splash News

Opening Night of the 7th Annual Howl Festival in Tompkins Square Park
Revelers Gather for the Traditional Reading of Allen Ginsberg's "Howl"
photo by Lawrence Schwartzwald/SplashNews

Anne Waldman Behind Bars? Not Exactly Poetic Justice!

photo by Lawrence Schwartzwald/SplashNews

Photographer Lawrence Schwartzwald Shares Howl! Photos with the Howler!

2010-09-16T21:38:00.002-04:00

New Yorkers know Lawrence Schwartzwald as the photographer who always seems to get one-of-a-kind shots of celebrities on the street. Whether it's outside Barney's on Madison Avenue, or inside Central Park, or perhaps at a gallery in Chelsea or Soho, Lawrence Schwartzwald often seems to be the only photographer who finds himself in these right places at the right times, and he gets the money shots. We inevitably see these exclusives in the New York Post, as well as throughout the world, syndicated by Splash News. We are truly honored that he attended the Howl! Festival with his camera (!) and has offered to share some of these amazing shots with us for the East Village Howler!

Thanks, Lawrence! Below is a great shot he took of poet Anne Waldman at the festival's opening night event in Tompkins Square Park on Friday, September 10th. More to come!

Poet Anne Waldman
Photo by Lawrence Schwartzwald

The Tweed Fractured Classicks Series Presents: "Raisinets in the Sunshine" at Theater 80

2010-09-16T16:13:00.000-04:00

Flotilla De Barge -photo by Sean Watters

Friday, September 17 and Saturday, September 18th 8 PM - 10 PM

$20.00

Theatre 80 St. Marks, 80 St. Marks Place

Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/123729

Poetry Turn On ! Tonight 8pm Parish Hall St. Marks Church in the Bowery NYC Poetry Reading

2010-09-16T13:56:00.000-04:00

Thomas Fucaloro

Meghann Plunkett

Jon Sands

Jeanann Verlee

Michael Warr

Melanie Hope

Metta Sama

Bridgette Wimberly

Amy Ouzoonian

Susan Scutti

Chavisa Woods

RA "R ! " Araya by Jo

Daniel Gallant

Vanessa Hidary by T RAH HOLLIDAY VEAL

Julian Brolaski

Paolo Javier

Dorothea Lasky

Joanna Fuhrman

Advocate of Wordz by Peter Woloszyn

Mariposa by elena marrero

The HOWL ! Festival is proud to present 21 poets from the Bowery Poetry Club, Cave Canem, A Gathering of the Tribes, Nuyorican Poets Cafe, and The Poetry Project reading one night only for you ! This marathon poetry reading features: Thomas Fucaloro, Meghann Plunkett, Jon Sands, Jeanann Verlee, Melanie Hope, Metta Sama, Bridgette Wimberly, Steve Dalachinsky, Amy Ouzoonian, Susan Scutti, Chavisa Woods, RA "R!" Araya, Daniel Gallant, Vanessa Hidary, Mariposa, Advocate of Wordz, Julian Brolaski, Joanna Fuhrman, Paolo Javier and Dorothea Lasky. Hosted by Nathaniel Siegel tonights' reading is a benefit for the HOWL ! H.E.L.P. an emergency financial and social service assistance fund available to eligible Lower East Side and Downtown artists administered by The Actors Fund. Admission $8 cash only tickets at the door.
For more information go to www.howlfestival.com

Carnaby Street comes to the East Village for One Night Only Friday, September 24th

2010-09-15T20:18:00.000-04:00

The TWEED Music Series presents

Carnaby Street: The Sensational Swinging Sixties

A Musical Tribute to the Music of London's Infamous Carnaby Street An all star cast performing the music of an era that fused fashion and music as never before!

STARRING

Joey Arias, Brenda Bergman and the Bodacious TaTas, Michael Cavadias Ele' Ferrer, Flutterbox, Greta Gertler, Annie Golden, David Ilku, Owen Kamarski, Joseph Keckler, John Kelly, M. Lamar, Lorraine Leckie, Ray Lee, Carol Lipnik, Low Society, Edgar Oliver, Poor Baby Bree, Libby Shapiro, Tish & Snooky – and more!!!

The Major Toms

C.P. Roth - Keys, Adam Roth –Guitar, Alec Morton – Bass, Kevin Hupp – Drums

CURATED BY CAROL LIPNIK * MUSICAL DIRECTOR: CHARLY ROTH DIRECTED BY KEVIN MALONY

ONE NIGHT ONLY FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24TH 8PM THEATER 80 ST MARKS 80 St. Marks Place @ 1st Avenue

TICKETS: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/producerevent/123732?prod_id=15974

Presented by The Howl Festival ALL PROCEEDS GO THE HOWL HELP FUND ADMINISTERED BY THE ACTORS FUND

Don't Miss Penny Arcade in "The Girl Who Know Too Much" Tomorrow Night, September 16th at Theatre 80 St. Mark's Place

2010-09-15T20:09:00.001-04:00

The 7th Annual Howl! Festival continues until the end of the month, with dozens of events taking place at Theater 80 St. Mark's Place, Ella Jazz Jounge, Bowery Electric and more! All of these events benefit Howl! H.E.L.P. , a health and services organization administered by The Actors Fund. Check out the full schedule at www.howlfestival.com

Don't miss Penny Arcade tomorrow night -

Thursday, September 16th.

The beautiful and inimitable Penny Arcade

THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH... An Evening With Penny Arcade

Thursday, Sep 16 8 PM - 10 PM $15.00

Theatre 80 St. Marks, 80 St. Marks Place

Legend, icon, wild-hearted demoness bad-girl bitch. It is impossible to describe the juggernaut that is Penny Arcade without entering the world of hyperbole that she not only inhabits but also personifies. Since first climbing out of her bedroom window at age 13 to join the fabulously disenfranchised world of queers, junkies, whores, stars, stalkers and geniuses she has become one of the most influential performers in the world. By fearlessly displaying her singular brand of feminist sexuality and personal conflict she has garnered countless fans worldwide with an emotionally and intellectually charged performance style. Internationally revered as writer, director and actress, she has become the very bedrock that many of the biggest names in the entertainment industry have built their careers upon. Her theatrical credits include BITCH!DYKE!FAGHAG!WHORE!, BASED ON A TRUE STORY, BAD REPUTATION, and NEW YORK VALUES. Since 1999 Penny has spearheaded the award winning documentary series STEMMINGTHE TIDE OF CULTURAL AMNESIA, THE LOWER EASTSIDE BIOGRAPHY PROJECT, an oral history and downtown performance project sponsored in part by Manhattan Neighborhood Network... Penny Arcade explores and explains the roots of what led her to create solo performance art in the 1980-s when the term Performance Artist denoted the new and renagade and the East Village was the hotbed of visionary creative explorations that had an international impact for two decades... Tonight, Penny will perform some of the landmark performances pieces that gave her a reputation for the highest standards in content and entertainment, including the notorious Dame Margot Howard Howard, Warhol Superstar Andrea Whips, Soho's Aunt Lucy, The Junkie Whore 'Girl', The Massage Parlour Hassid, Charlotte the Harlot... with a first-time-ever narration of the stories behind those performances. Experience Penny Arcade redefine the performance memoir as only Penny Arcade would or could! The evening's door proceeds to benefit The Actors Fund for HOWL! HELP.

Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/124540

More Fun in The Sun! Another blogpost about Friday night's reading of Ginsberg's "Howl" in Tompkins Square

2010-09-13T13:41:00.000-04:00

http://afilreis.blogspot.com/2010/09/howl-festival.html

Artist Suzannah Troy Blogs About Retiring Tompkins Square Park Supervisor Harry Greenberg

2010-09-13T11:24:00.000-04:00

http://suzannahbtroy.blogspot.com/2010/09/harry-greenberg-parks-supervisor.html

Youtube Video of Jennifer Blowdryer at Theatre 80, Howl! Arts Project

2010-09-13T11:10:00.000-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlP-ElDV1Xs&feature=player_embedded

More info:

http://blog.jenniferblowdryer.com/

www.howlfestival.com

Howl! Photos from Photographer Shawn Hoke, Saturday, September 11th

2010-09-13T10:58:00.000-04:00

Click on the link and enjoy!

http://www.shawnhoke.com/2010/09/howl-festival-art-from-tompkins-square-park/

More Phantastic Photos from Stan Schnier!

2010-09-13T00:07:00.000-04:00

The rain just doesn't stop certain people from looking fabulous. Low Life 4: Beat Girl fans and performers may have needed an umbrella or two to keep their hair in place, etc...but it was an otherwise perfect day in Tompkins Square Park at The Howl! Festival. Here are a few of Stan Schnier's photos... More to come!

Another blog, more great photos!

2010-09-12T21:40:00.000-04:00

http://slumgoddess.blogspot.com/

Leslie Travel Blog Posts Great Photos and Story of Art Around The Park!

2010-09-12T21:08:00.000-04:00

Check it out ! http://lesliekochtravel.blogspot.com/

The Hemma Collection Brings A Little Bit of Fashion Week to the House of Howl! Performance at the Howl! Festival in Tompkins Square Park Sunday, September 12, 2010

2010-09-12T00:45:00.000-04:00

For further details on House Of Howl!, please visit www.howlfestival.com
and check out more fashion with a passion at thehemmacollection.com

Saturday in the Park...A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

2010-09-11T23:04:00.000-04:00

It was a beautiful day in Tompkins Square Park and the 7^th Annual Howl Festival was in full swing. Live performances by Open Music Ensemble, Vangeline Theater, Arthur’s Landing, Poets Emanuel Xavier, Eileen Myles and Bill Kushner, Tyler Burba’s Visit, Timbila and Chris Rael commanded the main stage with grace and beauty befitting the day of remembrance that September 11^th will always be in the hearts of New Yorkers…and everyone. An abundance of children’s activities kept thousands of little ones entertained, while 9/11 tribute installations by artist Ujin Lee, Art Around the Park, a meditation walk and a beautiful Vendor Village and Health and Wellness Outreach section rounded out a full day of something for everyone and something everywhere!

Photographer Stan Schnier (www.stanschnier.com) spent the day in Tompkins Square Park and has agreed to share some of his beautiful photos with us for this blog. These photos are from Vangeline Theater’s performance of Mosaic, a spine-tingling butoh dance performance in tribute to 9/11.

Vangeline Theater-All Photos by Stan Schnier

A Special Shout-Out to EV Grieve...

2010-09-11T22:25:00.000-04:00

Thank you, EV Grieve, for all the amazing coverage you've given the Howl Festival this year. You've driven tons of traffic to our web site and blog...and it means the world to us!

http://evgrieve.com/2010/09/art-around-park-in-progress.html

Another Great Link to some of Today's Festivities!

2010-09-11T22:08:00.000-04:00

http://melaniemusings2.wordpress.com/

Check out this cool video of Ujin Lee's 9/11 Performance Today at the Howl! Festival in Tompkins Square Park

2010-09-11T21:36:00.000-04:00

http://gammablog.com/2010/09/11/ujin-lee-howl-festival-2010/

Howl Festival's Closing Day 2010

2010-09-11T21:21:00.001-04:00

HOUSE OF HOWL!

Don't miss the final day of the 7th Annual Howl Festival in Tompkins Square Park, September 12th, 2010. The festivities begin at 11AM.. see the full schedule at www.howlfestival.com Tompkins Square Park is located between Avenues A and B, from 7th to 10th Streets.

Some of the highlights include:

Rosie O’Donnell’s Rosie’s Broadway Kids will perform a Broadway-style cabaret Show http://www.rosiesbroadwaykids.org

ROSIE'S BROADWAY KIDS

GRAVESHIFT

Graveshift, featuring the pop melodies of the Graves Family from the Bronx, 2 brothers and their two sisters who get along famously on stage.

Fashions from The Hemma Collection,
to be featured in House of Howl

Singer Yoshi, House of Howl

Riki Colon’s House of Howl – a flurry of color, costume and cavortin’ – a vivacious variety show with vogueing, dance , song, fashion, art- you name it. Featuring House of Ninja dancers Javier, Edwin and Star Ninja and dancer Akiko Tokuoka. Fashions by the hot NYC Hemma Collection with live musical performance by Yoshi, music written and composed by Ev Price.

Hip Hop Howl- A massive live mixtape showcase featuring the hottest up and coming hip-hop artists in the country. http://www.hiphophowl.com

Finding Sukha Yoga, the East Village’s newest Yoga center, will welcome both adults and children. Bring your yoga mat or borrow one.

http://www.findingsukha.com

Finding Sukha Yoga

LOW LIFE 4: BEAT GIRL -JACKIE FACTORY producers CHI CHI VALENTI and JOHNNY DYNELL will present their fourth annual LOW LIFE to crown the 2010 HOWL! FESTIVAL. LOW LIFE is the free and fabulous Sunday evening climax to HOWL! - a two hour spectacular inspired by East Village decades past. Each year's theme is served up in a lavishly costumed production starring dozens of downtown's finest. This year's LOW LIFE 4: BEAT GIRL pays homage to homegrown fifties beatnik culture and the BOWERY BEATS - the rebel painters, poets and performers drifting east from Greenwich Village. The show also sheds light on the Women of the Beat Generation, often overlooked, and their influence on 50's Burlesque.

http://www.mothernyc.com/lowlife

Low Life 4:Beat Girl Amber Ray
photo by Alex Colby

Howl! Festival 2010 Poster -Love it!

2010-09-07T01:47:00.000-04:00

Howl! Spotlight -ARTHUR'S LANDING-A Tribute to the Musical Genius of Arthur Russell

2010-09-06T18:04:00.000-04:00

ARTHUR'S LANDING is a group of musicians, all of whom worked at various times in various contexts with the late Arthur Russell, a cellist and composer from Iowa who lived on the Lower East Side for most of the later part of his too-short life. Russell brought together the worlds of dance, pop, and folk with that of downtown’s new music, and fused Western and Eastern musical traditions, driven by his engagement with Buddhist thought and practice. He collaborated often with Allen Ginsberg and Phillip Glass was also an early mentor. Dance music aficionados will be also be familiar with Russell's underground dance hit: IS IT ALL OVER MY FACE?. Arthur’s Landing (songs by Arthur Russell) features Mustafa Ahmed (percussion) , Joyce Bowden (voice) Ernie Brooks (voice, bass), Steven Hall (voice, guitar), ), Bill Ruyle(drums, hammered dulcimer), John Scherman (lead guitar), Peter Zummo and special guest Nomi Ruiz from Hercules and Love Affair & Jessica 6. The (UK) Guardian described Ruiz as 'boasting the spookily effortless air of a future pop icon.'

More Information: http://soundcloud.com/arthurs-landing and www.howlfestival.com

Arthur's Landing will be performing Saturday, Sep 11 6:30 PM - 7 PM

FREE

Tompkins Square Park, South Stage, Avenue A at 7th Street

Howl! Spotlight- Open Music Ensemble's "Chanting for Everyone" in Tompkins Square Park in NYC's East Village, Saturday, September 11th, 2010 from 11AM until 1PM

2010-09-06T17:43:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, September 11th, from 11 AM until 1 PM, The OPEN MUSIC ENSEMBLE will present "Chanting for Everyone," a multi-cultural program of universal, non-sectarian chants under the same elm tree in Tompkins Square Park where Allen Ginsburg, the author of the poem, "Howl," chanted the Hare Krishna mantra with Swami Prabhupada and his followers in 1966. The chants will be led in a call-and-repeat format by Michelle Brochu on vocals and Derek Newman on vocals and harmonium, and will include "Gate, Gate, Paragate," a Buddhist text on liberation chanted by Ginsburg at Naropa University, and "Fanga Alafia", a Yoruba chant for peace and well-being. People of all faiths, or none, are most welcome to participate.
At 1PM, the chanting will be followed by a live acoustic improv performance by the pioneering cooperative Open Music Ensemble, whose sounds will guide the heart and spirit in meditation, relaxation and healing
Admission is FREE. For more information, please visit see www.howlfestival.com and www.myspace.com/openmusicensemble.

See Sonia Sanchez play Sister Son/Ji on Labor Day 4pm NYC with Talk-back by Sonia

2010-09-05T16:32:00.000-04:00

SISTER SON/JI at Theatre 80 – HOWL! Festival

The HOWL! Festival wants you to know about this rare opportunity.

SISTER SON/JI by Sonia Sanchez
Monday, Sep 6 4 PM – 7 PM
$10.00
Theatre 80 St. Marks, 80 St. Marks Place 212-388-0388

The Howl! Festival presents iconoclastic poet Sonia Sanchez & a production of her play Sister Son/ji. Ms. Sanchez will be present for a rare audience talkback moderated by the artistic director of BeBop Theatre Collective, SC2. This event also celebrates the publication I’m Black When I’m Singing, I’m Blue When I Ain’t and Other Plays. Fans of Ms. Sanchez receive for the first time all of her plays which span five decades.

In Sister Son/Ji, written by Sonia Sanchez, directed by SC2 and starring Jacqueline Gregg, poet/playwright Sanchez unflinchingly examines the paradoxical notions of liberation within in the Black Power Movement.

Sonia Sanchez is a Poet. Mother. Professor. National and International lecturer on Black Culture and Literature, Women’s Liberation, Peace and Racial Justice, as well as an author of over 16 books.

This solo play stars Jacqueline Gregg, who has performed in countless plays, both classical and modern, also works extensively with various educational theatre organizations, bringing classical as well as contemporary theatre to schools in and around New York City.

Door proceeds to benefit the Actors Fund for HOWL! HELP.

Advance tickets $10.00 http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/124400

Tickets will be available at the door 1 hour before showtime on the day of the show (cash only).

Following the play and talk back a special Dance Performance in honor of Ms. Sanchez will be presented by Genesis Dance Company.

Under the direction of Karen L. Arceneaux, Genesis Dance Company, a modern dance company founded in 2001, believes that dance feeds the soul and rejuvenates the mind, body, and spirit. Since its debut season in July 2002, the company has been relentless in its mission to uplift and inspire humanity through the beautiful art form of dance.

Celebrating 9 years of fearless endurance and mesmerizing appeal, Genesis Dance Company is honored to be a part of The Howl Festival. A new addition to the Festival series, the company will perform a dynamic, thought-provoking, and energetic evening of excerpts from its rich and diverse repertory, woven together in suite titled "In Passing". Breathtaking, Awe-inspiring, Electrifying…Experience Genesis Dance Company! For more information: www.genesisdance.org

photo: Genesis Dance Company, by Rachel Neville 2010

Spotlight on Chris Rael and Deep Singh

2010-09-03T22:43:00.000-04:00

(l to r) Deep Singh and Chris Rael, photo by Bernd Auers

...Appearing at the Howl! Festival in Tompkins Square Park, Saturday, September 11th, 5:05PM

Chris Rael and Deep Singh are the engine of Church of Betty, one of Downtown's longest running and most influential bands. They brought sitar and tabla back to rock n roll earlier and more organically than anyone else, drawing raves from music critics. Magnet called them "purveyors of urban psychedelia, with a voice sweeter than Prince." The Village Voice said Rael "has consistently blended rock and Indian music better than any Western guitar guy, ever." NY Times: "Sliding, scalloped phrases shape Hindustani music to the concision of pop hooks... irresistible." The pair's duo work "squeezes the expansive soul of raga into the tight curves of rock, to create a complex and surprisingly harmonious hybrid." (ThinkIndia.com) Their duo CD Tunnel Ragas was called "at once pure, devotional, improvisational and profanely urban, a fascinating listen." (All Music Guide)

Rael went on to write film music (Outstanding Soundtrack Award, Outfest 2005) and the stage musical Araby, based on James Joyce's Dubliners ("the type of musical bliss that is currently missing from Broadway" - Back Stage). Singh went on to perform hundreds of shows on Broadway as a star of the Andrew Lloyd Weber musical Bombay Dreams.

The pair witnessed the Twin Towers fall from the roof of Rael’s Stanton Street building, and return to Tompkins Square this September 11 to share a memorial moment with the community in which they’ve lived and played for so long. Chris will play guitar and sing, while Deep will play the dhol: a loud, rocking two-headed Indian drum used in bhangra music. They will perform Rael's ode to the post-9/11 downtown skyline Hole in the Sky, The Balloon Song, their insane, frenetic Bollywood cover with English lyrics, and Church of Betty classic I Smoke You Jack, a high-energy meditation on downtown's father of experimental film and performance, Jack Smith.

Further Info: www.howlfestival.com

"R" You Ready For This?

2010-09-03T22:29:00.000-04:00

His name has been misspelled on various Howl! Festival press materials, as were the names of fellow poets Emanuel Xavier, Susan Scutti, Amy Ouzoonian and Thomas Fucaloro. Just when we were about to correct the spelling and do a little “spotlight” on the poet formerly known as RA Araya (correct spelling), he decided to make it much easier for us. He has now changed his name to one simple letter, “R.”

We’re not quite sure if the drastic name change is a direct result of our shameless spelling errors or if he was in fact just Ready (with a capital “R”) for a change, but it is quite a coincidence that the spelling errors and name change overlap with such perfect timing. In any case, “R” has definitely made it pretty difficult for us to botch up the spelling of his new name. The only way possible to misspell “R” might be a slip of the finger, choosing “T,” or “E,” which are right next to “R” on the keyboard. Or, if we wanted to be cute, we might spell his name “WR,” and claim the “W” is silent, like the old “Wremember- The ‘W’ is Silent” Wrangler Jeans advertisement. But we R just not going to go down that Road. From heRe on in, he is R and we R going to spelling it coRRectly. Below is some background on R, the poet formerly known as RA ARaya.

Photo of "R" by Jo

R will be appearing at the Howl! Festival TWICE.

Friday, September 10^th 5-7PM The reading of Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl”

Tompkins Square Park, Avenue A at 7^th Street – FREE!

and

Thursday, September 16^th –8-10PM The Howl! Arts Project 2010 Presents: POETRY TURN-ON, St. Mark’s Church In-The-Bowery,

131 East 10th Street at Second Avenue $8.00

R is a Costa Rican poet and songwriter living in NYC. Under his former name, R hosted poetry readings and poetry with music performances in venues such as Tribes Gallery and The Bowery Poetry Club,and along the East Coast since 1992. He hosted the Open Mic after Friday Night Slam at Nuyorican Poets Cafe in 1997-98, and has acted in three of Steve Cannon's plays, among other NYC and New Hampshire productions. R has performed with Lawrence "Butch" Morris' "A Chorus Of Poets" at Lincoln Center in 1994, founded and manages since 1998 the Danish American Costa Rican rock poetics of 'flash-back-puppy,’ has curated art works with Lee Michael Klein and Dora Espinoza in NYC and is enjoying his three young sons tap dance, piano recitals, soccer games and martial arts tests.

Spotlight on Timbila! Performing Live at the Howl! Festival in Tompkins Square Park

2010-09-03T21:36:00.000-04:00

The Howl! Festival is thrilled to announce that Timbila will perform live in Tompkins Square Park on Saturday, September 11th, 2010. They will appear on the South Stage, Avenue A at 7th Street, from 4:25 -4:55PM.

TIMBILA blazes ecstatic African rock with an East Village edge. The trance of African spirit possession merges with the trance of free-spirited head-bangers. The surreal buzzing beauty of timbila (Chopi xylophone, Mozambique) and hypnotic dream melodies of mbira (Shona thumb piano, Zimbabwe) soar with stinging guitar riffs and sassy celestial vocals in grooves that are deeply funky, fierce and danceable. No other band sounds like TIMBILA:

NORA BALABAN - mbira, timbila, vocals

BANNING EYRE - guitars

DIRCK WESTERVELT - bass

LOUISA BRADSHAW - vocals

ED KLINGER - drums, vocals

Further info: http://www.myspace.com/timbila or www.howlfestival.com

You Can "Find" Finding Sukha Yoga in Tompkins Square Park on September 11th and 12th

2010-09-03T15:41:00.000-04:00

Finding Sukha Yoga School (FSYS) will be offering yoga classes for adults and children from 11AM until 7PM on both Saturday, September 11^th and Sunday, September 12^th, in Tompkins Square Park. You will “find” Finding Sukha in the tree-lined grass section in front of the Park Office, at approximately 9^th Street, between Avenues A and B. Celebrate art, music, dance, poetry, performance, madness and more with movement, breath and self expression. If have a yoga mat please bring it, or you can borrow one.

Finding Sukha Yoga School offers multiple levels of vinyasa asana practice, yoga teacher training, as well as prenatal yoga and gentle yoga classes. They also offer a wide variety of workshops such as Yoga for Beginners, Advanced Yoga Practice, yoga philosophy, partner yoga, flying yoga and much more! Please visit www.findingsukha.com or www.howlfestival.com for further info.

Spotlight on Art Artist Ujin Lee - Tompkins Square Park, September 11th

2010-09-03T14:53:00.000-04:00

Artist Ujin Lee at a past "wrapped boxes" event

Artist Ujin Lee will arrive in Tompkins Square Park on Saturday, September 11, 2010, at 11AM, with a truckload of beautifully wrapped boxes, 733 in total, which she will have spent over a month preparing. All of the 7x7x7 inch boxes will be individually gift-wrapped in a double-sided gray and plum colored soft woven cloth called tongee. Each box will be identical, with the exception of the bows. All 733 bows will be slightly different.

The number 733 represents good luck and fortune. “7 is a lucky number all over the world, and 3 is very lucky in Asia,” Lee, a native of Korea, explains. Lee will silently place each box on the ground in the center of Tompkins Square Park, a performance piece which will take three and a half hours to complete. Once all of the boxes have been strategically placed and the “performance” has ended, members of the public will be welcome to select a box and take one home.

Ujin Lee will also be placing 7 large sculptures around the park. Each 10- foot tall and 6 ½ foot-wide piece will be a “pouch” created with the natural fiber ramie. Each pouch will be filled with approximately 20-30 balloon-shaped balls, created in white paper and visible through the fabric.

Further info: www.howlfestival.com

Hip Hop HOWL! in Tompkins Square Park, Sunday September 12th, South Stage 1:00PM-2:15PM

2010-09-03T12:08:00.000-04:00

Don't Miss Hip Hop Howl! - A massive live mixtape showcase featuring the hottest up and coming hip-hop artists in the country.
Miz Metro & Crosby present: The 5th annual Hip Hop HOWL Live Mixtape Showcase w/DJ Mikey Fresh featuring live performances by New York City's hottest alternative out of the box hip hop artists: Kale All-Day, Circa *95, Adrinne Mack-Davis, Mazzi SoulPurpose, Eric Sosa, MC Eyeris, Crosby, Miz Metro and many many more!

Sunday, September 12th, 2010
1:00 PM-2:15PM
Tompkins Square Park South Stage
Avenue A at 7th Street
FREE!

Further info: www.howlfestival.com

Last Minute Addition to Howl! Schedule-Howl! Poets in the Garden, Saturday, September 4th

2010-09-03T10:31:00.000-04:00

HOWL ! Poets in the Garden !
Saturday Sept 4th 2pm-6pm
FREE
Location: The Garden on East 11th Street between Avenues B and C- south side of the street
A gathering of poets - featuring Dorothy Friedman August, Steve Dalachinsky, Ilsa Gilbert, Barbara Henning, Kate Irving, Norman Macaffe, Lissa Moira, Yuko Otomo, Ron Price, Tom Savage, Susan Scutti, Phyllis Wat and Jeff Wright.

More info: www.howlfestival.com

“Art Around the Park” Will Add Boundless Color to the 7th Annual Howl! Festival in Tompkins Square Park in NYC's East Village, Sept. 11th and 12th Attention Artists : There Are Still a Few Open Spaces!

2010-09-02T16:39:00.000-04:00

Photo by Nicholas Bergery

The 2010 Howl! Festival is pleased to announce that “Art Around the Park” will return for its 14^th year in Tompkins Square Park. Conceived in 1992, “Art Around the Park” joined forces with Howl Festival when it began.

Over the years, important artists such as Tony Feher, David Row, Olivier Mosset, Mark Kostabi, Stefan Eins, David Hatchett, David Greene and Sylvie Ball, as well as graffiti artists Ero, Chico and Meres, have all participated in Art Around the Park.

Photo by Nicholas Bergery

“Art Around the Park” is a massively exciting undertaking, involving a 1500 foot-long canvas wrapped around 50% of the perimeter of Tompkins Square Park, beginning on Avenue A and 10^th Street, continuing 3 blocks south to 7^th Street and going east on 7^th Street to the midway point between Avenues A and B. Over 140 adult artists and untold numbers of children are confirmed to participate.

Each artist is assigned 50-60 square feet of canvas, and brings their own materials with which to create their individual piece. For two full days, this live art “performance” draws thousands of fascinated spectators. “It’s a sweet and spectacular event,” says Bob Perl, one of the founders of Art Around The Park, along with DD Chapin and Mark Frisk. He continues, “Both participants and audience often tell me that this is why they live in New York. It’s an incredible interaction of artists and art lovers – an experience that you won’t find anywhere else.”

The finished product results in almost 8000 square feet of art.

There are still a few open spaces for interested artists. Info: http://www.howlfestival.com/festival/artpark/

Another Unfortunate Case of Too Many Letters In Alphabet City

2010-09-01T00:48:00.000-04:00

It has come to our attention that yet another poet, Emanuel Xavier, has had his name misspelled in some of the Howl! Festival press materials. He unwittingly joins a most elite club of poets with temporarily misspelled names, whose charter members are Susan Scutti, Amy Ouzoonian and Thomas Fucaloro. Emanuel Xavier will be reading at The Howl! Festival in Tompkins Square Park on Saturday, September 11th at 3:45 PM, on the South Stage, Avenue A at 7th Street. Sorry, Emanuel!

There Just Aren’t Enough Letters in the Alphabet to Describe Howl! Festival's Esteemed Guest Poets Susan Scutti, Amy Ouzoonian and Thomas Fucaloro

2010-08-31T18:23:00.000-04:00

Susan Scutti, Amy Ouzoonian and Thomas Fucaloro, among others, will be appearing at the Howl! Festival’s opening night reading of the Allen Ginsberg poem, “Howl,” in Tompkins Square Park on Friday, September 10^th, from 5-7PM. Below is a little background information on these three fine rhymesters, as well as photos.

It is, however, much easier to speak the one name Allen Ginsberg than it is to pronounce the three names Susan Scutti, Amy Ouzoonian and Thomas Fucaloro.

Susan Scutti writes poems, stories and novels. Her work has appeared in The New York Quarterly, Philadelphia Poets, The Paterson Literary Review, The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry, Aloud: Nuyorican Poets Cafe Anthology and The Unbearables Anthologies. Three Rooms Press published her chapbook, We Are Related and she's also published two novels, Second Generation and A Kind of Sleep. Check her out at http://susanscutti.wordpress.com/

Susan Scutti

Amy Ouzoonian is a poet, yoga instructor, performance artist and editor of A Gathering of the Tribes magazine issue #13. She lives and creates in Manhattan.

Amy Ouzoonian

Thomas Fucaloro likes puppies, kittens and large monsters that haunt your dreams but leave in tact your spirit. He has a book coming out next month through Three Rooms Press titled "Inheriting craziness is like a soft halo of light, everyone's got one but no one can see it." Thomas thinks his legs look better with pumps rather than heels. Thomas really really really likes Allen Ginsberg.

Ella Lounge Joins the Howl! Festival with a week of performances to benefit the Howl! H.E.L.P. Fund

2010-08-29T18:14:00.000-04:00

Ella Lounge, the first and only place to bring the Hollywood glamour of the roaring 20s and 30s to Avenue A, has joined the Howl! Festival’s esteemed list of sponsoring venues. The formidable line-up includes popular female jazz vocalists Teresa Mora, Baby Jane Dexter, Nanette Natal and Jahneen/Jeannine Otis, Melange, the inimitable singer/actor/Broadway veteran Larry Marshall, Laura Stilwell and Company featuring Ivan Rosenberg, Kimistry and The Living Museum and Wei Sheng Lin & Friends.

The confirmed schedule is as follows:

Monday,

September 13th 8-10 PM Teresa Mora, vocalist

A distinguished jazz musician, Teresa Mora’s amazing ensemble will begin Howl’s Jazz series. A Detroit native, she has her own unique blend of jazz, soul, and blues.

Tuesday,

September 14^th 8-10 PM Baby Jane Dexter, Larry Marshall, and

Jahneen /Jeannine Otis

Reno Sweeney Diva Baby Jane Dexter, Broadway, jazz and soul singer Jeannine Otis and Broadway jazzman Larry Marshall (“The Color Purple,” “ Hair,” “The Full Monty,” to name a few), join voices in an outstanding night of sizzle, standards and sensational stylin’ !

Wednesday,

September 15th 8-10 PM Laura Stilwell and company featuring Ivan Rosenberg

Laura Stilwell is a fine vocalist as well as the award-winning choreographer/director of the smash hit "This Joint Is Jumpin'."

Thursday,

September 16th 8-10 PM Nanette Natal

Jazz vocal stylist Nanette Natal performs in the grand tradition of Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan.

Friday, September 17^th 8-10 PM Melange

Haitian-born vocalist, Melange and her ensemble perform a unique blend of soul, rhythm and blues, and jazz. Melange is also very committed to the preservation traditional music of Haiti.

Saturday, Sep 18th 8 -10 PM Kimistry and The Living Museum

KIM KALESTI is a musician and composer whose music is spirit-filled, timeless and thoughtful.

Sunday, Sep 19^th 8-10 PM Wei Sheng Lin & Friends

WEI SHENG LIN's music is an exciting blend of musical styles that reflects his love of jazz classics as well as rock, pop music and rhythm and blues.

Please visit the calendar at www.howlfestival.com for updates and further details. Ella Lounge is located at 9 Avenue A, between 1^st and Second Streets. Admission for each show is $10 per person. For ticket information, please visit www.howlfestival.com

*The Howl Emergency Life Project (H.E.L.P.)

was created to provide emergency financial assistance and social service support to artists who have participated in the annual Howl Festival or who make their careers in New York City's East Village and Lower East Side arts community and whose work challenges the traditional boundaries of dance, theatre, music, multimedia and the spoken word.

Services include counseling and referrals for personal, family or work-related problems. Linkage to community resources for such needs as medical care, legal services, public benefits or elder care. Workshops are offered on a variety of topics and include: finding affordable housing, financial education as well as health insurance options.

Financial assistance is available for rent, utilities, mental health and medical care as well as other basic living expenses. Grants are approved on a case-by-case basis based on need.

////

The 7th Annual Howl! Festival Pays Tribute to 9/11 in Tompkins Square Park in NYC's East Village- All Events Are Free and Open to the Public

2010-08-29T14:35:00.000-04:00

Performance artists, poets, musicians, and dance companies honor 9/11 at the 7^th Annual HOWL! Festival in Tompkins Square Park, (7th–10th Streets, between Avenues A & B), on the weekend of Sept. 10, 11 and 12.

Chanters, a free meditation zone, meditation walk, yoga classes for both children and adults, a calling of names station and performance art will grace the green at Tompkins Square Park on Saturday Sept 11, heralding the start of an uplifting program at Howl! Festival’s 7^th Annual weekend in Tompkins Square Park –September 10,11,12.

Featured September 11^th events include:

Finding Sukha Yoga

Finding Sukha Yoga -The East Village’s newest Yoga Center will hold 30-minute classes for adults and children at 11AM, 1PM, 3PM and 6PM. You can “find” Finding Sukha in front of the brick Park Office, located at approximately 9^th Street between Avenues A and B. Finding Sukha will provide a limited number of yoga mats. Be prepared and bring your own.

Art Installation and Performance Piece by Artist Ujin Lee - Unloading a truck load of 733 unique and individually wrapped 7x7x7 boxes, artist Ujin Lee will begin her 3 ½ hour performance art piece at 11AM in the center of Tompkins Square Park. All boxes will be individually gift-wrapped in traditional Korean fabric. The number 733 represents good luck and fortune. Once all boxes have been strategically placed, and the performance piece is ended, members of the public will be welcome to select a box and take one home.

Ujin Lee will also place 7 large sculptures around the park. Each 10- foot tall and 6 ½ foot-wide piece will be a “pouch” created with the natural fiber ramie. Each pouch will be filled with approximately 20-30 balloon-shaped balls, created in white paper and visible through the fabric.

Artist Ujin Lee at a past event

Art Around the Park – A 1500 foot-long canvas wrapped around 50% of the perimeter of Tompkins Square Park, beginning on Avenue A and 10^th Street, continuing 3 blocks south to 7^th Street and going east on 7^th Street to the midway point between Avenues A and B. Over 140 adult artists and untold numbers of children are confirmed to participate.

Art Around The Park "Street Scene" - photo by Nicholas Bergery

Meditation Free Zone and Walk - Enjoy our oasis in Tompkins Square Park. Relax and rejuvenate. Walk led by local artist / Buddhist practitioner Riki Colon.

Memorial Center – Contemplative time is offered at this special station where names can be called and a gong can be sounded.

Poetry – Poetry performances on the South Stage include poets Bill Kushner (1:40PM-1:50PM), Kristin Prevallet (1:50PM - 2PM), Eileen Myles (2:45PM-3PM) and Emmanuel Xavier (3:45PM- 3:55PM), Dottie Lasky (3:55PM – 4:04PM).

Theater/Dance – Vangeline Theater performs MOSAIC, a resonant butoh dance piece to commemorate 9/11. On the South Stage,- two performances: 2:10PM-2:40PM and 5:45PM-6:15PM.

"Coco Model in Mosaic" -Vangeline Theater photo by Ali Smith

Music:

Open Music Ensemble - This pioneering cooperative of acoustic improv musicians will guide the heart and spirit in meditation, relaxing and healing with sounds both pure and contemplative. The performance will take place on the South Stage at Tompkins Square Park, Avenue A at 7^th Street from 1PM-1:30PM.

Tyler Burba - An acoustic performance of songs written by Allen Ginsberg, on the South Stage 3:10PM-3:40PM.

Photo of Tyler Burba by Chris Verene

Timbila – Sassy, celestial vocals are highlighted in this performance of African rock with an East Village Edge. On the South Stage from 4:25 PM-4:55PM.

Chris Rael – A sitar aficionado, this dynamic composer turns Indian and Western music into a mix of highly refined pop. On the South Stage – 5:05PM-5:35PM.

Arthur’s Landing-A Tribute to the Musical Genius of Arthur Russell – Musicians associated with the east village’s late Arthur Russell will perform a fusion of Western and Eastern musical traditions, driven by Russell’s engagement with Buddhist thought and practice. On the South Stage 6:30PM-7PM.

Arthur's Landing with guests Xavier and Zach Layton - photo by See-Ming Lee

Family Entertainment:

On the North Stage, Avenue A at 10^th Street, from 12:30PM until 7PM, The Lower East Side Girls Club presents a variety of children’s and family entertainment, including dance, poetry, music and a featured performance by Rosie O’Donnell’s Rosie’s Broadway Kids. Also in the north park: A solar-powered merry-go-round, a children’s yoga tent, a fortune telling monkey, robot pony, art and science programs, face painting, a photo booth and more.

In addition to the Howl! Festival events in Tompkins Square Park on September 10, 11 and 12, there will be 30 days of Poetry, Theater, Performance Art, Film, Comedy and Dance, September 1-30 at Theatre 80 on St. Mark’s Place, and events throughout the neighborhood at many other venues, including The Bowery Poetry Club, Ella Lounge, Bowery Electric, The Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church and more.

The events in Tompkins Square Park are all free to the public. All additional Howl! events will benefit Howl! H.E.L.P. (Howl Emergency Life Project), an emergency services and health fund administered by The Actors Fund.

For further information on the Howl! Festival and Howl H.E.L.P., please visit www.howlfestival.com

Google Request of the Day

2010-08-28T14:16:00.000-04:00

Please google the word “howl.” The top three results are currently:

1. 1. A Wikipedia page devoted to Allen Ginsberg’s poem

2. 2. Howlfestival.com

3. 3. An IMDB listing of the movie, “Howl,” starring James Franco as Allen Ginsberg.

Now please click on # 2 , the link to howlfestival.com, and catch up on all the latest news…

BTW, did you ever notice that if you google the word “google,” you just keep going back to the same place and you can just endlessly google google? Don’t bother trying it at home. It’s an incredible waste of time. Google “Howl Festival” instead.

Or just go to www.howlfestival.com

Howl! Poetry Events at Theatre 80, St. Mark's Church and Tompkins Square Park

2010-08-28T14:08:00.000-04:00

Monday Sept 6^th Theatre 80 St. Marks: 80 Saint Marks Place 4pm-6pm $10.00

SISTER SON/JI by Sonia Sanchez

In Sister Son/Ji, written by Sonia Sanchez, directed by SC2 and starring Jacqueline Gregg, poet/playwright Sanchez unflinchingly examines the paradoxical notions of liberation within in the Black Power Movement. Sonia Sanchez is a Poet. Mother. Professor. National and International lecturer on Black Culture and Literature, Women’s Liberation, Peace and Racial Justice, as well as an author of over 16 books... Sc2 is the founder & Artistic Director of BeBop Theatre Collective... Jacqueline Gregg, who has performed in countless plays, both classical and modern, also works extensively with various educational theatre organizations, bringing classical as well as contemporary theatre to schools in and around New York City. After the show we will present a Talk-Back with Ms. Sanchez. Door proceeds to benefit the Actors Fund for HOWL! HELP.

Advance Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/124400

Tuesday Sept 7^th Theatre 80 St. Marks: 80 Saint Marks Place 8pm-10:30pm $10.00

THE BEAT LEGACY IN FILM, WORDS & MUSIC:

Ruth Du, Marc Thorman & Bob Holman

ALLEN GINSBERG, WILLIAM BURROUGHS and JOHN CAGE… their groundbreaking and experimental work in the Post War years still resonates and has influenced many of the current generation of artists living and working now in the East Village/Lower East Side. Tonight’s program celebrates that and features RUTH DU's short film 'SIX '55', an historical interpretation of the first night Allen Ginsberg recited 'Howl' in San Francisco, at the Six Gallery in 1955... 2 PIECES BY MARC THORMAN -- 'Writing through Howl (1986) For Allen Ginsberg on his Sixtieth Birthday' by John Cage, an example of Cage's 'writing through' process, which searches the poem 'Howl' sequentially for words that share letters with Allen Ginsberg's name resulting in what Cage called 'mesostic' poetry, his term derived from the word 'acrostic' and 'I Am Right, You Are Wrong,' music by Marc Thorman, text by William S. Burroughs featuring the recorded voice of Allen Ginsberg reading the text to two live improvised instrumental trios. With Marc Thorman: piano, Gregory Post: keyboards, Eric Cooper: cello, Sean Ormiston: string bass, and Patrick O'Reilly & Cory Bracken on percussion. Marc Thorman is a composer, pianist, author and teacher in New York City. His compositions include works for computer, live electronics, solo piano, voice, orchestra, and chamber ensembles, as well as mixed-media works that combine sounds, spoken word, and visual images. Marc earned a doctoral degree in music composition from the City University of New York in 2002 and has taught music theory and history in CUNY colleges citywide. In the 1990s He edited the legendary 'zine 'High Heel News'... So far as we know, BOB HOLMAN and his porkpie are the sole purveyors of the Lower East Side Poetry Hat Trick: he ran readings and was Project Coordinator at the St Mark's Poetry Project from1974-84, helped reopen and was the Original Slammaster of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe 1988-96, and founded and has been Artistic Director of the Bowery Poetry Club since 2002. For good measure, he was on the Board of A Gathering of the Tribes from 1994-2000. He teaches at Columbia and NYU, and recently helped found the Endangered Language Alliance, using poetry to illuminate the plight of vanishing languages and cultures. In his spare time he writes the poems; tonight he reads them to us. Door proceeds to benefit The Actors Fund for HOWL! HELP.

Advance tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/123728

Thursday Sept 9^th Theatre 80 St. Marks: 80 Saint Marks Place 8pm-9:30pm $10.00

FILM: JERRY ARONSON'S 'THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ALLEN GINSBERG'

The re-release of Jerry Aronson's biopic, The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg, timed to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of 'Howl,' suits this wonderful documentary and proves Ginsberg central to all radical artistic and political movements of the past 60 years. The feature-length film, segmented by decade, provides ample footage of Ginsberg's life; but extras added into this package, including footage of his memorial and 35 interviews with artists inspired by the visionary poet--from Beck to Lawrence Ferlinghetti--solidify Ginsberg as an American cultural icon. The film unravels Ginsberg's obsession for life and death around his mother's nervous breakdown and his father's affinity for poetry. Interviews with Ginsberg from each decade, both amongst his Beat friends like Burroughs and Huncke, and later with talk show hosts William Buckley and Dick Cavett, show the author's progression from sexual politics in the '40s and '50s to the 'politics of ecstasy' in the '60s and '70s, when he founded the Flower Power movement with Tim Leary, and later, Naropa Univeristy. Ample footage of Ginsberg's stepmother provides a sensitive outsider's opinion on how he blossomed into one of the most spontaneous minds of the century. The film transcends simple Ginsberg descriptions by framing his life with historical happenings to contextualize the author's words and actions. The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg reminds the viewer that there is no better example of an artist devoted to a life of letters, activism, and idealism than the original beatnik... Following the screening, there will be a talk-back with director Jerry Aronson...Door proceeds to benefit The Actors Fund for HOWL! HELP.

Advance Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/124543

Friday Sept 10^th Tompkins Square Park South Stage 5pm to 7pm FREE !

The HOWL ! Festival in the Park begins with the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Reading: featuring poets Anne Waldman with Ambrose Bye, John Giorno, hosted by Bob Holman with readings by Betsy Andrews, Jennifer Blowdryer, Ana Bozicevic, Guillermo Castro, Steve Dalachinsky, Thomas Fucaloro, Daniel Gallant, Alan Gilbert, Amy King, Mariposa, Douglas A. Martin, Angelo Nikolopoulos, Amy Ouzoonian, Meghann Plunkett, Jon Sands, Susan Scutti, Jean Ann Verlee, Michael Warr, Chavisa Woods, Advocate of Wordz, Ra ARA ya and a group reading of Allen Ginsberg’s poem HOWL.

Saturday Sept 11^th Tompkins Square Park Stage 11am to 7pm FREE !

Poets in the Park : Poets Bill Kushner, Kristin Prevallet, Eileen Myles, Emanuel Xavier, and Dorothy Lasky will read throughout the day.

Tyler Burba’s band: Visit, a band greatly inspired by Allen Ginsberg's life and works, will be paying tribute to Ginsberg's lesser-known musical side by performing songs off his album First Blues as well as songs featured on the boxset Holy Soul Jelly Roll ("Airplane Blues," "Vomit Express," "Gospel Noble Truths"). The band will perform songs of William Blake's that Ginsberg tuned ("Infant Joy," "The Echoing Green," "The Sick Rose"), as well as original songs that were inspired by Ginsberg's work.

More info: www.visit-music.net

Go to www.howlfestival.com see the calendar for complete schedule of days events.

Saturday Sept 11^th and Sunday Sept 12^th Theatre 80 St. Marks:

80 Saint Marks Place: 8pm to 9:30pm $10.00

All-Male OEDIPUS REX

A vibrant rendition of the ancient Greek classic, The Faux-Real Theatre Company in conjunction with Verse Theater Manhattan presents an all-male OEDIPUS REX, 'exactly as Sophocles intended it!' With a cast of 12 utilizing the performance techniques of the ancient Greeks, Faux-Real presents a 'traditional' rendition of Sophocles’ OEDIPUS REX that says 'what was considered traditional 2400 years ago is off-the-hook today.' Incorporating the colorful aesthetic of these ancient performances and utilizing a broad physical style of acting powered by live music, songs and dancing, ALL-MALE OEDIPUS REX looks beyond the 'fate versus free will' interpretations of this classic, to explore the alluring underbelly of this primal text. Their heightened approach reveals what is terrifying and vital in this most tragic of tragedies, enhancing the story’s power to roil our subconscious and awaken the heroes within. Founding Artistic Director of The Faux-Real Theatre Company, Mark Greenfield has created such shows as FUNBOX Times Square, William Shakespeare’s Haunted House and Htebcam (A Backwards Re-working of Macbeth). In addition to his work with Faux-Real, Mark was a writer for the Drew Barrymore film Whip It, and the lead actor in the Amir Naderi film VEGAS: Based on a True Story (to be released this fall). Greenfield toured the country for two-years with IMAGO the Theatre Mask Ensemble, and he played Arlecchino for five-years with the Southern Italian Commedia dell’Arte company I Giullari Di Piazza. Door proceeds to benefit The Actors Fund for HOWL! HELP.

More Information: http://www.fauxreal.org

Advance Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/124635

Monday, Sep 13 Theatre 80 St. Marks: 80 Saint Marks Place 8pm -10:30pm $10.00

Regie Cabico’s “that bird looks like 2 mustaches kissing”

A queer multidisciplinary exploration of love, marriage and gender, curated and hosted by spoken word pioneer and comedian Regie Cabico. With film director and monologuist Silas Howard, performance artist Heather Arc and others... Regie Cabico is a spoken word pioneer having won the Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam and is the first openly queer and Asian American performer to take top prizes in the National Poetry Slam. Television credits include 2 seasons of HBO’s Def Poetry Jam. He is the recipient of three New York Innovative Theater Award Nominations for his work in the New York Company of TOO MUCH LIGHT MAKES THE BABY GO BLIND, with an award for Best Performance Art Production. The Kenyon Review recently named him 'The Lady Gaga of Poetry' and Bust Magazine named him in the 100 Men We Love... Door proceeds to benefit The Actors Fund for HOWL! HELP.

Advance Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/124644

Thursday, Sep 16 Saint Marks Church In-The-Bowery,

131 East 10th Street (at Second Avenue) 8 pm - 10 pm $8.00

The Howl! Arts Project 2010 Presents: POETRY TURN ON !

Poets Thomas Fucaloro, Meghann Plunkett, Jon Sands, Jeanann Verlee, Michael Warr of The Bowery Poetry Club, poets Steve Cannon , Steve Dalachinsky, Amy Ouzoonian, Susan Scutti, Chavisa Woods, RA ARA ya of A Gathering of the Tribes, poets Daniel Gallant, Vanessa Hidary, Mariposa, Advocate of Wordz of Nuyorican Poets Cafe, and poets Julian Brolaski, Joanna Fuhrman, Paolo Javier, Dorothea Lasky of The Poetry Project come together one night only to share their poems with you... Hosted by Nathaniel Siegel to benefit HOWL! H.E.L.P.

Advance Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/124975

Saturday, Sept 18th and Sunday Sept 19th Theatre 80 St. Marks:

80 Saint Marks Place 2pm - 3:15pm $5.00

URBAN WORD: VERBAL FIRE

Photo: Urban Word Live at The Apollo Theater

Urban Word mentor Regie Cabico and Executive Director Michael Cirelli curate and host a spoken word showcase by New York’s young poets and their mentors who have taken top prizes at Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam competition, Speak Green at Sundance Film Festival, and the National Poetry Slam. See why they are the current reigning champions on HBO’s Brave New Voices documentary... Regie Cabico is a spoken word pioneer having won the Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam and is the first openly queer and Asian American performer to take top prizes in the National Poetry Slam. Television credits include 2 seasons of HBO’s Def Poetry Jam. He is the recipient of three New York Innovative Theater Award Nominations for his work in the New York Company of TOO MUCH LIGHT MAKES THE BABY GO BLIND, with an award for Best Performance Art Production. The Kenyon Review recently named him 'The Lady Gaga of Poetry' and Bust Magazine named him in the 100 Men We Love... Michael Cirelli is the Executive Director of Urban Word NYC, a grassroots non-profit organization that provides free, safe, uncensored and ongoing writing and performance opportunities for NYC teens. He is also the director of the Annual Spoken Word & Hip-Hop Teacher & Community Leader Training Institute at the University of Wisconsin that won the 2007 North American Association of Summer Sessions 'Creative and Innovative Program Award.' He is the author of the award-winning teaching guide, 'Hip-Hop Poetry & the Classics' (Milk Mug, 2004), a standards-based curriculum that explores the relationship between hip-hop lyrics and 'classic' poems. He is currently working on two other curricula utilizing hip-hop to engage students. His collection of poetry, 'Lobster with Ol’ Dirty Bastard' (Hanging Loose, 2008) was a NY Times Book Review independent press best seller, and his next book, 'Vacations on the Black Star Line' (Hanging Loose, 2009) is forthcoming. Along with teaching writing workshops and performing across the country, he was previously the director of PEN Center West’s 'Poet in the Classroom Program.' He was featured on season 5 of Russell Simmons' Def Poetry... Founded on the belief that teenagers can and must speak for themselves, Urban Word NYC™ (UW) has been at the forefront of the youth spoken word, poetry and hip-hop movements in New York City since 1999. Door proceeds to benefit The Actors Fund for HOWL! HELP.

More Information: http://www.urbanwordnyc.org/uwnyc/index.php?q=About

Advance Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/124662

For further information, please visit www.howlfestival.com

Howl! Spotlight -Howl! Festival's Traditional Opening Night Reading of Allen Ginsberg's Poem, "Howl," in Tompkins Square Park- September 10th, 2010, 5-7PM

2010-08-25T00:21:00.000-04:00

Bob Holman

The 7th Annual Howl! Festival, the East Village Festival of the Arts, will begin Friday night, September 10th, 5 to 7 PM, with the festival’s traditional reading of the iconic Allen Ginsberg poem, “Howl.” Taking place on the South Stage, (Avenue A and 7th Street), the reading will feature an amalgam of the East Village’s finest poets, including featured poets John Giorno and Anne Waldman w/ Ambrose Bye. The reading will be led by poet Bob Holman, proprietor of The Bowery Poetry Club, founding member of Howl! Festival and East Village luminary.

Each poet will do a short reading of their original work, followed by a group reading of “Howl.” Poets scheduled to appear include: Betsy Andrews, Jennifer Blowdryer, Ana Bozicevic, Guillermo Castro, Steve Dalachinsky, Thomas Fucaloro, Greg Fuchs, Daniel Gallant, Alan Gilbert, Amy King, Mariposa, Douglas A. Martin, Angelo Nikolopoulos, Amy Ouzoonian, Meghann Plunkett, Jon Sands, Susan Scutti, Jean Ann Verlee, Michael Warr, Chavisa Woods, Advocate of Wordz, Ra Ara ya. Host and MC Bob Holman.

For further information, please visit www.howlfestival.com

John Giorno

Anne Waldman photo by Greg Fuchs

Ambrose Bye photo by Nathaniel Siegel

Howl! Spotlight -Personal Appearance by Filmmaker Jerry Aronson to Screen and Discuss...

2010-08-24T18:52:00.000-04:00

JERRY ARONSON'S 'THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ALLEN GINSBERG'

In-person appearance by the filmmaker Jerry Aronson with Q and A and DVD signing.

A New York Exclusive screening. One night only - to benefit the HOWL ! H.E.L.P. Fund !

Thursday, Sep 9 8 PM - 9:30 PM

$10.00

Theatre 80 St. Marks, 80 St. Marks Place 212-388-0388

Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/124543

For further information, please visit www.howlfestival.com

Howl! Spotlight - LOW LIFE 4: BEAT GIRL Sunday, September 12th from 5PM-7PM at the Howl! Festival in Tompkins Square Park

2010-08-21T23:22:00.000-04:00

On September 12, JACKIE FACTORY producers CHI CHI VALENTI and JOHNNY DYNELL will present their fourth annual LOW LIFE to crown the 2010 HOWL! FESTIVAL. LOW LIFE is the free and fabulous Sunday evening climax to HOWL! - a two hour spectacular inspired by East Village decades past. Each year's theme is served up in a lavishly costumed production starring dozens of downtown's finest. This year's LOW LIFE 4: BEAT GIRL pays homage to homegrown fifties beatnik culture and the BOWERY BEATS - the rebel painters, poets and performers drifting east from Greenwich Village. The show also sheds light on the Women of the Beat Generation, often overlooked, and their influence on 50's Burlesque.

The BEAT theme of LOW LIFE 4 will be interpreted by multiple dance companies, in vocal and musical performances, burlesque and drag renderings and of course - spoken word! The bill includes international drag icons JOEY ARIAS and SHERRY VINE, Burlesque Queen DIRTY MARTINI and Boylesque King TIGGER, butoh company VANGELINE THEATER, spoken word icons PAUL SKIFF and BOBBY MILLER, sensationalist AMBER RAY, chanteuse HEATHER LITTEER and the Low Life debuts of BROWN GIRLS BURLESQUE and the RACHEL KLEIN THEATER. As in years past, LOW LIFE features two MCs - recording artist PAUL ALEXANDER (of THE ONES and JACKIE 60) with EMPRESS CHI CHI VALENTI, the show's co-producer.

Press Release -Howl! Festival 2010 Schedule

2010-08-18T11:44:00.000-04:00

Howl! Festival Celebrates its Seventh Anniversary

with a Vibrant Schedule of Events

Tompkins Square Park -NYC’s East Village

September 10th, 11th and 12^th

The 7th Annual Howl! Festival, the East Village Festival of the Arts, will begin Friday night, September 10th, 5 to 7 PM, with the festival’s traditional reading of the iconic Allen Ginsberg poem, “Howl.” Taking place on the South stage, ( Avenue A and 7th Street), the reading will feature an amalgam of the East Village’s finest poets, including John Giorno and Anne Waldman and will be led by poet Bob Holman, proprietor of The Bowery Poetry Club, founding member of Howl! Festival and East Village luminary.

Opening with a program sensitive to the memory of 9/11, Tompkins Square Park will resound with Buddhist gongs, chanting monks, chamber music, yoga practice, poets and musicians, coupled with additional quiet and tranquil activities.

On both Saturday, September 11th and Sunday, September 12th, The Lower East Side Girls Club will present The East Village Earth Circus, including live performances, art and science projects, pony rides (!), and numerous other interactive activities for children.

For adults, both Saturday and Sunday will be filled with surprises, as well as HOWL’s long-established events such as the fun-filled, innovative and entertaining Hip Hop Howl, House of Howl and Low Life.

The full park schedule is below. For further information, please visit www.howlfestival.com^.

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 10th

SOUTH STAGE: Avenue A at 7th Street

5:00 – 7:00p Annual reading of the Allen Ginsberg poem, “Howl,” to commemorate the opening of the Howl! Festival, featuring: Anne Waldman w/Ambrose Bye, John Giorno, Betsy Andrews, Jennifer Blowdryer, Ana Bozicevic, Guillermo Castro, Steve Dalachinsky, Thomas Fucaluro, Greg Fuchs, Daniel Gallant, Alan Gilbert, Amy King, Mariposa, Douglas A. Martin, Angelo Nikolopoulos, Amy Ouzunian, Meghann Plunkett, Jon Sands, Susan Scotti, Jean Ann Verlee, Michael Warr, Chavisa Woods, Advocate of Wordz, Ra Ara ya. Host and MC Bob Holman.

Suffer (Art Gallery

616 East 9^th Street between Avenues B and C

8:00 – 9:00p Theresa Byrnes’ -“The Measure of Man” – A Howl! Festival Special Event: Perfomance Art Through A Storefront Window in One Hour. Byrnes challenges the assertion of the centrality of the human soul in the order of creation, as dictated by Leonardo DaVinci ‘s’ The Vitruvian Man’.

SATURDAY 9/11

Between Avenues A and B in front of the Park Office

Finding Sukah Yoga

11:00a - throughout the day: Finding Sukah Yoga, the East Village’s newest Yoga center, will welcome both adults and children. Bring your yoga mat or borrow one.

SOUTH STAGE Avenue A at 7^th Street

1:00 - 1:30p Open Music Ensemble - Awakening the senses, with sounds both pure and contemplative, this pioneering cooperative of acoustic improv musicians guides the heart and spirit in meditation, relaxation and healing.

1:40 - 2:00p Poetry –Bill Kushner + Poet TBA

2:10 - 2:40p Vangeline Theater - performing " Mosaic", a resonant butoh dance piece to commemorate 9/11.

2:45 - 3:00p Poetry –Eileen Myles

3:10 - 3:40p Tyler Burba’s “Visit,” Tyler, as a solo artist, will be paying tribute to Allen Ginsberg’s lesser-known musical side, performing Allen Ginsberg songs.

3:45 – 4:15p Poetry –Emmanuel Xavier + 2 Poets TBA

4:25 - 4:55p Timbila - Ecstatic African rock with an East Village edge, Timbila soars with stinging guitar riffs and sassy celestial vocals.

5:05 - 5:35p Chris Rael – Sitar afficionado, this dynamic composer turns Indian and Western music into a mix of highly refined pop.

5:45 - 6:15p Vangeline Theater - performing " Mosaic", a resonant butoh dance piece to commemorate 9/11.

6:30- 7:00p Arthur’s Landing - Arthur’s Landing is a group of musicians, all of whom worked at various times in various contexts with the late Arthur Russell, a cellist and composer from Iowa who lived on the Lower East Side for most of the later part of his too-short life. Russell brought together the worlds of dance, pop, and folk with that of downtown’s “new music,” and fused Western and Eastern musical traditions, driven by his engagement with Buddhist thought and practice. He collaborated often with Allen Ginsberg and Phillip Glass was also an early mentor. Arthur’s Landing (songs by Arthur Russell) features Mustafa Ahmed (percussion) ,Joyce Bowden (voice) Ernie Brooks (voice, bass),Steven Hall (voice, guitar), ), Bill Ruyle(drums, hammered dulcimer), John Scherman (lead guitar), Peter Zummo and special guest Nomi Ruiz

SUNDAY, Sept . 12

Between Avenues A and B in front of the Park Office

11:00a and throughout the day:

Finding Sukah Yoga, the East Village’s newest Yoga center, will welcome both adults and children. Bring your yoga mat or borrow one.

SOUTH STAGE: Avenue A at 7^th Street

Noon - 12:30p Rosie's Broadway Kids, performing a cabaret- style show. RBKids’ most senior students will take the stage singing Broadway classics.

12:35 - 12:55p Lower East Side Boys Choir -straight off the stage from their triumphant performance at Lincoln Center, the choir from The Boys Club of New York on Avenue A and 10^th Street bring their beautiful harmonies to their first appearance at the Howl! Festival.

1:00 - 2:15p Hip Hop Howl – A massive live mixtape showcase featuring the hottest up and coming artists in the country.

3:00 - 4:30p House of Howl - A flurry of color, costume and cavortin' Riki Colon's House of Howl is a vivacious variety show featuring voguers, vocalists, dancers and trendy fashion designers. “In Search Of a Dream,” marries mixed media performance -dance, song, fashion and art - in a dizzying display of high-energy house pop and contemporary couture. Features performances by House of Ninja dancers Javier, Edwin and Star Ninja and dancer Akiko Tokuoka. Fashions by the hot NYC Hemma Collection with live musical performance by Yoshi, music written and composed by Ev Price.

5:00 - 7:00p Low Life 4: BEAT GIRL Chi Chi Valenti, Johnny Dynell and a cast of colorful downtown characters pay homage to homegrown fifties beatnik culture and the BOWERY BEATS – the rebel painters, poets and performers drifting east from Greenwich Village. The show also sheds light on the Women of the Beat Generation, often overlooked, and their influence on 50s burlesque. The bill includes international drag icons JOEY ARIAS and SHERRY VINE, Burlesque Queen DIRTY MARTINI and Boylesque King TIGGER, butoh company VANGELINE THEATER, spoken word icons PAUL SKIFF and BOBBY MILLER, sensationalist AMBER RAY, chanteuse HEATHER LITTEER and the Low Life debuts of BROWN GIRLS BURLESQUE and the RACHEL KLEIN THEATER. As in years past, LOW LIFE features two MCs - recording artist PAUL ALEXANDER (of THE ONES and JACKIE 60) with EMPRESS CHI CHI VALENTI, the show's co-producer.

(Children’s) NORTH STAGE - Avenue A at 10^th Street

HOWL! Festival presents The Lower Eastside Girls Club’s

East Village Earth Circus

SATURDAY, 9/11

12:30PM- Middle Jamboree

1 PM Brady Rymer

2 PM- Rosie’s Broadway Kids

3 PM Girls Club Flamenco Dancers

3:15 PM Rod Rogers Youth Dance Company

4 PM Taikoza Japanese Drummers

5 PM Youth Poets

6 PM Free Art Society: The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party

Saturday Only:

Main Events:

Al Gori’s Solar Powered Merry-go-Round

The Bio-Bus (filled with microscopes and cool science stuff)

The Federation of Black Cowboys- Pony Rides (1-3 PM)

In the Yoga Tent: demonstration classes for all ages taught by Trish from Bikram Yoga and Elena from Vira Yoga (noon – 3pm)

Saturday and Sunday

On the Midway

Fortune Telling Monkey

Robot Pony

Hula Hoop lessons

Face Painting (LES Girls Club)

Photo Booth

Museum of LES Icons (paper mache heads)

Girlzilla (the 14 foot tall girl robot)

Popcorn and Cotton Candy

Art Programs and Activities for Kids

!Splash! mural painting on canvas and mask making by AAI

Recycled Paper Flower Workshops (LES Girls Club)/ Cindy Ruskin Arts

Double Dutch Demonstrations/Nicolina’s Hearts of the World Mural Project

Environmental / Community Organizations with info booths:

•The EVCC- East Village Community Coalition- Biking and Alternative Transportation.

•CHEJ (Center for Environmental Justice) Anti PVC Campaign (Sunday only)

350.org - Organizing around climate change issues and for 10/10/10 day of action

•Girls Gone Green (LESGC) - air quality and household cleaning products education

•FAB - 4^th Arts Block- promotion and outreach, community theaters

•Middle Collegiate Church (Sat. only)

•POP - Power of Peace Youth Booth

•Peoples Garden NYC - organizing for community gardens

•Voto Latino - voter registration materials

•East Village X - new community website

(Children’s) NORTH STAGE Avenue A at 10^th Street

SUNDAY Sept 12

noon: Opening Parade through park with the Youth Arts Marching Band.

12:30p The Youth Arts Marching Band

1:00p Jerry Joy Music and the Louie Band

2:00p Ben Rudnick and Friends Band

3:00p Art- Farm / Circus for a Fragile Planet

4:30p Solar Punch- a solar powered band

Center Ring:

House of Yes- Direct from Brooklyn and the Mermaid Parade: performing Aerial Acts

On the Midway: Roaming performers…

Circus Amok with jugglers, unicyclists, stilt walkers, clowns and more

Annie Hickman’s The Lizard Lady costume act

Free Arts Society- wild and wacky costumes and musicians