My contributions to "7 Picks a Week," the weekly Gothamist guide of arts and culture events and happenings in and around New York City. The complete article can be found here.
Celebrate summer music in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park
It’s been 50 years since Kool & the Gang scored their first hit with “Jungle Boogie,” but the group has even more history: as Jersey City teenagers, its members first hooked up as the Jazziacs in 1964. Two of those founders, bassist Robert “Kool” Bell and drummer-turned-keyboardist George Brown, are still in the band, which just dropped a new album, “People Just Wanna Have Fun,” and Brown has just published a memoir, “Too Hot: Kool & The Gang & Me.” The band is headlining a free City Parks SummerStage show at Flushing Meadows Corona Park on Saturday night; get your groove on with songs like “Ladies Night,” “Too Hot” and “Celebration,” and then come back Sunday evening for a “Bhangra Bacchanal” hosted by Basement Bhangra founder DJ Rekha featuring legendary Punjabi vocalist Malkit Singh.
Visit a cemetery for a taste of New York City on film
Rooftop Films has kept NYC film fans busy with free outdoor screenings of action flicks, family fare and documentaries all summer long. Now, this weekend, they're hosting one of their signature events, and while it's not free, you'll get a lot of value for under $20. "New York Non-Fiction," invitingly described as "Eight million stories, five short films, one night," opens with live music from Mediterranean surf-rock stylists Habbina Habbina, followed by five short films covering such NYC topics as artistic genius, delivery workers and the dollar slice. It's all happening at Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery on Saturday at around 8 p.m., and you can order tickets here.
Mark the end of an era with Mostly Mozart
The Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra is back in action during the weeks ahead — and it's a farewell engagement in more ways than one. The talented French conductor Louis Langrée has served as music director of the festival and its band since 2003. During his 20-year tenure, he revitalized the orchestra and helped to turn the festival from a sleepy summer series into a must-see proposition. This summer's series is his last, and he'll start with a free concert in Damrosch Park on Saturday night. After that, the orchestra returns to David Geffen Hall for the first time since 2019, presenting a series of choose-what-you=pay concerts. The program on Tuesday and Wednesday demonstrates Langrée's knack for forging meaningful connections between the classical tradition and the wider world, pairing Mozart's Mass in C minor with a world premiere by Amir ElSaffar, an improvising trumpeter of Iraqi-American descent. A sense of farewell also extends to the orchestra, which will return next summer with a new name and a new music director, Jonathon Heyward, who you can see in action Aug. 4 and 5. Check out details for the entire series here.
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