Your Culture Essentials for July

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Photo: Adam Carter via Flickr

Photo: Adam Carter via Flickr

There will be plenty of fireworks this month, both in the sky and on our social calendars. July’s cultural events are full of glitter, surprise and overwrought emotion—all of which can be found in our first pick, a screening of Death Becomes Her in Bushwick. The other nine entries on the countdown this month, from a beach read centered around an art-world mystery to a psychedelically immersive screening, are equally as incendiary. Read on for more of our July culture essentials.

10. Before reality TV made us painfully aware of the perils of plastic surgery, there was Death Becomes Her, to make us reconsider how far we’d be willing to go to stay forever young. Taste of Streep, the Instagram fan page dedicated to Meryl Streep, which fills its feed with photoshopped images of the actress as food, is screening the ‘92 film classic, starring Streep, Goldie Hawn and Bruce Willis, on July 13 at Syndicated.


the muse cover by jessie burton9. It’s peak beach-read season, and this month, in addition to my blanket and a bottle of sunscreen, I’ll be taking a copy of Jessie Burton’s new novel, The Muse, to the shore. Burton’s new book, out July 26, interweaves the stories of two main characters, a Caribbean émigré in Britain and a Viennese heiress in Spain. Though they’re living 30 years apart, the two women find their fates influenced by the same work of art, a painting by an emergent Spanish artist with Picasso-level aspirations, whose mysterious death has been haunting Europe’s art scene for four decades.


A scene from Supercinema's The Wizard of Oz dance party. Photo: The McKittrick Hotel

A scene from Supercinema’s The Wizard of Oz dance party. Photo: The McKittrick Hotel

8. Once a month the McKittrick Hotel in Chelsea, best known as the home of Sleep No More, plays host to a different type of interactive performance called Supercinema. Rather than ask its guests to don white masks, Supercinema encourages participants to immerse themselves in classic films and come in costume for a monthly, queer-friendly dance party. Past flicks have included The Wizard of OZ, The Great Gatsby and Alice in Wonderland. This month’s film is still TBA, but I’m confident, based on selections thus far, that it’ll be worth putting on your dancing shoes.


Brooklyn playwright Mia Rovegno will stage her new play about the mythological properties of this thing with call home in Red Hook this month. Photo: Nothin's Gonna Change My World

Brooklyn playwright Mia Rovegno will stage her new play about the mythological properties of this thing we call home in Red Hook this month. Photo: Nothin’s Gonna Change My World

7. Dorothy had it right: There’s no place like home. But Brooklyn director and writer Mia Rovegno is questioning whether the place our heart supposedly resides and our hats are allegedly hung is merely mythological in her new play, Nothin’s Gonna Change My World. The play, which was inspired by NPR reports, anonymous letters, living blogs and the Occupy Movement, is being staged over two weekends, July 8–10 and July 15–17, on the Waterfront Museum’s floating theater in Red Hook.


6. If this culture roundup is giving you the distinct feeling you’re not in Kansas anymore, you’d be correct. I’m going to ask you to follow the yellow brick road one more time, though, and head to House of Yes for an immersive screening of The Wizard of OZ vs. Dark Side of the Moon, which will mash up the cinematic classic with the 1973 Pink Floyd album and finally put this decades-old rumor regarding how the two are a match made in psychotropic heaven to rest.


The spread from one of Chef Chris Santos' picnic baskets. Photo: Pinknic

The spread from one of Chef Chris Santos’ picnic baskets. Photo: Pinknic

5. If you need any more of a reason to think pink when it comes to wine this month, Pinknic, the self-proclaimed world’s largest rosé-themed picnic and music festival, is taking place on Governors Island July 9 and 10. By some miracle, this event, which allows you to BYOB (bring your own basket) or order baskets built for two, whose menus were created by Chris Santos, chef and owner of Stanton Social and Beauty & Essex in the Lower East Side, isn’t sold out yet. In between all the drinking, picnic goers can expect DJ sets and sessions by bands like Claptone, Miami Horror, Tube & Berger, Slow Hands and Tortured Soul.


4. While New Orleans might be the birthplace of jazz, you don’t have to travel to the Crescent City during the dog days of summer to hear the likes of Dr. John and Kermit Ruffins perform. Instead, hop a train to Queens and check out Louis’ Armstrong’s Wonderful World Festival on July 16, where both NOLA legends will pay tribute to the iconic trumpet player who was born in New Orleans, but lived much of his life in Queens.


Expect seafood, fresh produce and plenty of smoke and fire from the Joint Venture Dinner at the Farm on Kent July 7. Photo: North Brooklyn Farms

Expect seafood, fresh produce and plenty of smoke and fire from the Joint Venture Dinner at the Farm on Kent July 7. Photo: North Brooklyn Farms

3. If you’re looking for a way to dine al fresco this month, head to The Farm on Kent for a Joint Venture Dinner. On July 7, Danny Newberg and Nialls Fallon will form a dynamic duo and collaborate to created a paired menu of dishes featuring seafood, seasonal produce and foraged ingredients. It’s grilling season, so expect a fair amount of smoke and fire to be infused throughout the meal.


 

Tom Sachs (American, born 1966). Clusterfuck, 2014. Porcelain and mixed media, 14 x 24 x 7 1/2 in. (35.6 x 61 x 19.1 cm). Collection of Max Power Jacobellis, Washington, CT. Courtesy of the artist

Tom Sachs (American, born 1966). Clusterfuck, 2014. Porcelain and mixed media, 14 x 24 x 7 1/2 in. (35.6 x 61 x 19.1 cm). Collection of Max Power Jacobellis, Washington, CT. Courtesy of the artist.

2. Whether they’ve being held over head or slung over a shoulder, boom boxes hold a special place in the collective heart of our popular culture, and artist Tom Sachs knows how to tug those strings. Brooklyn Museum is currently mounting a retrospective in its Rubin Pavilion, which takes 18 of his boom box sculptures and transforms the space into a living sound system.


1. Because it’s summer, our cultural consumption, like our attention spans and clothing choices, tends to be light. There are few things fluffier than a summer blockbuster, and this month, that comes in the form of the new, female-driven remake of Ghostbusters, out July 15. Let haters hate–see it for yourself with a tub of popcorn, or maybe a Snickers ice cream bar and see whether or not the guffaws flow. At some point this month, I definitely plan to soak up some air conditioning and let the comedic genius of co-stars Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon wash over me, and you should, too.

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