Summer Culture Preview: Summerstage, Celebrate Brooklyn and More

[MUSIC - Marden Hill: Hijack]

Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. If you were wearing a winter coat earlier this week like I was, you might not believe me, but summer is right around the corner, and that means it's time to look ahead to all the fun, often free stuff to do and see around town and beyond. We're going to end the show each day during the membership drive with guests who can clue us in on some of the don't-miss cultural offerings of this warming season.

We will start today with another of our team members, WNYC and Gothamist arts and culture reporter Ryan Kailath, who is going to kick this off with some highlights from the big festivals happening in parks around town, SummerStage, Celebrate Brooklyn. Yes, we're almost at that season again, and the new kid on the block, Little Island. I've been there. It's really cool. Great setting. We'll see what they actually have up. Hey, Ryan.

Ryan Kailath: Hey, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Set the stage for SummerStage. It builds itself as our city's largest free outdoor performing arts festival. In case someone's new to town, how would you describe it?

Ryan Kailath: Yes, New Yorkers who've been here for a while know this one very well. It's probably the most famous. We heard Liz Kim a little while ago talking about budget cuts. We do still have a little money in the budget for free shows all summer. SummerStage is maybe the most famous. It's at the Rumsey Playfield, which is in Central Park on the east side around 71st Street or so. This one kicks off June 1st is the first real show with the jazz singer Andra Day, who is amazing. People might know her from that Billie Holiday movie that came out a few years ago.

Brian Lehrer: Right. She played Billie Holiday.

Ryan Kailath: She did. Won a Grammy for that. Fun fact about her, she grew up as a church singer, like so many of the great soul divas did. The story she likes to tell is that Stevie Wonder's wife at the time saw a clip of her singing in front of a strip mall in LA, showed it to Stevie, who called her. That's how she got her start.

Brian Lehrer: Some other ones. This one caught my eye. Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, touring on a new album with the Sun Ra Arkestra. Now, if you know Sonic Youth and you know Sun Ra, you're going to say, what? That's Thursday, June 13th and I don't know, that's like- I never know how to describe Sun Ra because it's really avant-garde wild jazz, but with Sonic Youth.

Ryan Kailath: Yes, experimental. Which is maybe the adjectives that the two have in common. Kim Gordon was a singer and bass player in Sonic Youth, which aging rock fans like myself still lament the breakup of that band some ten years ago, but she's arguably had the most interesting solo career of all the members, tons of solo projects and collaborations. She wrote a best-selling memoir about her time in New York and other places. This is her second solo album. It's amazing. It sounds completely different from Sonic Youth, almost like electronic. She sounds like a 20-year-old Soundcloud rapper or something. It's amazing.

Brian Lehrer: There's that. There's going to be a comedy night, I see. This is Thursday, August 8th. We're looking ahead with David Cross, Bob Odenkirk, Sarah Silverman, Fred Armisen. That's a nice comedy lineup. A little spoiler here for something that we're supposed to unveil later. I'm going to be hosting a SummerStage event in honor of WNYC Centennial that's going to be Monday, September 9th, with an all star public radio cast and friends yet to be named. Just saying. That one's going to be free. Are other SummerStage events ticketed?

Ryan Kailath: There's a few benefit concerts, all of these big summer festivals that are mostly free. It's not all city funding, so they usually have benefit shows that cost 40, 50, something like that.

Brian Lehrer: Celebrate Brooklyn. Tell us about Celebrate Brooklyn this year.

Ryan Kailath: They've been around since 1979, I think under another name at first, always in the same place, the Prospect Park Bandshell. Their kickoff is June 8th. They're calling it a family day, like a family-friendly show and party with a DJ crew called Halluci Nation and a hip hop artist, Xiuhtezcatl, if I'm pronouncing that correctly. Other cool headliners throughout the season include Fishbone, that's the Ska Punk band people know.

Seun Kuti, son of Fela Kuti, who plays a real similar style of afrobeat, returning funk and soul singer-songwriter Me'Shell Ndegeocello. They're doing a movie screening of Do the Right Thing, which the executive director told me there will be special guest speakers unannounced. She said they're trying to get Mr. Lee, but we'll see what happens.

Brian Lehrer: Do I see that there's going to be a recording of an NPR Tiny Desk concert as part of Celebrate Brooklyn this year?

Ryan Kailath: Yes, they have that contest every year to pick the Tiny Desk winner. The winner, when announced, will join the show at Celebrate Brooklyn along with the Sacred Souls who are the headliners.

Brian Lehrer: That's fun. Now let's talk about Little Island. It's along the Hudson in lower Manhattan, along the Hudson River Park down there, not far from the high line, really. I think it's even described as being connected to the high line at the bottom of the high line. For people who haven't seen it, I want to do something there. I think Little Island looks like such a cool place either to be in the audience or be on stage. How are they kicking it off?

Ryan Kailath: Yes, it's an amazing venue. I've been to shows that they have two small venues on the island, which Barry Diller, the billionaire media magnate, built, but it's a public park. They have a small lawn, mostly lawn and a few benches area they call The Glade. There'll be free shows there that are not announced yet, but it's kind of an interesting concept. Each week a different curator will curate a week of free shows there. There's a week of comedy curated by the comic Morgan J. A week of jazz, curated by Cécile McLorin Salvant.

A week of cabaret performances by Justin Vivian Bond selecting the cabaret performers. That should be pretty interesting. Those are all free. Then they have this much bigger venue, the amphitheater, which is 700 seats facing out towards the Hudson River, is a gorgeous backdrop, especially at sunset. Shows there are going to be $25, and it's the first season they've been doing this since the place opened in 2021, but this is the first season where they're commissioning all new works completely for the paid shows.

You pay $25 and you are going to be the first audience to see this stuff ever. That kicks off June 1st with How Long Blues. That's a new full length work by the legendary choreographer Twyla Tharp, and she's collaborating with T Bone Burnett, the Grammy award-winning composer. A collaboration, dance, and music between them will be the first show.

Brian Lehrer: That's a great kickoff. We leave it there for today for our arts and culture summer preview. We'll do this at the end of the show every day during the drive. Our arts and culture reporter, Ryan Kailath. I think you're coming back tomorrow on another topic, right?

Ryan Kailath: Oh, yes. Again, hard to tell when it's rainy like this, but it's almost outdoor movie season too. So we'll talk about that.

Brian Lehrer: Tomorrow outdoor movies. Thanks, Ryan.

Ryan Kailath: Thanks.

Brian Lehrer: Coming up next, after the latest news, it's All Of It. Hear new music from Kara Jackson, the singer-songwriter and former National Youth Poet Laureate, previews her album, Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? Plus, the new film We Grown Now, which follows two imaginative ten-year-old boys growing up in a Chicago public housing project. That's coming up on All Of It right after the news.

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