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Have a 'Celebration' with live music in Queens and more things to do around NYC in the coming week
By
Steve Smith
Published Jul 21, 2023
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C. Brandon/Redferns / Getty Images
By
Steve Smith
Published Jul 21, 2023
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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.
– Steve Smith
Test your hip-hop sample IQ in a new game night
On Saturday, New Yorkers who love R&B, hip-hop, and playing Bingo can attend a Brooklyn event that combines all three into a game night. The event, called "Listening is Fundamental," is for music lovers who want to test their knowledge by listening to snippets of original songs, and then matching them to songs on your Bingo card that sampled those tracks. Before and after the game you can socialize with old friends and meet new people. The event starts at 5 p.m.; for more information and tickets, visit here.
– Precious Fondren
Each of The Stay's "canvas cabins" has an en suite bathroom and a private deck.
Kinda get some nature, by glamping around NYC
Want to spend time in the great outdoors, but don’t want to buy a tent, let alone pitch it? Or want to sleep near nature, but with access to a flushing toilet? Glamping may be for you. There are exciting options in and around New York City, ranging from shipping containers in Greenpoint, to domes in the Hudson Valley, to a restored helicopter in Connecticut. Some offer other perks, too, like access to a professional recording studio, or the chance to spend time with rescued and disabled animals. You can read all about them in our new glamping guide.
– Kerry Shaw
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.
– Steve Smith
Conductor Louis Langrée starts his final series as music director of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra on Saturday.
Sachyn Mital
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.
– Steve Smith
Savor a bouquet of Baroque delights in Central Park
It's summer in our city, and free music at the highest level is one of the benefits of being a New Yorker. Since 1905, the Naumburg Orchestral Concerts have been providing audiences with great music for free. The series is currently celebrating a century at the Naumburg Bandshell in beautiful Central Park, and for its penultimate concert of the season, stupendous violinist Aisslinn Nosky leads her handpicked band in a bouquet of Baroque delights. The concert happens on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., and if you can't make it in person, you can hear it live on WQXR! More details here.
– Ed Yim, WQXR
Settle in and enjoy a new album, a classic session and a memoir from singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams.
Danny Clinch
Savor a staycation with Lucinda Williams
Singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams made her major breakthrough in her mid-40s with the rocking country album “Car Wheels On A Gravel Road,” released on June 30, 1998. Now, 25 years later, she's published a memoir, “Don't Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You,” and released her 16th album, “Stories From a Rock N Roll Heart.” Williams joined us this week for a Silver Liner Notes conversation about her seminal album's anniversary and her latest releases. Take it all in now, and then make plans to catch her on tour in October at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester or the Beacon Theatre here in Manhattan.
– Alison Stewart and Simon Close, “All of It”
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new york city
nyc events
Steve Smith
Steve Smith is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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