Long Island City event round-up; February 8th-14th

Fashion Week Trunk Show & Poetry Open Mic Night at Manducatis Rustica

Tuesday 2/9

• Why Leave Astoria?! is hosting a Lost viewing party at Studio Square from 8pm-11pm. There will be drink specials of $5 sangria and $12 pitchers as well as “Lost on the Beach.” “Bring your Lost friends as we will again be playing Lost trivia in the commercial breaks. Each week, the winners will get VIP seats in leather recliners with their own 60″ tv and a round on the house. [...] The episode starts at 9, but we’ll have some surprises for the early birds.” 35-33 36th St, LIC/Astoria, 718.383.1001

Wednesday 2/10

• Help kick off Fashion Week and honor women past and present with a Trunk Show and Poetry Open Mic Night at Manducatis Rustica presented by Ethereal Boutique and Matted LIC. The Trunk Show takes place from 6-9pm, followed by the Open Mic from 7-9pm with Rishanna Blake – poet, teacher, and songwriter – as the lead opener. 46-33 Vernon Blvd, LIC, 718.937.1312 Note: RESCHEDULED DUE TO SNOWSTORM FOR FEBRUARY 17TH, 6-9pm.

• LICBDC is hosting a Financing Seminar from 8-9:30am at the UN Federal Credit Union Building in LIC. “The presenters will help you understand your borrowing and credit needs, what banks need to approve lines of credit, installment loans, and commercial mortgages, and how to find the right financing product for your business.” No charge to attend, networking and continental breakfast, RSVP to Indra Smith: 718.786.5300 x 21 or ismith@licbdc.org. 24-10 44th Road, LIC Note: RESCHEDULED DUE TO SNOWSTORM, DATE TBA.

• Now playing at the Secret Theatre: ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ at the Big Secret running February 10th-14th, 17th-20th @ 8pm; matinees on Feb 13th & 20th @ 3:30pm, tickets $15. “Wilde’s final and perhaps most recognized play is by all accounts a masterpiece of modern comedy. A century later, it strikes a wonderful balance by remaining both a respected and studied piece of literature, as well as a favorite with audiences.” 44-02 23rd St, LIC, 718.392.0722

Thursday 2/11

• On view at Chocolate Factory Theater: Selective Memory (in progress) from February 11th-13th at 8pm, FREE: “a real time video performance about nostalgia for relationships that never took place, events which never happened; the soundtrack to a film which was never made, but which everyone remembers…” 5-49 49th Ave, LIC, 718.482.7069

• The upcoming Queens Harvest Food Co-op, which is set to open in LIC in Fall 2011, is having their monthly public meeting from 7-9pm at the All Saint’s Episcopal Church in Sunnyside, located at 43-12 46th Street. They’re also currently seeking committee members and volunteers, email them at: info@QueensHarvestCoop.com.

• Queens Fashion Week events kick off and run February 11th-13th. QFW Gala Opening on Feb 11th from 7-9pm at Standard Motor Lofts, the Young Designers Initiative on Feb 12th from 5-7pm at the Holiday Inn Manhattan View, Queens Fashion Expo on Feb 13th from 2-10pm at Standard Motor Lofts (FREE), and the finale runway show is from 6-9pm on Feb 13th, also at Standard Motor Lofts. Detailed event information available on their website; Vernon Blvd’s own Ethereal Boutique is also participating in the Expo & runway show.

• Opening reception of a new photography exhibition at Court Square Wines & Spirits which will run for 8 weeks featuring the work of J. Mitchel from ScenesofNewYork.com and Brianne Zulauf. Pricing is accessible: many pieces at just $35 and some ranging up to several hundred. “The work consists of photography but goes beyond the typical print, with many images on unusual substrates such as canvas, wood and metal.” 2420 Jackson Ave, LIC, 718.707.9911

Friday 2/12

• Cross Pollination at Green Space Dance Studio from 7-10pm, a free-expression/improv workshop for artists and dancers, only $5. “A monthly event for sketch artists to draw dancers as models-in-motion and for dancers to improvise with one another, while being inspired to move by the art in the making!” Artists should bring simple material: non-messy, acoustic, etc. 37-24 24th St, LIC, 718.956.3037

Saturday 2/13

• CrossFit LIC is still holding their FREE Saturday classes at 11am – no CrossFit experience required. “The training session takes about one hour and consists of a warm-up, skills required for the exercises to be performed, workout and stretches” and you can sign up using their Online Scheduler. More free classes coming up on February 20th and 27th. Next Foundations Program sessions starts on February 15th. 5-26 47th Ave, LIC, 646.415.8363

• The Yoga Room is hosting a special Valentine’s Day treat: a Thai Yoga Massage Partner Workshop from 3-6pm at their LIC Studio (they have one at their 35th Ave Astoria location on 2/20, too). Cost is $80 per couple pre-registered or $90 per couple on the day of the event, no prior experience required. “During this workshop, you will be guided through giving and receiving a healing and relaxing Thai Yoga massage session that you can share with your partner, friends, and loved ones.” 10-14 47th Rd, LIC, 718.786.7962

• It’s Saturday Afternoon at the Movies at the Greater Astoria Historical Society. Stop by at 1pm and enjoy this blast for the past: highlights will include Dragnet, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy and Fibber McGee, FREE. 35-20 Broadway, 4th FL, LIC, 718.278.0700

Sunday 2/14 – Valentine’s Day

• Second Sundays at the Noguchi Museum featuring Conversations with Isamu Noguchi: a talk by Dore Ashton. “Internationally renowned art historian and culture critic Dore Ashton, who has written extensively on Noguchi, discusses her close and enduring friendship with the artist, focusing on both the man and his work.” 3pm, FREE with museum admission. 9-01 33rd Road (b/w Vernon Blvd and 10th St, 718.204.7088

Continuing

• Now playing at the Secret Theatre: ‘The Servant To Two Masters’ at the Little Secret (their original, smaller space) running February 10th-14th & 17th-20th @ 8pm; matinees on Feb 13th & 20th @ 3:30 pm, tickets $15. “This production will be a brave, fresh, and irreverent tribute to the beloved play about a servant who tried to serve two masters… Come ready to play!” 44-02 23rd St, LIC, 718.392.0722

• New exhibition Drawing On Paper at m55 Gallery, featuring the recent work of 15+ gallery artist, on view through February 14th. “‘Drawing On Paper’ demonstrates and displays the immense rewards of treating drawing as a medium that needs to be tested and retested – continually ‘proposed.’” 44-02 23rd St, LIC, 718.729.2988

• New group exhibition ‘Parallel States’ at Dean Project gallery, featuring Sangbin Im, Palma Blank-Rosenblum, and Kris Tamburello, through February 14th. More info in a PDF. 45-43 21st Street, LIC, 718.706.1462

• Alex Sax’s ‘Various Amusements’ at AES Gallery through February 19th. “Inspired by Gertrude Jekyll’s book, ‘Children and Gardens,’ first published in 1908, Alex expands on her historical fiction project Menagerie Recovery featuring mixed media cast paper and bronze animal sculptures.” 44-02 23rd St, LIC, 718.249.9359

• Exhibitions in the Silks Building: Putting-It-All-Together: Collage, Montage, and Assemblage at Climate/Gallery through February 21st, and an exhibition of new work by Mira Aldridge and Kit Brown runs at Dutch Kills Gallery through February 28th. Both located in the same building – Climate/Gallery at Suite 406, Dutch Kills at Suite 402. 37-24 24th St, LIC, 718.784.2737

• Mayo Sandoval Projects presents:
 A Million and One Thanks – An Interactive, Community-based, Social Media Installation at Local Project through February 21st. “The goal of the project is to ask participants to explore their feelings, connect with others and celebrate the people, places or things that make their lives richer and fuller and to ultimately say THANKS!” Anyone can still contribute – find out how on their website. 45-10 Davis St, LIC

• New art exhibition ‘Urbanesque’ is installed in the 6 lobby showcases in the atrium of the Citicorp building. In this exhibit, sponsored by Women in the Arts Foundation, Inc., 4 artists explore the urban landscape, with several paintings of the LIC area included as well. Works by Carole Barlowe, Elinore Bucholtz, Diane Waller and Sharon Florin, who curated this exhibit, will be on view through the end of March. Hours are Monday-Friday, 7am-7pm. One Court Square, LIC

• Josh Smith’s On The Water now on view at Deitch Project through March 28th, 2010. Smith painted 47 paintings directly on the wall to “create a show of paintings that looked like something else. The intention was to make ‘art without an art object’ and to take the commodity out of the art.” 4-40 44th Drive, LIC

• Leopards in the Temple continues at SculptureCenter through March 30th, 2010. Named after the Franz Kafka parable, “the group exhibition of the same name [featuring a number of increasingly prominent European artists] focuses on moments of metamorphosis, paradox, and formal adjacency, borrowing from the parable an ability to promote multiple readings of succinct forms and extraordinary occurrences.” 44-19 Purves St, LIC, 718.361.1750

• Socrates Sculpture Park’s EAF 09: Emerging Artist Fellowship Exhibition is on view through March 2010, featuring 16 artists awarded fellowships with the Park to create and exhibit their work in the outdoor studio. 32-01 Vernon Blvd (@ Broadway), LIC, 718.956.1819

• P.S. 1’s fall exhibitions are now on view, including ‘1969′ and ‘Between Spaces’. Exhibitions run through April 2010. 22-25 Jackson Ave @ intersection of 46th Ave, LIC, 718.784.2084

Upcoming Events

• Concerto of Illumination, a virtual collaboration of LIC artists, musician, poets, dancers and performance artists, runs from February 18th to March 17th at m55 Gallery. “The gallery will be open for visual and performance artists, generating a spontaneous collaboration that will create a ‘concerto of illumination.’” The show will feature “video installations screened through m55 Gallery storefront windows and projected on the brick wall across the street as virtual graffiti. During the exhibition dates, performances will take place in and around the gallery 24/7.”

• Jazz and Italian eats in Long Island City: the Adrienne Hindmarsh Jazz Duo is playing Vernon Blvd’s Manducatis Rustica on Friday, February 19th from 6:30-10pm, and again on March 19th.

• Flux Factory’s HOUSEBROKEN is the first major exhibition in their new LIC space and also the largest collaboration in their 15 year history. It’s coming up on February 19th, and will “inaugurate the space as a complex, ever-evolving, multimedia, radical work of art: an installation to the scale of a full building.” In short, they’re “putting the flux back in the factory,” so don’t miss it. Eclectic performances and unparalleled reverie start at 8pm. There’s a $15 tax-deductible suggested donation and a 21+ open bar courtesy of Campari. RSVP to rsvp@fluxfactory.org to get in on it. HOUSEBROKEN will remain on view every Saturday and Sunday from 12–6pm until March 21st.

• Upcoming performances at Green Space Dance Studio: Take Root on February 20th with KineticArchitecture (tickets $10), and Fertile Ground on February 21st featuring Owen David, Megan Bascom, Luke Murphy, Sarah A. O. Rosner, and Amy Larmier (tickets $15).

• LICBDC is hosting a Queens Agency Breakfast on February 25th from 8-9:30am at Queens West’s Riverview Restaurant in LIC. “Come and meet three leading City officials and learn about the Administration’s plans for these vital areas of civic infrastructure.” Networking and continental breakfast, $20 for members, $30 for non-members. Contact Indra Smith at 718.786.5300 x 21 or register online.

• Upcoming performances at the Secret Theatre: ‘Cosi Fan Tutte’ at the Big Secret running February 24th-28th, presented by Pocket Opera of NY. Another round of: Secret Burlesque on February 20th @ 11pm and Forward Motion Theater’s RE:Vision on February 24th @ 8pm. Also: ‘In My Free Time I Self-Destruct’: three plays by Gary Ferrar, running February 25, 26, 27 and March 3, 4, 5 @ 8pm, with a matinee on February 29th @ 4pm; “In three diverse pieces, metatheater and multimedia pull the audience through the 4th wall, deep into the humanity, humor, and surreality of the hyper-aware mind.”

• Upcoming at Chocolate Factory Theater: Andrew Schneider’s solo performance WOW+FLUTTER, February 25th-27th at 8pm, tickets $15: “In Schneider’s surreal world, time loses linearity. Using a mix of live and prerecorded media, the past and the future poke holes in the present.”

• AES Gallery presents Josana Blue: paintings and installations from February 25th to March 27th, with an opening reception on March 5th from 6-9pm. “New York-based artist Josana Blue will be exhibiting her recent paintings and installations combining influences drawn from the fine arts and fashion worlds.”