Flying Down to Rio in New York Venues (c) By Polly Guerin

No need to fly down to Rio!!! It’s time to samba, tango and dance the light fantastic and hear the throbbing music of the Brazilian beat in the garden and in film. Listen to The Distant Sound; see a Colette adaptation and a Swedish crime series. Here’s the Scoop!!!

PREMIERE BRAZIL brings Brazilian filmmakers to New York in a collaboration between The Museum of Modern Art and the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival. Check the film schedule at www.moma.org. Bye Bye Brazil, Wed. July 28, 8pm, a traveling side show stops in rural villages hoping to mesmerize the townspeople. A young accordionist becomes enamored of the show’s exotic dancer joins show as it sets off deeper into the country’s interior. Lula, Son of Brazil Thurs, July 29, 8pm, presents the emotionally involving, fictionalized biopic about Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, focusing on his poor childhood in the interior of Pernambuco. Film Admission $10, seniors $8. The Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters, 11W. 53 St.
THE SCUPLTURE GARDEN taps into music of the Brazilian-American composer and singer, Kay Lyra’s deep bossa nova roots, which incorporates nontraditional sounds, from the pedal steel guitar to bagpipes. Her oeuvre includes her arrangement of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” as well as her setting of a Dorothy Parker poem. Her precise, pure voice fills the air this Thurs, July 29 at MOMA. Hear “the daughter of bossa nova with a crystal voice,” sets performed 5:30 and 7 pm. Regular Museum admission applies: 212.708.9400
LISTEN TO THE DISTANT SOUND music and libretto by Franz Schreker explores the complexities of love, eroticism and art-for-art’s sake idealism. It tells the tragic story of Fritz, a composer who forsakes Grete, his beloved, for the sound that is a distant echo of her presence. July 30 and August 6 at 7 pm and Aug 1* and Aug 4 at 3pm. Round trip bus transportation available for Aug. 1 ($20) www.fishercenter.bard.edu Box Office: 845-758.7900.
JULIE DE CARNEILHAN…A literary adaption for the actress Edwige Feuillere—this time a Colette story. As Julie, Feuillere embodies the countess who enters into a scheme to earn millions. A rare screening of this witty and enchanting spectacle, not to be missed. It is the last film of the summer season at the Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59th Street. Showings 12:30, 4 & 7:30 pm. $10 (members free)
WALLANDER: The Second Season continues at Scandinavia House. Swedish detective Kurt Wallander returns with his all new riveting investigations based on stories by author Henning Mankell. Wednesdays and Fridays at 6:30 pm July 28 and July 30. Individual tickets $10 ($7 ASF Members) 58 Park Ave. (at 38th Street) www.scandinaviahouse.org.

Ta Ta darlings!!! It’s a busy week…mark your calendar. I’m off to listen to The Distant Sound. Fan mail to: pollytalk@verizon.net. Do check out my Blogs: womendeterminedtosucceed.blogspot.com and for fashion fans go to www.thefashionhistorianpollyguerin. Visit: www.pollytalk.com.

Plays and Thriller Art Spice Up Summer Events (c) By Polly Guerin

The Train Kept a Rollin'

Be part of a train wreck, join the circus, witness thriller art and brush up with genius works of art---all this and much, much more awaits you in the Big Apple and beyond. Here’s the scoop!!!

JUDGMENT DAY by Austrian-Hungarian playwright Odon von Horvath rolls roaring onto the stage as part of Bard College’s SummersScape program of theater, dance, music and film. The drama concerns a modest and punctual train conductor whose duty is distracted by a pretty passenger, resulting in a fatal crash. Is he guilty or is he not? That is the question. But driving the play is the remarkable sound affects of the train that jolts one’s safety as that all too real locomotive crashes onto the scene. An experience worth the venture in the gleaming, modern façade of the, Frank Gehry-designed Fisher Performing Arts Center in bucolic Annandale-on-Hudson till July 25th. Followed by The opera Distant Sound, by Franz Schreker and a production of Oscar Straus’ 1908 operetta, The Chocolate Soldier. For details: www.fishercenter.bard.edu/summerscape.

AMERICAN JESUS casts photographer David LaChapelle’s longtime friend Michael Jackson, shot just before his death last year, in a series of iconic Biblical scenes and another one of the photographer’s controversial pals, Naomi Campbell, makes a cameo as Botticelli’s Venus. La Chapelle said about his oeuvre, “I believe Michael in a sense is an American martyr. Martyrs are persecuted and Michael was persecuted. Michael was innocent and martyrs are innocent.” The off-the-wall artfully staged tableaux are on view at Paul Kasmin Gallery, 293 10th Ave. Through Sept. 28th. 212.563.4474 .

ROY LICHTENSTEIN’S back at the Morgan Library & Museum. His signature brightly colored paintings and his subject matter drawn from his Pop Art images is a revealing window into the development of Lichtenstein’s art, from commercial illustrations and comic strips and the famous Benday dots. The exhibition provides a rare opportunity to study the artist’s black-and-white paintings during the 1960s and underscores the two themes that came to dominate the drawings, household objects and comic book scenes of war and romance. Mark your calendar the Black-and-White Drawings opens Sept. 24. http://www.themorgan.org/.

BRING YOUR INNER CHILD to THE BIG APPLE CIRCUS where spectacular acrobats, Russian wizards of the trampoline flying overhead dazzle and delight even adult naysayers. How do those Chinese contortionists do it? Fit into cans and twist and turn with such dexterity? The juggler throws plates in the air where they float overhead and he catches them in a tumble, fiery steeds stomp their way into the arena guided by a beautiful woman while rescue dogs ply their amazing agility and all this with Bello the clown cavorting with his gravity-defying hair and signature tuxedo, white gloves and spats joins in the fun with showman panache. Through Sun. July 25th mostly 12:30 and 4:30 PM performances. At Mill River Park, Stamford, CT. http://www.bigapplecircus.org/.

Ta Ta darlings!!! I’m beating the heat and heading North to bucolic Bard and don’t miss the Big Apple Circus!!! Fan mail welcome: pollytalk@verizon.net. Polly’s Blogs: http://www.womendeterminedtosucceed.blogspot.com and http://www.thefashionhistorianpollyguerin.blogspot.com/.
VISIT HER AT http://www.pollytalk.com/.

Jazzing Up the Summer in the Big Apple (c) By Polly Guerin

Uptown/Downtown all around the town, there's never a dull moment in the Big Apple. Cultural pursuits, Matisse and Jazzy dancing in New York Harbor on Governors Island. Be there!!! Here's the scoop!!!

THE JAZZ-AGE LAWN PARTY

Ladies and sporting gents and tiny tots, too, put on your Flapper duds and sashay over to Governors Island in the heart of majestic New York Harbor. It’s the setting of a true Gatsby affair July 17th and 18th for one of summer’s best party celebrations with Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra providing swing music. Activities for all ages including food and drink plus a pie contest require pre-register sign up govislandpie@gmail.com. See the 20’s motorcar exhibition and Charleston lessons by Roddy Caravella. $10/door, children under 7 Free. A recession friendly advance admission $7. Order at: http//www.brownpapertickets.com/event/116243.
INDIAN FOLK ART MARKET

Celebrate the tradition arts of India at Asia Society’s Indian Folk Art Market where master artisans will be on hand to display, demonstrate and sell their work. Block printing, tie an dye, embroidery, painting and more as you gain insight into the creative process from the artisans themselves. Sponsored by India Abroad, Indo-American Arts Council and Asia Society and Museum, Thursday July 15th-Saturday July 17th, from 1:00 PM – 4:30 daily. 725 Park Ave. at 70th St. Adm: $10 www.asiasocietymuseum.org.
MATISSE: RADICAL INVENTION

This ambitious exhibition investigates a pivotal point in the career of Henri Matisse through nearly 120 of the artist’s paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints. The exhibit examines Matisse’s production from his return to Paris from Morocco in 1913 to his departure for Nice in 1917. Over these five years, he developed his most demanding, experimental, and enigmatic works which are reassessed as products of one of the most significant chapters in Matisse’s evolution as an artist. Opens July 18th at MOMA, Museum of Modern Art, www.moma.org.
THE HISPANIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA

Way up in New York’s cultural enclave, Audubon Terrace, the Hispanic Society of America, a treasure trove of cultural lore, lures you back to see the reinstalled Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida murals, featuring 230 feet of colorful contemporary life in Spain, province by province with luminous dancers, cowboys, sheepherders, amusing market sellers and more than at first meets the eye. The Sorolla murals, all with a minimum of text, are worth the vicarious trip to Spain. FREE, 613W. 155th St. at Broadway.
Ta Ta darlings!!! Look for me doing the Charleston at the Jazz-Age Lawn Party. Fan mail welcome: pollytalk@verizon.net.

Take this opportunity to view Polly’s Blogs: http://www.womendeterminedtosucceed.blogspot.com and http://www.thefashionhistorianpollyguerin.blogspot.com.

The Big Apple Heats Up Day Tripping (c) by Polly Guerin

It’s a scorcher to stay put in the city so let’s head out for a day tripper to nearby Connecticut where ‘Bello is Back,’ and Pops in the Park turns up a breezy change of scenario. Here’s the scoop!!!

BELLO IS BACK! At the Big Apple Circus at Mill River Park in Stamford and I’ll be there to see the playful, elegant Bello Nock, named “America’s Best Clown” with his trilling feats of derring-do and stylish sense of whimsy. Spectacular acrobats from Italy, Russian wizards of the trampoline and the flying trapeze, fiery steeds and Chinese contortionists add to the fun with the Big apple Circus Band and Picaso Jr. entertains with his extraordinary juggling act. Runs for 26 performances, usually 12:30 and 4:30 PM through Sunday July 25th. Tickets start at $15 call 888.541.3750. Groups of 15 people or more or wheelchair seating call 800.922.3772, http://www.bigapplecircus.org/.
POPS IN THE PARK IN STAMFORD
Begins Wednesday July 7th with the Columbus Park series of four performances kicking off with Neil Sedaka who has written and performed and inspired countless songs linked to Rock ‘n’ Roll history. Classical pops with the Stamford Symphony under the baton of music director, Eckart Preu on July 14 is followed by a son’s extraordinary homage of his legendary father, Mel Torme on July 21 with Steve March Torme. The series ends with Bowzer’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Party. Adm. Charge $5. 6:30 PM. Call: 203.348.5285 or email annette@stamford-downtown.com.
THE EDIBLE GARDEN
Returns to the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx with an exhibition that celebrates locally grown seasonal food with food and gardening experts every day. Celebrity chefs Mario Batali, Dan Barber narrate the Edible Garden audio tour; other chefs provide healthy cooking demonstrations in the Conservatory Kitchen. Visitors also sample a selection of food and beverage products at the Tasting Terrace. “Cooking for Kids” is every Tuesday and Wed. at 11 AM, “Cooking for Your Health” every Wednesday at 12:30 PM, and “Whole Foods market Fridays” every Friday at 2 PM. Check the Garden’s Web site for more details: http://www.nybg.org/.
CHILL OUT at SCANDINAVIA HOUSE MUSEUM’S
Outdoor garden terrace, serving refreshments by Smorgas Chef right in the heart of New York City, 59 Park Ave at 38th St. A selected series of fresh Nordic musicians perform the first Thursday of the month kicking off with a Nordic Summer Jam in Volvo Hall July 8th at 6:30 PM. $10 ($8 ASFMembers) For reservations: 212.847.9740 or http://www.scandinaviahouse.org/.

Ta Ta darlings!!! Let’s take the Metro North and head of places outside the city for a change of venue. Love to hear from you!!! Fan mail to pollytalk@verizon.net or check out my Blogs: http://www.womendeterminedtosucceed.blogspot.com and fashion news at http://www.thefashionhistorianpollyguerin.blogspot.com.