What you gon’ do? You wanna get down?
not Bob Dylan
Tell me, what you gon’ do? Do you wanna get down?
What you gon’ do? You wanna get down?
What you gon’ do? You wanna get down? Tell me
YO LIC, R U ready for Summer 2023 IRL? Well we’re here to deliver the goods with news of some upcoming local outdoor entertainment.
LIC Springs! happens this Saturday, May 20 from Noon to 5pm. Cut and paste from the LIC Partnership website states that this annual event is “a community street festival celebrating Long Island City with live music, dance and performances, plus interactive lessons, art, fitness classes, outdoor dining, pop-up activities, games and more. The event is free and open to the public.”
Live at The Gantries requires no description, but my quick encapsulation is that it’s a live music series held in front of the Gantries in Gantry Plaza State Park every Tuesday evening at 7pm beginning July 11. The 2023 line-up has been released (mostly) and if you want to read more about what to expect then there’s no better source than The Editor previous takes here and here.
When I say ‘beyond,’ that’s code for Queens, and for this show it might be worth getting on the 7 and leaving our convenient idyll. Kool & The Gang is playing Queen’s, specifically Flushing Meadows Corona Park, with a free concert. The celebration begins at 6pm on July 22, get down on it!
Next up on the list is The New York Pizza Festival. Once again The Editor will use his cutting and pasting skills to describe this new experience:
“10 week long pizza festival featuring 35 pizzaiolis from all over the world, 5 cooking stations, pizza making classes, live music, and much more. Every week, guests can try a different type of pizza made by a different Pizzaiolo, coming from the most famous pizzerias around the world.“
The Festival begins June 10 and runs through August 20 at, where else: The Piazza at Hunters Point South Park. Wait, I did not know there was a piazza in LIC, where dat? Aka 52-03 Center Blvd. The hours will be Monday to Friday from 4pm- 10pm, Saturday and Sunday from 1pm – 10pm. Mangia!
Finally, if pizza is low brow, and Pizzaiolo is high brow, we’ve got a similar combo coming to LIC in a pairing of football and avant garde art. The artist Matthew Barney has created a new 60-minute film/5-channel video installation called Secondary about the infamous Daryl Stingley/Jack Tatum collision that took place in 1978. For those unfamiliar with this seminal moment in American football, you can read more about it in the NYT story below. For those unfamiliar with Matthew Barney, as we’ve noted over the years this world-renowned artist plies his trade right here in LIC, and even ‘broadcasts’ from this locale. It also is where he completely filmed and will solely ‘display’ Secondary. The installation is running through June 25 at his studio located at 4-40 44th Drive. The hours are noon to 8pm Wed – Fri and 11am to 4pm Sat/Sun. Does this qualify as entertainment? I do not know, go see it and judge for yourself.
LIC Springs! – brought to you by the LIC Partnership
Live at The Gantries – this summer’s lineup
Matthew Barney Returns With a Chilling Meditation On Football
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