#WeeklyColumn | July 13 – July 19 | It’s In Queens!
BY QEDC It's In Queens
“Free” and “Outdoor” are catchwords this week with 14 different summer programs offering concerts, films, and performances throughout the borough. History, improvisation, recycling, and a multi-waterfront event are also on tap.
July 13, Philippines Night, 7 pm. Live international dance, music, and Transit, a 2013 drama about one family’s experience in the Philippines and Israel, screened as part of the Passport Thursdays series. Free. The Unisphere, Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
July 13, Blissville, 6:30 pm. Watch a documentary about a remote and forgotten corner of Western Queens with filmmaker Hank Linhart. Free. Greater Astoria Historical Society, 35-20 Broadway, LIC.
July 13, 2001: A Space Odyssey, dusk. Watch an outdoor movie with the Midtown Manhattan skyline in the background as part of the Cinema LIC series. Free. LIC Landing, Center Boulevard and 51st Avenue.
July 13, Strawberry Fields, 7:30 pm. The 2017 Waterfront Concert Series kicks off with a Beatles tribute band featuring former cast members of the Broadway hit Beatlemania. Free. Astoria Park Great Lawn, 19 19th St.
July 13, Yesterday and Today, 6 pm. A Beatles tribute band performs as part of the Katz Concert Series. Free. MacNeil Park, Poppenhusen Avenue and 119th Street, College Point.
July 13, Judy Torres/Cynthia, 7 pm. These ladies of freestyle offer a workshop with legendary house dancer Conrad Rochester at 6 pm at this SummerStage event. Then they dance the night away on stage. Free. Queensbridge Park, vicinity of East River and 41st Road, LIC.
July 13, The Chuck Braman Quintet, 7 pm. Live jazz kicks off the Woodside Summer Concert Series. Free. Christ Lutheran Church, 58th Street and Broadway, Woodside, 718.205.1030.
July 14, Rural Route Film Festival, 8 pm. Opening night for a series whose theme is “Singer-Songwriters (…in Suspense).” Each movie contains live performances of original and traditional songs with some element of suspense. This night features Arabic music by Shelley Thomas, 10 shorts, and a party. Brooklyn Grange, 37-18 Northern Blvd., LIC.
July 14, Classic Hitchcock Film Fridays, dusk. Watch the 1954 classic Rear Window as part of a summer series. A wheelchair-bound photographer obsessively watches his neighbors across the courtyard. Free. Rufus King Park, Jamaica Avenue at 153rd Street, Jamaica.
July 14, Mr. Cheeks and Large Professor, 7 pm. Hip hop as part of the SummerStage series. Free. Queensbridge Park, vicinity of the East River and 41st Road, LIC.
July 15, Rural Route Day II, 1:30 pm. The world premiere of Astoria resident Sean Hartofilis’s Irish folk-infused thriller Covandonga follows a performance and Q&A with Hartofilis. At 4 pm, Nashville follows 24 stories of musicians, songwriters, managers, third party politicians, fans, and wannabes over five days in Music City, USA. Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35th Ave., Astoria’s Kaufman Arts Studio.
July 15, City of Water, 10 am. This event fosters awareness, appreciation, and stewardship of NYC waterways. It’s free and citywide with local activities at Anable Basin, LIC Community Boathouse, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Newtown Creek, and Socrates Sculpture Park.
July 15, The TeeTones, 6 pm. Motown as part of the SummerSounds series. Free. Roy Wilkins Park, Merrick Boulevard and 115th Avenue, Jamaica.
July 15, Esta Noche Se Improvisa, 7:30. Written by Nobel Literature Prize winner Luigi Pirandello, this work is a “play within a play.” The cast is told to improvise, but everything is planned. Or is it? (In Spanish.) Thalía Spanish Theatre, 41-17 Greenpoint Ave., Sunnyside.
July 15, SKYY, 4 pm. Soulful songs after a workshop with Scratch Academy as part of the SummerStage series. Free. Queensbridge Park, vicinity of East River and 41st Road, LIC.
July 16, Rural Route Day III, 1:30 pm. Australian singer-songwriter Desmond White offers a sneak preview of his upcoming album. Then, Olancho, a film about a farmer who makes a song for the region’s drug cartel, screens. The ditty angers a rival gang, and he has to flee to the United States. A Q&A with the director follows. At 4 pm, Barracuda, a Texas thriller about a mysterious woman who hitchhikes to Austin to meet her half-sister. Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35th Ave., Astoria’s Kaufman Arts Studio.
July 16, The Quarantine War, 2 pm. Did you know Governor John King once declared martial law in Staten Island? Find out more during a talk about the Quarantine War by Andy McCarthy from the New York Public Library. Free. King Manor Museum, King Park, Jamaica Avenue and 153rd Street, Jamaica.
July 16, NYC Ska Orchestra, 4 pm. This 18-piece big band does reggae and jazz arrangements as part of the Music in the Garden series. $6. Queens Botanical Garden, 43-50 Main St., Flushing.
July 16, Dr. K’s Motown Revue, 6 pm. Great sounds of the 1970s and 1980s as part of the Katz Concert Series. Free. Springfield Park, vicinity of Springfield Boulevard and 146th Avenue, Springfield Gardens.
July 16, Electronic Waste Recycling Event, 10 am to 4 pm. Drop off unwanted gadgets to be discarded in an environmentally friendly way. Free. Queens Botanical Garden, 43-50 Main St., Flushing.
July 16, Framed Jewelry Workshop, 10 am to 4 pm. Make a masterpiece with old, broken or odd pieces of jewelry. $25 includes frames lined with velvet, jewelry pieces, and glue. Maple Grove Cemetery Victorian Building, inside the gate at Lefferts Boulevard and Kew Gardens Road, Kew Gardens.
July 18, Alex Cummings Ensemble, 7 pm. This group plays straight ahead jazz as part of the Live at the Gantries series. Free. Gantry Plaza State Park, 4-09 47th Rd., LIC.
July 18, Totally 80s, 7 pm. Check out the White Wedding Band as part of the Juniper Valley Park Summer Concert Series. Free. Juniper Valley Park, 80th Street and Juniper Boulevard North, Middle Village.
July 19, Liberation Day, 7 pm. Food, music, and a movie about Slovenian cult band Laibach, the first rock group to perform in North Korea. Free. Socrates Sculpture Park, 32-01 Vernon Blvd., LIC.
July 19, Creative Movement, 1 pm. Dina Denis and her modern company, Dance Into Light, provide an interactive movement exploration that is shared between the artists and audience. $5. Voelker Orth Museum, 149-19 38th Ave., Flushing.
July 19, Queensboro Dance Festival, July 20 (7 pm both nights). Twenty-seven cultural and contemporary groups – representing 12 borough neighborhoods – perform. Second half is in October. Crabhouse, 2-03 Borden Ave., LIC.
July 19, Dunkirk, 7:30 pm. The annual See It Big! Series kicks off with Dunkirk, a thriller that begins with thousands of British and Allied troops surrounded by enemy forces. Trapped on the beach with their backs to the sea, they face an impossible situation as the enemy closes in. Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35th Ave., Astoria’s Kaufman Arts District.
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Images: SummerStage NYC