#WeeklyColumn | June 8 – June 14 | It’s In Queens!
BY QEDC It's In Queens
Music maestro! Actually, music is mucho in the borough this week. The big names include New York Pops, The Chainsmokers, George Clinton, and the Queens Symphony Orchestra. The genres include jazz, country, hip hop, classical, funk, and big band. Don’t forget the fashion show, bicycle parade, and International Yoga Day celebration.
June 8, New York Pops, 7:30 pm. The largest independent pops orchestra in the U.S. performs music by legendary film composer John Williams. $22.50-$102.50. Forest Hills Stadium, One Tennis Place.
June 9, Jamaica Just My Style Fashion Event, 6 pm. The borough’s best-looking bash enhanced by local designers and businesses. This year’s guest host is Ralph McDaniels, co-creator and co-host of Video Music Box. Plus, Mr. Cheeks sings. Free. Jamaica Performing Arts Center, 153-10 Jamaica Ave.
June 9, The Chainsmokers, 6 pm. A deejay-producer duo that achieved a breakthrough song in 2014 with “#Selfie.” Two concerts in a row, but the one on June 10 is sold out. $79.50-$99.50. Forest Hills Stadium, One Tennis Place.
June 9, A Musical Tribute to Sonny Rollins, 8 pm The Queens Jazz Orchestra plays classic compositions by Rollins, including “Oleo” and “St. Thomas,” and selections from his albums Tenor Madness and Saxophone Colossus. $42/$20 for students. Flushing Town Hall, 137-35 Northern Blvd.
June 9, ZEST Collective and Undertow Dance, June 10. ZEST does a performance art project and testimony that immigrants define the essence of the American, and global, experience. Undertow dives into a world of chance encounters and simmering frustration with four dancers breaking emotional patterns, as the past reasserts itself. (Both shows at 8 pm.) $15. Green Space, 37-24 24th St., LIC.
June 9, Americana Celebration, 7:30 pm. A concert by the Queens Symphony Orchestra. Free. Maspeth Bank, 56-18 69th St.
June 10, LIC Bike Parade, 11 am to 3 pm. A fun, uncompetitive ride plus decorating workshops and parade float-making, bike repairs, giveaways, and resource sharing. Kick off from the main gate at 2 pm and travel southbound along Vernon Boulevard to Queensbridge Park. Free. Socrates Sculpture Park, 32-01 Vernon Blvd., LIC.
June 10, Carol Sudhalter’s Astoria Big Band, 7 pm. A 17-piece ensemble plays beautiful music. Free. Sunnyside Reformed Church, Skillman Avenue and 48th Street.
June 10, Piano Concoctions, 11 am. Musica Reginae presents classical, family-friendly piano. Interactive, fun, and short (about one hour), this gig helps children learn about music, instruments, artists, composing, and performing. Some might even participate. Free. The Church-in-the-Gardens, 50 Ascan Ave., Forest Hills.
June 10, International Yoga Day, 10 am. Speeches by yoga dignitaries and workshops on breathing, mediation, and calisthenics for the sake of creating unity of mind and body, thought and action, restraint and fulfillment, and man and nature. Queens Museum, NYC Building, Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
June 10, Oye Corona: Life is Beautiful, 2 pm to 6 pm. A monthly cultural celebration with live entertainment, art-making workshops, and exercise classes. On this day, it’s Son Jarocho, DJs Colectivo Guaracha, and the PS 19 Hanac Beacon Dance Troupe. Free. Park of the Americas, 42nd Avenue and 104th Street, Corona.
June 11, Only In Queens Summer Festival, 2 pm to 8 pm. Activities such as a scavenger hunt, guided tours, food-and-craft vendors, and kiddy fun with an open air concert by George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic. Free. Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
June 11, Early Summer Hip Hop Jam, 1 pm. The Queens Hip Hop Festival organizes this afternoon of music with Queens turntable legend DJ Rob Swift, live dancers, educational activities for families, and local vendors. Free. Socrates Sculpture Park, 32-01 Vernon Blvd., LIC.
June 11, D.B. Reilly, 7 pm. This band plays live country, zydeco, and blues to open the eight-concert Live at the Gantries summer festival. Free. Gantry Plaza State Park, LIC Waterfront.
June 11, The King of Zing (from Queens): A Don Rickles Tribute, 4:30 pm. This day-long tribute honors the late comedian, who grew up in Jackson Heights. It kicks off with John Landis’s Mr. Warmth, The Don Rickles Project, featuring interviews with Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Chris Rock, Bob Newhart, and Sarah Silverman and rare footage of Rickles doing stand-up and home movies. It ends with a screening of Kelly’s Heroes, a comedy with Rickles, Clint Eastwood, Donald Sutherland, Carroll O’Connor, and Telly Savalas, at 7 pm. $15. Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35th Ave., Astoria’s Kaufman Arts District.
June 11, Fertile Ground, 7 pm. This monthly new works showcase presents five or six choreographers with a post-performance discussion. $12. Green Space, 37-24 24th St., LIC.
June 11, Twist & Sprout, noon. A family-friendly event about healthy eating and exercise. Cooking demonstrations, bouncy houses, herb-potting, fruit-and-veggie crafts, and live music. Meet medical experts from NewYork-Presbyterian Queens, curl up with a book in the Queens Mobile Library, and take a peek inside a real ambulance. Free. Queens Botanical Garden, 43-50 Main St., Flushing.
June 12, Besa: The Promise, 12:30 pm. Jason Williams discusses and screens his film about Albanians – almost all of them Muslims – who were guided by their traditional honor code of “besa” to save nearly 2,000 Jews from the Holocaust. $8 voluntary donation. Central Queens Y, 67-09 108th St., Forest Hills.
June 14, Forest Hills to Corona, 6 pm. A guided walking tour with official Queens historian Jack Eichenbaum. Dominicans, Ecuadorians, and Mexicans compete for commercial space in Corona. South Americans surround the old Little Italy in Corona Heights. Bukharan Jews succeed Russian Jews in Rego Park. $20. Meet in front of Ridgewood Savings Bank, Queens Boulevard and 108th Street, Forest Hills.
June 14, If These Knishes Could Talk, 6:30 pm. Produced and directed by Sunnyside’s Heather Quinlan, this documentary explores the New York City accent. $5. Greater Astoria Historical Society, 35-20 Broadway, LIC.
June 14, Light Classics for a Summer Evening, 7:30 pm. The Queens Symphony Orchestra performs. Free. Jamaica Performing Arts Center, 153-10 Jamaica Ave.
Continuing, recurring fun:
June 8, Summer Thursdays, 3 pm. An ongoing weekly program of games, crafts, and activities. This Thursday features crooner Serhat Kaner (aka Jax Gabriel). Free. Bliss Plaza, 46th Street and Queens Boulevard under the 7 train, Sunnyside.
Through June 11, Astoria Park. Carnival. Food, entertainment, rides, and thrills. Astoria Park, 100 Hoyt Ave.
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Top image: Jamaica Center; Bottom image: Socrates Sculpture Park