Billie Holiday to Headline Tours at the Apollo Theatre—via Hologram: The Apollo Theatre in New York City’s historic Harlem community—the Apollo attracts some 1.3 million visitors a year—is about to offer a first with the impending return to the entertainment venue of the legendary Billie Holiday (1915–1959), the jazz musician, singer and songwriter who has inspired both films and books about her career. Holiday will return in the form of a hologram made by Beverly Hills-based Hologram USA, the same firm that produced a hologram of Tupac Shakur (1971-1996), the late rap artist, for the 2012 Coachella Music Festival in California. Though a firm date hasn’t been set for the launch of the hologram, it is due to be available for viewing during the Apollo’s daytime tours. “Billie is going to be able to talk about the history of the Apollo,” said theatre president Jonelle Procope, told the New York Tines arts blog. “She can take questions from the audience in an interesting way. She can sing some songs.” For more information, visit: www.apollotheater.org/programs/tours, or call Billy Mitchell, tour director, at 212.531.5337.
Erotic Objets d’Art Featured at Miami Museum: Curators of the World Erotic Art Museum in Miami Beach have been going through additional items left behind by Naomi Wilzig, the attraction’s founder who died earlier and whose collection provided the basis for the displays and exhibits in the facility, which is located in the city’s Art Deco District. Already in the museum’s inventory are 4,000 items, including statues, paintings and photographs that cover eroticism in Greek mythology, Bible stories, Oriental and South American cultures, and even such fetishes as bestiality and sadomasochism. According to all accounts, Wilzig—she was 80 years old when she died last April—was a conservative person who nonetheless felt it important to “rescue from extinction” the articles in her collection. The exhibition is divided into 20 sections that trace or outline expressions of eroticism in different cultures down through the ages, divided by themes. Noteworthy among the items is a giant golden sculpture of an erect penis. For more information, visit: www.weam.com, or call 305.532.9336.
In NYC, “The Ride” Begets “The Tour.” Spurred on by the success of The Ride—it takes place in a specially equipped tour bus in which passengers are seated theater-style and look out one side of the vehicle as it travels 40 blocks in Manhattan, stopping so patrons can see 10 street acts along the way—the company behind the ride (The Ride LLC) has launched TheTour, a 90-minute ride through Manhattan during which passengers see video clips and hear music specific to what they are viewing, such as a video of The New York Philharmonic Orchestra as the bus passes Lincoln Center. The Tour’s itinerary includes famous New York neighborhoods and landmarks such as Times Square, Columbus Circle, Lincoln Center, Central Park, Fifth Avenue, Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, the Garment District, Empire State Building, Madison Avenue, New York Public Library, Bryant Park, and more. The Tour retails for $45 for adults and $35 for children. For group rate information, visit:
http://thetournyc.com/groups/leisure/
Rebuilding of South Street Seaport District Continues—Famous Chef Signs on to Operate Restaurant: Howard Hughes Corp. has announced that worldwide famous French chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten has been signed to open a new restaurant that will be a major anchor in the new South Street Seaport complex in New York City—an area that was obliterated in late October 2012 by Hurricane Sandy. Vongerichten, a native of Alsace who operates restaurants in La Vegas, London, Paris, Shanghai and the eponymous Jean Georges in Manhattan, and his business partner, Phil Suarez, have signed a lease/partnership contract with Hughes to launch two major Seaport projects—a 40,000-square-foot, seafood-themed marketplace inside the Tin Building and a 10,000-square-foot restaurant in a rebuilt Pier 17.
The Seaport marketplace will not be ethnically focused like French-themed Le District or Italian-inspired Eataly, but simply built around seafood. Retail counters will be mixed with communal tables and noshing counters for “chowders, raw bars, sushi, shrimp,” Vongerichten said. The Pier 17 restaurant, on the second floor, will include a 2,500-square-foot al fresco patio facing the Brooklyn Bridge. Pier 17 is a centerpiece of Hughes’ $1.5 billion master plan for the Seaport, which is also to include a marina, a widened esplanade, shops, arts studios, a revitalized Seaport Museum, housing, as well as a condo tower that has created some controversy. For more information, visit:
http://www.southstreetseaport.com/, or call 212.732.8257.
