Okay, so I did an interview with WNYC this morning about things to do in the summer. There is so much stuff going on it was hard to pick only a few, I had to leave a lot off. Like free hot dogs at Metropolitan Bar on Sundays or the First Thursdays Gallery Walk in DUMBO (send an email here to get on the mailing list for DUMBO events). Or the big picnic me and my friend Amanda are going to throw in Prospect Park in July. OR….(here comes blatant self-promotion!! wait for it….) the June 6th showing of the documentary The Promise of New York at the NJ International Film Festival. It’s about the 2005 NYC Mayoral campaign and covers my run for mayor alongside Seth Blum, Christopher X. Brodeur and a bunch of other outsider candidates.

(Oh and if you managed to hear me call/email WNYC and tell them how awesome I was and how much you love me so they’ll have me back again!! If you don’t know who to email, just ask me.)

But here are some of my notes for the WNYC interview:

Mainstream things Culturebot Recommends:

1. Shakespeare in the Park – I really want to see Hair, the Public has some new “virtual ticket line” on their website, so we’ll see how that goes

2. Celebrate Brooklyn in the Prospect Park Bandshell – all the shows are great but I particularly want to see Deerhoof/Metropolis Ensemble on July 18th.

3. Lincoln Center Out of Doors – bill bragin, formerly of Joe’s Pub, once again, all shows are great but I’m definitely putting Spam Allstars- Still Black,Still Proud:An African Tribute to James Brown on my calendar for August 22.

4. Saturday Night Fever at River Flicks/Pier 54 Hudson River Park on August 6

5. Lincoln Center Festival particularly Laurie Anderson Homeland Thursday, July 24, 2008 8:00 PM @ the Rose Theater

Less Mainstream Stuff Culturebot Recommends

1. Creative Time presents David Byrne’s Playing the Building, a 9,000-square-foot, interactive, site-specific installation at the landmark Battery Maritime Building FREE

2. Jellynyc’s Pool Parties at McCarren Park Pool all summer, specifically The Hold Steady June 29 – they’re just fun, great people watching, last time I was there they had a slip-n-slide.

3. The Ontological-Hysteric Incubator Series – work-in-progress showings of new and emerging downtown theater May 29-Sept 6 – starting this Thursday with Dan Safer/Witness Relocation doing “vicious dogs on premises”

4. Hey Willpower with Dynasty Handbag and Most Holy Trinity at Glasslands Gallery (289 Kent, Williamsburg) on Mon June 2nd – its presented by Earl Dax and SceneDowntown.

5. Ninjasonik, The Frail, Day For Night -Sun, 06/08/2008 – 9:30pm $6 AT THE TANK – interesting, fun, good beats, new stuff.

6. Dixon Place Hot Festival NYC 16th annual Celebration of Queer Culture – July 2 – August 25

7. Collective Unconscious present the Underground Zero Festival in July

8. HERE Arts Center has a lot of good stuff this summer as well.

9. The Summer Play Festival – its first year at the Public, $10 for all shows, its usually worth the risk.

10. Roulette’s Mixology Festival http://roulette.org/events/2008_06.html at 20 GREENE ST (btwn Canal & Grand) in Soho

11. 3rd Annual Taste of Long Island City to Benefit the Chocolate Factory Theater

http://www.chocolatefactorytheater.org/e_tasteoflic08.html

12. Soho Think Tank’s Ice Factory at the Ohio Theatre

12B. “The Future As Disruption” art exhibit at The Kitchen. FREE

Things Culturebot would splurge on:

I would love to go see SOUTH PACIFIC at Lincoln Center or maybe buy really good tickets to see PASSING STRANGE again…

But I guess it’s a sense of scale. Most of the things I go to cost between $10-$20 and in the summer there’s so much great free cultural stuff in all the parks. I think if I was going to splurge on something – in the sense of reckless, wanton, conspicuous consumption – I’d probably – and this is kind of embarrassing – I’d like to go see a big-ticket rock concert at Jones Beach. (The Police and Elvis Costello! REM and The National!) I’ve never been there and I rarely go see big, mainstream rock shows so I think it would be kind of like the most indulgent thing I could do.

What event will Culturebot leave NYC for?

I love New York but during the summer I will find pretty much any excuse to leave. I love arts and theater festivals like Edinburgh or the Philadelphia Live Arts festival in September. Two summers ago I went to the Noorderzon festival in Groningen, Holland that was fantastic.

Unfortunately I rarely have the resources to get very far. So I sometimes end up going to Fire Island for The Invasion out at Cherry Grove on 4th of July weekend. The Invasion is this kind of anachronistic throwback to the 70’s where a boatload of literally hundreds of drag queens get on a ferry boat at Cherry Grove and “invade” the next town over – The Pines. There’s really no better way to celebrate Independence Day than with a boatload of drag queens pulling into the harbor singing the Star Spangled Banner in impromptu 4-part harmony. Of course, if you’re going to go, I strongly suggest spending the night in a different, quieter, town, like, say, Fair Harbor.