Oooh, Fashion!
SAT 5/22
To some, the word benefit might conjure up images of snooty, black-tie events involving gargantuan ticket prices. Happily, for the approximately 89 percent of us who can’t afford such highfalutin shindigs, there is a less fancy-schmancy affair for the masses on May 22, when the hipster triad of Birdies (a specialty undergarment shop), Second Honeymoon (vintage clothing) and Spool (cool T-shirts) hold a benefit at Harry’s Country Club in the River Market (112 East Missouri Avenue) to help fund the free 18th Street Fashion Show later this season. “It’ll be really laid-back,” promises Spool co-owner Hadley Johnson. “It’s out on the patio; it’s casual — maybe there will be some dancing, and hopefully there will be some Italian drink specials.”
A $5 cover charge buys music by DJ Ozgood, a raffle with prizes from the three stores and from Vespa, as well as a preview of new summer fashions. Some people are probably hoping that there will be models clad in lingerie, but sorry, guys — Birdies’ Peregrine Honig says she’ll be displaying her store’s less-revealing underwear, like a vintagey pinup sailor’s outfit. “It’s really cute. There are anchors silk-screened on both cheeks,” Honig says. “We’re hoping it’ll be warm enough so that [the models are] comfortable.”
The benefit is mainly a warm-up to the big show in June. “It’s to get the energy going,” Johnson says. Honig adds, “It’s to get people aware of Birdies, Second Honeymoon and Spool; it’s for those who otherwise might not know about the Crossroads. Hopefully, it’ll be a lighthearted, good time.”
— Jen Chen
We Love the ’80s
THU 5/20
Two hundred pages into Good Faith, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jane Smiley‘s new-to-paperback 2003 recapitulation of first-term Reagan days, we realized we’d been had — there wasn’t going to be any mention of “Up Where We Belong,” no talk of the 1982 that we recognize from VH1 as morning in low-culture America. Instead, there’s real-estate skullduggery, extramarital sex and a reminder that, two decades later, we’re still being had by Reagan’s disciples. At least the book ends kind of like An Officer and a Gentleman. Smiley reads from Good Faith at Unity Temple on the Plaza (707 West 47th Street) at 7 p.m. Thursday. Call Rainy Day Books at 913-384-3126 for information. — Scott Wilson
National Insecurity
SUN 5/23
Both in his testimony to the 9/11 commission and in his book, Against All Enemies, former White House senior adviser Richard A. Clarke revealed the Bush administration as lax on terrorism at best and idiotic at worst. He’s become the darling of liberals and the antichrist of conservatives, even driving Dick Cheney to go on Rush Limbaugh to rebut Clarke’s charges. At Unity Temple (707 West 47th Street) at 7 p.m. Sunday, Clarke tells a story that becomes more relevant with each new casualty in the war on terrorism and offers audiences a rare close-up view of a big cog in modern history. Tickets are free from Rainy Day Books. For details, call 913-384-3126.— Christopher Sebela
All in the Family
SAT 5/22
Not many shows require charts, but you might want to draft one for the Malachy Papers/ Earl Harvin/Mike Dillon/E. Clarke Wyatt show at Davey’s Uptown (3402 Main) this Saturday at 10 p.m. Dillon plays percussion for local funk-jazz superstars the Malachy Papers and Texas’ Hairy Apes BMX, for which Wyatt plays keyboards. Texas is also home to jazz percussionist and trio leader Harvin, who also plays drums for French sensation AIR. And all four appear on The Malachy Papers’ new album, Backbelly. Percussion virtuosos Dillon and Harvin engage in a duo before Davey’s stage creaks under the weight of everyone and their musical family trees. Call 816-753-1909 for information.— Sebela
