The Black Keys to perform Central Park SummerStage benefit concert

February 3, 2010 in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Tickets go on sale 2/5

City Parks Foundation welcomes The Black Keys to Central Park SummerStage. The Akron, Ohio-based duo will perform a benefit concert to help support the free programs of Central Park SummerStage, presented by Bowery Presents. Tickets are $35 and go on sale Friday, February 5. 

The Black Keys broke out in 2002 with their debut release, The Big Come Up, winning over fans ever since with their energetic, high-volume live shows. The Chicago Tribune said, “Akron duo The Black Keys created a mighty ruckus at a sold-out Riviera Theatre…” and the Orange County Register lauded the “raw and relentless fury of their riveting set at House of Blues Anaheim,” going on to say that “…it felt like we had all been transported to a dive bar in some swampy corner of Mississippi. And it felt good. Damn good.”  In 2008 the duo released their fifth studio album, Attack and Release, produced by Danger Mouse.  With Danger Mouse, The Black Keys didn’t veer uncomfortably far from the elemental rock & roll territory they’d mined so effectively on previous albums like their 2006 Nonesuch debut, Magic Potion, or their Fat Possum discs, Rubber Factory (2004) and Thickfreakness (2003).  In November 2009, the band released a collaborative album under the moniker BlakRoc featuring some of the biggest names in hip hop including Mos Def, Raekwon, Ludacris, and the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard, spearheaded by music producer Damon Dash.  In late ’09 the band headed back into the studio to record their sixth studio album to be released later this year.

To purchase tickets visit www.bowerypresents.com.

SummerStage and Dubspot

January 5, 2010 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

As temperatures continue to plummet, long warm summer days seem but a distant memory.  If you are in need of a ‘seasonal’ boost, then fear not.  Here is a little reminder of what’s to come in the months ahead: sun, shorts and SummerStage!

Dubspot joined SummerStage back in August for the Boys Noize / Drop The Lime / Canyons show.  Witnessing these talented DJ’s at work got plenty of fans feeling inspired.  Lucky for us–and them, Dubspot set up camp on Rumsey Playfield to teach fans a few tricks behind the turntables, and caught it on camera.

Sample a taste of what’s to come next year and check out the video!  See DJ Shiftee give out a few pointers to some eager beginners, highlights from the show and James Burke, Director of Arts & Cultural Programs, discuss the SummerStage mission.

Feeling better already? That’s the spirit. Stay warm, and we’ll see you for our 25th season!

The Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre welcomes THREE

December 29, 2009 in Kids, Marionette Theatre, Puppets, manhattan | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

City Parks Foundation presents Three – an adventurous mash-up of the classic fairy tales “The Three Little Pigs,” “Three Billy Goats Gruff,” and “The Three Bears,” at the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre in Central Park. In this story, the central character, the “Big Bad Wolf,” is given a mission by the “Three Blind Fairy God Mice” to travel into these stories to go from the big bad villain to the “Big Good Wolf.”  In his first go-around at redemption the Big Bad Wolf fails miserably, however, with guidance from the Fairy God Mice and the audience, the Big Bad Wolf finally redeems himself and is granted permission to rejoin the beloved fables as the Big Good Wolf.  Written by Jeff Borkin, an Emmy-award winning children’s TV writer, the production features original music and marionettes handcrafted by master puppet maker Addis Williams, directed by Bruce Cannon.

Show times for Three running January 12, 2010 – June 25, 2010 are Tuesdays through Fridays: 10:30am and 12:00pm, with an additional performance at 2:30pm each Wednesday; and Saturdays and Sundays at 1:00pm.

Reservations are required.  Tickets are $5/children and $8/adults.  $5 group rates are available for schools and nonprofit organizations.  For reservations, group rates, and information on birthday parties, please call (212) 988-9093.  Subject to change, please call ahead.

The Swedish Cottage is located in Central Park at 79th Street and the West Drive, just south of the Delacorte Theater. For more information, please visit www.CityParksFoundation.org.

Chisa Hutchinson and Working Man’s Clothes Productions offer special CPF discounted tickets to She Like Girls

December 10, 2009 in CityParks Theater, manhattan | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

Hey Friends of CPF! Don’t forget to visit us at Chisa Hutchinson’s play She Like Girls tomorrow night at the Ohio Theater. Chisa and Working Man’s Clothes Productions are offering reduced price tickets (see below.)  And congrats to Chisa on her first-ever New York Times review!

Working Man’s Clothes Productions proudly presents

SHE LIKE GIRLS

a love/hate story

by Chisa Hutchinson

at the Ohio Theater (66 Wooster Street, NYC)

5 Week Limited Engagement (December 3 – 29, 2009)

She Like Girls

As a special thanks to City   Parks Foundation and friends, Working Man’s Clothes Productions and Chisa Hutchinson are offering reduced price $15 tickets for performances beginning on December 4.  To purchase tickets click here.  Be sure to enter the discount code CPF.

Inspired by the brutal murder of a fifteen-year-old lesbian in Newark, New Jersey, SHE LIKE GIRLS tells the story of two inner-city girls who gradually fall in love with each other in a dangerously homophobic climate.

Be sure to stop by our City Parks Foundation table on December 11th and say hi to the CPF team. We’d love to meet you.

Helping to support City Parks Foundation is just a vote away!

November 24, 2009 in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Chase Bank has pledged to give away $5,000,000 to the non-profit organizations that get the most votes on Facebook. We are eligible to win between $25,000 and $1,000,000! Please take a moment to vote for us.
Your vote for CPF will support SummerStage and our 60 free concerts, dance, and theater shows in parks all over NYC, give 10,000 NYC kids free tennis, track and golf lessons in parks next summer, help 7,000 kids do better in school through our education programs, and support thousands of volunteers as they make our public parks better places for us all to enjoy.

PLEASE – if you have a Facebook page, get online, become a fan of Chase Community Giving, vote for CPF, and then encourage your friends, family and networks to do the same.

Click here to begin! http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/671125?src=comment

Voting ENDS Dec. 11th so we need to move fast! There will be $25k given to the top 100 charities in December, and further $100k grants awarded in February

Tell us who you want to see at SummerStage in 2010

November 18, 2009 in Bronx, Brooklyn, CityParks Concerts, CityParks Dance, CityParks Theater, Concerts, SummerStage | Leave a comment

© Laura Hanifin/ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Why dream of Sugar Plum Fairies when you can dream about your favorite artist performing live at Central Park SummerStage in 2010!  As the cold weather months begin to settle in, we here at City Parks Foundation are eagerly preparing for our most memorable Central Park SummerStage season yet in celebration of our 25th Anniversary.  That’s right, SummerStage is having a birthday and we couldn’t be more thrilled.

We would like to encourage our friends and fans of SummerStage to share with us who they would most like to see in the park next season.  To submit your favorite artist email us at submissions@cityparksfoundation.org or  send us a tweet on our twitter page.

Who knows? Maybe your dreams will come true!

The Three Bears Holiday Bash

October 27, 2009 in CityParks Kids, Kids, manhattan | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

three bears smallCity Parks Foundation is proud to announce the launch of The Three Bears Holiday Bash, a new marionette production beginning November 17, 2009 at the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre in Central Park.

The Three Bears Holiday Bash, is a variety show that celebrates the holiday season in song, dance, and puppetry. This production quickly becomes a comedy of errors when Baby Bear invites Santa to star in Mama and Papa Bears’ annual holiday show.  Drawing from the stories of Hanukkah, the Night Before Christmas, and Kwanzaa, The Three Bears Holiday Bash is a great way to get in the season spirit.

For reservations, group rates, and information on birthday parties, please call 212-988-9093 or visit www.CityParksFoundation.org

Learning Gardens on a Worldly Scale

September 23, 2009 in Bronx, Brooklyn, CityParks Education, Educational Programs, Kids, Learning Gardens, Queens, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

LG Field Day @GH The environmental education idea is simple: build a communal garden, combine it with a series of wonderful lessons, and then invite community members—schools, senior and day care centers, families, and organizations—to work on their gardens and cultivate valuable benefits.

We serve over 2,850 community members, children, and teachers through school, out-of-school and summer programs. The program is open to groups that are within close proximity to (e.g. close walking distance) the gardens. All scheduled classes, workshops, and events take place in local parks: at Grove Hill Community Playground in the Bronx, the Umoja Community Garden in Brooklyn, in Liberty Park in Jamaica, Queens.

Check out CityParks Learning Gardens on a Worldly Scale at www.WorldFoodGarden.org.

Join us!

Saturday, October 17th for Fall Harvest @Liberty Park Learning Garden 173rd Street & 107th Avenue in Jamaica, Queens. Savor the bountiful flavors of the garden at summer’s end. 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Saturday, October 24th for Party in the Pumpkin Patch @ UMOJA LEARNING GARDEN Corner of Broadway & Putnam Avenue, Bushwick/Bedford Stuyvesant.  A spooktacular time to harvest and decorate your own pumpkin and plant some fall flowers. First come, first serve. 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Saturday, October 24th for Party in the Pumpkin Patch @ Grove Hill LEARNING GARDEN Located on the corner of 158th Street and Eagle Avenue. A spooktacular time to harvest and decorate your own pumpkin and plant some fall flowers. First come, first serve. 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm.


Kayakers Navigate the NYC Watertrail This Week

September 10, 2009 in Brooklyn, Queens, partnerships for parks | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

This movie requires Adobe Flash for playback.

On Tuesday evening, a set of thirty adventurous people set out from the Long Island City Boathouse on a fleet of kayaks. The group was from Partnerships for Parks, a joint program of City Parks Foundation and the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation, and their goal was to explore the NYC Water Trail. They traveled to Brooklyn Bridge Park, and came back at night, when the city lights were sparkling on the water. Take a look!

This past April, Partnerships for Parks launched a new waterfront Catalyst initiative to help revitalize the city’s valuable waterfront parks. This effort is focusing on East River Park, Soundview Park, Calvert Vaux and Kaiser Parks. For more information, click here!

Street Reporter: Charlier Parker Jazz Festival

September 9, 2009 in CityParks Concerts | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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cpjf 1

The 17th annual Charlie Parker Jazz Festival was a sight to behold.

At my first Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, as well as my first ever jazz concert, I was mesmerized by the sights and sounds which paid tribute to one of the greatest jazz musicians ever.  The concert featured a few up and comers such as Benny Reid, a young saxophonist, and Jose James, a young singer with a tremendous voice capable of producing the most soulful of melodies.  Gary Bartz followed on alto sax, utilizing styles both old and new.  Showing the audience that hip-hop is a true musical form, he brought his son on stage to rap a few bars.  While that may have pleased the younger demographic (the few that were there), most probably felt it sacrilegious to infuse the purity of jazz with the more modern sounds of hip-hop. cpjf 2 On the other hand, the jazz purists got what they came for when the legendary Frank Wess took to the stage.  Playing the sounds of the 40’s and 50’s, Wess transported the older members of the audience back to the days when jazz was young and pure.  Overall, a great day of music and celebration.  Coincidentally, another musical genius’ birthday fell on the same day as the great Charlie Parker, the recently deceased Michael Jackson.  While both entirely different in their styles, they both possessed the capacity to influence generations to come.

– Text by Daniel Keltz, Contributing Writer & Sophomore at Temple University.

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