David Wax Museum — May 3
David Wax Museum, the band that got “Born with a Broken Heart” stuck in our heads for most of 2011, comes to the Towne Crier Cafe in Beacon, New York, to play songs from their most recent album, Knock Knock Get Up.
LIGHTSCAPES — May 2-31
Who says Halloween gets to have all the fun? After all, jack-o’-lanterns aren’t the only things that glow. Instead of waiting for The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze to come around again in October, you can head back to Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson for another illuminated event by the Blaze’s creators. LIGHTSCAPES uses sculptures, sounds, special effects, and—of course—light to create an otherworldly garden of glowing flowers, woodland creatures, and even fairies. This is a brand-new event for Historic Hudson Valley, so you’ll get to be one of the garden’s first visitors.
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Joan Rivers — May 3Joan Rivers shows no signs of slowing down. In addition to starring in the WeTV reality show Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?, hosting E!’s Fashion Police, and making appearances on QVC, she also has her own web show, In Bed with Joan, on which she interviews other funny folks like Chris Hardwick, Jeff Ross, and Kathy Griffin. And yet, she’ll still somehow make time to stop by the Paramount Hudson Valley in Peekskill. There, she’ll perform her stand-up for two back-to-back shows. |
Robin Rhode — May 4-August 10
“We drew the bicycle because we couldn’t afford to own bikes,” says South African artist Robin Rhode, who grew up in the country just before Nelson Mandela became president. Rhode is winner of the 2014 Roy R. Neuberger Exhibition Prize, so the Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase is hosting a 10-year retrospective of his work titled Robin Rhode: Animating the Everyday. In the exhibition, you can see Rhode’s digitally animated works, which add his artistic twist to ordinary objects like chairs, the human body, and, yes, bicycles.
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Meg Wolitzer — May 6If you’re in a book club, you’ve read The Interestings, Meg Wolitzer’s novel about a group of summer-camp friends dealing with the realities of growing up. Wolitzer will give a reading with Delia Ephron and Jason Porter at Spoken Interludes, which takes place at the Riverview in Hastings-on-Hudson. |
Steam — May 20-August 16
We usually think of fine art and mathematics as occupying two totally different, opposing universes. In reality, artists are inspired by math and science all the time—and, presumably, vice versa. ArtsWestchester in White Plains makes the case with its newest exhibition, Steam, which is also a celebration of the 20th anniversary of Westchester Community College Center for the Digital Arts in Peekskill. The exhibit loosely takes its name from the words Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, and the 26 artists represented have these concepts at the forefront of their work.
Lorikeets Maritime Aqaurium – May 24-September 1
Get up close and personal with some fine feathered friends at the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk, where the Lorikeets exhibit lets you into a cageless aviary; purchase a cup of nectar, and the tropical birds will land on you to take a sip.
