BENEFIT CONCERT
Friday, June 10, 2011, 6 pm
John D. Calandra Italian American Institute
25 West 43rd Street, 17th floor
between 5th and 6th Avenues
Please join us for an exciting evening of performances to benefit the Calandra Institute and its journal Italian American Review. Enjoy music and spoken word as presented by world-renowned artists John Giorno, Vic Ruggiero, Penny Arcade, and John La Barbera. Wine and refreshments will be served.
The Calandra Institute is the only academic research institute in the country dedicated to the study of Italian-American history and culture. In the past five years, we have introduced ever more engaging scholarly and cultural programming for your appreciation. The more recent additions to our unique offerings include the newly relaunched journal Italian American Review, an annual three-day, international conference, the webcasts of Italics 2.0 and Nota Bene, and the upcoming exhibition “Migrating Towers: The Gigli of Nola and Beyond.”
We have been able to do this and much more, providing it all free to you, the Calandra Institute's friends and colleagues.
Tickets: $35 at the door or in advance. Cash or check made payable to "Friends of the Calandra Institute Foundation." (We do not accept credit cards.) If you are unable to attend the concert, the Calandra Institute is also accepting tax-deductible donations.
We thank the performers who are volunteering their time and talents to benefit the Calandra Institute. The evening's program of innovative artists includes:
John La Barbera [2], a guitarist and mandolinist, was a founding member of I Giullari di Piazza, a New York-based Italian folk music and performance troupe. He has composed the music for original "folk operas" such as The Voyage of the Black Madonna (1990). La Barbera has also written and performed the musical scores for such films as Children of Fate (1992) and Sacco and Vanzetti (2007). In 2009, he published the book Traditional Southern Italian Mandolin and Fiddle Tunes.
John Giorno [3] is an innovator of poetry and performance whose career spans fifty years and is intertwined with contemporaries such as Andy Warhol, William S. Burroughs, and Brion Gysin. His recent book Subduing Demons in America (2008) is a survey of his revolutionary work as a poet. Giorno is fabled for his high-energy performances, honed at rock and art venues around the world.
Penny Arcade [4] (born Susanna Ventura) emerged in the 1980s as a primal force in the New York art scene and an originator of performance art. With high camp and street-smart, punk-rock cabaret showmanship, her work explores themes including women's sexuality, censorship, working class and immigrant identity. Bad Reputation, the first book by and about Penny Arcade, was published in 2009.
Vic Ruggiero [5] is musician, songwriter and producer. In addition to releasing over a dozen solo albums, most recently Don't Feed The Cats In Iraq (2010), he is the lead singer for the celebrated New York City-based ska band The Slackers. His songs, delivered in his unmistakable Bronx accent, range from narrative ballads to poetic musings often inspired by the Beat poets and deal with themes such as political skepticism, love's tribulations, and redemption.
