April 10-12 How to decide?

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I’ve already mentioned a number of wonderful events taking place this weekend; these additions may make it impossible to choose!

Tonight is the start of The Anthology Film Archives’ weekend at the Chelsea Hotel. They’ll be showing films about, filmed at, or created by residents of The Chelsea Hotel.

The Chelsea Hotel has been a haven for artists and thinkers for 125 years, and, despite recent forebodings of change, it remains an almost miraculous island of continuity and cultural integrity in a city that makes such longevity nearly impossible. Countless legends have made the Chelsea their home including writers from Mark Twain and Dylan Thomas to Arthur Miller and Jean Paul Sartre; musicians such as Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Jimi Hendrix, Sid Vicious, and Iggy Pop; and a whole host of artists, including Jasper Johns, Arman, Willem De Kooning, and Robert Crumb. Among the famous figures who lived (or worked) there are many whose histories are intertwined with Anthology, from early associates, friends, and supporters (Shirley Clarke, Patti Smith, Julian Schnabel, Michel Auder) to filmmakers included in the Essential Cinema collection (Robert Flaherty, Harry Smith, Andy Warhol, and PULL MY DAISY participants Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, and Jack Kerouac), and many others from the downtown counter-cultural milieu from which Anthology emerged in the late-sixties.

Tonight check out Alex Cox’s cult classic ‘Sid and Nancy.’

What’s the most hipster event conceivable? A symposium about what the hipster culture “was” (apparently it is no longer authentic; how ironic is that?). Saturday afternoon the literary magazine n+1 hosts “An Afternoon Panel, Symposium, and Historical Investigation” entitled “What Was the Hipster.” Need I say more?

Also on Saturday you can learn a new way to paint Easter Eggs, or experience the art form for the first time, at Spacecraft Brooklyn:

In the Ukranian tradition, you can intimately greet Spring’s arrival by decorating eggs using the ancient technique and tools of psanky. You will have the opportunity to learn the meaning of all classic symbols and designs and be encouraged to create new ones of your own.

Saturday is also the first day of the Food For Thought Film Festival, which is devoted to several crucial issues: access to clean food and water; human rights; local and sustainable agriculture; and the effects of policy on small American farmers.

I would also like to add a few ongoing theater productions that have been stirring up some excellent buzz.

“Exit The King”marks Geoffrey Rush’s Broadway debut as a king who refuses to retire without a fight. He plays alongside Susan Sarandon, Lauren Ambrose, Andrea Martin, William Sadler and Brian Hutchinson. All six actors have received high marks for their performances.

Lauren Ambrose (Queen Marie), Geoffrey Rush (King Berenger), William Sadler (The Doctor) and Susan Sarandon (Queen Marguerite).

Another Broadway debut worth celebrating is that of Neil LaBute, the writer of the hit play “Reasons to be Pretty.” This love story, about a man who mentions the unthinkable to the woman he adores ( her physical imperfections), is a “hopelessly romantic drama about the hopelessness of romance.”

Also ongoing, and recently extended, is Christopher Durang’s play “Why Torture is Wrong and the People Who Love Them.”

Stay tuned for more weekend events!