It Came From Brooklyn is a new concert series started by The Guggenheim Museum celebrating the museum’s 50th anniversary. The monthly series launched in August and its aim is to showcase emerging and established talents in music and literature. The first series featured music from The Walkmen, High Places and The Brooklyn Steppers Marching Band. The second It Came From Brooklyn concert will take place this Friday. The concert, hosted by comedian Eugene Mirman, will have performances by Julian Plenti (aka Paul Banks of Interpol) and I’m In You and readings by authors Rivka Galchen and Hampton Fancher. The series is co-produced by Sam Brumbaugh and Bronwyn Keenan. The title of the series references Robert Gordon’s book It Came From Memphis, which details the birth of rock-n-roll in the 1950’s.  The last concert had a good mix of Manhattanites and Brooklynites. In an interview with FreeWilliamsburg, Brumbaugh addressed the borough-centric stigma of the Manhattanite and Brooklynite community, ”One of the purposes of this series was to try to loosen up those “I don’t go there” perceptions–on both sides. A museum on the Upper East is not a big leap from three stops in on the L.” Audience members will get a chance to view “Kandinsky,”  a full scale retrospective of the paintings of Vasily Kandinsky.

Tickets are on sale at www.guggenheim.org/brooklyn. Tickets are $45 for non-members, $40 for members. All proceeds support the series and the Guggenheim’s exhibitions and programs.

Before there was Naomi Campbell there was the late, great Naomi Sims, who died of breast cancer this past weekend. Sims paved the way for our greatest models of color today, appearing as the first black cover model of Ladies’ Home Journal in November of 1968 and landing coveted modeling gigs for the likes of Halston and Fernando Sánchez thus being dubbed the world’s “first black supermodel”. Though she was much more than a supermodel in the generic terms we use the word today. She was black and beautiful before the 1970’s made such a thing in vogue. She was the beginning of something much greater than she could have ever imagined, ushering in an era of discussion on how our culture truly defines what is beautiful. As Halston once said “Naomi was the first. She was the great ambassador for all black people. She broke down all the social barriers.” You can check out her amazing 1969 cover of LIFE and the 1967 New York Times fashion magazine cover on display in the Metropolitan Museum’s “The Model As Muse” exhibit. Naomi, you will be missed.

Beijing artist Song Dong brings his mother’s possessions to life at New York’s MOMA. In his first solo museum show: Waste Not an exhibit running until September 7, Song personifies  frugality and a more earth-friendly thought to would- be trash. Objects that would have normally been discarded, are saved for the chance of new usefulness.  For five decades Song’s mother had amassed ropes, toothpaste tubes, shopping bags, plastic containers, broken dolls and anything else she deemed salvageable. After the death of her husband the thoughts of her meer thriftiness crossed the fine line into hoarding,  and Song convined his mother to let him help her out of her small house brimming with chaos.

-Jessica Pages

Summer is here, people who’ve been in New York long enough will tell you that there’s a lot of things going on here during this season. It’s true, it’s true. For film enthusiasts, the 2009 New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) just ended this week, while JAPAN CUTS, a sister festival (co-presented with the NYAFF09) is happening as we speak. But if you prefer to be outside, enjoying nature and stuff, there’s a bunch of outdoors film screenings happening. Some of these are free, some of them give you free booze and pop corns with admission! I’ve compiled some of the event listings after the cut.

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This autumn, British accessory brand Jimmy Choo will bring its international glamour and covetable shoes and bags to 200 selected H&M stores across the world, starting November 14. It’s the first time that H&M is collaborating with an accessories brand–to celebrate Jimmy Choo will extend its design vision for this collection to women’s clothing to complement the accessories. In addition, this collaboration will also include a men’s collection of shoes, bags and accessories.

“We adore Jimmy Choo’s shoes and bags. They are glamorous and sexy, and they add instant style to the simplest of outfits. I like the way we have worked with clothes to accessorize the shoes and bags rather than the other way around. This collaboration is particularly exciting because it’s our first shoe designer collection. It’s a joy to be able to offer top end designer shoes and bags of excellent quality to our customers,” shares Margareta van den Bosch, creative advisor, H&M.

Tamara Mellon, Founder and President, Jimmy Choo adds: “We are privileged to be among the fashion greats who have been affiliated with H&M so far, and to be designing a collection appealing to fashion savvy, street smart women, and to be including some great pieces for men, too. Jimmy Choo will bring to H&M a sophisticated, fashion forward, accessible and glamorous collection – the perfect party pieces to buy now and then wear out that night!”

Since its launch in 1996, Jimmy Choo has been such a phenomenal success that the brand name has become part of popular culture–say the words “Jimmy Choo”, and you know you mean shoes.  With their tall heels and strappy designs, Jimmy Choo shoes epitomize red-carpet glamour In Hollywood, Jimmy Choo shoes have become a red-carpet essential from the Oscars to the MTV Video Music Awards. Everyone has a pair and now you can own more than just your hand-me-down (I love my hot pink stilettos from 2001, thanks sis!) or secondhand purchase ( Go to Tokyo Joe on 11th Street in NYC). So step on it people as soon as it hits stores or step off.

-Colette Prosper

Coming next month to the lower-east side, a cheap alternative to the little  Vegas Wedding Chapels complete with ordained Universal Life Church ministers. Ceremonies are completely customizable. You can have live internet-streaming of your special day to friends and family who can’t make it, if you  have no one special in your life and are sad and alone but have always wanted to get married you can even rent a bride or groom. For those of you too afraid of commitment or too sober you can have a mock-ceremony, no strings attached. Las Vegas quickie weddings just got a lot classier.

Wedding Chapel will open on Friday July 10th and run until Sunday
July 26th, but dates can be extended if enough interest exists.

-Jessica Pages

Put the pork rinds down. Contemplate a life of actually doing something.

New York

“Francis Bacon: A Centenary Retrospective”. This is not your run of the mill rich British gay kid turned cross dressing ex-pat turned interior designer turned influential 20th century painter. Bacon’s art is grotesque and heartbreaking. With the screaming popes and the male on male eroticism, the show borders on the homoerotic, the hysterical, and the totally horrifying. Think Picasso stuck in Nightmare on Elm Street. And the imagery is completely visceral - most likely you will either hate it or love it (like anything worth looking at twice) . “Francis Bacon: A Centenary Retrospective” is showing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art through Aug 16.

Chicago

I will be honest. Sometimes art can be too artsy for me. Too lofty, if you will. “Take Your Time”, the Olafur Eliasson exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art is on this level. I have no idea about what any of it means, only that the shit is off the wall, super cool, light orgasm, spectacular. Everything is sensory - your eyes, your ears, your nose - everything on your body is basically drowning in A.R.T (capital letters, of course). But there is no loftiness with Eliasson, mainly because his works are too expansive for much pretension. Bring some shades. And a hot dog.

London

Camden People’s Theatre is celebrating the world’s oldest profession. No. Not prostitution (get your head out of the gutter), I’m talking about acting!!!! OK, fine, maybe it’s not exactly the oldest profession, but it is old. Pretty, pretty, old. And the 12th annual Sprint Festival is not your Homer’s theatre extravaganza. The event is all about new work: visionary young writers, daring actors, experimental theatre companies, and hopefully lots of profanity and nudity (finger’s crossed).

Now put your pants on!!!!