The Secret City

COME SEE THE WONDER OF IT ALL!!

This month we celebrate WONDER! Something that great art inspires, and something that inspires great art.

Here are some images from the work of this month's featured visual artist, sculptor/raconteur/world traveler, Park McGinty. 

This month's service has a wonderful line up: in addition to Park McGinty's visuals, we will have the always-wonderful Sxip Shirey making unique sounds with his box of toys and noise-makers. Here's Sxip in action:

Also, Annie Rudnik and Harold Cromer are going to dance for us, and I mean DANCE.

The food offering will be inspired by the amusement park, and we'll hear a story about entering the bizarre and magical world of community theatre.

 

The Secret City - WONDER

Sunday, January 29th

Dixon Place

161A Chrystie St 10002

on the Lower East Side.

$10 suggested donation

Free Childcare!

 

 

 

THE LIGHT OF WINTER

For the winter solstice, WAAAAYYYYY back in December, we had our service on LIGHT. It was a beautiful gathering, and captured some of the stillness and depth of the darkest day of the year, when the light comes back into our lives. Here are some pics from the day, taken by Beth Rudock.

That's Bobby Lucy introducing the visual art for the day - photographs taken at night by Steve Giovinco.

That's a shot of the food offering being passed out- it was a cranberry fruit fool - a delicous, light, whipped cream dessert made by anna hayman. mmm. Here it us up close:

Here's a shot from the film clip we showed, Busby Berkeley's Gold Diggers of 1933. This number is AMAZING - The Shadow Waltz, sung by Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell, and then danced by about a hundred showgirls who, at one point, bust out these neon violins. Incredible artistry.

These are the illuminated wine glasses of the amazing Jonny Rodgers - Jonny plays tuned wine glasses, and composes amazing songs for them, along with guitar and voice. He often loops all of these things, too, to create a beautiful, haunting sound. We're proud to call him a Secret City regular. He brings magic whenever he appears!!

Here are Jonny's hands in action:

So, it was a beautiful, light-filled day, the perfect send off for the new year. And now we are in January, heading toward spring. The cycle never ends - dark and light, cold and warm, life and death, and always a thread of beauty streaming through it all. Grateful for all of it.

 

 

 

COME WITNESS THE LIGHT!

Our next service is Sunday, December 18th, and we will celebrate the upcoming winter solstice by celebrating LIGHT! We've got a beautiful gathering of artists coming together - photographs, desserts, music, singing and lots of candles.

Sunday, December 18th, 11:30am

Dixon Place

161A Chrystie St.

$10 suggested donation

Free Childcare!!

 

WE ARE A COMMUNITY!

Our last service on November 20th was a beautiful tribute to COMMUNITY. We had an amazing gathering of friends, old and new, and we held our 2nd annual food drive, benefitting Food Bank of NYC. Here's a picture of the altar, with a pile of donated food in front of it:

See that quilt hanging behind the altar in the picture above? It's one of three beautiful quilts by Twila Peachey, a 92 year old quilter from Pennsylvania. The quilts were donated by Rodney Harder, who commissioned them. Quilting, of course, is an art form that speaks to community, and quilts are often made collaboratively. Here's another one:

Twila is a Mennonite, so these quilts reflect that community, and the simplicity of the design speaks to the values of their lives. Here's the third quilt:

 

Here's Taylor Mac, who led the community in a monolog from his show, The Lily's Revenge.

The food offering was THE BROWNIE, brought to us by Scott Laborsky at Bummer Baskets. BEST. BROWNIES. EVER.

Martyn Thompson, who designs our monthly altar, assembled a beautiful collection of dolls and toys. Here's a close up of some of them:

Here are THE SECRET CITY SINGERS up in the mezzanine.

And here's Martyn Thompson himself.

These are Martyn's legs.

We played an improv game where a volunteer was blindfolded and guided by the community through a collision course. This is India Kotis, a very game soul.

Here are folks giving their food offerings at the beginning of the service.

Charlotte and Leigh Ann at the coffee hour after the service.

Natasha, Helene, Ellie and Noah.

Ayun, Milo and Greg - a very sweet family.

So, that's it for COMMUNITY. Another beautiful gathering with a beautiful group of people and shared experience. Thanks to all the people who came out, brought food, shared in the love and goodwill. It is the ability to be with other people that will determine a great deal of our future, our ability to be together in non-commercial, peaceful and celebratory environments. Every time we gather, the power of the ritual and the clarity of our purpose becomes clearer. We are connected. See you next time. 

Pictures by Beth Rudock and Bobby Lucy.

PERSONA

Last month's theme was PERSONA, a rich topic for artists and audiences. Here are some great pics by Beth Rudock, capturing a bit of what we saw, did, ate, touched, listened to and watched.

The visual artist of the day was Sarah Beaumont, a designer/milliner who has been making all of her own clothes for the past 3 years. We had her clothes hung throughout the space; here's a close up of one her blouses.

Here's what the whole space looked like before the service. 

"PLEASE RISE AND JOIN ME."  -- the beginning of the service when we all stand up and clap. Funny, right? Just clap. Raise the roof. Yes.

This is the Mingle, seen from the balcony - when folks say to each other.

The lovely altar, with clothes by Sarah Beaumont, and a collection of busts of figures from history. Cute, right?

Here's Daniel Alexander Jones, who did the reading for us, Ego Tripping, by Nikki Giovanni. Check out those SHOES!!

This is Sarah Beaumont, talking about her clothes and her project to make everything she wears.

The food offering of the day was the APPLE - the honeycrisp apple, to be precise. The connection with persona? Well, apples have been made to be edible, altered from their original state, they could be thought of a performance of a fruit. They also have a great aura around them, historically -- an apple a day, the apple in the garden of eden...

We played a version of CULTURAL MAPPING, and it was kind of a revelation -- standing up to identify with certain statements of identity. 

It was a lovely service, full of amazing, warm people and beautiful, invigorating art and performance. And stillness, which we all need, too. Then we have our coffee break, here are some great pals who showed up.

Micia Mosely!

JD and Andrea!

And the beautiful Michael Dunn, who was in from LA.

Thanks for showing up, everybody! What a lovely community has grown up and around The Secret City. And speaking of which, our next gathering will be November 20th, and the theme will be COMMUNITY. We're having our 2nd Annual food drive, benefitting the Food Bank of NYC - just in time for Thanksgiving.

Hope to see you then. 

The Secret City.
We Worship Art. 

 

November 20th -- COMMUNITY!! And, our 2nd Annual Food Drive.

 

This month we celebrate the idea of COMMUNITY, something central to the work of The Secret City. We are asking people to bring a friend with them to the service this month, someone who's never been before. And, we also asking people to bring a food item for our 2nd Annual Fund Drive, benefitting The Food Bank of New York City, an organization dedicated to ending hunger in New York City. 

   The Secret City, COMMUNITY!!

Sunday November 20th, 11:30 am

Dixon Place

161A Chrystie Street

btwn Rivington and Delancey

 

$10 Suggested Donation

FREE CHILDCARE!!

Our next service is October 30th. The theme will be PERSONA.

We threatened to watch hours and hours of Bergman films. But I don't think that'll happen. In fact, we've already got some puppets lined up, some amazing new music, someone who sews all her own clothes, perhaps a movie clip, and lots of amazing people, music, art, food and CULTCHAH!! It's the day before halloween -- guaranteed to be a deep n juicy time.

Sunday, October 30th PERSONA

11:30 am

The Secret City

@ Dixon Place

161A Chrystie St.

$10 suggested

www.thesecretcity.org

 

It was an INSPIRED day.

We had an amazing kick off to the 5th season - our first service was September 30th and it was a beautiful celebration. Strudel, Aerialists, music, art that you can crank with your hands -- all in all an amazing collection of artists and those who love them. Here are some great pics from the day, taken by Beth Rudock -(thanks Beth for documenting the day so beautifull!!):

these are aerialists from the company grounded aerial - they performed an amazing piece for us. Here's a sweet kid, looking like she's enjoying the show.

This is a drawing by Jon Rosenbaum, who was the featured visual artist of the day. He brought in drawings and sculptors -- really incredibly imaginative work.

Ooh, this is homemade STRUDEL!! Made by Amanda Freitag and Vera Eisenberg -  you haven't lived until you've had handmade strudel -- the dough is SO light and delicate. Mmm.

 

This is the whole shebang!! The singers in the loft, the musicians, art installed, CW leading the crowd in the opening song and a big, beautiful house of art-worshippers.

Here some folks are checking out the sculpture of Jon Rosenbaum, many of which are activated by hand - this one has a little crank and the insides of it turn, revealing various levels and workings of the piece.

This lovely lady with the incredible mane of gray hair is Dana Levin - amazing poet from Santa Fe, NM. She created and delivered an invocation for our this service, the first of our 5 season!!

Here's Jeremy Bass warming up with the singers, vaught in the reflection of a vitrine on top of the altar - maybe i shouldn't try to explain such a beautiful photo - it's an amazing moment.

The Secret City Singers!! Man oh man, do we love these ladies -- so sweet in their red outfits. The heart and soul of The Secret City.

Here's the inside of one of Jon Rosenbaum's amazing sculptures, see the little hand crank down at the right side? You turn that and the inside rotates and things become revealed about the inner workings. So magical.

Sweet Sarah Darby - a great supporter and participant. Love this pic.

IT was a day of inspiration - joy, laughter, music, art, community. What a beautiful thing continues to grow here. It's a blessing to witness. Next month, PERSONA, on Sunday, October 30th. Oooooooh. xo

This Sunday! INSPIRATION!

Join us as we embark on our FIFTH season! The theme is INSPIRATION, and we have an amazing group of artists coming together to LIFT THE SPIRITS! Aerialists, poets, pianists, singers, sculptors, STRUDEL!! -- OH MY. It's going to be a beautiful day.

 

The Secret City

Sunday, September 25th

11:30 am

Dixon Place

161A Chrystie St

bet Rivington and Delancey

$10 suggested

FREE CHILDCARE!!

 

 

The 3rd Annual Manhattan Wonderwalk is COMING!!

Hey y'all!! Here it comes, the radical, inspirational, audacious, unique kick off to our annual season of The Secret City: it's the Manhattan Wonderwalk!! A day long walk of the island of Manhattan with site-specific performances and suprises throughout the day. Saturday, September 10th, from 10am to Midnight. We start way up at the top of the island, and end up on the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge at midnight.

It's really an amazing experience, and you can join us for part of it, or all of it, once you get the special MAP!! Which is your ticket, for only $20!! For details, check out www.themanhattanwonderwalk.com