The Playgoer: BAM after dark

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Tuesday, October 16, 2007

BAM after dark

Speaking of reaching out to new audiences (see previous post) BAM is introducing itself to a new demographic by turning itself into basically an all-night club, for one night.

The purpose of "Takeover" is to target "folks who have not come in BAM's doors before," the associate producer of music programming, Darrell McNeill, said. "Usually they come in by way of [BAMcaféLive] or BAM Rose Cinemas," he said. But with "Takeover," "we're trying to introduce the full BAM experience to the next generation of patrons."

Five bands — Antibalas, Be Your Own Pet, the Exit, Heartless Bastards, and Dirty on Purpose — will perform in the Howard Gilman Opera House, while the DJ's of Ubiquita NYC will spin soul, funk, reggae, and world music in BAMcafĂ©. The four screens at BAM Rose Cinemas will show wide-ranging programs, from a "Lindsay Lohan Mid-Career Retrospective" to the Danish filmmaker Nicholas Winding Refn's violent "Pusher Trilogy." Throughout the building, there will be art and video installations by Mighty Robot A/V Squad; Neal Wilkinson of the Uncertainty Principle; Dustin O'Neill of the Fountainhead Design; Jean Shin, and Leo Villareal.

Okay, I can do without the Lindsay Lohan part. And who knows how many of these fans will ever come back to see the next Thomas Ostermeier Ibsen-deconstruction, for instance.

But tickets are $15-$20, and actual rock bands will play in that sacred opera house.

And they'll even be serving Bud Light!

("Drink sponsors" are listed as "Bud Light, Magic Hat, and MONSTER energy"--how's that for demographic diversity!)

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