Reach new heights of Christmas joy

By Meredith Deliso

Office parties. Santa Claus. Ice skating. This is the stuff of the holidays. For Suspended Cirque, it’s also the stuff of aerial art.

In three shows at Galapagos Art Space in DUMBO from December 19-20, the aerial theater troupe will present “The 12 Acts of Christmas,” a holiday spectacular like none other.

This fanciful new holiday show features ice maidens on a triangle trapeze, a ribbon-dancing Nutcracker, ice skating in mid-air, a live musical rendition of “Sleigh Ride” like you’ve never heard before, a drunken Sugar Plum, and even Santa on a unicycle.

“It’s all turned on its head a little bit,” says Suspended Cirque co-founder Angela Jones of the holiday show.

Indeed, the cast of characters also includes a “hipster elf,” says Jones, who will be playing electric guitar and DJing throughout the show. And Santa will come in and out on, rather than a cherry red sleigh, a unicycle. “He’s our theme in variation,” says Jones.

Combining aerial acrobatics, theater, music, dance and circus arts, these 12 acts will certainly enthrall as the show moves from a movie montage to Jones own solo rope piece to its triple trapeze grand finale. Another highlight is sure to be the troupe’s rendition of “Sleigh Ride,” featuring all the performers – Jones, Joshua Dean, Michelle Dortignac, Ben Franklin, and Kristin Olness – as a band. “My only responsibility is to be Mrs. Claus cracking the whip, literally,” says Jones.

In addition to live music — the troupe’s own variations on holiday classics — DJ Uri Attia will also provide some sounds.

For the past few months, Suspended Ciruqe has taken up a residency of sorts at Galapagos, performing “Across the Water” last spring and “Urbanopolis” this past summer.

“In general we don’t have a lot of opportunity to perform aerial work in various spaces,” says Jones. “They give us an entire evening to basically do what we want.”

The venue approached Suspended Cirque to put on a holiday show, which they gladly accepted, mainly as a creative break from their other theatrical projects.

“A lot of us are dancers and have done ‘The Nutcracker’ five million times,” says Jones. “This was something we could do creatively and have more leeway and fun with it.”

That’s sure to be a draw for audiences as well, looking for some new holiday entertainment beyond Radio City or Broadway.

“It’s something you can do for the holidays that’s different than what you might normally do,” says Jones, “like seeing ‘The Nutcracker.’”

“The 12 Acts of Christmas” by Suspended Cirque is Saturday December 19, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, December 20, at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for children and seniors. Galapagos Art Space is located at 16 Main St. For more information, call 718-222-8500.

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Honey Brothers - gelling like a real family

By Meredith Deliso

The Honey Brothers are, in many ways, like a family – a group of different personalities united by one bond.

While not blood, or honey, their bond is music.

Comprised of two full-time musicians (Andrew Vladeck and Dan Green), a filmmaker (Ari Gold), an actor (Adrian Grenier, of “Entourage” fame) and even a doctor (D.S. Posner), the Brooklyn-based band started off as somewhat of a novelty – a ukulele-driven indie folk band. But since forming in 2001, they’ve solidified their lineup, done the festival circuit, and released a critically acclaimed full-length album.

This fall, they’ve been in the studio at work on their next one, collaborating with producer Malcolm Burns.

“He seemed to have the right vibe, the right personality to work with our assorted personalities,” says Vladeck, a Bedford-Stuyvesant-based musician.

Indeed, the band is a unique one. When they started back in 2001, none of the members used their real names (Vladeck, for instance, went by Dory Honey). As the band’s evolved over the past seven years, some of that jokey spirit has changed, and the band has even considered changing their name, if only for a hot second.

“We started as this all-ukulele, old-time street corner folk song band, so everything we did was mildly tongue-in-cheek,” says Vladeck. “The name came from that incarnation. The other day it occurred to us, maybe we should start thinking about this name. It’s not perfectly representative, but at the same time, it’s what we’ve lived with for seven years.”

And, as the name hints at, the band is incredibly brotherly. Gold, Vladeck and Posner all met in college, Green has been playing with Vladeck for the past several years, and Grenier came on board on the drums shortly after the band’s first gig. And like brothers, their closeness does not always translate musically.

“Everyone in the band has such distinct tastes,” says Vladeck, who leans more towards Americana and old-time music himself. “No one in the band likes anyone else’s taste in music. Everyone shoots each other down and we find the middle ground. It requires collaboration in its utmost form.”

And it helps them wind up with something different when they head into the studio. While preserving their folk roots, the band has brought in all varieties of rock – glam, classic, indie – as well as pop and world music into the mix for their new album, which you can get a taste of this month when they play Brooklyn Bowl December 18.

“It’s going to be something you can hum along to,” says Vladeck, who anticipates the album coming out in early spring. “Everyone in the band has great ideas. It’s the little details that we get stuck on. But once we blast through them, it’s very enjoyable to play.”

And while the band’s name may no longer be as relevant as it used to, true to being in a family, you can’t change your name.

The Honey Brothers play Brooklyn Bowl (61 Wythe Ave.) December 18 at 9 p.m. Tickets $10. With Balthrop, Alabama. For more information, call 718-963-3369.

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Break out the Gameboy: Blip Fest '09 coming

Chiptune fans, your Woodstock is here.

From December 17-19, the Bell House hosts Blip Festival 2009, a festival devoted to the makers of 8-bit, music (and art) made through the manipulation of gaming programs like Atari, Nintendo and Game Boy.

Sound nerdy? It is, but the festival welcomes hardcore fans and neophytes alike to experience the over 30 artists pooled by the Manhattan arts organization The Tank, in partnership with New York-based artist collective 8pitpeoples (and, the latest stage of hipster is the meta-nerd anyway, right?).

Bands included in this 2009 festival, now in its fourth year, include the New York-based Bit Shifter, Nullsleep, Bubblyfish, Starscream and Minubaby. Offerings from abroad include Japan’s The Hunters, Je Deviens DJ en Trois Jours and Eat Rabbit, both from France, and Hungary’s Failotron.

Visualists participating this year include Enso, Jean Y. Kim, Rosa Menkman, No Carrier, Outpt, Paris, Vblank and The C-Men.

In addition to the shows, the festival also includes daytime workshops, film screenings and open mic events.

And given that a lot of the bands’ members, like Starscream’s, are high schoolers themselves, the event is all ages. Then again, wasn’t Woodstock?

Blip Festival 2009 is December 17-19 at the Bell House (149 7th St.). Tickets are $15 per night for $40 for a three-day festival pass. For more information, call 718-643-6510.

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Clare and the Reasons' healthy choice

One Brooklyn band is channeling their “alter eco.”

Indie rockers Clare and the Reasons embarked on a healthy road trip last October, seeking out fresh local foods along the way.

On December 14, they return home with a show at the Knitting Factory in Williamsburg.

The band teamed up with Alter Eco Fair Trade – a San Francisco-based Fair Trade food brand, to put together the Healthy Road Trip Challenge for this year’s tour. The challenge: find local, organic, and fresh produce on their long road trips, which often impede artists’ desire to eat healthy, sustainable, and ethical foods.

With a double electric cooking range as their tool, the band has been subsisting off of Alter Eco’s quinoa and jasmine rice, as well as their Carbon Neutral extra virgin olive oils, combined with fresh local vegetables and organic meat, cooking in the backstage area of the concerts and hotel rooms.

Their Brooklyn show is at 8 p.m. at the Knitting Factory (361 Metropolitan Ave.). With Keren Ann. Tickets $15.

For their hometown concert, you can still help the band in their quest by providing suggestions on where to find the best, healthiest food in Brooklyn. Where would you suggest?

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Vesper to rock Spike Hill

In another album release, cello-driven rockers Vesper celebrate the release of their new CD December 12 at Spike Hill in Williamsburg.

The celebration starts at 7 p.m. with complimentary hors d’oeuvres, followed by a performance from Vesper.

Admission is $10, and includes their new, self-titled CD. Spike Hill is located at 184-186 Bedford Ave. For more information, call 718-218-9737.

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U’Kno Tha Don's 'Testimony'

Crown Heights native and hip-hop artist U’Kno Tha Don celebrates the release of his new album, “Testimony,” this month.

After a tumultuous year in 2007 that saw the singer tried in the homicide of his two-month-old son who died of SIDS (for which he was found innocent), and losing custody of his two-year-old daughter, U’Kno decided to channel his pain into song.

The musician’s last mixtape, “As Cocky as I Wanna Be,” which included “Missing You,” a dedication song to his deceased son, sold over 10,000 copies. With “Testimony,” U’Kno is ready to take his music to the next level.

“Testimony” is U’Kno in his own words — heartfelt, real, sexy, remarkably lyrical, and creative.In New York, he has been featured on the Apollo, The Deal, Bet.com, Rap City, and Fuse TV. U’Kno can be seen next at Secret Lounge in Queens (245-11 Francis Louis Blvd.) for an album release party at 10 p.m.

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Brooklyn to Babylon

The vibe (and sunny skies) of this video, from Brooklyn's Shinobi Ninja, makes us wish it were summer, and not 40 degrees, with a chance of rain, outside. Sigh.

The song's called "Brooklyn to Babylon," off their debut EP is expected spring of next year. The video's directed by Evan Savitt (Lady Gaga, Saint Motel). Says Shinobi Ninja drummer Terminator Dave expresses “this video represents exactly what the song and band is about - frenetic energy that demands your attention to its emotion, feel, and arrangement. It’s bright, colorful, eccentric and fun, which are all the elements we bring to our shows!”

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