Free the Furbie
Remember that Speak & Spell that you lovingly played with? Hours spent listening to its robotic voice teach you to be a better contributor to society. You'd push that button over and over again to hear the way the guy totally burped (thanks, Texas Instruments). Well now there's a place where you can rip out those long-hidden circuit boards, adapt them to your will and create strange, new music. BENT 2006 is the third annual "circuit bending festival," which means lots of people-even those with little technological know-how-modifying battery-powered children's toys to create odd new sounds. With a series of performances, workshops and installations, you'll never look at a talking Furbie the same way again. (Jerry Portwood)
April 18-23. 15 Nassau St. (betw. Cedar & Pine Sts.), Bentfestival.org.
Give Earth a Chance
Earth Day was founded by Gaylord Nelson in 1970, back when "ecology" was still a fairly new science. Nowadays, well, it seems "Littering Day" or "Toxic Spill Day" or "Drive Your SUV Through the Park Day" would make a little more sense. "Earth Day" seems kind of like a sad and ironic joke. And to drive the irony home it seems, the center of this year's EARTH DAY NY celebration will be in and around Grand Central Station, where dozens of activist groups will set up info tables, and dozens of large corporations will offer a lot of things that you can buy. There'll also be environmentally friendly vehicles to look at, face painting and other kids' stuff, art exhibits and music (including performances by Bela Fleck and Mickey Hart). But most important, there'll be lots of things to buy. Then you can pack everything you've purchased into your Hummer and roar on home, feeling mighty good about yourself. (Jim Knipfel)
April 21- 22. Grand Central Station, Vanderbilt Hall and environs, Vanderbilt Ave. & 42nd St.; Noon-7 p.m., Free. www.earthdayny.org.
When a "festival" has a multi-venue setup and a random lineup that spans everything from the tired (Blues Traveler, Peter Frampton) to the true (Nouvelle Vague, Ghostface), then you know something's up. And that something is called PR spin. In any case, the GREEN APPLE MUSIC FESTIVAL may just be a way to lump a whole lot of acts together under a big umbrella to get some press, but there are a couple of acts that are always a sure bet. For example, Travis Sullivan's BJORKESTRA lined up for Joe's Pub is a way to get your classical/jazz/pop fix all in one show. Taking Bjork's sound and adapting it to a modern jazz ensemble, live vocalists do an amazing job of adapting the kooky Icelandic chanteuse, and the sweeping chords with strings and horns never sounded better. (JP)
April 22. Joe's Pub, 425 Lafayette St. (betw. Astor Place and East 4th St.), 212-254-1263; 9:30, $15/$18.
YO! YO! MA!
Most people in the know cringe when they hear the words folk dance and contemporary in the same sentence. It's that subdivision of the movement world that your grandparents are supposed to enjoy (meaning: outdated), or that's acceptable if you happen to be of the same ethnicity as the performers themselves (getting back to your roots), or alternatively, if they come from a faraway and preferably oppressed land (see: exotic and you do your bit for human rights by supporting them). But if one man transcends such stereotypes and has been able to achieve a superb synthesis between the two, it's AKRAM KAHN. The London-based, Bangladeshi choreographer blends classical Indian dances with a contemporary idiom with surprising success; the results are sleek and often breathtakingly beautiful. Ma, Kahn's newest creation, promises to please and astound by examining states of existence ranging from stillness to chaos. Dancers will execute all sorts of innovative movements upside down, right side up, sometimes perfectly immobile and other times, thrashing about wildly. To keep you in the mood, the World Music Institute is also collaborating on this tour and offers two late-night concerts to accompany the performances: GHAZAL performs Indian and Persian improvisations April 25 and noted South Indian percussion ensemble "VIKKU" VINAYAKRAM SAPTHAASHARA makes its US debut April 26 (both in the Allen Room at Rose Hall, $35). Enough to get you to nirvana. Om? (Chris Atamian)
April 26, April 28-29. Rose Hall, 70 Lincoln Center Plaza (at W. 65th St. & B'way), 212-721-6500; 8, $30-$50.
Get Under Film
Seems you can't go outside without bumping into or tripping over a film festival these days. Either they're panhandling on the corner begging for scraps or dressed in high style (their hands still out, begging for scraps). The BROOKLYN UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL has been around the block for a few years and is, of course, somewhere between street urchin and Uptown sophisticate. With a series of US (Jeremy Mack's High Score and Bill Brown's The Other Side) as well as international entries (Adán Aliaga's My Grandmother's House [Spain] and Bettina Perut's Clever Monkey Pinochet Versus la Moneda Pigs [Chile]) being screened, the BUFF has enough cache to attract a lively crowd of scenesters who love to watch a film and then get a beer and party all night. And if you need a dance party to meet some filmmakers there's free vodka served up Friday night, and a film event wouldn't be much these days without a music showcase, so there's the ironic Har Mar Superstar at Northsix in Williamsburg on Saturday. It'll be enough of a taste to get you ready for the next film festival that kicks off just a few days later. (JP)
April 19-23. Brooklyn Lyceum, 227 4th Ave. (at Union St.), Park Slope; Brooklynunderground.org, $8.
HED: Caffeine Craze
If you're feeling like getting a jolt of that college feeling without having to pay tuition or eat in the dining hall, then Pratt Institute's 18th annual DRAW-A-THON could be just the thing. Artists, students, professionals and that guy that keeps hanging up his work in the hallway outside your apartment even though you tell him you HATE his work all show up to begin drawing at 7 p.m. and try to keep going until 7 a.m. Models circulate throughout the studios; there's even going to be some African drum music (cuz that's what we ALL need at 3 in the morning when we're trying to draw a quick nude). I mean, it's just like college was meant to be-right? (JP)
April 22. Pratt Institute, 200 Willoughby Ave. (betw. Hall St. & Emerson Pl.), B'klyn, 718-636-3617; 7 p.m.-7 a.m., $10/$15.