I’m ashamed to admit it, but even though I’ve been doing movie commentaries for NPR’s New York affiliate, WNYC, for the past six months, I didn’t know until a couple of weeks ago that they had a live performance venue. Some friends tipped me off to a great show that was going on at WNYC’s Greene Space—a “new destination for artists and audiences created for live performances, signature WNYC radio shows, and video webcasts” at 44 Charlton Street—so I headed over there on Friday, Oct 22, for a taping of the normally L.A.-based show The Sound of Young America, and was quite frankly blown away.
In a warm, intimate, street-level studio, the evening’s charming host Jesse Thorn welcomed a berserk roster of guests, inviting them to perform and chatting them up Tonight Show style. One by one, Amy Sedaris, John Hodgman, Judah Friedlander, Baratunde Thurston, and Les Savy Fav took the stage. They were so close, you could practically touch them, and were all so hilariously talented, I wished I could carry the whole show home in my pocket to shove in the face of the next person who cavalierly claims that all the fun has left Manhattan and can now only be found in Brooklyn.
Now that I’m hip to the Greene Space, you can bet I’ll be watching their calendar like a hawk, so upcoming programs like their show tonight with Elvis Costello, or their Radiolab Live show starring John Cameron Mitchell coming up on the 11th never escape my notice again!
To visit The Greene Space from wherever you are:
Listen at 93.9 FM and AM 820
View webcasts at http://www.wnyc.org/thegreenespace
Or see live shows at 44 Charlton Street @ Varick, NYC
