All Of Us Are Better Than One Of Us

And how can we be "all of us" without you? After all, you have that one special ingredient we need to make Stone Soup, which not coincidentally is the name of our very next installment of the Monthly Dinner Series, happening this Friday, April 23rd.



Of course, we'll be featuring Greg Haberny, the artist behind our current (and if we do say so ourselves, fantastic) show The Homeless Boys Social Club. Greg's an artist who's steeped in good stories, and it's easy to get lost in them. We're thinking this is a dinner you don't want to miss... especially since places are already filling up!

The meal itself? What's more traditional than a good ol'fashioned BBQ? We've got Fett Sau on board with an exciting menu, but who knows? Maybe in just a few days we'll have an additional surprise guest chef on the side!

As long-time readers need not be reminded, our previous dinners have been tremendous. Served family-style in the gallery itself, our Monthly Dinners offer a night of great food, great art, and great conversation. But the remaining spaces are highly limited, so we urge you to RSVP now! Because if you're not here on Friday, April 23rd... something's going to be missing!

All We Can Say Is WOW

Seriously. WOW. Both in heavy traffic and outstanding sales, opening night of Greg Haberny's Homeless Boys Social Club has performed beyond our WILDEST dreams.



That photo above was taken just before we started, and boy, are we glad we chose to do it then. Because look at the place just a few hours later...



Despite the rain, traffic was HUGE throughout the night, with familiar friends and brand new visitors alike coming to see Greg's two level show. The party kept shifting from upstairs to downstairs and back again, and we were all in motion... even Greg! If you weren't able to catch him unoccupied and talk to him in person, keep an eye out for our podcast interview to appear later this week, because he's quite an interesting guy.





Greg's just coming off a successful appearance at the Philips de Pury auction house, so it's no surprise how well he's performing here. It's exciting to know so many pieces are already destined for good homes, and just as exciting to see all the ones still waiting to be discovered. All night long, we kept hearing "That's amazing!" and "Tell me more about that piece." and we went home tired, but happy. Can you believe we'll be doing this every day until June 6th? That's right, pay no attention to our press release, because we're so in love that we've extended the show!



Greg has also been getting some love from the Like the Spice artists. Below you can see how we caught dear sweet Rachel Beach enjoying the fun.



Greg's got a director's heart, so he approaches his installations in a rather cinematic way, adding music and controlling the light and available pathways for travel. We expect this is why everyone ended up downstairs, talking about everything under the sun. Hip Hop? Politics? Volcanoes? Art Fairs? And that was just our little corner!



There's so much work, we can't possibly cover it all. We'll be doing our best to adding the images to Greg's special preview page as fast as we can, but we think the best way to view the work is to see it is in person! So take advantage of the improving weather and stop in to see The Homeless Boys Social Club. We are certain you will be impressed.

The Play's The Thing! (We Did On Wednesday Night)

Yes, it's true, we're working hard to get ready for the already outlandishly successful Greg Haberny - The Homeless Boys Social Club which previewed last week and opens for real this Friday night, April 16th. But all work and no play makes our staff start stabbing people, and nobody wants that. So we were so thankful to be given some tickets to A Behanding In Spokane. Here's the short review: we had a blast. Want to go see it too? We've got a very special code that'll work on BroadwayOffers.com until May 9th, a code that can immediately get you almost 45% off your tickets! Read our little review below to learn what that code is. And, honestly, we hope that review will convince you to go, because A Behanding In Spokane really is an excellent play.

The high point of the show, as expected, is Christopher Walken. He's playing Carmichael, the man with one hand and a dark-yet-ridiculous story of how he lost the other. When the curtain opens he's sitting in a room, waiting for something, and that something... is a hand. Aw, come on, it says "hand" right in the title, we didn't ruin anything. If we wanted to ruin it we'd tell you about what immediately starts knocking on the closet door. See? Don't you want to know what happens next? That's the kind of play we're talking about here, the kind that sucks you in and makes you really interested it how the action unfolds.

Though we never really leave Carmichael's hotel room, we're still introduced to three other actors. First is Sam Rockwell (as Mervin, the employee who's watching the front desk) and then to Anthony Mackie (playing Toby, the sensitive drug dealer) and finally Zoe Kazan (as Marilyn, Toby's kinda-stoner girlfriend). The small cast gives the four actors an equal chance to shine, and all us LtS'ers were very surprised by just how much shining they did.

The writing was sort of Pulp Fiction meets Seinfeld, if you will, and every now and then veered a tiny bit too far into the clever. But these moments were rare, and almost always covered by the actors, especially Walken, who seemed perfectly happy understating his over-the-top bizarre. And when the writing was glorious, which was most of the time, the crowd just couldn't stop laughing. During the telephone call at the end (you'll understand when you get there) Marisa was laughing so hard she actually kicked the woman in front of her! It was nice of you to be so understanding, poor kicked woman. But you might not even have noticed, since you were laughing so hard as well.

It's rare that one can actually say "there's no way you can guess what happens next" and mean it, but A Behanding In Spokane really is full of great gags and moments that simply can't be guessed in advance. We'd give you an example, but that would be rude! Instead we'll just say that this is a play which covers racism, interpersonal relationships, seedy hotels and the nature of revenge. The play will be running until June 6th, so why would you decide to miss out? Especially since we want to invite YOU to go and see it for less! Visit BroadwayOffers.com or call 212-947-8844 and use code BSMUG38 to take advantage of this very special deal for a very very wonderful play.

Also, a word of advice, if you're one of those people who come in after the play starts, Walken will give you an exasperated withering look from the stage. Naturally, we were not those people. Don't you be those people either!

Image:Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
Christopher Walken, left, Zoe Kazan and Anthony Mackie in “A Behanding in Spokane.”

What's He Building In There?

The downstairs is slowly being transformed. Artist Greg Haberny keeps waving at us as he passes by the desk on his way to our basement. Cardboard? Old toys? Is that... the head from a bunny costume? We're not completely sure how Greg's new installation piece is going to end up, but we know that we're really looking forward to this Friday. And we think you should be too.

Already Greg is getting some advance press. Animal New York has taken notice of Greg's in-progress installation, saying:

Greg Haberny unfolds a story board of our national pastime – mid-recession survival – with part movie sets/part art installations, plus a load of mixed media work spanning two floors for his upcoming exhibition at Like the Spice.

and we have to admit, they're on the money. We're also pleased with the nod that came from Brooklyn Street Art and we're glad that Greg is already getting some press, even before he's finished installing!



The images in this post are examples of Greg's previous works, because the official opening of our two level show is on April 16th. However, Greg's been work hard on our downstairs area, so we want to show that off a little early! Our special pre-opening comes on Friday, April 9th, right here at Like the Spice. Clear your schedule to see this ultra-advance sneak at Greg's installation. Then head here to read a little more about Greg and the upcoming April 16th opening night!





We've already been dazzled by him. You should come be dazzled too. Join us on April 9th and see The Homeless Boys Social Club.

Roger-ing Our Artists

Have you been keeping up with our flurry of activity? Of course you have! That's why you already know all about our happy little trip to The Roger Smith Hotel. But what you might not know is that, on Saturday, April 10th, we'll be having the next installment of our Like the Spice Dinner Series on the 16th floor, surrounded by the wonderful view through the windows of the solarium, and catered by Lily's, the restaurant located inside the Roger Smith Hotel. In attendance will be artists Jason Bryant, Allison Edge, and Ross Racine, the very artists we have featured in the Roger Smith show. Opening night was an amazing amount of fun that we want you to experience for yourself!



We'd love to have you join us for this chance to meet and talk with the artists, but the dinner is filling up fast. In fact, there are only three places remaining! So go ahead and visit our online RSVP page to save your place right now. And then, take a look at our special Roger Smith preview page and see what you'll be enjoying when you join us for dinner at the Roger Smith Hotel!

Jenny Morgan at Postmasters: Total Success!

Friday, the 2nd of April, and we were there. Because when one of our artists gets to be part of a show at Postmasters, we have to at least put in an appearance. We rubbed elbows with Jerry Saltz, Marilyn Minter, practically every art blogger we've ever met in our lives, and of course, the fantastic Jenny Morgan.



As part of the group show Mirror Mirror, Jenny represented herself wonderfully. You can clearly see how well her latest pieces fit into this group portrait show, and we were very very proud that she was invited to take part in such a wonderful show. Congratulations, Jenny!



Naturally, we highly recommend that you visit Postmasters in Chelsea to check out this show, open through May 8th. But if you'd like a sneak preview of what Jenny's has in the show...

Don't forget, you can see more of Jenny's art at any time, on her Like the Spice artist webpage.

Im-pressed With Our World

We're wrapping up our current show, The World We Live In, The Worlds We Create, but there's still a little time left. If you've been procrastinating, keep in mind that Saturday's the very last day for you to safely enjoy the works of Langdon Graves, Misako Inaoka, Patrick Jacobs, Matthew Northridge, Diana Puntar, R. Justin Stewart and Jessica Stoller. We've been showing them off for a few weeks now, and you can guess, these artists have been getting some well deserved attention.






Art blog Can You Dig It paid us a visit, and said:

After having a tour of the gallery it became evident to me how Like the Spice Gallery has remained successful amidst such a difficult economic climate where many galleries have been forced to close their doors.

which made us all feel really good. We also got a shout-out from the team at L Magazine, which included these kind words:

Some, like the weirdly organic objects made from construction materials by R. Justin Stewart, are abstract and otherworldly, while others create strange figurative situations, like Jessica Stoller's absurd fairy tale ceramics or Patrick Jacobs' miniature diorama illusions. We're particularly partial to Diana Puntar's cave-like outcroppings of wooden disks and mirror balls, which make us feel like interplanetary spelunkers.

But that wasn't all. We got some attention C-monster, and Alan Lupani's Artblogny"c" put together a nice little slide show presentation showing how much he enjoyed joining us for dinner. Pretty good press, right?


So, c'mon! Why don't you join us this week and check out the show?