New York is bursting with arts festivals, including events from BAM and Lincoln Center to the Tribeca Film Festival. But theater producer David Binder and nightlife impresario Josh Wood wanted to create an event that answered one simple question.
"There's too much information in the world - and how do you sort through that?
" asks Binder. "But ..
. if you could spend 10 days with one amazing icon in New York, what would that person take you to see?"
Their answer to that question is the High Line Festival, running May 9-19.
The icon they speak of is the Thin White Duke himself, David Bowie, who, in his role as the High Line fest's debut "curator," was asked to select the lineup. As you'd expect, it's an eclectic list: Bowie's choices range from the U.S.
standup debut of brilliant Brit comic Ricky Gervais ("The Office," "Extras") to the French electronic-pop duo Air, an exhibition of works by photographer/artist Claude Cahun, a Latin and Spanish film festival, the unclassifiable performance-artist Meow Meow, and more. (Bowie will stay partnered with the festival in years to come, helping to choose a guest curator among other duties.)
New Yorkers Binder and Wood are clearly taking a page from the UK Meltdown Festival, which celebrates its 14th year in June.
It, too, uses a guest curator (this year, musician Jarvis Cocker of Pulp oversaw Meltdown ) to choose the lineup.
"Absolutely," says Binder about using Meltdown as a starting-off point. "And David, as you know, curated that.
We're inspired by Meltdown, but we want to be more multidisciplinary.
"We're interested in not just David Bowie's favorite music, but also his favorite comics and movies and artists."
Binder and Wood met about seven years ago in the headphone section of a Circuit City, and they've been looking for something to collaborate on ever since.
Wood has organized political concert events, and has been a notable nightlife fixture who hosts weekly parties. Binder is a theatrical producer whose credits include the current "Frost/Nixon" and "Legally Blonde," as well as "De La Guarda," the recent "A Raisin in the Sun" and the original "Hedwig and the Angry Inch."
Both men live near the High Line, the 1.
45 mile-long West Side elevated train track that runs from Gansevoort St. north to W. 32nd St.
, parallel to 11th Ave. Out of service since 1980, the structure, first built in 1929, was almost demolished several times but is now being turned into a unique park, set to open next year.
"With any festival, you want to centralize it," says Binder, who mentions that a portion of the proceeds will go to the nonprofit group Friends of the High Line.
"The area that High Line runs through is really exciting because you have the galleries and the nightclubs. You have theaters and the waterfront to do outdoor things. It's really growing and changing, and it's great to be a part of it.
"
The purpose of the festival is to reflect the particular tastes of the artist curating it and to introduce people to new acts. Even though Binder is overseeing it, High Line will be doing that for him: He's especially looking forward to Ken Nordine, the 87-year-old "word jazz" innovator who'll be performing his beatnik-style spoken-word pieces at the Kitchen May 16-17.
Next year, they hope to do a lot more events outdoors, which is one reason they chose the mid-May dates for the fest.
Besides, for producer-entrepreneurs, an annual event they can depend on would be a nice change of pace.
"We aspire to be part of the New York City calendar every spring," says Binder. Picking some names he'd love to see involved, he says, "Imagine what Jay Z's festival would look like compared to Pedro Almod o var's festival, or compared to Bjork's festival.
We'll get to start anew and have a whole new festival.
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