Welcome to Culture Hound, InsideHook’s deep dive into the month’s most important (pop) cultural happenings.
GO: The Bronx Zoo After Dark Sleepover
This overnighter isn’t for the tikes. The Bronx Zoo is holding its first adult-only sleepover. It’s a nighttime safari, complete with dinner, drinks, trivia, a scavenger hunt, a DJ and close encounters with the critter kind. Tickets on sale now and are destined to sell out cheetah-quick. Let’s get wild. (10/14 – 10/15)
READ: Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders
In their new book, alternative travel guide Atlas Obscura shines a light on 700 of the strangest places, events and items on Earth. Think tree pubs, glowworm caves, leech-powered machines and something called a Baby Jumping Festival, where men in Spain dress as devils and leap over infants. (9/20)
LISTEN: Danny Brown
As Brown says on his new single, “You ain’t heard it like this before.” And on his new album Atrocity Exhibition, the oddball rapper moves to the electronic label Warp and cites Bjork, System of a Down, Quentin Tarantino and Curb Your Enthusiasm as inspirations (and nabs Kendrick Lamar for a cameo). The result? Cheerfully bizarro hip-hop completely at odds with pop radio. (9/30)
Image via Luke Schuetrumpf
APPRECIATE: Polanski
The fifth issue of our favorite NSFW photo journal/zine is available for preorder. Lots of content, little clothing. It’s art, dammit.
JOIN: An afternoon with the Philharmonia Orchestra
Maestro Atsushi Yamada will present Beethoven & Brahms to the Beatles and Billy Joel. The TED-esque multi-media event will blur the lines and reveal the connections between traditional classical and pop music. All in the amount of time it would take you to get to the front of a Sweetgreens line. Bonus, it’s free. (9/14)
ENJOY: “Nobody Speak”
The devolution of modern politics in three-plus glorious, horn-filled minutes. Here, producer DJ Shadow and the hip-hop duo Run the Jewels turn a UN-style meeting into a bizarro rap battle (“Picture this/I’m a bag of dicks”) and, soon, a war of fists. As Run The Jewels’ Killer Mike says, “It’s what I really wish Trump and Hillary would just do [this] and get it over with. And even in that fight I think Hillary would win — and that’s not an endorsement.” (But do note the Trump diss about 1:10 in.)
EXPLORE: Into the Veil
This was hands down in our Top 5 events that we had the privilege of attending last year. “This is the best date you’ve ever brought me on” were my fella’s exact words. Which is why we were over-the-moon delighted to see it return for a sophomore season. Atlas Obscura takes over Greenwood cemetery for one epic night, wherein small pockets of the historical venue are carved out for entertainment. There’s burlesque, live music, various speakeasies, dancing and curiosities in abundance. It’s romantic, walking through the starlit trees, but also legitimately spooky off the beaten path. Grab a flashlight. Tickets will go fast. (10/15, tickets on sale starting 9/15)
WATCH: Masterminds
Based on one of the largest cash robberies of all-time, this promising new heist flick from director Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite) has an oddball Fargo/Baskets vibe and an A-plus comedy cast, including Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson, Kristen Wiig and Jason Sudeikis. Not your thing? Watch for our fall movie guide next week for more options. (9/30)
VISIT: The Feast of San Gennaro
Bound to be a particularly special affair, the beloved Feast is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. N.Y.’s largest and longest running festival celebrates the spirit of the city’s early Italian immigrants and more than one-million visitors come to join in. There’s something to do — and certainly something to nosh — for all shapes and sizes. It’s eleven days of merriment from processions, music and parades to a full blown smorgasbord. (9/15 – 9/25)
WATCH: Atlanta
Less Community and more hip-hop Louie, star/creator Donald Glover explores the lives of two cousins in the music scene in a surreal new FX show he calls “Twin Peaks for rappers.” (9/6)
STREAM: The best songs of September
Our hour-and-a-half Spotify playlist highlights the month’s best new tunes, including Against Me!, Warpaint, Phantogram, Empire of the Sun and SURVIVE, aka the co-composers of the Stranger Things soundtrack (fun aside: ask me what the year’s most overrated TV show was).
Also: Our friend Rob Lowe gets roasted on Comedy Central, but Ann Coulter apparently gets the most heat (9/5) … Our favorite pinup queen in HD glory, thanks to the restored The Exotic Dances of Bettie Page on Blu-ray (9/13) … Comic book guru Alan Moore (Watchmen, From Hell) goes positively Joyce-ian in his 1280-page fantasy magnum opus Jerusalem (9/13) … Oh, look, a cookbook inspired by Brad Pitt’s insatiable desire to eat everything. It’s called Fat Brad (Available for preorder) … He reinvented the home invasion thriller with You’re Next, so we have high hopes for what Adam Wingard can do with his Blair Witch sequel (9/16) … The fall TV season looks iffy, but the live action/cartoon hybrid Son of Zorn comes from the guys behind 21 Jump Street and The Last Man on Earth, so hey, have fun while it lasts (9/25).
Main image via Polanski
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