ENTERTAINMENT

Latest news & movie, music, event and restaurant listings for Staten Island

Two hours. Two dances apiece and tonight, two people will go home.

There were ups and downs, figuratively and literally with our seven remaining couples, starting with the consistent "ups" for the first and second dances by Joshua and Katee, Chelsea and Mark and Courtney and Gev.

But Jessica and Will bombed on their jive then brought themselves back to life with their contemporary routine in which their prop -- a man's silk shirt and Will's ripped body -- stole the show. We predict they'll be in the bottom two, despite the second dance rebound.

Any John or Jane Q Public can throw down some meat. But it takes true-grit experience to become a pitmaster.

Smokin' Joe Mizrahi and the Staten Island Historical Society shows the way July 19 and Aug. 16 at Historic Richmond Town.

Smokin' Joe's True-Blue Texas Barbecue pros will deliver the history of barbecue and discuss the difference between grilling, barbecuing and "cooking with smoke." The classes are geared to everyone from casual BBQ enthusiasts to restaurateurs looking to switch up their menus.

Poet Marguerite Maria Rivas will perform her "Laughter, Hope & a Sock in the Eye" at the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art on July 10 at 6:30 p.m.

This installment of Summerfest, presented by the Council on the Arts & Humanities for Staten Island (COAHSI), will feature samples of Rivas interweaving the subjects that inform her writing -- Staten Island people and places; motherhood and single parenthood; domestic abuse; love with all its heartbreaks and joys and the hilarious aftermath of finding oneself single and dating again at age fifty; working poverty -- to fully express the capacity for human resiliency, determination and hope. Her presentation will include music and projected imagery.

Designed to resemble a small Himalayan monastery, the venue (a small complex of two fieldstones buildings) was built by Jacques Marchais, a private collector with a passionate interest in Tibetan art in the 1940s. It houses over 1,200 pieces of high-quality Tibetan art, dating from the fifteenth to the twentieth century. The museum also has terraced gardens and houses a research library.

For a complete schedule of events: FreeSummerFest.org. To sample Rivas' work: MySpace.com/margueritemariarivas.

Photo courtesy of the Paper Bag Players

The Paper Bag Players will present a free performance of "On Top of Spaghetti" at 3 p.m. July 10 in the Richmondtown Library, 200 Clarke Ave.

The show is geared to kids 3-8 and promises "old-fashioned belly laughs, music, dances and plenty of chances for the audience to get involved."

Note: The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (NYPL.org) is presenting the "The Paper Bag Players: 50 Years Of Theater Art" exhibition through Aug. 2. Visit NYPL.org for details.

Photo courtesy of the Paper Bag Players

The Paper Bag Players will present a free performance of "On Top of Spaghetti" at 3 p.m. July 10 in the Richmondtown Library, 200 Clarke Ave.

The show is geared to kids 3-8 and promises "old-fashioned belly laughs, music, dances and plenty of chances for the audience to get involved."

Note: The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (NYPL.org) is presenting the "The Paper Bag Players: 50 Years Of Theater Art" exhibition through Aug. 2. Visit NYPL.org for details.

GettySonic Youth's Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore in action.

Granted, when Sonic Youth played their revolutionary indie record "Daydream Nation" (1987) in its entirety at Williamsburg's McCarren Park Pool last summer, Kim Gordon's bass lines were suspiciously absent in the mix. And the band did an encore that included songs from other records (Why do that when you're making such a big deal about playing just the one album? Why not quit while you're ahead?).

This week's cover of AWE.

But even with all of those indie-snobbish complaints, SY is still an awesome act to witness live, mixing guitar noise, atmospheric melodies and straight alt-rock power with post-modern or inscrutable lyrics. The free tickets for the band's Friday performance have all been snatched up, but that doesn't mean you can't hop the ferry, hit the park and hear the music anyway.

Plus, going to hear perhaps the most critically acclaimed DIY alternative rock band in America -- for free -- is the perfect act of patriotism on Independence Day. The show starts at 3:30 p.m. at Battery Park, Manhattan. More infomation: RivertoRiverNYC.com.

Photo courtesy of the Paper Bag Players

The Paper Bag Players will present a free performance of "On Top of Spaghetti" at 3 p.m. July 10 in the Richmondtown Library, 200 Clarke Ave.

The show is geared to kids 3-8 and promises "old-fashioned belly laughs, music, dances and plenty of chances for the audience to get involved."

Note: The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (NYPL.org) is presenting the "The Paper Bag Players: 50 Years Of Theater Art" exhibition through Aug. 2. Visit NYPL.org for details.

Poet Marguerite Maria Rivas will perform her "Laughter, Hope & a Sock in the Eye" at the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art on July 10 at 6:30 p.m.

This installment of Summerfest, presented by the Council on the Arts & Humanities for Staten Island (COAHSI), will feature samples of Rivas interweaving the subjects that inform her writing -- Staten Island people and places; motherhood and single parenthood; domestic abuse; love with all its heartbreaks and joys and the hilarious aftermath of finding oneself single and dating again at age fifty; working poverty -- to fully express the capacity for human resiliency, determination and hope. Her presentation will include music and projected imagery.

Designed to resemble a small Himalayan monastery, the venue (a small complex of two fieldstones buildings) was built by Jacques Marchais, a private collector with a passionate interest in Tibetan art in the 1940s. It houses over 1,200 pieces of high-quality Tibetan art, dating from the fifteenth to the twentieth century. The museum also has terraced gardens and houses a research library.

For a complete schedule of events: FreeSummerFest.org. To sample Rivas' work: MySpace.com/margueritemariarivas.

Columbia Pictures

Why did the king of summer cinema sign on for this mess?

If the Fourth of July is in sight then this must be a review of a Will Smith movie.

Mr. Independence Day (who, of course, also once starred in a film called "Independence Day") can be depended on to fill the cineplex seats on this holiday weekend, which is why so many of his pictures get this release date.

But could Will Smith's winning streak be coming to an end?

His last blockbuster, last year's "I Am Legend," met with decidedly mixed reviews. "Hancock" is likely to be an even bigger disappointment, because when Will Smith fails to deliver on the Fourth of July that's just a big deal.