Documents from Gilberto Gil's Private Archive

LISTINGS. Listings Editor Ben Mapp GIL: Of all the uni- versalist pop-intellectuals born of the Brazilian Tropicalismo movement, Gil's been the best at making his universalism something more than just a cun- ning gesture. Translation: he rocks. And rolls, and dips, and glides, and does it all these days with greater assurance than he's shown in years. November 13, Town Hall (prices start at $17.50), 123 West 43rd Street, 840-2824; November 17 through 29, the Ballroom (prices start at $30), 253 West 28th Street, 244-3005. (Dibbell) VOICE Acts BIG BUTT GIRLS, HARD-HEADED WOMEN: Performance artist Rhodessa Jones's latest ong-woman show was the run- away hit of the National Black Theater Fes- tival in North Carolina. (A sign outside the venue feud: Big Bull Girls. Sold Out") Jones enters characters with a physical bang. crash, and boom, like John Leguizamo, but her guiding rhythm comes from the blues, not hip hop, and she's able to get closer to the pain. Having taken on the lives of strip- tease artists and soul singers, among others, now Jones turns to women in prison. No- vember 12 through 15, and 19 through 22. La Mama E.T.C.. 74A East 4th Street, 475- 7710. (Jones) () HEATHER WOODBURY: "Is it hard to shave out there in the desert? What are the sewers like in Saudi? I have always had a fascination about third world plumbing. Here is my lip print its cherry high gloss lipstick can tell what my mouth looks like." In her new piece. Antagony-a series of imagined letters between a boy soldier and a young girl with an interest in waste-soloist Woodbury hauls up a bucket of blood from the Gulf War and from the American psyche juiced by it. November 13, 20, and 27 at 10:30, Dixon Place, 258 Bowery, at Houston Street. 219-3088. (Stone) Art LAURENCE GIPE: "The Century of Prog. ress Museum." complete with coy signage. video nostalgia, and uplifting music, is a conceit that presents the harsh monuments, slogans, and paradoxes of the utopian mod- ern past with rue and envy. But the harsh light, cinematic angles, compositional de vices, and breathtaking perspectives of the big canvases and suite of "souvenir" draw- ings--mixing anachronism, virtuosity, and totalitarian spectacle--are as seductive as they are scary. Through November 21, Blum Helman Warehouse, 80 Greene Street, 226-8770. (Levin) SIMON LEUNG/ANDREA ZITTEL/'TAT- TOO COLLECTION: Is this intriguing show about absence presence, or the surface where they meet? Leung's 55 reticent pin- pricked drawings (on 55 Plexi shelves) make voyeurs of their viewers. Zittel's multipur- pose living unit (evolved from her animal breeding pieces) and uniforms are conceptu- al, spartan. and vicarious. "Tattoo Collec- tion"-an installation of small works about Tattoos by a huge crowd of artists-deals directly and irreverently with skin. Through November 28, Andrea Rosen Gallery, 130 Prince Street, 941-0203. (Levin) LAUREN SZOLD: Now that Combination Spill-her latest poured floor installation of flour, salt, egs yolk, dye, and mold-has dried and cracked on the concrete floor, it's possible to get into the gallery to see the amorphous, metaphoric, and grandly anar- chic piece. She calls it a transformation of a few of those things you might find around the house." Beyond the corridor of salt mounds are three smaller spills. Through November 14, 303 Gallery. 89 Greene Street, 966-5605. (Levin) Dance AMERICAN BALLROOM THEATER: A true comic choreographer. Peter Anastos gives a contemporary spin to Hollywood's Golden Age in The Silver Screen. Also a suite of Latin dances and 14 minutes of non- stop jive (and you thought the campaign was over!). November 17 at 7. November 18 through 21 at 8 and various times through November 29, Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue, at 19th Street, 242-0800. (Zimmer) COLLOQUIUM CONTEMPORARY DANCE COMPANY: Seven choreographers (Tim Hadel. Melanie Slater. Sara Hook. Amos Pinhasi. Scott Rink, Karen Pearlman/ Richard Allen) making work on 15 good dancers (among them artistic director Robin Staff). November 13 at 9. November 14 15 at 8. Merce Cunningham Studio 55 Be- thune Street, 727-0784. (Zimmer) NEW YORK CITY BALLET: A week of diverse repertory, followed by 43 perfor mances of The Nutcracker. Opening night's a benefit: Symphony in Three Movements (Ba- lanchine/Stravinsky). Tschaikovsky Pas de