By Natalie O’Neill

for The Brooklyn Paper

Now you can lend a hand — while standing on your hands.

On May 20, LAVA, a Prospect Heights-based performance troupe will host a “Handstand-a-thon,” an event that asks do-gooders to raise money while topsy-turvy.

The studio encourages participants of all skill levels to get down with being upside-down in order to help fund a kids dance program and other events.

“It’s a fun way to change your perspective,” said Diana Greiner, managing director. “People get really excited; they haven’t done it since they were kids.”

Each second spent feet-above-head earns one donation dollar and participants may use a wall or a spotter for balance. The record holder held the pose for four minutes.

Proceeds go to programs such as the PS 9 Pick Up Program, which offers free dance classes to students.

Greiner said the goal is to raise $20,000 total — which, if you’re counting, adds up to a big rush of blood to the brain.

“It really gets the energy up — for a good cause,” Greiner said.

Handstand-a-Thon at LAVA [524 Bergen St. between Sixth and Carlton avenues in Prospect Heights, (718) 399–3161], May 20 from 2-5 pm. Visit www.lavalove.org.

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By Eli Rosenberg

The Brooklyn Paper

Their geri curls may be wigs, but these rappers insist they’re the real deal.

“We’re just being ourselves,” said Hong Kong Fever, a member of the rap-entertainment group the Notorious MSG, which parodies rap’s macho and street-savvy culture from the perspective — real or fictional, it’s anyone’s guess — of New York’s Chinatown, the neighborhood where the group claims to have met while working in restaurant kitchens.

As other critics have noted, a reference to Cornell University on a past album, potentially betrays a more bourgeoise upbringing.

Still the group, which dons strong accents, wigs and over-the-top lyrics that blend the hyper-masculine swagger of rap with Asian cultural references, insists that they are moving the ball forward with such ethnically charged performances.

“If you feel that being a sexy Chinatown bad-ass is perpetuating stereotypes, that’s your problem,” said Hong Kong Fever.

The group has gained some notoriety for in-your-face songs and music videos like “Straight Out of Canton,” “Dim Sum Girl,” and “Chinatown Hustler,” that include lyrics like “Comin’ fresh off the boat and livin’ on the street / we’re marching to our own beat / don’t give a damn what other people eat / we’re crazy / just gimme duck sauce and a bowl of chicken feet.”

And they’ll be bringing their act to Brooklyn Bowl on May 26, two days after they release a new album “Heavy Ghetto.”

The carnivalesque bowling alley will make the perfect venue for a performance that blends the real with parody.

“[I hope to provide] an unobstructed view of my chiseled glutes,” said Hong Kong Fever of the performance. “We’re plumbers, and we’re here to plunge all the turds clogging up your auditory canal.”

Well alright.

The Notorious MSG at Brooklyn Bowl [61 Wythe Ave. between North 11th and North 12th streets in Williamsburg. (718) 963-3369] May 26 at 8 pm, $5. Visit brooklynbowl.com.

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By Natalie O’Neill

The Brooklyn Paper

It’s a fetish fest — but the only chains you’ll find are the ones attached to bicycles.

Two-wheelers and the people who love them will hit the streets on May 26 for Bicycle Fetish Day, a block party-style celebration of Brooklyn’s bike obsession.

Organizer Matt Levy said the event, now in its eighth year, is a chance for cyclists to embrace the distinct subcultures within the bike boom — fixie fanatics, weekend warriors, BMXers, and vintage roadsters among them.

“We like to think of it as a cross-cultural get together,” Levy said.

The Williamsburg art museum City Reliquary will hold a day of spirited contests for bikers of all stripes with prizes and serious bragging rights going to whoever brings the “Best Vintage Bike,” “Best Ugly Bike” and “Best Mutant Bike” — a Frankenstein-style ride built out of several different bicycles.

Show-stoppers last year included the “Puerto Rican Schwinn Club” — a group known for their sweet rides and killer matching jackets — a towering two-man bike, and an orange cruiser decked out with a hanging disco ball.

Cyclists can also check out bike advocacy literature, a grill manned by City Reliquary, and lots of art and bike paraphernalia.

“We’re celebrating bike culture in weird and wild way,” Levy said.

Bicycle Fetish Day [Meet at Havemeyer Street between Hope and Grand Streets in Williamsburg], May 26, noon—6pm. Free. Visit www.cityreliquary.org.

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By Will Bredderman

The Brooklyn Paper

Talk about good vibrations.

The Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition will present — as part of its “Celebrate: 20th Annual Spring Pier Art Show” — jazz vibraphone virtuoso Stefan Bauer, who fell in love with Brooklyn not only as a musician, but as a father, too.

“I take my cues from things happening around, and so what has happened to me in Brooklyn has influenced my music,” Bauer said.

Bauer visited New York for the first time in 1978 and again in 1991, both times to study under vibraphone masters. It was the second time around, while staying in Park Slope, that he fell in love with Brooklyn. He moved to the borough 11 years ago, raised two children here, and even composed a piece entitled “Coney Island,” inspired by an afternoon spent with his daughter at the People’s Playground in 2008—three days before Astroland closed.

Bauer said his experiences in the borough continue to shape his work, which is influenced by his love for all things creative.

“I’ve always dreamed of the confluence of different artistic branches, I feel inspired by that, because I love reading, I love good movies, I love photography, and I love music, of course,” said Bauer, who plays a unique instrument that resembles a xylophone with an array of resonating tubes under the bars.

Bauer’s played at the Pier Art Show six times before, and praises the waterfront warehouse’s acoustics. The May 20 performance will be the jazz musician’s first solo show at the venue.

Stefan Bauer at Celebrate: 20th Annual Spring Pier Art Show [499 Van Brunt Street, located on the pier in Red Hook] May 20, 3 pm.

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By Eli Rosenberg

The Brooklyn Paper

Outdoor concerts are a Brooklyn summer tradition — and as is the case with every long-standing cultural rite, open-air shows have rules that should be followed. We checked with concert expert Adam Geringer-Dunn from Brooklyn Bowl and compiled this list outlining the basics of summer concert etiquette — all to help you avoid being an inconsiderate concert-goer.

1. No umbrellas, even if it’s raining. It’s just a pain for everybody else. Wear a poncho and don’t be afraid to get a wet.

2. Concerts are excellent opportunities to live in the moment. Don’t ever use an iPad to take photos and don’t watch the whole show through your iPhone screen.

3. If you wear flip-flops don’t complain, even if you get stepped on or beer spills on your feet. Accept responsibility for wearing flip-flops in a huge crowd.

4. Don’t over do it with the partying. If may be tempting and easy to do, but it’s never fun for your friends to have to take care of the one person who’s passed out at 2 pm. Pace yourself.

5. If you’re kicked out, don’t argue and make a scene. Just leave. You’re not getting back in anyway — and with the giant sea of people around you, you must have really been going out of your way get noticed in the first place.

— Eli Rosbenberg

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By Daniel Bush

The Brooklyn Paper

Spoiler alert: in this adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet,” the star-crossed paramours live to love another day.

Five different playwrights have joined forces to reimagine each act of Shakespeare’s classic love story, converting the famous tragedy into a quintet of 15-minute performances including an interpretive dance show, a romance between two bears, and a finale in which the protagonists live happily ever after in Virginia.

Tyler Phillips, who wrote one of the scenes in the “Five Variations of Romeo and Juliet,” said audiences relate to the themes of love, loyalty, and power in the original play no matter how modern playwrights interpret Shakespeare’s 400-year-old material.

“It’s going to be relatable over the ages because people are always falling in love,” said Tyler, cofounder of Phillstock Entertianment, which is putting on the show with Sparrowtree Theatre Company at Williamsburg’s 17 Frost Theatre of the Arts from May 18 to May 20. “They can come and enjoy a new take on the play because everyone has a good idea of what it’s about.”

This isn’t the first time the bard’s classics have been restaged in Brooklyn with a modern twist: Sparrowtree produced a five-act show loosely based on Hamlet last year.

Phillips’ business partner Lauren Stockner said this year’s show will be even more of a departure from the norm.

“It’s a classic story but you’ve never seen it like this before,” Stockner.

Sparrowtree Theatre Company and Phillstock Entertainment’s “Five Variations of Romeo and Juliet” at 17 Frost Theatre of the Arts [17 Frost St. between Union and Lorimer streets in Williamsburg, (516) 317-3840], May 18–19 at 8 pm, and May 20 at 3 pm and 8 pm. Tickets $15. Visit www.romeoinbrooklyn.com.

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By Bill Roundy

for The Brooklyn Paper

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