Sometimes a bohemian has to jump right in with both feet and enjoy the splash. Something tells me that 2026 could well be one of those times.
So, without further ado, here is a curated selection of some possibilities, happenings, and acknowledgements that prove bohemianism is alive and well, and perhaps susceptible to pursuing healthy New Year’s resolutions.
Jan. 3-25
Amos Poe Retrospective at the Metrograph movie theater at 7 Ludlow St. Sadly, film director Amos Poe passed away on Christmas Day, after a prolonged battle with cancer, some of which he documented on Instagram. Poe was a noted punk rock filmmaker and one of the leading lights of the downtown Manhattan No Wave indie film movement, along with Eric Mitchell and Beth B and Scott B, and others. Hopefully, the Metrograph will make sure Poe’s cinematic vision is honored by screening prints that contain none of the past nonsense and adulteration of the auteur’s work. If you know, you know.
Jan. 3 through Jan. 31
Erica Zhang will lead Shape Up NYC: Groove and Glow at the Tompkins Square Library on East 10th Street and Avenue B. This K-Pop-driven cardio dance class is free to all adults every Saturday from 11:00 to 11:45 a.m. Get moving. And keep reading. The Tompkins Square Library is a hotbed of free events of significance. I won’t be covering them all, so their webpage is well worth a click.
Jan. 9-Feb. 1
World Premiere of Falling Out, a new musical by Josée Weigand-Klein, directed by Anthony Logan Cole at UNDER St. Marks. 94 St. Mark’s Pl., 7 p.m. 100 minutes with no intermission.
In a downtown New York music bar, the ballads of lost loves and missed opportunities float on the air. Worlds collide when a melancholic transplant meets a musician with a past. Together they create a discordant harmony that will uncover the truths they both need to face to reshape their lives. This immersive production marks the world premiere of acclaimed musician and songwriter Josée Weigand-Klein’s musical of heartbreak and redemption.
Jan. 10
The Old Print Shop, in collaboration with Christine Romero, will host a Celebration of Life for the artist George Nama, at their gallery, located at 49 West 24th St., 2nd Floor, New York, NY, from 1 to 4 p.m. Nama was respected and represented internationally, as well as a much-beloved instructor of print-making and design at Pratt in Brooklyn.
Also on Jan. 10, at the Tompkins Square Library, Barbara Rosenthal will be reading from her outstanding novel Waiting for Amnesia, along with poets Barry Wallenstein and Jeffrey Cyphers Wright, who will read from his epic Erato’s Inbox.
Jan. 13, 20, and 27
I’ve come to think of poet and translator Atanasio DiFelice as my Virgil as I wend my way through times and spaces in the Inferno of academic free verse that often seems to dominate the downtown poetry scene. He assures me that the New York Poets is “THE series that anyone who’s anybody in the poetry scene attends.” It’s curated by Bob Rosenthal & Ed Friedman which bodes well. It will take place at 7:30 p.m. every Tuesday through March at Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery. A $10 donation is suggested. January poets include Todd Colby, Maggie Dubris, Cliff Fyman (Jan. 13), Denise Lauture, Sharon Mezmer, Cecilia Vicuna (Jan. 20), Vincent Katz, Brendan Lorber, Harris Schiff (Jan. 27).
Maybe Inferno is too strong. Purgatorio?
In any case, this cold month I’ll be dreaming of life on the island of Sardinia—a poet’s Paradiso, with a poetic tradition the locals trace back to 4500 BC. Poetry slams and improvised verse began in Sardinia. Tigellius the Sardinian was Julius Carsar’s favorite poet and good friend. None of his poems are extant but he is still remembered. That says something. Maybe he used rhymes.
Jan. 14
Eszter Balint, Hungarian American singer-songwriter, violinist, and actress will be performing a set at Joe’s Pub. Balint made her film debut in Jim Jarmusch’s Stranger Than Paradise. She and Jean-Michel Basquiat were an item for quite a while (by 1980s downtown art scene standards). Her mother and father, Marianne Kollar and Stephan Balint, were founding members of the Squat Theater troupe, which went from Budapest to Paris to a storefront on West 23rd Street in Chelsea.
Eszter Balint is as bohemian as can be. She’s calling her set I Hate Memory. Between her and Barbara Rosenthal (Wishing for Amnesia), I’m wondering if women wanting to forget is a trending thing.
Jan. 17
G Gallery on the second floor at 404 Broadway is becoming a hotspot for interesting exhibits and events. I participated in a forum there in December with Academy Award-winning screenwriter and Columbia University film professor Geoffrey Fletcher.
For “dry January,” gallery director Vilma Hodo curates some wellness events, kicking off with yoga classes on Saturday morning, Jan. 17, at 11 a.m. There are also art, music and other events. The website is ggallery.nyc.
Jan. 31
Tompkins Square Library is presenting FUGS DAY! Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of The Fugs First Album from noon until 3:30 p.m.
Can anyone name a band other than the Fugs that more personifies the East Village in the late 1960s, when the Summer of Love was tripping out? Pete Stampfel was part of the Fugs when the album was recorded. He was also part of the psychedelic folk duo Holy Modal Rounders. Stampfel will be leading the celebration with music and reminiscences.
Kudos to Jeffrey Katz, the Tompkins Square librarian who puts together a program that makes this branch of the library one of liveliest and most pertinent to the local community found in the five boroughs. And what a lively community it is.
May your January be a Divine Comedy. Peace and blessings to all, bohemian or not, throughout this new year.
DiLauro is a playwright, poet, writer. His new nonfiction book Who Killed Andy Warhol: The Untold True Story will be published in Spring 2026.
