Tonight’s Music / West Village – Chelsea

Alton Fitzgerald White
Metropolitan Room, 34 W22nd st
212.206.0440, metropolitanroom.com
7 pm, $25, 2 Beverage Minimum

Alton Fitzgerald White, “MUFASA” In Disney’s THE LION KING on Broadway, Sings BROADWAY MY WAY.
Accompanied by Pianist Doyle Newmyer
The voice is magnificent! “Alton Fitzgerald White sings with smoky soulfulness,” says Variety Magazine. “Alton can sustain a note as if breathing were an optional activity,” says The New York Times. “Blessed with an irresistible smile and rich singing voice, Alton Fitzgerald White is completely charismatic,” says the Denver Post. “The timber of his voice is a throaty combination of honey over grave!” says the Seattle Post.

VANGUARD JAZZ ORCHESTRA
Village Vanguard, 178 7th Avenue South.
7th Avenue just below West 11th Street
8:30pm & 10:30pm, $25.00 per set plus a 1 drink minimum

Monday nights are reserved for the VANGUARD JAZZ ORCHESTRA. Established by Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, the Grammy-winning VJO has been playing Monday nights at the club since 1966.

Charnett Moffett: Solo Bass Recital 
Small’s Jazz Club, 183 W 10th st
7:30pm, $20

The virtuoso bassist Charnett Moffett will release his first solo bass CD, The Bridge (Solo Bass Works), tomorrow on April 9 on the multi-Grammy-nominated Motéma label in their 10th anniversary year. Moffett will celebrate The Bridge with Moffett Meets Manhattan: A Bassathon, an unprecedented series of solo live performances throughout New York City during the release week of April 8-14.

Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm dates and check times, as schedules are subject to change.

A PremierPub and 3 Good Eating places – West Village

“Pub” is used in it’s broadest sense – bars, bar/restaurants, cocktail lounges, wine bars, tapas bars, craft beer bars, dive bars – just about anyplace you can get a drink without a cover charge.

Corner Bistro
331 W. 4th St.

Sometimes you just need a beer and a burger. If so, Corner Bistro is the place you want. Located just outside the hip Meatpacking district, this corner bar and grill is decidedly unhip, but it’s not uncrowded, especially at night. Seems that everyone knows this place has one of the better burgers in town.

In the maze of streets known as the West Village, where West 4th intersects with West 12th (and West 11th, and West 10th, go figure), you will eventually find Corner Bistro on the corner of West 4th and Jane Street. An unassuming neighborhood tavern, it looks just like dozens of other taverns around town. The bartender tells me that the Corner Bistro will be celebrating it’s 50th anniversary next year. The well worn interior tells me that the place itself is much older.

Corner Bistro has outlasted many of those other taverns around town because they know how to keep it simple — just good burgers and beer, fairly priced. The classic bistro Burger is only $6.75, and should be ordered medium rare, which will be plenty rare for most folks. Actually, it will be a juicy, messy delight – make sure you have extra napkins. I like to pull up a stool and sit by the large front window in the afternoon, where I can rest my burger and beer on the shelf, and watch the Villagers walk by.

Corner Bistro seems to attract very different groups of patrons depending on time of day. While it’s crowded with locals in the evening,  in the afternoon you hear different foreign languages, and watch groups of euro tourists wander in, led by their guidebooks and smartphones.

For the classic Bistro experience, order your burger with a McSorley’s draft, the dark preferably. This is the same beer that you can get over at the original McSorley’s in the East Village, the pub that claims to be the oldest continually operating bar in NYCity. The only difference is that this McSorley’s ale is served with a smile by the bartenders here. Or you  can get a Sierra Nevada, Stella, or Hoegaarden on tap if you want to go upscale a bit. Either way this is a simple, but quality burger and beer experience that is just too rare these days (sorry for the pun).