Today’s “Fab Five” / Selected NYCity Events – THURSDAY, July 11, 2013
For other useful and curated NYCity event info for Manhattan’s WestSide be sure to check out :
“Notable Events-July”, “on Broadway”, and “Top10 Free” in the header above.
For NYCity trip planning see links in “Resources” and “Smart Stuff” in the header above.
Broadway in Bryant Park
This series of music from Broadway and Off Broadway shows, performed by the shows’ cast members, will begin with excerpts from “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella,” “Pippin,” “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812” and “Stomp.” Presented by 106.7 Lite FM, this performance also features a guest D.J. from the radio station as well as cast members from “Peter and the Starcatcher” (not a musical, but with music).
The series will run Thursdays through Aug. 15.
Bryant Park, Avenue of the Americas, at 40th St.
At 12:30 p.m. / FREE
(212) 768-4242 / bryantpark.org.
Mapping Manhattan: A Love (and Sometimes Hate) Story in Maps by 75 New Yorkers by Becky Cooper
“In the summer of 2009, writer Becky Cooper began handing out prints of Manhattan to strangers on the street, asking them to personalize the images and mail them back to her. She hatched the idea a few years earlier while working as a cartographer to create a public-art map of the island. “Instead of hiding the subjectivity of the mapmaker, as I felt like I was doing, I would celebrate it,” she says. “And from the collection of these personal portraits, the city would emerge.”
The results are compiled online at mapyourmemories.com, as well as in her new book, Mapping Manhattan: A Love (and Sometimes Hate) Story in Maps by 75 New Yorkers, which includes a foreword by New Yorker scribe Adam Gopnik. (He isn’t the only notable local to get onboard; well-known Gothamites such as Yoko Ono and David Chang contributed their own geographical scribbles to the project.) On Monday 29, Cooper and Gopnik will talk about the book and what this city means to them at 92YTribeca; in the meantime, we asked Cooper to pick a few of the more memorable drawings to have dropped into her mailbox.” (TONY Mag)
New York Public Library, Mid-Manhattan,
455 Fifth Ave, (btw 39th/40th Sts)
At 6:30pm / FREE
212-340-0833 / nypl.org
Les Chauds Lapins / Target Free Thursdays
Les Chauds Lapins (“the hot rabbits”), lead by New York’s Kurt Hoffman and Meg Reichardt, specialize in a repertoire of French swing from the 1920’s through the 40’s. The group has re-arranged long-forgotten French classics for banjo-ukes, string trio, guitar and winds, mixing the rootsiness of early American jazz with the lushness of a Bernard Hermann film soundtrack.
David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center
at 7:30pm / FREE
Midsummer Nights Swing
Lincoln Center’s outdoors dance party returns for its 25th year under the stars. On the schedule this week – disco on Thursday with the Loser’s Lounge.
Damrosch Park, Lincoln Center
Dance lessons are at 6:30 p.m.; live music is at 7:30 / $17
(212) 721-6500 / midsummernightswing.org.
Lowdown Hudson Blues Festival
This two-day festival will feature performances by B. B. King and the James Hunter Six (Wednesday) and Los Lobos, Los Lonely Boys and Alejandro Escovedo (Thursday).
Brookfield Place Waterfront Plaza, 220 Vesey Street, near West Street
Shows both days are from 6 to 9:30 p.m. / FREE
brookfieldplaceny.com/blues
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Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm dates and check times, as schedules are subject to change.
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A PremierPub and 3 Good Eating places – West Village
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).
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Website: cornerbistrony.com
Phone #: 212-242-9502
Hours: 11:30am-4am Mon-Sat; 12pm-4am Sun
Happy Hour: NO
Music: Juke Box
Subway: #1/2/3 to 14th St. (S end of platform)
Walk 2 blk W. on 13th St. to 8th Ave.; 1 blk S. on 8th Ave. to Jane St.
Update:
NYCity 1-2-3 : What's Happening / Manhattan's WestSide 