Today’s “Fab Five” / Selected NYCity Events – SUNDAY, July 14, 2013

111th St. Salsa Street Party & Old Timers’ Stick Ball Game
“Now in its 44th year, this annual street fair sponsored by the 111th Street Old Timers Stick Ball Association and the 111th Street Block Association celebrates the traditions and flavors of Spanish Harlem with music, Latin food, stick ball and, of course, salsa dancing. The stick ball games begin at 7 a.m., with the street party going from noon to 7 p.m. Music begins around 1 p.m.” (NYT)
111th Street, btw 5th Ave and Lenox Ave, Harlem
free, with food items additional.
Subway: #2,3 to 110th St.

Bastille Day on 60th Street
“If the fromage, crêpes and éclairs weren’t enough to satisfy Franchophile foodies in the past, this year’s celebration of French independence will include the inaugural Bastille Day Banquet, a three-course lunch created by the Maîtres Cuisiniers de France, an association of highly trained French chefs. The boxed lunches are $25 in advance or $30 the day of, and partakers are encouraged to dine at communal tables in the style of a medieval French feast.

Other highlights of the event, sponsored by French Institute Alliance Française, include raffles for trips and prizes with French flair, language workshops, children’s activities, cancan dancers, mimes, live music and tastings.” (NYT)
60th Street (btw 5th Ave/Lexington Ave)
From noon to 5 p.m.,
free, as are most activities; food is additional, with items from $2.50 to $8, or $20 for a wine, beer and cheese tasting.
355-6100 / bastilledayny.com
subway: #1-2-3 to times square, transfer to N/Q/R to 59th St.

International Sounds: Fanfare Ciocarlia / Red Baraat – SUMMERSTAGE
“Fanfare Ciocarlia is one of the world’s greatest live bands, their energy and ingenuity having won them fans from Melbourne to Memphis, Tokyo to Toulouse. The National Geographic has said “the music of Fanfare Ciocarlia pulls not only from the band’s homeland but also rhythms from Turkey, Bulgaria and Macedonia to make a complete Balkan stew.” The Romanian group’s breakneck speed, technical chops, ripping rhythms and sweet and sour horns is quite different from any other brass band on earth.”
Central Park, Rumsey Playfield – mid-Park off Fifth Avenue at 69th Street
At 3:00PM / FREE
212-360-2777

CEDAR WALTON
The veteran pianist CEDAR WALTON delivers authentic, straightforward hard bop with his longtime associates DAVID WILLIAMS, on bass, and WILLIE JONES III, on drums.” (NewYorker mag)
VILLAGE VANGUARD
178 Seventh Ave. S., at 11th St.,
At 8:30 and 10:30 PM / $25
212-255-4037 / villagevanguard.com

Melissa Aldana  – MoMA Summergarden
Programming at this popular concert series held outdoors in MoMA’s walled-in Sculpture Garden alternates between new-music presentations featuring Juilliard School performers and jazz nights booked by Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Tonight you can swing with saxophonist Melissa Aldana, and her quartet. Lines for these popular events forms well in advance, so show up early for prime seating.
Museum of Modern Art, 11 W 53rd St. (btw 5th/6th Ave.)
At 8PM / FREE
212-708-9400 / moma.org

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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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SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS @ 3 Museums (WestSide & the BklynMuseum) 

‘Claes Oldenburg: The Street and the Store’ and ‘Claes Oldenburg: Mouse Museum, Ray Gun Wing’ (through Aug. 5)
‘Performing Histories (1)’ (through Aug. 5)
‘Bill Brandt: Shadow and Light’ (through Aug. 12)
‘Ellsworth Kelly: Chatham Series’ (through Sept. 8)
Museum of Modern Art: 11 W 53rd St,
(212) 708-9400 / moma.org.
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‘Against the Grain: Wood in Contemporary Art, Craft and Design’* (through Sept. 15)
Museum of Arts and Design: 2 Columbus Circle,
299-7777, madmuseum.org.
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‘John Singer Sargent Watercolors’  (through July 28) [see review below]
‘Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui’ (through Aug. 4)
‘LaToya Ruby Frazier: A Haunted Capital’ (through Aug. 11)
Brooklyn Museum: 200 Eastern Parkway, at Prospect Park,
(easy ride from midtown on #2 or #3 subway to Eastern Pkway/Bklyn Museum)
(718) 638-5000 / brooklynmuseum.org

John Singer Sargent Watercolors
“The exhibition brings together 93 of his watercolors and 9 oil paintings from the Brooklyn Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Both institutions acquired significant quantities of his work early on, the Brooklyn Museum from Sargent’s career debut show in New York in 1909 and the Boston museum from a solo show there in 1912. The beauty of Sargent’s watercolors is in how seemingly effortlessly yet exactly he captured outdoor light and complicated man-made and natural forms. In landscapes, close studies of fruit and flowers and portraits of women you see at once the supremely deft action of the brush and the illusions of a sun-drenched halcyon world that it conjures. Prepare for bedazzlement.” (KEN JOHNSON-NYT)
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For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in right Sidebar: “NYCity Events: Manhattan’s WestSide” dated 07/12 and 07/10.