Today’s “Fab 5” / Selected NYCity Events – MONDAY, SEPT 16, 2013.

Fall for Dance (Monday & Tuesday)
“Two free shows in Central Park, hosted by the Public Theater, are just a warm-up for this festival’s 10-day (and 10th-anniversary) extravaganza at City Center from Sept. 25 to Oct. 5. The lineup for the open-air performances includes members of New York City Ballet in Ulysses Dove’s “Red Angels,” Paul Taylor Dance Company in its effervescent “Esplanade,” Ronald K. Brown’s invigorating “Upside Down” (with live music) and the dancers (or are they superheroes?) of STREB Extreme Action Company.

As with the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park, tickets will be in high demand. Free tickets, two per person, will be distributed at noon at the Delacorte Theater on the day of the show and through a virtual ticketing lottery (at shakespeareinthepark.org).”  (Burke-NYT)
Delacorte Theater, Central Park, near 81st St. / Central Park West
At 8 p.m./ FREE, but probably long lines
(212) 539-8750

Jenny Scheinman’s Mischief and Mayhem + Julian Lage
“Known originally as an improvising violinist, Jenny Scheinman took the time to establish herself as a singer and songwriter. Mischief and Mayhem, her newest group, finds her back in improv land, but you’ll notice a strong line in melody, evocation and emotion running through everything she plays. Guitarist Nels Cline, a spontaneous musician long before his Wilco days, is a supportive partner and an intense foil; bassist Todd Sickafoose and drummer Jim Black complete this singularly limber unit. Julian Lage opens.” (TONY mag)
Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker St. at Thompson St
At 7:00pm / $18
212-505-3474 / lepoissonrouge.com

Café Tacuba
“Café Tacuba is not just the best rock band in Mexico, but one of the most innovative in the entire rock en español scene (even if that scene is largely media defined). Lately the group has embraced elements more closely associated with classic rock, a contrast with the artier stuff this adventurous Mexican band’s material usually draws comparisons to, and Sept 16, you’re sure to hear from the group’s latest, El Objeto Antes Llamado Disco (“The Object Formerly Known as Record”).”(TONY mag)
Hammerstein Ballroom (at the Manhattan Center),
311 W 34th St. (btw 8th/9th ave)
At 9PM, $50
212-279-7740 / mcstudios.com

Vanguard Jazz Orchestra
There’s a tradition in many New York City jazz clubs – Monday nights are reserved for big bands. The Village Vanguard, the most storied of clubs, has observed this practice since 1966. The Grammy-winning Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, established by Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, is definitely a big band with 4 trumpets, and 4 trombones to accompany 6 reed players. Why not make it your tradition, too.
Village Vanguard, 178 7th Avenue South, just below West 11th St.
At 8:30 and 10:30 pm / $25
212-255-4037 / villagevanguard.com

Showstopper Divos: A Swell Party
Cabaret party gal Randie Levine-Miller brings on the men—including the delightful Richard Kind as well as musical-theater guys Lee Roy Reams, Stephen de Rosa, James Snyder and Bradley Dean—for an evening of spirited song.

Proceeds benefit the Actors Fund.
Metropolitan Room, 34 W 22nd St. btw Fifth and Sixth Aves
At 7pm / $40 + 2 drink minimum
212-206-0440 / metropolitanroom.com

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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Chelsea is the heart of the NYCity contemporary art scene. Home to more than 300 art galleries, the Rubin Museum, the Joyce Theater, and The Kitchen performance spaces,   there is no place like it anywhere in the world.

Come here to browse free exhibitions by world-renowned artists and those unknowns waiting to be discovered in an art district that is concentrated between West 18th and West 27th Streets, and 10th and 11th Avenues. Afterwards stop in the Chelsea Market, stroll on the High Line, or rest up at one of the many cafes and bars and discuss the fine art – my fave is Ovest on W 27th St., where the aperitivo is like Happy Hour on steroids.

Here are a few Special Exhibitions in Chelsea Galleries that you may want to see:

Matthew Day Jackson, “Something Ancient, Something New, Something Stolen, Something Blue” (Until Sat Oct. 19)
“Space missions, military hardware and anatomy are some of the points of departure for the artist’s latest works, which, as usual, plumb the darker reaches of American history, life and popular culture.” (TONY Mag)
Hauser & Wirth New York 511 W 18th St. (btw 10th/111th Ave)
Tue–Sat, 10am–6pm / FREE
212-794-4970 / hauserwirth.com

Michael St. John, “Country Life” (Until Sat Oct. 05)
“Over the past several years, St. John has managed, with some success, to evoke America’s propensity for racism, violence, grandiosity, self-delusion and general cheesiness through relatively simple collage-on-canvas compositions, using personal and pop-cultural detritus as elements. He continues to do so in these latest works, which hearken back to American 19th-century trompe l’oeil painting.” (TONY Mag)
Andrea Rosen Gallery 544 W 24th St, (btw 10th/11th Aves)
Tue–Sat 10am–6pm / FREE
212-627-6000 / andrearosengallery.com

Taner Ceylan, “The Lost Paintings Series” (until Oct.26)
This Turkish painter employs photorealist techniques to deconstruct Orientalism, a 19th-century genre in Europe and the United States that featured exotic scenes of the mysterious Levant. Some artists relied on pure fantasy; others traveled to North Africa and elsewhere to base their visions on some observable reality. Either way, Orientalism went hand in glove with colonialism, as the stereotypes it helped foster were essential to the psychology of Western empire building. Ceylan plays with and against these same stereotypes, portraying dusky, alluring women as well as men in fezzes and kaffiyehs, though with notable twists (the inclusion of evidently gay subjects, for instance). More to the point, he juxtaposes one sort of illusion (paintings that look like photographs) with another—the myths and misconceptions that have emerged about the Middle East.
Paul Kasmin Gallery, 515 W 27th St. (btw Tenth/Eleventh Aves)
Tue–Sat 10am–6pm / FREE
212-563-4474 / paulkasmingallery.com

Josh Smith (until Oct.19)
Smith’s painterly spin on bad-boy aesthetics is given ample room in this two-space show, taking up Luhring Augustine’s Chelsea and Brooklyn locations.
Luhring Augustine, 531 W 24th St. (btw Tenth and Eleventh Aves)
Tue–Sat 10am–6pm
212-206-9100 / luhringaugustine.com

For a listing of 25 essential galleries in the Chelsea Art Gallery District, organized by street, which enables you to create your own Chelsea Art Gallery crawl, see the Chelsea Gallery Guide (nycgo.com)
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Top Photography Exhibitions – NYCity / Manhattan’s WestSide

  Museum of Modern Art
Walker Evans: American Photographs (through Jan. 26, 2014)
New Photography 2013 (through Jan. 6, 2014)
11 West 53rd Street / 212-708-9400

  Metropolitan Museum of Art
Everyday Ephiphanies: Photography and Daily Life Since 1969 
(through January 26, 2014)
1000 Fifth Avenue (at 82nd Street) / 212-535-7710

   ICP
A Different Kind of Order: The ICP Triennial (through Sept. 22)
1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd Street / 212-857-0000

  American Museum Natural History 
Picturing Science: Museum Scientists and Imaging Technologies          
(through May 31, 2014)
79th St. And Central Park West / (212) 313-7278 

One more photo exhibition, this one in a special setting – the lovely, new Bklyn Bridge Park with spectacular views of the Manhattan skyline, and of course, the Brooklyn Bridge.
(easy to get to via subway: #2 or 3 express to Clark St., the 1st stop in Bklyn.)

‘The Fence’ in Brooklyn Bridge Park (through Oct. 1)
“When is a fence not a fence? When it is the backdrop for a free display of over 200 jury selected images of people, animals and daily life by 39 photographers from the United States and abroad. Presented for the second year by United Photo Industries, a Brooklyn arts cooperative, as a showcase for young photographers, the display consists of a 1,000-foot-long waterproof mesh banner superimposed with color and black-and-white photos.

The banner stretches through Brooklyn Bridge Park, from Pier 15, at Joralemon Street and the East River in Brooklyn Heights, to Main Street in Dumbo.” (Anne Mancuso-NYT)
Pier 5, Joralemon Street and the East River
From 6am to 1am / FREE
(718) 215-9075 / fence.photovillenyc.org
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For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in the right Sidebar: “Selected Events + Special Exhibitions : Manhattan’s WestSide” dated (09/14) and (09/12).