Today’s “Fab 5” / Selected NYCity Events – WEDNESDAY, DEC. 04, 2013

Rockefeller Center Tree-Lighting Ceremony
“Proceedings start at 7pm, but you’ll want to get there as early as you can to secure a spot. The actual lighting takes place at the end of the program; most of the two-hour event is devoted to celebrity performances (Aretha Franklin, Alicia Keys and Michael Bublé have been among the recent human luminaries). Then the 30,000 energy-efficient LEDs covering the massive evergreen are switched on to oohs and aahs. If you’d rather gouge out your eyeballs with the tree’s nine-and-a-half-foot-diameter Swarovski-crystal star than brave the crush, there’s plenty of time during the holiday season to view the tree at your leisure.” (TONY mag)
Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, Rockefeller Plaza
between Fifth and Sixth Aves and 48th and 49th Sts
At 7PM / FREE
212-332-6868 / rockefellercenter.com

LIVE from the NYPL:
Michael Connelly | Martin Cruz Smith
Masters of the mystery genre, bestselling-authors Michael Connelly and Martin Cruz Smith will reveal how they’ve kept readers at the edge of their seats for decades.

Inspired by the works of Raymond Chandler, Michael Connelly began his writing career covering crime for newspapers in South Florida, and later the Los Angeles Times. It was there that Connelly found the inspiration for some of his most beloved and popular characters, including Bosch, the LAPD detective at the heart of his popular series of crime novels, and Mickey Haller of The Lincoln Lawyer legal thrillers.

Hailed by The New York Times as “the master of the international thriller,” Martin Cruz Smith has created one of the most indelible characters in crime fiction:the beleaguered, incorruptible Moscow investigator Arkady Renko, whom Smith introduced to readers in his 1981 novel Gorky Park.

Connelly and Smith have kept his audience in suspense, keen to unpack the mysteries that they so masterfully craft. The best-selling authors will discuss their latest novels – Connelly’s The Gods of Guilt, and Smith’s Tatiana – and the process of developing such compelling stories and captivating characters.
NYPL-Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Celeste Bartos Forum, 5th Ave. at 42nd St.
at 7 p.m. / $25, $15 seniors/students
212 930 0855 / LIVE@nypl.org

ESPERANZA SPALDING (through Dec. 8)
“The bassist, singer, composer, bandleader, educator, and model recently added political activist to her résumé; her new single, “We Are America,” and its accompanying video take on persistent concerns about the Guantánamo Bay detention facility. How this new involvement in social reform will play out when she brings her Chamber Music Society (an ensemble that merges jazz, classical, Brazilian, and pop elements) to jazz’s most famous basement is a tantalizing question.” (NewYorker mag)
Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Ave. South, at 11th St.
At 8:30 and 10:30 p.m / $25 cover, with a one-drink minimum.
(212) 255-4037, villagevanguard.com

Elton John and His Band*
Captain Fantastic sheds his flashy exterior and returns to piano-laden, Americana-rooted simplicity on “The Diving Board,” his first solo studio album in seven years and another project with one of his most rewardingly challenging producers, T Bone Burnett (who worked with Mr. John and Leon Russell on their 2010 collaboration, “The Union”). Mr. John’s theatrical pipes and evocative lyrics prove transportive, especially on “Oscar Wilde Gets Out.” (Anderson-NYT)
Madison Square Garden, 7th Ave. at 33rd St.
At 8 p.m./ $49.50 to $179.50.
212-858-0008, thegarden.com

Author @ the Library:
The Art of Doing: How Superachievers Do What They Do and How They Do It So Well, with Camille Sweeney, a journalist and a MacDowell Arts Colony Fellow and Josh Gosfield, an award-winning illustrator and fine artist.

This illustrated lecture explores what it takes for someone to make it to the top of their chosen field?  It takes hard work, talent and the occasional dose of luck and more.  To find out the authors asked dozens of extraordinary people including celebrities, businessmen, artists and iconoclastic achievers, “How do you do what you do?”

They talked to Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, actor Alec Baldwin, Freakonomics author Stephen Dubner, actress Laura Linney, rockers OK Go, startup king Bill Gross, wire walker Philippe Petit, business guru Guy Kawasaki and many more and discovered that these superachievers, however diverse their goals, shared many fascinating qualities that contributed to their success. They discuss what the audience can learn from their strategies, principles and tips and how they can apply them to their own work and personal life.
Mid-Manhattan Library, 455 5th Ave.(btw 39th /40th St.)
At 6:30PM / FREE
(212) 340-0863

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

A PremierPub + 3 Good Eating places 

Jimmy’s Corner  /  140 W 44th St (btw B’way & 7th ave)

Jimmy’s Corner is right in the heart of Times Square, but you won’t find it on the corner, it’s mid-block. Enter this long narrow bar and you are struck by the walls covered with mostly black-and-white boxing photographs, and memorabilia. Soon enough you learn that “Corner” refers to proprietor Jimmy Glenn’s long career as a corner man for some of boxing greats – Liston, Tyson, even “the greatest”, Ali.

Jimmy’s is a sort of time machine, taking you back to a time and place that no longer exists. All around you Times Square has cleaned up, grown up, assumed a new identity. Jimmy’s probably hasn’t changed a bit since it first opened in 1971. Certainly the bar itself looks original and the prices haven’t changed much either. When I brought a friend, who owns her own bar, she was surprised when she got the small tab for a round of drinks. Figured there must be a mistake, that maybe they forgot to charge for all the drinks.

Times Square today is filled with neon glitz and wandering tourists from Dubuque, but not Jimmy’s. You’ll likely find some old timer’s at the bar nursing their drinks, some younger locals at tables in the back, and maybe a few adventuresome tourists clutching their trusty guidebooks. There’s no food served here because this is just a bar, and sometimes that’s all you need.

On nights when no local team is playing, it’s a fine place to sip some drafts and listen to a great old time jukebox (40s, 50s, R&B, and soul). On sports nights this very narrow bar can get a bit claustrophobic, filled with excited fans watching their team on the TVs. Either way, Jimmy’s is the place to be if you are looking for an old time bar in the new Times Square.
————————————————————————————————————————
Website: are you kidding !
(although there is a facebook page with lots of photos –
facebook.com/jimmyscornernyc)
Phone #: 212-221-9510
Hours: 11am – 4 am, except Sunday they open 12 noon
Happy Hour: not necessary, low prices all day, every day
Subway: #1,2,3 to TimesSquare 42nd st
walk 2 blks N on 7th ave to 44th st; ½ blk E to Jimmy’s

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

If you have a fave premier pub or good eating place on Manhattan’s WestSide let us all know about it – leave a comment.
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3 Good Eating places 

It’s not difficult finding a place to eat in Manhattan.
Finding a good, inexpensive place to eat is a bit harder.
Here are a few of my faves in this neighborhood:

Patzeria Perfect Pizza – 231 W46 st (Betw 7th/8th ave)
Perfect name for a pizza joint. On a street filled with Broadway theaters, this is a real hole in the wall, but don’t let the dive look scare you away. You can never go wrong with a slice of NYC pizza, and this one is a classic thin crust. Only a few seats here, but pizza was made to eat standing up.

Shake Shack – 691 8th ave (Betw 43rd/44th st)
Danny Meyer has revolutionized the high quality burger in this town. Now he has a branch on the West Side that was desperately needed, with none of the insane lines that you find at the Madison Sq. Park location. Plus, it may be the cleanest joint to eat in all of Hell’s Kitchen.

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“3 Good Eating places” focuses on a quick bite, what I call “Fine Fast Food – NYCity Style”

That covers a wide range of food – pizza,  burgers,  food trucks/carts,  vegetarian/falafel,  ramen,  chopped salad & salad bars,  hot dogs,  bbq,  soup & sandwiches,  picnic fixins’,  raw bars & lobster rolls. No reservations needed. ================================================================================

There are other casual dining options in this neighborhood that provide good food, especially as alternatives to overpriced hotel breakfasts, and most importantly,
have free Wi-FI:

>Pret a Manger @ 11 W 42nd st (Betw 5th/6th)
Subway: #1/2/3 to 42nd st / times square

>Potbelly @ 30 Rockefeller Plaza (Betw 49/48 st)
Subway: #1 to 50th st

>Pret a Manger @ 1200 6th ave (Betw 47/48)
Subway: #1 to 50th st

◊ For a few more PremierPubs and Good Eating places see previous Featured Neighborhoods in the right sidebar.

◊ For all my picks of 54 Good Eating places and descriptions of my favorite 18 PremierPubs in 9 Neighborhoods (plus 27 casual dining places with free Wi-Fi) order a copy of my e-book: “Eating and Drinking on NYCity’s WestSide” ($3.99).
(available Winter 2013)