Today’s “Fab 5” / Selected NYCity Events – TUESDAY, DEC. 10, 2013
For other useful and curated NYCity event info for Manhattan’s WestSide check out:
♦ “Notable NYC Events-Dec.”, (because the holiday season kicks into high gear in December)
and also “on Broadway”, and “Top10 Free” in the header above.
♦ For NYCity trip planning see links in “Resources” and “Smart Stuff” in the header above.
Book Talk: Building Seagram
Author Phyllis Lambert will present her new book Building Seagram. The presentation will be followed by a conversation with Skyscraper Museum director Carol Willis.
The Seagram building rises over New York’s Park Avenue, seeming to float above the street with perfect lines of bronze and glass. Considered one of the greatest icons of twentieth-century architecture, the building was commissioned by Samuel Bronfman, founder of the Canadian distillery dynasty Seagram. Bronfman’s daughter Phyllis Lambert was twenty-seven years old when she took over the search for an architect and chose Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969), a pioneering modern master of what he termed “skin and bones” architecture.
Building Seagram is a comprehensive personal and scholarly history of a major building and its architectural, cultural, and urban legacies. Lambert makes use of previously unpublished personal archives, company correspondence, and photographs to tell an insider’s view of the debates, resolutions, and unknown dramas of the building’s construction, as well as its crucial role in the history of modern art and architectural culture.
Skyscraper Museum, 39 Battery Place
at 6:30 pm / FREE
212-968-1961
‘Holiday Cheer for ‘FUV with Iron and Wine’
“Ghost on Ghost,” the latest studio album by the singer-songwriter Sam Beam (who records as Iron and Wine), maintains the artist’s trademark whisper-soft vocals and folk fingerpicking, yet toys with jazz and pop in unexpected ways. Onstage, Mr. Beam is a slight but magnetic character as his rich musicianship fills the room. Calexico, Nick Lowe and Glen Hansard also lend their voices to benefit the New York public radio station WFUV.” (Anderson-NYT)
Beacon Theater, 2124 Broadway, at 74th St.
At 8 p.m./ $45 to $300
745-3000, beacontheatre.com
Yarn/Wire, a Unique Quartet of Keyboardists and Percussionists
Program:
Eric Wubbels: alphabeta for quartet
Mei-Fang Lin: Interaction for solo piano and prerecorded CD
Alex Mincek: V for solo marimba
Tristan Murail: Selections from Les travaux et les jours for solo piano Øyvind Torvund: The Stacks for solo marimba
Bring a friend, grab a drink, and join some of today’s most interesting performers onstage at Miller Theatre on select Tuesday evenings.
Yarn/Wire returns to Miller Theatre on the heels of their February 2013 debut with a program of new works for their unique instrumentation: two keyboard players and two percussionists. The four team up to play a recent piece by composer Eric Wubbels, and then divide and conquer in solos for piano and marimba.
Miller Theater, 2960 Broadway @ 116thSt.
Admission is on a first-come, first-served basis,
Doors open at 5:30 p.m., music starts 6PM / FREE
212-854-7799
George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker (through Jan 4, 2014)
It wouldn’t be the Holiday Season without this old chestnut.
“Since 1954, the New York City Ballet has transported audiences to a world of frost fairies, toy soldiers and towering mice. Tchaikovsky’s score may be hummably familiar, but the choreography still feels magically fresh.” (TONY mag)
DHK Theater (at Lincoln Center), 20 Lincoln Center Plaza
at 63rd St
Schedule varies, NO Mondays; visit nycballet.com for details / $57-$254
Lincolncenter.org / (212) 870-5570 / nycballet.com
Puppet Playlist #17: Johnny Cash
“If you’re wondering what a Johnny Cash-inspired puppet show might look like, you’ll be able to find out this week because the gang at Puppet Playlist are sending up the man in black in their newest production. If you aren’t familiar with this collective’s brilliance, every three months they take on a new musical theme and develop a theatrical event that’s a creative mix of puppetry and music.
Past subjects have included Tom Waits, David Bowie and Talking Heads. For this Cash-conversant edition, the puppetry of Brodrick Jones, Jake Bazel and Michael Schupbach & Spencer Lott is performed alongside the musical ingenuity of Swear & Shake, Emily Hope Price and more. These productions tend to sell out, so advance purchase is advised.” (Mindy Bond, Flavorpill)
Kraine Theater, (E4th St. btw Bowery/2nd ave)
12/9 at 8pm, 12/11 at 7:30pm & 9:30pm / $10.00
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 – Upper West Side
Dinosaur / 700 w125th St. @ 12th ave.
Walk only five minutes from the 125th st. station on the #1 line to find this authentic honky-tonk barbecue joint. Some folks think Dinosaur is just a place to eat ribs. Au contraire. With 24 carefully selected taps, this is a place to drink beer, and eat ribs.
No food goes better with American craft ales than American barbecue. Dinosaur may be the best combo of good beer drinking and hearty eating in town, which makes the trip to Harlem totally worthwhile.
This second incarnation of Dinosaur in Harlem is in an old brick warehouse near the Hudson River. Don’t let that run down exterior fool you. Inside it’s a large space with huge, rough wooden columns and unfinished wooden floors and brick walls – just right for a bbq joint. As soon as you open the door you are hit with that tantalizing aroma of barbecue coming from the large open kitchen. Reminds me of all those great rib joints I frequented when stationed in North Carolina all those years ago. If your stomach wasn’t grumbling before, it is now.
Head to the bar, sit down and try to decide on a beer. It’s not an easy decision – a good problem to have. This is a pretty damn good beer list to choose from, one that most beer bars should be jealous of. I love that they feature NY craft beers. You may want to try the four beer sampler, which is always fun, and in this place may be necessary.
The Mississippi blues music playing in the background will get you in the mood for their North Carolina style barbecue, and even when it’s a full house your order shouldn’t take too long. The food is all slow smoked, so it’s already mostly done and ready to go. I always start with an order of their giant, spice rubbed wings, so good they may make you give up Buffalo wings.
Unfortunately, a place this good does not fly under the radar. There can be some humongous waits for a table at dinnertime. So you need a strategy – avoid prime time, and try not to arrive with your entire posse, which will limit your seating options.
A seat at the bar, a small table in the bar area, or in the summer, an outside table, underneath what’s left of the elevated West Side Hwy, all may open before a table inside the main dining room. Otherwise, try Dinosaur for lunch, or come very late for dinner.
Website: http://www.dinosaurbarbque.com/
Phone #: 212-694-1777
Hours: M-Th 11:30am-11:00pm; Fr-Sa 11:30am-12:00am;
Su 12:00pm-10:00pm
Happy Hour: 4-7pm every day; $1 off all drinks
Music: Fri / Sat 10:00pm
Subway: #1 to 125th st
Walk 2 blk W on 125th to Dinosaur Bar-B-Q,
just past the elevated highway
NYCity 1-2-3 : What's Happening / Manhattan's WestSide 