Today’s “Fab 5”/ Selected NYCity Events – MONDAY, MAR. 17, 2014.

• St. Patrick’s Day
  Whether you hail from the Emerald Isle is of no consequence—on St. Patrick’s Day, everyone can lay claim to being at least a little bit Irish (even the City’s bagels and beer, which can be got in green for the occasion). The parade itself lays claim to being the oldest (it was first held in 1762) and largest of its kind in the world. Clad yourself in kelly for the event and watch bagpipers, marching bands and assorted revelers from near and far as they march up Fifth Avenue from 44th Street to 79th Street. The parade starts at 11am and typically ends between 4:30 and 5pm.
• “Later that afternoon, at 4, Sober St. Patrick’s Day, an annual gathering that started in 2012, promises a drier but no less celebratory affair, with the Irish singer Cathy Maguire, the champion fiddler Brian Conway, the acclaimed button-accordion player John Whelan, and many other performers. (Cathedral High School, 350 E. 56th St. soberstpatricksday.org.)” (NewYorker)

• KEVIN COOK
  The true-crime writer Kevin Cook talks about his latest book, “Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime That Changed America.”
  Barnes & Noble, Broadway at 82nd St.
  212-362-8835.
  at 7PM / free

  Jim Caruso’s Cast Party
  A popular weekly soiree that brings a sprinkling of Broadway glitz and urbane wit to the legendary Birdland every Monday night. For the past nine years, it’s been the spot to mix and mingle with Manhattan show folk and their fans.

  The buoyant, sharp and charming Broadway impresario Jim Caruso hosts a combination open-mic, networking event and party, where some nights you may hear the biggest stars on Broadway relax on their night off by performing their favorite songs in an informal setting. Always fun.
  Birdland – 315 West 44th St (btw 8th/9th ave)
  9:30 pm / $20 (includes a drink if you sit at the bar, which are not bad seats)
  (212) 581-3080 / birdlandjazz.com

  Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks
  If you haven’t yet checked out the Nighthawks’ new digs, what are you waiting for. “The band (which has just released their second volume of music from HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire”) now actually sounds better, audio-wise, and the menu is a vast improvement over the band’s previous venue—overall, it is a step up, to the second floor, rather than a flight down, to the basement.

  Although longtime fans are currently referring to the Nighthawks as “The Iguana Troubadours,” they continue to play with the same amazing combination of skin-tight historical authenticity and sheer, relentless energy, plus a tempo that has always characterized Mr. Giordano’s bands.” (WSJ-Will Friedwald)
  Iguana, 240 W. 54th St., (Btw 8th/B’way)
  8pm-11pm / $15 cover, $20 food/drink minimum
  (212) 765-5454 / iguananyc.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
  Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.

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  WHAT’S ON VIEW: Special Exhibitions @ 4 MUSEUMS (Manhattan’s WestSide)

  “Ileana Sonnabend: Ambassador for the New’ (through April 21)
  ‘A World of Its Own: Photographic Practices in the Studio’ (through Oct. 5)
   ‘Designing Modern Women 1890-1990’(through Oct. 5)
  Museum of Modern Art: 11 W 53rd St. (btw 5th /6th Ave.)
  (212) 708-9400 / moma.org.

  Designing Modern Women 1890-1990:
  
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  ‘Out of Hand: Materializing the Postdigital’ (through June 1)
  “If you haven’t quite wrapped your head around the concept of 3-D printing, or haven’t yet had a digital scanner wrap itself around you, now you can do both in this survey of computer-assisted art, architecture and design. The show looks at art made since 2005 and fills nearly three floors, including many irresistible interactive projects. Its ideas may not be entirely new; the Museum of Modern Art’s 2008 exhibition “Design and the Elastic Mind” covered much of the same territory, but there’s something to be said for this more down-to-earth, production-focused exhibition.” (Rosenberg-NYT)
  Museum of Arts and Design, Columbus Circle,
  212-299-7777,madmuseum.org.

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  ‘Capa in Color’ (through May 4)
  “Robert Capa first worked with color in 1938, though he only began shooting regularly in color in 1941. This exhibition includes more than 100 contemporary inkjet prints, a fraction of the roughly 4,200 color transparencies held in the center’s Capa Archive. Sections of the exhibition include photographs of postwar Paris with spectators at the Longchamp racetrack, fashion models, people sitting in cafes. Black and white remained the standard for war photography as well as art during this time, however, and color during Capa’s period was still for commerce, amateurs, leisure — and stories featuring women.”
  (Martha Schwendener-NYT)

  ‘What Is a Photograph?’ (through May 4)
  “This exhibition is supposed to address a good question: What is photography in today’s digital age with its mind-boggling new smorgasbord of ways to create and disseminate machine-made images? It brings together works from the past four decades by 21 artists who have used photography to ponder the nature of photography itself. But it’s a strangely blinkered and backward-looking show. Most of what is on view has more to do with photography’s analog past than with its cybernetic future.” (Ken Johnson-NYT)
  International Center of Photography, 1133 Avenue of the Americas, at 43rd St.
  212-857-0000, icp.org
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  The Art of the Brick by Nathan Sawaya (ongoing)
  This exhibition by artist Nathan Sawaya is a critically acclaimed collection of intriguing and inspiring works of art made exclusively from one of the most recognizable toys in the world — LEGO® bricks. The Discovery Times Square exhibit is the world’s biggest and most elaborate display of LEGO® art ever and features brand-new, never-before-seen pieces by Sawaya. This show was named ‘One of CNN’s Ten Global Must-See Exhibitions.’
  Discovery Times Square, 226 West 44th St. (btw 7th/8th ave)
  866.987.9692 / http://www.discoverytsx.com

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  For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in the right Sidebar: “Selected Events + Special Exhibitions : … …” dated (03/15) and (03/13).