Today’s “Fab 5” / Selected NYCity Events – SATURDAY, APR. 05, 2014.
For other useful and curated NYCity event info for Manhattan’s WestSide check out:
♦ “Notable NYC Events-April”, 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.
Tartan Day Parade
“The Scottish celebration marks its 16th year in New York City. Come out to see hundreds of pipers, drummers and thousands of marchers generate festive music and fun as they make their way up Sixth Avenue, from 45th to 55th Streets, beginning at 2pm. And take note: the parade is the keystone for an entire week of Scottish events and cultural celebrations.” (nycgo.com)
Visit nyctartanweek.org for more information.
Artexpo New York 2014 (also Sun Apr.6)
The world’s largest fine art marketplace.
For thirty-five years and counting, Artexpo has been changing the way people buy and sell art. Our annual, juried expo brings the biggest publishers, galleries and collectors face to face with hundreds of established and emerging artists. In short, we’re the world’s largest fine art marketplace.
This year, we’ll host over 400+ innovative exhibiting artists, galleries and publishers from across the globe, showcasing exciting original artwork, prints, paintings, drawings, sculpture, photography, ceramics, giclee, lithographs, glass works and more—all under one roof at Pier 94.
Pier 94, 711 12th Ave,
$20 / artexponewyork.com
Africa Now! Festival
“For the second year, the Apollo Theater and the World Music Institute are staging a multiday celebration of contemporary African music. On Saturday, Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, reggae and African funk musicians who met in a refugee camp in Guinea, are the headliners. (Their new album, “Libation,” is thoughtful, deft pop fare.)
Among the other musicians on Saturday’s bill are the folksy singer-songwriter Fatoumata Diawara, from Mali, and the Senegalese acoustic trio Les Frères Guissé, which will also play during a family showcase on Saturday at 1 p.m. “(Stacey Anderson-NYT)
Apollo Theater, 253 West 125th Street, Harlem,
Saturday at 1, 8 and 10 p.m.,/ $10 to $45.
800-745-3000, apollotheater.org
GEORGE COLEMAN
“Smoke, the small club on Broadway between 105th and 106th streets that keeps the Upper West Side safe for hard bop, is celebrating its fifteenth anniversary. The space has a long connection to jazz. It opened in what had long been Augie’s Jazz Bar, and the name of the current joint comes, according to the owners, from “Smoke,” the 1995 film by Wayne Wang and Paul Auster.
Auster frequented the original place and based a character in that film on its proprietor. The tenor titan Coleman, who gained valuable experience in the bands of Max Roach and Miles Davis, marks the occasion with his quartet, featuring the pianist Harold Mabern, the bassist John Webber, and the drummer Joe Farnsworth.” (NewYorker)
Smoke, 2751 Broadway, at 106th St.
At 7 and 9 p.m.,/ $40 cover
212-864-6662, smokejazz.com
Havana Film Festival New York (April 3–11)
“The Havana Film Festival New York, in its 15th year, collaborates with Havana’s International Festival of New Latin American Cinema to introduce its audience to prominent and emerging filmmakers from Latin America, the Caribbean and the Latino community in the US.” (nycgo.com)
Visit hffny.com for more information.
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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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A PremierPub / Midtown West.
Russian Vodka Room / 265 W 52nd St (btw 7th/8th ave)
Sure, you could travel to Minsk or even Brighton Beach, for an authentic Russian experience, but why bother. On those days when you feel you must wash down your dish of kasha with a few glasses of icy, cold vodka, the Russian Vodka Room will definitely satisfy your urge.
From the outside this place looks a bit drab, and with no windows, a bit mysterious. Midtown tourists walk right by on their way to see “Jersey Boys”, just down the block.
Those in the know enter a secret hideaway, a dimly lit front room with soft jazz playing – a perfect spot for an illicit late-night rendezvous, or maybe a meet-up with your Russian spy handler, but that’s later in the evening. Early in the evening the large U-shaped bar fills with the after work happy hour crowd, a group made very happy by the much reduced prices.
Their website says: “Welcome Comrades”. Of course, this welcome focuses on dozens of different vodkas, including their own special infusions, which marinate in giant, clear glass jugs visible around the room. The large vodka martinis ensure that you won’t confuse this place with your mother’s Russian Tea Room.
But man does not live by vodka alone. Eat some food, especially the tapa like appetizers. Be decadent and try the cheese blintzes with chocolate, or try a main dish like beef stroganoff with kasha.
Your best bet is to go on a night when the piano man is playing. This guy, who looks like he has eaten a lot of those cheese blintzes, plays five nights a week from 7 to 12 (no Mondays and Thursdays). When the piano man is playing American pop tunes, and you are at the crowded, dimly lit bar testing the horseradish infused vodka, that’s when the RVR shines.
It’s the kind of place where the noise gets louder and the crowd gets happier as the happy hour goes on. I’m generally a beer guy, but I like to come here with a group of friends. We find a table in the back room; we eat, and we drink vodka ‘till it hurts (and it will hurt).
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Website: http://www.russianvodkaroom.com/
Phone #: 212-307-5835
Hours: 4pm-2am; Fri-Sun closes 4am (that could be trouble)
Happy Hour: 4-7pm every day
$4 shots infused vodka (2oz), $5 cosmos; $4 czech draft beer
Music: FR-SU; TU-WE / 7pm-12am
Subway: #1 to 50th St.
Walk 2 blk N. on B’way to 52nd St.; 1 blk W. to RVR
Confusingly, the Russian Samovar is right across the street, on the S. side of 52nd St.
The RVR, your destination, is on the N. side of 52nd St.
Update: music some nights includes a sax player with a younger, trimmer piano man.
NYCity 1-2-3 : What's Happening / Manhattan's WestSide 