Today’s “Fab 5”/ Selected NYCity Events – SATURDAY, MAY 03, 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 Sights, Sounds and Stories check out our sister site: nyc123blog.wordpress.com
♦ For NYCity trip planning see links in “Resources” and “Smart Stuff” in the header above.
IT’S DERBY DAY – “AND THEY ARE OFF!”
Put on your Easter Bonnet / Derby Hat and hit one of these joints for the big race:
“Sweetwater Social, 643 Broadway, 212-253-7467, 2 to 7 p.m.
Drop into this bar for a derby viewing party, where you’ll find Sweetwater bartenders pouring Derby-themed drinks like bourbon flights, Derby Day punch, and mint juleps. Wear your best hat and fancy dress: There’s a best hat and best dressed contest, and prizes for picking the winning horses. And what’s the Kentucky Derby without spectacular attire, especially hats? Contests for best
Distilled, 211 West Broadway, 212-601-9514, 4 to 7 p.m. (Drink specials 3 to 8 p.m.)
Distilled will broadcast Derby coverage from 4 to 7 p.m., but it’ll get the party started early — and keep it running late — with a slew of Kentucky Derby drink specials, including the Derby shrub, Brown Derby, and mint julep. Derby attire is strongly encouraged.
Maysville, 17 West 26th Street, 646-490-8240, 3:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Book your Derby table at this whiskey-fueled Southern food haunt, where the $75 per person (excluding tax and gratuity) price gets you snacks like grits, deviled eggs, pulled pork sandwiches, spare ribs, and bread pudding plus classic mint juleps. Make reservations by calling the restaurant directly, or you can walk into the bar area for drinks and snacks.” (Village Voice)
Wall to Wall Cabaret
“Even though it is becoming increasingly clear that the word “cabaret” itself isn’t doing anybody any good—no two factions can agree on what it actually means—this free eight-hour mara-fest captures the state of the art of the genre, with nearly all of its contemporary leading figures.
It starts with a master class by the legendary Barbara Cook, and though nothing could improve on that, the subsequent segments include “Cabaret Now” (the most appealing hour, with Emily Bergl, Carole J. Bufford, Molly Pope and Eric Yves Garcia ), “Cabaret Comedy” (Lea DeLaria, Christine Pedi ), “ASCAP and the New American Songbook” ( Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich, Jason Robert Brown ), while “Satire, Revolution and Alt-Cabaret” with the brilliantly subversive Taylor Mac, isn’t to be missed.
The biggest guns are fired during “Cabaret Classics”: Barbara Carroll, Sandy Stewart, James Naughton, Steve Ross and the 86-year-old dynamo, the amazing Marilyn Maye (who opens Tuesday at 54 Below).” (WSJ)
Symphony Space, Peter Jay Sharpe Theatre, 2537 Broadway, @ 95th St.
(212) 864-5400
Take a Walk
The Great Saunter, a 32-mile stroll around the perimeter of Manhattan, steps off at 7:30 a.m. (Shorewalkers membership starts at $20)
OR
Spring Crafts on Columbus (also Sunday & May 10-11)
This fair, sponsored by the American Arts and Crafts Alliance, takes place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the sidewalk of Columbus Avenue, between 77th and 81st Streets. craftsoncolumbus.com.
Steve Kuhn, Steve Swallow, Joey Baron (through May 3)
“There’s a soft glow of erudition to “Wisteria,” a 2012 album by this acoustic piano trio. It comes from all three members of the group — the pianist Steve Kuhn, the bassist Steve Swallow and the drummer Joey Baron — but especially from Mr. Kuhn, one of jazz’s most careful rhapsodists, who recently turned 76.” (Chinen-NYT)
Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, Clinton,
212-581-3080, birdlandjazz.com;
At 8:30 and 11 p.m. / $40 cover, with a $10 minimum.
Chvrches
“A Scottish synth-pop act that was “born on the Internet,” as its lead vocalist, Lauren Mayberry, has described it (most notably, in an essay last year on the Guardian’s Web site decrying online misogyny), Chvrches posted a single, “Lies,” on the Neon Gold music blog in May, 2012, and instantly formed a devoted fan base, which has continued to grow.
The band consistently delivers engaging originals and distinctive covers of songs by artists including Whitney Houston and Haim. Its début album, “The Bones of What You Believe,” is vaporously light in sound and heavy in mood, and Mayberry’s voice, a quavering soprano, is as vulnerable as it is brave.” (NewYorker)
Terminal 5, 610 West 56th Street, Clinton,
at 11 p.m.,/ may need stub hub for this one
212-582-6600 / 800-745-3000 / terminal5nyc.com
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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.
♦ NYCity is a big town with many visitors where quality shows draw crowds. Try to reserve seats in advance, even if just on day of performance.
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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 