Today’s “Fab 5”/ Selected NYCity Events – MONDAY, MAY 19, 2014.
For other useful and curated NYCity event info for Manhattan’s WestSide check out:
♦ “9 Notable NYCity Events-May”, 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.
Internet Week New York (through May 25)
“This annual festival devoted to all things Web presents discussions, seminars and social events with industry professionals and business leaders at various locations. Its headquarters is the Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 West 18th Street, Chelsea; internetweekny.com.” (NYT)
Here are a few of today’s events (all require pass/ticketed events):
- The Future of Television
- Can Tech Solve Media and Entertainment Needs?
- VICE Sessions | The Future of Video News
- How Technology is Changing the Way We Listen to and Interact with Music
- Fireside Chat with Chet Kanojia, Founder and CEO, Aereo
HERE COMES EVERYBODY: The Story of the Pogues with James Fearnley
James Fearnley, a soul guitarist from Yorkshire, first met The Pogues’s notorious frontman Shane McGowan while auditioning for McGowan’s first band, The Nips, in 1980. He later became accordionist to The Pogues as well as one of its founding members.
Fearnley’s memoir HERE COMES EVERYBODY opens and closes like a scene from a film, beginning in the early nineties with The Pogues’ band members gathered in a hotel room in Japan, readying themselves to sack Shane due to drunken behaviour and failure to show up on time—for gigs as well as everything else.
In between, Fearnley gives us a riveting depiction of the inside life of the band, both on and off the road. There will be live music—banjo, accordion, and acoustic guitar—to accompany Fearnley’s readings from the memoir.
McNally Jackson Books, 52 Prince St.
212-274-1160
at 7:00 pm / FREE
All Star Tribute to Mat Domber & Arbors Records
“Amazing soloists will be at performing at this event: Warren Vache, Rossano Sportiello, Bucky Pizzarelli, Anat Cohen, Bob Wilber, Dick Hyman and Wycliffe Gordon, among others. They’re gathered in the memory of Mat Domber (1928–2012), the impresario behind Arbors Records, which has been the lifeblood of premodern jazz styles and stylists for 25 years. Seeing as nearly all of the best swing and New Orleans-style jazz of recent decades has been documented by Arbors, this tribute should be a celebration worth celebrating.” (WSJ)
Symphony Space, Peter Jay Sharpe Theatre, 2537 Broadway, at 95th Street
(212) 864-5400 / symphonyspace.org
At 7:15 p.m. / $35, $25 for members
BILLY MINTZ QUARTET
“Perennially underrated drum veteran Billy Mintz, whose 2013 full-length, Mintz Quartet, encompassed avant-garde–leaning postbop and romantic balladry, leads the same band featured on that disc, with saxist John Gross, pianist Roberta Piket and bassist Putter Smith.” (TONY)
Greenwich House Music School, 46 Barrow Street, West Village,
212-242-4770, greenwichhouse.org
At 8:30 p.m./ $15
GARRISON KEILLOR
The Prairie Home Companion host, now 71, reads from his latest volume, The Keillor Reader, a collection of his varied writings that includes monologues, stories, excerpts from novels, newspaper columns and new pieces.
BookCourt, 163 Court St., btw Dean and Pacific Sts.
718-875-3677 / bookcourt.com
at 7:00pm / FREE
subway: #2-3 to borough hall; walk S on CourtSt.
not Manhattan’s WestSide, but this is a fine bookstore which deserves our support,
and it is that old rascal from Minnesota, Garrison Keillor
Today’s FREE stuff:
• Ferry rides (rush hour only), coffee and doughnuts all week to inaugurate West Side service from Pier 84 (W 44th Street) to World Financial Center.
• Nutella Cronut holes for the spread’s 50th birthday, outside Eataly @ 23rd St..
10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
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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 