Today’s “Fab 5″/ Selected NYCity Events – SUNDAY, AUGUST 17, 2014.
For other useful and curated NYCity event info for Manhattan’s WestSide check out:
♦ “9 Notable Events-August”and “Top10 Free” in the header above.
♦ For NYCity Sights, Sounds and Stories visit out our sister site: nyc123blog.wordpress.com
♦ For NYCity trip planning see links in “Resources” and “Smart Stuff” in the header above. =========================================================================
Eric Comstock and Barbara Fasano – “On the Sunny Side”
These married musical partners — pianist/vocalist Eric Comstock and vocalist Barbara Fasano (“Exhilarating” – The New York Times) — are as entertaining as they are musically savvy. The award-winning artists celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary later this summer, so expect lots of laughs and love songs. Sultry, swinging and surprising, they’ll turn Sunday supper at Birdland into a fabulous party where the stories are as great as the music. “MASTERFUL AND ENDLESSLY APPEALING … THEY TAKE IT TO A WHOLE OTHER LEVEL” (Will Friedwald, Wall Street Journal)
Birdland, 315 W 44th St. btw Eighth and Ninth Aves
at 6:00PM / $30, $10 food/drink minimum
212-581-3080 / birdlandjazz.com
The Aaron Neville Duo
“The Grammy-winning soul and R&B singer Aaron Neville yearned to make a doo-wop album for 30 years, yet he was turned down by record labels despite his celebrated R&B and soul career. He finally released the passion project, titled “My True Story,” last year. Don Was and Keith Richards helped produce the pleasant, unhurried outing. Mr. Neville continues his summer residency at City Winery, during which he’ll play from his decades-long catalog.” (Anderson-NYT)
MY TRUE STORY represents a culmination of Aaron Neville’s incredible career, which has seen him move seamlessly back and forth between solo work and his role in the first family of New Orleans music, the Neville Brothers. His first hit single was the landmark “Tell It Like It Is,” which held the Number One spot on the R&B charts for five weeks in 1967. He went on to win Grammy Awards for his triple-platinum 1989 collaboration with Linda Ronstadt Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind, and reached the Country charts with the title track of 1993’s The Grand Tour.
City Winery, 155 Varick Street, near Spring Street, South Village,
212-608-0555, citywinery.com
At 8 p.m. / $55 to $65.
33RD ANNUAL DOWNTOWN DANCE FESTIVAL (through Aug. 21)
Free performances by Tangaj Dance (Romania), Entomo (Spain), Vanaver Caravan, Dorrance Dance, New York Theatre Ballet, Mazzini Dance Collective, Lori Belilove and Isadora Duncan Dance Company, Logan Kruger & Adam Weinert, Indo-American Arts Council’s Erasing Borders of Indian Dance and Battery Dance Company in a new commissioned work by South African choreographer Theo Ndindwa.
Tonight:
@6PM / The Vanaver Caravan will perform excerpts from Turn, Turn, Turn: Celebrating Pete Seeger in Dance
@7Pm / In Situ Arts / Logan Frances Kruger & Adam H. Weinert
Mazzini Dance Collective
Battery Dance Compan, presenting choreography by Theo Ndindwa
The Downtown Dance Festival (DDF) is one of lower Manhattan’s most highly anticipated summer events. Initiated in 1982 by Battery Dance Company (BDC), the Festival has thrilled audiences in the hundreds of thousands and showcased great dance companies from around the world as well as the best New York City has to offer, all free-of-charge to the public.
WAGNER PARK, Lower Manhattan
beautiful location, just north of Historic Battery Park, off Battery Place.
WBLS 6th Annual R&B Fest: Musiq Soulchild
Philadelphia native Taalib Johnson, a.k.a. Musiq Soulchild, is a Neo-Soul & R&B artist, whose unique style blends R&B, soul, funk, hip-hop, and rock, creating a sound unlike any other. Musiq Soulchild has had 2 platinum albums, 2 gold albums and 7 hit singles. He has received awards from Billboard, BET, The American Composers, Authors and Publishers, BMI, and Soul Train. Musiq has also earned award nominations from MTV, American Music Awards, NAACP, and 13 Grammy nominations, including 2 for his 2009 album “OnMyRadio”and 1 forBest R&B vocal Performance at this year’s ( 2011) Grammy Awards.
Besides being a successful recording artist, Musiq is notable for his creative use of capitalization, punctuation, and spelling, which can be seen in the titles of his singles and his albums. Much like George Clinton, one of his biggest influences, Musiq shows of his unique artistic personality with this unusual form of writing.
Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, midpark at 70th St.
7:00PM / FREE – first come, first in, until the venue reaches capacity.
212-360-2777, summerstage.com
http://www.musiqsoulchild.com
Arturo O’Farrill Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
Grammy Award winning pianist, composer and educator Arturo O’Farrill — leader of the “first family of Afro-Cuban Jazz” (NY Times) — was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City. Son of the late, great composer Chico O’Farrill, Arturo was Educated at Manhattan School of Music, Brooklyn College Conservatory and the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. He played piano in Carla Bley’s Big Band from 1979 through 1983 and earned a reputation as a soloist in groups led by Dizzy Gillespie, Steve Turre, Freddy Cole, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis and Harry Belafonte.
The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra is the resident large format ensemble of the nonprofit Afro Latin Jazz Alliance (ALJA) founded by Arturo O’Farrill in 2007 and dedicated to preserving the music and heritage of big band Latin jazz, supporting its performance for new audiences, and educating young people in the understanding and performance of this important cultural treasure.
Birdland, 315 W 44th St. btw Eighth and Ninth Aves
9:00 and 11 pm / $30
212-581-3080 / birdlandjazz.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 