Today’s “Fab 5″/ Selected NYCity Events –THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 2014

MoMA Nights with Widowspeak
Molly Hamilton, vocals and guitar; Robert Earl Thomas, guitar
Widowspeak is an American band known for its wistful, Western-tinged take on rock ‘n’ roll.. Widowspeak has been praised for its reverential spaciousness, Hamilton’s haunting voice, and Thomas’s spindly, Morricone-esque guitar lines. The music draws on 1950s pop ballads and 1970s psych, and features languid call-and-response melodies.
the Sculpture Garden at the Museum of Modern Art,
212-708-9400, moma.org
At 6:30 p.m./ FREE with regular museum admission of $25, $18 for seniors.

Molissa Fenley – Dance an Impossible Space
Dance an Impossible Space was choreographed with a very small—“impossible”—performance space in mind. The movements explore how to make the work “possible”—the dancer travels to the perimeter of the space only to ricochet back to the other side. The piece is marked by the delightful struggle to express a trajectory of motion within tight constraints. Erin Gee’s original vocal composition and presence in the space adds another layer of complexity.
David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center, 61 W 62 St
At 7:30PM / FREE
212-875-5350 / atrium.lincolncenter.org

Seaport Swing with Dandy Wellington and His Band
Inspired by the Big Band Era of Jazz, Dandy Wellington and his Band have taken the sounds of the 1930’s and 40’s and created a world of well dressed music. With a passion for obscure songs steeped in the Jazz tradition, Dandy Wellington has assembled a catalog of music that invokes an atmosphere of class. From the golden age of cinema, to the bounce of New Orleans, each song is hand selected and played to perfection by a band cut from the cloth of elegance.
South Street Seaport Front/Row Stage, corner of Front St and Fulton St
6PM / FREE

New York International Salsa Congress Dance & Music Festival (August 27 – September 1)
“Every Labor Day weekend salseros and salseras from all around the world come to town for the New York International Salsa Congress Dance & Music Festival—and dance cards fill up at a fast and furious pace. The action unfolds at the New York Hilton Midtown, with a full schedule of workshops, performances, competitions, live music (including sets by Bronx conga king Eddie Montalvo and the Jimmy Bosch Orchestra) and DJs spinning tunes well into the early-morning hours.” (nycgo.com)
New York Hilton Midtown, 1335 Sixth Ave. (at W. 53rd St.)
212-586-7000 / nycsalsacongress.com

Elsewhere, but absolutely worth the detour:

U.S. TENNIS OPEN (Day 4) / TODAY’S PREMIER EVENT
The U.S. Open continues today (11AM) at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens (about 45 min. from Times Square) and runs through Sept. 8. This is the fourth and final tennis tournament which culminates the Grand Slam each year. It consists of five event championships: men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles, and mixed doubles, with additional tournaments for senior, junior, and wheelchair players. subway: #1-2-3 to Times Square; transfer to #7 to Mets-Willets Point.

Forget the Big House (Arthur Ashe Stadium), during the first few days where most matches are mismatches. Get a grounds pass and once inside check out one of the electronic scoreboards listing current matches. Find a match or players that interest you. Head over to their court for some great competitive tennis, because in this tournament even the qualifiers are great players.

There is no other major sporting event where you can get so close to world class athletes as at the U.S. Open – on the outer courts, the Grandstand court, or even Louis Armstrong stadium. Courts where you can get a real sense of the pace of the game.

Matches to watch today in Louis Armstrong stadium (LA), the Grandstand court (GS) & the outside courts (1st two match predictions per Matt Cronin):

(LA) 13-John Isner vs. Jan-Lennard Struff
Big John wants to make an impression on the hard courts of the US Open in a big way. Isner is the highest-ranked U.S. male, has experience and can dominate games.

When his first serve is on, he is untouchable. Entering the US Open, Isner had 772 aces on the season and also had won 93 percent of his service games. As a result, Isner knows he can play with the better guys. But Isner has not broken enough in return games – currently just 9 percent. As a result, he is playing a lot of tiebreakers. Entering the tournament, he has already played 43, and that can be dicey.

What Isner needs to do is to have a clean second round when he faces Jan-Lennard Struff. Struff is 6-foot-5, so he can power off both wings, but he is not experienced enough to pull off the upset here. Isner will need four sets to win, and if Kohlschreiber beats Michael Llodra, then those two familiar foes will face off for a third consecutive year.

(GS) After winning New Haven, 3 Petra Kvitova looks like she is in good form on the hard courts, which means that she could go very deep here. But the Wimbledon champion rarely plays excellent every day, which could mean she might have to play for two hours against Petra Cetkovska, a fellow Czech. Cetkovska can smoke from inside the baseline, but Kvitova’s vicious left-handed serve will be the difference and will allow her to win in two long sets.
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(LA) 8 Ana Ivanovic starts the day off in Armstrong – a good way to start the day.

Ct 17 Last match of the day, to watch the teen phenom Catherine “CiCi” Bellis try to beat another fine young player, Zarina Diyas. When 15 year old Cici shocked No. 12 seed Dominika Cibulkova in her opening match she became the youngest player to win a singles match at the US Open since Anna Kournikova in 1996. Get here early for this one – it follows Tommy Robredo vs Simone Bolelli.

(GS) Watch the Williams sisters do their doubles thing against a quality #7 seed team. They only play doubles in the Grand Slam events, and when you can watch one of their matches in the intimate Grandstand it’s a special treat.

Ct 6 Or watch the #1 seed Italian ladies – Errani and Vinci show their doubles skill.

Ct 4 “Gorgeous” Goerges has been bounced out of the singles, but is playing mixed doubles, which is always fun to watch.

Today’s tip: arrive early. Security screening seemed to have been ratcheted up last week during qualifying, which may cause delays to enter. The best, most comprehensive review of the tournament and the current state of tennis can be found at the NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com

Finally, these places around the grounds provide special fan experiences, a place to beat the heat, and are open to the public:
Heineken House – big screen tv’s, quality photo booth op, various sporting challenges, sandwiches & beer available for purchase. Say Hi to my fave Heineken girl – Missy.
American Express Fan Experience – swing analysis, 180 degree photo op, charging lockers. Second level of the lounge is only open to card members, where food and drinks are available for purchase.
Time Warner Cable Studios – photo ops, prizes, charging stations.

And only for Chase Bank customers:
Chaise Lounge – snacks and light refreshments (requires pre-registration).

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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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What’s on View:
Special Exhibitions @ 3 Museum Mile / Fifth Ave. Museums:

The Flowering of Edo Period Painting: Japanese Masterworks from the Feinberg Collection’ (through Sept. 7)
‘Garry Winogrand’ (through Sept. 21)
Mr. Winogrand, who died at 56 in 1984, was the photographer laureate of urban and suburban middle-class life in the United States from the late 1950s through the ’70s and beyond. This ample retrospective focuses on his prime years, when he recorded a newly prosperous America while strolling Manhattan’s avenues and then followed it as it waded into increasingly troubled political waters. The result is a remarkable panorama of an era, with some terrific pictures, and some that Winogrand, who left a mountain of unprocessed film behind, never edited or printed. 212-535-7710, metmuseum.org. (Cotter-NYT)
‘Early American Guitars: The Instruments of C.F. Martin’ (through Dec. 7)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 5th Ave, at 82nd St.
(212) 535-7710 / metmuseum.org
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‘Italian Futurism, 1909-1944: Reconstructing the Universe’ (through Sept. 1)
“This epic, beautifully designed exhibition may be one of the more thorough examinations of modernism’s most obnoxious and conflicted art movement that you are likely to see. Awash in the manifestoes that its members regularly fired off, it follows Futurism through to its end with the death of its founder, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, in 1944. It covers the Futurist obsessions with speed, war, machines and, finally, flight and the aerial views it made possible. And the show highlights relatively unknown figures like the delightful Fortunato Depero and Benedetta Cappa, Marinetti’s wife. 1071 Fifth Avenue, at 89th Street, 212-423-3500, guggenheim.org.“ (Smith-NYT)
Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue, at 89th St.
(212) 423-3500 / guggenheim.org.
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‘Degenerate Art: The Attack on Modern Art in Nazi Germany, 1937’ (through Sept. 1)
“This show — one of the first in decades in an American museum to address, on a fairly large scale, the Nazi demonizing of art — tells a complicated story. The basic facts of the narrative, which centers on Hitler’s grand plan to purify German culture of Modernist, Bolshevist and Jewish influence, are well known, and it culminated in the infamous 1937 “Degenerate Art” exhibition in Munich. The Neue Galerie sets examples of art from that show beside Nazi-approved work; addresses the persecutions of artists in Dresden; and touches on the suppression of the Bauhaus. There are gripping paintings and sculptures as well as complex and haunting personalities every step of the way. And in the end the links between aesthetics and disaster are clear.” (Cotter-NYT)
Neue Galerie, 1048 Fifth Avenue, at 86th Street,
212-628-6200, neuegalerie.org.
========================================================== Museum Mile is a section of Fifth Avenue which contains one of the densest displays of culture in the world. Ten museums can be found along this section of Fifth Avenue:

• 110th Street – Museum for African Art

• 105th Street – El Museo del Barrio

• 103rd Street – Museum of the City of New York

• 92nd Street – The Jewish Museum

• 91st Street – Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

• 89th Street – National Academy Museum

• 88th Street – Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

• 86th Street – Neue Galerie New York

• 83rd Street – Goethe-Institut

Last, but certainly not least, America’s premier museum
• 82nd Street – The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Additionally, though technically not part of the Museum Mile, the Frick Collection on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 70th St. and the The Morgan Library & Museum on Madison Ave and 37th St are also located near Fifth Ave. Now plan your own museum crawl. ==========================================================

For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in right Sidebar: “NYCity Events: Manhattan’s WestSide” dated 08/26 and 08/24.