Today’s “Fab 5″/ Selected NYCity Events –THURSDAY, SEPT. 11, 2014

Tribute in Light
It is the 13th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

• Tribute in Light: Starting at 6 p.m., visitors can view the beams of light representing the twin towers from close-up at the Sept. 11 memorial, which will stay open until midnight.

Here are some other ways in which the city is pausing later in the day to honor the dead and pay tribute to the first responders:

• New York City Fire Museum: Officials and firefighters hold a memorial service 1 p.m.
• Feast of St. Gennaro: The annual feast in Little Italy begins with a ceremony at 4 p.m.
• Queens: A candlelight vigil with veterans, and reading of names, at Doughboy Plaza in Woodside. 6:30 p.m.
• Concert on a boat: Bargemusic, at the Brooklyn end of the Brooklyn Bridge, has a memorial concert of classical music at 8 p.m. [Free]

4X4 Baroque Music Festival
4 Concerts on 4 Summer Nights
The 4×4 festival of Baroque music begins at St. Paul’s Chapel downtown.

The 4×4 Festival presents concerts of baroque music at New York City’s historic Saint Paul’s Chapel, showcasing works by well-known composers such as Bach, Handel and Vivaldi while shedding light on some of their unjustly neglected contemporaries.
Tonight – The Grand Overture
Orchestra suites by Bach and his contemporaries
St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton
7PM / FREE

The Great War: A Cinematic Legacy (August 4–September 21, 2014)
This exhibition began on the 100th anniversary of the day World War I began in earnest, at a time when cinema, still in its infancy, offered an especially effective means of recording events. The movies have provided a great wealth of related material over the past century, far more than this series can encompass.

It is difficult to structure this material, but for this series—which comprises some 50 programs—we have tried to break it down into “sub-genres”: prewar activities; espionage; the battlefields in the trenches, in the air, and on and beneath the sea; actualités; and the various homefronts before, during, and after. The August section of the program is predominately drawn from the early years, either during the war or in the succeeding decades. And although many of these films are familiar, there are also some rare gems.

The program in September will concentrate (though not exclusively) on later, more contemporary films. One hopes that this series will supplement the vast array of literature on the subject, and will perhaps help us to better understand why, as Roger Cohen recently wrote in The New York Times, “The war haunts us still.”

Today’s Film (This is a Classic):
La Grande Illusion (Grand Illusion)

• France. Directed by Jean Renoir. With Jean Gabin, Pierre Fresnay, Erich von Stroheim, Marcel Dalio. One of the few genuine masterpieces resulting from the Great War, Renoir’s depiction of French prisoners ultimately escaping from the Germans is a pacifist plea for common humanity that failed to prevent an even greater conflict from breaking out two years later. In French; English subtitles. 113 min.

4:30 p.m., Theater 1, T1 (Introduced by Nicholas Macdonald, author of In Search of La Grande Illusion. Mr. Macdonald will sign copies of his book at 4:00.)
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), 11 West 53 St. (btw Fifth/Sixth avenues)
(212) 708-9400 / moma.org

Feast of San Gennaro Festival (through Sept. 21)
The 88th feast of san gennaro festival takes over little italy with food, rides, games of chance, a cannoli eating competition (9/12 @ 2pm), pizza eating competition (9/16 @ 2pm), the world’s biggest cannoli (9/20 @ 3pm), and more.

The 88th Annual Feast of San Gennaro will be held in Little Italy for 11 days from Thursday, September 11, through Sunday, September 21, 2014, on the streets of historic Little Italy, the lower Manhattan neighborhood which served as the first home in America for hundreds of thousands of Italian immigrants who came here seeking to improve their lives beginning in the early part of the 20th century.

Presented annually since 1996 by Figli di San Gennaro, Inc. (Children of San Gennaro), a not-for-profit community organization dedicated to keeping alive the spirit and faith of the early Italian immigrants, this year’s Feast is expected once again to attract more than one-million people from the four corners of the globe to the streets of Little Italy to participate in the annual Salute to the Patron Saint of Naples.

Indoor and outdoor dining at 35 of Little Italy’s most famous Italian restaurants. More than 300 licensed street vendors selling international foods, official Feast of San Gennaro, New York City and Little Italy souvenirs.
11:30am–11pm / free admission.

Motorexpo at Brookfield Place (thru 09/12)
Motorexpo returns to Brookfield Place for our 7th annual event; transforming New York’s premier business district with our free to visit display of the latest vehicles, from bmw, lexus, mini, tesla, and more.
FORD – THE ALL-NEW 2015 MUSTANG. PERFORMANCE PLUS. It may look entirely new, but its soul is entirely Mustang – with 50 years of heritage.
TESLA – INTRODUCING A CAR SO ADVANCED IT SETS A NEW STANDARD FOR PREMIUM PERFORMANCE.
LEXUS – THE LFA SHOWCASES THE POWER AND POISE OF LEXUS’ F SPORT LINE-UP.
Brookfield Place, 220 Vesey Street, Lower Manhattan,
Monday to Friday 10am-6pm / FREE

♦ 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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Chelsea is the heart of the NYCity contemporary art scene. Home to more than 300 art galleries, the Rubin Museum, the Joyce Theater, and The Kitchen performance spaces, there is no place like it anywhere in the world. Come here to browse free exhibitions by world-renowned artists and those unknowns waiting to be discovered in an art district that is concentrated between West 18th and West 27th Streets, and 10th and 11th Avenues. Afterwards stop in the Chelsea Market, stroll on the High Line, or rest up at one of the many cafes and bars and discuss the fine art – my fave is Ovest on W 27th St., where the aperitivo is like Happy Hour on steroids.

For a listing of 25 essential galleries in the Chelsea Art Gallery District, organized by street, which enables you to create your own Chelsea Art Gallery crawl, see the Chelsea Gallery Guide (nycgo.com) Or check out TONY magazine’s list of the “Best Chelsea Galleries” and click through to see what’s on view. ==========================================================

For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in the right Sidebar: “Selected Events + Special Exhibitions : Manhattan’s WestSide” dated (09/09) and (09/07).