Today’s “Fab 5″+1/ Selected NYCity Events – TUESDAY, SEPT. 16, 2014
“We search the internet looking for the very best of What’s Happening on Manhattan’s WestSide, so that you don’t have to.”
For other useful and curated NYCity event info for Manhattan’s WestSide check out:
♦ “9 Notable Events-September”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.
Garry Winogrand (through Sept. 21)
“The Met is presenting the first retrospective in the past 25 years of the work of Garry Winogrand, described by the New York Times as the “photographer laureate of urban and suburban middle-class life in the United States.” Celebrated as one of the finest street photographers of his generation, Winogrand grew up in the then-predominantly Jewish working-class area of The Bronx. When he died in 1984 he left about 2,500 rolls of undeveloped film and 6,500 rolls of developed, but not proofed exposures. Some of these unseen pictures are included in this exhibition, which concludes on Sept. 21.” (DNA INFO)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 5th Ave, at 82nd St.
$25 (or pay your fair share)
(212) 535-7710 / metmuseum.org
Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks
“If you haven’t yet checked out the Nighthawks’ new digs, what are you waiting for. “The band (which has just released their second volume of music from HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire”) now actually sounds better, audio-wise, and the menu is a vast improvement over the band’s previous venue—overall, it is a step up, to the second floor, rather than a flight down, to the basement.
Although longtime fans are currently referring to the Nighthawks as “The Iguana Troubadours,” they continue to play with the same amazing combination of skin-tight historical authenticity and sheer, relentless energy, plus a tempo that has always characterized Mr. Giordano’s bands.” (WSJ-Will Friedwald)
Iguana, 240 W. 54th St., (Btw 8th/B’way)
8pm-11pm (3 sets) / $15 cover, $20 food/drink minimum
(212) 765-5454 / iguananyc.com
The Growing Divide between the Sunni and Shia Worlds
How do we read the recent horrors brought on by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the continuing strife pitting Sunni against Shia throughout the Middle East and beyond? Are the sectarian tensions shaking the Islamic world a passing convulsion, or do they constitute the harbinger of a global confrontation, and what are the consequences for the United States of such developments?
To address these momentous questions, New York University’s Center for Dialogues will host three leading scholars on Islamic history and politics.
NYU’s Jurow Hall (Silver Center for Arts and Science, 100 Washington Sq. East [betw. Washington and Waverly Places])
6:30-8:30 p.m.
To RSVP (required) or for further information, please email info@centerfordialogues.org or call 212.998.8693.
Nikki MacCallum: Familiar Things
After receiving a MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs) Award nomination for the sold out run of her one woman show, Matchmaker Matchmaker I’m Willing to Settle!, Nikki MacCallum is thrilled to be making her 54 Below Debut with Familiar Things, a celebration of Kander & Ebb music. MacCallum will be joined on stage and at the piano by Musical Director and Arranger, Mark Hartman, who has played and Associate Conducted multiple Broadway shows including Avenue Q and Sondheim on Sondheim.
With Direction by Kelvin Moon Loh, Familiar Things takes us from familiar childhood memories that one-day become familiar to the unfamiliar challenges of adulthood that one-day become familiar. Throw in a middle school performance of Mr. Cellophane and Sara Lee as an eleven o’clock (snack) number and you have Familiar Things. The piece began development at the Eugene O’Neill Cabaret conference this past summer, under the direction of John McDaniel.
54 Below, 254 W. 54th St. (btw Broadway/8th)
9:30PM / $25 to $55, with a $25 minimum.
646-476-3551 / 54below.com
Meet the Filmmaker: Terry Gilliam, “The Zero Theorem”
Join director Terry Gilliam (Monty Python, Brazil, 12 Monkeys – this guy is good) for a conversation about “The Zero Theorem.” Set in a dystopian future world, the film follows an eccentric computer programmer who’s tasked with finding the reason for human existence. But, when he starts to get close to an answer, his sinister corporate managers try to distract him from the truth.
Apple Store, SoHo, 103 Prince Street
7PM / FREE (limited seats)
(212) 226-3126 / apple.com/retail/soho/
Elsewhere, but absolutely worth the detour:
If you were raised in the old Bronx, before “The Bronx is Burning” era, you know there was no better place to grow up. Got to sit in on this one.
The Bronx of the ’40s and ’50s – Avery Corman
Drawing upon his experience growing up in the Bronx of the ’40s and ’50s, Avery Corman, author of Kramer vs. Kramer, provides a colorful and nostalgic look at disappearing city neighborhood life, as he shares his most recent work, My Old Neighborhood Remembered.
There will be a book signing following this event.
Avery Corman’s books include Oh, God! (the basis for the movie starring George Burns), The Old Neighborhood and more. He has served on the board of New York’s City Parks Foundation since its inception in 1989.
92nd Street Y, Warburg Lounge, 1395 Lexington Ave. at 92nd St.
at 12pm / $27 (maybe sold out – get on the wait list)
212-415-5500 / 92y.org/talks
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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 