Today’s “Fab 5″+1/ Selected NYCity Events – WEDNESDAY, APR. 01, 2015
“We search the internet everyday looking for the very best of What’s Happening on Manhattan’s WestSide, so that you don’t have to. We make it as easy as 1-2-3.”

La Maison du Chocolat Tasting Afternoon  —  Food & Drink     (2-6pm)     [FREE]

‘Selected Shorts: April Foolery!’  —  SmartStuff/ Readings    (7:30pm)   

Fred Hersch Jazz Pianist with Trio   —  Jazz   (2-4:30pm)    [FREE]

April Fool’s Day Comedy Show  —  Comedy    (8pm)    

T.C. Boyle     —   SmartStuff/ Book Talk   (12pm)      [FREE]

A Taste of Fifth   —   Food & Drink     (6:30-9:30pm)

For other useful and curated NYCity event info for Manhattan’s WestSide:

♦ “9 Notable Events-Mar.”, and “Top10 Free” in the header above.
♦ For NYCity trip planning see links in “Resources” and “Smart Stuff” in the header above.
♦ For NYCity Sights, Sounds and Stories visit out our sister site: nyc123blog.wordpress.com
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La Maison du Chocolat Tasting Afternoon
Get in the mood for Easter. The five Manhattan La Maison du Chocolat boutiques in Manhattan are offering a free tasting of select chocolates and pastries. In addition, they will be having a raffle for a chocolate gift valued at $60. You don’t want to miss this!
Various locations in Manhattan
02:00 P.M. – 06:00 P.M./ FREE
Boutique Locations:
30 Rockefeller Center (at 49th St)
63 Wall St
The Plaza Food Hall: One West 58th St
The Shops at Columbus Circle: 10 Columbus Circle
1018 Madison Ave (at 78th St)

‘Selected Shorts: April Foolery!’
“Matthew Love hosts a live recording of “Selected Shorts,” the radio program from WNYC and Public Radio International. The show brings together voices from film, theater and comedy to read short fiction both classic and contemporary. This time around the guests include Sigourney Weaver, Colin Quinn and Jon Glaser.” (NYT)
At 7:30 p.m. / $29
Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway, at 95th St.
212-864-5400, symphonyspace.org.

Fred Hersch Jazz Pianist with Trio; Concert and Master Class
Acclaimed Jazz Pianist Fred Hersch to appear with Trio at CCNY

Jazz Pianist/Composer Fred Hersch and his trio with John Hebert (bass) and Eric McPherson (drums) will perform at 2:00 PM,
and then conduct a master class from 3:00 – 4:30 PM.

Fred Hersch has been described by the NY Times as “…a pianist, composer and conceptualist of rare imaginative power,” and by Vanity Fair as “…the most arrestingly innovative pianist over the last decade or so.” The Fred Hersch Trio, whose most recent recording “Floating” was nominated for 2 Grammy Awards, has been described by the Wall Street Journal as “One of the major ensembles of our times.”

Fred has given a master class at City College every semester since 2003. His master class has become an important part of the semester and vital in the development of the hundreds of students who have participated and observed.This is a rare opportunity to hear one of the great ensembles in jazz and watch a master teacher work with our gifted jazz majors.
City College, Shepard Hall, Room 95.
2:00 PM – 4:30 PM. / FREE

April Fool’s Day Comedy Show
Watch how the professionals do April Fools Day, hosted by Corey Halcomb, stand-up artist and self-proclaimed “ghetto Dr. Phil.”
“Hot 97 FM and Carolines on Broadway teamed up to gather all-star comedians including Sinbad, Lavell Crawford, Damon Waynes Jr., Deon Cole, Donnell Rawlings and more to guarantee this April Fool’s Day is full of laughs.” (TONY)
Theater at Madison Square Garden, 4 Pennsylvania Plaza, 32nd St. at 8th Ave
8pm./ $36.75-$125

T.C. Boyle
“The New York Public Library’s Books at Noon series continues with Mr. Boyle, who will read from his new work, “The Harder They Come.” The novelist and short story writer is a winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award, and this latest work is his 25th book.’ (NYT)
New York Public Library, Main Building (with the Lions), 5th Avenue, 42nd St.
Books at Noon events are standing room only and take place under the center arch in historic Astor Hall. An audience Q&A and book-signing will follow each half-hour program. / FREE
917-275-6975, nypl.org/locations/schwarzman

Elsewhere, but your tummy will thank you for the detour:
A Taste of Fifth
Forty of Park Slope’s best bars and restaurants will once again set up shop tomorrow at Grand Prospect Hall for A Taste of Fifth, which benefits 15 neighborhood charities. Participating restaurants include Stone Park Café, Taco Santo, Luke’s Lobster, Bricolage, Grand Central Oyster Bar Brooklyn, Beygl, Jakes’s Handcrafted, Bogota Latin Bistro, Freddy’s Bar, M & S Prime Meats and The Chocolate Room. Wine and beer are included.
Grand Prospect Hall, 263 Prospect Ave., (btw 4th/5th Ave), Brooklyn
subway: R train to Prospect Ave.
6:30-9:30 p.m. / $55, $20 of which goes to a charity of the purchaser’s choice

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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, with a population of  8.4 million, had a record 56 million visitors last year and was TripAdvisor’s Traveler’s Choice Top U.S. Destination for 2015.  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
My Fave Special Exhibitions – MUSEUMS / Manhattan’s WestSide
(See the New York Times Arts Section for listings of all museums,
and also to see the expanded reviews of these exhibitions)

Museum of Modern Art:
‘Jean Dubuffet: Soul of the Underground’ (through April 5) “Look at what lies at your feet!” Jean Dubuffet wrote in a 1957 essay. “A crack in the ground, sparkling gravel, a tuft of grass, some crushed debris, offer equally worthy subjects for your applause and admiration.” In MoMA’s stimulating show, drawn entirely from its collection, we can see how Dubuffet’s earthbound gaze nourished his reinvention of the painted surface. On view are several canvases smeared with a mixture of oil, putty, sand and gravel, some of them with incised drawings that seem to equate painting with plowing. 212-708-9400, moma.org. (Rosenberg)

‘The Forever Now: Contemporary Painting in an Atemporal World’(through April 5) Despite being predictable and market-oriented in its choice of 17 artists, this museum’s first painting survey in decades is well worth seeing. About half the artists are exceptional and the rest are represented by their best work. Based on the premise that all historical painting styles are equally available today, the exhibition has been smartly installed to juxtapose different approaches: figurative and abstract, digital and handmade, spare and opulent. 212-708-9400, moma.org. (Smith)

‘Modern Photographs from the Thomas Walther Collection, 1909-1949’ (through April 19) Overflowing with prints by Berenice Abbott, Andre Kertesz, Edward Weston and other luminaries from the first half of the 20th century, this exhibition would seem to be a straightforward look at photography’s past. But the show, packaged with a book, a symposium and an engrossing interactive website, is really a bold attempt to visualize the future of photography inside the museum as it reckons with the unwieldy, image-saturated culture outside the galleries. With works by Aleksandr Rodchenko, Ms. Abbott, Alvin Langdon Coburn and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy that explore cities from unusual angles or abstract their infrastructure, the show’s largest section, “Dynamics of the City,” best encapsulates the Walther Collection’s distinctly urban, peripatetic take on Modernism. 212-708-9400, moma.org. (Rosenberg)

Museum of Biblical Art:
‘Sculpture in the Age of Donatello: Renaissance Masterpieces From Florence Cathedral’ (through June 14) This terrific 23-piece show features three major works by the early Renaissance sculptor Donatello (1386-1466), including the life-size statue of a bald prophet known as “lo Zuccone” or “Pumpkin Head,” which is widely considered the sculptor’s greatest work. Along with a half-dozen other works by or attributed to Donatello are sculptures by Nanni di Banco (circa 1386-1421), Donatello’s main competitor, including his monumental representation in marble of St. Luke. With the addition of a series of octagonal marble reliefs by Luca della Robbia and wooden models of the Florence Cathedral’s enormous dome attributed to its designer, Filippo Brunelleschi, the exhibition amounts to a tightly cropped snapshot of the birth of the Renaissance. 1865 Broadway, at 61st Street, 212-408-1500, mobia.org. (Johnson)

New-York Historical Society:
‘Freedom Journey 1965: Photographs of the Selma to Montgomery March by Stephen Somerstein’ (through April 19) Almost 50 years ago, the picture editor of a campus newspaper at City College of New York assigned himself a breaking story: coverage of what promised to be a massive march in Alabama, led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., to demand free-and-clear voting rights for African-Americans. On short notice the editor, Stephen Somerstein, grabbed his cameras, climbed on a bus, and headed south. The 55 pictures of black leaders and everyday people in this show, installed in a hallway and small gallery, are some that he shot that day. The image of Dr. King’s head seen in monumental silhouette that has become a virtual logo of the film “Selma” is based on a Somerstein original. 170 Central Park West, at 77th Street, 212-873-3400, nyhistory.org. (Cotter)

Rubin Museum of Art:
‘The All-Knowing Buddha: A Secret Guide’ (through April 13) This show presents 54 paintings that illustrate step-by-step instructions for followers of Tibetan Buddhism. Delicately painted on 10-by-10-inch paper sheets, most of the pages depict a monk having fabulous visions in a verdant landscape. Thought to have been commissioned by a Mongolian patron and executed by unidentified artists in a Chinese workshop sometime in the 18th century, it is a fascinating and remarkably thorough manual for seekers of higher consciousness. 150 West 17th Street, Chelsea, 212-620-5000,rubinmuseum.org. (Johnson)

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For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in right Sidebar dated 03/30 and 03/28.