Today’s Super7 NYC Events >SUNDAY / AUGUST 07, 2016

“We search the internet everyday looking for the very best of What’s Happening, primarily on Manhattan’s WestSide, so that you don’t have to.” We make it as easy as 1-2-3.
For future NYC Events be sure to check the tab above: “Annual NYC Events / August”

Have time for only one NYC Event today? Do this:

Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival
Flushing Meadows-Corona Park/ 9AM-5PM, FREE
This decorated-boat race and cultural festival returns to Flushing, for its twenty-sixth year. The tradition is said to have been inspired by the ancient poet Qu Yuan, who spent years in exile and then jumped to his death, in the Ni Lo River, after learning that his home state had been invaded. (Fishermen sped onto the river but could not save him.) Today, teams in more than thirty dragon boats race along the Meadow Lake to cap off days full of food, folk art, and crafts as well as a performance by the Chinese Music Ensemble of New York and a showcase of fifty years of photography from the newspaper Sing Tao.” (NewYorker)

Music, Dance, Performing Arts

Tierney Sutton’s “After Blue”. The Joni Mitchell Project
Jazz Standard, 116 E27th St./ 7:30PM, +9:30PM, $35
“Joni Mitchell loves jazz, and jazz musicians seem to love Joni. Here, Sutton revisits “After Blue,” her 2013 musical mash note to this modern-day genius of popular song, transforming ballads like “Woodstock,” “Little Green,” and the not-a-dry-eye-in-the-house anthem “Blue.” (NewYorker)

Carla Cooke
Metropolitan Room, 34 W22nd St./ 7PM, $30 (Sun @4PM)
“The daughter of music legend Sam Cooke sings some of the King of Soul’s greatest hits, along with selections from her own CDs.” (TONY)

The Roy Hargrove Dream Team (also Aug.9)
Blue Note, 131 West Third St./ 8PM +10:30PM, $
“Hargrove has been doing double duty for a while now, spending half his time as a funkster with his slick combo RH Factor and the other half as a soulful neobopper. Expect this run to synthesize these two equally impressive strains. He’s joined by here two giants: drummer Jimmy Cobb who is the sole surviving member of the starry Miles Davis group that waxed the indelible 1959 LP Kind of Blue, and pianist George Cables who was schooled on the bandstand by masters such as Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson and Freddie Hubbard.” (TONY)

Geri Allen Quintet (LAST DAY)
Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, at 11th St./ 8:30PM, +10:30PM, $30
“Geri Allen, long one of the finest postbop pianists of her generation, has become a force in jazz education and a conscientious steward of jazz history. Additionally, she remains a composer, arranger and bandleader of considerable resources. In this group, she will call on the tenor saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, the bassist Kenny Davis and the drummer Victor Lewis — as well as her son, the trumpeter Wallace Roney Jr., a serious up-and-comer now studying at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.” (Chinen-NYT)

Smart Stuff / Other NYC Events
(Lectures, Discussions, Book Talks, Literary Readings, Classes, Food & Drink, Other

U.S. National Drone Racing Championships (LAST DAY)
Governor’s Island, / 10AM-5PM, FREE
“more than 100 drones will zip across the sky, some as fast as 60 miles per hour, at the second annual U.S. National Drone Racing Championships.

To fly them, nearly 150 pilots — selected from more than 1,000 who tried out at qualifiers around the country — wear goggles that allow them to see from the drone’s perspective. The pilots will fly their drones through gates, slalom past flags and show off acrobatic tricks, participating in several individual and team races.

Up for grabs: bragging rights, cash prizes and a chance to compete on Team U.S.A. at the first-ever world championships for drone racing this October in Hawaii.” (NYT-Today)

Rio on the Hudson (Aug 5-11)
Pier 26 – Hudson River Park / 5-11PM, FREE
“This summer, Citi brings the excitement of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games to NYC with a free, week-long celebration. From August 5th – 11th at Pier 26 – Hudson River Park, you’ll find everything you need to support Team USA and experience the Olympic Spirit firsthand. Keep up with the latest action and enjoy authentic Brazilian culture and entertainment throughout the week, including opportunities to see U.S. Olympians and Paralympians.

If you want to get in the game, you can virtually “sprint” against track & field sensation Allyson Felix, honor golf’s return to the Olympics by testing your swing in the golf simulator, and learn all about the Paralympic movement by trying out Paralympic equipment. Plus, with family friendly activities like face painting, live art demonstrations, and samba dancers, there’s something for everyone.”
OR
Head over to Little Brazil — Rua de Brasileiros, on 46th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Like Little Italy, Little Brazil has shrunk and is more little than ever before, but there are still a few fine Brazilian restaurants on this block. Try Via Brasil, Emporium Brasil, and my fave, Ipanema.
OR
Learn to Tango Nights
Stuyvesant Square, 2nd Ave & E16th St./ 6PM, FREE
“It takes two to tango, but you can totally turn up solo at this class. Folks of all ages are welcome to learn this exotic rhythm taught by instructor Esmeralda at Stuyvesant Square Park. After the 45-minute class wraps, you can strut your stuff and practice your new moves until the sun goes down.” TONY

PLUS: EAT & DRINK

NYCity Restaurant Week Summer 2016 (July 25 – Aug 19, 2016)
Enjoy gourmet, 3-course $29 lunch and $42 dinner at 380 participating NYC Restaurant Week restaurants. (Saturdays excluded; Sundays optional. Beverages, gratuities and taxes are not included).

Where to get the best Restaurant Week deals?
See Georgia Kral’s recommendations in AMNY.
OR Zagat’s 8 NYC Restaurant Week Reservations to Make Right Now
OR Thrillist’s advice on the best deals.
OR TimeOutNewYork’s picks of the top Restaurant Week restaurants.
OR CBS Local’s Best Deals in Manhattan.
Reservations are definitely recommended. Mangia!

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Bonus NYC Events – Music Venues:
So much fine live music every night in this town. These are my favorite music venues on Manhattan’s WestSide. Check out who’s playing tonight:

City Winery – 155 Varick St., citywinery.com, 212-608-0555
Feinstein’s/54 Below – 254 W54th St., 54below.com, 646-476-3551
Joe’s Pub @ Public Theater – 425 Lafayette St., joespub.com, 212-967-7555
Metropolitan Room – 34W22ndSt., metropolitan room.com, 212-206-0440
Beacon Theatre – 2124 Broadway @ 74th St., beacontheatre.com, 212-465-6500
B.B. King’s Blues Bar – 237W42nd St., bbkingblues.com, 212-997-2144
Le Poisson Rouge – 158 Bleecker St., lepoissonrouge.com, 212-505-3474

Special Mention:
Caffe Vivaldi – 32 Jones St. nr Bleecker St. caffevivaldi.com, 212-691-7538
a classic, old jazz club in the Village, Caffe V often surprises with a wonderfully eclectic lineup. It’s my favorite spot for an evening of listening enjoyment and discovery.

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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  8.5 million, had a record 58 million visitors last year and was TripAdvisor’s Traveler’s Choice Top U.S. Destination for 2016.  Quality shows draw crowds.
Try to reserve seats for these top NYC events in advance, even if just on day of performance.
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WHAT’S ON VIEW
These are My Fave Special Exhibitions @ MUSEUMS / Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue
(See the New York Times Arts Section for listings of all museum exhibitions,
and also see the expanded reviews of these exhibitions)

 Solomon R Guggenheim Museum:
“Moholy-Nagy: Future Present,”  (through Sept. 7)
“A key innovator in the fields of kinetic sculpture and cameraless photography, Moholy-Nagy (1895–1946) was one of the giants of 20th-century modernism, who pioneered the use of ephemeral materials like plastics. The Hungarian-born artist was an instructor at the legendary Bauhaus in Germany before he eventually moved to Chicago to continue his teaching. This retrospective is his first in 50 years.” (TONY)

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum:
‘Beauty — Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial’ (through Aug. 21)
“This year’s version of the Cooper Hewitt’s always interesting Design Triennial boldly ventures to tackle one of the most controversial topics in today’s visual culture. With more than 250 works by 63 designers from around the world in a jam-packed two-floor show, it’s a mixed bag in terms of quality. But whether or not everything in it qualifies as incontrovertibly beautiful, it offers an exciting opportunity to meditate on two perennially confounding questions: What is beauty? And what is it good for? 2 East 91st Street, 212-849-8400, cooperhewitt.org.” (Ken Johnson-NYT)

Morgan Library & Museum:
‘Dreams in Dust: The Pastels of Lucas Samaras’ (through Aug. 21)
“In the late 1950s, when ambitious painters were obliged to produce big, bold abstractions, Lucas Samaras took up the fragile, intimate medium of pastel. He went on to forge a singular, nearly 60-year career of eccentric invention in painting, sculpture and photography, but he periodically returned to pastel to create small, vibrantly colorful and poetically captivating images. Of the hundreds of pastels Mr. Samaras has made, 48 are in this intensely absorbing exhibition. Dating from 1958-83, they range from offbeat abstractions to hallucinogenic allegories. 225 Madison Avenue, at 36th Street, 212-685-0008, themorgan.org.” (Johnson-NYT)

‘Rembrandt’s First Masterpiece’ (through Sept. 18)
“In 1629, after some years of apprenticeship, the young Rembrandt finished what many experts consider his first painting in his resolved and distinctive style. Titled “Judas Returning the Thirty Pieces of Silver,” it is certainly powerful in ways that his great work will be, with its operatic, Verdian largeness of gesture, its sense for light as both specific and cosmic, and its piercing, unembarrassable instinct for human emotion. Now in a British private collection, the picture is visiting New York for the first time, and has been surrounded at the Morgan Library with a wealth of the artist’s prints and drawings. 225 Madison Avenue, at 36th Street, 212-685-0008, themorgan.org.” (Cotter-NYT)

Jewish Museum:
‘Roberto Burle Marx: Brazilian Modernist’ (through Sept. 18)
“Working primarily in South America, Roberto Burle Marx, the great Brazilian landscape architect, designed some of the modern world’s most distinctive parks and gardens, from an immense, jazzy tattoo of a promenade on the beachfront of Rio de Janeiro to rooftop plantings in Brasilia, a city carved from jungle. In the process, he became invested, heart and mind, in preserving the Amazonian paradise that surrounded him, fought to halt its devastation and turned his home near Rio into a sanctuary for one of the largest collections of tropical plants anywhere. To appreciate his art fully, you have to go to the gardens themselves, but a visit to the compact Jewish Museum show gives you a full sense of his protean work as designer, painter, sculptor and collector. 1109 Fifth Avenue, at 92nd Street, 212-423-3200, thejewishmuseum.org.” (Cotter-NYT)

and you should be sure to check out the special exhibitions at that little museum on Fifth Ave., The Metropolitan Museum of Art
(open 7 days /week, AND always Pay What You Wish)

at the very least you will want to see this one:
‘Turner’s Whaling Pictures’ at the Met (LAST DAY)
“Among the most revered works by the great British painter Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) are those representing the world dissolved by light, steam, fog, smoke, rain, wind and snow. One of his favorite settings for his evocations of elemental chaos was the ocean, where nature regularly overwhelms human challenges to its dominion. In this vein, late in his career, he made the dangerous business of whaling the subject of four stirringly atmospheric and poetically thrilling paintings. They’ve never been shown together until now, in this small, beautiful exhibition that no Turner fan should miss.” (Ken Johnson-NYT)

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Museum Mile is a section of Fifth Avenue which contains one of the densest displays of culture in the world. Eight museums can be found along this section of Fifth Avenue:
• 105th Street – El Museo del Barrio (closed Sun-Mon)*
• 103rd Street – Museum of the City of New York (open 7 days /week)
•  92nd Street – The Jewish Museum (closed Wed) (Sat FREE) (Thu 5-8 PWYW)
•  91st Street  –  Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum (open 7 days /week)
•  89th Street –  National Academy Museum (closed Mon-Tue)
•  88th Street –  Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (closed Thu) (Sat 6-8 PWYW)
•  86th Street –  Neue Galerie New York (closed Tue-Wed) (Fri 6-8 FREE)
Last, but certainly not least, America’s premier museum
•  82nd Street – The Metropolitan Museum of Art (open 7 days /week)*
*always Pay What You Wish (PWYW)

Although technically not part of the Museum Mile, the Frick Collection (closed Mon) (SUN 11am-1pm PWYW) on the corner of 70th St. and Fifth Avenue and the The Morgan Library & Museum (closed Mon) (Fri 7-9 FREE) on Madison Ave and 37th St are also located near Fifth Ave.
Now plan your own museum crawl (info on hours & admission updated June 2, 2015).
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For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in right Sidebar dated 08/05 and 08/03.
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This week’s fave and FREE NYCity AppS: 
Trip Advisor
An enormous base of NYCity user reviews (2.1 million) provides the widest coverage of hotels (468), restaurants (12,645) and things to do (yes, 3,246). Have a specific question? Then try one of Trip Advisor’s forums. Just remember that with all those reviews you have to try to find the consistency among the comments, and ignore the outliers.

OpenTable
Instantly locate restaurants near you with open reservations and then place a reservation right from your iOS device. A great interface and the ability to see a menu from the restaurant you’re interested in makes this my go to restaurant reservation app.

Subway Time 
Need to catch your #1,2,3 subway to attend an event? Use the Subway Time app from the MTA to find out when the next train arrives at your station. The MTA also has Bus Time info available on their mobile website.
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