Today’s Sweet 6 NYC Events > WEDNESDAY/ JUNE 05, 2019

“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, check the tab above:  “June NYC Events”
It’s the most comprehensive list of top events this month that you will find anywhere.
Carefully curated from “Only the Best” NYC event info on the the web, it’s a simply superb resource that will help you plan your NYC visit all over town, all through the month.
OR to make your own after dinner plans TONIGHT, see the tab above;  “LiveMusic.”

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

Ravi Coltrane (June 4-8)
Birdland, 315 W. 44th St./ 8:30PM, + 11PM; $
“It took time and persistence, but Ravi Coltrane has thrown off the yoke of his familial legacy—he’s the son of John and Alice Coltrane—and emerged as an imaginative saxophonist, composer, and bandleader in his own right. Coltrane hasn’t released a new solo recording in a few years, but his impressive showing on the stirring 2016 release “In Movement,” with Jack DeJohnette and Matthew Garrison, still registers seismic activity. His own quartet features the venturing pianist David Virelles.” (Steve Futterman, NewYorker)

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5 OTHER TOP NYC EVENTS TODAY (see below for full listing)
>> JOEL ROSS’S GOOD VIBES
>> Kenny Werner Trio
>> American Ballet Theatre
>> SciCafe: A Bright Future for Our Oceans
>> Sacred Liberty: America’s Long, Bloody, and Ongoing Struggle for Religious Freedom

You may want to look at previous days posts for events that continue through today.

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Music, Dance, Performing Art

JOEL ROSS’S GOOD VIBES
at Jazz Standard / 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.; $30
“Even before releasing a standout debut album earlier this month, Ross was already the most-chatted-about young musician in New York. Possessed of a bracingly forthright attack and a broad historic awareness, this 23-year-old vibraphonist can pull together elements of 1960s post-bop, 1990s neoconservatism and nouveau hip-hop fusion without forcing the issue. At Jazz Standard he will perform music from the new album, “Kingmaker,” with Immanuel Wilkins on alto saxophone, Jeremy Corren on piano, Kanoa Mendenhall on bass and Jeremy Dutton on drums.” (GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO-NYT)

Kenny Werner Trio
Dizzy’s Club, Jazz at Lincoln Center / 9:30PM, $35+
“Kenny Werner is a world-class pianist and composer whose prolific output of compositions, recordings, and educational publications impact as many artists as they do audiences. Werner’s compositional style makes most pieces more of a meditative journey than a concise tune, and the group members excel at creating varied, extended solos around the twists and turns of each song. Werner’s book and method, Effortless Mastery, is considered a definitive teaching tool for improvisers to “liberate” their musicality and avoid falling back on familiar ideas, and this long-running trio puts these ideals into practice.”

American Ballet Theatre (through July 6)
Metropolitan Opera House / 2PM, + 7:30PM, $22+
“Plan accordingly: The final performances of Twyla Tharp’s stellar triple bill consisting of the gems “Deuce Coupe,” “The Brahms-Haydn Variations” and “In the Upper Room” take place Friday, Saturday and Monday. Ballet Theater shifts its mood starting on Tuesday with the company premiere of Cathy Marston’s “Jane Eyre,” based on the Charlotte Brontë novel and featuring Devon Teuscher and James Whiteside as the leads on opening night. Marston, who choreographed the work for Northern Ballet in 2016, prides herself on bringing new perspectives to old narratives. As for the other principals who will take a stab at Jane? Isabella Boylston and Misty Copeland. The ballet continues through June 10.” (Gia Kourlas-NYT)
Tonight: Jane Eyre
Choreography: Cathy Marston

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Smart Stuff / Other NYC EventS

AMNH Presents |
SciCafe: A Bright Future for Our Oceans
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th St. / 7PM, FREE with RSVP
“Take a break from the ominous reports on the state of our planet with marine ecologist Jeremy Jackson. The former “Dr. Doom” comes to SciCafe at the American Museum of Natural History to explain the effective scientific solutions that could counterbalance the perils facing our seas.” (ThoughtGallery)
Enter at 81st Street entrance

Sacred Liberty: America’s Long, Bloody, and Ongoing Struggle for Religious Freedom with Steve Waldman
New York Society for Ethical Culture, 2 W. 64th St./ 7PM, $5
“Best-selling author Steven Waldman looks back at the “brutal persecution of Catholics, Baptists, Mormons, Quakers, African slaves, Native Americans, Muslims, Jews and Jehovah’s Witnesses” along the way to the formation of our distinctive form of religious liberty.”

Continuing Events

“Masters of the Fantastic” (thru June 8)
Society of Illustrators, 128 E63rd St. / 10AM-5PM, $15
“The Society of Illustrators celebrates the original artwork that of our most celebrated fictional worlds. Trip out as you look back on book covers, movie posters, fable illustrations, and concept designs that have expanded the possibilities of fantasy and sci-fi storytelling.” (TONY)
Subway: F to Lexington Ave–63rd St; N, Q, R to Lexington Ave–59th St; 4, 5, 6 to 59th St

OutdoorFest 2019 (thru June 9)
Various locations and prices
“OutdoorFest, a ten-day lineup of activities, classes and volunteering opportunities, aims to get New York apartment dwellers to engage with the natural environment around the five boroughs and beyond. Look up the full schedule and save your spot for canoeing, camping, bouldering, stand-up paddleboarding, hiking, running, surfing and more.” (TONY)

Underground Railroad Game
A comedy, actually.
“Created by Jennifer Kidwell and Scott R. Sheppard with the Philly-based company Lightning Rod Special, the incendiary Underground Railroad Game returns to New York for 18 performances. Welcome to Hanover Middle School, where a pair of teachers tackle American history, race, sex, and power in a ferocious, sensational, very R-rated lesson.” (S.H.- NY Magazine)
Ars Nova at Greenwich House, 27 Barrow Street, May 30 to June 15.

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COMING SOON (WFUV)

6/5 Band of Skulls, Mercury Lounge
6/5 Mountain Man, National Sawdust

♦ Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, plus dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.
♦ NYCity, with a population of  8.6 million, had a record 65 million visitors last year and was TripAdvisor’s Traveler’s Choice Top U.S. Destination for 2018 – awesome! BUT quality shows draw crowds. Try to reserve seats for these top NYC events in advance, even if just earlier on the 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)

‘SCENES FROM THE COLLECTION’

“After a surgical renovation to its grand pile on Fifth Avenue, the Jewish Museum has reopened its third-floor galleries with a rethought and refreshed display of its permanent collection, which intermingles modern and contemporary art, by Jews and gentiles alike — Mark Rothko, Lee Krasner, Nan Goldin, Cindy Sherman, and the excellent young Nigerian draftswoman Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze — with 4,000 years of Judaica. The works are shown in a nimble, non-chronological suite of galleries, and some of its century-spanning juxtapositions are bracing; others feel reductive, even dilletantish. But always, the Jewish Museum conceives of art and religion as interlocking elements of a story of civilization, commendably open to new influences and new interpretations.” (Farago) 212-423-3200, thejewishmuseum.org

Museum of the City of New York

NY AT ITS CORE (ongoing)
“Ten years in the making, New York at Its Core tells the compelling story of New York’s rise from a striving Dutch village to today’s “Capital of the World.” The exhibition captures the human energy that drove New York to become a city like no other and a subject of fascination the world over. Entertaining, inspiring, important, and at times bemusing, New York City “big personalities,” including Alexander Hamilton, Walt Whitman, Boss Tweed, Emma Goldman, JP Morgan, Fiorello La Guardia, Jane Jacobs, Jay-Z, and dozens more, parade through the exhibition. Visitors will also learn the stories of lesser-known New York personalities, like Lenape chieftain Penhawitz and Italian immigrant Susie Rocco. Even animals like the horse, the pig, the beaver, and the oyster, which played pivotal roles in the economy and daily life of New York, get their moment in the historical spotlight. Occupying the entire first floor in three interactive galleries (Port City, 1609-1898, World City, 1898-2012, and Future City Lab) New York at Its Core is shaped by four themes: money, density, diversity, and creativity. Together, they provide a lens for examining the character of the city, and underlie the modern global metropolis we know today. mcny.org” (NYCity Guide)

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

“The Tale of Genji” (Through June 16)

“To detail the rich history of a Japanese literary epic, this stunning exhibition assembles artifacts and art works spanning nearly a millennium. Written in the early eleventh century by the noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu, the fifty-four-chapter tale—a mix of entertainment, social commentary, and Buddhist philosophy—recounts the misadventures of an emperor’s son, who, excluded from the line of succession, seeks restitution through romantic liaisons. Colorful episodes describe the opulence of the Heian period and introduce iconic female characters. The fascinating objects on view include paired calligraphic texts and paintings drawn from the oldest-known complete “Genji” album, from 1510; an ornate, portable lacquered-wood cabinet, from the Edo period, made to house the tale’s many volumes; and a wedding palanquin (or covered litter), from the same era, whose exquisitely painted interior features motifs from the story. The visual literary tradition instigated by Murasaki’s classic was not just for the élite: modern translations, as well as books and popular prints, disseminated it to a wide audience. The show concludes with original drawings by the contemporary manga artist Yamato Waki, from his updated adaptation “Asaki Yume Mishi” (thirteen years in the making)—a testament to the saga’s enduring legacy.” (Johanna Fateman, NewYorker)

‘THE WORLD BETWEEN EMPIRES: ART AND IDENTITY IN THE ANCIENT MIDDLE EAST’ (through June 23).

“The Met excels at epic-scale archaeological exhibitions, and this is a prime example. It brings together work made between 100 B.C. and A.D. 250 in what we now know as Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. In the ancient world, all were in the sphere of two competing superpowers — Rome to the west and Parthia to the east — and though imperial influence was strong, it was far from all-determining. Each of the subject territories selectively grafted it onto local traditions to create distinctive new grass-roots cultural blends. Equally important, the show addresses the fate of art from the past in a politically fraught present.” (NYT-Cotter)

“In Praise of Painting” (thru Oct.4, 2020)

“How great are the Met’s holdings in the Dutch golden age? Very. This long-term installation rings the lower level of the Lehman Wing with scores of lesser-known gems from the mid-seventeenth century, many of them rarely on view before, amid masterworks by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals, and Ruisdael. The period, vivified here, began in 1648, when the end of the Eighty Years’ War with Spain brought a boom in wealth and morale, expressed by genre paintings that exalt the national ideal of gezelligheid—social warmth, comfort, belonging. A key figure was Gerard ter Borch, who had travelled widely and worked at the court of Philip IV, in company with Velázquez. Ter Borch’s lustrous, ineffably witty domestic scenes inspired a generation of masters, notably Vermeer, whose genius rather eclipsed his elder’s. The pictures often star ter Borch’s younger sister Gesina, preening in satins or enigmatically musing. Herself a painter, she is cutely funny-looking—pointy nose, weak chin—and desperately lovable. There’s much to be said for a world with such a family in it.” (Peter Schjeldahl, NewYorker)

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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) for NewYorkers

Although technically not part of the Museum Mile, the Frick Collection (closed Mon) (Wed 2-6pm PWYW; First Friday each month (exc Jan+Sep) 6-9pm FREE) 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 05/28 and 05/26.
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Bonus Live Music  – NYC Jazz Clubs:
Many consider NYCity the Jazz capital of the world. My favorite Jazz Clubs, all on Manhattan’s WestSide, feature top talent every night of the week.
Hit the Hot Link and check out who is playing tonight:

Greenwich Village:
(4 are underground, classic jazz joints. all 6 are within walking distance of each other):
Village Vanguard – UG, 178 7th Ave. So., villagevanguard.com, 212-255-4037 (1st 8:30)
Blue Note – 131 W3rd St. nr 6th ave. bluenotejazz.com, 212-475-8592 (1st set 8pm)
55 Bar – basement @55 Christopher St. nr 7th ave.S. 55bar.com, 212-929-9883 (1st 7pm)
Mezzrow – basement @ 163 W10th St. nr 7th Ave. mezzrow.com,646-476-4346 (1st 8)
Smalls – basement @ 183 W10th St. smallslive.com, 646-476-4346 (1st set 7:30pm)
The Stone at The New School – 55 w13 St. (btw 6/5 ave) – thestonenyc.com (8:30PM)

Outside Greenwich Village:
Dizzy’s Club – Broadway @ 60th St. — jazz.org/dizzys / 212-258-9595 (1st set 7:30pm)
Birdland – 315 W44th St.(btw 8/9ave) — birdlandjazz.com / 212-581-3080 (1st 8:30pm)
Smoke Jazz Club – 2751 Broadway nr.106th St. — smokejazz.com/ 212-864-6662 (7pm)
Jazz Standard – 116 E27 St. (btw Park/Lex) – jazzstandard.com – (1st set 7:30)

For a comprehensive list of the best places to hear All Types of Live Music in Manhattan see the tab above “LiveMusic.”

In Memoriam:
Caffe Vivaldi – 32 Jones St. nr Bleecker St. — caffevivaldi.com / 212-691-7538 (1st 7pm)
a classic, old jazz club in the Village, Caffe V often surprised with a wonderfully eclectic lineup. It was my favorite spot for an evening of listening enjoyment and discovery.
Alas, Caffe V is no more, another victim of a rapacious NYC landlord. Owner Ishrat fought the good fight and Caffe V will be sorely missed.
Cornelia Street Cafe – UG, 29 Cornelia St. corneliastreetcafe.com, 212-989-9319
And more recently we have lost Cornelia Street Cafe. After 41 years, it too became another victim of an unreasonable rent increase.