Today’s Nifty 9 NYC Events > THURSDAY/ JUNE 13, 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:

City Winery 10th Anniversary: Remembering Mose Allison
City Winery / 8PM, $32
“As City Winery New York embarks on its 10th year anniversary we will be celebrating the legacy of 10 artists who have played our room and are no longer with us.

Join us for a special evening of the music of Mose Allison led by JC Hopkins as musical director and very special guests (including Madeleine Peyroux and Loudon Wainwright) who will be announced shortly. $2 per tickets plus all net proceeds from the special comparative wine for the evening will go to Sweet Relief.”

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8 OTHER TOP NYC EVENTS TODAY (see below for full listing)
>> Marissa Mulder: I’ll Follow The Sun
>> France Rocks Festival: Malik Djoudi and Halo Maud
>> CHEICK HAMALA DIABATE
>> Craig Finn, Laura Stevenson
>> CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE BIG BAND
>> Alvin Ailey
>> Stacey Kent
>> Pilobolus

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

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Music, Dance, Performing Art

Marissa Mulder: I’ll Follow The Sun
Feinstein’s/54 Below / 9:30PM, $
“As comfortable singing Tom Waits as she is singing Noël Coward, the winsomely natural yet richly emotional Mulder is one of the cabaret world’s breakout successes of the past decade. Her latest set, featuring Jon Weber at the piano, focuses on songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.” (TONY)

France Rocks Festival: Malik Djoudi and Halo Maud
Atrium, Lincoln Center / 7:30 pm, FREE
“The France Rocks Festival returns with an atmospheric electro-pop double-bill featuring the melodically brilliant Malik Djoudi and the hypnotic, ethereal sounds of singer/musician Halo Maud.

“France Rocks presents this free show and we’re partial to opener Halo Maud — aka Maud Nadal who was in Parisian band Melody’s Echo Chamber and Moodoid before going out on her own. Her 2018 debut album mixes breathy French pop with psych and krautrock, and her voice at times may have you thinking of Bjork.” (brooklynvegan)

Not exactly Manhattan’s WestSide, but this looks worth the detour:

CHEICK HAMALA DIABATE
at Nublu 151 /  8 p.m.; $15
In Diabate’s hands, the ngoni — a small West African instrument, between a lute and a guitar — becomes a precision blade. He plays in lickety-split, skittering bursts, but his stroke is tough and strong; it has joyful energy and a spirit of stern, right-minded guidance. Which makes sense, given that Diabate is a griot in the African tradition, responsible for communicating messages of historical awareness and wisdom. He moved to Washington from Mali years ago, but he continues to serve the griot’s role in his adopted home, where he plays weekly and has become one of the city’s most beloved performers. Here he makes a rare New York appearance, joined by a small ensemble.” (NYT-GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO)

Craig Finn, Laura Stevenson
@ Joe’s Pub / 7PM, $45
“The Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn just released his very good new solo album I Need A War, which is a prettier-sounding album than usual for Craig and features a big backing band including backup singers, a horn section, and more. He’s supporting it tonight at Joe’s Pub, which is a cool place to see him, and opening is Laura Stevenson, who released her own very good new album this year, The Big Freeze.” (brooklynvegan)

CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE BIG BAND (June 11-16)
at Dizzy’s Club / 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.; $40
“Rather than harking back to the classic swing era or the progressive large-ensemble composers of the late 20th century, this 17-piece group picks up on a lesser-touted aspect of the jazz tradition: the bebop big bands led by Jimmy Heath and Dizzy Gillespie in the 1940s and ’50s. A lot of activity often happens at once in McBride’s ensemble: spitfire soloing from the saxophones and brass; calisthenic bowed-bass workouts from the bandleader; sprightly, charging momentum from the rhythm section. But McBride makes sure everything coheres, thanks to hip-huggingly tight swing rhythms and generous coats of grease on the harmonies.” (NYT-GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO)

Alvin Ailey (June 12-16)
NYS Theater, LIncoln Center / 7:30PM, $29+
“Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre’s short summer season at Lincoln Center introduces five new dancers and one new dance. “Ounce of Faith,” the first effort for the troupe by Darrell Grand Moultrie, an adept choreographer with iffy taste, is about a teacher and a child. It could be mawkish, but two must-see works from last season avoid that trap, in nearly opposite ways. Ronald K. Brown’s “The Call” is a formal gem, quietly spiritual; Rennie Harris’s “Lazarus” is dense and demanding, at once nightmarish and uplifting. The season also features a highlight-reel program of the founder’s choreography and a celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Ailey School.” (Brian Seibert, NewYorker)

Stacey Kent (June 11-15)
Birdland, 315 W. 44th St./ 8:30PM, $40-$50
“The vocalist Stacey Kent, wearing her taste and her smarts on her sleeve, blends American Songbook standards, Brazilian classics, and French chansons with original compositions by the saxophonist Jim Tomlinson and such collaborators as the author Kazuo Ishiguro. Here, Kent leaves behind the orchestra that accompanied her on her latest album, “I Know I Dream”—luckily, she can also weave magic at the helm of a more compact ensemble.” (Steve Futterman, NewYorker)

Pilobolus (June 13-14, 8 p.m.; through June 29)
Joyce Theatre, 175 Eighth Ave. / 7:30PM, $55+
“For a long time, summer at the Joyce was synonymous with a monthlong encampment by this popular troupe of acrobat-illusionists. But five years have passed since the company’s last visit. How has the group evolved in the meantime? Its two comeback programs don’t offer many chances to find out; the most recent item is “Branches,” an ebb-and-flow nature study, from 2017. The most reliable selections, in any case, come from the better, stranger early period: “Day 2” (1980), with its primordial creatures and Slip ‘N Slide coda; “Walklyndon” (1971), with its silly stage crossings; and, best of all, “Untitled” (1972), a Victorian picnic for giantesses.” (Brian Seibert, NewYorker)

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Smart Stuff / Other NYC EventS

More Smart Stuff coming soon.

Continuing Events

NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC IN THE PARKS (June 11-14, 8 p.m.).
“The Philharmonic’s music director, Jaap van Zweden, conducts his first concerts in the parks, now in their 54th year. Whether at Van Cortlandt Park (Tuesday), Central Park (Wednesday), Cunningham Park (June 13) or Prospect Park (June 14), the music is the same: Rossini’s overture to “La Gazza Ladra,” the Hoe-Down from Copland’s “Rodeo,” Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 and, continuing an initiative started last year, two works from very young composers: Nilomi Weerakkody and Mack Scocca-Ho. Staten Island, alas, will have to make do with a free indoor concert at the St. George Theater (June 16, 4 p.m.).” (David Allen – NYT)
212-875-5656, nyphil.org

Underground Railroad Game (thru June 15)
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.

‘MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING’
at the Delacorte Theater (in previews; opens on June 11, thru June 23).
“Sigh no more, Shakespeare fans. Shakespeare in the Park — its tickets distributed free by line and lottery — returns with this sparkling comedy of sparring lovers. In postwar Messina, Beatrice (Danielle Brooks) and Benedick (Grantham Coleman) are a couple who despise each other. Until they don’t. Kenny Leon directs. ” (NYT-Alexis Soloski)
212-967-7555, publictheater.org
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COMING SOON (WFUV)

6/13 The National w/ Courtney Barnett, BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival
6/14 Robert Cray, Marc Cohn & Blind Boys of Alabama, St. George Theatre
6/14 Real Estate, Webster Hall
6/15 Death Cab For Cutie w/ Jenny Lewis, Forest Hills Stadium
6/17 Keb’ Mo’, Sony Hall
6/18 & 19 Seawolf, National Sawdust
6/19 Father John Misty with Jason Isbell, BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival
6/19 The Lumineers, Pioneer Works

♦ 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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Chelsea Art Gallery District*

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.

Josh Smith: Emo Jungle (through June 15)
A lush palette.
“Few painters could fill all three of David Zwirner’s giant white-cube spaces so convincingly. Josh Smith repeats a number of motifs: the Grim Reaper, a turtle-bird form, a four-legged human-spider creature. His electric color makes every painting different yet always as an expansion or response to all the rest. An encyclopedic joy.” (J.S.-NYMagazine)
David Zwirner, 525 West 19th Street.

Here is one exhibition the New Yorker likes:

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.

*Now plan your own gallery crawl, but better plan your visits for Tuesday through Saturday; most galleries are closed Sunday and Monday.

TIP: After your gallery tour, stop in Ovest at 513W27th St. for Aperitivo Italiano (Happy Hour on steroids). Discuss all the great art you have viewed over a drink and a very tasty selection of FREE appetizers (M-F, 5-8pm). OR try this NYT recommendation: “When you’re done, adjourn to the newly renovated Bottino , the Chelsea art world’s unofficial canteen on 10th Avenue (btw 24/25 St.) “

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For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see recent posts in right sidebar dated 06/11 and 06/09.
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Bonus NYC Music Venues:
So much fine live music every night in this town. These are my favorite non jazz music venues on Manhattan’s WestSide. Check out who’s playing tonight:

City Winery – 155 Varick St., citywinery.com, 212-608-0555
Joe’s Pub @ Public Theater – 425 Lafayette St., joespub.com, 212-967-7555
Beacon Theatre – 2124 Broadway @ 74th St., beacontheatre.com, 212-465-6500
Town Hall – 123 W43rd St., thetownhall.org, 212-997-6661
Le Poisson Rouge – 158 Bleecker St., lepoissonrouge.com, 212-505-3474
and one more, not quite WestSide
Bowery Ballroom – 6 Delancey St. boweryballroom.com

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
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 discovery and enjoyment.
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.