Today’s Elite 8 NYC Events > SATURDAY/ AUGUST 31, 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: “September 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:
Belle Skinner
Time Out Market New York, DUMBO
“Belle-Skinner is a dark nostalgic indie-folk songwriter based in Brooklyn and Upstate New York. With a hauntingly beautiful, lilting soprano and innate sense of melody she crafts tales of songbirds, sirens and desert nomads – nuanced and layered stories which bridge the gap between past and present. Though her influences cover a broad range of genres – from French chansons and Russian folk to contemporary alt-pop and rock – her voice often draws comparisons to the likes of Joni Mitchell, Jeff Buckley, and Lana Del Rey.” (TONY)
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7 OTHER TOP NYC EVENTS TODAY (see below for full listing)
>> 54 Sings Broadway’s Greatest Hits!
>> Orrin Evans Trio
>> CHRIS POTTER UNDERGROUND
>> Shoshana Bean
>> Grand Bazaar NYC – End of Summer Sale
>> Long Island City Tour: What’s New in Western Queens
>> NYC Unicycle Festival
Today’s Top Event: US Tennis Open Day 6
You may want to look at previous days posts for events that continue through today.
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Music, Dance, Performing Art
54 Sings Broadway’s Greatest Hits!
Feinstein’s/54 Below / 9:30PM, $40+
“Broadway by the Year impresario Scott Siegel curates this monthly concert series, in which Broadway stars sing some of the Great White Way’s best-loved tunes.” (TONY)
“Scott Siegel’s 54 Sings Broadway’s Greatest Hits is among the most successful series of cabaret shows of the 21st century. The reason for the series’ success (every show is sold out) is that Siegel gathers together some of the very best voices from the Broadway, cabaret, and for this show, the opera world to perform a well-thought-out collection of some of the best songs from Broadway musicals,” Ron Forman, Cabaret Scenes Magazine
Orrin Evans Trio (Aug.29-Sep.01)
Jazz Standard / 7;30PM, 9:30PM, $30
“One of the leading pianists of his generation, Evans regularly blurs the lines between bluesiness and abstraction, muscularity and tenderness. He’s been busy as of late replacing the masterful Ethan Iverson in jazz-pop crossover trio the Bad Plus, but here he’s heading his own combo. Over this four-night engagement, expect him to play from his most recent release, The Evolution of Oneself.” (TONY)
CHRIS POTTER UNDERGROUND (through Sept.1)
at the Village Vanguard / 8:30 and 10:30 p.m.; $35
“In the mid- to late 2000s, Potter — one of the most talented (and unfairly taken-for-granted) tenor saxophonists alive — released three albums with a fusion-minded quartet called Underground. The group seemed to unite the kind of joyful, geyser-of-energy grooves that a jam band might play with the daring, taut-wire ethic of contemporary jazz. The band hasn’t played much in recent years, though Potter’s newest trio, Circuits, can be heard as a reworking of some of the same ideas. But this week he has brought an altered form of Underground back to the Vanguard, where they used to play regularly. The current lineup features Adam Rogers, the only other longtime member, on guitar, plus Fima Ephron on bass and Dan Weiss on drums.” (NYT-GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO)
Shoshana Bean (Aug.29-31)
Feinstein’s/54 Below / 7PM, $75+
“Best known to theater audiences for replacing Idina Menzel as Elpheba in Wicked and, more recently, starring as Jenna in Waitress the big-voiced Bean dips into the Broadway catalog in her Feinstein’s/54 Below debut. Although she has diversified into pop in her four studio albums, this concert is devoted exclusively to musical-theater songs from roles she has played onstage, would like to play onstage or knows she will never play onstage.” (TONY)
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Smart Stuff / Other NYC EventS
Grand Bazaar NYC – End of Summer Sale
Save at New York’s favorite flea market
Grand Bazaar, 100 W77th St. / 10AM-5:30PM,
Free to enter; items are priced up to 50% off.
“The Grand Bazaar — a year-round local market that donates 100% of its profits to the neighborhood’s public schools — is hosting a giant end-of-summer sale. With up to 50% off furniture, vintage clothes, and handmade art, you can score a one-of-kind pieces from over 150 vendors. Once it gets cold, you’ll be spending a lot more time in your apartment, so why not buy some home decor you love? There will be plenty of local food vendors, too, if doing all that shopping works up your appetite.” (thrillist.com)
Elsewhere, not Manhattan’s WestSide, but this is Queens WestSide and worth the detour:
Long Island City Tour: What’s New in Western Queens
with Bob Singleton
The Municipal Art Society of New York
location delivered in registration email. 11AM, $30
“From colonial tide mills to the one time heart of American industry, LIC remains the ‘Cradle of Creativity.’ Walk past quaint blocks, gleaming towers, monuments to industry, art’s cutting edge. Long Island City never disappoints! To paraphrase Jane Jacobs “(If) a neighborhood shows an ability to update itself, enliven itself, repair itself, or be sought after, out of choice, by a new generation, it is alive.” A perfect description for Long Island City today!” (ThoughtGallery)
NYC Unicycle Festival
Multiple venues
“For far too long people have looked down upon the unicycle, ridiculing riders for how silly they look perched up high above a single wheel. It’s time that one-wheel lovers unite and take over the streets of New York! That’s just what the NYC Unicycle Festival is planning to do. There’s going to be a ride from Battery Park up to Central Park on Thursday, a parade through Brooklyn on Friday (from Brooklyn Bridge to Coney Island) and an entire weekend of celebration on Governors Island. Witness some unicycle sumo, unicycle basketball and top riders performing tricks as DJ Sky King provides a soundtrack.” (TONY)
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Today’s Top Event
US Tennis Open Day 6 (thru Sept.8)
The U.S. Open begins play today @ 11AM at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens (about 45 min. from Times Square.) This tournament, which serves up the world’s best tennis players right in our backyard, is celebrating its 21st year at Arthur Ashe Stadium and is the fourth and final Grand Slam tennis tournament of the year.
subway: @ Times Square take #7 to Willets Point.
Today’s tips: Arrive Early. Security screening may cause delays to enter. Best not to bring a bag. A fine comprehensive review of the tournament and the current state of tennis can be found at the NYTimes/Sports.
Early in the tournament forget the Big House (Arthur Ashe Stadium), which is a pretty poor place to watch tennis unless you have a ton of money for courtside seats. Get a grounds pass and once inside check out one of the electronic scoreboards listing matches in progress. Find a match or players that interest you. Head over to their court for some great tennis, because in this tournament even the qualifiers are great players.There is no other major sporting event where you can get so close to world class athletes as at the U.S. Open – especially on the outer field courts and the Grandstand court. These are courts where you can get a real sense of the pace of the game.
Today’s Featured Match: Naomi Osaka v Coco Gauff
“As Labor Day weekend begins, an eagerly anticipated matchup of terrific talents headlines Day 6 of the 2019 US Open, with women’s top-seed Naomi Osaka facing off against top teen Coco Gauff in a third-round clash that promises the sort of fireworks usually reserved for another great American holiday. This high-caliber duel is just one highlight of a Day 6lineup that also features former US Open champs Rafael Nadal and Marin Cilic, along with John Isner, Bianca Andreescu, Alexander Zverev, Gael Monfils, Caroline Wozniacki, and Nick Kyrgios. Every one of these players is well aware that a win today buys you a ticket to week two—and that’s one popular ticket.”
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Continuing Events
Trio da Paz & Friends with Maucha Adnet, Harry Allen, and Claudio Roditi (Aug.21-Sep.01)
Dizzy’s Club / 7:30PM, +9:30PM, $40
“Keeping an unprecedented streak alive for the 12th consecutive year, Trio da Paz comes to Dizzy’s Club for a two-week summer residency. Formed in 1990 by three of Brazil’s most in-demand master musicians, Romero Lubambo, Nilson Matta, and Duduka da Fonseca, Trio da Paz updates the infectious spirit of jazz-oriented Brazilian music. With their harmonically adventurous interactions, daring improvisations, and dazzling rhythms, this group redefines Brazilian jazz. Reserve your seats quickly to make sure you don’t miss out on this high-demand annual tradition!”
GD: I made sure to catch their first set on Wednesday night. An evening with this group, especially with Maucha, is like a trip to Rio. Trust me on this.
2019 Summer HD Festival
The 11th Summer HD Festival features ten thrilling performances from the Met’s Live in HD series of cinema transmissions—plus a special pre-festival screening of Stanley Donen’s enchanting Funny Face, featuring songs by George and Ira Gershwin, a co-presentation with Film at Lincoln Center. The free showings run from August 23 through September 2, with approximately 3,000 seats set up in front of the opera house each night, as well as additional standing room around Lincoln Center Plaza.
for tonight’s screening go here.
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COMING SOON (WFUV)
9/1 The Who, MSG
9/3-4 Hot Chip, Holy F*ck, Brooklyn Steel
9/4 Tash Sultana, SummerStage Central Park
9/4 Hatchie, Rough Trade
♦ 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 2019 – the ninth consecutive year. 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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Bonus: Nifty 9 – Best Cabarets / Piano Bars NYCity
These are my favorite places for an after dinner night on the town – music and drinks.
Hit the Hot Link and check out what’s happening tonight:
Feinstein’s/54 Below – 254 W 54th St.
The Green Room 42 – 570 Tenth Ave.
Don’t Tell Mama – 343 W 46th St.
The Rum House, in the Hotel Edison – 228 W. 47th St.
Laurie Beechman Theatre – 407 W 42nd St.
Marie’s Crisis – 59 Grove St.
The Duplex – 61 Christopher St.
Sid Gold’s Request Room – 165 W 26th St.
Cafe Carlyle, in the Carlyle Hotel – 35 E. 76th St.
This is the only one not located on Manhattan’s WestSide, and it ain’t cheap, but it has some of the finest singers.
For a comprehensive list of the best places to hear All Types of Live Music in Manhattan see the tab above “LiveMusic.”
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Bonus#2 – 8 Plays and Musicals to Go to in N.Y.C. This Weekend – NewYorkTimes (08/29/19)
NYT Theater Reviews – Our theater critics on the plays and musicals currently open in New York City.
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NYCity 1-2-3 : What's Happening / Manhattan's WestSide 