NYC Events,”Only the Best” (10/01) + Museum Special Exhibitions: Manhattan’s WestSide

“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: “October 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:

New York City Ballet (next Oct.4, 8PM – thru Oct.13)
ALL BALANCHINE
NYS Theater, Lincoln Center / 7:30PM, $35+
“The range of Balanchine’s choreography and musicality are illuminated in this varied program that ranges from the captivating waltzes of Valse Fantaisie to the spiky Kammermusik No. 2, and closes with the return of Union Jack, a big-hearted and boisterous tribute to the United Kingdom set to traditional and familiar melodies.”

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5 OTHER TOP NYC EVENTS TODAY (see below for full listing)
>> Barry Harris
>> TEDESCHI TRUCKS BAND
>> The Lineup with Susie Mosher
>> NEW JUILLIARD ENSEMBLE
>> Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker

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

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Music, Dance, Performing Art

Barry Harris (Oct. 1-6)
Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Ave. S./ 8:30PM, +10:30PM, $35
“There are only a few active jazz musicians left who had the privilege of playing with Charlie Parker, and the pianist Barry Harris is one of them. The eighty-nine-year-old master has fashioned a style that calls on the keyboard language of the bebop pioneer Bud Powell, leavening its frenetic effect with his own easy approach. He’s joined here by two expert associates: the drummer Leroy Williams and the bassist Ray Drummond.” (Steve Futterman, NewYorker)

TEDESCHI TRUCKS BAND
at the Beacon Theater / 8 p.m. $
‘Fronted by the husband-and-wife duo of Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, this band is a true labor of love. For nearly a decade, the pair have worked together, along with the 10 other musicians who make up their company, to carry forth the Southern roots-rock torch. They have done so with as much vigor as ever following the recent deaths of some of their musical forebears — including Gregg Allman, Leon Russell and Trucks’s uncle Butch Trucks. Still, a sense of loss pervades their latest album, “Signs,” which came out in February. This week, for the ninth year in a row, the band returns to the Beacon for a multinight residency.” (NYT-OLIVIA HORN)

The Lineup with Susie Mosher
Birdland / 9:30PM, $25
“Mosher is one of those talents you need to see to believe: warm, funny, biting, ferociously committed. In her weekly series at the downstairs Birdland Theater, she invites a gaggle of performers from Broadway and beyond to show their talents. Guests at the October 1 edition include T. Oliver Reid, Dylan Hartwell, Kira Goidel and Andrew Latona, Marrisa Mulder, Lavinia Draper, Marrisa Rosen, Amy Lynn and Alex Hamlin, Maggie Moore and Elizabeth Ziff, Michael Kushner and musical director Brad Simmons.” (TONY)

NEW JUILLIARD ENSEMBLE
at Peter Jay Sharp Theater / 7:30 p.m.; FREE
“The tireless Joel Sachs conducts four works on this program, all of them recent, if not strictly new: Shulamit Ran’s “Fault Line,” with Lila Duffy the soprano; Magnus Lindberg’s “Souvenir”; Alexander Goehr’s “… Between the Lines”; and the premiere of a new version of Balazs Horvath’s “Die ReAlisierung einer komPosition,” featuring a Juilliard acting student, Michael Braugher, as a rapper.” (David Allen, NYT)

Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker
New York Live Arts, 219 w19 St./ 7:30Pm, $35
“Internationally acclaimed choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker highlights the season opening of New York Live Arts (Live Arts) with two early benchmarks of postmodern dance, Fase (September 24-28, 2019) and Rosas danst Rosas (October 1-5, 2019).

Premiering in 1982, Fase, Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich was Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s first performance. Building upon four repetitive compositions by the minimalist Steve Reich, De Keersmaeker strings three duets and one solo into an independent movement idiom that both illustrates the music and builds new dimensions. Starting from the principle of phase shifting, both the music and dance are born from a place of complete synchronicity that soon ventures into slips and slides of changed forms and patterns. First iterations of Fase were seen in Live Arts’ legacy program Fresh Tracks in 1982, which at the time was known as Choreographers Showcase.” (NYC-arts.org)

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Smart Stuff / Other NYC EventS

more Smart Stuff tomorrow.

Continuing Events

New York Film Festival (Sept. 27 — Oct. 13)
“Lincoln Center’s signature cinematic event returns with a lineup that’s simply packed with eagerly anticipated movies by major filmmakers. The festival opens with Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” and closes with Edward Norton’s “Motherless Brooklyn.” In between, you can find new work by everyone from Bong Joon-Ho (“Parasite”) to Kelly Reichardt (“First Cow”), along with Antonio Banderas and Pedro Almodóvar (“Pain and Glory”).” (amNY)

Archtober (Oct.1-31)
Various Locations / Times
“During this monthlong architecture-and-design festival, you can poke around NYC’s most prominent buildings (like the new Statue of Liberty Museum), attend lectures, films and other events—such as seeing Erez Nevi Pana’s piece Bleached at Cooper Hewitt.” (TONY)

Ron Carter (Oct. 1-26)
Birdland, 315 W. 44th St./ various times, $30-$40
“If Ron Carter had retired in the mid-seventies, after helping cement the sonic identity of the now revered CTI Records, he’d still be recognized as one of the most substantial bassists in jazz history, having shared stages with a slew of legendary figures (including Miles Davis) and recorded with dozens more—but he didn’t. He has since added thousands of recordings to his résumé and established a respected solo career. Week one of this monthlong stint features the exemplary instrumentalist fronting his Great Big Band.” (Steve Futterman, NewYorker)

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COMING SOON (WFUV)

9/30-10/1 Built To Spill, Webster Hall
10/1-2 Maggie Rogers, Radio City Music Hall
10/2 Mason Jennings, Sony Hall
10/2 Built To Spill, Music Hall of Williamsburg

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♦ 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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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)

Jewish Museum

‘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)

“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 09/29 and 09/27.
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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.

I MEMORIALIZE THESE TWO WONDERFUL CLUBS AS A WARNING.
WE HAVE TO WORK HARDER TO SAVE THESE SPECIAL PLACES.

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Bonus#2 – 13 Plays and Musicals to Go to in N.Y.C. This Weekend – NewYorkTimes (09/28/19)

NYT Theater Reviews – Our theater critics on the plays and musicals currently open in New York City.

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