Today’s Elite 8 NYC Events > FRIDAY/ JANUARY 10, 2020

“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:  “January 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:

Sounds of Siberia With Yuliyana Krivoshapkina + Nachyn Choreve
Rubin Museum of Art, 150 W. 17th St./ 7PM, $30
“Be transported to the great expanse of Siberia by Yuliyana Krivoshapkina and Nachyn Choreve, virtuosos whose music underscores the power of nature and the timeless connections between humanity and the universe.

Nachyn’s mastery of different styles of throat singing takes listeners to the Taiga and mountain brooks of Tuva in the south of this vast region, while Yuliyana’s artistry on the khomus brings the sounds of the birds, reindeer, and winds of the endless tundra of Yakutia to the north. As throat singing emerged out of the Tuvan nomadic lifestyle, the khomus (jaw harp) became a linchpin of Yakutian musical culture and the tool of powerful shamans. When heard together, these two musical styles evoke the grandeur and impermanence of the natural world.’

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7 OTHER TOP NYC EVENTS TODAY (see below for full listing)
>> Maya Beiser
>> MARÍA GRAND
>> Philly Reunion
>> La Traviata
>> The Birdland Big Band
>> American Dance Platform
>> Bong Joon Ho Shorts Program: 1994-2008

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

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Music, Dance, Performing Arts

Maya Beiser
An avant-garde cellist.
Brookfield Place Winter Garden / 8PM, FREE
“The cellist Maya Beiser, who has often ventured deep into the nonclassical avant-garde, pays homage to David Bowie with a cello-based reinterpretation of his valedictory Blackstar. She celebrates her own album’s release on the fourth anniversary of Bowie’s death with a high-tech audiovisual performance involving VR spatial sensors and software that keeps projected images glued to her cello as it moves.” (J..D., NYMag)

MARÍA GRAND (Jan. 7-11)
at the Stone / 8:30 p.m.; $20
“Grand plays the tenor saxophone in a leery, elusive tone, sometimes using short, terse phrases, sometimes wriggling like a snake in the grass. At 27, she has already become an integral player on New York’s contemporary jazz scene — a fact borne out by the rich cast of collaborators who will join her at the Stone. Highlights will include her trio performance on Tuesday, featuring Mary Halvorson on guitar and Anaïs Maviel on voice and percussion; and her show on Jan. 9 with Amirtha Kidambi on voice, Joel Ross on vibraphone, Nick Dunston on bass and Savannah Harris on drums.” (NYT-GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO)

Philly Reunion (Jan. 9-12)
Blue Note, 131 W. 3rd St./ 8PM, +10:30PM, $30-$45
Philadelphia’s jazz heritage stretches deep into the music’s history—the fifties alone produced, among others, Benny Golson, Lee Morgan, and an up-and-comer named John Coltrane—and the friendly city continues to give rise to exceptional players. For this engagement, three nationally prominent natives—the bassist Christian McBride, the keyboardist Joey DeFrancesco, and the guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel—join a stalwart local treasure, the drummer Lil’ John Roberts, to investigate what makes contemporary Philly-sourced jazz so, well, funky.” (Steve Futterman, NewYorker)

The Metropolitan Opera
La Traviata (next Jan.14, 7:30PM)
Metropolitan Opera House / 7:30PM, $30+
“Michael Mayer’s sumptuous staging, a highlight of the 2018–19 season, returns with two casts of bright stars. Sopranos Aleksandra Kurzak and Lisette Oropesa share the role of Violetta, the opera’s tragic heroine, opposite tenors Dmytro Popov and Vittorio Grigolo as her ardent lover, Alfredo, and baritones Quinn Kelsey and Luca Salsi as Alfredo’s stern father, Germont. Karel Mark Chichon and Bertrand de Billy conduct one of opera’s greatest scores.”

The Birdland Big Band
Birdland / 5PM, $30
“Come kick start your weekend with The Birdland Big Band! Now in their 20th year of residency! Every Friday, and for two headlining weeks a year, the “BBB” roars into action playing a thrilling and original mix of jazz, funk, Brazilian, Latin and world music for sold-out audiences. Featured weekly guest artists drop-in from television bands (David Letterman, Saturday Night Live) and pop music touring bands (Rob Thomas, Rod Stewart).

Come see for yourself why Time Out New York called the BBB, “a completely unique experience… there isn’t another band like this anywhere,” and yelp.com proclaims, “if you hear one band in NYC make sure this is it… and prepare to be blown away!”

American Dance Platform (Jan. 7-12)
Joyce Theatre, 175 Eighth Ave. / 7:30PM, $
“Early January is the season for dance showcases, timed to coincide with conferences for dance theatres from around the world who come to New York to find new work to present. For the general public, this offers a chance to consume a tasting menu of dance in a short period of time. This series at the Joyce is made up of four programs, each featuring two ensembles. Of particular note are the modern-dance troupe Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (Jan. 7 and Jan. 12), the innovative and socially engaged ODC/Dance, from San Francisco (Jan. 9 and Jan. 11), and the excellent Brooklyn-based hip-hop company Rennie Harris Puremovement (Jan. 10-11), all showing recent work.” (Marina Harss, NewYorker)

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

Bong Joon Ho Shorts Program: 1994-2008
Film at Lincoln Center / 6:30PM, $15
“Bong Joon Ho, the South Korean director of Parasite, is having quite a moment. Fresh off his win at the Golden Globes — and a favorite at the upcoming Oscars — he’s finally getting his due. To celebrate his success and introduce moviegoers to his earlier works, Film at Lincoln Center is hosting a Bong Joon Ho retrospective. On Friday night, you can catch a selection of his formative shorts, made from 1994 (when he was still in film school) to 2008.” (thrillist)

Continuing Events

Winter Jazzfest
Various venues // Various prices
“Since 2009, the Winter Jazzfest has grown from a single evening to a multi-night, multi-venue, multi-disciplinary showcase of the cutting edge of jazz and its many stylistic subcategories, from hot swing to avant-garde to jazz-inflected world music. This year’s festival features more than 600 artists in 150 groups on 20 stages over 10 nights. There will be a British Jazz Showcase, a celebration of Detroit’s jazz history, plus talks, panels, and workshops focused on social justice, immigration, gender balance, and more. The fest also includes three all-night marathons at some 20 venues in Manhattan and Brooklyn.”
(Jan.9-17)  (Gothamist) 

Prototype
Opera but make it fashion.
“Theater and opera aficionados know that January is the right time to get a hit of all the wildest, newest experiments in music-performance: The Prototype festival has been blowing minds for seven years. Even if you’re not typically an operagoer, you should dabble here. You like poetry? Try Ellen West, with a libretto by Frank Bidart. You like taiko drumming and puppetry? It’s got Ellen McLaughlin and Garrett Fisher’s Blood Moon. There’s even a confrontation between Zakes Mda’s novel Cion and Ravel’s Boléro by the South African choreographer Gregory Vuyani Maqoma, which should tick every single box a culture vulture’s got. ” (Helen Shaw, NYMag)
Various locations, January 9 to 19.

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COMING SOON (WFUV)

1/10 Bowie Cello Symphonic “Blackstar,” Brookfield Place
1/11 They Might Be Giants, Bowery Ballroom
1/11 Big Bad Voodoo Daddy & Jake Shimabukuro, Sony Hall
1/12 Red Molly, Birds of Chicago, Teddy Thompson, Bowery Ballroom
1/13 Nellie McKay, Joe’s Pub
1/13 Kevin Eubanks and Orrin Evans, (le) Poisson Rouge
1/14 On Your Radar with John Platt, Rockwood Music Hall
1/14-15 Hamilton Leithauser, Cafe Carlyle

Fall Concerts (nycgo.com)

David Byrne’s American Utopia on Broadway
October 4­, 2019–January 19, 2020
Hudson Theatre
“The Talking Heads frontman hits Broadway with a show based on his latest album—but you can expect some old favorites as well.”

♦ 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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A PremierPub / Upper West Side

Dinosaur Bar-B-Que / 700 W125th St. @ 12th ave.

Walk only five minutes from the 125th St. station on the #1 line to find this authentic honky-tonk barbecue joint. Some folks think Dinosaur is just a place to eat ribs. Not so. With 24 carefully selected taps, this is a place to drink beer, and eat ribs.

No food goes better with American craft ales than American barbecue. Dinosaur may be the best combo of good beer drinking and hearty eating in town, which makes the trip uptown to West Harlem totally worthwhile.

This second incarnation of Dinosaur in Harlem is in a two story, old brick warehouse near the Hudson River. Don’t let that run down exterior fool you. Inside it’s a large space with huge, rough wooden columns and unfinished wooden floors and brick walls – just right for a bbq joint. As soon as you open the front door you are hit with that tantalizing aroma of barbecue coming from the large open kitchen. Reminds me of those great rib joints I frequented when stationed in North Carolina all those years ago. If your stomach wasn’t grumbling before, it is now.

Head to the bar, sit down and try to decide on a beer. It’s not an easy decision – a good problem to have. This is a pretty damn good beer list to choose from, one that most beer bars should be jealous of. I love that they feature NY craft beers. You may want to try the four beer sampler, which is always fun, and in this place may be necessary.

The blues music playing in the background will get you in the mood for their North Carolina style barbecue, and even when it’s a full house your order shouldn’t take too long (assuming you snagged a table). The food is all slow smoked, so it’s already mostly done and ready to go. I always start with an order of their giant, spice rubbed wings, so good they may make you give up Buffalo wings.

Unfortunately, a place this good does not fly under the radar. There can be some long waits for a table at dinnertime. So you need a strategy – avoid prime time, and try not to arrive with your entire posse, which will limit your seating options.

A seat at the bar, a small table in the bar area, or in the summer, an outside table underneath what’s left of the elevated West Side Highway, all may open before a table inside the main dining room. Otherwise, try Dinosaur for lunch, or come very late for dinner, maybe after a show at the nearby Cotton Club nightclub.

Website: http://www.dinosaurbarbque.com/
Phone #: 212-694-1777
Hours: Mo-Th 11:30am-11:00pm; Fr-Sa 11:30am-12:00am;
Su 12:00pm-10:00pm
Happy Hour: 4-7pm every day; $1 off all drinks
Music: Fri / Sat 10:30pm
Subway: #1 to 125th St.
Walk 2 blk W on 125th St. to Dinosaur Bar-B-Q,
just past the elevated highway.
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“Pub” is used in it’s broadest sense – bars, bar/restaurants, jazz clubs, wine bars, tapas bars, craft beer bars, dive bars, cocktail lounges, and of course, pubs – just about anyplace you can get a drink without a cover charge (except for certain jazz clubs).

If you have a fave premier pub or good eating place on Manhattan’s WestSide let us all know about it – leave a  comment.