NYC Events,”Only the Best” (06/05) + Today’s Featured Pub (Upper West Side)

Posted on 06/05/2018 by GregD

Today’s Sweet 6 NYC Events > TUESDAY/ JUNE 05, 2018

“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: “NYC Events-JUNE”
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.

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

JOEY ALEXANDER TRIO
at Jazz Standard / 7:30 and 9:30PM, $35
“At just 14, Mr. Alexander is already well on his way toward transcending the classic problem of jazz prodigies: He’s not just remarkably capable for his age; he’s a deeply thoughtful soloist and a lush chordal colorist, period. His most recent album, “Eclipse,” is his best yet. He’ll perform material from that disc here with the bassist Rueben Rogers (who appears on the album) and the drummer Kendrick Scott.” (NYT-GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO)

Wynton Marsalis is blown away by this kid. So am I.

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5 OTHER TOP NYC EVENTS TODAY (see below for full listing)
>> Betty Buckley: Hope 
>> Scott Colley Trio
>> AMERICAN BALLET THEATER
>> Sex and the City and Us: Iconic Show’s 20th Anniversary
>> ‘On Liberty, Utilitarianism and Other Essays’ by John Stuart Mill
Continuing Events
>> Othello
>> OutdoorFest
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Music, Dance, Performing Arts

Betty Buckley: Hope (also Jun 6, 9)
Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater / 7PM, +9:30PM, $35+
“Buckley is a genuinely eccentric, eccentrically genuine Broadway diva, with a persona that shifts between fragility and imperiousness. In recent years, she’s moved away from the big belting of shows like Cats and Sunset Boulevard, favoring more monologue-like songs and arrangements. Her latest Joe’s Pub set celebrates the release of her 18th album, Hope, and includes songs by Steely Dan, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Jason Robert Brown.” (TONY)

Scott Colley Trio (Jun 05-09)
Village Vanguard / 8:30pm, 10:30pm; $35
“Bassist Colley, who’s anchored many jazz legends including Andrew Hill and Jim Hall, offers a supple yet sophisticated take on postbop, with a little avant-garde at the fringes, in his own trio.” (TONY)

AMERICAN BALLET THEATER (through July 7)
at the Metropolitan Opera House / 7:30PM, $30+
“Beginning Monday, Alexei Ratmansky’s new production of “Harlequinade,” a comic ballet in two acts set to music by Riccardo Drigo, takes the stage with what looks to be a stellar opening-night cast: Isabella Boylston as Columbine, James Whiteside as Harlequin, Gillian Murphy as Pierrette and Thomas Forster as Pierrot.” (NYT-Gia Kourlas)

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Smart Stuff / Other NYC Events
(Lectures/Discussions, Book Talks, Film, Classes, Food & Drink, Other)

Sex and the City and Us: Iconic Show’s 20th Anniversary
Ace Hotel, 20 W. 29th St./ 7PM, FREE, RSVP required
“Sex and the City and Us” by bestselling author Jennifer Keishin Armstrong marks the iconic show’s twentieth anniversary. Armstrong draws on exclusive interviews with Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, Michael Patrick King, Darren Star, HBO and author Candace Bushnell, to bring us the story of how a columnist, two gay men, and a writers’ room full of women used their own poignant, hilarious, and humiliating stories to launch a cultural phenomenon.” (club free time)

Bryant Park Classics BookClub:
‘On Liberty, Utilitarianism and Other Essays’ by John Stuart Mill
Bryant Park/Bryant Park Reading Room, Between 40th & 42nd Sts. and Fifth and Sixth Aves./ 12:30PM, FREE
“Join fellow enthusiasts and expert literary facilitators to discuss the classics under the canopy of the park’s London Plane trees. Stop by the Reading Room and get your free book for the discussion, available while supplies last.

This week’s book is On Liberty, Utilitarianism and Other Essays by John Stuart Mill.
Hosted by Nadine Strossen, Hate: Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, Not Censorship.”

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Continuing Events

Othello (May28-Jun24)
Shakespeare Delacorte Theater, Central Park / 8PM, FREE* (the Bard is off on Mondays)
“Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Jitney) directs the first offering of the Public Theater’s 2018 season of Shakespeare in the Park: an account of the Bard’s fast-paced tragedy of jealousy and misplaced trust, in which a villain preys on the insecurities of a Moorish war hero married to a white woman. The cast is headed by Chukwudi Iwuji as Othello, Corey Stoll as Iago and Heather Lind as Desdemona.”
*tickets are free (two per person) and may be picked up after noon on the day of performance (be prepared for long lines.) Some tickets are also distributed via online lottery.
See TONY’s complete guide to Shakespeare in the Park tickets for details.

OutdoorFest (June 1-10)
multiple times and events, prices vary,
“You can love the city and still maintain your love of the outdoors — or fall in love with it for the first time. Embrace the spirit of adventure and beauty of nature during OutdoorFest with 10 days of events, starting this Friday. Activities take place across all five boroughs, starting with a campout on Staten Island. There’s also night fishing, oyster preservation, kayaking around Governors Island, canoeing the Gowanus Canal and surfing, yoga or shoreline cleanup at the Rockaways.”

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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 63 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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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.

Marie’s Crisis – 59 Grove St.

The Rum House, in the Hotel Edison – 228 W. 47th St.

Laurie Beechman Theatre – 407 W 42nd 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.

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NYCity Vacation Travel Guide Video (Expedia):
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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. Au contraire. With 24 carefully selected taps, this is a place to drink beer, and eat ribs.

HarlHostStandNo 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. 
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

NYC Events,”Only the Best” (06/04) + Museum Special Exhibitions: Manhattan’s 5th Avenue

Posted on 06/03/2018 by GregD

Today’s Super 7 NYC Events > MONDAY/ JUNE 04, 2018

“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: “NYC Events-JUNE”
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.

==========================================================

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

Taste of Times Square
46th Street, from Broadway to 10th Ave. / 5-9PM, $2-$4 for most tastes
You will be surprised at how good much of this food is.
“Get a taste of Times Square’s restaurants and flavors from around the globe at our annual outdoor food and music festival.

With over 30 restaurants participating and live entertainment stretching down 46th Street from Broadway to 10th Avenue, Taste of Times Square is one of the neighborhood’s most lively and vibrant summer events. Buy your tickets in advance online to get to your food faster on the day of the event and participate in our Instagram contest for the chance to win $200 in gift certificates to select Taste of Times Square restaurants!”

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7 OTHER TOP NYC EVENTS TODAY (see below for full listing)
>> AMERICAN BALLET THEATER
>> Jim Caruso’s Cast Party
>> The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra
>> An Evening with General Colin Powell
>> Hilary Plum “Strawberry Fields”
>> Musical Chairs in the Park
Continuing Events
>> Othello
========================================================

Music, Dance, Performing Arts

AMERICAN BALLET THEATER (through July 7)
at the Metropolitan Opera House / 7:30PM, $30+
“Beginning Monday, Alexei Ratmansky’s new production of “Harlequinade,” a comic ballet in two acts set to music by Riccardo Drigo, takes the stage with what looks to be a stellar opening-night cast: Isabella Boylston as Columbine, James Whiteside as Harlequin, Gillian Murphy as Pierrette and Thomas Forster as Pierrot.” (NYT-Gia Kourlas)

Jim Caruso’s Cast Party
Birdland, 315 W44th St. / 9:30PM, $30
“Jim Caruso’s Cast Party is a wildly popular weekly soiree that brings a sprinkling of “Broadway glitz and urbane wit to the legendary Birdland in New York City every Monday night. It’s a cool cabaret night-out enlivened by a hilariously impromptu variety show. Showbiz superstars, backed by Steve Doyle on bass, Billy Stritch on piano and Daniel Glass on drums, hit the stage alongside up-and-comers, serving up jaw-dropping music and general razzle-dazzle.” (broadwayworld)

The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra
Village Vanguard, 178 7th Ave. South (btw W11th/Perry St.) / 8:30Pm +10:30PM, $30
world class big band with 16 members on that small stage, a monday night institution.
“Almost exactly half a century ago, the trumpeter-composer-arranger Thad Jones and the drummer Mel Lewis began their Monday-night big band residency at the Village Vanguard, establishing what became a hallowed tradition.” (NYT)

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Smart Stuff / Other NYC Events
(Lectures/Discussions, Book Talks, Film, Classes, Food & Drink, Other)

An Evening with General Colin Powell
Temple Emanu-El, 1 E. 65th St./ 8PM, $99
“One of the most celebrated statesmen of our time, Colin Powell served as a four-star general, National Security Advisor and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff before he was appointed the first African-American US Secretary of State by George W. Bush in 2001. The Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center is honored to welcome Secretary Powell for a look back at his American journey, from the Bronx to the bestseller list, the many years of history-making public service in between, and his views on the intersection of leadership and moral vision.”

Hilary Plum “Strawberry Fields”
The Half King, 505 W. 23rd St./ 7PM, FREE
“Strawberry Fields is the winner of the 2018 Fence Modern Prize in Prose. This ambitious novel echoes real-world politics and takes an expansive view of corruption in a time of information overload and fake news.

As a multi-narrative, Strawberry Fields holds wide-ranging perspectives on a town poisoned by pesticides, phone-video journalism, the dogs of Occupy Wall Street, and much more. The only recurring narrator is Alice, a journalist with experience in the Middle East and in a hurricane-torn city that resembles New Orleans.
Investigating the mysterious deaths of five veterans, Alice teams up with Modigliani, a detective she first met when he saved her life in the field. He points her toward Xenith, a private military contractor, and the more Alice learns, the clearer it becomes that the corporation is not being held accountable for their abuses in war zones and on American soil. While Alice’s story builds, her chapters alternate with those of other characters, often media professionals, academics, and artists, each energizing the novel as they struggle to find out the truth.”

PLUS a special event that you last played as a kid. Now play it as a big kid.

Musical Chairs in the Park
Bryant Park / 7:30 pm, FREE; RSVP required
“The 7th annual ultimate game of Musical Chairs, featuring the park’s iconic green bistro chair. This year’s event will have over 700 participants, where circles of 30 players will battle it out for a seat in the winner’s circle. The finalists will compete to take home the grand prize.”

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Continuing Event

Othello (May28-Jun24)
Shakespeare Delacorte Theater, Central Park / 8PM, FREE* (the Bard is off on Mondays)
“Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Jitney) directs the first offering of the Public Theater’s 2018 season of Shakespeare in the Park: an account of the Bard’s fast-paced tragedy of jealousy and misplaced trust, in which a villain preys on the insecurities of a Moorish war hero married to a white woman. The cast is headed by Chukwudi Iwuji as Othello, Corey Stoll as Iago and Heather Lind as Desdemona.”
*tickets are free (two per person) and may be picked up after noon on the day of performance (be prepared for long lines.) Some tickets are also distributed via online lottery.
See TONY’s complete guide to Shakespeare in the Park tickets for details.

==========================================================================
♦ 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 63 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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Bonus NYC events– 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:
(5 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)
Cornelia Street Cafe – UG, 29 Cornelia St. corneliastreetcafe.com, 212-989-9319 (6pm)

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)

Special Mention:
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 surprises with a wonderfully eclectic lineup. It’s my favorite spot for an evening of listening enjoyment and discovery.

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NYCity Vacation Travel Guide Video (Expedia):

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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)

‘THE FACE OF DYNASTY: ROYAL CRESTS FROM WESTERN CAMEROON’ (through Sept. 3). “Upstairs, the Michelangelos continue to knock ‘em dead; downstairs, in the African wing, a show of just four commanding wooden crowns constitutes a blockbuster of its own. These massive wooden crests — in the form of stylized human faces with vast vertical brows — served as markers of royal power among the Bamileke peoples of the Cameroonian grasslands, and the Met’s recent acquisition of an 18th-century specimen is joined here by three later examples, each featuring sharply protruding cheeks, broadly smiling mouths, and brows incised with involute geometric patterns. Ritual objects like these were decisive for the development of western modernist painting, and a Cameroonian crest was even shown at MoMA in the 1930s, as a “sculpture” divorced from ethnography. But these crests had legal and diplomatic significance as well as aesthetic appeal, and their anonymous African creators had a political understanding of art not so far from our own.” (Farago)

‘HEAVENLY BODIES: FASHION AND THE CATHOLIC IMAGINATION’  (through Oct. 8). “Let us pray. After last year’s stark exhibition of Rei Kawakubo’s irregular apparel, the Met Costume Institute is back in blockbuster mode with this three-part blowout on the influence of Catholicism on haute couture of the last century. The trinity of fashion begins downstairs at the Met with the exceptional loans of vestments from the Vatican; upstairs are gowns fit for angels in heaven (by Lanvin, Thierry Mugler, Rodarte) or angels fallen to earth (such as slinky Versace sheaths garlanded with crosses). The scenography at the Met is willfully operatic — spotlights, choir music — which militates against serious thinking about fashion and religion, but up at the Cloisters, by far the strongest third of the show, you can commune more peacefully with an immaculate Balenciaga wedding gown or a divine Valentino gown embroidered with Cranac’s Adam and Eve.” (Farago)

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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 06/02 and 05/31.
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

NYC Events,”Only the Best” (06/03) + Today’s Featured Pub (Greenwich Village)

Posted on 06/03/2018 by GregD

Today’s Elite 8 NYC Events > SUNDAY/ JUNE 03, 2018

“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: “NYC Events-JUNE”
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.

==========================================================

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

The Little Prince: A Filmmaker’s Story
Morgan Library & Museum, 225 Madison Ave./ 1PM, $15
Tickets include free admission for the day of the program as well as admission to The Little Prince film screening at 2:30pm.
A Conversation with Mark Osborne and Christine Nelson

“Inspired in part by a special gift of a copy of The Little Prince, Mark Osborne—director of Kung Fu Panda and the forthcoming film Bone—made the audacious decision to adapt one of the world’s best-loved stories into a full-length animated feature film. Join him as he talks with Christine Nelson, Drue Heinz Curator of the Morgan’s 2014 exhibition The Little Prince: A New York Story, about the personal and creative journey that resulted in his award-winning 2015 animated film The Little Prince. A special screening of the film (at 2:30 pm) follows the talk.

The exhibition Joseph Cornell: The Saint-Exupéry Dossier will open for program attendees.”

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7 OTHER TOP NYC EVENTS TODAY (see below for full listing)
>> NEW YORK CITY BALLET
>> Billy Hart Quartet
>> The 10th annual World Science Festival
>> BookCon
>> Txikifest 2018
>> Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit
>> Scooper Bowl
Continuing Events
>> Othello
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Music, Dance, Performing Arts

NEW YORK CITY BALLET (LAST DAY)
NYS Theater, Lincoln Center / 3PM, $30+
Today: Balanchine Black & White
“The company winds down its spring season. The Sunday program — all Balanchine — promises to be a spectacular finish, with “Concerto Barocco,” “Agon” and “The Four Temperaments.” Plan on applauding extra hard: The performance is the last in New York for Likolani Brown, Cameron Dieck and Savannah Lowery. They are moving on.” (NYT-Gia Kourlas)

Billy Hart Quartet (May 29-June 3)
Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Ave. S., at 11th St./ 8:30PM, +10:30PM, $35
“Although the saxophonist Chris Potter is substituting for the official band member Mark Turner, the quick-on-its-feet interplay that has made this unit a benchmark of twenty-first-century jazz will undoubtedly remain intact. The collective features the same rhythmic acuity and tonal sensitivity that the veteran drummer Hart honed with, among many others, Herbie Hancock and Stan Getz. The quartet also includes the pianist Ethan Iverson (of Bad Plus fame) and the bassist Ben Street.” (NewYorker)

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Smart Stuff / Other NYC Events
(Lectures/Discussions, Book Talks, Film, Classes, Food & Drink, Other)

The 10th annual World Science Festival (May30-Jun04)
Various locations, times and places – all the details HERE
“Join us for an exploration of groundbreaking discoveries, encounters with the trailblazing scientists and thinkers who are changing the world, and youth & family events that will inspire the next generation of leaders.

Perennial favorites return, including our main stage Big Ideas programs, the Flame Challenge, Cool Jobs, and free outdoor events that transport science from the lab to NYC’s parks and waterways. This year, we’ll also celebrate the achievements of Women in Science, and explore the impact of the award-winning teachers on the future of scientific discovery.”

BookCon
Javits Center, 655 W. 34th St. / 10AM-5PM, $40-$45
“The Comic Con of books takes over the Javits Center all weekend for tons of panels with celebrity authors including former President Bill Clinton and Broad City star Abbi Jacobson, workshops on how to become the next George R.R. Martin, a giant crime fiction discussion and, of course, a marketplace where you can be the first to score new releases or a special edition of a favorite book.” (metro.us)

Txikifest 2018
Txikito, 240 Ninth Ave. / 1-4PM, $65,
Txikito celebrates 10 years of bringing authentic flavors from the Basque country to Chelsea — and you’re invited. The big bash takes place Sunday afternoon, with a whole hog barbecue, txuleta steak and sides (a special menu for the special day, from the only place for Basque cuisine in NYC). Beverages are also included, and attendees will take home a commemorative txakoli glass. Adding a little more incentive to your revelry, all proceeds will go to the ACLU.” (metro.us)

Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit
University Place, btw E.13th and Waverly Pl. / 12PM-6PM, FREE
Enjoy looking at (and maybe buying some) oil paintings, pastels, watercolors, mixed media, graphics, photography, sculpture, and crafts including fabric, jewelry, glass, wood, and ceramics.

“This city tradition feels fresh every spring when artists following in the footsteps of Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning set up shop in the park. Hundreds of exhibitors, from NYU students to artists who remember the Village as a creative enclave, display their paintings, sculptures, photography, jewelry and woodcraft.” (TONY)

Plus, a Special Event
Scooper Bowl
Bryant Park / Fri/Sat 12PM-9PM; Sun 12PM-7PM, $25
All-you-can-eat ice cream returns to Bryant Park and I have been waiting for this one all year.

“Sometimes it’s a struggle to pick just two ice cream flavors for your cone.
You won’t have to this weekend, when an all-you-can-eat ice cream festival returns to Bryant Park for its second year, with scoops in more than 60 flavors from 13 commercial and artisanal creameries.

Flavors run the gamut from classics like vanilla to innovative variations like honey comb and Syrian date and walnut, to vegan selections like chocolate chip cookie dough and salted caramel. (Find the full list, released this week, below.) Making their New York premiere are four Haazgen-Dazs flavors, including three with crispy layers of chocolate.”
(amNY)

=======================================================

Continuing Event

Othello (May28-Jun24)
Shakespeare Delacorte Theater, Central Park / 8PM, FREE*
“Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Jitney) directs the first offering of the Public Theater’s 2018 season of Shakespeare in the Park: an account of the Bard’s fast-paced tragedy of jealousy and misplaced trust, in which a villain preys on the insecurities of a Moorish war hero married to a white woman. The cast is headed by Chukwudi Iwuji as Othello, Corey Stoll as Iago and Heather Lind as Desdemona.”
*tickets are free (two per person) and may be picked up after noon on the day of performance (be prepared for long lines.) Some tickets are also distributed via online lottery.
See TONY’s complete guide to Shakespeare in the Park tickets for details.

==========================================================================
♦ 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 63 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.

=====================================================

Bonus NYC Events – Music Venues:
So much fine live music every night in this town. These are my favorite non jazz music venues on Manhattan’s WestSide. Hit the Hot Link and 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
B.B. King’s Blues Bar – 237W42nd St., bbkingblues.com, 212-997-2144
Another outrageous rent increase by a rapacious NYC landlord closed BBKing’s as of April 29 – How Sad.
Le Poisson Rouge – 158 Bleecker St., lepoissonrouge.com, 212-505-3474
and one more, not exactly WestSide
Bowery Ballroom – 6 Delancey St. boweryballroom.com,

Special Mention:
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.
See Below.

———————————————————————————————————-

NYCity Vacation Travel Guide Video (Expedia):
=================================================================================

A PremierPub and 3 Good Eating Places – Greenwich Village

Caffe Vivaldi / 32 Jones Street (btw. Bleecker St./W4th St.)

Café Vivaldi is a classic, intimate club located in Greenwich Village on Jones Street, the street featured on the cover of Bob Dylan’s second album, “Freewheelin’. ”

maxresdefaultEach night Ishrat, the long time proprietor and impresario, carefully curates and schedules an eclectic series of musicians. You can often see him at his table in the corner, hard at work reviewing music videos and listening to cd demos on his laptop, scouting out future bookings. Musicians come from all over to play and sing in a club in Greenwich Village. Some are local New Yorkers, others are just passing through, in town for a few days.

There is a small bar, seating maybe 10. It’s close to the stage and I find it’s a perfect spot to sip a glass of red wine while listening to the music. The room itself has the performance area at one end and a cozy fireplace at the other. The performance area here is small, dominated by a large black Yamaha Grand piano. Tables are bunched together and most people at the tables are eating lite meals or sampling the wonderful desserts.

There is also a good selection of fairly priced wines,  but you are here because of the music. You can never be quite sure what you’re going to find, and that’s half the charm of this place. It’s not a home run every night, but many nights it’s pretty special.

I remember the night I saw the most talented bossa nova group, just in from San Paulo. As I listened, I wondered if there was any better music playing anywhere else in New York City that night. And at Caffé Vivaldi there is never a cover charge. Their recently redesigned web site does give you a better idea of the type of music playing each night.

At one time Greenwich Village was filled with clubs just like this, but times change. Real estate interests have impacted the village, and not for the better. Even Caffé Vivaldi had a rough time recently, when a new landlord raised the rent exorbitantly. Fortunately, Ishrat has built a loyal following over the years, and a fund raiser and slightly more reasonable rent has kept Café Vivaldi in business.

When Woody Allen and Al Pacino wanted to make movies featuring the timeless quality of Greenwich Village they came to Vivaldi. It’s important that we keep this special place alive, for if we lose Cafe Vivaldi, NYCity will have lost a piece of it’s soul.

Website: http://caffevivaldi.com/
Phone #: (212) 691-7538
Hours: Music generally 7:30PM – 11PM, but varies
Lunch/Dinner 11AM-on
Subway: #1 to Christopher St.
Walk 1 blk S. on 7th ave S. to Bleecker St., 1 blk left on Bleecker to Jones St., 50 yards left on Jones St. to Caffe V.
==============================================================
“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.

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

3 Good Eating places

It’s not difficult to find a place to eat in Manhattan.
Finding a good, inexpensive place to eat is a bit harder.
Here are a few of my faves in this neighborhood:

Fish – 280 Bleecker St. (just a bit S. of 7th ave South)
This was an easy pick – the best raw bar special in town. $9 gets you 6 of the freshest oysters or clams + a glass of wine or beer. Don’t know how they can do it, but I tell everyone I know about this place. And it’s located right in the heart of some of the best no cover music in town.

Bleecker Street Pizza – 69 7th ave S. (corner of Bleecker St.)
The place is tiny and not much to look at, but this is one good slice. They like to brag that they have been voted “Best pizza in NY” 3 years in a row by the Food Network. I believe them. I would have voted for them.

Num Pang – 21 E 12th St. (btw. University Place/5th ave.)
This is a Cambodian banh mi sandwich shop that kept me well fed while I was in class nearby recently. It’s cramped, even for NYCity, but usually there is room up the spiral staircase to sit down and eat. In good weather carry your sandwich a few blocks to Union Square park. You may have to wait a few minutes, because everything is freshly made, but it’s worth it. Can you believe – an unheard of 26 food rating by Zagat.

========================================================
“3 Good Eating places” focuses on a quick bite, what I call “Fine Fast Food – NYCity Style”
No reservations needed.
========================================================
NYCity is the most diverse and interesting place to find a meal anywhere in the world. With more than 24,000 eating establishments you might welcome some advice.

◊ For all my picks of 54 Good Eating places, and essays on my favorite 18 PremierPubs in 9 Neighborhoods on Manhattan’s WestSide, order a copy of my e-book:
“Eating and Drinking on NYCity’s WestSide” ($4.99, available FALL 2018).
◊ Order before NOV.30, 2018 and receive a bonus – 27 of my favorite casual dining places with free Wi-Fi.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

NYC Events,”Only the Best” (06/02) + Museum Special Exhibitions: Manhattan’s WestSide

Posted on 06/02/2018 by GregD

Today’s Elite 8 NYC Events > SATURDAY/ JUNE 02, 2018

“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: “NYC Events-JUNE”
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.

==========================================================

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

GREGORY PORTER AND VICTORY
at Rumsey Playfield / 7 p.m., FREE
“The plush-toned Mr. Porter is contemporary jazz’s pre-eminent male vocalist, and one of its more prolific songwriters. But on his most recent album, he chose to cover a collection of pieces associated with Nat King Cole, his hero and in many senses his closest forebear. He plays on a double bill here with Victory Boyd, a vocalist and guitarist on the rise with a powerful and soothing voice. Ms. Boyd may feel quite at home at this concert, part of Central Park’s SummerStage series: She and members of her family had been performing daily in Central Park for years before Jay-Z discovered her and signed her to Roc Nation.” (NYT-GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO)

=========================================================
7 OTHER TOP NYC EVENTS TODAY (see below for full listing)
>> DAVID BRYANT AND TRISMIC
>> BargeMusic
>> AMERICAN BALLET THEATER
>> EDDIE DANIELS, TED NASH AND HARLEM QUARTET
>> MELISSA ALDANA
>> Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit
>> The 10th annual World Science Festival
>> Scooper Bowl
Continuing Events
>> Othello
========================================================

Music, Dance, Performing Arts

DAVID BRYANT AND TRISMIC
at Mezzrow / 8 and 9:30PM, $20-$25
“A young and flexible pianist, Mr. Bryant is comfortable playing savvy rearrangements of jazz standards in the basement at Smalls, or filling a featured role in an ensemble led by the experimental composer Henry Threadgill. For these concerts at Mezzrow, he’s put together a trio called Trismic, featuring two other versatile young talents: the bassist Linda Oh and the drummer Kush Abadey.” (NYT-GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO)

BargeMusic
“Music in Motion” Series — a one hour performance, including a Q & A session with the musicians (no intermission)
Fulton Ferry Landing, near the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn/ 4PM, FREE
(take the A or C train to High Street station, Brooklyn.)
“Concert at the coolest classical music concert location in NYC.
Classical music on a boat with an intimate and romantic setting and beautiful view of New York City. Program and musicians TBA.” (ClubFreeTime)

MELISSA ALDANA
at the Jazz Gallery / 7:30 and 9:30PM, $10+
“Ms. Aldana — a tenor saxophonist with a vast improviser’s vocabulary and a cool, even tone — has become one of the most in-demand young musicians in post-bop. This weekend, she presents the debut of “Visions,” a suite she wrote in response to the art of Frida Kahlo, on a commission from the Jazz Gallery. She’ll play in a septet featuring Philip Dizack on trumpet, Jure Pukl on alto saxophone, Joel Ross on vibraphone, Micah Thomas on piano, Rick Rosato on bass and Jeremy Dutton on drums.” (NYT-GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO)

AMERICAN BALLET THEATER (Thru July 7)
at the Metropolitan Opera House / 7:30PM, $35+
Tonight: La Bayadère (May 29-Jun 02)
“This weekend sees more performances of the sumptuous full-length ballet “La Bayadère,” choreographed by Natalia Makarova after Marius Petipa, with a debut of note: Cassandra Trenary performs as Gamzatti in the June 2 matinee. And beginning Monday, Alexei Ratmansky’s new production of “Harlequinade,” a comic ballet in two acts set to music by Riccardo Drigo, takes the stage with what looks to be a stellar opening-night cast: Isabella Boylston as Columbine, James Whiteside as Harlequin, Gillian Murphy as Pierrette and Thomas Forster as Pierrot.” (NYT-Gia Kourlas)

EDDIE DANIELS, TED NASH AND HARLEM QUARTET (June 1-2)
The Appel Room, Jazz at Lincoln Center / 7 and 9:30PM, $45+
“Since the 1960s, Mr. Daniels has subtly pushed past the accepted boundaries of what’s expected from a jazz clarinetist. Partly that’s due to the straightforward virtuosity of his playing, and partly to his compulsion to transcend and blend styles. His most recent album, “Heart of Brazil: A Tribute to Egberto Gismonti,” honors a composer whose music is as multivariate as Brazil’s culture. At these concerts, Mr. Daniels is joined by Mr. Nash, a saxophonist and member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, who arranged some tunes on “Heart of Brazil.” Backed by a jazz combo and Harlem Quartet, a chamber group, they will also play selections from Mr. Nash’s impressive songbook.” (NYT-GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO)

=========================================================

Smart Stuff / Other NYC Events
(Lectures/Discussions, Book Talks, Film, Classes, Food & Drink, Other)

The 10th annual World Science Festival (May30-Jun04)
Various locations, times and places – all the details HERE
“Join us for an exploration of groundbreaking discoveries, encounters with the trailblazing scientists and thinkers who are changing the world, and youth & family events that will inspire the next generation of leaders.

Perennial favorites return, including our main stage Big Ideas programs, the Flame Challenge, Cool Jobs, and free outdoor events that transport science from the lab to NYC’s parks and waterways. This year, we’ll also celebrate the achievements of Women in Science, and explore the impact of the award-winning teachers on the future of scientific discovery.”

Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit
University Place, btw E.13th and Waverly Pl. / 12PM-6PM, FREE
Enjoy looking at (and maybe buying some) oil paintings, pastels, watercolors, mixed media, graphics, photography, sculpture, and crafts including fabric, jewelry, glass, wood, and ceramics.

“This city tradition feels fresh every spring when artists following in the footsteps of Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning set up shop in the park. Hundreds of exhibitors, from NYU students to artists who remember the Village as a creative enclave, display their paintings, sculptures, photography, jewelry and woodcraft.” (TONY)

Plus, a Special Event
Scooper Bowl
Bryant Park / Fri/Sat 12PM-9PM; Sun 12PM-7PM, $25
All-you-can-eat ice cream returns to Bryant Park and I have been waiting for this one all year.

“Sometimes it’s a struggle to pick just two ice cream flavors for your cone.
You won’t have to this weekend, when an all-you-can-eat ice cream festival returns to Bryant Park for its second year, with scoops in more than 60 flavors from 13 commercial and artisanal creameries.

Flavors run the gamut from classics like vanilla to innovative variations like honey comb and Syrian date and walnut, to vegan selections like chocolate chip cookie dough and salted caramel. (Find the full list, released this week, below.) Making their New York premiere are four Haazgen-Dazs flavors, including three with crispy layers of chocolate.”
(amNY)

=======================================================

Continuing Event

Othello (May28-Jun24)
Shakespeare Delacorte Theater, Central Park / 8PM, FREE*
“Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Jitney) directs the first offering of the Public Theater’s 2018 season of Shakespeare in the Park: an account of the Bard’s fast-paced tragedy of jealousy and misplaced trust, in which a villain preys on the insecurities of a Moorish war hero married to a white woman. The cast is headed by Chukwudi Iwuji as Othello, Corey Stoll as Iago and Heather Lind as Desdemona.”
*tickets are free (two per person) and may be picked up after noon on the day of performance (be prepared for long lines.) Some tickets are also distributed via online lottery.
See TONY’s complete guide to Shakespeare in the Park tickets for details.

==========================================================================
♦ 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 63 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.

=====================================================
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.

Marie’s Crisis – 59 Grove St.

The Rum House, in the Hotel Edison – 228 W. 47th St.

Laurie Beechman Theatre – 407 W 42nd 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.

=========================================================

NYCity Vacation Travel Guide Video (Expedia):

===============================================================================

WHAT’S ON VIEW
My Fave Special Exhibitions – MUSEUMS / Manhattan’s WestSide
(See the New York Times Arts Section for listings of all museums,
and also to see their expanded reviews of exhibitions)

Museum of Modern Art:

A special pat on the back to MOMA, who is now displaying art from the seven countries affected by Trump’s travel ban.

“Trump’s ban against refugees from seven Muslim-majority nations has sparked acts of defiance in NYC, from demonstrations across town, to striking taxicab drivers at JFK to Middle Eastern bodega owners closing their shops in protest. Recently, the Museum Of Modern added its two cents by bringing out artworks it owns from the affected countries, and hanging them prominently within the galleries usually reserved for 19th- and 20th-century artworks from Europe and the United States. Paintings by Picasso and Matisse, for example, were removed to make way for pieces by Tala Madani (from Iran), Ibrahim El-Salahi (from Sudan) and architect Zaha Hadid (from Iraq). The rehanging, which was unannounced, aims to create a symbolic welcome that repudiates Trump by creating a visual dialog between the newly added works and the more familiar objects from MoMA’s permanent collection.” (TONY)

Tarsila do Amaral (thru June 3)

Introducing New York to the First Brazilian Modernist
“Forty-five years after Tarsila do Amaral’s death, MOMA presents her first-ever museum exhibition in the U.S. Some artists are so iconic, they’re known by only one name: Brancusi, Léger, Tarsila. Wait, who? The painter Tarsila do Amaral is so famous in her native Brazil that forty-three years after her death she helped close out the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, when a projected pattern of red-orange-yellow arcs graced the stadium floor, an homage to her 1929 painting “Setting Sun.” That chimerical landscape—stylized sunset above tubular cacti and a herd of capybaras that shape-shift into boulders—hangs now at MOMA, in the artist’s first-ever museum exhibition in the U.S., “Tarsila do Amaral: Inventing Modern Art in Brazil.” (NewYorker)

‘TARSILA DO AMARAL: INVENTING MODERN ART IN BRAZIL’ (through June 3). “The subtitle is no overstatement: In the early 1920s, first in Paris and then back home in São Paulo, Brazil, this painter really did lay the groundwork for the coming of modernism in Latin America’s most populous nation. Tired of the European pretenders in Brazil’s art academies, Tarsila (who was always called by her first name) began to intermingle Western, African and indigenous motifs into flowing, biomorphic paintings, and to theorize a new national culture fueled by the principle of antropofagia, or “cannibalism.” Along with spare, assured drawings of Rio and the Brazilian countryside, this belated but very welcome show assembles Tarsila’s three most important paintings, including the classic “Abaporu” (1928): a semi-human nude with a spindly nose and a comically swollen foot. (Jason Farago)” (NYT)

‘THE LONG RUN’ (through Nov. 4). “The museum upends its cherished Modern narrative of ceaseless progress by mostly young (white) men. Instead we see works by artists 45 and older who have just kept on keeping on, regardless of attention or reward, sometimes saving the best for last. Art here is an older person’s game, a pursuit of a deepening personal vision over innovation. Winding through 17 galleries, the installation is alternatively visually or thematically acute and altogether inspiring.” (NYT-Smith)
212-708-9400, moma.org

Skyscraper Museum

‘MILLENNIUM: LOWER MANHATTAN IN THE 1990S’ (through June 24). “This plucky Battery Park institution transports us back to the years of Rudy Giuliani, Lauryn Hill and 128-kilobit modems to reveal the enduring urban legacy of a decade bookended by recession and terror. In the wake of the 1987 stock market crash, landlords in the financial district rezoned their old skyscrapers for residential occupancy, and more than 20 towers were declared landmarks, including the ornate Standard Oil building at 26 Broadway and the home of Delmonico’s at 56 Beaver Street. Battery Park City flowered; yuppies priced out of TriBeCa came down to Wall Street; a new Guggenheim, designed by a fresh-from-Bilbao Frank Gehry, nearly arose by South Street Seaport. From this distance, the 1990s can seem almost like a golden age, not least given that, more than 16 years after Sept. 11, construction at the underwhelming new World Trade Center is still not finished. (NYT-Farago)

Whitney Museum of American Art

‘GRANT WOOD: AMERICAN GOTHIC AND OTHER FABLES’ (through June 10). This well-done survey begins with the American Regionalist’s little-known efforts as an Arts and Crafts designer and touches just about every base. It includes his mural studies, book illustrations and most of his best-known paintings — including “American Gothic” and “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.” Best of all are Wood’s smooth undulant landscapes with their plowmen and spongy trees and infectious serenity. (Smith, NYT)

‘ZOE LEONARD: SURVEY’  (through June 10).
Some shows cast a spell. Zoe Leonard’s reverberant retrospective does. Physically ultra-austere, all white walls with a fiercely edited selection of objects — photographs of clouds taken from airplane windows; a mural collaged from vintage postcards; a scattering of empty fruit skins, each stitched closed with needle and thread — it’s an extended essay about travel, time passing, political passion and the ineffable daily beauty of the world. (Cotter, NYT)
==============================================================
For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in right Sidebar dated 05/31 and 05/29.
============================================================

Posted in NYC Events, NYC Events Calendar, NYC Events Today, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

NYC Events,”Only the Best” (06/01) + Today’s Featured Pub (WestVillage)

Posted on 06/01/2018 by GregD

Today’s Elite 8 NYC Events > FRIDAY/ JUNE 01, 2018

“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: “NYC Events-JUNE”
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.

==========================================================

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

AMERICAN BALLET THEATER (Thru July 7)
at the Metropolitan Opera House / 7:30PM, $35+
Tonight: La Bayadère (May 29-Jun 02)
“This weekend sees more performances of the sumptuous full-length ballet “La Bayadère,” choreographed by Natalia Makarova after Marius Petipa, with a debut of note: Cassandra Trenary performs as Gamzatti in the June 2 matinee. And beginning Monday, Alexei Ratmansky’s new production of “Harlequinade,” a comic ballet in two acts set to music by Riccardo Drigo, takes the stage with what looks to be a stellar opening-night cast: Isabella Boylston as Columbine, James Whiteside as Harlequin, Gillian Murphy as Pierrette and Thomas Forster as Pierrot.” (NYT-Gia Kourlas)

=========================================================
7 OTHER TOP NYC EVENTS TODAY (see below for full listing)
>> Billy Hart Quartet
>> NEW YORK CITY BALLET
>> THE GOVERNORS BALL MUSIC FESTIVAL
>> EDDIE DANIELS, TED NASH AND HARLEM QUARTET
>> Tony Danza: Standards & Stories
>> The Bad Plus 
>> The 10th annual World Science Festival
Continuing Events
>> Othello
========================================================

Music, Dance, Performing Arts

Billy Hart Quartet (May 29-June 3)
Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Ave. S., at 11th St./ 8:30PM, +10:30PM, $35
“Although the saxophonist Chris Potter is substituting for the official band member Mark Turner, the quick-on-its-feet interplay that has made this unit a benchmark of twenty-first-century jazz will undoubtedly remain intact. The collective features the same rhythmic acuity and tonal sensitivity that the veteran drummer Hart honed with, among many others, Herbie Hancock and Stan Getz. The quartet also includes the pianist Ethan Iverson (of Bad Plus fame) and the bassist Ben Street.” (NewYorker)

NEW YORK CITY BALLET (through June 3)
Tonight: Coppelia
NYS Theater, Lincoln Center / 7:30PM, $30+
“Most of our enduring three-act ballets are tragedies in which men do bad things and women die. The comic Coppélia, by contrast, is practically a feminist enterprise. A young man steps out on his girlfriend, only to find himself entrapped in a toymaker’s workshop where the plucky title character substitutes her living body for the mechanical doll that has distracted her guy. Originally choreographed in 1870 by Arthur Saint-Léon to a score by Léo Delibes and revived years later for the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg by Marius Petipa, it’s been overhauled by the great George Balanchine and Alexandra Danilova for the New York City Ballet, where it runs for the last week of the company’s spring season.” (Elizabeth Zimmer, Village Voice)

THE GOVERNORS BALL MUSIC FESTIVAL (June 1-3)
at Randalls Island Park.
“This festival, like many that have become a mainstay for promoters nationwide, has something for everyone. If you’re looking for artists currently dominating radio, you can check out Travis Scott, Post Malone, Khalid and Halsey. But you can also find plenty of acts who, comparatively speaking, qualify as legacies: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Eminem, N.E.R.D. and even Third Eye Blind are among the more than 60 performers on the bill. Jack White, in the midst of his first tour since 2015, is headlining on Friday night. Saturday and Sunday single-day passes are sold out, but tickets for Friday as well as the three-day passes are still available.” (NYT-NATALIE WEINER)

EDDIE DANIELS, TED NASH AND HARLEM QUARTET (June 1-2)
The Appel Room, Jazz at Lincoln Center / 7 and 9:30PM, $45+
“Since the 1960s, Mr. Daniels has subtly pushed past the accepted boundaries of what’s expected from a jazz clarinetist. Partly that’s due to the straightforward virtuosity of his playing, and partly to his compulsion to transcend and blend styles. His most recent album, “Heart of Brazil: A Tribute to Egberto Gismonti,” honors a composer whose music is as multivariate as Brazil’s culture. At these concerts, Mr. Daniels is joined by Mr. Nash, a saxophonist and member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, who arranged some tunes on “Heart of Brazil.” Backed by a jazz combo and Harlem Quartet, a chamber group, they will also play selections from Mr. Nash’s impressive songbook.” (NYT-GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO)

Tony Danza: Standards & Stories
Feinstein’s/54 Below / 7PM, $95
“The erstwhile sitcom and talk-show star croons standards, belts out comedy numbers, cracks jokes and generally does everything he can to please the audience. His Louis Prima–esque enthusiasm has an undeniable charm.” (TONY)

The Bad Plus (May 29-June 3)
Blue Note, 131 W. 3rd St. / 8PM, 10:30PM, $20-$35
“Change—often difficult, even when necessary—shook the Bad Plus when the pianist Ethan Iverson (playing this week with Billy Hart’s quartet) left the popular trio, in 2017. But the group quickly rebounded with the pianist Orrin Evans and the aptly titled album “Never Stop II,” a vibrant recording that shies away from the cheeky reinventions of rock standards that originally garnered attention. The band has pulled off a graceful transition.” (NewYorker)

=========================================================

Smart Stuff / Other NYC Events
(Lectures/Discussions, Book Talks, Film, Classes, Food & Drink, Other)

The 10th annual World Science Festival (May30-Jun04)
Various locations, times and places – all the details HERE
“Join us for an exploration of groundbreaking discoveries, encounters with the trailblazing scientists and thinkers who are changing the world, and youth & family events that will inspire the next generation of leaders.

Perennial favorites return, including our main stage Big Ideas programs, the Flame Challenge, Cool Jobs, and free outdoor events that transport science from the lab to NYC’s parks and waterways. This year, we’ll also celebrate the achievements of Women in Science, and explore the impact of the award-winning teachers on the future of scientific discovery.”

Plus, a Special Event
Scooper Bowl
Bryant Park / Fri/Sat 12PM-9PM; Sun 12PM-7PM, $25
All-you-can-eat ice cream returns to Bryant Park and I have been waiting for this one all year.

“Sometimes it’s a struggle to pick just two ice cream flavors for your cone.
You won’t have to this weekend, when an all-you-can-eat ice cream festival returns to Bryant Park for its second year, with scoops in more than 60 flavors from 13 commercial and artisanal creameries.

Flavors run the gamut from classics like vanilla to innovative variations like honey comb and Syrian date and walnut, to vegan selections like chocolate chip cookie dough and salted caramel. (Find the full list, released this week, below.) Making their New York premiere are four Haazgen-Dazs flavors, including three with crispy layers of chocolate.”
(amNY)

=======================================================

Continuing Event

Othello (May28-Jun24)
Shakespeare Delacorte Theater, Central Park / 8PM, FREE*
“Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Jitney) directs the first offering of the Public Theater’s 2018 season of Shakespeare in the Park: an account of the Bard’s fast-paced tragedy of jealousy and misplaced trust, in which a villain preys on the insecurities of a Moorish war hero married to a white woman. The cast is headed by Chukwudi Iwuji as Othello, Corey Stoll as Iago and Heather Lind as Desdemona.”
*tickets are free (two per person) and may be picked up after noon on the day of performance (be prepared for long lines.) Some tickets are also distributed via online lottery.
See TONY’s complete guide to Shakespeare in the Park tickets for details.

==========================================================================
♦ 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 63 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.

===========================================================
Bonus NYC events– 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:
(5 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)
Cornelia Street Cafe – UG, 29 Cornelia St. corneliastreetcafe.com, 212-989-9319 (6pm)

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)

Special Mention:
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 surprises with a wonderfully eclectic lineup. It’s my favorite spot for a casual evening of listening discovery and enjoyment.

========================================================

NYCity Vacation Travel Guide Video (Expedia):

================================================================================

A PremierPub / West Village

Corner Bistro / 331 W. 4th St.

Sometimes you just need a beer and a burger. If so, Corner Bistro is the place you want. Located just outside the hip Meatpacking district, this corner bar and grill is decidedly unhip, but it’s not uncrowded, especially at night. Seems that everyone knows this place has one of the better burgers in town.

kac_120405_phude_corner_bistro_bar_1000-600x450In the maze of streets known as the West Village, where West 4th intersects with West 12th (and West 11th, and West 10th, go figure), you will eventually find Corner Bistro on the corner of West 4th and Jane Street. An unassuming neighborhood tavern, it looks just like dozens of other taverns around town.

The bartender tells me that the Corner Bistro celebrated it’s 50th anniversary last year. The well worn interior tells me that the place itself is much older.

Corner Bistro has outlasted many of those other taverns around town because they know how to keep it simple — just good burgers and beer, fairly priced. The classic bistro Burger is only $6.75, and should be ordered medium rare, which will be plenty rare for most folks. Actually, it will be a juicy, messy delight – make sure you have extra napkins. I like to pull up a stool and sit by the large front window in the afternoon, where I can rest my burger and beer on the shelf, and watch the Villagers walk by.

Corner Bistro seems to attract very different groups of patrons depending on time of day. While it’s crowded with locals in the evening, in the afternoon you hear different foreign languages, and watch groups of euro tourists wander in, led by their guidebooks and smartphones.

For the classic Bistro experience, order your burger with a McSorley’s draft, the dark preferably. This is the same beer that you can get over at the original McSorley’s in the East Village, the pub that claims to be the oldest continually operating bar in NYCity. The only difference is that this McSorley’s ale is served with a smile by the bartenders here. Or you can get a Sierra Nevada, Stella, or Hoegaarden on tap if you want to go upscale a bit. Either way this is a simple, but quality burger and beer experience that is just too rare these days (sorry for the pun).
=========================================================
Website: cornerbistrony.com
Phone #: 212-242-9502
Hours: 11:30am-4am Mon-Sat; 12pm-4am Sun
Happy Hour: NO
Music: Juke Box
Subway: #1/2/3 to 14th St. (S end of platform)
Walk 2 blk W. on 13th St. to 8th Ave.; 1 blk S. on 8th Ave. to Jane St.
Update:
==============================================================
“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.
===========================================================================
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

NYC Events,”Only the Best” (05/31) + GallerySpecialExhibits: Chelsea

Posted on 05/31/2018 by GregD

Today’s Elite 8 NYC Events > THURSDAY/ MAY 31, 2018

“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: “NYC Events-JUNE” (coming real soon)
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.

==========================================================

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

PAM TILLIS
at Opry City Stage / 7PM, $45
“The music hall plays host to an actual member of the Grand Ole Opry with Ms.Tillis, who had a run of country hits in the early ’90s that began, fittingly, with a song called “Don’t Tell Me What to Do.” This spirit of defiance, as well as her deft adaptation of the era’s country-rock trend, helped Ms. Tillis replicate some of the success of her father, the country legend Mel Tillis. These days Ms. Tillis performs with an acoustic trio, allowing her voice, which remains as luminous as ever, to shine through.” (NYT-NATALIE WEINER)

=========================================================
7 OTHER TOP NYC EVENTS TODAY (see below for full listing)
>> REGGIE QUINERLY
>> Zeshan B
>> Billy Hart Quartet
>> NEW YORK CITY BALLET
>> The Bad Plus
>> Michael Feinstein: Swinging with The Count
>> The 10th annual World Science Festival
Continuing Events
>> Othello 
>> Mad. Sq. Eats
========================================================

Music, Dance, Performing Arts

REGGIE QUINERLY
at Smoke / 7, 9 and 10:30PM, $15
“It’s rare enough to see a straight-ahead drummer writing a full album’s worth of original material. Rarer still to see the same drummer putting lyrics to those songs, and arriving at the sort of idiomatic hybrid — musical theater, soul, chamber music, 1970s pop, midcentury jazz — that Mr. Quinerly has achieved on his new album, “Words to Love.” He will perform selections from that album at this show, joined by the vocalists Melanie Charles and Milton Suggs, the alto saxophonist Jaleel Shaw, the pianist Sullivan Fortner and the bassist Ben Wolfe.” (NYT-GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO)

Zeshan B
Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center / 7:30PM, FREE
“Zeshan B is probably the first interpreter to kick off Bobby “Blue” Bland’s “Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City” with an improvisatory Indian-classical alap. But then again, Zeshan Bagewadi’s career has consisted of one revelation after another.

The Chicago-born Indian-American became a singing fixture in his hometown’s Trinity United Church of Christ, where Barack Obama came up, and stands on the shoulders of gospel-nourished soul legends like Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, and Donny Hathaway. Bagewadi’s social activism is reflected in a bracing video for his version of George Perkins’s “Cryin’ in the Streets.” And his gruff tenor easily swoops into a plaintive falsetto on his recent debut album, which includes lonely-man heart-wrenchers, a sexy Urdu original, and a two-hundred-year-old Sufi poem sung in Punjabi.” (Richard Gehr, Village Voice)

Billy Hart Quartet (May 29-June 3)
Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Ave. S., at 11th St./ 8:30PM, +10:30PM, $35
“Although the saxophonist Chris Potter is substituting for the official band member Mark Turner, the quick-on-its-feet interplay that has made this unit a benchmark of twenty-first-century jazz will undoubtedly remain intact. The collective features the same rhythmic acuity and tonal sensitivity that the veteran drummer Hart honed with, among many others, Herbie Hancock and Stan Getz. The quartet also includes the pianist Ethan Iverson (of Bad Plus fame) and the bassist Ben Street.” (NewYorker)

NEW YORK CITY BALLET (through June 3)
NYS Theater, Lincoln Center / 7:30PM, $30+
“The enduring 19th-century comedic ballet “Coppélia” tells of a young man who falls for a lifelike doll until his human girlfriend helps him snap out of it. City Ballet’s production, based on original choreography by Marius Petipa and music by Leo Delibes with enhancements by George Balanchine made in 1974, appears this week and the next.

During the week, City Ballet offers a “Classic NYCB” program featuring Balanchine’s sublime “Mozartiana”; “Not Our Fate,” a recent work by the company dancer Lauren Lovette; “Pulcinella Variations” by the choreographer-in-residence Justin Peck; and Jerome Robbins’s intricate “Glass Pieces,” set to the music of Philip Glass.” (NYT-Brian Schaefer)

The Bad Plus (May 29-June 3)
Blue Note, 131 W. 3rd St. / 8PM, 10:30PM, $20-$35
Change—often difficult, even when necessary—shook the Bad Plus when the pianist Ethan Iverson (playing this week with Billy Hart’s quartet) left the popular trio, in 2017. But the group quickly rebounded with the pianist Orrin Evans and the aptly titled album “Never Stop II,” a vibrant recording that shies away from the cheeky reinventions of rock standards that originally garnered attention. The band has pulled off a graceful transition.” (NewYorker)

Michael Feinstein: Swinging with The Count (May 30-31)
The Appel Room, Jazz at Lincoln Center / 7PM, $75+
“The 2017–18 Jazz & Popular Song series closes with a swinging celebration of Count Basie. Singer, historian, host, director, and all-around entertainer Michael Feinstein provides a glamorous evening of timeless vocal stylings, entertaining anecdotes, and the Tedd Firth Big Band’s irresistible swing. Audiences will be swept away by The Appel Room’s stunning view of the Manhattan skyline while enjoying hits made famous by Count Basie and vocalists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Williams, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis, Jr., Sarah Vaughan, and Bing Crosby.

Special guest singers Ann Hampton Callaway and Kenny Washington will join Feinstein on classics like “One O’Clock Jump,” “April In Paris,” “The Good Life,” and “Everyday I have the Blues,” and the Tedd Firth Big Band’s virtuosic instrumentalists will round out the uplifting and elegant affair. Michael Feinstein’s Jazz & Popular Song is one of our longest-running and most popular concert series, and this event will be a climactic finale to its seventh consecutive season.”

=========================================================

Smart Stuff / Other NYC Events
(Lectures/Discussions, Book Talks, Film, Classes, Food & Drink, Other)

The 10th annual World Science Festival (May30-Jun04)
Various locations, times and places – all the details HERE
“Join us for an exploration of groundbreaking discoveries, encounters with the trailblazing scientists and thinkers who are changing the world, and youth & family events that will inspire the next generation of leaders.

Perennial favorites return, including our main stage Big Ideas programs, the Flame Challenge, Cool Jobs, and free outdoor events that transport science from the lab to NYC’s parks and waterways. This year, we’ll also celebrate the achievements of Women in Science, and explore the impact of the award-winning teachers on the future of scientific discovery.”

=======================================================

Continuing Events

Othello (May28-Jun24)
Shakespeare Delacorte Theater, Central Park / 8PM, FREE*
“Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Jitney) directs the first offering of the Public Theater’s 2018 season of Shakespeare in the Park: an account of the Bard’s fast-paced tragedy of jealousy and misplaced trust, in which a villain preys on the insecurities of a Moorish war hero married to a white woman. The cast is headed by Chukwudi Iwuji as Othello, Corey Stoll as Iago and Heather Lind as Desdemona.”
*tickets are free (two per person) and may be picked up after noon on the day of performance (be prepared for long lines.) Some tickets are also distributed via online lottery.
See TONY’s complete guide to Shakespeare in the Park tickets for details.

Mad. Sq. Eats (LAST DAY)
General Worth Square (5th Ave btw 25/26 St.) / near Madison Square Park
11AM-9PM; FREE
“Twice a year, this outdoor food fest brings buzzworthy bites from the city’s best restaurants to Worth Square in the Flatiron District. Highlights include Roberta’s sensational pizza, MeltKraft grilled cheese sandwiches and cheesesteaks by the Truffleist.” (TONY)

“Mad. Sq. Eats brings the diverse flavors of the city’s best restaurants and food entrepreneurs to Worth Square, a prime location in the heart of New York’s historic Flatiron District. The highly anticipated bi-annual event draws hungry crowds of neighborhood residents, workers, and tourists who enjoy this unique opportunity to savor offerings from buzzworthy eateries.”

2018 Vendor List
Burger & Lobster / Jicama / Renegade Lemonade /
the Truffleist / Mayhem Sandwiches / Gotham Poke & Hawaiian Kitchen / Bao by Kaya / La Sonrisa / Frida’s Favorites / Roberta’s /
Duck Season / Daa! Dumplings / Mr. Bing / Baked Cheese Haus / Chick’NCone / Arancini Bros / Top Hops Beer Shop / CousCous /
Melt Ice cream Sandwiches / Ice & Vice / Palenque Arepas /
Coney Shack / Korilla / Casa Toscana / Enfes NYC

==========================================================================
♦ 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 63 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.

=====================================================

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
B.B. King’s Blues Bar – 237W42nd St., bbkingblues.com, 212-997-2144
Another outrageous rent increase by a rapacious NYC landlord closed BBKing’s as of April 29 – How Sad.
Le Poisson Rouge – 158 Bleecker St., lepoissonrouge.com, 212-505-3474
and one more, not quite WestSide
Bowery Ballroom – 6 Delancey St. boweryballroom.com,

Special Mention:
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.
===========================================================

NYCity Vacation Travel Guide Video (Expedia):

================================================================================

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.

Here are two exhibitions 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 to 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 the 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.) “

=======================================================
For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see recent posts in right sidebar dated 05/29 and 05/27.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

NYC Events,”Only the Best” (05/30) + Today’s Featured Pub (Midtown West)

Posted on 05/30/2018 by GregD

Today’s Super 7 NYC Events > WEDNESDAY/ MAY 30, 2018

“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, better check the tab above: “NYC Events-MAY”
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.

==========================================================

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

Michael Feinstein: Swinging with The Count (May 30-31)
The Appel Room, Jazz at Lincoln Center / 7PM, $75+
“The 2017–18 Jazz & Popular Song series closes with a swinging celebration of Count Basie. Singer, historian, host, director, and all-around entertainer Michael Feinstein provides a glamorous evening of timeless vocal stylings, entertaining anecdotes, and the Tedd Firth Big Band’s irresistible swing. Audiences will be swept away by The Appel Room’s stunning view of the Manhattan skyline while enjoying hits made famous by Count Basie and vocalists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Williams, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis, Jr., Sarah Vaughan, and Bing Crosby.

Special guest singers Ann Hampton Callaway and Kenny Washington will join Feinstein on classics like “One O’Clock Jump,” “April In Paris,” “The Good Life,” and “Everyday I have the Blues,” and the Tedd Firth Big Band’s virtuosic instrumentalists will round out the uplifting and elegant affair. Michael Feinstein’s Jazz & Popular Song is one of our longest-running and most popular concert series, and this event will be a climactic finale to its seventh consecutive season.”

=========================================================
6 OTHER TOP NYC EVENTS TODAY (see below for full listing)
>> Billy Hart Quartet
>>NEW YORK CITY BALLET
>> Marty Ehrlich
>> The Bad Plus
>> AMERICAN BALLET THEATER
>> The 10th annual World Science Festival
Continuing Events
>> Othello 
>> Mad. Sq. Eats
========================================================

Music, Dance, Performing Arts

Billy Hart Quartet (May 29-June 3)
Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Ave. S., at 11th St./ 8:30PM, +10:30PM, $35
“Although the saxophonist Chris Potter is substituting for the official band member Mark Turner, the quick-on-its-feet interplay that has made this unit a benchmark of twenty-first-century jazz will undoubtedly remain intact. The collective features the same rhythmic acuity and tonal sensitivity that the veteran drummer Hart honed with, among many others, Herbie Hancock and Stan Getz. The quartet also includes the pianist Ethan Iverson (of Bad Plus fame) and the bassist Ben Street.” (NewYorker)

NEW YORK CITY BALLET (through June 3)
NYS Theater, Lincoln Center / 7:30PM, $30+
“The enduring 19th-century comedic ballet “Coppélia” tells of a young man who falls for a lifelike doll until his human girlfriend helps him snap out of it. City Ballet’s production, based on original choreography by Marius Petipa and music by Leo Delibes with enhancements by George Balanchine made in 1974, appears this week and the next.

During the week, City Ballet offers a “Classic NYCB” program featuring Balanchine’s sublime “Mozartiana”; “Not Our Fate,” a recent work by the company dancer Lauren Lovette; “Pulcinella Variations” by the choreographer-in-residence Justin Peck; and Jerome Robbins’s intricate “Glass Pieces,” set to the music of Philip Glass.” (NYT-Brian Schaefer)

Marty Ehrlich
THE STONE / 8:30PM, $20
“Composer and reeds modernist Marty Ehrlich inaugurates a six-night residence with the jazz equivalent of a Reddit AMA session: a no-holds-barred duo set with visionary trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith. Raised in St. Louis and educated at the New England Conservatory, Ehrlich moved to New York in 1978, at the height of its Downtown jazz heyday, and has been a highly regarded Zelig among Zeligs ever since. Wednesday, the protean player celebrates a new album with his aptly named Trio Exaltation, which includes John Hebert (bass) and Nasheet Waits (drums). The rest of his run comprises a trio of quartets: Philosophy of a Groove, with pianist James Weidman; Shards, featuring pianist Angelica Sanchez; and Welcome, with trumpeter Ron Horton.” (Richard Gehr, VillageVoice)

The Bad Plus (May 29-June 3)
Blue Note, 131 W. 3rd St. / 8PM, 10:30PM, $20-$35
Change—often difficult, even when necessary—shook the Bad Plus when the pianist Ethan Iverson (playing this week with Billy Hart’s quartet) left the popular trio, in 2017. But the group quickly rebounded with the pianist Orrin Evans and the aptly titled album “Never Stop II,” a vibrant recording that shies away from the cheeky reinventions of rock standards that originally garnered attention. The band has pulled off a graceful transition.” (NewYorker)

AMERICAN BALLET THEATER (Thru July 7)
at the Metropolitan Opera House / 7:30PM, $35+
Tonight: La Bayadère (May 29-Jun 02)
“Amid the sweeping vistas and grand temples of mystical India, this Russian classic is a glorious epic of eternal love and godly revenge. This season, ABT offers tour-de-force performances by Principal Dancers as the doomed temple dancer, Nikiya, the warrior who betrays her, Solor, and her archrival in love, Gamzatti. This ballet also features the renowned vision of the “Kingdom of the Shades,” showcasing the corps de ballet in gossamer white tutus, filling the stage in sublime unison as heavenly angels.”

=========================================================

Smart Stuff / Other NYC Events
(Lectures/Discussions, Book Talks, Film, Classes, Food & Drink, Other)

The 10th annual World Science Festival (May30-Jun04)
Various locations, times and places – all the details HERE
“Join us for an exploration of groundbreaking discoveries, encounters with the trailblazing scientists and thinkers who are changing the world, and youth & family events that will inspire the next generation of leaders.

Perennial favorites return, including our main stage Big Ideas programs, the Flame Challenge, Cool Jobs, and free outdoor events that transport science from the lab to NYC’s parks and waterways. This year, we’ll also celebrate the achievements of Women in Science, and explore the impact of the award-winning teachers on the future of scientific discovery.”

=======================================================

Continuing Events

Othello (May28-Jun24)
Shakespeare Delacorte Theater, Central Park / 8PM, FREE*
“Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Jitney) directs the first offering of the Public Theater’s 2018 season of Shakespeare in the Park: an account of the Bard’s fast-paced tragedy of jealousy and misplaced trust, in which a villain preys on the insecurities of a Moorish war hero married to a white woman. The cast is headed by Chukwudi Iwuji as Othello, Corey Stoll as Iago and Heather Lind as Desdemona.”
*tickets are free (two per person) and may be picked up after noon on the day of performance (be prepared for long lines.) Some tickets are also distributed via online lottery.
See TONY’s complete guide to Shakespeare in the Park tickets for details.

Mad. Sq. Eats (May 07-31)
General Worth Square (5th Ave btw 25/26 St.) / near Madison Square Park
11AM-9PM; FREE
“Twice a year, this outdoor food fest brings buzzworthy bites from the city’s best restaurants to Worth Square in the Flatiron District. Highlights include Roberta’s sensational pizza, MeltKraft grilled cheese sandwiches and cheesesteaks by the Truffleist.” (TONY)

“Mad. Sq. Eats brings the diverse flavors of the city’s best restaurants and food entrepreneurs to Worth Square, a prime location in the heart of New York’s historic Flatiron District. The highly anticipated bi-annual event draws hungry crowds of neighborhood residents, workers, and tourists who enjoy this unique opportunity to savor offerings from buzzworthy eateries.”

2018 Vendor List
Burger & Lobster / Jicama / Renegade Lemonade /
the Truffleist / Mayhem Sandwiches / Gotham Poke & Hawaiian Kitchen / Bao by Kaya / La Sonrisa / Frida’s Favorites / Roberta’s /
Duck Season / Daa! Dumplings / Mr. Bing / Baked Cheese Haus / Chick’NCone / Arancini Bros / Top Hops Beer Shop / CousCous /
Melt Ice cream Sandwiches / Ice & Vice / Palenque Arepas /
Coney Shack / Korilla / Casa Toscana / Enfes NYC

==========================================================================
♦ 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 63 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.

=====================================================
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.

Marie’s Crisis – 59 Grove St.

The Rum House, in the Hotel Edison – 228 W. 47th St.

Laurie Beechman Theatre – 407 W 42nd 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.

======================================================

NYCity Vacation Travel Guide Video (Expedia):

=============================================================================

A PremierPub / Midtown West

Russian Vodka Room / 265 W 52nd St (btw 7th/8th ave)

Sure, you could travel to Minsk or even Brighton Beach, for an authentic Russian experience, but why bother. On those days when you feel you must wash down your dish of kasha with a few glasses of icy, cold vodka, the Russian Vodka Room will definitely satisfy your urge.

From the outside this place looks a bit drab, and with no windows, a bit mysterious. Midtown tourists walk right by on their way to see “Jersey Boys,” just down the block.
(Alas, no more. After 10 years, “Jersey Boys” finally closed, now it’s “Mean Girls.”)

lThose in the know enter a secret hideaway, a dimly lit front room with soft jazz playing – a perfect spot for an illicit late-night rendezvous, or maybe a meet-up with your Russian spy handler, but that’s later in the evening. Early in the evening the large U-shaped bar fills with the after work happy hour crowd, a group made very happy by the much reduced prices.

Their website says: “Welcome Comrades”. Of course, this welcome focuses on dozens of different vodkas, including their own special infusions, which marinate in giant, clear glass jugs visible around the room. The large vodka martinis ensure that you won’t confuse this place with your mother’s Russian Tea Room.

But man does not live by vodka alone. Eat some food, especially the tapa like appetizers. Be decadent and try the cheese blintzes with chocolate, or try a main dish like beef stroganoff with kasha.

Your best bet is to go on a night when the piano man is playing. This guy, who looks like he has eaten a lot of those cheese blintzes, plays five nights a week from 7 to 12 (no Mondays and Thursdays). When the piano man is playing American pop tunes, and you are at the crowded, dimly lit bar testing the horseradish infused vodka, that’s when the RVR shines.

It’s the kind of place where the noise gets louder and the crowd gets happier as the happy hour goes on. I’m generally a beer guy, but I like to come here with a group of friends. We find a table in the back room near the piano man; we eat, and we drink vodka ‘till it hurts (and it will hurt).
=====================================================
Website: http://www.russianvodkaroom.com/
Phone #: 212-307-5835
Hours: 4pm-2am; Fri-Sun closes 4am (that could be trouble)
Happy Hour: 4-7pm every day
$4 shots infused vodka (2oz), $5 cosmos; $4 czech draft beer
Music: FR-SU; TU-WE / 7pm-12am
Subway: #1 to 50th St.
Walk 2 blk N. on B’way to 52nd St.; 1 blk W. to RVR
Confusingly, the Russian Samovar is right across the street, on the S. side of 52nd St.
The RVR, your destination, is on the N. side of 52nd St.
Update: music now includes a younger, trimmer piano man. “Tiny” we miss you.
Update#2: Rumor that “Tiny” is back playing only on Friday nights – need to check it out.

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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.
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NYC Events,”Only the Best” (05/29) + Museum Special Exhibitions: Manhattan’s 5th Avenue

Posted on 05/29/2018 by GregD

Today’s Sweet 6 NYC Events > TUESDAY/ MAY 29, 2018

“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, better check the tab above: “NYC Events-MAY”
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.

==========================================================

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

AMERICAN BALLET THEATER (Thru July 7)
at the Metropolitan Opera House / 7:30PM, $35+
Tonight: La Bayadère (May 29-Jun 02)
“Amid the sweeping vistas and grand temples of mystical India, this Russian classic is a glorious epic of eternal love and godly revenge. This season, ABT offers tour-de-force performances by Principal Dancers as the doomed temple dancer, Nikiya, the warrior who betrays her, Solor, and her archrival in love, Gamzatti. This ballet also features the renowned vision of the “Kingdom of the Shades,” showcasing the corps de ballet in gossamer white tutus, filling the stage in sublime unison as heavenly angels.”

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5 OTHER TOP NYC EVENTS TODAY (see below for full listing)
>> JOSH EVANS GROUP
>>The Bad Plus
>> Joseph Keckler
>> Steven Brill | Tailspin: The People and Forces Behind America’s Fifty-Year Fall—And Those Fighting to Reverse It
>> Walt Whitman Turns 199: Harbors, Heights, and a Brooklyn Celebration
Continuing Events
>> Fleet Week  
>> Mad. Sq. Eats
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Music, Dance, Performing Arts

JOSH EVANS GROUP
at Smalls / 10:30 p.m. and midnight, $
“By now there’s not much ambiguity left: We’ve got to reckon with Mr. Evans, a prodigious young trumpeter, who’s as good a poster child as any for the subterranean scene at Smalls, which carries an outsize importance on the New York scene. Straight-ahead jazz’s culture of cutthroat competition lives on at the club’s late-night jam sessions, and Mr. Evans has risen to the top of the heap thanks to a passionate but understated sound, blending the influences of Woody Shaw, Lee Morgan and Roy Hargrove. Every so often he leads a group of his own at Smalls; this time he’s joined by Mike DiRubbo on alto saxophone, Davis Whitfield on piano, Rashaan Carter on bass and Kush Abadey on drums.”

The Bad Plus (May 29-June 3)
Blue Note, 131 W. 3rd St. / 8PM, 10:30PM, $20-$35
Change—often difficult, even when necessary—shook the Bad Plus when the pianist Ethan Iverson (playing this week with Billy Hart’s quartet) left the popular trio, in 2017. But the group quickly rebounded with the pianist Orrin Evans and the aptly titled album “Never Stop II,” a vibrant recording that shies away from the cheeky reinventions of rock standards that originally garnered attention. The band has pulled off a graceful transition.” (NewYorker)

Joseph Keckler
Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater / 7PM, $20
“The intensely eclectic baritone Keckler draws on his operatic training and his performance-art instincts in an evening of story and song.” (TONY)

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Smart Stuff / Other NYC Events
(Lectures/Discussions, Book Talks, Film, Classes, Food & Drink, Other)

Steven Brill | Tailspin: The People and Forces Behind America’s Fifty-Year Fall—And Those Fighting to Reverse It
Book Culture on Columbus, 450 Columbus Ave./ 7PM, FREE
“Steven Brill’s name may be familiar from his founding and running of Court TV and magazines like The American Lawyer and Brill’s Content. His forthcoming new book provides an insider look at how American core values have led to dysfunction over the last half century, and how we might work our way out of the decline.” (ThoughtGallery.org)

Elsewhere, but old Walt is worth the detour:
Walt Whitman Turns 199: Harbors, Heights, and a Brooklyn Celebration
Brooklyn Historical Society, 128 Pierrepont St./ 6:30PM, $5
“From 1824 through the 1855 publication of Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman’s relationships with Brooklyn’s built and natural environments and the citizens who inhabited them left an indelible mark on his work. Join contemporary stewards of Whitman’s Brooklyn legacies, including Greg Trupiano of The Walt Whitman Project, Charles Jarden and Julian Macrone of the Fort Greene Park Conservancy, and Karen Karbiener of NYU and the Walt Whitman Initiative, along with readers Lonely Christopher and Elizabeth Nunez and opera singer Nicole Mitchell for this immersive, multimedia exploration of Brooklyn’s Bard on the occasion of his 199th birthday.”

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Continuing Events

Fleet Week (LAST DAY)
“If it’s the weekend before Memorial Day, then it must be time for Fleet Week. On Wednesday, the Parade of Ships will take place, with numerous vessels—including the amphibious transport dock USS Arlington, the missile destroyer USS Mitscher, and the oceanographic survey ship USNS Maury—heading up through the New York Harbor and up the Hudson. The ships are docked afterwards for the public to visit. Besides visiting participating ships and concerts, there are marine demos, Navy diver demos, and aviation displays.” (Gothamist)

The best Fleet Week events in NYC (TONY)

Othello (May28-Jun24)
Shakespeare Delacorte Theater, Central Park / 8PM, FREE*
“Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Jitney) directs the first offering of the Public Theater’s 2018 season of Shakespeare in the Park: an account of the Bard’s fast-paced tragedy of jealousy and misplaced trust, in which a villain preys on the insecurities of a Moorish war hero married to a white woman. The cast is headed by Chukwudi Iwuji as Othello, Corey Stoll as Iago and Heather Lind as Desdemona.”
*tickets are free (two per person) and may be picked up after noon on the day of performance (be prepared for long lines.) Some tickets are also distributed via online lottery.
See TONY’s complete guide to Shakespeare in the Park tickets for details.

Mad. Sq. Eats (May 07-31)
General Worth Square (5th Ave btw 25/26 St.) / near Madison Square Park
11AM-9PM; FREE
“Twice a year, this outdoor food fest brings buzzworthy bites from the city’s best restaurants to Worth Square in the Flatiron District. Highlights include Roberta’s sensational pizza, MeltKraft grilled cheese sandwiches and cheesesteaks by the Truffleist.” (TONY)

“Mad. Sq. Eats brings the diverse flavors of the city’s best restaurants and food entrepreneurs to Worth Square, a prime location in the heart of New York’s historic Flatiron District. The highly anticipated bi-annual event draws hungry crowds of neighborhood residents, workers, and tourists who enjoy this unique opportunity to savor offerings from buzzworthy eateries.”

2018 Vendor List
Burger & Lobster / Jicama / Renegade Lemonade /
the Truffleist / Mayhem Sandwiches / Gotham Poke & Hawaiian Kitchen / Bao by Kaya / La Sonrisa / Frida’s Favorites / Roberta’s /
Duck Season / Daa! Dumplings / Mr. Bing / Baked Cheese Haus / Chick’NCone / Arancini Bros / Top Hops Beer Shop / CousCous /
Melt Ice cream Sandwiches / Ice & Vice / Palenque Arepas /
Coney Shack / Korilla / Casa Toscana / Enfes NYC

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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 63 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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Bonus NYC events– 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:
(5 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)
Cornelia Street Cafe – UG, 29 Cornelia St. corneliastreetcafe.com, 212-989-9319 (6pm)

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)

Special Mention:
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 surprises with a wonderfully eclectic lineup. It’s my favorite spot for an evening of listening enjoyment and discovery.

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NYCity Vacation Travel Guide Video (Expedia):

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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)

‘THE FACE OF DYNASTY: ROYAL CRESTS FROM WESTERN CAMEROON’ (through Sept. 3). “Upstairs, the Michelangelos continue to knock ‘em dead; downstairs, in the African wing, a show of just four commanding wooden crowns constitutes a blockbuster of its own. These massive wooden crests — in the form of stylized human faces with vast vertical brows — served as markers of royal power among the Bamileke peoples of the Cameroonian grasslands, and the Met’s recent acquisition of an 18th-century specimen is joined here by three later examples, each featuring sharply protruding cheeks, broadly smiling mouths, and brows incised with involute geometric patterns. Ritual objects like these were decisive for the development of western modernist painting, and a Cameroonian crest was even shown at MoMA in the 1930s, as a “sculpture” divorced from ethnography. But these crests had legal and diplomatic significance as well as aesthetic appeal, and their anonymous African creators had a political understanding of art not so far from our own.” (Farago)

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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 05/27 and 05/25.
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NYC Events,”Only the Best” (05/28) + Today’s Featured Pub (Greenwich Village)

Posted on 05/28/2018 by GregD

Today’s Sweet 6 NYC Events > MONDAY/ MAY 28, 2018

“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, better check the tab above: “NYC Events-MAY”
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.

==========================================================

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

New York Philharmonic concert
Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine / 8PM, FREE
“Join the New York Philharmonic for its annual Memorial Day concert at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. This year’s program will feature Vaughan Williams’s “Fantasia on a Theme” by Thomas Tallis and Saint-Saëns’s “Organ Symphony.” Tickets are handed out starting at 6 p.m. on a first-come, first-served basis and go fast, so line up early if you want a spot.” (amNY)

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5 OTHER TOP NYC EVENTS TODAY (see below for full listing)
>> Jim Caruso’s Cast Party
>>Memorial Day Concert
>> Eva Noblezada: Girl No More
>> DanceAfrica
>> Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit
Continuing Events
>> Fleet Week 
>> Vision Festival
>> Mad. Sq. Eats
========================================================

Music, Dance, Performing Arts

Jim Caruso’s Cast Party
Birdland, / 9:30PM, $30
Jim Caruso’s Cast Party is a wildly popular weekly soiree that brings a sprinkling of Broadway glitz and urbane wit to the legendary Birdland in New York City every Monday night. It’s a cool cabaret night-out enlivened by a hilariously impromptu variety show. Showbiz superstars, backed by Steve Doyle on bass, Billy Stritch on piano and Daniel Glass on drums, hit the stage alongside up-and-comers, serving up jaw-dropping music and general razzle-dazzle.” (broadwayworld)

Elsewhere, but on Memorial Day this is worth the detour:
Memorial Day Concert
Green-Wood Cemetery, 500 25th St., Bklyn / 2;30PM, FREE
Including a Leonard Bernstein Centennial Celebration
“Celebrate the unofficial start of summer at Green-Wood Cemetery’s 20th annual Memorial Day concert. Whether seated upfront or relaxing on a blanket among Green-Wood’s rolling hills, you’ll listen to the ISO Symphonic Band and Orchestra – a wind, brass, and percussion ensemble comprising some of the most talented student musicians in the New York metro area, led by music director and conductor Brian P. Worsdale.

The works of many of Green-Wood’s “permanent residents,” including Fred Ebb, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, and Paul Jabara, will be played throughout the afternoon. This year’s concert will include a special program to celebrate the 100th birthday of Leonard Bernstein, the famed composer and conductor of the New York Philharmonic who created such timeless works as West Side Story and On the Town, among others. Visitors are invited to bring a blanket and enjoy this outdoor performance of patriotic favorites.”

Eva Noblezada: Girl No More
The Green Room 42 / 7PM, $35
“The Tony-nominated star of Broadway’s Miss Saigon shows off her range in a concert that includes favorites made famous by Amy Winehouse and Frank Sinatra.” (TONY)

Elsewhere, but this looks worth the detour (LAST DAY):
DanceAfrica
BAM,  30 Lafayette Ave, Bklyn.
“In honor of the centennial of Nelson Mandela’s birth, the DanceAfrica festival, at BAM this weekend, focusses on South Africa. Ingoma KwaZulu-Natal Dance Company is a kind of supergroup, bundling together just for this occasion four companies whose styles range from Zulu traditions to pantsula, the fleet-footed street dance that originated as a response to apartheid. Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre, from Durban, combines the dance forms of many cultures, a mix representative of its region: Zulu dances and pantsula, plus classical Indian and hip-hop.” (NewYorker-Brian Seibert)

Dance Africa is The Brooklyn Festival That Everyone—You, Your Parents, Your Kids—Should Attend – (whatshouldwedo.com)

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Smart Stuff / Other NYC Events
(Lectures/Discussions, Book Talks, Film, Classes, Food & Drink, Other)

Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit (Sat 26 through Mon 28)
University Place, btw E.13th and Waverly Pl. / 12PM-6PM, FREE
Enjoy looking at (and maybe buying some) oil paintings, pastels, watercolors, mixed media, graphics, photography, sculpture, and crafts including fabric, jewelry, glass, wood, and ceramics.

“This city tradition feels fresh every spring when artists following in the footsteps of Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning set up shop in the park. Hundreds of exhibitors, from NYU students to artists who remember the Village as a creative enclave, display their paintings, sculptures, photography, jewelry and woodcraft.” (TONY)

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Continuing Events

Fleet Week (May 23-29)
“If it’s the weekend before Memorial Day, then it must be time for Fleet Week. On Wednesday, the Parade of Ships will take place, with numerous vessels—including the amphibious transport dock USS Arlington, the missile destroyer USS Mitscher, and the oceanographic survey ship USNS Maury—heading up through the New York Harbor and up the Hudson. The ships are docked afterwards for the public to visit. Besides visiting participating ships and concerts, there are marine demos, Navy diver demos, and aviation displays.” (Gothamist)

The best Fleet Week events in NYC (TONY)

Elsewhere, but this looks worth the detour:

Vision Festival (LAST DAY)
Roulette / 509 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn / at various times, $40
“Moving across the river to Brooklyn once again, the Vision Festival remains steadfast in its commitment to exploratory jazz and the still active pioneers of the genre; the wide-ranging roster includes Oliver Lake, Matthew Shipp, Roscoe Mitchell, Mary Halvorson, Fay Victor, and the festival co-organizer William Parker. This year, the intrepid showcase celebrates the pianist and composer Dave Burrell, featured on opening night in various ensembles, including a reunion with another crucial free-jazz cohort, the saxophonist Archie Shepp.” (NewYorker)

“Vision Festival 2018: 8 acts not to miss at the annual jazz showcase” (TONY)

Mad. Sq. Eats (May 07-31)
General Worth Square (5th Ave btw 25/26 St.) / near Madison Square Park
11AM-9PM; FREE
“Twice a year, this outdoor food fest brings buzzworthy bites from the city’s best restaurants to Worth Square in the Flatiron District. Highlights include Roberta’s sensational pizza, MeltKraft grilled cheese sandwiches and cheesesteaks by the Truffleist.” (TONY)

“Mad. Sq. Eats brings the diverse flavors of the city’s best restaurants and food entrepreneurs to Worth Square, a prime location in the heart of New York’s historic Flatiron District. The highly anticipated bi-annual event draws hungry crowds of neighborhood residents, workers, and tourists who enjoy this unique opportunity to savor offerings from buzzworthy eateries.”

2018 Vendor List
Burger & Lobster / Jicama / Renegade Lemonade /
the Truffleist / Mayhem Sandwiches / Gotham Poke & Hawaiian Kitchen / Bao by Kaya / La Sonrisa / Frida’s Favorites / Roberta’s /
Duck Season / Daa! Dumplings / Mr. Bing / Baked Cheese Haus / Chick’NCone / Arancini Bros / Top Hops Beer Shop / CousCous /
Melt Ice cream Sandwiches / Ice & Vice / Palenque Arepas /
Coney Shack / Korilla / Casa Toscana / Enfes NYC

==========================================================================
♦ 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 63 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.

=====================================================

Bonus NYC Events – Music Venues:
So much fine live music every night in this town. These are my favorite non jazz music venues on Manhattan’s WestSide. Hit the Hot Link and 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
B.B. King’s Blues Bar – 237W42nd St., bbkingblues.com, 212-997-2144
Another outrageous rent increase by a rapacious NYC landlord closed BBKing’s as of April 29 – How Sad.
Le Poisson Rouge – 158 Bleecker St., lepoissonrouge.com, 212-505-3474
and one more, not exactly WestSide
Bowery Ballroom – 6 Delancey St. boweryballroom.com,

Special Mention:
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.
See Below.

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NYCity Vacation Travel Guide Video (Expedia):
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A PremierPub and 3 Good Eating Places – Greenwich Village

Caffe Vivaldi / 32 Jones Street (btw. Bleecker St./W4th St.)

Café Vivaldi is a classic, intimate club located in Greenwich Village on Jones Street, the street featured on the cover of Bob Dylan’s second album, “Freewheelin’. ”

maxresdefaultEach night Ishrat, the long time proprietor and impresario, carefully curates and schedules an eclectic series of musicians. You can often see him at his table in the corner, hard at work reviewing music videos and listening to cd demos on his laptop, scouting out future bookings. Musicians come from all over to play and sing in a club in Greenwich Village. Some are local New Yorkers, others are just passing through, in town for a few days.

There is a small bar, seating maybe 10. It’s close to the stage and I find it’s a perfect spot to sip a glass of red wine while listening to the music. The room itself has the performance area at one end and a cozy fireplace at the other. The performance area here is small, dominated by a large black Yamaha Grand piano. Tables are bunched together and most people at the tables are eating lite meals or sampling the wonderful desserts.

There is also a good selection of fairly priced wines,  but you are here because of the music. You can never be quite sure what you’re going to find, and that’s half the charm of this place. It’s not a home run every night, but many nights it’s pretty special.

I remember the night I saw the most talented bossa nova group, just in from San Paulo. As I listened, I wondered if there was any better music playing anywhere else in New York City that night. And at Caffé Vivaldi there is never a cover charge. Their recently redesigned web site does give you a better idea of the type of music playing each night.

At one time Greenwich Village was filled with clubs just like this, but times change. Real estate interests have impacted the village, and not for the better. Even Caffé Vivaldi had a rough time recently, when a new landlord raised the rent exorbitantly. Fortunately, Ishrat has built a loyal following over the years, and a fund raiser and slightly more reasonable rent has kept Café Vivaldi in business.

When Woody Allen and Al Pacino wanted to make movies featuring the timeless quality of Greenwich Village they came to Vivaldi. It’s important that we keep this special place alive, for if we lose Cafe Vivaldi, NYCity will have lost a piece of it’s soul.

Website: http://caffevivaldi.com/
Phone #: (212) 691-7538
Hours: Music generally 7:30PM – 11PM, but varies
Lunch/Dinner 11AM-on
Subway: #1 to Christopher St.
Walk 1 blk S. on 7th ave S. to Bleecker St., 1 blk left on Bleecker to Jones St., 50 yards left on Jones St. to Caffe V.
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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.

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

It’s not difficult to find a place to eat in Manhattan.
Finding a good, inexpensive place to eat is a bit harder.
Here are a few of my faves in this neighborhood:

Fish – 280 Bleecker St. (just a bit S. of 7th ave South)
This was an easy pick – the best raw bar special in town. $9 gets you 6 of the freshest oysters or clams + a glass of wine or beer. Don’t know how they can do it, but I tell everyone I know about this place. And it’s located right in the heart of some of the best no cover music in town.

Bleecker Street Pizza – 69 7th ave S. (corner of Bleecker St.)
The place is tiny and not much to look at, but this is one good slice. They like to brag that they have been voted “Best pizza in NY” 3 years in a row by the Food Network. I believe them. I would have voted for them.

Num Pang – 21 E 12th St. (btw. University Place/5th ave.)
This is a Cambodian banh mi sandwich shop that kept me well fed while I was in class nearby recently. It’s cramped, even for NYCity, but usually there is room up the spiral staircase to sit down and eat. In good weather carry your sandwich a few blocks to Union Square park. You may have to wait a few minutes, because everything is freshly made, but it’s worth it. Can you believe – an unheard of 26 food rating by Zagat.

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“3 Good Eating places” focuses on a quick bite, what I call “Fine Fast Food – NYCity Style”
No reservations needed.
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NYCity is the most diverse and interesting place to find a meal anywhere in the world. With more than 24,000 eating establishments you might welcome some advice.

◊ For all my picks of 54 Good Eating places, and essays on my favorite 18 PremierPubs in 9 Neighborhoods on Manhattan’s WestSide, order a copy of my e-book:
“Eating and Drinking on NYCity’s WestSide” ($4.99, available FALL 2018).
◊ Order before NOV.30, 2018 and receive a bonus – 27 of my favorite casual dining places with free Wi-Fi.

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NYC Events,”Only the Best” (05/27) + Museum Special Exhibitions: Manhattan’s WestSide

Posted on 05/27/2018 by GregD

Today’s Super 7 NYC Events > SUNDAY/ MAY 27, 2018

“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, better check the tab above: “NYC Events-MAY”
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.

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

Coppélia
NYS Theater, Lincoln Center / 3PM, $30+
“Most of our enduring three-act ballets are tragedies in which men do bad things and women die. The comic Coppélia, by contrast, is practically a feminist enterprise. A young man steps out on his girlfriend, only to find himself entrapped in a toymaker’s workshop where the plucky title character substitutes her living body for the mechanical doll that has distracted her guy. Originally choreographed in 1870 by Arthur Saint-Léon to a score by Léo Delibes and revived years later for the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg by Marius Petipa, it’s been overhauled by the great George Balanchine and Alexandra Danilova for the New York City Ballet, where it runs for the last week of the company’s spring season.” (Elizabeth Zimmer, Village Voice)

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6 OTHER TOP NYC EVENTS TODAY (see below for full listing)
>> Animaniacs Live!
>>Parsons Dance
>> Guillermo Klein y los Guachos
>> DanceAfrica
>> Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit
>> Passport to Taiwan
Continuing Events
>> Fleet Week 
>> Vision Festival
>> Mad. Sq. Eats
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Music, Dance, Performing Arts

Animaniacs Live!
Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater / 7PM, +9:30PM, $45
“Rob Paulsen, who voiced Yakko on the 1990s animated hit Animaniacs (and Pinky on Pinky and the Brain), revisits 20 songs from the show in a night of musical mostalgia. Accompanying him on piano is Emmy winner Randy Rogel, who wrote many of the toon tunes in question.” (TONY)

Parsons Dance (May 15-27)
Joyce Theater/ 2PM, $56+
“David Parsons and his company return to the Joyce with a mixed bill that comprises four pieces by Parsons himself—Wolfgang, Whirlaway, world premiere Microburst and company favorite Caught—as well as the company premiere of Trey McIntyre’s Ma Maison, set to music by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.” (TONY)

Guillermo Klein y los Guachos (LAST DAY)
Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Ave. S., at 11th St./ 8:30, +10:30PM, $35+
Ahead of the curve in the nineteen-nineties, when he initially convened his own large ensembles, this ambitious composer, arranger, pianist, and vocalist continues to thwart big-band conventions. Klein’s music delights in shifting time signatures, rich tonalities, and arresting multicultural influences, attracting some of the most farsighted improvisers around, including Miguel Zenon, Ben Monder, and Taylor Haskins.” (NewYorker)

Elsewhere, but this looks worth the detour (LAST DAYS):
DanceAfrica
BAM,  30 Lafayette Ave, Bklyn.
“In honor of the centennial of Nelson Mandela’s birth, the DanceAfrica festival, at BAM this weekend, focusses on South Africa. Ingoma KwaZulu-Natal Dance Company is a kind of supergroup, bundling together just for this occasion four companies whose styles range from Zulu traditions to pantsula, the fleet-footed street dance that originated as a response to apartheid. Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre, from Durban, combines the dance forms of many cultures, a mix representative of its region: Zulu dances and pantsula, plus classical Indian and hip-hop.” (NewYorker-Brian Seibert)

Dance Africa is The Brooklyn Festival That Everyone—You, Your Parents, Your Kids—Should Attend – (whatshouldwedo.com)

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Smart Stuff / Other NYC Events
(Lectures/Discussions, Book Talks, Film, Classes, Food & Drink, Other)

Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit (Sat 26 through Mon 28)
University Place, btw E.13th and Waverly Pl. / 12PM-6PM, FREE
Enjoy looking at (and maybe buying some) oil paintings, pastels, watercolors, mixed media, graphics, photography, sculpture, and crafts including fabric, jewelry, glass, wood, and ceramics.

“This city tradition feels fresh every spring when artists following in the footsteps of Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning set up shop in the park. Hundreds of exhibitors, from NYU students to artists who remember the Village as a creative enclave, display their paintings, sculptures, photography, jewelry and woodcraft.” (TONY)

Passport to Taiwan
Union Square / 12PM – 5PM, FREE
“Celebrate Taiwanese American Heritage Week in Union Square Park with live performances by Taiwanese-Americans and food traditionally found in Taiwan’s “night markets.” Learn the traditional arts of lion-head painting, paper umbrella making and sugar blowing with craft masters, and take notes on the soy sauce–making exhibition.” (TONY)

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Continuing Events

Fleet Week (May 23-29)
“If it’s the weekend before Memorial Day, then it must be time for Fleet Week. On Wednesday, the Parade of Ships will take place, with numerous vessels—including the amphibious transport dock USS Arlington, the missile destroyer USS Mitscher, and the oceanographic survey ship USNS Maury—heading up through the New York Harbor and up the Hudson. The ships are docked afterwards for the public to visit. Besides visiting participating ships and concerts, there are marine demos, Navy diver demos, and aviation displays.” (Gothamist)

The best Fleet Week events in NYC (TONY)

Elsewhere, but this looks worth the detour:

Vision Festival (May 23-28)
Roulette / 509 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn / at various times, $40
“Moving across the river to Brooklyn once again, the Vision Festival remains steadfast in its commitment to exploratory jazz and the still active pioneers of the genre; the wide-ranging roster includes Oliver Lake, Matthew Shipp, Roscoe Mitchell, Mary Halvorson, Fay Victor, and the festival co-organizer William Parker. This year, the intrepid showcase celebrates the pianist and composer Dave Burrell, featured on opening night in various ensembles, including a reunion with another crucial free-jazz cohort, the saxophonist Archie Shepp.” (NewYorker)

“Vision Festival 2018: 8 acts not to miss at the annual jazz showcase” (TONY)

Mad. Sq. Eats (May 07-31)
General Worth Square (5th Ave btw 25/26 St.) / near Madison Square Park
11AM-9PM; FREE
“Twice a year, this outdoor food fest brings buzzworthy bites from the city’s best restaurants to Worth Square in the Flatiron District. Highlights include Roberta’s sensational pizza, MeltKraft grilled cheese sandwiches and cheesesteaks by the Truffleist.” (TONY)

“Mad. Sq. Eats brings the diverse flavors of the city’s best restaurants and food entrepreneurs to Worth Square, a prime location in the heart of New York’s historic Flatiron District. The highly anticipated bi-annual event draws hungry crowds of neighborhood residents, workers, and tourists who enjoy this unique opportunity to savor offerings from buzzworthy eateries.”

2018 Vendor List
Burger & Lobster / Jicama / Renegade Lemonade /
the Truffleist / Mayhem Sandwiches / Gotham Poke & Hawaiian Kitchen / Bao by Kaya / La Sonrisa / Frida’s Favorites / Roberta’s /
Duck Season / Daa! Dumplings / Mr. Bing / Baked Cheese Haus / Chick’NCone / Arancini Bros / Top Hops Beer Shop / CousCous /
Melt Ice cream Sandwiches / Ice & Vice / Palenque Arepas /
Coney Shack / Korilla / Casa Toscana / Enfes NYC

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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 63 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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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.

Marie’s Crisis – 59 Grove St.

The Rum House, in the Hotel Edison – 228 W. 47th St.

Laurie Beechman Theatre – 407 W 42nd 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.

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NYCity Vacation Travel Guide Video (Expedia):

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WHAT’S ON VIEW
My Fave Special Exhibitions – MUSEUMS / Manhattan’s WestSide
(See the New York Times Arts Section for listings of all museums,
and also to see their expanded reviews of exhibitions)

Museum of Modern Art:

A special pat on the back to MOMA, who is now displaying art from the seven countries affected by Trump’s travel ban.

“Trump’s ban against refugees from seven Muslim-majority nations has sparked acts of defiance in NYC, from demonstrations across town, to striking taxicab drivers at JFK to Middle Eastern bodega owners closing their shops in protest. Recently, the Museum Of Modern added its two cents by bringing out artworks it owns from the affected countries, and hanging them prominently within the galleries usually reserved for 19th- and 20th-century artworks from Europe and the United States. Paintings by Picasso and Matisse, for example, were removed to make way for pieces by Tala Madani (from Iran), Ibrahim El-Salahi (from Sudan) and architect Zaha Hadid (from Iraq). The rehanging, which was unannounced, aims to create a symbolic welcome that repudiates Trump by creating a visual dialog between the newly added works and the more familiar objects from MoMA’s permanent collection.” (TONY)

Stephen Shore (LAST DAYS)

“This immersive and staggeringly charming retrospective is devoted to one of the best American photographers of the past half century. Shore has peers—Joel Meyerowitz, Joel Sternfeld, Richard Misrach, and, especially, William Eggleston—in a generation that, in the nineteen-seventies, stormed to eminence with color film, which art photographers had long disdained. His best-known series, “American Surfaces” and “Uncommon Places,” are both from the seventies and were mostly made in rugged Western states. The pictures in these series share a quality of surprise: appearances surely unappreciated if even really noticed by anyone before—in rural Arizona, a phone booth next to a tall cactus, on which a crude sign (“GARAGE”) is mounted, and, on a small-city street in Wisconsin, a movie marquee’s neon wanly aglow, at twilight. A search for fresh astonishments has kept Shore peripatetic, on productive sojourns in Mexico, Scotland, Italy, Ukraine, and Israel. He has remained a vestigial Romantic, stopping in space and 
time to frame views that exert a peculiar tug on him. This framing is resolutely formalist: subjects composed laterally, from edge to edge, and in depth. There’s never a “background.” The most distant element is as considered as the nearest. But only when looking for it are you conscious of Shore’s formal discipline, because it is as fluent as a language learned from birth. His best pictures at once arouse feelings and leave us alone to make what we will of them. He delivers truths, whether hard or easy, with something very like mercy.” (NewYorker)

Tarsila do Amaral (thru June 3)

Introducing New York to the First Brazilian Modernist
“Forty-five years after Tarsila do Amaral’s death, MOMA presents her first-ever museum exhibition in the U.S. Some artists are so iconic, they’re known by only one name: Brancusi, Léger, Tarsila. Wait, who? The painter Tarsila do Amaral is so famous in her native Brazil that forty-three years after her death she helped close out the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, when a projected pattern of red-orange-yellow arcs graced the stadium floor, an homage to her 1929 painting “Setting Sun.” That chimerical landscape—stylized sunset above tubular cacti and a herd of capybaras that shape-shift into boulders—hangs now at MOMA, in the artist’s first-ever museum exhibition in the U.S., “Tarsila do Amaral: Inventing Modern Art in Brazil.” (NewYorker)

‘TARSILA DO AMARAL: INVENTING MODERN ART IN BRAZIL’ (through June 3). “The subtitle is no overstatement: In the early 1920s, first in Paris and then back home in São Paulo, Brazil, this painter really did lay the groundwork for the coming of modernism in Latin America’s most populous nation. Tired of the European pretenders in Brazil’s art academies, Tarsila (who was always called by her first name) began to intermingle Western, African and indigenous motifs into flowing, biomorphic paintings, and to theorize a new national culture fueled by the principle of antropofagia, or “cannibalism.” Along with spare, assured drawings of Rio and the Brazilian countryside, this belated but very welcome show assembles Tarsila’s three most important paintings, including the classic “Abaporu” (1928): a semi-human nude with a spindly nose and a comically swollen foot. (Jason Farago)” (NYT)

Whitney Museum of American Art

‘GRANT WOOD: AMERICAN GOTHIC AND OTHER FABLES’ (through June 10). This well-done survey begins with the American Regionalist’s little-known efforts as an Arts and Crafts designer and touches just about every base. It includes his mural studies, book illustrations and most of his best-known paintings — including “American Gothic” and “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.” Best of all are Wood’s smooth undulant landscapes with their plowmen and spongy trees and infectious serenity. (Smith, NYT)

‘ZOE LEONARD: SURVEY’  (through June 10).
Some shows cast a spell. Zoe Leonard’s reverberant retrospective does. Physically ultra-austere, all white walls with a fiercely edited selection of objects — photographs of clouds taken from airplane windows; a mural collaged from vintage postcards; a scattering of empty fruit skins, each stitched closed with needle and thread — it’s an extended essay about travel, time passing, political passion and the ineffable daily beauty of the world. (Cotter, NYT)
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For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in right Sidebar dated 05/25 and 05/23.
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