NYC Events,”Only the Best” (01/14) + Today’s Featured Pub (Midtown West)

Posted on 01/14/2018 by GregD

Today’s Elite 8 NYC Events > SUNDAY/ JANUARY 14, 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-January”
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:

GlobalFest
B.B. King Blues Club, Lucille’s, Liberty Theater/ 7PM, $50
“The yearly planetary musical potpourri GlobalFest moves to Times Square, where, per usual, a dozen culturally disparate acts will perform on three stages for a convention’s worth of performing-arts presenters — and you! Drift between Jupiter & Okwess’s hard-charging Congolese post-rumba and the francophone boogie blues of Guadeloupe’s Delgres band, or between Brazilian singer Ava Rocha’s Tropicália-tinged pop and Detroit blues shouter Thornetta Davis. Don’t miss a rare appearance by Iranian singer Mohsen Namjoo, the polyphonic splendor of Georgia’s a cappella Iberi Choir, or Eva Salina & Peter Stan’s beautiful Balkan Romani songs. But time marches on, so Indian classical music meets hip-hop in Grand Tapestry and gender boundaries dissolve in the local all-female Mariachi Flor de Toloache. Dig La Dame Blanche’s revved-up Cuban rumbas, then mellow out to Miramar’s reimagining of Sylvia Rexac’s Puerto Rican boleros.” (Richard Gehr, Village Voice)

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7 OTHER TOP NYC EVENTS TODAY (see below for full listing)
>> Cracker & Camper Van Beethoven
>> Erin Markey: Rainbow Caverns—Greatest Hits of All Time Including the Future
>>TOM HARRELL
>> BILLY HARPER QUINTET
>>AMERICAN DANCE PLATFORM
>>Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio
>> 50 Years After MLK: A Dream Deferred
>>“Nine ways to honor Dr. King’s legacy this weekend.”
===========================================================

Music, Dance, Performing Arts

Cracker & Camper Van Beethoven
Highline Ballroom / 8PM, $
“Texan singer-songwriter David Lowery is one of rock’s most underrated jugglers: His ’80s band Camper Van Beethoven recorded scrappy, wry gems like “The Day That Lassie Went to the Moon” and “Take the Skinheads Bowling,” and his ’90s flagship Cracker served considerably beefier fare, like the grunge-era standard “Low.” Dig the versatility as Lowery brings both acts out for the same Highline Ballroom night.” (Craig Jenkins, NY Magazine)

Erin Markey: Rainbow Caverns—Greatest Hits of All Time Including the Future
Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater / 7PM, $25
“Brilliantly off-kilter actor-singer Markey has spent the past few years making people uncomfortable with her nervy, edgy, marvy brand of strangely connected and fiercely committed humor, most recently as Squeaky Fromme in the Encores! production of Assassins. This Under the Radar festival event includes musical excerpts from past shows A Ride On The Irish Cream (2016) and Boner Killer (2017) and the in-development Little Surfer (2019); guests include Markey’s sturdy companion, Becca Blackwell.” (TONY)

TOM HARRELL
at the Village Vanguard / 8:30 and 10:30PM, $35
“Mr. Harrell boasts a smoky surety on both trumpet and flugelhorn; at 71, he’s making some of the best music of his career, employing his bop-Romantic sensibility in midsize ensembles that feature some fabulous supporting actors. Through Sunday, he performs with Danny Grissett on piano, Ugonna Okegwo on bass and Adam Cruz on drums. After a break on Monday, the band plays six more nights with Jaleel Shaw joining on alto saxophone, and the drummer Joe Dyson subbing for Mr. Cruz.” (NYT-GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO)

BILLY HARPER QUINTET (Jan. 12-14)
at Smoke / 7, 9 and 10:30PM, $
“Mr. Harper was of the most consistently exciting tenor saxophonists to emerge in the late 1960s and early ’70s. He seemed to wield his horn like hot iron; his book of compositions, meanwhile, read as an insurrectionary tract, while fusing concepts from John Coltrane and Joe Henderson. His powers are undiminished, though we haven’t seen a leadership recording from him in roughly a decade, and he does not headline his own shows in New York often enough. Catch him here with Freddie Hendrix on trumpet, Francesca Tanksley on piano, Hwansu Kang on bass and Aaron Scott on drums.” (NYT-GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO)

AMERICAN DANCE PLATFORM (Jan. 12-14 at various times).
at the Joyce Theater / today: 2PM, +7:30PM, $66
These may be tough tickets, better order in advance.
“This festival, programmed by Christine Tschida, the director of Northrop at the University of Minnesota, wraps up this weekend with programs featuring shared performances. The newest pairing explores rhythm and showcases Ensemble Español Spanish Theater, which performs flamenco and folkloric dance, and Trinity Irish Dance Company. Other programs offer classic modern dance by Philadanco! alongside hula by Halau O Kekuhi; Jessica Lang Dance with, in its Joyce debut, Backhausdance; and BODYTRAFFIC with the tap ensemble Caleb Teicher and Company.” (NYT-GIA KOURLAS)

Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio
Jazz Standard / 7:30PM, 9:30PM, $35
“Today What’s not to love about Dr. Smith, from his omnipresent turban to his concocted title to his shape-shifting ability to get old-school funky and then in-the-moment weird? His groove-intense trio includes the guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg and the drummer Johnathan Blake.”(Ron Hart, Village Voice)

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

50 Years After MLK: A Dream Deferred
Apollo Theater / 3PM, FREE (you may have to watch this one online)
“The ’60s: The Years that Changed America festival kicks off at the Apollo Theater with the longstanding annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration from WNYC and the Apollo Theater, which features musical performances and brings together audiences from Harlem and around the city. The afternoon includes scholars, community leaders, and activists engaging in conversations that examine the future of social justice movements as we traverse the current social and political climate. The event also includes a performance by Vy Higginsen’s Gospel for Teens.” (nycguide)

More Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend Events
try New York Magazine’s very fine list:
“Nine ways to honor Dr. King’s legacy this weekend.”

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

Continuing Events

NYC Winter Jazzfest  (Jan.10-17)
Various times and venues, Prices vary
“More than 130 acts perform in twelve venues over eight days during the annual stamina-testing NYC Winter Jazzfest, which kicks off Wednesday, January 10, with emerging British jazz acts The Comet Is Coming, saxophonist Nubya Garcia, and trumpeter Yazz Ahmed. Coming up, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane pays tribute to his mother, Alice; drummer Teri Lyne Carrington hosts an all-star celebration of the late pianist Geri Allen; and flutist-composer Nicole Mitchell explores a sci-fi musical utopia. The core of the festival, of course, is the weekend marathon. Bundle up Friday night to hear saxophonist Rudresh Mahathappa’s rhythmically elliptical Indo-Pak Coalition, drummer Ches Smith’s Haiti-centric We All Break, and experimental Brooklyn duo Sonnymoon at various locations. And explore the free-jazz outskirts at the New School on Saturday with power trio Harriet Tubman and the Sun Ra Arkestra’s live score to the Ra-written 1974 Afrofuturist film Space Is the Place.” (Richard Gehr, Village Voice)

For 12 essential sets to catch this Friday/Saturday, January 12/13, see this good piece from NY Magazine: “Loud, Wild, Improvised”

The New York Jewish Film Festival  (Jan.10-23)
Watch the screenings at Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center
at various times; $15
“A wide variety of documentaries, narrative films and retrospectives awaits you at this packed festival. Catch Italian comedy Let Yourself Go (January 13, January 14), West Bank doc West of the Jordan River (January 23) a restored screening of 1937 Yiddish film The Dybbuk (January 14, January 17), among many others.” (TONY)

Today: 7:00 PM , Walter Reade Theater, Let Yourself Go
9:30 PM , Walter Reade Theater, Siege

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

Let there be light!
Erwin Redl’s Whiteout, a newly commissioned public art project, will light up in Madison Square Park. It consists of hundreds of transparent white spheres, each embedded with a white LED light, and suspended from a square grid of steel poles. The swaying sequence of light will be on display until April 2018.

==========================================================
Bonus NYC Events – Jazz Venues:
Many consider NYCity the Jazz capital of the world. Here are my favorite Jazz clubs, all on Manhattan’s WestSide. 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. South, villagevanguard.com, 212-255-4037
Blue Note – 131 W3rd St. nr 6th ave. bluenotejazz.com, 212-475-8592
55 Bar – basement @55 Christopher St. nr 7th ave.S. 55bar.com, 212-929-9883
Mezzrow – basement @ 163 W10th St. nr 7th Ave. mezzrow.com,646-476-4346
Smalls – basement @ 183 W10th St. smallslive.com, 646-476-4346
Cornelia Street Cafe – UG, 29 Cornelia St. corneliastreetcafe.com, 212-989-9319

Outside Greenwich Village:
Dizzy’s Club – Broadway @ 60th St. — jazz.org/dizzys / 212-258-9595
Birdland – 315 W44th St.(btw 8/9ave) — birdlandjazz.com / 212-581-3080
Smoke Jazz Club – 2751 Broadway nr.106th St. — smokejazz.com / 212-864-6662

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 enjoyment and discovery.

==============================================================================
♦ Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.
♦ NYCity, with a population of  8.5 million, had a record 60 million visitors last year and is TripAdvisor’s Traveler’s Choice Top U.S. Destination for 2017.  Quality shows draw crowds.
Try to reserve seats for these top NYC events in advance, even if just on day of performance.
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” closed Jan.15)

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

NYC Events,”Only the Best” (01/13) + GallerySpecialExhibits: Chelsea

Posted on 01/13/2018 by GregD

Today’s Elite 8 NYC Events > SATURDAY/ JANUARY 13, 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-January”
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:

Darlene Love
at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill / 8PM, $50
“The New York Times raved …”Darlene Love’s thunderbolt voice is as embedded in the history of rock and roll as Eric Clapton’s guitar or Bob Dylan’s lyrics.” Through the years, Darlene Love continues to captivate audiences worldwide with her warm, gracious stage presence and superb performances. This has been a banner season for Darlene. Her new CD, released via Sony/Columbia/Wicked Cool Records has been greeted with sensational critical reaction and numerous TV presentations. Produced by fellow musician and long time friend Steven Van Zandt, it includes selections written for Darlene by Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Jimmy Webb and many others including two notable songs by Stevie himself.”

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

7 OTHER TOP NYC EVENTS TODAY (see below for full listing)
>> BILLY HARPER QUINTET
>> Le Nozze di Figaro
>> AMERICAN DANCE PLATFORM
>> Joshua Redman
>>Vijay Iyer Sextet
>>Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio
>>“Nine ways to honor Dr. King’s legacy this weekend.”
===========================================================

Music, Dance, Performing Arts

BILLY HARPER QUINTET (Jan. 12-14)
at Smoke / 7, 9 and 10:30PM, $
“Mr. Harper was of the most consistently exciting tenor saxophonists to emerge in the late 1960s and early ’70s. He seemed to wield his horn like hot iron; his book of compositions, meanwhile, read as an insurrectionary tract, while fusing concepts from John Coltrane and Joe Henderson. His powers are undiminished, though we haven’t seen a leadership recording from him in roughly a decade, and he does not headline his own shows in New York often enough. Catch him here with Freddie Hendrix on trumpet, Francesca Tanksley on piano, Hwansu Kang on bass and Aaron Scott on drums.” (NYT-GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO)

Le Nozze di Figaro (next and last performance Jan.19, 7:30PM)
Metropolitan Opera House / 8PM, $
“An exceptional ensemble of performers—including Ailyn Pérez, Nadine Sierra, Isabel Leonard, Luca Pisaroni, Mariusz Kwiecien, and Ildar Abdrazakov—share the stage in Mozart’s comic yet profound look at human nature and one crazy day in a wealthy Spanish household. Acclaimed Mozartean maestro Harry Bicket conducts Richard Eyre’s high-spirited production.”

AMERICAN DANCE PLATFORM (Jan. 12-14 at various times).
at the Joyce Theater / tonight: 8PM, $66
These may be tough tickets, better order in advance.
“This festival, programmed by Christine Tschida, the director of Northrop at the University of Minnesota, wraps up this weekend with programs featuring shared performances. The newest pairing explores rhythm and showcases Ensemble Español Spanish Theater, which performs flamenco and folkloric dance, and Trinity Irish Dance Company. Other programs offer classic modern dance by Philadanco! alongside hula by Halau O Kekuhi; Jessica Lang Dance with, in its Joyce debut, Backhausdance; and BODYTRAFFIC with the tap ensemble Caleb Teicher and Company.” (NYT-GIA KOURLAS)

Joshua Redman (Jan. 9-14)
Blue Note, 131 W. 3rd St./ 8PM, 10:30PM, $30-$45
“The ability to hold a band together, thus insuring a unified ensemble identity, is not to be undervalued. The saxophonist Redman can flit about among a swath of side projects, but he always finds his way back to his trusted quartet, which counts the pianist Aaron Goldberg, the bassist Reuben Rogers, and the drummer Gregory Hutchinson as its loyal members.” (NewYorker)

Vijay Iyer Sextet (Jan.9-13)
Birdland / 7:30PM, 10:30PM, $40
“A band for the age, if not the ages, the Vijay Iyer Sextet is the latest poll-topping project by the ever-experimenting pianist. Cerebral yet appealing, or appealingly cerebral, the group’s recent ECM release, Far from Over, is a bracing blast of contemporary jazz at its most uncompromisingly complex and virtuosic. With only a couple of low-voltage exceptions, the music is relentlessly dynamic, thanks in large part to the turbulent combustications of drummer Tyshawn Sorey (the equally formidable Marcus Gilmore replaces him for the final two dates of this five-show run). Iyer familiars reunite and recombine. Saxophonists Steve Lehman (alto) and Mark Shim (tenor) helix regularly, while Graham Haynes provides spacier horns (cornet, flugelhorn) and electronics. Longtime Iyer trio member Stephan Crump returns on bass, while Iyer sparkles, provokes, glosses, and annotates throughout.” (Richard Gehr, Village Voice)

Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio
Jazz Standard / 7:30PM, 9:30PM, $35
“On a sultry night in June 2016, Dr. Lonnie Smith celebrated his 75th birthday with an inspired performance at the Jazz Standard with his longtime trio of Jonathan Kreisberg (guitar) and Johnathan Blake (drums). They marked the turban-clad B3 icon’s milestone trip around the sun with a joyous set featuring funky, inventive renditions of Wayne Shorter’s “JuJu,” Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” (with Joe Dyson guesting on drums), and the 1962 Freddie Hubbard composition “Up Jumped Spring,” in addition to a revamped version of the good doctor’s own 1977 jam “All in My Mind,” with Alicia Olatuja on vocals. That song also serves as the title cut to the album that was recorded and produced from the concert by Blue Note president Don Was, who was instrumental in bringing Smith back to the label whose sound he helped define in the ’60s. All in My Mind will hit stores on January 12, and its release is being celebrated at the very place it originated, with a three-night stand at the Standard. The Hammond heat from this living master of soul jazz will certainly bring some much-needed warmth to this city trapped in a deep freeze.” (Ron Hart, Village Voice)

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

Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend Events
try New York Magazine’s very fine list:
“Nine ways to honor Dr. King’s legacy this weekend.”

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

Continuing Events

NYC Winter Jazzfest  (Jan.10-17)
Various times and venues, Prices vary
“More than 130 acts perform in twelve venues over eight days during the annual stamina-testing NYC Winter Jazzfest, which kicks off Wednesday, January 10, with emerging British jazz acts The Comet Is Coming, saxophonist Nubya Garcia, and trumpeter Yazz Ahmed. Coming up, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane pays tribute to his mother, Alice; drummer Teri Lyne Carrington hosts an all-star celebration of the late pianist Geri Allen; and flutist-composer Nicole Mitchell explores a sci-fi musical utopia. The core of the festival, of course, is the weekend marathon. Bundle up Friday night to hear saxophonist Rudresh Mahathappa’s rhythmically elliptical Indo-Pak Coalition, drummer Ches Smith’s Haiti-centric We All Break, and experimental Brooklyn duo Sonnymoon at various locations. And explore the free-jazz outskirts at the New School on Saturday with power trio Harriet Tubman and the Sun Ra Arkestra’s live score to the Ra-written 1974 Afrofuturist film Space Is the Place.” (Richard Gehr, Village Voice)

For 12 essential sets to catch this Friday/Saturday, January 12/13, see this good piece from NY Magazine: “Loud, Wild, Improvised”

The New York Jewish Film Festival  (Jan.10-23)
Watch the screenings at Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center
at various times; $15
“A wide variety of documentaries, narrative films and retrospectives awaits you at this packed festival. Catch Italian comedy Let Yourself Go (January 13, January 14), West Bank doc West of the Jordan River (January 23) a restored screening of 1937 Yiddish film The Dybbuk (January 14, January 17), among many others.” (TONY)

Today: 7:00 PM , Walter Reade Theater, Let Yourself Go
9:30 PM , Walter Reade Theater, Siege

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

Let there be light!
Erwin Redl’s Whiteout, a newly commissioned public art project, will light up in Madison Square Park. It consists of hundreds of transparent white spheres, each embedded with a white LED light, and suspended from a square grid of steel poles. The swaying sequence of light will be on display until April 2018.

=====================================================
Bonus NYC events– Jazz Venues:
Many consider NYCity the Jazz capital of the world. Here are my favorite Jazz clubs, all on Manhattan’s WestSide. 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. South, villagevanguard.com, 212-255-4037
Blue Note – 131 W3rd St. nr 6th ave. bluenotejazz.com, 212-475-8592
55 Bar – basement @55 Christopher St. nr 7th ave.S. 55bar.com, 212-929-9883
Mezzrow – basement @ 163 W10th St. nr 7th Ave. mezzrow.com,646-476-4346
Smalls – basement @ 183 W10th St. smallslive.com, 646-476-4346
Cornelia Street Cafe – UG, 29 Cornelia St. corneliastreetcafe.com, 212-989-9319

Outside Greenwich Village:
Dizzy’s Club – Broadway @ 60th St. — jazz.org/dizzys / 212-258-9595
Birdland – 315 W44th St.(btw 8/9ave) — birdlandjazz.com / 212-581-3080
Smoke Jazz Club – 2751 Broadway nr.106th St. — smokejazz.com / 212-864-6662

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 enjoyment and discovery.

==================================================================================
♦ Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.
♦ NYCity, with a population of  8.5 million, had a record 60 million visitors last year and was TripAdvisor’s Traveler’s Choice Top U.S. Destination for 2017.  Quality shows draw crowds.
Try to reserve seats for these top NYC events in advance, even if just on day of performance.
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.

Gordon Parks: I Am You, Part 1
New views from a late visionary.
The first installment of two, this show devoted to the great photographer of the civil-rights movement focuses on lesser-known work from the ’50s and ’60s, like portraits of artists including Calder and Giacometti and vérité fashion photography that paved the way for today’s street-style portraiture.
Jack Shainman Gallery, 524 West 24th Street. Opens January 11.(NYMagazine)

Here are two exhibitions the New Yorker likes:

“The Shadow Archive: An Investigation Into Vernacular Portrait Photography”

Walther Collection, 526 W. 26th St. (thru Mar.31)

“The first in a multiyear series of shows about photographs made for commercial or practical purposes, curated by Brian Wallis, considers the portrait. Most of the images date to the nineteenth century; all of them fit into typologies. Fifteen tintypes of “workers with tools of their trade” include a barber, a piano tuner, and a sword swallower; several mug shots attributed to the California sheriff Thomas Cunningham are so picturesque that they could be mistaken for stills from a Hollywood period piece. Passport photographers across Africa take full-length portraits and cut out the heads, leaving behind accidental studies of fashion. A mesmerizing series of such discards, shown here, were taken against a red background in Gulu, Uganda, and collected by the Italian-born journalist Martina Bacigalupo. A found group of forty-eight color snapshots of migrant farmworkers, each holding up a paper number—their source is unknown—takes the idea of identifying documents in a more chilling direction.”

Lee Krasner

Kasmin, 293 Tenth Ave., at 27th St. (LAST DAY)

“Working in her late husband Jackson Pollock’s East Hampton studio, often at night, in the years following his accidental death, in 1956, Krasner produced twenty-four paintings in a series she titled “Umber,” five of which are on view in this small but powerful show. They’re rough and explosive abstractions in which thick strokes of black, brown, and off-white jostle against the edges of the canvas and one another. While the works clearly suggest an artist trying to externalize grief, there’s a joyful aspect to them, too. In the center of a brown storm of brushstrokes spattered with creamy blotches, titled “Fecundity,” several curving black lines evoke the expansive feeling of gracefully opening arms.”

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

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 01/11 and 01/09.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

NYC Events,”Only the Best” (01/12) + Today’s Featured Pub (Times Square / Theater District)

Posted on 01/12/2018 by GregD

Today’s Elite 8 NYC Events > FRIDAY/ JANUARY 12, 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-January”
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:

Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio
Jazz Standard / 7:30PM, 9:30PM, $35
“On a sultry night in June 2016, Dr. Lonnie Smith celebrated his 75th birthday with an inspired performance at the Jazz Standard with his longtime trio of Jonathan Kreisberg (guitar) and Johnathan Blake (drums). They marked the turban-clad B3 icon’s milestone trip around the sun with a joyous set featuring funky, inventive renditions of Wayne Shorter’s “JuJu,” Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” (with Joe Dyson guesting on drums), and the 1962 Freddie Hubbard composition “Up Jumped Spring,” in addition to a revamped version of the good doctor’s own 1977 jam “All in My Mind,” with Alicia Olatuja on vocals. That song also serves as the title cut to the album that was recorded and produced from the concert by Blue Note president Don Was, who was instrumental in bringing Smith back to the label whose sound he helped define in the ’60s. All in My Mind will hit stores on January 12, and its release is being celebrated at the very place it originated, with a three-night stand at the Standard. The Hammond heat from this living master of soul jazz will certainly bring some much-needed warmth to this city trapped in a deep freeze.” (Ron Hart, Village Voice)

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

7 OTHER TOP NYC EVENTS TODAY (see below for full listing)
>> BILLY HARPER QUINTET
>> JTosca
>> AMERICAN DANCE PLATFORM
>> Joshua Redman
>>Vijay Iyer Sextet
>>Kovarsky’s World: Covers and Cartoons from the New Yorker
>>The History of the End of the World
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Music, Dance, Performing Arts

BILLY HARPER QUINTET (Jan. 12-14)
at Smoke / 7, 9 and 10:30PM, $
“Mr. Harper was of the most consistently exciting tenor saxophonists to emerge in the late 1960s and early ’70s. He seemed to wield his horn like hot iron; his book of compositions, meanwhile, read as an insurrectionary tract, while fusing concepts from John Coltrane and Joe Henderson. His powers are undiminished, though we haven’t seen a leadership recording from him in roughly a decade, and he does not headline his own shows in New York often enough. Catch him here with Freddie Hendrix on trumpet, Francesca Tanksley on piano, Hwansu Kang on bass and Aaron Scott on drums.” (NYT-GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO)

Tosca (Dec 31 – May 12; next Jan.15, 7:30pm)
The Metropolitan Opera / 8PM, $
“Rivaling the splendor of Franco Zeffirelli’s set and costumes of the Napoleonic era, Sir David McVicar’s ravishing new production offers a splendid backdrop for two extraordinary sopranos sharing the title role of the jealous prima donna: Sonya Yoncheva and Anna Netrebko. Vittorio Grigolo and Marcelo Álvarez alternate in the role of Tosca’s revolutionary artist lover Cavaradossi, with Bryn Terfel, Michael Volle, and Željko Lučić as the depraved police chief Scarpia. Andris Nelsons conducts.”

AMERICAN DANCE PLATFORM (Jan. 12-14 at various times).
at the Joyce Theater / tonight: 8PM, $66
These may be tough tickets, better order in advance.
“This festival, programmed by Christine Tschida, the director of Northrop at the University of Minnesota, wraps up this weekend with programs featuring shared performances. The newest pairing explores rhythm and showcases Ensemble Español Spanish Theater, which performs flamenco and folkloric dance, and Trinity Irish Dance Company. Other programs offer classic modern dance by Philadanco! alongside hula by Halau O Kekuhi; Jessica Lang Dance with, in its Joyce debut, Backhausdance; and BODYTRAFFIC with the tap ensemble Caleb Teicher and Company.” (NYT-GIA KOURLAS)

Joshua Redman (Jan. 9-14)
Blue Note, 131 W. 3rd St./ 8PM, 10:30PM, $30-$45
“The ability to hold a band together, thus insuring a unified ensemble identity, is not to be undervalued. The saxophonist Redman can flit about among a swath of side projects, but he always finds his way back to his trusted quartet, which counts the pianist Aaron Goldberg, the bassist Reuben Rogers, and the drummer Gregory Hutchinson as its loyal members.” (NewYorker)

Vijay Iyer Sextet (Jan.9-13)
Birdland / 7:30PM, 10:30PM, $40
“A band for the age, if not the ages, the Vijay Iyer Sextet is the latest poll-topping project by the ever-experimenting pianist. Cerebral yet appealing, or appealingly cerebral, the group’s recent ECM release, Far from Over, is a bracing blast of contemporary jazz at its most uncompromisingly complex and virtuosic. With only a couple of low-voltage exceptions, the music is relentlessly dynamic, thanks in large part to the turbulent combustications of drummer Tyshawn Sorey (the equally formidable Marcus Gilmore replaces him for the final two dates of this five-show run). Iyer familiars reunite and recombine. Saxophonists Steve Lehman (alto) and Mark Shim (tenor) helix regularly, while Graham Haynes provides spacier horns (cornet, flugelhorn) and electronics. Longtime Iyer trio member Stephan Crump returns on bass, while Iyer sparkles, provokes, glosses, and annotates throughout.” (Richard Gehr, Village Voice)

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

Kovarsky’s World: Covers and Cartoons from the New Yorker
Society of Illustrators; 10am; free with $15 admission. opening reception tonight at 6:30PM,  cash bar.
“The works of prolific cartoonist, illustrator and painter Anatol Kovarsky appeared in Colliers, Life, Playboy, Sports Illustrated, andThe Herald Tribune, but its his many works for The New Yorker that are featured in this exhibit. Kovarsky started contributing to the mag in 1947, creating dozens of covers and nearly 300 cartoons over the next two decades. Check out his impressive catalogue—and have a chuckle or two—at this Society of Illustrators exhibit.” (TONY)

The History of the End of the World
The Strand, 828 Broadway / 7PM, $20, includes complimentary beer and wine
Think Olio is back at the Strand for The End of the World!
Come join Jamie Warren and Lawrence Cappello for an Olio about the end of the world. We will examine the social and political forces that have historically produced such apocalyptic fantasies and the radical prescriptions for building a perfect society.” (ThoughtGallery.org)

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Continuing Events

NYC Winter Jazzfest  (Jan.10-17)
Various times and venues, Prices vary
“More than 130 acts perform in twelve venues over eight days during the annual stamina-testing NYC Winter Jazzfest, which kicks off Wednesday, January 10, with emerging British jazz acts The Comet Is Coming, saxophonist Nubya Garcia, and trumpeter Yazz Ahmed. Coming up, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane pays tribute to his mother, Alice; drummer Teri Lyne Carrington hosts an all-star celebration of the late pianist Geri Allen; and flutist-composer Nicole Mitchell explores a sci-fi musical utopia. The core of the festival, of course, is the weekend marathon. Bundle up Friday night to hear saxophonist Rudresh Mahathappa’s rhythmically elliptical Indo-Pak Coalition, drummer Ches Smith’s Haiti-centric We All Break, and experimental Brooklyn duo Sonnymoon at various locations. And explore the free-jazz outskirts at the New School on Saturday with power trio Harriet Tubman and the Sun Ra Arkestra’s live score to the Ra-written 1974 Afrofuturist film Space Is the Place.” (Richard Gehr, Village Voice)

For 12 essential sets to catch this Friday/Saturday, January 12/13, see this good piece from NY Magazine: “Loud, Wild, Improvised”

The New York Jewish Film Festival  (Jan.10-23)
Watch the screenings at Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center
at various times; $15
“A wide variety of documentaries, narrative films and retrospectives awaits you at this packed festival. Catch Italian comedy Let Yourself Go (January 13, January 14), West Bank doc West of the Jordan River (January 23) a restored screening of 1937 Yiddish film The Dybbuk (January 14, January 17), among many others.” (TONY)

No Screenings today
tomorrow:Walter Reade Theater, Let Yourself Go

Walter Reade Theater, Siege

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Let there be light!
Erwin Redl’s Whiteout, a newly commissioned public art project, will light up in Madison Square Park. It consists of hundreds of transparent white spheres, each embedded with a white LED light, and suspended from a square grid of steel poles. The swaying sequence of light will be on display until April 2018.

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Bonus NYC Events – Music Venues:
So much fine live music every night in this town. These are my favorite non jazz music venues, almost all on Manhattan’s WestSide. Check out who’s playing tonight:

City Winery – 155 Varick St., citywinery.com, 212-608-0555
Feinstein’s/54 Below – 254 W54th St., 54below.com, 646-476-3551
Joe’s Pub @ Public Theater – 425 Lafayette St., joespub.com, 212-967-7555
Metropolitan Room – 34W22ndSt., metropolitan room.com, 212-206-0440
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
Bowery Ballroom – 6 Delancey St. boweryballroom.com,
Le Poisson Rouge – 158 Bleecker St., lepoissonrouge.com, 212-505-3474

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 enjoyment and discovery.

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♦ Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.
♦ NYCity, with a population of  8.5 million, had a record 60 million visitors last year and was TripAdvisor’s Traveler’s Choice Top U.S. Destination for 2017.  Quality shows draw crowds.
Try to reserve seats for these top NYC events in advance, even if just on day of performance.
NYCity Vacation Travel Guide Video (Expedia):

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A PremierPub

Jimmy’s Corner / 140 W 44th St (btw B’way & 7th ave)

IMG_2083Jimmy’s Corner is right in the heart of Times Square, but you won’t find it on the corner, it’s mid-block. Enter this long narrow bar and you are struck by the walls covered with mostly black-and-white boxing photographs, and memorabilia. Soon enough you learn that “Corner” refers to proprietor Jimmy Glenn’s long career as a corner man for some of boxing greats – Liston, Tyson, even “the greatest,” Ali.

Jimmy’s is a sort of time machine, taking you back to a time and place that no longer exists. All around you Times Square has cleaned up, grown up, assumed a new identity. Jimmy’s probably hasn’t changed a bit since it first opened in 1971. Certainly the bar itself looks original and the prices haven’t changed much either. When I brought a friend, who owns her own bar, she was surprised when she got the small tab for a round of drinks. Figured there must be a mistake, that maybe they forgot to charge for all the drinks.

Times Square today is filled with neon glitz and wandering tourists from Dubuque, but not Jimmy’s. You’ll likely find some old timer’s at the bar nursing their drinks, some younger locals at tables in the back, and maybe a few adventuresome tourists clutching their trusty guidebooks. There’s no food served here because this is just a bar, and sometimes that’s all you need.

On nights when no local team is playing, it’s a fine place to sip some drafts and listen to a great old time jukebox, with a great selection of  40s& 50s R&B and soul. On sports nights this very narrow bar can get a bit claustrophobic, filled with excited fans watching their team on the TVs. Either way, Jimmy’s is the place to be if you are looking for an old time bar in the new Times Square.
————————————————————————————————————————
Website: are you kidding !
(although there is a facebook page with lots of photos –
facebook.com/jimmyscornernyc)
Phone #: 212-221-9510
Hours: 11am – 4 am, except Sunday they open 12 noon
Happy Hour: not necessary, low prices all day, every day
Subway: #1,2,3 to TimesSquare 42nd st
walk 2 blks N on 7th ave to 44th st; ½ blk E to Jimmy’s

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

NYC Events,”Only the Best” (01/11) + Museum Special Exhibitions: Manhattan’s 5th Avenue

Posted on 01/11/2018 by GregD

Today’s Elite 8 NYC Events > THURSDAY/ JANUARY 11, 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-January”
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:

Roomful of Teeth
Carnegie Hall, Zankel Hall / 7:30PM, $35-$45
“When Caroline Shaw’s Partita for 8 Voices won the Pulitzer Prize in 2013, the piece also drew attention to the orchestralike a cappella ensemble she sings in and wrote it for. Now that group, Roomful of Teeth, performs that work and also joins up with jazz pianist and composer Tigran Hamasyan for the local premiere of his Ser Aravote and of Ambrose Akinmusire’s A Promise in the Stillness.” (Justin Davidson, NY magazine)

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7 OTHER TOP NYC EVENTS TODAY (see below for full listing)
>> Changüí Majadero
>> JJOSÉ JAMES
>> AMERICAN DANCE PLATFORM
>> Joshua Redman
>>Vijay Iyer Sextet
>>Katy Tur Presents Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History
>>Your Nam
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Music, Dance, Performing Arts

Changüí Majadero
Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center/ 7:30PM, FREE, better get there early for a seat.
“Playing Cuban roots music straight out of East LA, Changüí Majadero is a blazing five-piece band that has honed a deeply informed and highly personal take on changüí, a surging Afro-Cuban musical tradition that took shape in the late 19th century on the eastern side of the island around Guantanamo. It’s one of the foundational styles that gave birth to son, salsa, and timba, and in the hands of Changüí Majadero the music feels fresh and intoxicating. Founded by vocalist Gabriel García, an expert on Cuban tres guitar, the band features bassist Yosmel Montejo, Norrell Thompson on vocals and guayo (metal scraper), George Ortiz on the low-pitched bongó de monte, and Alfred Ortiz on maracas and vocals.”

JOSÉ JAMES
at Le Poisson Rouge / 7PM, $30
“Mr. James sometimes uses his sleepy baritone to boast, or to posture, or to console — typical soul singer stuff — but it’s hard to get lost in his singing. He’s a shy romantic, relativist and self-questioning and complex: Whether by design or not, it’s the uncertainty that makes his work interesting. His newest project is a tribute to Bill Withers, another singer whose music always seemed more defined by his internal life than by his public persona. Mr. James presents Mr. Withers’ music here with an expert quintet. The concert also includes sets from three acts with their own ideas about how to make dance music surprising: My Brightest Diamond, the No BS! Brass Band, and Knower.” (NYT-GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO)

AMERICAN DANCE PLATFORM (Jan. 9-14 at various times).
at the Joyce Theater / tonight: 7:30PM, $66
These may be tough tickets, better order in advance.
“This showcase of domestic dance arrives at the Joyce with four pairings of stylistically and geographically diverse troupes from around the country. On Jan. 9 and 14 (evening), the innovative choreographer Caleb Teicher — also a stellar tap performer — shares a program with the dynamic Los Angeles-based contemporary dance company BODYTRAFFIC. On Jan. 10 and 14 (matinee), New York’s Jessica Lang Dance splits the bill with Backhausdance from California’s Orange County, both examples of polished virtuosity. On Jan. 11 and Jan. 13, the veteran modern dance company PHILADANCO!, hailing from Philadelphia, meets Halau O Kekuhi, hailing from Hawaii and noted for its explosive style of hula inspired by legends about the volcanoes.” (NYT-BRIAN SCHAEFER)

Joshua Redman (Jan. 9-14)
Blue Note, 131 W. 3rd St./ 8PM, 10:30PM, $30-$45
“The ability to hold a band together, thus insuring a unified ensemble identity, is not to be undervalued. The saxophonist Redman can flit about among a swath of side projects, but he always finds his way back to his trusted quartet, which counts the pianist Aaron Goldberg, the bassist Reuben Rogers, and the drummer Gregory Hutchinson as its loyal members.” (NewYorker)

Vijay Iyer Sextet (Jan.9-13)
Birdland / 7:30PM, 10:30PM, $40
“A band for the age, if not the ages, the Vijay Iyer Sextet is the latest poll-topping project by the ever-experimenting pianist. Cerebral yet appealing, or appealingly cerebral, the group’s recent ECM release, Far from Over, is a bracing blast of contemporary jazz at its most uncompromisingly complex and virtuosic. With only a couple of low-voltage exceptions, the music is relentlessly dynamic, thanks in large part to the turbulent combustications of drummer Tyshawn Sorey (the equally formidable Marcus Gilmore replaces him for the final two dates of this five-show run). Iyer familiars reunite and recombine. Saxophonists Steve Lehman (alto) and Mark Shim (tenor) helix regularly, while Graham Haynes provides spacier horns (cornet, flugelhorn) and electronics. Longtime Iyer trio member Stephan Crump returns on bass, while Iyer sparkles, provokes, glosses, and annotates throughout.” (Richard Gehr, Village Voice)

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

Elsewhere, but this looks worth the detour:

Katy Tur Presents Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History
Greenlight Bookstore, 686 Fulton St.Bklyn / 7:30PM, FREE
“Fort Greene locals, journalists Katy Tur and Touré, come together to talk about Tur’s new book, Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History. In it, Tur relays her experience as an NBC correspondent at turns singled out, bullied, and kissed by then failed casino operator Donald Trump.” (ThoughtGallery.org)

Your Name
The Museum of Modern Art / 7:30PM, $8–$12
“Japan’s biggest hit in 2016 and the highest-grossing anime film of all time, Makoto Shinkai’s lush mindbender Your Name has many elements that are familiar on their own but here combine to create something unique. Mitsuha (Mone Kamishiraishi) and Taki (Ryûnosuke Kamiki) are teenage strangers living very different lives. She’s in a remote village, while he’s in the hustle and bustle of Tokyo — right where Mitsuha wishes she could be. Your Name is the most beautiful anime since Patema Inverted, with which it shares themes about the difficulties of personal connections as represented by inexplicable cosmic phenomena.” (Sherilyn Connelly, Village Voice)

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Continuing Events

NYC Winter Jazzfest  (Jan.10-17)
Various times and venues, Prices vary
“More than 130 acts perform in twelve venues over eight days during the annual stamina-testing NYC Winter Jazzfest, which kicks off Wednesday, January 10, with emerging British jazz acts The Comet Is Coming, saxophonist Nubya Garcia, and trumpeter Yazz Ahmed. Coming up, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane pays tribute to his mother, Alice; drummer Teri Lyne Carrington hosts an all-star celebration of the late pianist Geri Allen; and flutist-composer Nicole Mitchell explores a sci-fi musical utopia. The core of the festival, of course, is the weekend marathon. Bundle up Friday night to hear saxophonist Rudresh Mahathappa’s rhythmically elliptical Indo-Pak Coalition, drummer Ches Smith’s Haiti-centric We All Break, and experimental Brooklyn duo Sonnymoon at various locations. And explore the free-jazz outskirts at the New School on Saturday with power trio Harriet Tubman and the Sun Ra Arkestra’s live score to the Ra-written 1974 Afrofuturist film Space Is the Place.” (Richard Gehr, Village Voice)

For 12 essential sets to catch this Friday/Saturday, January 12/13, see this good piece from NY Magazine: “Loud, Wild, Improvised”

The New York Jewish Film Festival  (Jan.10-23)
Watch the screenings at Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center
at various times; $15
“A wide variety of documentaries, narrative films and retrospectives awaits you at this packed festival. Catch Italian comedy Let Yourself Go (January 13, January 14), West Bank doc West of the Jordan River (January 23) a restored screening of 1937 Yiddish film The Dybbuk (January 14, January 17), among many others.” (TONY)
today: Razzia – Directed by Nabil Ayouch, 7:30pm
The Last Goldfish – Directed by Su Goldfish, 12:30pm
The Prince and the Dybbuk – Directed by Piotr Rosolowski & Elwira Niewiera, 2:45pm

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Bonus NYC events– Jazz Clubs:
Many consider NYCity the Jazz capital of the world. Here are my favorite Jazz clubs, all on Manhattan’s WestSide. 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. South, villagevanguard.com, 212-255-4037
Blue Note – 131 W3rd St. nr 6th ave. bluenotejazz.com, 212-475-8592
55 Bar – basement @55 Christopher St. nr 7th ave.S. 55bar.com, 212-929-9883
Mezzrow – basement @ 163 W10th St. nr 7th Ave. mezzrow.com,646-476-4346
Smalls – basement @ 183 W10th St. smallslive.com, 646-476-4346
Cornelia Street Cafe – UG, 29 Cornelia St. corneliastreetcafe.com, 212-989-9319

Outside Greenwich Village:
Dizzy’s Club – Broadway @ 60th St. — jazz.org/dizzys / 212-258-9595
Birdland – 315 W44th St.(btw 8/9ave) — birdlandjazz.com / 212-581-3080
Smoke Jazz Club – 2751 Broadway nr.106th St. — smokejazz.com / 212-864-6662

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 enjoyment and discovery.

==================================================================================
♦ Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.
♦ NYCity, with a population of  8.5 million, had a record 60 million visitors last year and was TripAdvisor’s Traveler’s Choice Top U.S. Destination for 2017.  Quality shows draw crowds.
Try to reserve seats for these top NYC events in advance, even if just on day of performance.
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)

Frick Collection

‘MURILLO: THE SELF-PORTRAITS’ (through Feb. 4, 2018). “Two flawlessly executed selfies by one of the leading painters of the Spanish Golden Age are united for the first time in centuries in this revealing, somewhat melancholy exhibition on mastery and aging. Around 1650, the thirtysomething Bartolomé Esteban Murillo painted himself as an ambitious young painter with pursed lips and arched eyebrows, staring out incongruously from a block of ancient marble. The young painter was already imagining himself as a man for the ages, but success seems to have worn down Murillo in the later self-portrait, from about 1670. His hair has grown thinner, he’s developed a double chin, and he extends his hand as if desperate to connect to us.” (Farago)

 Neue Galerie

‘WIENER WERKSTÄTTE, 1903-1932: THE LUXURY OF BEAUTY,’ (through Jan. 29).”Fruit bowls, umbrella stands, swanky wallpapers, lavish curtains: The only thing the Wiener Werkstätte couldn’t make is a profit. This substantial exhibition on the most important design firm in early-20th-century Vienna brings together more than 400 works of Modernist applied arts, designed in a new kind of studio that united artists and artisans in a single enterprise. Their rational, rectilinear creations, made of silver or pricey oak, won a following among imperial Vienna’s bourgeoisie, but perpetual cost overruns and the coming of war pushed the Wiener Werkstätte into decline. The 1920s were the last gasp for the firm, under the blingier designer Dagobert Peche, whose mirrors and cruets were as florid as his predecessors’ were straitlaced.” (Farago)
212-628-6200, neuegalerie.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)

‘MICHELANGELO: DIVINE DRAFTSMAN AND DESIGNER,’ (through Feb. 12).”A monument to a monument. With 133 drawings by the beyond-famous artist on loan from some 50 front-rank collections, this show is a curatorial coup and an art historical tour de force: a panoptic view of a titanic career as recorded in the most fragile of media: paper, chalk and ink. And it demands that you be fully present. Drawing is more than a graphic experience; it’s a textural one, about the pressure of crayon and pen on a page; the subliminal fade and focus of lines; the weave and shadow-creating swells of surfaces. These are effects that can’t be captured by a smartphone.” (Cotter)
212-535-7710, metmuseum.org

‘JAPANESE BAMBOO ART: THE ABBEY COLLECTION’  (through Feb. 4, 2018). “This fabulous show celebrates Diane and Arthur Abbey’s gift of some 70 bamboo baskets and sculptures, which nearly doubles the Met’s already outstanding holdings in this genre and brings them into the 20th and 21st centuries. The curator has embedded this trove within what is essentially a second exhibition that traces bamboo’s presence through folding screens, ink paintings, porcelain, netsuke, kimonos and more.” (NYT-Roberta Smith) 212-535-7710, metmuseum.org

DAVID HOCKNEY (through Feb.25, 2018) “For nearly 60 years, David Hockney (British, born 1937) has pursued a singular career with a love for painting and its intrinsic challenges. This major retrospective—the exhibition’s only North American venue—honors the artist in his 80th year by presenting his most iconic works and key moments of his career from 1960 to the present.

Working in a wide range of media with equal measures of wit and intelligence, Hockney has examined, probed, and questioned how to capture the perceived world of movement, space, and time in two dimensions. The exhibition offers a grand overview of the artist’s achievements across all media, including painting, drawing, photography, and video. From his early experiments with modernist abstraction and mid-career experiments with illusion and realism, to his most recent, jewel-toned landscapes, Hockney has consistently explored the nature of perception and representation with both intellectual rigor and sheer delight in the act of looking.” (Metropolitan Museum)

“Give it up for David Hockney, one of painting’s elder statesmen, and for his crystalline retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which proceeds in a string of perfectly curated mini-exhibitions. Check at the door the usual caveats and tsk-tsks regarding this wildly popular Anglo-Californian — that he’s a lightweight; that his “moment” was the ’60s; that he’s obvious. Suspend at least briefly the belief that a tragic vision, or abstraction, is essential for entry into art history’s pantheon.

No, Mr. Hockney, at 80, is not Jasper Johns or Gerhard Richter. But he has his own greatness, which flows from openly following his own desires — including his attraction to other men — while rigorously exploring the ways art and life feed each other, visually and emotionally. Full disclosure, forthright joy and forward motion are the dynamos of his art, which in my book at least, gives him an edge over Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon.” (NYT)

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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)

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 01/09 and 01/07.
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NYC Events,”Only the Best” (01/10) + Today’s Featured Pub (Greenwich Village)

Posted on 01/10/2018 by GregD

Today’s Super 7 NYC Events > WEDNESDAY/ JANUARY 10, 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-January”
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:

Vijay Iyer Sextet
Birdland / 7:30PM, 10:30PM, $40
“A band for the age, if not the ages, the Vijay Iyer Sextet is the latest poll-topping project by the ever-experimenting pianist. Cerebral yet appealing, or appealingly cerebral, the group’s recent ECM release, Far from Over, is a bracing blast of contemporary jazz at its most uncompromisingly complex and virtuosic. With only a couple of low-voltage exceptions, the music is relentlessly dynamic, thanks in large part to the turbulent combustications of drummer Tyshawn Sorey (the equally formidable Marcus Gilmore replaces him for the final two dates of this five-show run). Iyer familiars reunite and recombine. Saxophonists Steve Lehman (alto) and Mark Shim (tenor) helix regularly, while Graham Haynes provides spacier horns (cornet, flugelhorn) and electronics. Longtime Iyer trio member Stephan Crump returns on bass, while Iyer sparkles, provokes, glosses, and annotates throughout.” (Richard Gehr, Village Voice)

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5 OTHER TOP NYC EVENTS TODAY (see below for full listing)
>> AMERICAN DANCE PLATFORM
>> Joshua Redman
>>Works and Process
>>Le Nozze di Figaro
>>Cabernet Cabaret
>> 21st Annual Shoe-Inn Warehouse Sale
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Music, Dance, Performing Arts

AMERICAN DANCE PLATFORM (Jan. 9-14 at various times).
at the Joyce Theater / tonight: 7:30PM, $66
These may be tough tickets, better order in advance.
“This showcase of domestic dance arrives at the Joyce with four pairings of stylistically and geographically diverse troupes from around the country. On Jan. 9 and 14 (evening), the innovative choreographer Caleb Teicher — also a stellar tap performer — shares a program with the dynamic Los Angeles-based contemporary dance company BODYTRAFFIC. On Jan. 10 and 14 (matinee), New York’s Jessica Lang Dance splits the bill with Backhausdance from California’s Orange County, both examples of polished virtuosity. On Jan. 11 and Jan. 13, the veteran modern dance company PHILADANCO!, hailing from Philadelphia, meets Halau O Kekuhi, hailing from Hawaii and noted for its explosive style of hula inspired by legends about the volcanoes.” (NYT-BRIAN SCHAEFER)

Joshua Redman (Jan. 9-14)
Blue Note, 131 W. 3rd St./ 8PM, 10:30PM, $30-$45
“The ability to hold a band together, thus insuring a unified ensemble identity, is not to be undervalued. The saxophonist Redman can flit about among a swath of side projects, but he always finds his way back to his trusted quartet, which counts the pianist Aaron Goldberg, the bassist Reuben Rogers, and the drummer Gregory Hutchinson as its loyal members.” (NewYorker)

Works and Process
Guggenheim Museum / 7:30PM, $40+
“The APAP-related glut of performances continues uptown with this split week at the Guggenheim. First, Wednesday through Friday, Ryan McNamara remounts his 2016 Battleground, a “sci-fi cosplay house-music ballet-battle” specifically constructed for the unique architecture of the museum’s underground theater and featuring nine superb downtown dancers including Reid Bartelme, Jason Collins, Effie Bowen, and Dylan Crossman. Then, on Sunday and Monday, the Gugg brings back another hit program from 2016: liquid dancer Jodi Melnick with New York City Ballet stars Jared Angle, Sara Mearns, and Taylor Stanley in NEW BODIES, with live music; Melnick also performs One of Sixty-Five Thousand Gestures, a solo created in collaboration with Trisha Brown before Brown’s death last year.” (Elizabeth Zimmer, Village Voice)

Le Nozze di Figaro (next performance Jan.13, 8PM)
Metropolitan Opera House / 7:30PM, $
“An exceptional ensemble of performers—including Ailyn Pérez, Nadine Sierra, Isabel Leonard, Luca Pisaroni, Mariusz Kwiecien, and Ildar Abdrazakov—share the stage in Mozart’s comic yet profound look at human nature and one crazy day in a wealthy Spanish household. Acclaimed Mozartean maestro Harry Bicket conducts Richard Eyre’s high-spirited production.”

Elsewhere, but this looks worth the detour:

Cabernet Cabaret
Club Cumming, 505 E 6th St./ 8PM, FREE
“You’re guaranteed to be delighted at this weekly showcase beside the piano, hosted by conquering empress of musical comedy Catherine Cohen and downtown cabaret essential Henry Koperski. Expect experimental sets, sing-a-longs to Mariah Carey favorites and other unhinged turns from a line-up of rising gems. January 3 features Katie Birenboim, Dara Katz, Maya Deshmukh, Meghan O’Neill, Marie Faustin, Sydnee Washington, Brandon Scott Jones, Josh Daniel and Nicole Silverberg. On January 10, catch Marcia Belsky, Ali Levin, Eudora Peterson, Daniel Lempert, Abby Feldman, Kady Ruth Ashcraft and Friends Who Folk.” (TONY)

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

21st Annual Shoe-Inn Warehouse Sale (thru Friday)
Penn Plaza Pavilion; 9am; free admission
Let the shoe fetish commence at the 21st Annual Shoe-Inn Warehouse sale at Penn Plaza Pavilion. For five days over 10,000 pairs from designers like Stuart Weitzman, Vince, Sam Edelman, Kendall & Kylie, Frye, Eileen Fisher, Fiorentini + Baker, Aquatalia, Dolce Vita, Ash, Free People, Ugg, Sorel, Sigerson Morrison, Marc Fisher, Steve Madden, Joie, and over 100 additional brands will be on sale at this mega shoe event. So swing by and grab some shoes for as low as $20 and boots for as little as $39. All major credit cards accepted, no checks.” (TONY)

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Continuing Events

NYC Winter Jazzfest starts today (Jan.10-17)
Various times and venues, Prices vary
“More than 130 acts perform in twelve venues over eight days during the annual stamina-testing NYC Winter Jazzfest, which kicks off Wednesday, January 10, with emerging British jazz acts The Comet Is Coming, saxophonist Nubya Garcia, and trumpeter Yazz Ahmed. Coming up, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane pays tribute to his mother, Alice; drummer Teri Lyne Carrington hosts an all-star celebration of the late pianist Geri Allen; and flutist-composer Nicole Mitchell explores a sci-fi musical utopia. The core of the festival, of course, is the weekend marathon. Bundle up Friday night to hear saxophonist Rudresh Mahathappa’s rhythmically elliptical Indo-Pak Coalition, drummer Ches Smith’s Haiti-centric We All Break, and experimental Brooklyn duo Sonnymoon at various locations. And explore the free-jazz outskirts at the New School on Saturday with power trio Harriet Tubman and the Sun Ra Arkestra’s live score to the Ra-written 1974 Afrofuturist film Space Is the Place.” (Richard Gehr, Village Voice)

The New York Jewish Film Festival starts today. (Jan.10-23)
Watch the screenings at Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center
at various times; $15
“A wide variety of documentaries, narrative films and retrospectives awaits you at this packed festival. Catch Italian comedy Let Yourself Go (January 13, January 14), West Bank doc West of the Jordan River (January 23) a restored screening of 1937 Yiddish film The Dybbuk (January 14, January 17), among many others.” (TONY)
today: Razzia – Directed by Nabil Ayouch, 7:30pm
The Last Goldfish – Directed by Su Goldfish, 12:30pm
The Prince and the Dybbuk – Directed by Piotr Rosolowski & Elwira Niewiera, 2:45pm

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Let there be light!
Erwin Redl’s Whiteout, a newly commissioned public art project, will light up in Madison Square Park. It consists of hundreds of transparent white spheres, each embedded with a white LED light, and suspended from a square grid of steel poles. The swaying sequence of light will be on display until April 2018.

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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. Check out who’s playing tonight:

City Winery – 155 Varick St., citywinery.com, 212-608-0555
Feinstein’s/54 Below – 254 W54th St., 54below.com, 646-476-3551
Joe’s Pub @ Public Theater – 425 Lafayette St., joespub.com, 212-967-7555
Metropolitan Room – 34W22ndSt., metropolitan room.com, 212-206-0440
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
Bowery Ballroom – 6 Delancey St. boweryballroom.com,
Le Poisson Rouge – 158 Bleecker St., lepoissonrouge.com, 212-505-3474

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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♦ Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.
♦ NYCity, with a population of  8.5 million, had a record 60 million visitors last year and was TripAdvisor’s Traveler’s Choice Top U.S. Destination for 2017.  Quality shows draw crowds.
Try to reserve seats for these top NYC events in advance, even if just on day of performance.
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 Spring 2018).
◊ Order before May 31 28, 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” (01/09) + Museum Special Exhibitions: Manhattan’s WestSide

Posted on 01/09/2018 by GregD

Today’s Sweet 6 NYC Events > TUESDAY/ JANUARY 9, 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-January”
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:

LEE KONITZ (Jan. 9-10)
at Dizzy’s Club / 7:30 and 9:30PM, $40 (only$30 Wed)
“An early exponent of Lennie Tristano’s hybridized theory of improvising, Mr. Konitz cut a distinctive path on the alto saxophone in the 1940s and ’50s, when most others were tracing the footsteps of Charlie Parker. Last year Mr. Konitz celebrated his own 90th year with the release of a lovely quartet disc, “Frescalalto.” These shows at Dizzy’s — featuring the pianist Dan Tepfer and other members of Mr. Konitz’s inner circle — are a kind of belated birthday fête.” (NYT-GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO)

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5 OTHER TOP NYC EVENTS TODAY (see below for full listing)
>> Caleb Teicher & Company / Bodytraffic
>> Tosca
>>GUNN-TRUSCINSKI DUO
>>Author Talk: Balfour Declaration’s Enduring Lessons
>> 21st Annual Shoe-Inn Warehouse Sale
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Music, Dance, Performing Arts

Caleb Teicher & Company / Bodytraffic (also Jan.14)
Joyce Theatre, 175 Eighth Ave., at 19th St./ 7:30PM, $41-$66
“This year’s American Dance Platform, at the Joyce Theatre, curated by Christine Tschida, opens with a youthful double bill. Caleb Teicher, one of the brightest lights in tap today, brings his fun interpretation of Bach’s Goldberg Variations and “Meet Ella,” an innovative swing dance for two men. Bodytraffic, a fresh and fashionable troupe from Los Angeles, comes with repertory made for the group by Richard Siegal and Hofesh Shechter, and also a new piece by Matthew Neenan.” (NewYorker)

Tosca (Dec 31 – May 12; next Jan.12, 8pm)
The Metropolitan Opera / 8PM, $
“Rivaling the splendor of Franco Zeffirelli’s set and costumes of the Napoleonic era, Sir David McVicar’s ravishing new production offers a splendid backdrop for two extraordinary sopranos sharing the title role of the jealous prima donna: Sonya Yoncheva and Anna Netrebko. Vittorio Grigolo and Marcelo Álvarez alternate in the role of Tosca’s revolutionary artist lover Cavaradossi, with Bryn Terfel, Michael Volle, and Željko Lučić as the depraved police chief Scarpia. Andris Nelsons conducts.”

Elsewhere, but this looks worth the detour:

GUNN-TRUSCINSKI DUO
at Union Pool / 8PM, FREE, RSVP
“This instrumental duo’s work is based on a simple idea: The guitarist Steve Gunn plays languid, dreamy notes while the drummer John Truscinski keeps an understated beat. The two musicians have found ample inspiration in this format, releasing three albums together, most recently the well-received “Bay Head” in late 2017. At the right time and in the right settings — including, perhaps, this Brooklyn date, free with RSVP — Mr. Gunn and Mr. Truscinski’s music is transportive.” (NYT – SIMON VOZICK-LEVINSON)

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

Author Talk: Balfour Declaration’s Enduring Lessons
The Jewish Community Center in Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Ave./ 7PM, $15
“Dig into the roots of the Israel-Palestine conflict at this event marking the centenary of the Balfour Declaration and featuring Elliot Jager, author of The Balfour Declaration | Sixty-Seven Words–100 years of Conflict.” (ThoughtGallery.org)

21st Annual Shoe-Inn Warehouse Sale (thru Friday)
Penn Plaza Pavilion; 9am; free admission
Let the shoe fetish commence at the 21st Annual Shoe-Inn Warehouse sale at Penn Plaza Pavilion. For five days over 10,000 pairs from designers like Stuart Weitzman, Vince, Sam Edelman, Kendall & Kylie, Frye, Eileen Fisher, Fiorentini + Baker, Aquatalia, Dolce Vita, Ash, Free People, Ugg, Sorel, Sigerson Morrison, Marc Fisher, Steve Madden, Joie, and over 100 additional brands will be on sale at this mega shoe event. So swing by and grab some shoes for as low as $20 and boots for as little as $39. All major credit cards accepted, no checks.” (TONY)

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Let there be light!
Erwin Redl’s Whiteout, a newly commissioned public art project, will light up in Madison Square Park. It consists of hundreds of transparent white spheres, each embedded with a white LED light, and suspended from a square grid of steel poles. The swaying sequence of light will be on display until April 2018.

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Bonus NYC events– Jazz Venues:
Many consider NYCity the Jazz capital of the world. Here are my favorite Jazz clubs, all on Manhattan’s WestSide. 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. South, villagevanguard.com, 212-255-4037
Blue Note – 131 W3rd St. nr 6th ave. bluenotejazz.com, 212-475-8592
55 Bar – basement @55 Christopher St. nr 7th ave.S. 55bar.com, 212-929-9883
Mezzrow – basement @ 163 W10th St. nr 7th Ave. mezzrow.com,646-476-4346
Smalls – basement @ 183 W10th St. smallslive.com, 646-476-4346
Cornelia Street Cafe – UG, 29 Cornelia St. corneliastreetcafe.com, 212-989-9319

Outside Greenwich Village:
Dizzy’s Club – Broadway @ 60th St. — jazz.org/dizzys / 212-258-9595
Birdland – 315 W44th St.(btw 8/9ave) — birdlandjazz.com / 212-581-3080
Smoke Jazz Club – 2751 Broadway nr.106th St. — smokejazz.com / 212-864-6662

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 enjoyment and discovery.

==================================================================================
♦ Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.
♦ NYCity, with a population of  8.5 million, had a record 60 million visitors last year and was TripAdvisor’s Traveler’s Choice Top U.S. Destination for 2017.  Quality shows draw crowds.
Try to reserve seats for these top NYC events in advance, even if just on day of performance.
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 these 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 (thru May28)

“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)

Whitney Museum

Laura Owens (thru Feb.04)

© Laura Owens

“In the mid-nineteen-nineties, Owens heralded the comeback of painting with a succession of unbelievably cool, well-timed canvases that breezily dispensed with outdated notions of style, gesture, and the mutual exclusivity of formalism and illusionistic space. And she’s made news ever since: this welcome mid-career retrospective neatly charts the hairpin turns of the Los Angeles artist’s rigorous, funny, and very influential career thus far. A mischievously austere painting, from 1997, shows a blue expanse interrupted by seagulls, nominally and stickily rendered, as if piped on with black icing. The artist undercuts our understanding of “sky,” though, by airbrushing the birds’ shadows onto her monochrome. While it’s not so hard to believe that the tricky collisions of painterly quotation from the next few years are from the same artist, by 2002, when Owens deploys decorative painting in an enchanting woodland scene, we’re in a different world; then we’re in another, with her abstractions of chewed-up grids, digital brushstrokes, and sculptural, stuccolike blobs. The through line, of course, is her passionate loyalty to the medium itself, but, as demonstrated by the exhibition’s finale—an installation of two-sided, freestanding paintings, from 2015—she’s not afraid to move off the wall; it’s anyone’s guess what comes next.” (NewYorker)

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For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in right Sidebar dated 01/07 and 01/05.
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NYC Events,”Only the Best” (01/08) + Today’s Featured Pub (Tribeca)

Posted on 01/08/2018 by GregD

Today’s Super 7 NYC Events > MONDAY/ JANUARY 8, 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-January”
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:

Latvian Radio Big Band
Dizzy’s Club, Jazz at Lincoln Center / 7:30pm, $
“These guys can hold their own with any big band on the planet! Great section work and sound, killer soloists, and swingin’ rhythm section! You can’t ask for more than that!” – Randy Brecker

The Latvian Radio Big Band was originally founded in the 1960s, but only recently did it return to the bandstand after a 16-year hiatus. This reborn big band has swiftly achieved international acclaim, performing and recording with the likes of Kurt Elling, Roberta Gamabarini, Jojo Mayer, Seamus Blake, New York Voices, and Randy Brecker. The group harkens back to a long tradition of radio big bands in Europe, presenting a broad range of music styles as arranged for a jazz-oriented orchestra. Swing by Dizzy’s Club for an up-close look at how it’s done it Latvia—and hear why this new iteration of the band is garnering attention worldwide.”

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6 OTHER TOP NYC EVENTS TODAY (see below for full listing)
>> Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci
>> Parable of the Sower
>>Sarah Stiles: Squirrel Heart
>>Shakespeare Stripped: From Mobile Theater to Joe Papp’s Naked Hamlet
>>Tell Me More: Kelly Corrigan in Conversation with Ariel Levy
>> 21st Annual Shoe-Inn Warehouse Sale
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Music, Dance, Performing Arts

Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci (next performance Jan.13, 12:30PM)
Metropolitan Opera House / 7:30PM, $25+
“Roberto Alagna takes on the leading tenor roles in both parts of opera’s most popular double bill. In Cavalleria Rusticana, Ekaterina Semenchuk and Eva-Maria Westbroek share the role of the woebegone Santuzza, with Aleksandra Kurzak as the hot-blooded Nedda in Pagliacci. Nicola Luisotti conducts Sir David McVicar’s production, which heightens the melo-dramaticaction of this timeless verismo pairing.”

Parable of the Sower (Jan.8-15)
An epic odyssey.
The Public Theater / 8PM, $35
“The Afrofuturist and science-fiction author Octavia E. Butler’s groundbreaking dystopian novel is the basis for this musical dig into African-American spiritualism, race, gender, greed, and injustice. The show looks to be a highlight of the Public’s 2018 Under the Radar Festival.” (S.H. NY Magazine)

Sarah Stiles: Squirrel Heart
Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater / 7PM, $25
“The hilariously off-kilter Sarah Stiles has conquered the hearts of audiences as sexy puppetmasters in Hand to God and Avenue Q and as Little Red Riding Hood in the Central Park revival of Into the Woods, which she stole in her basket. Her cabaret debut at Joe’s Pub is a good platform for her comic ingenuity.” (TONY)

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

Shakespeare Stripped: From Mobile Theater to Joe Papp’s Naked Hamlet
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza / 6PM, FREE
“Look back 50 years to Joe Papp’s milestone establishment of The Public Theater and his radical take on Hamlet, which responded to the angst of the era.” (ThoughtGallery.org)

Tell Me More: Kelly Corrigan in Conversation with Ariel Levy
92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave./ 7:30PM, $35
“What are the deceptively simple phrases that make love and human connection possible? “I don’t know.” “Tell me more.” “I was wrong.”

New York Times-bestselling memoirist Kelly Corrigan explores these and more in her inspiring, insightful new book, Tell Me More: Stories About the 12 Hardest Things I’m Learning to Say. Join Corrigan, author of the powerful memoir The Middle Place, and New Yorker staff writer Ariel Levy (bestselling author of The Rules Do Not Apply) as they sit down for a frank, funny conversation about finding the right words in the right moments — and how, when times are tough, we can all learn what to say.”

21st Annual Shoe-Inn Warehouse Sale (thru Friday)
Penn Plaza Pavilion; 9am; free admission
Let the shoe fetish commence at the 21st Annual Shoe-Inn Warehouse sale at Penn Plaza Pavilion. For five days over 10,000 pairs from designers like Stuart Weitzman, Vince, Sam Edelman, Kendall & Kylie, Frye, Eileen Fisher, Fiorentini + Baker, Aquatalia, Dolce Vita, Ash, Free People, Ugg, Sorel, Sigerson Morrison, Marc Fisher, Steve Madden, Joie, and over 100 additional brands will be on sale at this mega shoe event. So swing by and grab some shoes for as low as $20 and boots for as little as $39. All major credit cards accepted, no checks.” (TONY)

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

Let there be light!
Erwin Redl’s Whiteout, a newly commissioned public art project, will light up in Madison Square Park. It consists of hundreds of transparent white spheres, each embedded with a white LED light, and suspended from a square grid of steel poles. The swaying sequence of light will be on display until April 2018.

==================================================
Bonus NYC Events – Jazz Clubs:
Many consider NYCity the Jazz capital of the world. Here are my favorite Jazz clubs, all on Manhattan’s WestSide. Check out who is playing tonight:

Greenwich Village:
(5 underground, classic jazz joints. all 6 within walking distance of each other):
Village Vanguard – UG, 178 7th Ave. South, villagevanguard.com, 212-255-4037
Blue Note – 131 W3rd St. nr 6th ave. bluenotejazz.com, 212-475-8592
55 Bar – basement @55 Christopher St. nr 7th ave.S. 55bar.com, 212-929-9883
Mezzrow – basement @ 163 W10th St. nr 7th Ave. mezzrow.com,646-476-4346
Smalls – basement @ 183 W10th St. smallslive.com, 646-476-4346
Cornelia Street Cafe – UG, 29 Cornelia St. corneliastreetcafe.com, 212-989-9319

Outside Greenwich Village:
Dizzy’s Club – Broadway @ 60th St. — jazz.org/dizzys / 212-258-9595
Birdland – 315 W44th St.(btw 8/9ave) — birdlandjazz.com / 212-581-3080
Smoke Jazz Club – 2751 Broadway nr.106th St. — smokejazz.com / 212-864-6662

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 enjoyment and discovery.

==================================================================================
♦ Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.
♦ NYCity, with a population of  8.5 million, had a record 60 million visitors last year and was TripAdvisor’s Traveler’s Choice Top U.S. Destination for 2017.  Quality shows draw crowds.
Try to reserve seats for these top NYC events in advance, even if just on day of performance.
NYCity Vacation Travel Guide Video (Expedia):

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

A PremierPub / Tribeca

B-Flat / 277 Church St. (btw Franklin/White St))

b_flat4There are some places that are tough to find, then add a layer of mystery when you do find them. B-Flat has a nondescript, almost unmarked door at street level – today’s speakeasy vibe. Open this door and you face a dimly lit stairway down to their basement location. It almost takes a leap of faith to follow the stairs down to their interior door.
But open that door and a pleasant surprise awaits you.

It’s a basement jazz spot all right, but not like any traditional jazz joint you may have been to before. This place looks as fresh as today, probably because it’s only been open for 6 years. Even though it hasn’t had a chance to age gracefully, the cherry wood accents and low lighting make this small space very inviting.

There is always jazz, often progressive jazz, playing over their very discrete, stylish bose speakers, setting just the right tone as you find a seat at the bar, or one of the small tables. There is wine and beer available, but this place has some expert mixologists making some very creative cocktails, which I’m told change seasonally, a nice touch.

Come at happy hour and tasty cocktails like the el Diablo or the lychee martini are $8 – not bad. I am a sucker for any drink made with lychee and how can you not try a tequila drink named el Diablo. There is also nice selection of small bites available at happy hour and a food menu that is as innovative as the cocktail menu, so this does not have to be a happy hour only stop.

It wasn’t surprising to find a tasty prosciutto and arugula salad with yuzu dressing, but I did not expect to find such a good version of fried chicken breast on the apps menu. Here it’s called “Tatsuta.” Best bet is to sample happy hour, then dinner on a Monday or Wednesday night, when you can finish with no cover live jazz that starts around 8.

This place is tough to find (look for a small slate sandwich board on the sidewalk out front advertising happy hour) and on some nights when there is no live music it may be a little too quiet for some. But I think it’s worth searching out if you want a place with good music, food, and especially drinks, away from the maddening crowd.

Website: http://http://www.bflat.info/index.html
Phone #: 212-219-2970
Hours: Mo-Wed 5pm-2am; Th-Sat 5pm-3am; no Sun
Happy Hour: 5-7pm every day; $8 cocktails + special prices on apps
Music: Mon/Wed 8pm
Subway: #1 to Franklin; walk E 1 blk to Church; N 1 blk to bFlat

==================================================================================
“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” (01/07) + GallerySpecialExhibits: Chelsea

Posted on 01/07/2018 by GregD

Today’s Super 7 NYC Events > SUNDAY/ JANUARY 7, 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-January”
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:

CHRIS BOTTI 13th ANNUAL HOLIDAY RESIDENCY (LAST DAY)
​Blue Note Jazz Club / 8PM, +10:30PM, $65-$125
“Botti, described by The Wall Street Journal as “a December institution in the Big Apple at the Blue Note, has called the club his home every December since 2005.

Since the release of his 2004 critically acclaimed CD When I Fall In Love, Chris Botti has become the largest-selling American instrumental artist. His success has crossed over to audiences usually reserved for pop music and his ongoing association with PBS has led to four #1 jazz albums, as well as multiple Gold, Platinum and Grammy Awards. Most recently, his latest album Impressions won the GRAMMY® for Best Pop Instrumental Album at the 2013 55th GRAMMY® Awards. Performing worldwide and selling more than four million albums, he has found a form of creative expression that begins in jazz and expands beyond the limits of any single genre.”

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

6 OTHER TOP NYC EVENTS TODAY (see below for full listing)
>> Erin Markey: Rainbow Caverns—Greatest Hits of All Time Including the Future
>> Harold Mabern
>>Shanghai Dance Theatre – Soaring Wings
>>Ali Jackson
>>Orrin Evans
>> Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman
===========================================================

Music, Dance, Performing Arts

Erin Markey: Rainbow Caverns—Greatest Hits of All Time Including the Future
Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater / 9:30PM, $25
“Brilliantly off-kilter actor-singer Markey has spent the past few years making people uncomfortable with her nervy, edgy, marvy brand of strangely connected and fiercely committed humor, most recently as Squeaky Fromme in the Encores! production of Assassins. This Under the Radar festival event includes musical excerpts from past shows A Ride On The Irish Cream (2016) and Boner Killer (2017) and the in-development Little Surfer (2019); guests include Markey’s sturdy companion, Becca Blackwell.” (TONY)

Harold Mabern  (thru Jan.07)
Smoke, 2751 Broadway, (betw105th/106th Sts.) /
“A Memphis-born transplant who has retained the bluesy filigree of his home town in his fluent bop-and-beyond improvisations, the respected veteran Mabern will be inviting a slew of guests to the stage during this engagement, including the saxophonists Eric Alexander, Vincent Herring, and another Memphis hero, George Coleman, as well as the trombonists Steve Turre and Steve Davis.” (NewYorker)

Ali Jackson (Jan. 5-7)
Dizzy’s Club Broadway at 60th St./ mm mm
“UptownDrummers, Miles Davis once said, can make good composers—this engagement by the longtime drummer for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra might make a reliable testing ground for the theory. Jackson, who also finds room for jazz classics in his repertoire, will front a quartet that includes the guitarist Peter Bernstein and the bassist Omer Avital.” (NewYorker)

Shanghai Dance Theatre – Soaring Wings ((Jan.05-07)
NYS / DHK Theater / 8PM, $22+
“Environmental protection meets exquisite Chinese dance in Soaring Wings, a new dance drama about the crested ibis, viewed in China as “the bird of good fortune.” The Shanghai Dance Theatre makes its New York debut in this opulently costumed piece directed and choreographed by Tong Ruirui, to traditional Chinese music composed by Guo Sida. The work, which dramatizes the interdependence between people and nature, was written by Luo Huaizhen after Chinese scientists discovered the birds in the wild and doubled down in efforts to protect them.” (Elizabeth Zimmer, Vilage Voice)

Orrin Evans (LAST DAY)
Jazz Standard / 7:30PM, 9:30PM, $30
“Multifaceted keyboardist-composer Orrin Evans joins jazz-pop trio the Bad Plus this year and performs in just about every other configuration known to jazz. Expect smart, hard-swinging, and emotionally nuanced arrangements when the Philadelphian cranks up his Captain Black Big Band, a six-horn nonet plus two singers, for a relatively rare appearance Tuesday–Wednesday. The group’s most recent album, 2014’s Mother’s Touch, includes an oblique reimagining of Wayne Shorter’s “Water Babies” alongside gospel-tinged originals and a resistance-resounding “Prayer for Columbine.” Evans downsizes Thursday and Friday with a foolproof sextet consisting of JD Allen (tenor sax), Bill McHenry (tenor sax), Ingrid Jensen (trumpet), James Genus (bass), and drummer Mark Whitfield Jr. The leader plays piano in gusts of ideas, blending head and heart while exploring subtleties of difference and repetition.” (Richard Gehr, Village Voice)

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

Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Ave./ 2PM,
Free with museum admission
“Learn about the man who created some of the greatest art works of all time at Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman, a lecture discussing the ideas and inspirations behind some of the artist’s iconic works.” (ThoughtGallery.org)

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

Let there be light!
Erwin Redl’s Whiteout, a newly commissioned public art project, will light up in Madison Square Park. It consists of hundreds of transparent white spheres, each embedded with a white LED light, and suspended from a square grid of steel poles. The swaying sequence of light will be on display until April 2018.

=====================================================
Bonus NYC events– Jazz Venues:
Many consider NYCity the Jazz capital of the world. Here are my favorite Jazz clubs, all on Manhattan’s WestSide. 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. South, villagevanguard.com, 212-255-4037
Blue Note – 131 W3rd St. nr 6th ave. bluenotejazz.com, 212-475-8592
55 Bar – basement @55 Christopher St. nr 7th ave.S. 55bar.com, 212-929-9883
Mezzrow – basement @ 163 W10th St. nr 7th Ave. mezzrow.com,646-476-4346
Smalls – basement @ 183 W10th St. smallslive.com, 646-476-4346
Cornelia Street Cafe – UG, 29 Cornelia St. corneliastreetcafe.com, 212-989-9319

Outside Greenwich Village:
Dizzy’s Club – Broadway @ 60th St. — jazz.org/dizzys / 212-258-9595
Birdland – 315 W44th St.(btw 8/9ave) — birdlandjazz.com / 212-581-3080
Smoke Jazz Club – 2751 Broadway nr.106th St. — smokejazz.com / 212-864-6662

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 enjoyment and discovery.

==================================================================================
♦ Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.
♦ NYCity, with a population of  8.5 million, had a record 60 million visitors last year and was TripAdvisor’s Traveler’s Choice Top U.S. Destination for 2017.  Quality shows draw crowds.
Try to reserve seats for these top NYC events in advance, even if just on day of performance.
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.

Gordon Parks: I Am You, Part 1
New views from a late visionary.
The first installment of two, this show devoted to the great photographer of the civil-rights movement focuses on lesser-known work from the ’50s and ’60s, like portraits of artists including Calder and Giacometti and vérité fashion photography that paved the way for today’s street-style portraiture.
Jack Shainman Gallery, 524 West 24th Street. Opens January 11.(NYMagazine)

Here are two exhibitions the New Yorker likes:

“The Shadow Archive: An Investigation Into Vernacular Portrait Photography”

Walther Collection, 526 W. 26th St. (thru Mar.31)

“The first in a multiyear series of shows about photographs made for commercial or practical purposes, curated by Brian Wallis, considers the portrait. Most of the images date to the nineteenth century; all of them fit into typologies. Fifteen tintypes of “workers with tools of their trade” include a barber, a piano tuner, and a sword swallower; several mug shots attributed to the California sheriff Thomas Cunningham are so picturesque that they could be mistaken for stills from a Hollywood period piece. Passport photographers across Africa take full-length portraits and cut out the heads, leaving behind accidental studies of fashion. A mesmerizing series of such discards, shown here, were taken against a red background in Gulu, Uganda, and collected by the Italian-born journalist Martina Bacigalupo. A found group of forty-eight color snapshots of migrant farmworkers, each holding up a paper number—their source is unknown—takes the idea of identifying documents in a more chilling direction.”

Lee Krasner

Kasmin, 293 Tenth Ave., at 27th St. (thru Jan.13)

“Working in her late husband Jackson Pollock’s East Hampton studio, often at night, in the years following his accidental death, in 1956, Krasner produced twenty-four paintings in a series she titled “Umber,” five of which are on view in this small but powerful show. They’re rough and explosive abstractions in which thick strokes of black, brown, and off-white jostle against the edges of the canvas and one another. While the works clearly suggest an artist trying to externalize grief, there’s a joyful aspect to them, too. In the center of a brown storm of brushstrokes spattered with creamy blotches, titled “Fecundity,” several curving black lines evoke the expansive feeling of gracefully opening arms.”

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

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 12/12 and 12/10.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

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

Posted on 01/06/2018 by GregD

Today’s Super 7 NYC Events > SATURDAY/ JANUARY 6, 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-January”
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:

A CONCERT FOR ISLAND RELIEF
at Radio City Music Hall / 7PM, $125+
“As the Caribbean region continues its recovery from the devastating effects of Hurricane Maria and Hurricane Irma, musicians are stepping up their relief efforts. A solo set by Dave Matthews and a performance by the Trey Anastasio Band — two modern jam-band masters, appearing without their usual troupes — are the main attractions at this all-star benefit concert for Puerto Rico and the United States and British Virgin Islands. But the most meaningful performance may come from Hurray for the Riff Raff, the band led by the Bronx-raised singer-songwriter Alynda Segarra, whose recent album, “The Navigator,” is a complex expression of Puerto Rican realness.”

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

6 OTHER TOP NYC EVENTS TODAY (see below for full listing)
>> Amir Vahab | Celebrate Epiphany with Sufi Songs of Love
>> 54 Sings Broadway’s Greatest Hits!
>>Shanghai Dance Theatre – Soaring Wings
>>Tosca
>>Orrin Evans
>> Chelsea Art Gallery Tour
===========================================================

Music, Dance, Performing Arts

Amir Vahab | Celebrate Epiphany with Sufi Songs of Love (Rumi and Hafiz)
Church of St. Edward the Martyr, 14 E. 109th St./ 7PM, $20
“Lend your ears to Amir Vahab as he leads his ensemble in Sufi-inspired Persian poetry and music at a Rumi Night concert-talk to celebrate the Feast of the Magi.

The repertoire of Amir Vahab and his ensemble is grounded in traditional Persian poetry and music, long known for its power to transport the listener to spiritual states through melody, improvisation, rhythm and meter — particularly that which has issued from Sufism, a spiritual stage that exists in all authentic religions.“ (ThoughtGallery.org)

54 Sings Broadway’s Greatest Hits!
Feinstein’s/54 Below / 9:30PM, $35
“Broadway by the Year impresario Scott Siegel curates this monthly concert series, in which Broadway stars sing some of the Great White Way’s best-loved tunes. Performers at the November edition include Christina Bianco, Oakley Boycott and Brian Charles Rooney.” (TONY)

Shanghai Dance Theatre – Soaring Wings ((Jan.05-07)
NYS / DHK Theater / 8PM, $22+
“Environmental protection meets exquisite Chinese dance in Soaring Wings, a new dance drama about the crested ibis, viewed in China as “the bird of good fortune.” The Shanghai Dance Theatre makes its New York debut in this opulently costumed piece directed and choreographed by Tong Ruirui, to traditional Chinese music composed by Guo Sida. The work, which dramatizes the interdependence between people and nature, was written by Luo Huaizhen after Chinese scientists discovered the birds in the wild and doubled down in efforts to protect them.” (Elizabeth Zimmer, Vilage Voice)

Orrin Evans (thru Jan.06)
Jazz Standard / 7:30PM, 9:30PM, $30
“Multifaceted keyboardist-composer Orrin Evans joins jazz-pop trio the Bad Plus this year and performs in just about every other configuration known to jazz. Expect smart, hard-swinging, and emotionally nuanced arrangements when the Philadelphian cranks up his Captain Black Big Band, a six-horn nonet plus two singers, for a relatively rare appearance Tuesday–Wednesday. The group’s most recent album, 2014’s Mother’s Touch, includes an oblique reimagining of Wayne Shorter’s “Water Babies” alongside gospel-tinged originals and a resistance-resounding “Prayer for Columbine.” Evans downsizes Thursday and Friday with a foolproof sextet consisting of JD Allen (tenor sax), Bill McHenry (tenor sax), Ingrid Jensen (trumpet), James Genus (bass), and drummer Mark Whitfield Jr. The leader plays piano in gusts of ideas, blending head and heart while exploring subtleties of difference and repetition.” (Richard Gehr, Village Voice)

Tosca (Dec 31 – May 12; next Jan.09, 7:30pm)
The Metropolitan Opera / 8PM, $
“Rivaling the splendor of Franco Zeffirelli’s set and costumes of the Napoleonic era, Sir David McVicar’s ravishing new production offers a splendid backdrop for two extraordinary sopranos sharing the title role of the jealous prima donna: Sonya Yoncheva and Anna Netrebko. Vittorio Grigolo and Marcelo Álvarez alternate in the role of Tosca’s revolutionary artist lover Cavaradossi, with Bryn Terfel, Michael Volle, and Željko Lučić as the depraved police chief Scarpia. Andris Nelsons conducts.”

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

Chelsea Art Gallery Tour
New York Gallery Tours / 1PM, 3:45PM $25
Meet at 526 W. 26th St. between 10th & 11th Ave.
“Take a fascinating gallery tour of Chelsea – the world’s center for contemporary art – and see the very latest in painting, sculpture, electronic media & photography. Our guide, who holds a Ph.D. in arts education, helps explain the artwork and leads the group in lively discussion. The tour takes place Sat. Jan. 6 at 1:00 PM & 3:45 PM. These two tours will be identical in every way: the same guide and the same exhibits, so choose whichever start time best fits your schedule. It will take place no matter the temperature or weather, as the art is all indoors.
SPECIAL OFFER: visit http://www.nygallerytours.com to request a DISCOUNT ticket link for $8-off admission! “

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

Let there be light!
Erwin Redl’s Whiteout, a newly commissioned public art project, will light up in Madison Square Park. It consists of hundreds of transparent white spheres, each embedded with a white LED light, and suspended from a square grid of steel poles. The swaying sequence of light will be on display until April 2018.

================================================
Bonus NYC Events – Jazz Clubs:
Many consider NYCity the Jazz capital of the world. Here are my favorite Jazz clubs, all on Manhattan’s WestSide. Check out who is playing tonight:

Greenwich Village:
(5 underground (UG), classic jazz joints. all 6 within walking distance of each other):
Village Vanguard – UG, 178 7th Ave. South, villagevanguard.com, 212-255-4037
Blue Note – 131 W3rd St. nr 6th ave. bluenotejazz.com, 212-475-8592
55 Bar – basement @55 Christopher St. nr 7th ave.S. 55bar.com, 212-929-9883
Mezzrow – basement @ 163 W10th St. nr 7th Ave. mezzrow.com,646-476-4346
Smalls – basement @ 183 W10th St. smallslive.com, 646-476-4346
Cornelia Street Cafe – UG, 29 Cornelia St. corneliastreetcafe.com, 212-989-9319

Outside Greenwich Village:
Dizzy’s Club – Broadway @ 60th St. — jazz.org/dizzys / 212-258-9595
Birdland – 315 W44th St.(btw 8/9ave) — birdlandjazz.com / 212-581-3080
Smoke Jazz Club – 2751 Broadway nr.106th St. — smokejazz.com / 212-864-6662

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 enjoyment and discovery.

==================================================================================
♦ Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.
♦ NYCity, with a population of  8.5 million, had a record 60 million visitors last year and was TripAdvisor’s Traveler’s Choice Top U.S. Destination for 2017.  Quality shows draw crowds.
Try to reserve seats in advance at these top NYC events, even if just on day of performance.
NYCity Vacation Travel Guide Video (Expedia):
================================================================================

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.
========================================================
“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” (01/05) + Museum Special Exhibitions: Manhattan’s 5th Avenue

Posted on 01/05/2018 by GregD

Today’s Sweet 6 NYC Events > FRIDAY/ JANUARY 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 better check the tab above: “NYC Events-January”
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:

Shanghai Dance Theatre – Soaring Wings ((Jan.05-07)
NYS / DHK Theater / 8PM, $22+
“Environmental protection meets exquisite Chinese dance in Soaring Wings, a new dance drama about the crested ibis, viewed in China as “the bird of good fortune.” The Shanghai Dance Theatre makes its New York debut in this opulently costumed piece directed and choreographed by Tong Ruirui, to traditional Chinese music composed by Guo Sida. The work, which dramatizes the interdependence between people and nature, was written by Luo Huaizhen after Chinese scientists discovered the birds in the wild and doubled down in efforts to protect them.” (Elizabeth Zimmer, Vilage Voice)

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5 OTHER TOP NYC EVENTS TODAY (see below for full listing)
>> 44 Charlton: A Variety Show
>> Ali Jackson
>>The Merry Widow
>>MONTY ALEXANDER
>>Orrin Evans
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Music, Dance, Performing Arts

44 Charlton: A Variety Show
The Greene Space, 44 Charlton St./ 7PM, $25
“Bite into a hot slice of NYC life every first Friday of the month at 44 Charlton — the world’s first and only variety show smashing together the gutsiest comedy, music, dance, theater, spoken word, and genre-bending performances on a single stage, hosted by the sometimes salty, always sexy Julian Fleisher.

Come for the cheap drinks. Stay to become a part of spontaneous genius. The wheels might come off! The clothes might come off! Bring your expectations to the door, then pick them up again after the show. We promise not to rifle through them while you’re tripping on our awesomeness.

On this month’s show: critically acclaimed mentalist and mind reader Vinny DePonto, legendary performance artist Penny Arcade, and vocalist Joseph Keckler.”

Ali Jackson (Jan. 5-7)
Dizzy’s Club Broadway at 60th St./ mm mm
“UptownDrummers, Miles Davis once said, can make good composers—this engagement by the longtime drummer for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra might make a reliable testing ground for the theory. Jackson, who also finds room for jazz classics in his repertoire, will front a quartet that includes the guitarist Peter Bernstein and the bassist Omer Avital.” (NewYorker)

The Merry Widow (next performance Jan.11)
Metropolitan Opera House / 8PM, $
“Susan Graham sings the title role of the fabulous woman of the world who sets out to conquer glamorous old Paris and get the one thing that has eluded her—a commitment from her playboy first love. Lehár’s delightful score of lush waltzes and beautiful ballads will sparkle with a supporting cast of Andriana Chuchman, Paul Groves, and the inimitable Thomas Allen. Ward Stare conducts.”

MONTY ALEXANDER (Jan. 2-6)
at Birdland / 8:30 and 11PM, $40
“Mr. Alexander, a pianist, mingles the rhythms of his native Jamaica with his talents as a gospel-tinged jazz improviser. With his Harlem-Kingston Express, he brings together musicians versed in both reggae and straight-ahead jazz, creating a brew that’s danceable and lilting and often ramps up from hypnotic to electrifying.” (NYT-GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO)

Orrin Evans (thru Jan.06)
Jazz Standard / 7:30PM, 9:30PM, $30
“Multifaceted keyboardist-composer Orrin Evans joins jazz-pop trio the Bad Plus this year and performs in just about every other configuration known to jazz. Expect smart, hard-swinging, and emotionally nuanced arrangements when the Philadelphian cranks up his Captain Black Big Band, a six-horn nonet plus two singers, for a relatively rare appearance Tuesday–Wednesday. The group’s most recent album, 2014’s Mother’s Touch, includes an oblique reimagining of Wayne Shorter’s “Water Babies” alongside gospel-tinged originals and a resistance-resounding “Prayer for Columbine.” Evans downsizes Thursday and Friday with a foolproof sextet consisting of JD Allen (tenor sax), Bill McHenry (tenor sax), Ingrid Jensen (trumpet), James Genus (bass), and drummer Mark Whitfield Jr. The leader plays piano in gusts of ideas, blending head and heart while exploring subtleties of difference and repetition.” (Richard Gehr, Village Voice)

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Let there be light!
Luminaries installation at Brookfield Place in the Winter Garden, a stunning holiday arrangement, comprising 650 LED lanterns hanging from the ceiling. Make sure to pack your skates and enjoy ice-skating next door, along the waterfront. (LAST DAY)
AND
Erwin Redl’s Whiteout, a newly commissioned public art project, will light up in Madison Square Park. It consists of hundreds of transparent white spheres, each embedded with a white LED light, and suspended from a square grid of steel poles. The swaying sequence of light will be on display until April 2018.

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Bonus NYC events– Jazz Clubs:
Many consider NYCity the Jazz capital of the world. Here are my favorite Jazz clubs, all on Manhattan’s WestSide. 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. South, villagevanguard.com, 212-255-4037
Blue Note – 131 W3rd St. nr 6th ave. bluenotejazz.com, 212-475-8592
55 Bar – basement @55 Christopher St. nr 7th ave.S. 55bar.com, 212-929-9883
Mezzrow – basement @ 163 W10th St. nr 7th Ave. mezzrow.com,646-476-4346
Smalls – basement @ 183 W10th St. smallslive.com, 646-476-4346
Cornelia Street Cafe – UG, 29 Cornelia St. corneliastreetcafe.com, 212-989-9319

Outside Greenwich Village:
Dizzy’s Club – Broadway @ 60th St. — jazz.org/dizzys / 212-258-9595
Birdland – 315 W44th St.(btw 8/9ave) — birdlandjazz.com / 212-581-3080
Smoke Jazz Club – 2751 Broadway nr.106th St. — smokejazz.com / 212-864-6662

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 enjoyment and discovery.

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♦ Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.
♦ NYCity, with a population of  8.5 million, had a record 60 million visitors last year and was TripAdvisor’s Traveler’s Choice Top U.S. Destination for 2017.  Quality shows draw crowds.
Try to reserve seats for these top NYC events in advance, even if just on day of performance.
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)

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

ART AND CHINA AFTER 1989: THEATER OF THE WORLD,  (through Jan 7, 2018). “New York is still behind the curve in terms of familiarity with the explosion of contemporary art produced in China between the 1989 Tiananmen massacre and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This dynamic, canon-affirming Guggenheim survey reprises much of what we already do know, but also adds fresh information about large group projects and, usefully, shift the focus away from auction-favored painting onto Conceptualism. (After protests from animal-right activists, three works in the show, including “Theater of the World” by Huang Yong Ping, appear in altered form.)” (Holland Cotter)

Frick Collection

‘MURILLO: THE SELF-PORTRAITS’ (through Feb. 4, 2018). “Two flawlessly executed selfies by one of the leading painters of the Spanish Golden Age are united for the first time in centuries in this revealing, somewhat melancholy exhibition on mastery and aging. Around 1650, the thirtysomething Bartolomé Esteban Murillo painted himself as an ambitious young painter with pursed lips and arched eyebrows, staring out incongruously from a block of ancient marble. The young painter was already imagining himself as a man for the ages, but success seems to have worn down Murillo in the later self-portrait, from about 1670. His hair has grown thinner, he’s developed a double chin, and he extends his hand as if desperate to connect to us.” (Farago)

 Neue Galerie

‘WIENER WERKSTÄTTE, 1903-1932: THE LUXURY OF BEAUTY,’ (through Jan. 29).”Fruit bowls, umbrella stands, swanky wallpapers, lavish curtains: The only thing the Wiener Werkstätte couldn’t make is a profit. This substantial exhibition on the most important design firm in early-20th-century Vienna brings together more than 400 works of Modernist applied arts, designed in a new kind of studio that united artists and artisans in a single enterprise. Their rational, rectilinear creations, made of silver or pricey oak, won a following among imperial Vienna’s bourgeoisie, but perpetual cost overruns and the coming of war pushed the Wiener Werkstätte into decline. The 1920s were the last gasp for the firm, under the blingier designer Dagobert Peche, whose mirrors and cruets were as florid as his predecessors’ were straitlaced.” (Farago)
212-628-6200, neuegalerie.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)

Morgan Library & Museum

‘DRAWN TO GREATNESS: MASTER DRAWINGS FROM THE THAW COLLECTION’  (through Jan. 7, 2018). “This major group drawing show constitutes a grand summing-up of a career, of an art form and of an institution’s holdings. During the past 60 years, the New York art dealer Eugene V. Thaw and his wife Clare Eddy Thaw amassed a phenomenal drawing collection notable for its chronological breadth, running from the early Renaissance to the near present. This year they gave more than 400 items outright to the Morgan Library, expanding and deepening its range. The 150 works on view include a super-rare Andrea Mantegna, an unearthly Samuel Palmer and a soulful Vincent Van Gogh.”  (NYT-Holland Cotter)

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)

‘MICHELANGELO: DIVINE DRAFTSMAN AND DESIGNER,’ (through Feb. 12).”A monument to a monument. With 133 drawings by the beyond-famous artist on loan from some 50 front-rank collections, this show is a curatorial coup and an art historical tour de force: a panoptic view of a titanic career as recorded in the most fragile of media: paper, chalk and ink. And it demands that you be fully present. Drawing is more than a graphic experience; it’s a textural one, about the pressure of crayon and pen on a page; the subliminal fade and focus of lines; the weave and shadow-creating swells of surfaces. These are effects that can’t be captured by a smartphone.” (Cotter)
212-535-7710, metmuseum.org

‘STREAMS AND MOUNTAINS WITHOUT END: LANDSCAPE TRADITIONS OF CHINA’  (through Jan. 6, 2018). “If you’ve seen only ash-aired Beijing, or that architectural Oz Shanghai, you haven’t seen China. Most of the country is wide-open space, green and blue: hills, plains, water. And it was for an escape to that openness that some Chinese urbanites yearned in centuries past. Their dream: to sit in on a terrace halfway up a mountain, with tea steeping, an ink-brush at hand, a friend at the door, and a waterfall splashing nearby. Not just for vacation. Forever. One way they could live the dream was through images of the kind seen in this show. Technically, it’s a collection reinstallation spiced with a few loans. But the Met’s China holdings are so broad and deep that some of the pictures here are resurfacing for the first time in almost a decade; one is finally making its debut a century after it was acquired. And there’s more than just paintings on view: ceramics, textiles and scholar’s rocks fill out the panorama.” (NYT-Holland Cotter) 212-535-7710, metmuseum.org

‘JAPANESE BAMBOO ART: THE ABBEY COLLECTION’  (through Feb. 4, 2018). “This fabulous show celebrates Diane and Arthur Abbey’s gift of some 70 bamboo baskets and sculptures, which nearly doubles the Met’s already outstanding holdings in this genre and brings them into the 20th and 21st centuries. The curator has embedded this trove within what is essentially a second exhibition that traces bamboo’s presence through folding screens, ink paintings, porcelain, netsuke, kimonos and more.” (NYT-Roberta Smith) 212-535-7710, metmuseum.org

DAVID HOCKNEY (through Feb.25, 2018) “For nearly 60 years, David Hockney (British, born 1937) has pursued a singular career with a love for painting and its intrinsic challenges. This major retrospective—the exhibition’s only North American venue—honors the artist in his 80th year by presenting his most iconic works and key moments of his career from 1960 to the present.

Working in a wide range of media with equal measures of wit and intelligence, Hockney has examined, probed, and questioned how to capture the perceived world of movement, space, and time in two dimensions. The exhibition offers a grand overview of the artist’s achievements across all media, including painting, drawing, photography, and video. From his early experiments with modernist abstraction and mid-career experiments with illusion and realism, to his most recent, jewel-toned landscapes, Hockney has consistently explored the nature of perception and representation with both intellectual rigor and sheer delight in the act of looking.” (Metropolitan Museum)

“Give it up for David Hockney, one of painting’s elder statesmen, and for his crystalline retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which proceeds in a string of perfectly curated mini-exhibitions. Check at the door the usual caveats and tsk-tsks regarding this wildly popular Anglo-Californian — that he’s a lightweight; that his “moment” was the ’60s; that he’s obvious. Suspend at least briefly the belief that a tragic vision, or abstraction, is essential for entry into art history’s pantheon.

No, Mr. Hockney, at 80, is not Jasper Johns or Gerhard Richter. But he has his own greatness, which flows from openly following his own desires — including his attraction to other men — while rigorously exploring the ways art and life feed each other, visually and emotionally. Full disclosure, forthright joy and forward motion are the dynamos of his art, which in my book at least, gives him an edge over Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon.” (NYT)

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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)

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 01/03 and 12/14.
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