NYCity 1-2-3 : What's Happening / Manhattan's WestSide

Selected Events (03/10) + Museum Special Exhibitions: Manhattan’s 5th Avenue

Posted on 03/10/2015 by GregD

Today’s “Fab 5″/ Selected NYCity Events – TUESDAY, MAR. 10, 2015
“We search the internet everyday looking for the very best of What’s Happening on Manhattan’s WestSide, so that you don’t have to. We make it as easy as 1-2-3.”

NY Drinks NY – Grand Tasting — Food & Drink (6pm)

Steve Kimock — Pop / Rock (8pm)

The Moth StorySLAM — SmartStuff/ StoryTelling (7pm)

Uptown Showdown — Comedy (8pm)

Dee Dee Bridgewater — Jazz (8pm) (10:30pm)

For other useful and curated NYCity event info for Manhattan’s WestSide:

♦ “9 Notable Events-Feb.”, and “Top10 Free” in the header above.
♦ For NYCity trip planning see links in “Resources” and “Smart Stuff” in the header above.
♦ For NYCity Sights, Sounds and Stories visit out our sister site: nyc123blog.wordpress.com
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NY Drinks NY – Grand Tasting
Join us for Fourth Annual NY Drinks NY Grand Tasting at the Astor Center. Meet the winemakers and taste more than 100 wines from the Finger Lakes, Long Island, Niagara Escarpment and beyond, paired with local cheeses and hors d’oeuvres from the Finger Lakes’ New York Wine & Culinary Center.
Astor Center, 399 Lafayette St. (at East 4th St.)
6 to 8 pm. / Ticket price $50 includes all food and wine,
and a Subscription to Edible Manhattan & Edible Brooklyn.
(212) 674-7501 / nydrinksny.com

Steve Kimock
“Guitarist Steve Kimock has garnered significant jam-fan attention through his association with various Grateful Dead spin-offs, as well as his own work. Here he plays a tribute to late Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia, with the help of Further keyboardist Jeff Chimenti, former Jerry Garcia Band drummer Bill Vitt and other talented friends.” (TONY)
Highline Ballroom, 431 W 16th St. (btw Ninth and Tenth Aves)
8pm / $30–$55

The Moth StorySLAM
“Ten stories. Three teams of judges. One winner. The outrageously (and deservedly) popular storytelling series pits local yarn spinners against one another, challenging them to deliver an impressive tale based on a specific theme. Get in line early, as spots for raconteurs and spectators alike go quickly. Tonight’s theme is one most NewYorkers know a thing or two about: “co-habitation.” (TONY)
Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, 126 Crosby St. (btw E Houston and Prince St)
7pm / $8
themoth.org

Uptown Showdown
“Two teams of comics and comic writers face off in a debate competition meant to settle age-old arguments, such as whether pirates or ninjas would win in a brawl. As the performers take shots at each other and do untested material, the room gets charged (in the silliest way possible).

At tonight’s installment hosted by Matthew Love, Josh Gondelman, Dave Hill, Sheng Wang and Brooke Van Poppelen argue about what’s better, wine or beer?” (TONY)
Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway, at 95th St.
8pm / $15

Dee Dee Bridgewater (through Thursday)
“Ms. Bridgewater is a sure-footed and sparkling singer, as well as a lauded actress, a public radio host and a United Nations goodwill ambassador. Her command of a club stage, this one in particular, is absolute.” (Chinen-NYT)
Blue Note, 131 West Third Street, Greenwich Village,
At 8 and 10:30 p.m./
212-475-8592 / bluenote.net.

============================================================================
♦ Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.
♦ NYCity (pop. 8.4 million) had a record 56 million visitors last year and quality shows draw crowds. Try to reserve seats in advance, even if just on day of performance.
==============================================================================

WHAT’S ON VIEW
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)

Metropolitan Museum of Art:
‘Madame Cézanne’ (through March 15)
Cézanne’s paintings of his wife, Hortense Fiquet, have long stonewalled would-be psychologists, offering few indications of intimacy or interior life. (The poet Rainer Maria Rilke, enthusing over “Madame Cézanne in a Red Armchair,” focused on the work’s color scheme and called the chair “a personality in its own right.”) But assembled at the Met, and supported by more tender and informal graphite sketches, these portraits are more forthcoming. They suggest that numbing familiarity was actually, for Cézanne, a form of intimacy; that he could connect with portrait subjects only when they were as reliable a presence in his life as Mont Sainte-Victoire. 212-535-7710, metmuseum.org. (Rosenberg)

‘Thomas Hart Benton’s “America Today” Mural Rediscovered’ (through April 19)
The prickly American Regionalist Thomas Hart Benton had his share of detractors. But even they would probably acknowledge that his early mural “America Today” is the best of its kind, a raucous, cartwheeling, wide-angle look at 1920s America that set the standard for the Works Progress Administration’s mural program and has remained a New York City treasure. Now installed at the Met in a reconstruction of its original setting (a boardroom at the New School for Social Research), it captivates with period details (from the cut of a flapper gown to the mechanics of a blast furnace) and timely signs of socioeconomic and environmental distress (exhausted coal miners and hands reaching for coffee and bread). 212-535-7710, metmuseum.org. (Rosenberg)

Guggenheim Museum:
Guggenheim Museum: ‘On Kawara — Silence’ (through May 3)
The first retrospective of this Conceptual Art giant turns the museum’s spiral into a vortex suffused with the consciousness of time, life’s supreme ruler, in all its quotidian daily unfoldings, historical events and almost incomprehensible grandeur. The presentation of date paintings, “I Got Up” postcards and “I AM Still Alive” telegrams echoes Mr. Kawara’s exquisite sense of discipline and craft. This is an extraordinary tribute. 1071 Fifth Avenue, at 89th Street, 212-423-3500, guggenheim.org. (Smith)

Kandinsky Before Abstraction, 1901–1911 (through spring 2015)
Early in his career Vasily Kandinsky experimented with printmaking, produced brightly-colored landscapes of the German countryside, and explored recognizable and recurrent motifs. This intimate exhibition drawn from the Guggenheim collection explores the artist’s representational origins.

Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum (continuing):
The stately doors of the 1902 Andrew Carnegie mansion, home to the Cooper Hewitt, are open again after an overhaul and expansion of the premises. Historic house and modern museum have always made an awkward fit, a standoff between preservation and innovation, and the problem remains, but the renovation has brought a wide-open new gallery space, a cafe and a raft of be-your-own-designer digital enhancements. Best of all, more of the museum’s vast permanent collection is now on view, including an Op Art weaving, miniature spiral staircases, ballistic face masks and a dainty enameled 18th-century version of a Swiss knife. Like design itself, this institution is built on tumult and friction, and you feel it. 2 East 91st Street, at Fifth Avenue, 212-849-8400, cooperhewitt.org. (Cotter)

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Museum Mile is a section of Fifth Avenue which contains one of the densest displays of culture in the world. Ten museums can be found along this section of Fifth Avenue:

• 110th Street – Museum for African Art

• 105th Street – El Museo del Barrio

• 103rd Street – Museum of the City of New York

• 92nd Street – The Jewish Museum

• 91st Street – Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

• 89th Street – National Academy Museum

• 88th Street – Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

• 86th Street – Neue Galerie New York

• 83rd Street – Goethe-Institut

Last, but certainly not least, America’s premier museum
• 82nd Street – The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Additionally, though technically not part of the Museum Mile, the Frick Collection on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 70th St. and the The Morgan Library & Museum on Madison Ave and 37th St are also located near Fifth Ave. Now plan your own museum crawl. ========================================================

For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in right Sidebar dated 03/08 and 03/06.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Astor Center, Blue Note, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Highline Ballroom, Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, NY Drinks NY - Grand Tasting, Steve Kimock, Symphony Space, The Moth StorySLAM, Uptown Showdown | Leave a comment

Selected Events (03/09) + Today’sFeaturedNeighborhood: WestVillage

Posted on 03/09/2015 by GregD

Today’s “Fab 5″/ Selected NYCity Events – MONDAY, MAR. 09, 2015
“We search the internet everyday looking for the very best of What’s Happening on Manhattan’s WestSide, so that you don’t have to. We make it as easy as 1-2-3.”

“How Shakespeare Works”: A Free Night Course — SmartStuff/ Class (6pm)

Celebrity Autobiography — Comedy (7pm)

Vanguard Jazz Orchestra — Jazz (8:30pm) (10:30pm)

Muldoon’s Picnic — SmartStuff/ Reading (7:30pm)

Maggie Nelson and Rebecca Reilly — SmartStuff/ Book Talk (6:30pm)

For other useful and curated NYCity event info for Manhattan’s WestSide:

“How Shakespeare Works”: A Free Night Course
Tonight: Henry V: the theater of arms

The Cooper Union’s charter calls for free night courses open to all. This spring, we are offering “Shakespeare at Work: An Introduction to the Plays in Nine Talks,” taught by William Germano, Ph.D., Dean of Cooper Union’s Faculty of Humanities and Social sciences.

Shakespeare’s plays exert their power over us through the beauty of language, the craft of drama, and something else we can’t easily name. Or maybe we can. These talks are designed as an introduction – or reintroduction – to Shakespeare the poet-playwright-player and to the world of his plays. That world can be lyrical or violent, green or desolate, a place for love and sex or for grappling with the mysteries of time and death.

Shakespeare’s plays were performed at many places and theaters – the famous Globe is only one – but “globe” is as good a metaphor as any for the body of work that, quite miraculously, survived his death in 1616. Shakespeare’s plays teem with characters, and those characters have problems that draw us back again and again. Because five hundred years later, those problems are still with us, and the language in which he poses them continues to give us consolation, and joy, and hope.
Cooper Union,
The Great Hall, in the Foundation Building, 7 East 7th Street, (Btw. Third & Fourth Aves.)
subway: 1-2-3 to Times Sq, transfer to N/R to 8th St.
Each talk begins at 6:00 and lasts for one-hour / FREE
1-212-353-4195

Celebrity Autobiography
“Major comedic actors prick the bubble of celeb autobiographical puffery by performing droll, verbatim readings from stars’ memoirs in Eugene Pack’s popular series. Guest performers in March include Rachel Dratch, Janeane Garofalo, Pamela Adlon, Matthew Broderick, Debbie Harry, Marsha Mason, Alan Zweibel, Tate Donovan and Ralph Macchio.” (TONY)
Stage 72, 158 W 72nd St. (btw Columbus Ave and Broadway)
7pm / $35-$60, plus two-drink minimum
800-838-3006 /http://celebrityautobiography.com

Vanguard Jazz Orchestra
There’s a tradition in many New York City jazz clubs – Monday nights are reserved for big bands. The Village Vanguard, the most storied of clubs, has observed this practice since 1966. The Grammy-winning Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, established by Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, is definitely a big band with 4 trumpets, and 4 trombones to accompany 6 reed players. Why not make it your tradition, too.

The band features music with complex yet warm harmonies and memorable melodies mostly written by Thad Jones. We play various styles, from relaxing swing, 70’s-style jazz-funk, ballads with complex harmonic structures, avant-garde tunes with modern rhythms. In addition to the classic Thad Jones charts our library includes music of Bob Brookmeyer, Jim McNeely, Slide Hampton, Bob Minzter, Kenny Werner and others. The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra has gained world-wide respect for their wide-ranging repertoire and rich sound.
Village Vanguard, 178 7th Avenue South, just below West 11th St.
At 8:30 and 10:30 pm / $25
212-255-4037 / villagevanguard.com

Muldoon’s Picnic
“The Irish Arts Center continues its series of words and music hosted by Paul Muldoon, the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and poetry editor at The New Yorker. The evening will feature the writer Kevin Barry, the Tony Award-winning actor Michael Cerveris and music by the Wayside Shrines.” (NYT)
The Irish Arts Center, 553 West 51st St.(btw 10/11 ave)
At 7:30 p.m. / $20
212-757-3318, irishartscenter.org.

Maggie Nelson and Rebecca Reilly
“The brilliant Nelson, whose forthcoming Argonauts is one of our most-anticipated books of the year, and Reilly, the author of the poetry memoir Repetition, discuss and read from their genre-transcending lyric works. The New School’s Mark Bibbins moderates.” (TONY)
The New School, J.M. Kaplan Hall, 66 W 12th St. (btw 5/6 ave)
6:30pm / $5

BONUS JAZZ PICKS:
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:
Village Vanguard – 178 7th Ave. South — villagevanguard.com / 212-255-4037
Blue Note – 131 W3rd St. nr 6th ave. — bluenotejazz.com / 212-475-8592
55 Bar – 55 Christopher St. nr 7th ave.S. — 55bar.com / 212-929-9883
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 56 million visitors last year and is TripAdvisor’s Traveler’s Choice Top U.S. Destination for 2015. Quality shows draw crowds. Try to reserve seats in advance, even if just on day of performance.
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A PremierPub / West Village

Corner Bistro/ 331 W. 4th St.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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 “How Shakespeare Works”: A Free Night Course, Celebrity Autobiography, Cooper Union, Corner Bistro, Maggie Nelson and Rebecca Reilly, Muldoon’s Picnic, Shakespeare, Stage 72, The Irish Arts Center, The New School, Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Village Vanguard | Leave a comment

Selected Events (03/08) + Museum Special Exhibitions: Manhattan’s WestSide

Posted on 03/08/2015 by GregD

Today’s “Fab 5″/ Selected NYCity Events – SUNDAY, MAR. 08, 2015
“We search the internet everyday looking for the very best of What’s Happening on Manhattan’s WestSide, so that you don’t have to. We make it as easy as 1-2-3.”

Anat Cohen Quartet — Jazz (7:30pm) (10pm)

54 Sings Mack & Mabel — Cabaret (7pm) (9:30pm)

Albert (Tootie) Heath, Ethan Iverson, Ben Street — Jazz (8:30pm) (10:30pm)

ASSSSCAT 3000 — Comedy (9:30pm)

From Book to Broadway: — SmartStuff/ Panel Discussion (8pm)

For other useful and curated NYCity event info for Manhattan’s WestSide:

Anat Cohen Quartet
“Anat Cohen, a clarinetist and tenor saxophonist of irresistible rhythmic aplomb, has a new album, “Luminosa,” that covers some of her key interests, notably the music of Brazilian composers like Milton Nascimento. She draws from the album here, with an adaptable rhythm section of Jason Lindner on piano, Joe Martin on bass and Daniel Freedman on drums.” (Chinen-NYT)

This joint is not exactly on Manhattan’s WestSide, but it is Anat Cohen. I have said this before, I’ll say it again. Anat is one of NYC’s Jazz treasures and she is playing tonight at a classic NYCity Jazz Club. Tonight’s special guest is Gilad Hekselman. You just gotta go.
Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th St. (btw Park/Lexington ave)
subway: #6 to 28th St.; walk 1 block S to 27th St., 1/2 block E to club
At 7:30 and 10 p.m. / $30
212-576-2232 / jazzstandard.net.

54 Sings Mack & Mabel
“Jerry Herman’s beloved cult musical about the early motion-picture biz gets a fresh airing. The swell roster of vocalists includes Brent Barrett, Carole J. Bufford, Beth Leavel, Sean McDermott, Molly Pope, Brian Charles Rooney, Kelli Rabke, Lee Roy Reams, Emily Skinner and Donna Vivino.” (TONY)
54 Below, 254 W 54th St. (btw Broadway and Eighth Ave)
7pm + 9:30pm / $40–$80, plus $25 minimum
646-476-3551 / 54below.com.

Albert (Tootie) Heath, Ethan Iverson, Ben Street
“The seventy-nine-year-old drummer has developed a terrific, knockabout familiarity with the pianist Ethan Iverson (of the Bad Plus) and the bassist Ben Street, two musicians nearly half his age. The trio’s winning effect is apparent on their new album, ”Philadelphia Beat.” Its mix of bebop classics and more far-reaching choices, including the disco hit “I Will Survive” and an adaptation of a Bach chorale prelude, points to the delightfully off-kilter sensibility that unites them.” (NewYorker)
Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, at 11th Street, West Village,
At 8:30 and 10:30 p.m./ $30
212-255-4037 / villagevanguard.com.

ASSSSCAT 3000
“This wildly popular show, hosted by Leo Allen, is known for always featuring the city’s best up-and-coming comedians. But it’s the surprise special guests—Chris Rock, Louis C.K. and David Cross have appeared—who keep audiences hooked.”

“One of the city’s most popular comedy nights sees NYC’s long-form improv royalty (think folks from Saturday Night Live and some adored Upright Citizens Brigade regulars) play pickup-game–style in this famous long-running show.” (TONY)
Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, 307 W 26th St. (btw 8/9 ave)
7:30pm/ $10; 9:30/ FREE – limited number of tickets are distributed at 8:15pm
(212) 366-9176 / chelsea.ucbtheatre.com

Elsewhere, but looks worth the detour:
From Book to Broadway:
A Conversation with Wolf Hall’s Hilary Mantel and Director Jeremy Herrin

“Dame Hilary Mantel is the two-time winner of the Man Booker Prize for her best-selling novels, Wolf Hall, and its sequel, Bring Up the Bodies—an unprecedented achievement.

The Royal Shakespeare Company recently adapted Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies for the stage to colossal critical acclaim, which opens on Broadway in April. There is also a BBC/Masterpiece six-part adaption of the novels, which will be broadcast on PBS in 2015.

The author of fourteen books, Mantel is currently at work on the third installment of the Thomas Cromwell Trilogy, The Mirror & the Light.
Candice Bergen will moderate the conversation.” (ThoughtGallery.org)
92nd Street Y, Kaufmann Concert Hall, Lexington Avenue at 92nd St
at 8:00 pm / $43
212-415-5500

==============================================================================
♦ Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.
♦ NYCity (pop. 8.4 million) had a record 56 million visitors last year and quality shows draw crowds. Try to reserve seats in advance, even if just on day of performance.
===============================================================================

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 the expanded reviews of these exhibitions)

Museum of Modern Art:
‘The Paris of Toulouse-Lautrec: Prints and Posters’ (through March 22) In his printed works, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec chronicled and publicized the music halls, theaters, circuses, operas and cafes of Paris with terrific verve, sly wit and surprising subtlety. This enthralling show presents approximately 100 examples drawn from the museum’s permanent collection. 212-708-9400, moma.org. (Johnson)

‘The Forever Now: Contemporary Painting in an Atemporal World’(through April 5) Despite being predictable and market-oriented in its choice of 17 artists, this museum’s first painting survey in decades is well worth seeing. About half the artists are exceptional and the rest are represented by their best work. Based on the premise that all historical painting styles are equally available today, the exhibition has been smartly installed to juxtapose different approaches: figurative and abstract, digital and handmade, spare and opulent. 212-708-9400, moma.org. (Smith)

New-York Historical Society:
‘Freedom Journey 1965: Photographs of the Selma to Montgomery March by Stephen Somerstein’ (through April 19) Almost 50 years ago, the picture editor of a campus newspaper at City College of New York assigned himself a breaking story: coverage of what promised to be a massive march in Alabama, led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., to demand free-and-clear voting rights for African-Americans. On short notice the editor, Stephen Somerstein, grabbed his cameras, climbed on a bus, and headed south. The 55 pictures of black leaders and everyday people in this show, installed in a hallway and small gallery, are some that he shot that day. The image of Dr. King’s head seen in monumental silhouette that has become a virtual logo of the film “Selma” is based on a Somerstein original. 170 Central Park West, at 77th Street, 212-873-3400, nyhistory.org. (Cotter)

Rubin Museum of Art:
‘The All-Knowing Buddha: A Secret Guide’ (through April 13) This show presents 54 paintings that illustrate step-by-step instructions for followers of Tibetan Buddhism. Delicately painted on 10-by-10-inch paper sheets, most of the pages depict a monk having fabulous visions in a verdant landscape. Thought to have been commissioned by a Mongolian patron and executed by unidentified artists in a Chinese workshop sometime in the 18th century, it is a fascinating and remarkably thorough manual for seekers of higher consciousness. 150 West 17th Street, Chelsea, 212-620-5000,rubinmuseum.org. (Johnson)

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For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in right Sidebar dated 03/04 and 03/06.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 54 Below, 54 Sings Mack & Mabel, 92nd Street Y, Albert (Tootie) Heath, Anat Cohen Quartet, ASSSSCAT 3000, Ethan Iverson, From Book to Broadway:, Jazz Standard, Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, Village Vanguard | Leave a comment

Selected Events (03/07) + Today’sFeaturedNeighborhood: Upper WestSide

Posted on 03/07/2015 by GregD

Today’s “Fab 5″/ Selected NYCity Events – SATURDAY, MAR. 07, 2015
“We search the internet everyday looking for the very best of What’s Happening on Manhattan’s WestSide, so that you don’t have to. We make it as easy as 1-2-3.”

‘Five Years that Rocked the World’ 1964-1969 — Rock/ Pop (5pm)

“La Donna del Lago” — Opera (8pm)

The Armory Show — SmartStuff/ Art Exhibition (12-7pm)

Mike Stern and Bill Evans Band — Jazz (8:30pm) (11pm)

10X10: Curators Discuss the Future — SmartStuff/ Panel Discussion (2pm)

For other useful and curated NYCity event info for Manhattan’s WestSide:

‘Five Years that Rocked the World’ 1964-1969
“John Koprowski takes us on a musical journey through the days that created the ’60s sound: the campus free speech movement, the Vietnam war and anti-war protests, civil rights marches, Ken Kesey and Timothy Leary, Haight-Ashbury and the Summer of Love, Fillmore East and West, the Beatles and the British invasion, Dylan going electric, Altamont, Monterey, and Woodstock.

Setting the scene for this turbulent era are songs by the following artists: The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, Jimi Hendrix, The Byrds, The Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and others. John Koprowski, a rock and roll historian as well as a performer, offers these powerful songs in the proper setting – with a five piece band and three backup singers under the direction of Tracy Stark. The entire production is directed by Mr. Eric Michael Gillett.

The music that came out of the 1960s is still with us today, and as popular as ever. However, these days you’re more likely to hear a song by the Byrds or the Mamas and the Papas as lush string arrangements in an elevator or at the bank. Here’s your chance to hear this iconic music as it was meant to be heard: live, loud, and rocking.” (CabaretHotlineOnline.blogspot.com)
Don’t Tell Mama, 343 West 46th St.
at 5:00 pm. / $20 cover plus a 2-drink minimum.
212-757-0788

“La Donna del Lago” (also Tuesday)
“The mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato is magnificent as Elena, the winsome heroine of this Rossini melodrama, which is having its premiere production at the Metropolitan Opera House. The story is set against the 15th-century rebellion by some clans of Scottish highlanders against their king, James V. As the daughter of the king’s former tutor, who is now allied with the rebels, Ms. DiDonato brings affecting sensitivity and brilliant coloratura to her performance.

The tenor Juan Diego Flórez is at his best as the king, who, disguised as Uberto, falls for Elena, though she loves — and eventually marries, with the king’s blessing — Malcolm, a contralto role, sung here by the rich-voiced mezzo-soprano Daniela Barcellona. The director Paul Curran’s essentially traditional production, atop a shifting floor and against the backdrop of atmospheric videos, gets the job done. The conductor Michele Mariotti leads a stylish and supple performance.” (Tommasini-NYT)
Metropolitan Opera House, 30 Lincoln Center Plaza, Columbus Ave. @ 63rd St.
subway: #1 to 66th St./Lincoln Center; exit S end of platform, walk S
(In repertory, through March 14.) Saturday at 8 p.m., Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.,
212.362.6000 / metopera.org; lincolncenter.org

The Armory Show (through Mar 8)
“New York’s big modern-art fair, the Armory Show, returns to Piers 92 and 94, overlooking the Hudson. As usual, the offerings are split in two, with twentieth-century art—including works by Tàpies and Miró from the Mayoral Galeria d’Art, in Barcelona—on Pier 92 and more recent creations next door. This year, the contemporary department features a section devoted to art from the Middle East, North Africa, and the Mediterranean selected by Omar Kholeif, the curator of London’s Whitechapel Gallery.” (NewYorker)
Pier 94, 12th Ave. at 55th St.
12pm-7pm / $45, $30 (senior)
thearmoryshow.com /

Mike Stern and Bill Evans Band
“Mr. Stern, a guitarist, and Mr. Evans, a saxophonist, have a long history together, stretching at least as far back as their tenure in the early-1980s comeback bands of Miles Davis. They have kept building on the language of jazz-rock and jazz-funk, each in his own way; their jointly led quartet has Tom Kennedy on bass and Steve Smith on drums.” (Chinen-NYT)
Birdland, 315 West 44th St. (btw 8/9 ave)
At 8:30 and 11 p.m. /
212-581-3080 / birdlandjazz.com.

10X10: Curators Discuss the Future at Pulse Perspectives
“And speaking of Pulse, in addition to hosting art fairs and throwing parties at the Americano, it also brings us Pulse Perspectives, a series of roundtable discussions. The topics are nothing if not ambitious: the second talk will ask ten curators and directors to discuss “the future.” Go find out what the future will be like on Saturday.” (N.F.-NY Observer)
Metropolitan Pavillion, 125 W. 18th Street,
2:00 p.m.

====================================================================================
♦ 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 56 million visitors last year and is TripAdvisor’s Traveler’s Choice Top U.S. Destination for 2015. Quality shows draw crowds. Try to reserve seats in advance, even if just on day of performance.
====================================================================================

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Website: http://www.dinosaurbarbque.com/
Phone #: 212-694-1777
Hours: Mo-Th 11:30am-11:00pm; Fr-Sa 11:30am-12:00am;
Su 12:00pm-10:00pm
Happy Hour: 4-7pm every day; $1 off all drinks
Music: Fri / Sat 10:30pm
Subway: #1 to 125th St.
Walk 2 blk W on 125th St. to Dinosaur Bar-B-Q,
just past the elevated highway.

===========================================================================================
“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 'Five Years that Rocked the World’ 1964-1969, 10X10: Curators Discuss the Future, “La Donna del Lago”, Birdland, Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, Don’t Tell Mama, Metropolitan Opera House, Metropolitan Pavillion, Mike Stern and Bill Evans Band, The Armory Show | Leave a comment

Selected Events (03/06) + GallerySpecialExhibits: Chelsea

Posted on 03/06/2015 by GregD

Today’s “Fab 5″/ Selected NYCity Events – FRIDAY, MAR. 06, 2015
“We search the internet everyday looking for the very best of What’s Happening on Manhattan’s WestSide, so that you don’t have to. We make it as easy as 1-2-3.”

“The Lives of Hamilton Fish” — Multimedia Story Telling (7pm)

Hozier — Rock/ Pop (8pm)

One Step Beyond, with Mayer Hawthorne — Dance Party (9pm)

CINEFEST 2015: Hispanic Film Festival — SmartStuff/ Film Fest (5pm)

The Genius of Einstein — SmartStuff/ Panel Discussion (7:30pm)

For other useful and curated NYCity event info for Manhattan’s WestSide:

“The Lives of Hamilton Fish” (also Mar.7)
“Art in General, a nonprofit art space, presents a multimedia storytelling event about people who lived in New York State during the Great Depression. The piece chronicles the deaths, one day apart in 1936, of two different men named Hamilton Fish, one a statesman and one a serial killer.

The interdisciplinary exploration is the brainchild of the sculptor, songwriter, and performer Rachel Mason, and it takes the form of a “cinematic rock opera performance.” In other words, a film is projected, and the vocal parts are performed live by actors, who also act out what happens on-screen; live musicians play along to the film’s score.” (NewYorker)
Root Studios, 443 W. 18th St.
7pm / $12
artingeneral.org

Hozier
“Inescapable but irresistible, Hozier’s hit single, “Take Me to Church,” has over 222 million Spotify streams and more than 25 million YouTube views, and earned a Grammy nod for Song of the Year (losing to Sam Smith). Not bad for the 24-year-old Irish singer-songwriter who, less than two years ago, was a struggling pub/street musician in Dublin.

The darkly emotive video for “Take Me to Church” struck a chord with its scenes/themes of gay oppression, but live, Andrew Hozier-Byrne will prove he has more than one haunting, eloquent song. (To wit, there’s 53 minutes of them on his 2014 self-titled debut, including the stellar “Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene.”) The show is open to all ages and starts at 8 p.m. with a set from George Ezra.” (Katherine Turman, VillageVoice)
Beacon Theater, 2124 Broadway, at 74th St.
8pm / $35-$45
800-745-3000 / beacontheatre.com.

One Step Beyond, with Mayer Hawthorne
“This dance party in the American Museum of Natural History’s Rose Center for Earth and Space is a selectively educational endeavor: Guests are free to read every factoid on the Kuiper belt and Oort cloud, or simply spill beer on them. Regardless, it’s a truly exceptional occasion best enjoyed in the company of stellar dance acts; Mr. Hawthorne, a spit-shined soul-popper, fits the bill. With the Range and Astro Nautico.” (Anderson-NYT)
American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West, at 81st St.,
9pm /
212-769-5200 / amnh.org/rose.

CINEFEST 2015: Hispanic Film Festival (Day 1)
CineFest 2015 will take place on March 6 and 13 and will feature four films and one documentary covering a broad spectrum of topics: immigration, environmental exploitation, coming of age and cultural identities. We hope that through these films we give voice to the unheard stories of many different cultures in the Spanish-speaking world.
NewSchool, The Auditorium at 66 West 12th Street, Alvin Johnson/J.M. Kaplan Hall
5:00 pm to 9:00 pm / FREE

Elsewhere, but this might make you a genius, so it’s worth the detour:
The Genius of Einstein
“What made Albert Einstein one of the greatest scientific geniuses the world has ever known? His scientific breakthroughs revolutionized the way we understand the universe. The World Science Festival, in partnership with the 92Y’s 7 Days of Genius Festival, presents an in-depth look into the genius of Einstein. Join physicist Brian Greene, neurologist Frederick Lepore and author and filmmaker Thomas Levenson for a lively and informative conversation on the science, the brain and the life of one of history’s most fascinating men.

Copies of Brian Greene’s The Elegant Universe will be available for purchase.” (ThoughtGallery.org)
Part of 7 Days of Genius Festival: Venture Into the Extraordinary (through Sunday)
The complete lineup is at 92y.org/genius.
92nd Street Y, Kaufmann Concert Hall, 1395 Lexington Ave. at 92nd St.
7:30 pm / $30
212-415-5500

====================================================================================
♦ Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.
♦ NYCity (pop. 8.4 million) had a record 56 million visitors last year and quality shows draw crowds. Try to reserve seats in advance, even if just on day of performance.
====================================================================================

Chelsea Art Gallery District

Chelsea is the heart of the NYCity contemporary art scene. Home to more than 300 art galleries, the Rubin Museum, the Joyce Theater and The Kitchen performance spaces, there is no place like it anywhere in the world. Come here to browse free exhibitions by world-renowned artists and those unknowns waiting to be discovered in an art district that is concentrated between West 18th and West 27th Streets, and 10th and 11th Avenues. Afterwards stop in the Chelsea Market, stroll on the High Line, or rest up at one of the many cafes and bars and discuss the fine art.

Here are a few current exhibition that TimeOutNY recommends:

Claudia Comte, No Melon No Lemon (until March 21, 2015)
This Swiss artist installs her elegant neomodernist sculptures within equally elegant environments consisting of neomodern paintings and wallpaper patterns. Her work visually name-checks the greats—Brancusi, Noguchi, Moore, Stella, Noland—unapologetically while bringing an added dose of rich, optically buzzy formalism to the proceedings.
Gladstone Gallery, 530 W 21st St.

Alec Soth, “Songbook” (through Mar. 21)
“The photographer takes a road trip through the heartland with black-and-white images of people (some posing formally for portraits, others caught candidly) and landscapes, all with the aim of capturing the “American community.”
Sean Kelly Gallery, Hudson Yards 475 Tenth Ave. (btw 36th/37th St.)
Tu-Sa // 11am-6pm

“Santu Mofokeng: A Metaphorical Biography” (through May 23)
Photojournaism becomes art.
“Since 2011, the New York outpost of Germany’s Walther Collection has been an important showcase for modern and contemporary African photography. Case in point: this excellent minisurvey of the work of Santu Mofokeng, titled, “A Metaphorical Biography.” It positions him as both a photojournalist and an artist concerned with questions of meaning and representation. Born in Johannesburg in 1956, Mofokeng began his professional career in the mid-1980s as a member of the photo agency Afrapix. In the turbulent decade leading up to apartheid’s end, he produced photo essays on South African townships, offering a more complex view of their inhabitants’ lives than the coverage found in the global media.

During the 1990s Mofokeng began to collect late-19th- and early-20th-century studio portraits of middle-class black South Africans. These became his 1997 slide show, The Black Photo Album/Look at Me: 1890–1950, in which intertitles provide biographical information on some of the subjects, while also questioning what their real-life experiences might have been.” (Anne Doran)
The Walther Collection, 526 W 26th St. (btw 10/11 ave)
We-Su // 11am-6pm

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.

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 tasty selection of FREE appetizers (M-F, 5-8pm).

=======================================================
For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in right Sidebar dated 03/02 and 03/04.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 92nd Street Y, American Museum of Natural History, “The Lives of Hamilton Fish”, Beacon Theater, Hispanic Film Festival, Hozier, Mayer Hawthorne, New School, The Genius of Einstein | Leave a comment

Selected Events (03/05) + Today’s Featured Neighborhood: Greenwich Village

Posted on 03/05/2015 by GregD

Today’s “Fab 5″/ Selected NYCity Events – THURSDAY, MAR. 05, 2015
“We search the internet everyday looking for the very best of What’s Happening on Manhattan’s WestSide, so that you don’t have to. We make it as easy as 1-2-3.”

Tibet House US Benefit Concert — Rock / Pop (7:30pm)

James Arthur Lecture: On the Evolution of the Human Brain —
SmartStuff/ Lecture (6pm)

Genetics vs Altitude: What Makes Coffee Delicious? —
SmartStuff/ Lecture + Food & Drink (7pm)

Deconstructing the Highline: A Public Symposium —
SmartStuff/ Symposium (5pm)

“Gil Hodges: A Hall of Fame Life” — SmartStuff/ Book Talk (7pm)

For other useful and curated NYCity event info for Manhattan’s WestSide:

Tibet House US Benefit Concert
“Now in its 25th year, this eclectic annual concert benefits Tibet House US, an institution founded at the request of the Dalai Lama for the sake of “preserving Tibet’s unique culture at a time when it is confronted with extinction on its own soil.” The cause typically makes for strong musical effect, with “artistic director” Philip Glass calling on a cast of notables from all kinds of scenes. This year’s roster includes Debbie Harry of Blondie, Laurie Anderson, Tibetan musician Tenzin Choegyal, country singer Sturgill Simpson, Devonte Hynes of Blood Orange and fantastical art-rock band the Flaming Lips, among others. Also on the lineup is public-radio personality Ira Glass, Philip’s second cousin.” (WSJ)
Carnegie Hall, 881 Seventh Ave., @ 57th St.
7:30pm / $35-$200
(212) 247-7800

James Arthur Lecture: On the Evolution of the Human Brain
“The evolution of human language presents the greatest challenge for cognitive biology, and opinions vary wildly about the relevance of evidence from animals. Language is widely accepted as our most characteristic and critical cognitive attribute; and it is just too complex to have evolved in a single step, so precursors shared with non-human primates are to be expected.”

Dick Byrne is Research Professor in the School of Psychology at St Andrews University, Scotland, where his work focuses on the evolution of cognitive and social behavior, particularly the origins of distinctively human characteristics.” (ThoughtGallery.org)
American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th St.
6:00 pm / FREE
212-769-5100

Genetics vs Altitude: What Makes Coffee Delicious?
Spend an evening with Intelligentsia’s Geoff Watts and learn just what it takes for coffee to taste so delicious. A long-time supporter of Housing Works, Intelligentsia will be serving some of their best single origin coffees including Finca Takesi from Bolivia, the highest coffee farm in the world.
Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, 126 Crosby St, near Houston St, SoHo,
At 7 p.m. / FREE
212-334-3324 / housingworksbookstore.org.

Deconstructing the Highline: A Public Symposium
The High Line, an innovative promenade created on a disused elevated railway in Manhattan, is widely recognized as among the most iconic urban landmarks of the 21st century. It has stimulated public interest in landscape design while simultaneously re-integrating an industrial relic into the everyday life of New York City. Since its opening in 2009, this unique greenway has exceeded expectations in terms of attracting visitors, investment, and property development to Manhattan’s West Side, and is widely celebrated as a monument to community-led activism, adaptive re-use of urban infrastructure, and innovative ecological design. It has also inspired a worldwide proliferation of similar proposals seeking to capitalize on the repurposing of disused urban infrastructure for postindustrial revitalization.

Providing a much-needed critical perspective, this interdisciplinary symposium will interrogate the High Line’s relation to public space, creative practice, urban renewal, ecology, and public policy. The event brings together scholars from urban studies, geography, cultural analysis, art, and architecture.

Those attending are invited to join a reception and short presentation immediately following the symposium to mark the publication of Christoph Lindner’s new book on New York City, Imagining New York City: Literature, Urbanism and the Visual Arts
New School, Wollman Hall, Eugene Lang College, 65 West 11th St. Rm B500
5:00 pm to 8:00 pm / FREE

“Gil Hodges: A Hall of Fame Life” with Author Mort Zachter
“No man lives his image.” —Gil Hodges

“As a Marine, one of Brooklyn’s beloved Boys of Summer, and the manager of the Miracle Mets, Gil Hodges lived a great American life, though one cut too short. In these pages you understand how Hodges defined what it meant to be a role model in a golden age.” —Tom Verducci, senior writer for “Sports Illustrated”

“Whether focusing on Hodges the Hoosier, the Marine on Okinawa, the home run-hitting slugger, or the Brooklynite on Bedford Avenue, Mort Zachter has given us Gil, right down to the nub of his Marlboro.” —Bob McGee, author of “The Greatest Ballpark Ever” (ThoughtGallery.org)
Bergino Baseball Clubhouse, 67 E. 11th St. (btw. University Place/Broadway)
subway: N/Q/R to 14th St. / UnionSquare; walk S 3 blocks
7:00 pm – 8:30 pm / FREE, RSVP required to attend.
212-226-7150

====================================================================================
♦ 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 56 million visitors last year and is TripAdvisor’s Traveler’s Choice Top U.S. Destination for 2015. Quality shows draw crowds. Try to reserve seats in advance, even if just on day of performance.
====================================================================================

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’ ”.

Each 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 wines and lite meals, fairly priced, 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, NYC 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 S/left on Bleecker to Jones st, 50 yards E/left on Jones st to Caffe V

===========================================================================================
“Pub” is used in it’s broadest sense – bars, bar/restaurants, jazz clubs, wine bars, tapas bars, craft beer bars, dive bars, cocktail lounges, and of course, pubs – just about anyplace you can get a drink without a cover charge (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.
===========================================================================================

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)
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 Sq park. You may have to wait a few minutes, because everything is freshly made, but it’s worth it. Can you believe – an unheard of 26 food rating by Zagat.

================================================================================
“3 Good Eating places” focuses on a quick bite, what I call “Fine Fast Food – NYCity Style”

This covers a wide range of food – the traditional pizza, burgers, & hot dogs; but also food trucks & carts, soup & sandwiches, picnic fixins’, raw bars & lobster rolls, bbq, vegetarian / falafel, ramen, chopped salad & salad bars. No reservations needed. ================================================================================

◊ For all my picks of 54 Good Eating places, with expanded descriptions, maps with contact info, 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” ($3.99, available Spring 2015).
◊ Order before May 31, 2015 and receive a bonus – 27 of my favorite casual dining places on Manhattan’s WestSide with free Wi-Fi.
=========================================================

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged “Gil Hodges: A Hall of Fame Life”, Deconstructing the Highline: A Public Symposium, Genetics vs Altitude: What Makes Coffee Delicious?, James Arthur Lecture: On the Evolution of the Human Brain, Tibet House US Benefit Concert | Leave a comment

Selected Events (03/04) + Museum Special Exhibitions: Manhattan’s 5th Avenue

Posted on 03/04/2015 by GregD

Today’s “Fab 5″/ Selected NYCity Events – WEDNESDAY, MAR. 04, 2015
“We search the internet everyday looking for the very best of What’s Happening on Manhattan’s WestSide, so that you don’t have to. We make it as easy as 1-2-3.”

sorry this is late! forgot to hit the publish button!

Anat Cohen Quartet — Jazz (7:30pm) (10pm)

Albert (Tootie) Heath — Jazz (8:30pm) (10:30pm)

Synth Nights: Morton Subotnick — Electronic Multimedia (8pm)

Math Encounters — SmartStuff/ Mathematics Discussion (4pm) (7pm)

‘Semele’ — Opera (7:30pm)

For other useful and curated NYCity event info for Manhattan’s WestSide:

Anat Cohen Quartet (through March 8)
“Anat Cohen, a clarinetist and tenor saxophonist of irresistible rhythmic aplomb, has a new album, “Luminosa,” that covers some of her key interests, notably the music of Brazilian composers like Milton Nascimento. She draws from the album here, with an adaptable rhythm section of Jason Lindner on piano, Joe Martin on bass and Daniel Freedman on drums.” (Chinen-NYT)

This joint is not exactly on Manhattan’s WestSide, but it is Anat Cohen. I have said this before, I’ll say it again. Anat is one of NYC’s Jazz treasures and she is playing tonight at a classic NYCity Jazz Club. You gotta go – I’ll be there for the late set.
Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th St. (btw Park/Lexington ave)
subway: #6 to 28th St.; walk 1 block S to 27th St., 1/2 block E to club
At 7:30 and 10 p.m., with an 11:45 p.m. set next Friday and Saturday / $30
212-576-2232 / jazzstandard.net.

Albert (Tootie) Heath, Ethan Iverson, Ben Street (through March 8)
“The seventy-nine-year-old drummer has developed a terrific, knockabout familiarity with the pianist Ethan Iverson (of the Bad Plus) and the bassist Ben Street, two musicians nearly half his age. The trio’s winning effect is apparent on their new album, ”Philadelphia Beat.” Its mix of bebop classics and more far-reaching choices, including the disco hit “I Will Survive” and an adaptation of a Bach chorale prelude, points to the delightfully off-kilter sensibility that unites them.” (NewYorker)
Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, at 11th Street, West Village,
At 8:30 and 10:30 p.m./ $30
212-255-4037, villagevanguard.com.

Synth Nights: Morton Subotnick
“The Kitchen is consistently brilliant in its booking of avant-garde performances, but it outdoes itself with this series, whose curators have included Laurie Anderson and Nico Muhly. This installment features the pioneering composer Morton Subotnick, a godfather figure in the world of electronic multimedia. His first full-length album, “Silver Apples of the Moon,” was a defining release for Mr. Subotnick and his label, Nonesuch, in 1967. Ahead of his 82nd birthday in April, he presents this light and sound duet with the visual artist Lillevan.” (Anderson-NYT)
The Kitchen, 512 West 19th St., Chelsea,
At 8 p.m.,
212-255-5793 / thekitchen.org.

Math Encounters: Poetry, Drumming, and Mathematics with Majul Bhargava
Did you know that many modern mathematical tools used in probability and combinatorics, and applied in varied technologies such as those on NASA space missions, originated in problems encountered by linguists and musicians thousands of years ago? Princeton University Professor and 2014 Fields Medalist Manjul Bhargava looks at some of these ancient, poetic problems—and their remarkable solutions through the ages—to reveal much about the nature of human thought and the origins of mathematics.

Refreshments follow the afternoon presentation of Math Encounters; arrive by 6:30pm for refreshments preceding the evening presentation. Admission is free; registration required.
Museum of Mathematics, 11 E. 26th St.
at 4pm and 7pm / FREE
212-542-0566 / mathencounters.org.

Elsewhere, but looks worth a detour on the #2 or 3 subway:
‘Semele’ (also March 6, 8 and 10)
“Handel’s opera about a narcissistic goddess receives a brilliantly irreverent makeover by the director Zhang Huan in this production that blends European costume with Chinese theater, sumo wrestlers and a good dose of sex appeal. Christopher Moulds conducts a cast from the Canadian Opera Company led by Jane Archibald in the title role.” (Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim-NYT)
Wednesday, next Friday and March 10 at 7:30 p.m., March 8 at 3 p.m.
Howard Gilman Opera House, Brooklyn Academy of Music,
30 Lafayette Ave. (btw St. Felix St. and Ashland Place)
subway: #2, 3, to Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center (about 30 min from TimesSquare)
718-636-4100 / bam.org.

============================================================================
♦ Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.
♦ NYCity (pop. 8.4 million) had a record 56 million visitors last year and quality shows draw crowds. Try to reserve seats in advance, even if just on day of performance.
==============================================================================

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

Museum Mile is a section of Fifth Avenue which contains one of the densest displays of culture in the world. Ten museums can be found along this section of Fifth Avenue:

• 110th Street – Museum for African Art

• 105th Street – El Museo del Barrio

• 103rd Street – Museum of the City of New York

• 92nd Street – The Jewish Museum

• 91st Street – Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

• 89th Street – National Academy Museum

• 88th Street – Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

• 86th Street – Neue Galerie New York

• 83rd Street – Goethe-Institut

Last, but certainly not least, America’s premier museum
• 82nd Street – The Metropolitan Museum of Art

For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in right Sidebar dated 03/02 and 02/28.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Albert (Tootie) Heath, Anat Cohen, Anat Cohen Quartet, ‘Semele’, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Jazz Standard, Majul Bhargava, Math Encounters, Morton Subotnick, Museum of Mathematics, Synth Nights: Morton Subotnick, Village Vanguard | Leave a comment

Selected Events (03/03) + Today’sFeaturedNeighborhood: WestVillage

Posted on 03/03/2015 by GregD

Today’s “Fab 5″/ Selected NYCity Events – TUESDAY, MAR. 03, 2015
“We search the internet everyday looking for the very best of What’s Happening on Manhattan’s WestSide, so that you don’t have to. We make it as easy as 1-2-3.”

Duchess — Jazz (7:30pm) (10pm)

Kat Edmonson — Folk (8pm)

Stepping Into the Yards: A Mega Project on the Hudson —
SmartStuff/ Panel Discussion (6:30pm)

Keith Jarrett, Solo Piano Improvisations — Jazz (8pm)

Art of the Brooklyn Bridge: A Visual History — SmartStuff/ Book Talk (6:30pm)

For other useful and curated NYCity event info for Manhattan’s WestSide:

Duchess
“This jazz vocal trio — a knowing update of the Boswell Sisters sound, featuring Amy Cervini, Hilary Gardner and Melissa Stylianou — celebrates the release of its self-titled debut, with help from, among others, the saxophonist Jeff Lederer and the drummer Matt Wilson.” (Chinen-NYT)

Duchess had a residency at 55 Bar in the fall and was the best no cover deal in town. I strongly encourage you to celebrate their new CD with them tonight at a much more upscale venue.
Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th St.
At 7:30 and 10 p.m.,
212-576-2232 / jazzstandard.net.

Kat Edmonson
“Lately there seems to be an especially noteworthy new crop of young female singer-songwriters. Kat Edmonson’s original songs and her delivery thereof somehow seems both retro and cutting edge all at the same time, contemporary but with a firm grounding in the 1960s. On her new album, “The Big Picture,” “You Can’t Break My Heart” combines James Bond fender bass lines and an Ennio Morricone trumpet, while the next track, “Till We Start to Kiss” pays a visit to Martin Denny’s tiki lounge. Although this show is an album release event, here’s hoping Ms. Edmonson will include a few standards; her rendition of “Mele Kalikimaka” was the highlight of Vince Giordano ’s Town Hall Christmas concert two months ago.” (WSJ)
(Le) Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker St.
8pm / $25
(212) 505-3474

Stepping Into the Yards: A Mega Project on the Hudson
“If the Hudson Yards only means a construction site and a traffic snarl to you, it’s time to dig deeper. The Yards is not only NYC’s biggest development project since Rockefeller Center, it’s also the largest private real estate development in U.S. history. To learn more about the housing, offices, parks and cultural spaces soon to enter the Manhattan mix, don’t miss this panel discussion co-sponsored by the AIA New York Chapter | Center for Architecture. Both the process of development and the prospects for the city’s future in light of this game changing development will be discussed.

Speakers:
Jay Cross, President of Related Hudson Yards
Sarah Goldhagen, Architecture Critic
William Pedersen, FAIA, Founding Design Partner of Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates
Thomas Woltz, FASLA, Principal and owner of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects
Suzanne Stephens (moderator), Deputy Editor of Architectural Record” (ThoughtGallery.org)
Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Ave.
at 6:30 pm / $16
212-534-1672

Keith Jarrett, Solo Piano Improvisations
“Sometimes I think that I actually prefer Mr. Jarrett on recordings—such as his beautiful “Rio” (2011)—where we can be spared both his rather extreme facial contortions and his unrestrained temper tantrums. (He shares with Frank Sinatra not only a superlative taste in American standard songs but also an unabashed antagonism toward photographers.) But there’s no denying that the bad boy of contemporary jazz piano is worth the trouble. His luxurious lyricism and wizardly harmonic sense make him someone you want to catch in any and every medium, and his solo improvisation shows are especially pungent samples of his unique artistry.” (WSJ)
Carnegie Hall, Isaac Stern Auditorium, 57th St. and Seventh Ave.
8pm / $45-$110
(212) 247-7800

Elsewhere, but looks worth the short detour:
‘Art of the Brooklyn Bridge: A Visual History’
“The National Arts Club hosts a celebration of the Brooklyn Bridge, one of this country’s most commonly depicted landmarks. The night’s centerpiece is Richard Haw’s book “Art of the Brooklyn Bridge: A Visual History,” which explores artists’ relationships with the bridge, including works by the photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson and the painter Joseph Stella.” (NYT)
National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South,
At 8 p.m./ FREE
212-475-3424 / nationalartsclub.org

====================================================================================
♦ 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 56 million visitors last year and is TripAdvisor’s Traveler’s Choice Top U.S. Destination for 2015. Quality shows draw crowds. Try to reserve seats in advance, even if just on day of performance.
====================================================================================

A PremierPub / West Village

Corner Bistro/ 331 W. 4th St.

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

===========================================================================================
“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 Art of the Brooklyn Bridge: A Visual History, Carnegie Hall, Corner Bistro, Duchess, Jazz Standard, Kat Edmonson, Keith Jarrett, LE Poisson Rouge, Museum of the City of New York, National Arts Club, Stepping Into the Yards: A Mega Project on the Hudson | Leave a comment

Selected Events (03/02) + Museum Special Exhibitions: Manhattan’s WestSide

Posted on 03/02/2015 by GregD

Today’s “Fab 5″/ Selected NYCity Events – MONDAY, MAR. 02, 2015
“We search the internet everyday looking for the very best of What’s Happening on Manhattan’s WestSide, so that you don’t have to. We make it as easy as 1-2-3.”

NYC Restaurant Week — Food & Drink (various times)

Captain Black Big Band — Jazz (7pm) (9pm)

The Breithaupt Brothers and Special Guests — Cabaret (7pm)

The Untold Stories of Broadway — SmartStuff/ Book Talk (6pm)

T Blues Band — Blues Music (10pm)

For other useful and curated NYCity event info for Manhattan’s WestSide:

NYC Restaurant Week (through Mar. 6)
The semi-annual dining extravaganza is back (actually it started Feb.16), with more than 300 area restaurants offering three courses for lunch at $25 and dinner at $38. Here are some suggestions to get you started on some fine dining:

The top 10 restaurants for NYC Restaurant Week Winter 2015
“With all of those choices, where do you start? We’ve nailed down 10 must-try restaurants, including nouveau Italian numbers, a Chinatown update and a Southern-comfort joint offering some of the best fried chicken in the city.” (TONY)

“20 Restaurant Week Reservations to Make Right Now” (Zagat)
For more information, a complete list of restaurants, and to make reservations: nycgo.com

Captain Black Big Band, Conducted by Orrin Evans
“Orrin Evans, a Philly pianist who approaches the jazz tradition with both reverence and a deep inquisitiveness, leads his fine, large ensemble, which translates postbop fire to the big-band canvas. Witness Mother’s Touch, a bravura recent Posi-Tone set that divides its time between soulful reflection and high-wire dazzlement.” (TONY)
Smoke Jazz Club and Lounge, 2751 Broadway, btw 105th and 106th St.
7pm + 9pm / $9

The Breithaupt Brothers and Special Guests
“No composer had the chutzpah to write a tune called “Songs for Swingin’ Lovers”—until the Breithaupt Brothers. This team of songwriting siblings might be viewed as Canada’s male answer to New York’s Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich, in that not only do they write high-quality original songs in a wide range of styles, but they have a knack for assembling first-rate casts of jazz and theater singers to perform them.

At their showcase last September at Joe’s Pub, fellow Canadian Paul Shaffer (yes, David Letterman ’s sidekick) stole the show, and this time there’s an even more celestial lineup, including the impeccable blues stylist Catherine Russell, the increasingly impressive interpreter Marissa Mulder, Matthew Saldivar from “Honeymoon in Vegas” and Steely Dan’s Carolyn Leonhart. “ (WSJ)
Birdland, 315 W. 44th St.,
7PM / $25
(212) 581-3080

The Untold Stories of Broadway
“The musical theater historian Jennifer Ashley Tepper discusses her book series “The Untold Stories of Broadway,” a look behind the curtain of some of the Great White Way’s most widely known shows. She will receive help from Broadway veterans like Baayork Lee of “A Chorus Line,” Jose Llana of “Here Lies Love” and Taylor Trensch of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” and “Matilda.” Ms. Tepper will sign books before the event, at 5:30 p.m.” (NYT)
NYPL for the Performing Arts, 111 Amsterdam Avenue, at 65th Street, Lincoln Center,
At 6 p.m. / FREE
917-275-6975, nypl.org/lpa

T Blues Band
Comprised of rotating band leaders, the T Blues Band is a sound-shifting, blues machine. Tight knit groups of 4 musicians combine forces to generate the most powerful and authentic blues incarnations around. Sit back, and enjoy! It’s an experience you can’t find anywhere else but Terra Blues, one of the best Blues bars in New York.
Terra Blues, 149 Bleecker St., btw thompson street & laguardia place
10pm / $10 cover before 10 each night
212.777.7776

==============================================================================
♦ Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.
♦ NYCity (pop. 8.4 million) had a record 56 million visitors last year and quality shows draw crowds. Try to reserve seats in advance, even if just on day of performance.
===============================================================================

=======================================================
For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in right Sidebar dated 02/28 and 02/26.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Birdland, Captain Black Big Band, NYC Restaurant Week, NYPL for the Performing Arts, Smoke Jazz Club, T Blues Band, Terra Blues, The Breithaupt Brothers and Special Guests, The Untold Stories of Broadway | Leave a comment

Selected Events (03/01) + Today’s Featured Neighborhood: Midtown West

Posted on 03/01/2015 by GregD

Today’s “Fab 5″/ Selected NYCity Events – SUNDAY, MAR. 01, 2015
“We search the internet everyday looking for the very best of What’s Happening on Manhattan’s WestSide, so that you don’t have to. We make it as easy as 1-2-3.”

Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park Rink–Sporting Life (8am-10pm)

David Berkman and the New York Standards Quartet —
Jazz (7pm) (9pm) (10:30pm)

Robert Glasper — Jazz (8:30pm) (10:30pm)

Natasha Leggero — Comedy (7:30pm)

7 Days of Genius Festival — SmartStuff/ Discussions & Seminars (various)
including: The Long Life, Genius or Nightmare — SmartStuff/ Discussion (5pm)

For other useful and curated NYCity event info for Manhattan’s WestSide:

Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park Rink (Last Day!)
“It may not seem like it, but winter will be over faster than you think. Proof of that is today is the very last day of Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park Rink.

Bryant Park’s 17,000-square-foot outdoor rink is free and open late. Don’t get too excited—the admission may be gratis, but you’ll have to shell out $19 to rent skates (or BYO). Still, it’s a veritable winter wonderland: After your time on the ice, warm up at spacious rinkside restaurant Celsius. If you want to practice your lutzes and axels with ample spinning room, try visiting during off-peak hours.” (TONY)
Bryant Park, 6th ave (btw 40/42 St.)
8am -10pm / FREE, if you BYOSkates, otherwise $19
wintervillage.org

David Berkman and the New York Standards Quartet
“Mr. Berkman, a pianist and composer with a smart, uncluttered approach to modern jazz, has led his New York Standards Quartet on and off for the better part of a decade; he formally introduced the group last year with the album “The New Straight Ahead.” For a weekend run, he welcomes two notable interlopers, the trombonist Robin Eubanks and the bassist Ray Drummond.” (Nate Chinen- NYT)
Smoke Jazz Club, 2751 Broadway, at 106th St.
At 7, 9 and 10:30 p.m.,
212-864-6662, smokejazz.com.

Robert Glasper (through March 1)
“The pianist’s last two albums, “Black Radio,” from 2012, and “Black Radio 2,” from 2013, hit a nerve with the public (the first won a Grammy for Best R. & B. album). These best-selling (for jazz, that is) recordings blended post-bop jazz, hip-hop, rock, and R. & B. and spoke to the postmodern leanings of contemporary listeners. Guest vocalists assisted in that effort on the albums, but at the Village Vanguard, Glasper is scaling back with his restlessly interactive trio, an instrumental setting that will also allow the leader’s rousing playing to take the spotlight.” (NewYorker)
Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Ave. S., at 11th St.
8:30pm + 10:30 pm / $30
212-255-4037 / villagevanguard.com
Remember, the Vanguard will celebrate it’s 80th Anniversary the week of March 10.

Natasha Leggero
“Leggero first pulls you in with her seductive charm like a snotty version of Audrey Hepburn, then hilariously trashes everything in her path with her quick wit.

Wearing evening gloves and casting seductive glances, this stand-up projects an air of Audrey Hepburn or Jackie O; her act, however, quickly punctures that veneer. She slings mud at the innumerable plebeians she encounters, but audiences forgive her assault on the easy targets when under the sway of her assured, snotty authority.” (TONY)
Carolines on Broadway, 1626 Broadway (btw 49/50 St.)
7:30pm / $15–$35 plus two-drink minimum

Elsewhere, but this looks almost necessary, and certainly worth the detour:
7 Days of Genius Festival: Venture Into the Extraordinary (through March 8)
“This festival brings together luminaries from a variety of fields — including science, art, religion, business and literature — to discuss the concept of genius and all that goes with it. On Wednesday at 8 p.m., for example, the economist Thomas Piketty joins Paul Krugman, a Nobel laureate and columnist for The New York Times, and Joseph Stiglitz, also a Nobel winner. Other speakers include Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Rabbi Peter J. Rubinstein (Tuesday at 8:15 p.m.), as well as a panel of MacArthur Fellowship recipients (Wednesday at 8:15 p.m.).
The complete lineup is at 92y.org/genius.” (NYT)

Tonight (5pm -7pm):
Roundtable: “The Long Life, Genius or Nightmare” with Ezekiel J. Emanuel
“Late last year, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel (pictured) created a firestorm of controversy with his Atlantic magazine article, “Why I Hope to Die at 75” (a sensational title for a piece in which the doctor proclaimed his wish not to use modern medicine to keep him ticking past the three-quarter century mark). Tonight, Emanuel is joined by James Kirkland, David Sinclair and Jay Olshansky for a discussion of longevity as desire and reality. (Read our Q&A with Olshansky here.)
Click here for tickets; enter the promo code VITA at ticket checkout (the discount is offered by the American Federation of Aging Research, AFAR).” (seniorplanet.org)
92nd St Y, 1395 Lexington Ave
5pm / $30; FREE with promo code: VITA
subway: 4, 5, 6 to 86th St; 6 to 96th St.
92y.org/Event/The-Long-Life-Genius-or-Nightmare

====================================================================================
♦ 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 56 million visitors last year and is TripAdvisor’s Traveler’s Choice Top U.S. Destination for 2015. Quality shows draw crowds. Try to reserve seats in advance, even if just on day of performance.
====================================================================================

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.

Those 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 sax player with a younger, trimmer piano man. “tiny” we miss you.

===========================================================================================
“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 7 Days of Genius Festival, 92nd Street Y, Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park Rink, Bryant Park, Caroline's, David Berkman, Ezekiel J. Emanuel, Genius or Nightmare, Natasha Leggero, Robert Glasper, Russian Vodka Room, Smoke Jazz Club, The Long Life, Village Vanguard | Leave a comment

NYCity 1-2-3 : What's Happening / Manhattan's WestSide

Selected Events (03/10) + Museum Special Exhibitions: Manhattan’s 5th Avenue

For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in right Sidebar dated 03/08 and 03/06.

Selected Events (03/09) + Today’sFeaturedNeighborhood: WestVillage

Corner Bistro/ 331 W. 4th St.

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

Selected Events (03/08) + Museum Special Exhibitions: Manhattan’s WestSide

Selected Events (03/07) + Today’sFeaturedNeighborhood: Upper WestSide

A PremierPub / Upper West Side

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

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

Selected Events (03/06) + GallerySpecialExhibits: Chelsea

Selected Events (03/05) + Today’s Featured Neighborhood: Greenwich Village

A PremierPub and 3 Good Eating Places – Greenwich Village

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

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

3 Good Eating places

================================================================================
“3 Good Eating places” focuses on a quick bite, what I call “Fine Fast Food – NYCity Style”

Selected Events (03/04) + Museum Special Exhibitions: Manhattan’s 5th Avenue

For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in right Sidebar dated 03/02 and 02/28.

Selected Events (03/03) + Today’sFeaturedNeighborhood: WestVillage

Corner Bistro/ 331 W. 4th St.

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

Selected Events (03/02) + Museum Special Exhibitions: Manhattan’s WestSide

Selected Events (03/01) + Today’s Featured Neighborhood: Midtown West

A PremierPub / Midtown West.

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

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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For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in right Sidebar dated 03/08 and 03/06.

Corner Bistro/ 331 W. 4th St.

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

A PremierPub / Upper West Side

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

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

A PremierPub and 3 Good Eating Places – Greenwich Village

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

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

3 Good Eating places

================================================================================ “3 Good Eating places” focuses on a quick bite, what I call “Fine Fast Food – NYCity Style”

For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in right Sidebar dated 03/02 and 02/28.

Corner Bistro/ 331 W. 4th St.

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

A PremierPub / Midtown West.

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

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

Recent Posts

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Archives

Categories

Meta

Recent Posts

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

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

================================================================================
“3 Good Eating places” focuses on a quick bite, what I call “Fine Fast Food – NYCity Style”

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

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