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

Today’s “Fab 5”/ Selected NYCity Events – MONDAY, MAR. 24, 2014.

Macy’s Annual Flower Show (through April 06)
Macy’s flower show “The Secret Garden” at Herald Square opened on Sunday, so everything is very fresh. Today there is a drawing seminar in the Cellar in the Lower Level given by the #1 rated “Art Studio NY”. Create your very own color sketch of the perfect flower. Also available – Zyrtec’s “beauty secrets to combat Allergy Face” on the Cosmetics Main Floor.
Macy’s, 151 W 34th St.

BOB DYLAN IN THE 80’S
The Bob Dylan of thirty years ago was a dicey proposition, to say the least. He had his ups—no one can question the quality of “Infidels” or the decade-capping “Oh Mercy”—but it’s become increasingly difficult to go to bat for the overproduction of “Empire Burlesque,” and nearly impossible to make a sustained case for “Knocked Out Loaded” or “Down in the Groove,” ramshackle releases with a few masterpieces (“Brownsville Girl,” “Death Is Not the End”) hidden amid the junk.

Now ATO Records is reclaiming the decade with a tribute album, featuring such artists as Langhorne Slim, Elvis Perkins, Dawn Landes, and Hannah Cohen. The record’s launch party is on March 24, with those performers and others. Audience members are encouraged to dress up eighties style. Here’s a hint if you want to look like Dylan: the secret’s not in the hair—it’s in the blazer. (NewYorker)
Music Hall of Williamsburg, 66 N. 6th St., Brooklyn.
800-745-3000 / 718-486-5400, musichallofwilliamsburg.com
At 9 p.m. / $20 at the door
[OK, this isn’t Manhattan’s WestSide, but it is Brooklyn’s WestSide, and it is Dylan.
subway:#1-2-3 to 14th St.; transfer to L to Bedford, first stop in Bklyn.
walk W 3 blks on N 6th St.]

Kneebody
“Kneebody is a band conversant in a dizzying range of styles, with jazz improvisation at the core. To kick off a cross-country tour, its brain trust — the trumpeter Shane Endsley, the saxophonist Ben Wendel, the keyboardist Adam Benjamin, the bassist Kaveh Rastegar and the drummer Nate Wood — tackles a mix of new and slightly-less-new music.” (Chinen-NYT)
Highline Ballroom, 431 West 16th Street, Chelsea,
At 8 p.m. / $25 day of show, with a $10 minimum at tables
212-414-5994, highlineballroom.com

DONNA McKECHNIE “In Good Company”
with Special Guest ANDREA McARDLE
Andrea McArdle rocketed to stardom as Broadway’s original Annie, and was the youngest performer ever nominated for the Tony® Award for Best Actress in a Musical, winning both the Theatre World and Outer Critics’ Circle Awards for her performance.

On Broadway she originated the roles of Ashley in Starlight Express and Margy in State Fair and was seen as Belle in Beauty and the Beast and as Fantine in Les Miserables. Andrea has performed in concert halls from Carnegie Hall, the best showrooms in Las Vegas, the MET Opera House as well as The White House.
Birdland, 315 West 44th St
at 7:00 PM / $30, $10.00 food or beverage minimum per person

I am Bruce Lee
Winner of 3 Leo Awards, “I Am Bruce Lee” is a compelling documentary covering Bruce’s life, his enormous impact, and his ever-expanding legacy. “I Am Bruce Lee” features interviews with people who knew Lee intimately, including a broad array of international icons from the entertainment and athletic fields — people whose lives, careers and belief systems have been forever altered by the legend UFC President Dana White calls the “Father of Mixed Martial Arts”.
Signature Theater Company, 480 W 42nd St.
7:00 pm / $13
212-244-7529

Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.

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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; we eat, and we drink vodka ‘till it hurts (and it will hurt).

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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 some nights includes a sax player with a younger, trimmer piano man.

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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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Today’s “Fab 5”/ Selected NYCity Events – SUNDAY, MAR. 23, 2014.

Ellington’s Sacred Music
Selections from Duke Ellington’s Sacred Music
Shining the spotlight on Duke Ellington’s sacred works, some of the most ambitious and heartfelt music of his storied career, this program features legendary works performed by hundreds of student singers and instrumentalists from New York City and some of today’s brightest jazz soloists.
Carnegie Hall, Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
at 3 PM

BILL FRISSEL
The influential guitarist’s Beautiful Dreamers outfit, which started March 18, at the Village Vanguard, is usually a lean interactive trio in which Eyvind Kang’s viola and Rudy Royston’s drums animate a sonically skewed collage that draws gleefully from Americana, swing jazz, rural blues, and sixties pop. For this final night Frissel is joined by pianist Jason Moran
Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Ave. S., at 11th St.
212-255-4037.

Emerson String Quartet
Program:
Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 11
Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 6
Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 12
The wisdom of age delivers clarity within complexity, offering a brilliance that is reflected through the vitality of new interpreters. The recently reconfigured Emerson String Quartet brings its newfound “boyish exuberance” (New York Times) to the late quartets of Dmitry Shostakovich juxtaposed with Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden”, and the final quartets of Mendelssohn and Britten. The unifying theme in this program is the preoccupation with death.
LINCOLN CENTER, Alice Tully Hall,65th Street and Broadway
At 5:00pm

Volcán (last day)
“This all-star Cuban fusion band — the pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, the bassist Jose Armando Gola, the drummer Horacio Hernandez and the percussionist Giovanni Hidalgo — makes its first official stateside appearance next week, drawing from a self-titled debut album. As on record, the music is most likely to evoke an air of folkloric futurism, with clean surfaces that soften the whirring complexities beneath the hood.” (Chinen-NYT)
Blue Note, 131 West Third Street, Greenwich Village,
At 8 and 10:30 p.m.,/ $35 cover at tables, $20 at the bar, with a $5 minimum
212-475-8592, bluenote.net

Alonzo King LINES Ballet (last day) 
Alonzo King LINES Ballet returns to The Joyce with Constellation, a luminous and lucid, encompassing and intimate evening-length piece featuring a light installation by the internationally-acclaimed electronic artist Jim Campbell. When the dancers glimmer into view, they move the way that ideas move through the mind: synoptically, in pulses and flashes. Sharing the stage is the regal Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Maya Lahyani, whose voluptuous voice enhances a mesmerizing Baroque score.
Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue, at 19th St.
at 7:30 p.m. / $35 to $59
212-242-0800, joyce.org

Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.

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WHAT’S ON VIEW: Special Exhibitions @ 4 MUSEUMS (Manhattan’s WestSide)

“Ileana Sonnabend: Ambassador for the New’ (through April 21)
‘A World of Its Own: Photographic Practices in the Studio’ (through Oct. 5)
 ‘Designing Modern Women 1890-1990’(through Oct. 5)
Museum of Modern Art: 11 W 53rd St. (btw 5th /6th Ave.)
(212) 708-9400 / moma.org.

Designing Modern Women 1890-1990:

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‘Out of Hand: Materializing the Postdigital’ (through June 1)
“If you haven’t quite wrapped your head around the concept of 3-D printing, or haven’t yet had a digital scanner wrap itself around you, now you can do both in this survey of computer-assisted art, architecture and design. The show looks at art made since 2005 and fills nearly three floors, including many irresistible interactive projects. Its ideas may not be entirely new; the Museum of Modern Art’s 2008 exhibition “Design and the Elastic Mind” covered much of the same territory, but there’s something to be said for this more down-to-earth, production-focused exhibition.” (Rosenberg-NYT)
Museum of Arts and Design, Columbus Circle,
212-299-7777,madmuseum.org.

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‘Capa in Color’ (through May 4)
“Robert Capa first worked with color in 1938, though he only began shooting regularly in color in 1941. This exhibition includes more than 100 contemporary inkjet prints, a fraction of the roughly 4,200 color transparencies held in the center’s Capa Archive. Sections of the exhibition include photographs of postwar Paris with spectators at the Longchamp racetrack, fashion models, people sitting in cafes. Black and white remained the standard for war photography as well as art during this time, however, and color during Capa’s period was still for commerce, amateurs, leisure — and stories featuring women.”
(Martha Schwendener-NYT)

‘What Is a Photograph?’ (through May 4)
“This exhibition is supposed to address a good question: What is photography in today’s digital age with its mind-boggling new smorgasbord of ways to create and disseminate machine-made images? It brings together works from the past four decades by 21 artists who have used photography to ponder the nature of photography itself. But it’s a strangely blinkered and backward-looking show. Most of what is on view has more to do with photography’s analog past than with its cybernetic future.” (Ken Johnson-NYT)
International Center of Photography, 1133 Avenue of the Americas, at 43rd St.
212-857-0000, icp.org
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The Art of the Brick by Nathan Sawaya (ongoing)
This exhibition by artist Nathan Sawaya is a critically acclaimed collection of intriguing and inspiring works of art made exclusively from one of the most recognizable toys in the world — LEGO® bricks. The Discovery Times Square exhibit is the world’s biggest and most elaborate display of LEGO® art ever and features brand-new, never-before-seen pieces by Sawaya. This show was named ‘One of CNN’s Ten Global Must-See Exhibitions.’
Discovery Times Square, 226 West 44th St. (btw 7th/8th ave)
866.987.9692 / http://www.discoverytsx.com

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For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in the right Sidebar: “Selected Events + Special Exhibitions : … …” dated (03/21) and (03/19).

Today’s “Fab 5”+1/ Selected NYCity Events – SATURDAY, MAR. 22, 2014.

Reading Pictures: Medicine and Buddhism at the Peak of the Tibetan State
Harvard’s Janet Gyatso looks at the intricate relations between religion and science in Tibet, as evident in certain telling details of the stunning set of medical images.

Medicine and Buddhism have had a complex relation since the early days of Indian Buddhism. This relation only became more complex in Tibet. On the one hand Buddhism was integral to virtually all of Tibetan culture and politics, but on the other hand there was an increasing urge to practice medicine on empirical grounds, free of religious ideology.

The beautiful set of 79 medical paintings produced by the regent of the Fifth Dalai Lama at the end of the 17th century illustrates this dynamic well. We see here both the ways that Buddhism shaped high ideals of Tibetan culture, and how medicine could address issues in human life and flourishing that stood outside, and even could challenge, the hegemony of Buddhist power in Tibet.

This lecture will study the intricate relations between religion and science in Tibet, as evident in certain telling details of the stunning set of medical images.
Rubin Museum of Art, 150 W. 17th St.,
at 11:45 am / $15
212-620-5000

Tribute to La Guarachera de Cuba: The Queen Celia Cruz
“Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso (1925-2003) first became famous at the height of the mambo craze in her native Havana, and, by the end of her career, had long reigned as the undisputed “La Reina de la Salsa.” Equal parts diva and goddess, she is an icon comparable in the Spanish-speaking world to what Edith Piaf represents for the French.

Cruz had a huge, powerful voice, and political convictions to match, manifested in her uncompromising and often controversial anti-Castro stance. On Saturday night, it will take fully four salseros to honor her vast legacy, including José Alberto (aka “El Canario”), Cita Rodriguez, Amma McKen, and Anissa Gathers (who portrayed “La Guarachera” in the off-Broadway bio-musical).” (WSJ)
The Apollo Theater,253 W. 125th St.,
(212) 531-5300

90-Second Newbery Film Festival 2014
The 90-Second Newbery returns for its third year! This is an annual video contest in which young filmmakers create movies that creatively compress the stories of Newbery Award-winning books into 90 seconds or less.

This NYC screening will be hosted by film festival founder and children’s author James Kennedy (The Order of Odd-Fish) with a special co-host: New York’s own Libba Bray (Printz Medal winner, author of Going Bovine and many other fantastic books). Don’t miss out on your chance to see these quick, funny versions of your favorite classics!
New York Public Library: Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, 5th Avenue 42nd St.
at 3:00pm / Free with RSVP
this event has been crowded in the past, best to reserve your seat to ensure admittance
917-275-6975

CABINET OF WONDERS
The singer-songwriter Wesley Stace, who made his début in 1988 with “It Happened One Night” and recorded and performed under the name John Wesley Harding until last year, is also a novelist (his latest book, “Wonderkid,” is about a rock band that finds success playing to kids).

With his signature variety show, which is syndicated nationally on NPR, he sleekly combines his interests by mixing song, comedy, and literature. His guests on March 22 are the poet and former paratrooper Derrick Brown, the singer-songwriter A. J. Croce, the novelist David Grand, the Jayhawks co-founder Gary Louris, the comedian Eugene Mirman, and the indie-rock band Nada Surf. (NewYorker)
City Winery, 155 Varick St.
212-608-0555.

Eddie Henderson Quartet
The trumpeter Eddie Henderson has acres of experience in a hard-bop vein, working with small groups like this one, with Kevin Hays on piano, Doug Weiss on bass and Bill Stewart on drums. The quartet will record this run for a future release.”(Chinen-NYT)
Smoke, 2751 Broadway, at 106th Street,
At 7, 9 and 10:30 p.m.,/ $38 cover
212-864-6662, smokejazz.com

BONUS PICK (not for everyone):
2014 Archives Field Day
Spend an afternoon delving through the history of sports and leisure in New York City at
the Archives Field Day.

The Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York, Inc. (A.R.T.) is introducing a new public event -Archives Field Day, wich will allow visitors to look through documents, photographs, and artifacts relating to the history of sports and leisure activities in New York City. Visitors can use these materials, which come from a wide variety of area cultural institutions, to answer a series of questions. Each correctly answered question brings the visitors one step closer to being entered in a prize drawing.

The Field Day is part of ongoing efforts by A.R.T. to inform the general public of the
diverse array of archive materials available and accessible in the New York metropolitan
area that celebrate the importance of historical records and artifacts, including those that illuminate centuries of New York City history and culture.

LECTURE ADDED TO THE LINEUP
Come visit the Field Day early for prizes, and then check out a talk at 2:30 pm by Manhattan Borough Historian Michael Miscione, titled “The Great Subway Race.”
Warburg Lounge, 92nd Street Y,1395 Lexington Avenue
1:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Visit http://www.nycarchivists.org/fieldday for more information and to register.

Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.
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A PremierPub + 3 Good Eating places 

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

Jimmy’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 (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.
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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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3 Good Eating places 

It’s not difficult finding 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:

Patzeria Perfect Pizza – 231 W46 st (Betw 7th/8th ave)
Perfect name for a pizza joint. On a street filled with Broadway theaters, this is a real hole in the wall, but don’t let the dive look scare you away. You can never go wrong with a slice of NYC pizza, and this one is a classic thin crust. Only a few seats here, but pizza was made to eat standing up.

Shake Shack – 691 8th ave (Betw 43rd/44th st)
Danny Meyer has revolutionized the high quality burger in this town. Now he has a branch on the West Side that was desperately needed, with none of the insane lines that you find at the Madison Sq. Park location. Plus, it may be the cleanest joint to eat in all of Hell’s Kitchen.

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

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

◊ For all my picks of 54 Good Eating places and descriptions of my favorite 18 PremierPubs in 9 Neighborhoods (plus 27 casual dining places with free Wi-Fi) order a copy of my e-book: “Eating and Drinking on NYCity’s WestSide” ($3.99).
(available Spring 2014)

Today’s “Fab 5”/ Selected NYCity Events – FRIDAY, MAR. 21, 2014.

Bettye LaVette
“A former touring mate of James Brown and Otis Redding, Ms. LaVette has the steamroller charisma to invigorate a night at Carnegie Hall. “Thankful N’ Thoughtful,” released in 2012, celebrated her 50th anniversary in entertainment.” (Anderson-NYT)
At 10 p.m., / $43 to $50
Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall,
212-247-7800, carnegiehall.org

Spring Night
Enjoy a night of free programs and activities when The Frick Collection opens its doors to the public for an after-hours celebration of the museum’s special exhibitions.
Hear a gallery talk, sketch in the Garden Court and listen to live music.
The Frick Collection, 1 E. 70th St., New York
at 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm / FREE
212-288-0700

The Allman Brothers Band (also other dates through Mar. 29)
“Like a New York version of the Santa Ana winds, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers’ residency at the Beacon Theater is a proud annual affair. (Your individual tolerance for guitar solos, however, determines the concurrent bluster.)

Last year they celebrated the 40th anniversary of their Southern rock staple “Brothers and Sisters,” and the set list for this iteration should still skew with according reverence to that album, the first the group recorded after the death of its leader Duane Allman”.(Stacey Anderson-NYT)

If you have been meaning to catch this band, better do it this year. Gregg Allman, the band’s singer, keyboardist, and nominal leader, announced that the group as a whole would stop its regular touring after 2014.
Beacon Theater, 2124 Broadway, at 74th St.,
212-465-6500, beacontheatre.com
At 8 p.m. / $50.99 to $150.99.

Lady Rizo’s Fourth Annual Nina Simone Tribute
“Dr. Nina Simone (1933-2003) is quite possibly the most “tributed” female icon in recent history, but of all of her contemporary disciples, the one who most keeps alive the late Simone’s confrontational, take-no-prisoners attitude is downtown diva and “Sea Lion Woman” Lady Rizo. No less than Simone herself, Mrs. Rizo is a master of the art of keeping a crowd riveted, engaging audiences with ingenious forms of participation, guest stars, puppets, talking animals, choreography, genre-bending and unpredictable mashups, like interlacing Simone’s spiritual “Sinnerman” with Merle Travis’s country classic “16 Tons” and Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep.” (WSJ)
Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker St.
(212) 228-4854

The Observant Eye: Shaping Memory – Ancestral Objects from Oceania
The Observant Eye is a series of interactive discussions focusing on one work of art. These unscripted sessions offer the opportunity for close looking and audience-propelled discussion on an object selected from one of the seventeen curatorial departments. Please register for any of our sessions online through the Reservation Request Form.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street
at 7pm / Free with museum admission, RSVP required
212-535-7710

Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change. ===========================================================================================

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 – my fave is Ovest on W 27th St., where the aperitivo is like Happy Hour on steroids.

WHAT’S ON VIEW:
Here’s one gallery exhibition that the NYT art critic really liked:

 ‘Re-View: Onnasch Collection’ (through April 12)
This show more faithfully simulates the experience of seeing art in a modern art museum than any private gallery exhibition in recent memory. Installed in a sequence of 11 whitewall rooms in a gymnasium-size space, the show’s 57 works dating mainly from the 1950s to the ’80s are from a collection assembled by Reinhard Onnasch, a German art dealer. All of the 27 artists — from the Abstract Expressionist Franz Kline to the Minimalist Richard Serra — will be known to anyone familiar with post-World War II art. Nearly all are represented by choice examples.” (Johnson-NYT)
Hauser & Wirth, 511 West 18th Street,
212-790-3900, hauserwirth.com.

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

For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in the right Sidebar: “Selected Events + Special Exhibitions : Manhattan’s WestSide” dated (03/19) and (03/17).

Today’s “Fab 5”/ Selected NYCity Events – THURSDAY, MAR. 20, 2014.

MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY
“The resurgent company presents its first City Center season since 2005, with three programs to choose from.

The highlight of Program B is “Appalachian Spring” (1944), from Graham’s most fertile period, set to the ravishing and familiar score by Aaron Copland. Abdiel Jacobsen (March 20) and Lloyd Mayor (March 22), who alternate in the role of the hopeful frontiersman, represent a promising new generation that’s bringing fresh life to the company. Program B also includes “Depak Ine,” a new commission from the peripatetic contemporary choreographer Nacho Duato.” (NewYorker)

Australian Chamber Orchestra
One of the world’s most lauded chamber ensembles, the Australian Chamber Orchestra is renowned for its inspired programming and unrivaled virtuosity, energy and individuality. Its unique programming extends across six centuries, spanning popular masterworks, adventurous cross-art form projects and pieces specially commissioned for the ensemble.

Founded in 1975, this string orchestra comprises leading Australian and international musicians and a growing company of dedicated young players. The Orchestra performs as a symphony orchestra, chamber music ensemble and electro-acoustic collective collaborating with an extraordinary range of artists from numerous artistic disciplines including renowned soloists Emmanuel Pahud, Steven Isserlis, Martin Fröst and Joseph Tawadros; singers Katie Noonan, Paul Capsis, Dawn Upshaw and Teddy Tahu Rhodes; and such diverse artists as cinematographer Jon Frank, visual artist Shaun Tan, entertainer Barry Humphries, photographer Bill Henson, choreographer Rafael Bonachela and cartoonist Michael Leunig.
(le) poisson rouge, 158 Bleecker St.
at 7:30PM / Standing tickets $20
212-505-3474

KEREN ANN
“The indie chanteuse, who was born in Israel and has lived in France and New York City, specializes in lightly psychedelic folk that frames her modest yet seductive vocals. She has released albums of sharply observed, often darkly romantic songs as well as albums filled with idiosyncratic touches, in the manner of Suzanne Vega’s more recent output.

Her last record, “101,” which came out in 2011, brought new sounds into the mix, including straightforward pop (“Sugar Mama”). With the singer-songwriter Chris Garneau, whose fanciful and ornate compositions are haunted with melancholia and a dreamlike innocence; his falsetto voice often dances over staccato piano notes accompanied by sorrowful violin and pastoral cello parts. The show is a part of the Newish Jewish Music Festival (NewYorker).
City Winery, 155 Varick St.
212-608-0555.

Hugh Masekela and Larry Willis
“Mr. Masekela, the South African fluegelhorn player, is among the most statesman-like of jazz musicians, a melodist forever aware of his transaction with an audience. He usually performs with a poplike band, but here — as on some similar recent engagements — he pares down to a duo format with Mr. Willis, a soulful American pianist with whom he has some history.” (Chinen-NYT)
Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, 60th St. and Broadway,
At 7:30 and 9:30 p.m./ $35 and $40, with a $10 minimum
212-258-9595, jalc.org

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS
“The Truckers have evolved several times in their long history. They started out as a loud punkabilly enterprise founded on a three-guitar attack and are now a more contemplative roots-rock outfit, but one thing that has remained consistent is the high quality of their songwriting, thanks in large part to Paterson Hood and Mike Cooley, the band’s core for its entire tenure.

The gifted singer-songwriter Jason Isbell was a band member from 2001 to 2007, adding another color to the palette; his departure simplified their sound somewhat, but it didn’t diminish it. “English Oceans,” the group’s twelfth record, is just out, and it finds Cooley taking a more active songwriting role, which has led to a slight decrease in the band’s reliance on Hood’s Southern-fried, often explicitly political character sketches (the album of highlights from the band’s first decade was titled “Ugly Buildings, Whores & Politicians: Greatest Hits 1998-2009”. (NewYorker)
Terminal 5, 610 W. 56th St.
212-582-6600.

Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.

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

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 will be celebrating it’s 50th anniversary next 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 joints, craft beer bars, wine bars, tapas 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 joints),

If you have a fave premier pub or a good eating place on Manhattan’s WestSide let us all know about it – leave a comment.
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Today’s “Fab 5”/ Selected NYCity Events – WEDNESDAY, MAR. 19, 2014.

The White House: Readers and Leaders of the West Wing
“How have media and literature shaped the leadership styles and worldviews of our nation’s highest office? From Jefferson to Lincoln and Bush to Obama, two renowned presidential historians provide an in-depth look into this timeless question.

Tevi Troy, author of What Jefferson Read, Ike Watched, and Obama Tweeted: 200 Years of Popular Culture in the White House, is former Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the administration of George W. Bush.

Gil Troy is Professor of History at McGill University in Montreal and author of Mr. & Mrs. President: From the Trumans to the Clintons.” (Thought Gallery)
New-York Historical Society,170 Central Park West,
at 6:30 pm / $30
212-873-3400

‘Simon O’Neill: A Portrait in Real-Time’
“Mr. O’Neill, currently portraying the Drum Major in the Metropolitan Opera’s revival of Berg’s “Wozzeck,” discusses his training and roles, sings excerpts and even plays a little piano during this evening of entertainment to benefit the Singers Fund of the Wagner Society of New York.” (NYT)
At 7:30 p.m./ $30
Liederkranz Foundation, 6 East 87th St.
212-749-4561, wagnersocietyny.org

NEWISH JEWISH MUSIC FESTIVAL
“This ambitious, multi-venue festival kicks off on March 19 at Town Hall with the première of John Zorn’s “Masada Book Three: The Book Beriah,” in which twenty different ensembles will interpret new pieces by the iconoclastic composer. On March 23, also at Town Hall, the Klezmatics collaborate with Arturo O’Farrill and others. Meanwhile, Keren Ann plays City Winery (see above), and at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola the Israeli-based pianist Anat Fort performs on March 21, Oran Etkin offers a present-day twist on the Benny Goodman trio on March 22, and Steven Bernstein’s Diaspora Soul ensemble takes over on March 23.” (NewYorker)
Town Hall, 123 West 43rd St.
At 8 p.m. / $45 to $65
800-982-2787, the-townhall-nyc.org

Harold Mabern Trio
Hard bop and Memphis soul are inextricable in the ensemble music of Mr. Mabern, a veteran pianist who works here with the rhythm team of Essiet Essiet on bass and Joe Farnsworth on drums.” (Chinen-NYT)
Smalls Jazz Club, 183 West 10th Street, West Village,
From 9:30 p.m. to midnight, / $20 cover
smallsjazzclub.com

MICHAEL FEINSTEIN
Basking in his comfort zone, Feinstein brings his gentle vocal style and subtly displayed erudition to the enduring songs of Cole Porter. It takes a sure singer to unlock the extremes of Porter’s art, with its crafty wordplay and openhearted sentiment. Feinstein, to his credit, has found the key.
Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall, Seventh Ave. at 57th St.
212-247-7800
Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.

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What’s on View:
Special Exhibitions @ 3 Museum Mile / Fifth Ave. Museums:

‘Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China’ (through April 6)
‘The American West in Bronze, 1850-1925’ (ends April 13)
‘Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris’ (through May 4)
William Kentridge: ‘The Refusal of Time’ (through May 11)
The Flowering of Edo Period Painting: Japanese Masterworks from the Feinberg Collection’(through Sept. 7)
‘Early American Guitars: The Instruments of C.F. Martin’ (through Dec. 7)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 5th Ave, at 82nd St.
(212) 535-7710 / metmuseum.org
————————————————————————————————————————————-

‘Renaissance and Baroque Bronzes From the Hill Collection’ (through June 15)
“This sensational, beautifully presented show of 33 late-15th- to early-18th-century bronzes reflects a taste for historically important, big-statement examples in exceptional condition. They vividly reflect the Renaissance’s new interest in antiquity and the human form while encouraging concentration on emotional expression, refined details (great hair!), struggling or relaxed figures and varied patinas. Works by the reigning geniuses Giambologna, Susini and the lesser-known Piamontini dominate, further enlivened by a handful of old master and late-20th-century paintings from the Hill collection.”
(Roberta Smith-NYT)
Frick Collection: 1 East 70th St.
212-288-0700, frick.org.
—————————————————————————————————————————————-

‘Carrie Mae Weems: Three Decades of Photography and Video’ (through May 14)
“Kandinsky in Paris, 1934–1944“ (through Apr. 23, 2014)
Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue, at 89th St.
(212) 423-3500 / guggenheim.org.

========================================================== 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: “NYCity Events: Manhattan’s WestSide” dated 03/17 and 03/15.

Today’s “Fab 5”/ Selected NYCity Events – TUESDAY, MAR. 18, 2014.

Carl Hoffman
Journalist and author Carl Hoffman will speak about his travels and research delving into the notorious disappearance and death of 23-year-old Michael C. Rockefeller, son of New York governor Nelson Rockefeller, who went missing in 1961 off the coast of New Guinea.

Hoffman will introduce his book: Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller’s Tragic Quest for Primitive Art and sit down for a talk with Patricia Cohen, a New York Times investigative arts reporter.

Carl Hoffman has written The Lunatic Express: Discovering the World via Its Most Dangerous Buses, Boats, Trains, and Planes, named one of the 10 best books in 2010 by the Wall Street Journal. He is a contributing editor at National Geographic Traveler.
(thought gallery)
Macaulay Honors College, 35 W. 67th St.
at 7:00 pm / FREE

ROSANNE CASH
“Cash was born in Memphis and raised in California but has lived in New York for more than twenty years now. “The River & the Thread,” her first album of original material since 2006, is a thoughtful and moving examination of her Southern musical, familial, and spiritual roots. Since the eighties, when Cash had eleven No. 1s on the country charts, she’s pursued a path independent of the Nashville scene. She co-wrote all the songs on the new record with her husband, the guitarist, producer, and arranger John Leventhal, who leads her band here.” (NewYorker)
Town Hall, 123 West 43rd St.
At 8 p.m./ $35 to $75.
800-982-2787, the-townhall-nyc.org

Volcán (through March 23)
“This all-star Cuban fusion band — the pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, the bassist Jose Armando Gola, the drummer Horacio Hernandez and the percussionist Giovanni Hidalgo — makes its first official stateside appearance next week, drawing from a self-titled debut album. As on record, the music is most likely to evoke an air of folkloric futurism, with clean surfaces that soften the whirring complexities beneath the hood.” (Chinen-NYT)
Blue Note, 131 West Third Street, Greenwich Village,
At 8 and 10:30 p.m.,/ $35 cover at tables, $20 at the bar, with a $5 minimum
212-475-8592, bluenote.net

Alonzo King LINES Ballet (through March 23) 
Alonzo King LINES Ballet returns to The Joyce with Constellation, a luminous and lucid, encompassing and intimate evening-length piece featuring a light installation by the internationally-acclaimed electronic artist Jim Campbell. When the dancers glimmer into view, they move the way that ideas move through the mind: synoptically, in pulses and flashes. Sharing the stage is the regal Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Maya Lahyani, whose voluptuous voice enhances a mesmerizing Baroque score.
Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue, at 19th St.
at 7:30 p.m. / $35 to $59
212-242-0800, joyce.org

Now This: Gary Peacock, Marc Copland, Joey Baron (through March 22)
“Mr. Peacock, the bassist, is an intuitive musician drawn to sonorous melody, and so is Mr. Copland, a pianist and a veteran partner with whom Mr. Peacock has fruitfully recorded. They’ll be joined by Mr. Baron, a deft and unsinkable drummer.” (Chinen-NYT)
Birdland, 315 West 44th St.
At 8:30 and 11 p.m.,/ $40 cover, with a $10 minimum
212-581-3080, birdlandjazz.com

Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change ==========================================================

A PremierPub – Tribeca

B-Flat  /  277 Church st (Btw Franklin/White)

There 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 1 blk E to Church; 1 blk N to bFlat

===========================================================================================
“Pub” is used in it’s broadest sense – bars, bar/restaurants, jazaz 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.
===========================================================================================

Today’s “Fab 5”/ Selected NYCity Events – MONDAY, MAR. 17, 2014.

• St. Patrick’s Day
  Whether you hail from the Emerald Isle is of no consequence—on St. Patrick’s Day, everyone can lay claim to being at least a little bit Irish (even the City’s bagels and beer, which can be got in green for the occasion). The parade itself lays claim to being the oldest (it was first held in 1762) and largest of its kind in the world. Clad yourself in kelly for the event and watch bagpipers, marching bands and assorted revelers from near and far as they march up Fifth Avenue from 44th Street to 79th Street. The parade starts at 11am and typically ends between 4:30 and 5pm.
• “Later that afternoon, at 4, Sober St. Patrick’s Day, an annual gathering that started in 2012, promises a drier but no less celebratory affair, with the Irish singer Cathy Maguire, the champion fiddler Brian Conway, the acclaimed button-accordion player John Whelan, and many other performers. (Cathedral High School, 350 E. 56th St. soberstpatricksday.org.)” (NewYorker)

• KEVIN COOK
  The true-crime writer Kevin Cook talks about his latest book, “Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime That Changed America.”
  Barnes & Noble, Broadway at 82nd St.
  212-362-8835.
  at 7PM / free

  Jim Caruso’s Cast Party
  A popular weekly soiree that brings a sprinkling of Broadway glitz and urbane wit to the legendary Birdland every Monday night. For the past nine years, it’s been the spot to mix and mingle with Manhattan show folk and their fans.

  The buoyant, sharp and charming Broadway impresario Jim Caruso hosts a combination open-mic, networking event and party, where some nights you may hear the biggest stars on Broadway relax on their night off by performing their favorite songs in an informal setting. Always fun.
  Birdland – 315 West 44th St (btw 8th/9th ave)
  9:30 pm / $20 (includes a drink if you sit at the bar, which are not bad seats)
  (212) 581-3080 / birdlandjazz.com

  Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks
  If you haven’t yet checked out the Nighthawks’ new digs, what are you waiting for. “The band (which has just released their second volume of music from HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire”) now actually sounds better, audio-wise, and the menu is a vast improvement over the band’s previous venue—overall, it is a step up, to the second floor, rather than a flight down, to the basement.

  Although longtime fans are currently referring to the Nighthawks as “The Iguana Troubadours,” they continue to play with the same amazing combination of skin-tight historical authenticity and sheer, relentless energy, plus a tempo that has always characterized Mr. Giordano’s bands.” (WSJ-Will Friedwald)
  Iguana, 240 W. 54th St., (Btw 8th/B’way)
  8pm-11pm / $15 cover, $20 food/drink minimum
  (212) 765-5454 / iguananyc.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.
  Village Vanguard, 178 7th Avenue South, just below West 11th St.
  At 8:30 and 10:30 pm / $25
  212-255-4037 / villagevanguard.com
  Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.

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

  WHAT’S ON VIEW: Special Exhibitions @ 4 MUSEUMS (Manhattan’s WestSide)

  “Ileana Sonnabend: Ambassador for the New’ (through April 21)
  ‘A World of Its Own: Photographic Practices in the Studio’ (through Oct. 5)
   ‘Designing Modern Women 1890-1990’(through Oct. 5)
  Museum of Modern Art: 11 W 53rd St. (btw 5th /6th Ave.)
  (212) 708-9400 / moma.org.

  Designing Modern Women 1890-1990:
  
  ==========================================================

  ‘Out of Hand: Materializing the Postdigital’ (through June 1)
  “If you haven’t quite wrapped your head around the concept of 3-D printing, or haven’t yet had a digital scanner wrap itself around you, now you can do both in this survey of computer-assisted art, architecture and design. The show looks at art made since 2005 and fills nearly three floors, including many irresistible interactive projects. Its ideas may not be entirely new; the Museum of Modern Art’s 2008 exhibition “Design and the Elastic Mind” covered much of the same territory, but there’s something to be said for this more down-to-earth, production-focused exhibition.” (Rosenberg-NYT)
  Museum of Arts and Design, Columbus Circle,
  212-299-7777,madmuseum.org.

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

  ‘Capa in Color’ (through May 4)
  “Robert Capa first worked with color in 1938, though he only began shooting regularly in color in 1941. This exhibition includes more than 100 contemporary inkjet prints, a fraction of the roughly 4,200 color transparencies held in the center’s Capa Archive. Sections of the exhibition include photographs of postwar Paris with spectators at the Longchamp racetrack, fashion models, people sitting in cafes. Black and white remained the standard for war photography as well as art during this time, however, and color during Capa’s period was still for commerce, amateurs, leisure — and stories featuring women.”
  (Martha Schwendener-NYT)

  ‘What Is a Photograph?’ (through May 4)
  “This exhibition is supposed to address a good question: What is photography in today’s digital age with its mind-boggling new smorgasbord of ways to create and disseminate machine-made images? It brings together works from the past four decades by 21 artists who have used photography to ponder the nature of photography itself. But it’s a strangely blinkered and backward-looking show. Most of what is on view has more to do with photography’s analog past than with its cybernetic future.” (Ken Johnson-NYT)
  International Center of Photography, 1133 Avenue of the Americas, at 43rd St.
  212-857-0000, icp.org
  ==========================================================

  The Art of the Brick by Nathan Sawaya (ongoing)
  This exhibition by artist Nathan Sawaya is a critically acclaimed collection of intriguing and inspiring works of art made exclusively from one of the most recognizable toys in the world — LEGO® bricks. The Discovery Times Square exhibit is the world’s biggest and most elaborate display of LEGO® art ever and features brand-new, never-before-seen pieces by Sawaya. This show was named ‘One of CNN’s Ten Global Must-See Exhibitions.’
  Discovery Times Square, 226 West 44th St. (btw 7th/8th ave)
  866.987.9692 / http://www.discoverytsx.com

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

  For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in the right Sidebar: “Selected Events + Special Exhibitions : … …” dated (03/15) and (03/13).

Today’s “Fab 5”/ Selected NYCity Events – SUNDAY, MAR. 16, 2014

MOSTLY OTHER PEOPLE DO THE KILLING
“Red Hot,” the most recent album by this exuberantly cheeky quartet, which features the bassist Moppa Elliott, the saxophonist Jon Irabagon, the trumpeter Peter Evans, and the drummer Kevin Shea, draws inspiration from jazz and blues of the nineteen-twenties and thirties. But, if you come to these musical rabble-rousers expecting reverence for tradition, you have only yourself to blame.” (NewYorker)
Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia St.
212-989-9319

Flamenco Meets Jazz: Dani De Morón and Aaron Diehl
As the title of the engagement suggests, this program brings two stylistic languages into dialogue, with Mr. De Morón, a Spanish flamenco guitarist, joining a trio led by Mr. Diehl, an American jazz pianist. Joining them are a dancer, Rosario Toledo, and a percussionist, Guillermo McGill” (Chinen -NYT)
At 7:30 and 9:30 p.m./ $40 & $45,  with a $10 minimum
Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center,
60th St. and Broadway,
212-258-9595, jalc.org

The Poker Player: Vanessa Selbst and John D. Mayer
How do you deal with being dealt a bad hand? Personality psychologist John D. Mayer gets some tips from star poker player Vanessa Selbst about how to avoid a bad read, limping in, and when to bluff the pot. And above all: how to maintain focus without appearing that you are.

Vanessa Selbst is a professional poker player and the highest earning female poker player of all time, with more than $8 million in winnings. A native of Brooklyn, New York, Vanessa has been playing poker for more than ten years. Selbst hopes to earn enough money to eventually fund a foundation dedicated to the creation of national civil rights projects.

John D. Mayer is a professor of psychology at the University of New Hampshire and a key innovator in intelligence research. He has written more than 125 scientific articles, books, and psychological tests, including the internationally known Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT™). He has lectured around the world and has appeared on NPR and BBC-TV. His work has been covered in The New York Times, Time, The Washington Post, and The New Republic. His new book Personal Intelligence: The Power of Personality and How It Shapes Our Lives is published this February. He lives in New Hampshire.
Rubin Museum of Art, 150 W. 17th St.,
at 3:00 pm / $25
212-620-5000

‘Early American Guitars: The Instruments of C.F. Martin’ (through Dec. 7)
“More than 20 guitars made by the 19th-century German-born craftsman Christian Frederick Martin are included in this display of 35 vintage instruments drawn from the museum’s permanent collection as well as the Martin Guitar Museum in Nazareth, Pa., and private collections. Among the Martin guitars on view: a 1939 model made by the company he founded, C.F. Martin & Co, that was played by Eric Clapton.

In a related event, on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. there will be a discussion with the historian Peter Szego and the curator Jason Kerr Dobney on the history of Martin guitars followed by a performance by musician Doug Back using early and modern Martin models; free with museum admission.” (NYT)
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sundays through Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., suggested admission: $25, $17 for 65+
212-535-7710, metmuseum.org

Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2014 (last chance)
Showcasing the best in contemporary French film, this series has been running for 10 days and we almost missed it. Today’s films:
A Castle in Italy
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi | 2013 | 104 mins at 6:30PM
New York Premiere!
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi directs and stars, alongside former partner Louis Garrel, in this boldly self-revealing, possibly cathartic work—a tender portrait of a family whose glory days are over.

School of Babel
Julie Bertuccelli | 2013 | 89 mins at 1:30PM
North American Premiere!
Shot over a year at a secondary school in Paris’s 10th arrondissement, this observational documentary is a kind of nonfiction counterpart to The Class and a multifaceted look at the French melting pot.
The Film Society of Lincoln Center, Lincoln Center Plaza, $15

Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.

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A PremierPub – Upper West Side

Dinosaur /  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 to Harlem totally worthwhile.

This second incarnation of Dinosaur in Harlem is in an 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 door you are hit with that tantalizing aroma of barbecue coming from the large open kitchen. Reminds me of all 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 Mississippi 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. 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 humongous 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 Hwy, all may open before a table inside the main dining room. Otherwise, try Dinosaur for lunch, or come very late for dinner.

Website: http://www.dinosaurbarbque.com/
Phone #: 212-694-1777
Hours: M-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 10:00pm
Subway: #1 to 125th st
Walk 2 blk W on 125th to Dinosaur Bar-B-Q,
just past the elevated highway

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

If you have a fave premier pub or good eating place on Manhattan’s WestSide let us all know about it – leave a comment.
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Today’s “Fab 5”/ Selected NYCity Events – SATURDAY, MAR. 15, 2014.

Kevin Mahogany
“Kevin Mahogany—an old-school jazz vocal ace with a robust sound and a repertoire that spans standards, blues and classic soul—croons all week in midtown.” (TONY)
Birdland, 315 W 44th St. btw Eighth / Ninth Aves
212-581-3080 / birdlandjazz.com
8:30 and 11pm / $40, plus $10 minimum

AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE
“For his new album, “The Imagined Savior Is Far Easier to Paint,” the powerful young trumpeter augmented his quintet with the OSSO String Quartet; the singers Becca Stevens, Theo Bleckmann, and Cold Specks; and the guitarist Charles Altura. As the album’s producer and chief composer, Akinmusire skillfully embeds his bravura horn work in an undeniably ambitious new-jazz vision. Bleckmann and Altura join his regular band here.” (NewYorker)
Jazz Standard, 116 E. 27th St.
At 7:30; 9:30 p.m., with an 11:30 set tonight / $25 and $30.
212-576-2232, jazzstandard.net

Justin Townes Earle 
“The Americana lullabies in his childhood must have been spectacular: Mr. Earle is the son of the country renegade Steve Earle and named for his father’s mentor Townes Van Zandt. He captures a pleasing, guttural restlessness in his bluesy ballads about cosmopolitan places. “Down on the Lower East Side,” from his most recent album, “Nothing’s Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now,” paints the destination as foreboding yet irresistible” (Anderson-NYT)
At 7 and 10:45 p.m. / $25 to $40
City Winery, 155 Varick Street, near Spring Street, South Village,
212-608-0555, citywinery.com

The Allman Brothers Band (also other dates through Mar. 29)
“Like a New York version of the Santa Ana winds, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers’ residency at the Beacon Theater is a proud annual affair. (Your individual tolerance for guitar solos, however, determines the concurrent bluster.)

Last year they celebrated the 40th anniversary of their Southern rock staple “Brothers and Sisters,” and the set list for this iteration should still skew with according reverence to that album, the first the group recorded after the death of its leader Duane Allman”.(Stacey Anderson-NYT)

If you have been meaning to catch this band, better do it this year. Gregg Allman, the band’s singer, keyboardist, and nominal leader, announced that the group as a whole would stop its regular touring after 2014.
Beacon Theater, 2124 Broadway, at 74th St.,
212-465-6500, beacontheatre.com
At 8 p.m. / $50.99 to $150.99.

‘Ladies and Gentlemen…the Beatles!’ (through May 10)
“Drawn from the library’s collection, as well as that of the Grammy Museum at L.A. Live and private collectors, this exhibition of more than 400 items examines the cultural, social and musical impact of the band on American life after its first performance here in 1964. Included are clothing, lyric sheets and a re-creation of a teenager’s bedroom filled with Beatles memorabilia.” (NYT)
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from noon to 6 p.m., Mondays and Thursdays from noon to 8 p.m. / FREE
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts:111 Amsterdam Avenue, at 65th Street, Lincoln Center,
917-275-6975, tinyurl.com/kledtsf

Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change. ===========================================================================================

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 – my fave is Ovest on W 27th St., where the aperitivo is like Happy Hour on steroids.

WHAT’S ON VIEW:

Richard Serra, “New Sculpture” (last day!)
“In this show, Richard Serra continues along the road that emerged from the hugely successful “Torqued Ellipses” of the 1990s, but also circles back to his earlier oeuvre. Here you have the Serra of the ’60s and ’70s, revised and updated: heavy rectilinear plates and cubes fabricated in steel rather than lead, his signature material in the ’60s.” (Schwendener-NYT) 
Gagosian Gallery, 555 West 24th Street,
 Tue–Sat 10am–6pm / 212-741-1111, gagosian.com

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

For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in the right Sidebar: “Selected Events + Special Exhibitions : Manhattan’s WestSide” dated (03/13) and (03/11).