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

Selected West Side Events – Monday, Jun. 17, 2013

For other useful NYCity event info be sure to check out :
“Notable Events-June”, “on Broadway”,  and “Top10 Free”, in the header above.
For D-I-Y NYCity trip planning see links in “Resources” and “Smart Stuff” in the header above.

Joan Baez and Indigo Girls
Singer-songwriter and activist Joan Baez performs at SummerStage festival series in central Park with folk-rock duo Indigo Girls. For more info, visit cityparksfoundation.org.
Central Park, Rumsey Playfield, midpark at 70th Street
at 7pm. / may be sold out – try the secondary market.
summerstage.org

Bad News! i was there… by JoAnne Akalaitis
Acclaimed American theatre director JoAnne Akalaitis welcomes audiences into her creative process with this staged reading of her newest piece Bad News!. Stitching together messenger speeches from classic plays, Akalaitis and her guest performers explore the role these deliverers of information have played in the evolution of the dramatic moment.
Poets House, 10 River Terrace
Literature/Spoken Word, Theatre
at 6:30pm / Co-presented with Poets House

American Ballet Theater*
“Of all the roles in the classical repertory, there are few that test a ballerina’s technical strength and dramatic range like Odette/Odile in “Swan Lake.”  The opening-night cast (on Monday) is led by Polina Semionova, David Hallberg and Marcelo Gomes.” (Burke-NYT)
Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center
at 7:30 p.m. / $20 to $245.
212-362-6000 / abt.org

Night of a Thousand Judys
Hello Yellow Brick Road! A year ago, the Night of a Thousand Judys concert (to benefit the Ali Forney Center) was among the most rambunctious, uproarious, unpredictable all-star concerts of 2012. This year, for the third annual edition, the love for La Garland is even more palpable and the lineup more celestial. Stars are drawn from the worlds of pop music (Madeleine Peyroux), Broadway (Christiane Noll, Carolee Carmello and Nancy Anderson, who is somehow also singing in the Cutting Room’s Jimmy Van Heusen tribute on Monday) and cabaret (Maude Maggart, Molly Pope), and features a pair of exceptionally entertaining genre benders in Justin Vivian Bond and Lea DeLaria.

Last year, the centerpiece was “Toto’s Tale,” by host Justin Sayre, a wickedly affectionate parody of “The Wizard of Oz” that would be worth spending a night in the Emerald City dungeon to see again. (WSJ)
Merkin Concert Hall (Kaufman Music Center)
129 W. 67th St., (212) 501-3330

Jim Caruso’s Cast Party
Broadway impresario Jim Caruso hosts a combination open-mic, networking event and party in which the biggest stars on Broadway relax on their night off by performing their favorite songs in an informal setting.
Birdland – 315 West 44th St (Btw 8th/9th ave)
9:30 pm / $20

Moutin Reunion Quartet 
“The brothers François and Louis Moutin, a bassist and a drummer, lead this dynamic trans-Atlantic postbop ensemble; the other half consists of the tenor saxophonist Rick Margitza and the pianist Jean-Michel Pilc.” (Chinen-NYT)
Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Jazz at Lincoln Center, 60th Street and Broadway,
at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., $25 cover, with a $10 minimum.
212-258-9595 / jalc.org

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

SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS @ 
3 Museums (WestSide & the BklynMuseum) & 3 Chelsea Galleries ===============================================================

‘Claes Oldenburg: The Street and the Store’ and ‘Claes Oldenburg: Mouse Museum, Ray Gun Wing’ (through Aug. 5)
‘Performing Histories (1)’ (through Aug. 5)
‘Bill Brandt: Shadow and Light’ (through Aug. 12)
Museum of Modern Art: 11 W 53rd St,
(212) 708-9400 / moma.org.
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‘A Different Kind of Order: The ICP Triennial’ (through Sept. 8) 
International Center of Photography
1133 Avenue of the Americas, at 43rd Street,
(212) 857-0000 / icp.org
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‘Ellsworth Kelly at Ninety’ (through June 29)
“An impressive three-part display of new work (mostly from 2012) reveals a seasoned artist who is doing some of his boldest work. Some introduce new forms (but are actually derived from his early collages). Others expand on more recent works with changes in material and color. Keep an eye out for “Black Form II,” “Yellow Relief Over Blue,” “Gold With Orange Reliefs” and the four-panel “Curves on White.” (Smith-NYT)
Matthew Marks Gallery, 522 West 22nd Street
(212) 243-0200 / matthewmarks.com.

Wolfgang Tillmans (through June 22)
The nomadic German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans addresses globalization in a curiously offhand way. This is true even in his latest works, which assert themselves more strongly as art objects thanks to Mr. Tillmans’s experiments with inkjet printing; they are lush and almost painterly in their rich concentrations of pigment. Only after connecting the dots of the installation — which moves from downtown Los Angeles to Kilimanjaro, a Masai hut to a construction site in Shanghai, a car headlight to a close-up of mold spores — do you sense transformation and upheaval.(Rosenberg-NYT)
Andrea Rosen Gallery, 525 West 24th Street,
(212) 627-6000 / andrearosengallery.com.

Marc Quinn: ‘All the Time in the World’ (through June 29)
Four much enlarged, bronze sculptures of seashells made by high-tech 3-D replication seem, at first, like pointless baubles for rich collectors. But they reveal an unexpected inner beauty both literal and metaphorical, as their polished interiors cause their interiors to warmly glow as if supernaturally illuminated from within. Implicitly vaginal, these seeming products of phallic ambition become objects of oceanic, feminine mystery.” (Johnson)
Mary Boone, 541 West 24th Street
752-2929 / maryboonegallery.com.
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‘John Singer Sargent Watercolors’  (through July 28) [see review below]
‘Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui’ (through Aug. 4)
‘LaToya Ruby Frazier: A Haunted Capital’ (through Aug. 11)
Brooklyn Museum: 200 Eastern Parkway, at Prospect Park,
(easy ride from midtown on #2 or #3 subway to Eastern Pkway/Bklyn Museum)
(718) 638-5000 / brooklynmuseum.org

John Singer Sargent Watercolors
“The exhibition brings together 93 of his watercolors and 9 oil paintings from the Brooklyn Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Both institutions acquired significant quantities of his work early on, the Brooklyn Museum from Sargent’s career debut show in New York in 1909 and the Boston museum from a solo show there in 1912. The beauty of Sargent’s watercolors is in how seemingly effortlessly yet exactly he captured outdoor light and complicated man-made and natural forms. In landscapes, close studies of fruit and flowers and portraits of women you see at once the supremely deft action of the brush and the illusions of a sun-drenched halcyon world that it conjures. Prepare for bedazzlement.” (KEN JOHNSON-NYT)

Selected West Side Events – Sunday, Jun. 16, 2013

For other useful NYCity event info be sure to check out :
“Notable Events-June”, “on Broadway”,  and “Top10 Free”, in the header above.
For D-I-Y NYCity trip planning see links in “Resources” and “Smart Stuff” in the header above.

Lighthouse Boat Tours: New York Harbor
A National Lighthouse Museum boat tour of the harbor including: Robbins Reef Light, Staten Island Light, Great Beds Light, Romer Shoal Light, Princes Bay Light, Fort Wadsworth Light, Twin Lights, Sandy Hook Light, Coney Island Light and the site of the Old Orchard Shoal Light, which was damaged during Hurricane Sandy. (NYT)
Battery Park, Slip 6, 75 Battery Place
from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. / $60, $40 for children under 10.
(855) 656-7469 / lighthousemuseum.org;

American Crafts Festival
This biannual display in Lincoln Center sponsored by the American Concern for Art and Craftsmanship — it also takes place in the fall — will fill Damrosch Park.
Damrosch Park, at 62nd Street, between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues, and Hearst Plaza, at 64th Street and Columbus Avenue
from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. / craftsatlincoln.org.

Bloomsday
Celebrants of all things James Joyce — especially of his novel “Ulysses” — will gather on this day to read and sometimes re-enact portions of the book in which Leopold Bloom embarks on a modern-day odyssey in Dublin. (NYT)
On Sunday at 7 p.m., at the 32nd annual Bloomsday on Broadway, a marathon reading of “Ulysses,” will include the likes of Malachy McCourt, Tom McCormack, Eilin O’Dea and dozens more. Traditional Irish music will serve as a counterpoint to the reading. Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway, at 95th Street
at 7 p.m. / $25; $20 for members; $15 for 30 years and under.
(212) 864-5400 / symphonyspace.org

Bryan Batt: Batt on a Hot Tin Roof
Before he leapt to national consciousness as the closeted Salvatore Romano on Mad Men, Bryan Batt had a long career as a musical-theater star—which he now revisits in a cabaret set that limns his lives onstage and off in New Orleans and New York. .
54 Below, 254 W 54th St, between Broadway and Eighth Ave

Willie Jones III Septet
“Willie Jones III, a conscientious hard-bop drummer, never fails to assemble a strong crew. This one looks especially so, with Jeremy Pelt on trumpet, Stacy Dillard on saxophones, Eric Reed on piano, Vicente Archer on bass and Warren Wolf on vibraphone.” (Chinen-NYT)
Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Jazz at Lincoln Center, 60th Street and Broadway
at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. / $35 and $45 cover, $10 minimum.
258-9595 / jalc.org

Revive Big Band Featuring Savion Glover
“The concert-promotion engine Revive Music Group is behind this showcase for an all-star big band, stocked with players like the saxophonist Marcus Strickland, the trombonist Corey King and the pianist Marc Cary. Joining them, on a program jointly presented by the Blue Note Jazz Festival, is the rhythmic tap dancer Savion Glover, no stranger to jazz collaborations.” (Chinen-NYT)
Highline Ballroom, 431 West 16th Street, Chelsea
at 8 p.m. / $20.
414-5994 / highlineballroom.com

Bryan and the Aardvarks
“Led by the bassist Bryan Copeland, this band specializes in an unabashedly pretty strain of postbop, chamberlike and euphonious. For this one-nighter, its lineup will feature the vibraphonist Chris Dingman, the keyboardist Julian Shore and the drummer Kenny Wollesen.” (Chinen-NYT)
55 Bar, 55 Christopher Street, West Village
from 6 to 9 p.m. / no cover, with a two-drink minimum.
(212) 929-9883 / 55bar.com;

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

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

Selected West Side Events – Saturday, Jun. 15, 2013

For other useful NYCity event info be sure to check out :
“Notable Events-June”, “on Broadway”,  and “Top10 Free”, in the header above.
For D-I-Y NYCity trip planning see links in “Resources” and “Smart Stuff” in the header above.

A Musical Theater Cabaret
Michael Montel writes and directs stories of city living for the Perform! series, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Gregg Edelman, Michael McElroy, Christianne Tisdale and Natalie Toro will be among the performers of Mr. Montel’s work.
Museum of the City of New York: Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street
at 3 p.m., / $40; $35 for members, students and 65+
(917) 492-3395 / mcny.org

Leonard Nimoy’s “Vincent”
Leonard Nimoy’s critically acclaimed drama begins a few short days after the death of Vincent Van Gogh, as rumors of his death are flying around Paris. As many dismiss the artist as a penniless madman, a frequenter of prostitutes, and a soon to be forgotten artist of trifling quality who took his own life in a moment of insanity, his brother Theo (Jean-Michel Richaud) tells his own version of the story in an attempt to set the record straight.
A post show conversation with Mr. Nimoy follows each performance.
Written by Leonard Nimoy; Directed by Paul Stein
Performed by Jean-Michel Richaud
“Insightful and moving.” –The Los Angeles Times
Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Symphony Space
$30; Members $25; 30 and under (with valid ID) $15

Ravi Coltrane Quartet*
“The tenor and soprano saxophonist Ravi Coltrane has established a strong presence on the jazz landscape mainly at the helm of two working combos, which appeared on his excellent recent Blue Note debut, “Spirit Fiction.” Here he works with another configuration of players: the guitarist Adam Rogers, the bassist Dezron Douglas and the drummer Johnathan Blake.”
(Chinen-NYT)
Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, Clinton,
at 8:30 and 11 p.m., $30 and $40 cover, with a $10 minimum.
(212) 581-3080 / birdlandjazz.com

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
“Since stepping in as artistic director in 2011, Robert Battle has made some welcome additions to the repertory, which will get plenty of visibility as the company comes to Lincoln Center for the first time since 2000. This is a good chance to catch up on those newly acquired works, like Ohad Naharin’s audience-interactive “Minus 16” and Ronald K. Brown’s exhilarating “Grace.” Mr. Brown also offers a world premiere, “Four Corners,” featuring Matthew Rushing, a celebrated company member of 20 years. There will be some newcomers in the cast too — the recently hired Jeroboam Bozeman, Fana Tesfagiorgis and Elisa Clark.” (Siobhan Burke-NYT)
K Ballet Theater @ Lincoln Center
at 2 and 8pm. / $25 to $135
(212) 496-0600 / alvinailey.org

Matana Roberts’s Anthem
“Ms. Roberts, a restlessly inventive alto saxophonist with a knack for teasing out unlikely connections, presents an ensemble stocked with fellow texturalists: the guitarist Liberty Ellman, the bassist Kevin Tkacz and the drummer Ches Smith.” (Chinen-NYT)
Jazz Gallery at Salt Space, 1160 Broadway, fifth floor, at West 27th St.
At 9 and 10:30 p.m. / $20, $10 for members.
(212) 242-1063 / jazzgallery.org

The Manhattan Transfer
Blue Note Jazz Festival
B.B. King Blues Club and Grill, 237 W42nd St.
at 8:00 PM
212-997-4144 / http://www.bbkingblues.com

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

SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS @ 3 MUSEUMS:

(Museum Mile & other Fifth Avenue area Museums)

‘Subliming Vessel: The Drawings of Matthew Barney’ (through Sept. 2)
Morgan Library & Museum: 225 Madison Avenue, at 36th St.
(212) 685-0008 / themorgan.org.

‘Cambodian Rattan: The Sculptures of Sopheap Pich’ (through July 7)
‘Velázquez’s Portrait of Duke Francesco I d’Este: A Masterpiece from the Galleria Estense, Modena’ (through July 14) 
‘At War With the Obvious: Photographs by William Eggleston’ (through July 28) 
‘Punk: Chaos to Couture’ (through Aug. 14)
“African Art, New York, and the Avant-Garde” (through Sept. 2)
‘The Civil War and American Art’ (through Sept. 2)
‘Photography and the American Civil War’ (through Sept. 2)
‘The Roof Garden Commission: Imran Qureshi’ (through Nov. 3)
Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1000 5th Ave, at 82nd St.
(212) 535-7710 / metmuseum.org

“New Harmony: Abstraction Between the Wars, 1919-1939” (through Sept. 8)
Guggenheim Museum: 1071 Fifth Avenue, at 89th St.
(212) 423-3500 / guggenheim.org.

Selected West Side Events – Friday, Jun. 14, 2013

For other useful NYCity event info be sure to check out :
“Notable Events-June”, “on Broadway”,  and “Top10 Free”, in the header above.
For DIY NYCity trip planning see links in “Resources” and “Smart Stuff” in the header above.

‘The Woolworth Building @ 100’
An exhibition celebrating the 100th anniversary of this Cass Gilbert-designed building — when completed in 1913 it was considered the tallest office building in the world — features blueprints, photographs, contracts and other items.
On Friday from 1 to 5 p.m. in the lobby of the Woolworth Building, 233 Broadway, a free panel discussion about architecture and urban history will feature eight scholars and writers who have written about the Woolworth Building.
Skyscraper Museum: Sessions run from 1 to 3 p.m. and 3:15 to 4:30 p.m., and will be followed by a reception at 5 p.m. Reservations are required: RSVP@skyscraper.org. The exhibition can be viewed Wednesdays through Sundays from noon to 6 p.m.; 39 Battery Place, Lower Manhattan, (212) 968-1961, skyscraper.org; $5, $2.50 for students and 65+.

Ballet Tech 
“See Eliot Feld’s Kids Dance. Grades 4 to 8, jeté-ing for joy.
Eliot Feld’s vital Ballet Tech School has handpicked New York public-school students with what he calls “innate joy” for dancing, and offered them top-flight training free of charge, since 1978. The latest batch will perform, plus former City Ballet star and Feld muse Kaitlyn Gilliland will dance in Feld’s new Inwit.”(TONY-Rebecca Milzoff)
Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue, at 19th Street, Chelsea,
at 7 p.m / $10 to $59
242-0800 / joyce.org

McCoy Tyner & the Latin All-Stars*
“This weekend run, named after an album made by the percussive pianist McCoy Tyner in the late-1990s, will feature the dynamic hand drummer Miguel Valdez alongside the Cuban jazz drummer Francisco Mela. Also aboard, in a booking presented by the Blue Note Jazz Festival, are the saxophonist Gary Bartz, the trombonist Steve Turre and the bassist Gerald Cannon.” (Chinen-NYT)
Blue Note, 131 West Third Street, Greenwich Village
at 8 and 10:30 p.m., $45 cover at tables. $30 at the bar, $5 min.
475-8592 / bluenote.net

Sonny Fortune Quartet 
“A powerful saxophonist who has built on the questing style of John Coltrane, Sonny Fortune participates here in a tribute to Miles Davis, with whom he played in the mid-1970s. His quintet will include the trumpeter Kamau Adilifu (formerly known as Charles Sullivan), the pianist Michael Cochrane, the bassist David Williams and the drummer Steve Johns.” (Nate Chinen-NYT)
Smoke, 2751 Broadway, at 106th Street
at 7, 9, 10:30pm / $35 cover
864-6662, smokejazz.com

Greg Osby Quartet
“Greg Osby, an incisive alto saxophonist and a mentor to many exceptional young musicians, presents a new quartet with the Italian pianist Simona Premazzi, who has an album due out soon on Inner Circle, Mr. Osby’s label. On bass is Matt Brewer, and on drums is Damion Reid.” (Chinen-NYT)
Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, at 11th Street,
at 8:30 and 10:30 p.m., $25 cover, with a one-drink minimum.
(212) 255-4037 / villagevanguard.com

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Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm dates and check times, as schedules are subject to change.
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A PremierPub and 3 Good Eating Places – Tribeca

“Pubs” is used in it’s broadest sense – bars, bar/restaurants, lounges, wine bars, tapas bars, craft beer bars, dive bars – just about anyplace you can get a drink without a cover charge.

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.

Selected West Side Events – Thursday, Jun. 13, 2013

For other useful NYCity event info be sure to check out :
“Notable Events-June”, “on Broadway”,  and “Top10 Free”, in the header above.
For DIY NYCity trip planning see links in “Resources” and “Smart Stuff” in the header above.

‘100 Years of Flamenco in New York’
This exhibition traces the popularity of the dance form in the city, from the mid-1800s to the present, through engravings and photographs, printed materials, costume pieces and films and recordings.
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
111 Amsterdam Avenue, at 65th Street, Lincoln Center,
from noon to 8 p.m. / FREE,
275-6975 / nypl.org/lpa

Liao Yiwu
Live From the NYPL closes its spring season of talks with a discussion with this Chinese writer and dissident. Mr. Liao’s memoir of his four years of imprisonment in a Chinese jail, “For a Song and a Hundred Songs: A Poet’s Journey Through a Chinese Prison,” was released in English this month by Harvest Books. Paul Holdengräber, director of public programs at the library, will lead the discussion. Mr. Liao, who learned to play the flute in prison, will also perform.
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, 5thAvenue and 42nd St
at 7 p.m. / $25, $15 for students, 60+ and Friends of the Library.
(917) 930-0855 / nypl.org/live

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
“Since stepping in as artistic director in 2011, Robert Battle has made some welcome additions to the repertory, which will get plenty of visibility as the company comes to Lincoln Center for the first time since 2000. This is a good chance to catch up on those newly acquired works, like Ohad Naharin’s audience-interactive “Minus 16” and Ronald K. Brown’s exhilarating “Grace.” Mr. Brown also offers a world premiere, “Four Corners,” featuring Matthew Rushing, a celebrated company member of 20 years. There will be some newcomers in the cast too — the recently hired Jeroboam Bozeman, Fana Tesfagiorgis and Elisa Clark.” (Siobhan Burke-NYT)
K Ballet Theater @ Lincoln Center
at 7:30 p.m. / $25 to $135
(212) 496-0600 / alvinailey.org

Buika*
The music of this dynamic Afro-Spanish singer, who was a highlight of Pedro Almodóvar’s latest film, “The Skin I Live In,” draws on a range of influences, including jazz, flamenco, pop and African polyrhythm. Her 2009 collaboration with Chucho Valdés, “El Último Trago” (“The Last Drink”), won the Latin Grammy for best traditional tropical album in 2010; her latest CD, “La Noche Más Larga” (Warner Music Latina), a combination of covers and new songs, was released on Tuesday. (Nicole Herrington-NYT)
Town Hall, 123 West 43rd Street
At 8 p.m. / $57 to $77.
(800) 982-2787 / the-townhall-nyc.org

Kenny Werner Quintet
The pianist-composer Kenny Werner has found myriad ways to finesse a small-group palette in recent years, and this ensemble gives him two exceptionally bright elements to work with, in the West African guitarist Lionel Loueke and the Puerto Rican alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón. They appear as part of the Blue Note Jazz Festival. (Chinen-NYT)
Blue Note, 131 West Third Street, West Village,
at 8 and 10:30 p.m., $35 cover at tables, with a $5 minimum; $20 at the bar, with a one-drink minimum.
(212) 475-8592 / bluenote.net

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

SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS @ 
3 Museums (WestSide & the BklynMuseum) & 3 Chelsea Galleries ===============================================================

‘Claes Oldenburg: The Street and the Store’ and ‘Claes Oldenburg: Mouse Museum, Ray Gun Wing’ (through Aug. 5)
‘Performing Histories (1)’ (through Aug. 5)
‘Bill Brandt: Shadow and Light’ (through Aug. 12)
Museum of Modern Art: 11 W 53rd St,
(212) 708-9400 / moma.org.
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‘A Different Kind of Order: The ICP Triennial’ (through Sept. 8) 
International Center of Photography
1133 Avenue of the Americas, at 43rd Street,
(212) 857-0000 / icp.org
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Richard Serra: ‘Early Work’ (through June 15)
This terrific exhibition looks back on five formative years in the career of the world’s most admired sculptor. One room contains objects made of lead, rubber, wood and stone produced by basic procedures like cutting, folding and tearing. A second gallery features works made by propping up four-by-four-foot lead panels and a single slab of hot-rolled steel, eight feet tall and 24 feet long, that juts from a corner into the room with grand implacability. (Johnson-NYT)
David Zwirner, 537 West 20th Street,
517-8677 / davidzwirner.com.

Rodney Graham (through June 15)
In four giant photographic transparencies mounted on lightboxes, the versatile Vancouver artist Mr. Graham ponders a man’s middle age with comical ennui. Each is a fictional self-portrait of the artist as a construction worker, a scientist, an aging punk and an old hippie in a kayak. They are funny and touching because of the disproportionate relationship between their grandiose scale and their goofy images, which resemble those of downbeat Father’s Day greeting cards. (Johnson-NYT)
303 Gallery, 507 West 24th Street,
255-1121, 303gallery.com.

Wolfgang Tillmans (through June 22)
The nomadic German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans addresses globalization in a curiously offhand way. This is true even in his latest works, which assert themselves more strongly as art objects thanks to Mr. Tillmans’s experiments with inkjet printing; they are lush and almost painterly in their rich concentrations of pigment. Only after connecting the dots of the installation — which moves from downtown Los Angeles to Kilimanjaro, a Masai hut to a construction site in Shanghai, a car headlight to a close-up of mold spores — do you sense transformation and upheaval.(Rosenberg-NYT)
Andrea Rosen Gallery, 525 West 24th Street,
(212) 627-6000 / andrearosengallery.com.

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‘John Singer Sargent Watercolors’  (through July 28) [see review below]
‘Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui’ (through Aug. 4)
‘LaToya Ruby Frazier: A Haunted Capital’ (through Aug. 11)
Brooklyn Museum: 200 Eastern Parkway, at Prospect Park, (easy ride from midtown on #2 or #3 subway to Eastern Pkway/Bklyn Museum)
(718) 638-5000 / brooklynmuseum.org

John Singer Sargent Watercolors
“The exhibition brings together 93 of his watercolors and 9 oil paintings from the Brooklyn Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Both institutions acquired significant quantities of his work early on, the Brooklyn Museum from Sargent’s career debut show in New York in 1909 and the Boston museum from a solo show there in 1912. The beauty of Sargent’s watercolors is in how seemingly effortlessly yet exactly he captured outdoor light and complicated man-made and natural forms. In landscapes, close studies of fruit and flowers and portraits of women you see at once the supremely deft action of the brush and the illusions of a sun-drenched halcyon world that it conjures. Prepare for bedazzlement.” (KEN JOHNSON-NYT)

Selected West Side Events – Wednesday, Jun. 12, 2013

‘Spectacle: The Music Video’
The history of the music video, from Vitaphone shorts of the 1920s to contemporary videos featuring Lady Gaga and others, is told in this exhibition of installations, projections and objects.
Museum of the Moving Image, 35th Avenue at 37th Street, Astoria, Queens
from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m./$12, $9 for students and 65+
(718) 784-0077 / movingimage.us
(Sometimes we need to expand our horizons. Take subway #1,2,3 to TimesSquare, transfer to R to Steinway st @ 34th ave. Walk 1 blk S, 2 blks W.)

Children’s Books Talk
A talk about a historical exhibition on children’s books set to open on June 21 at the New York Public Library will feature the historian Leonard Marcus, curator of the display; Virginia Bartow, a senior rare books cataloger at the library; and Elizabeth Howard, a journalist. The exhibition, “The ABC of It: Why Children’s Books Matter” will be on view through Jan. 19 at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.
Center for Book Arts, 28 West 27th Street, third floor;
at 6:30 p.m.,  $30, $25 for members
Reservations are requested for the talk
481-0295 / centerforbookarts.org.

The Comedy of Errors @ Shakespeare in the Park
8:30pm @ Delacorte Theater in Central Park (81st & CPW)

WNYC’s ‘Soundcheck Live’ With Robert Randolph
“Mr. Randolph, an astonishing pedal steel guitarist and lead singer, takes part in this taping of of WNYC’s music and storytelling show, which on this day will also feature the comedian Tig Notaro and the composer Jeff Richmond.”(Anderson-NYT)
the Greene Space, 44 Charlton Street, at Varick Street, SoHo
At 7 p.m. / $20
(866) 811-4111 / thegreenespace.org

Buster Williams & Something More
‘Mr. Williams’s deeply authoritative bass playing is the fulcrum but not necessarily the focus of this assertive band, which features Steve Wilson on saxophones, Patrice Rushen on piano and Cindy Blackman Santana on drums.” (Chinen-NYT)
Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Jazz at Lincoln Center, 60th Street and Broadway,
at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., $35 cover, with a $10 minimum.
258-9595, jalc.org

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

A PremierPub and 3 Good Eating places – 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 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 W. Side Hwy., all may open before a table inside the main dining room. Otherwise, try Dinosaur for lunch, or come very early or 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

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

Selected Events – Manhattan’s WestSide (06/11/13)

Here’s the place to find today’s selected events. For other useful NYCity event info be sure to check out “Notable Events-June” , “on Broadway”  and “Top10 Free” in the header above.
For DIY NYCity trip planning see “Resources” and “Smart Stuff” in the header above.

Sinatra in the Park with Judy Collins and Loudon Wainwright III
“The City Parks Foundation raises funds and evokes the sultry spirit of Ol’ Blue Eyes with an evening of soul, folk and jazz-heavy covers from regal devotees, including Ms. Collins, Mr. Wainwright, Aimee Mann, Ted Leo, Allen Toussaint, Andrew Bird, Bettye LaVette, John Legend and more.” (Anderson-NYT)
Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, midpark at 70th Street
At 5:30pm / limited number of $100 tickets remaining.
(212) 360-2777 / summerstage.org;

American Ballet Theater*
““Romeo and Juliet” (Kenneth MacMillan’s interpretation), through June 15, with Diana Vishneva and Marcelo Gomes in the lead roles on opening night on Monday. On Tuesday, Polina Semionova makes her New York debut as Juliet alongside David Hallberg.” (Burke-NYT)
Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center
at 7:30 p.m. / $20 to $245.
362-6000 / abt.org

Voxify: Dominique Eade & Bruce Barth
“On her 1997 album, “When the Wind Was Cool,” the Boston-based vocalist Dominique Eade was pegged as a latter-day extension of the vocal school of June Christy and Chris Connor. While she still has that hauntingly “cool” tone in common with those sirens of the “Mad Men” era—as well as their enthusiasm for lesser-known but worthy tunes—Ms. Eade’s most recent album, “Whirlpool,” shows that she has cultivated a gift for opening up a song and stretching it as far as it will go, pushing and pulling it like silly putty.

The 2011 album teamed her with the quixotic veteran pianist Ran Blake, and this set at Cornelia Street recruits one of the city’s major duet partners, pianist Bruce Barth. She’s especially expressive on the recording on two movie themes, “Pinky” and “The Pawnbroker,” as well as “The Wind,” which conjures images so vivid that it hardly requires a movie.” (WSJ-Friedwald)
Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia St.
At 8:30pm / $20, includes a drink
(212) 989-9319 / corneliastreetcafe.com

Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot, Nels Cline and Shahzad Ismaily* “Aside from the fact that they’re all heralded, genre-fluid guitarists on either side of 60, what do Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot and Nels Cline have in common? A commitment to vernacular American music, for one thing; an agenda of unforced discovery, for another. And a keen sense of collaboration, which should help them in this rare summit, which also features Mr. Ismaily on bass. The evening, part of the fifth anniversary celebration for Le Poisson Rouge, will also feature a guest turn by the harpist Zeena Parkins.” (Chinen-NYT)
Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker Street, near Thompson Street
At 6:30pm and 10pm / $30 to $35
505-3474 / lepoissonrouge.com

Ravi Coltrane Quartet*
“The tenor and soprano saxophonist Ravi Coltrane has established a strong presence on the jazz landscape mainly at the helm of two working combos, which appeared on his excellent recent Blue Note debut, “Spirit Fiction.” Here he works with another configuration of players: the guitarist Adam Rogers, the bassist Dezron Douglas and the drummer Johnathan Blake.”
(Chinen-NYT)
Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, Clinton,
at 8:30 and 11 p.m., $30 and $40 cover, with a $10 minimum.
(212) 581-3080 / birdlandjazz.com

Bucky Pizzarelli and the Great Guitars
“Mr. Pizzarelli, a guitarist well versed in both the nuances of swing and chapter and verse of the American songbook, convenes a guitar summit with Ed Laub and Gene Bertoncini, and a compatible guest trumpeter, Warren Vaché.” (Chinen-NYT)
54 Below, 254 West 54th Street, Manhattan.
at 7 and 9 p.m., $25 to $35 cover, with a $15 minimum.
476-3551 / 54below.com

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

Today, no museum listings. Wait until this evening for your museum visit.
Take advantage of the annual Free Museum Mile Festival:

Museum Mile Festival
The 35th edition of this annual festival, which features outdoor and indoor activities from 6 to 9 p.m., takes place at many of the cultural institutions on Fifth Avenue. Fifth Avenue will be closed to traffic between 82nd and 105th Streets; museummilefestival.org; free.

Plus Selected Events – Manhattan’s WestSide (06/10/13)

Here’s the place to find today’s selected events. For other useful NYCity event info be sure to check out “Notable Events-June” , “on Broadway”  and “Top10 Free” in the header above.
For DIY NYCity trip planning see “Resources” and “Smart Stuff” in the header above.

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‘Whales: Giants of the Deep’
This interactive exhibition covers the world of the giant mammals, in context to humans and other animals.
American Museum of Natural History: Central Park West and 79th Street,
From 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m., timed tickets, with the suggested admission price of $25; $19 for students and 60+; $14.50 for children 12 and under.
769-5200 / amnh.org

Poetry Walk Across Brooklyn Bridge
This annual benefit for Poets House — the 18th — combines a treat for the mind and feet with poetry readings on either side of the East River and a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. with readings in the park near City Hall and continues with a procession across the bridge to a park near Jane’s Carousel in Brooklyn Bridge Park, at Dock Street, where the readings continue.

Dinner will be at the Tobacco Warehouse, 26 New Dock Street. The poets Galway Kinnell and Natasha Trethewey, the United States poet laureate, will be among the poets taking part. Reservations are required: (212) 431-7920, Ext. 2830 or krista@poetshouse.org; poetshouse.org; $250, $225 for Poets House members.
take #2/3 subway to Park Place. walk 1 block E. to city hall park.

Poncho Sanchez
“Mr. Sanchez, a conguero and eminence of the lively West Coast Latin-jazz scene, has a recent album, “Live in Hollywood”
(Concord Picante), that gives some indication of the high-octane polish he demands from his band. They appear here as part of the Blue Note Jazz Festival.” (Chinen-NYT)
B. B. King Blues Club & Grill, 237 West 42nd Street, Manhattan,
At 8 p.m., $27.50 in advance, $32 day of show.
(800) 745-3000 / bbkingblues.com

Jim Caruso’s Cast Party
Broadway impresario Jim Caruso hosts a combination open-mic, networking event and party in which the biggest stars on Broadway relax on their night off by performing their favorite songs in an informal setting.
Birdland – 315 West 44th St (Btw 8th/9th ave)
9:30 pm / $20

Victor Wooten, featuring Omar Hakim & Guests
Victor Lemonte Wooten is a unique human being. At age six, he was on tour with his brothers opening shows for legendary soul artist Curtis Mayfield. Soon after, he was affectionately known as the 8-year-old Bass Ace, and before graduating high school, he and his brothers had shared the stage with artists such as Stephanie Mills, War, Ramsey Lewis, Frankie Beverly and Maze, Dexter Wansel, and The Temptations. But, this only begins to tell the tale of this Tennessee titan.

Wooten, now a five-time Grammy winner, hit the worldwide scene in 1990 as a founding member of the super-group Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Continuing to blaze a musical trail with the band, Victor has also become widely known for his own Grammy nominated solo recordings and tours.

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

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Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm dates and check times, as schedules are subject to change.
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A PremierPub and 3 Good Eating Places – Greenwich Village

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

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

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, 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. I should note that 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

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

Fish – 280 Bleecker St (just a bit S. of 7th ave South)
This was an easy pick – the best raw bar special in town. $8 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. 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.

The focus for “3 Good Eating places” is on Fine Fast Food – NYCity Style
(pizza,  burgers,  food trucks/carts,  vegetarian/falafel,  soup & sandwiches,  salad bars,  hot dogs,  bbq,  picnic fixins’,  raw bars & lobster rolls)
—————————————————————————–————-————-—
There are also some casual dining, chain restaurant locations in this neighborhood that have decent food and free Wi-FI:

A. Pret a Manger @ 821 Broadway (betw 12/13 st)
Subway: #1/2/3 to 42nd st; transfer to n/q/r to 14th st/union sq

B. Potbelly @ 41 W14th st (betw 5th/6th ave)
Subway: #1/2/3 to 14th st

C. Cosi @ 53 E 8th st (betw greene/mercer)
Subway: #1/2/3 to 42nd st; transfer to n/r to 8th st

For all my picks of 54 Good Eating places and extended descriptions of 18 PremierPubs in 9 Neighborhoods, order a copy of my e-book:
“Eating and Drinking on NYCity’s WestSide”.

Selected Events – Manhattan’s WestSide (06/09/13)

Here’s the place to find today’s selected events. For other useful NYCity event info be sure to check out “Notable Events-June” , “on Broadway”  and “Top10 Free” in the header above.
For DIY NYCity trip planning see “Resources” and “Smart Stuff” in the header above.

Big Apple Barbecue Block Party
This annual food and music fest is a benefit for the Madison Square Park Conservancy.
Madison Square Park, at Broadway and 23rd Street
From 11 a.m to 6 p.m., free, but food is $9 a plate
and drinks are $3 to $8.
(646) 747-0584 / bigapplebbq.org;

American Crafts Festival
This biannual display in Lincoln Center sponsored by the American Concern for Art and Craftsmanship — it also takes place in the fall — will fill Damrosch Park.
Damrosch Park, at 62nd Street, between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues, and Hearst Plaza, at 64th Street and Columbus Avenue, on Saturday from noon to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. craftsatlincoln.org.

Wanderlust Yoga in the City
Sponsored by Wanderlust Festival, the event will feature yoga instruction and music, as well as speakers and workshops on related topics. This latest installment of free alfresco yoga and music — past events have taken place in San Francisco and Chicago — is from 1 to 6 p.m. at Pier 63 at Hudson River Park, at West 23rd Street; tinyurl.com/ks5umxn.

The Music of Shelly Manne
“After he graduated from the back of the band to the front, drummer-turned-leader Shelly Manne (1920-1984) was responsible for some of the most remarkable music of a remarkable era. This welcome celebration addresses as many aspects of Manne and his music as an hour allows, including the drummer’s historic, brief encounters with Sonny Rollins (“I’m an Old Cowhand”) and Bill Evans (“Danny Boy”) and his career-long collaboration with Andre Previn, which re-defined the jazz repertory by transforming contemporary show tunes into bebop.”  (WSJ-Friedwald)
Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola
Broadway at 60th Street, (212) 258-9595

“Top Italian Jazz at Birdland”
Enrico Rava Quintet: ‘Tribe’
“A well-named event, and as a festival it’s highly consistent—two of the three featured musicians are trumpeters, and all are veteran contemporary-jazz players associated with ECM Records. The only problem with this compact festival is that six nights is hardly time enough cover an entire country, especially one that’s been on the map of world jazz for close to 90 years.

The week, produced by Enzo Capua for the Umbria Jazz Festival, is book-ended by trumpeters: It began with the brilliantly lyrical duo of Sardinian trumpeter Paolo Fresu and Philadelphian pianist Uri Caine and concludes Saturday and Sunday with Enrico Rava’s quintet. At 73, Signor Rava is one of the most celebrated trumpeters in the world, and it’s a sure bet that his latest album, “Rava on the Dance Floor,” a highly personal take on the music of Michael Jackson, won’t damage his popularity.” (WSJ-Friedwald)
Birdland
315 W. 44th St., (212) 581-3080 

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Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm dates and check times, as schedules are subject to change.
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SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS @ 
3 Museums (WestSide Manhattan & the BklynMuseum, easy via #2-3 subway) & 3 Chelsea Galleries :  ================================================================

‘Claes Oldenburg: The Street and the Store’ and ‘Claes Oldenburg: Mouse Museum, Ray Gun Wing’ (through Aug. 5)
‘Performing Histories (1)’ (through Aug. 5)
‘Bill Brandt: Shadow and Light’ (through Aug. 12)
Museum of Modern Art: 11 W 53rd St,
(212) 708-9400 / moma.org.
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‘A Different Kind of Order: The ICP Triennial’ (through Sept. 8) 
International Center of Photography
1133 Avenue of the Americas, at 43rd Street,
(212) 857-0000 / icp.org
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Richard Serra: ‘Early Work’ (through June 15)
This terrific exhibition looks back on five formative years in the career of the world’s most admired sculptor. One room contains objects made of lead, rubber, wood and stone produced by basic procedures like cutting, folding and tearing. A second gallery features works made by propping up four-by-four-foot lead panels and a single slab of hot-rolled steel, eight feet tall and 24 feet long, that juts from a corner into the room with grand implacability. (Johnson-NYT)
David Zwirner, 537 West 20th Street,
517-8677 / davidzwirner.com.

Rodney Graham (through June 15)
In four giant photographic transparencies mounted on lightboxes, the versatile Vancouver artist Mr. Graham ponders a man’s middle age with comical ennui. Each is a fictional self-portrait of the artist as a construction worker, a scientist, an aging punk and an old hippie in a kayak. They are funny and touching because of the disproportionate relationship between their grandiose scale and their goofy images, which resemble those of downbeat Father’s Day greeting cards. (Johnson-NYT)
303 Gallery, 507 West 24th Street,
255-1121, 303gallery.com.

Wolfgang Tillmans (through June 22)
The nomadic German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans addresses globalization in a curiously offhand way. This is true even in his latest works, which assert themselves more strongly as art objects thanks to Mr. Tillmans’s experiments with inkjet printing; they are lush and almost painterly in their rich concentrations of pigment. Only after connecting the dots of the installation — which moves from downtown Los Angeles to Kilimanjaro, a Masai hut to a construction site in Shanghai, a car headlight to a close-up of mold spores — do you sense transformation and upheaval.(Rosenberg-NYT)
Andrea Rosen Gallery, 525 West 24th Street,
(212) 627-6000 / andrearosengallery.com.

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‘John Singer Sargent Watercolors’  (through July 28) [see review below]
‘Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui’ (through Aug. 4)
‘LaToya Ruby Frazier: A Haunted Capital’ (through Aug. 11)
Brooklyn Museum: 200 Eastern Parkway, at Prospect Park,
(718) 638-5000 / brooklynmuseum.org

John Singer Sargent Watercolors
“The exhibition brings together 93 of his watercolors and 9 oil paintings from the Brooklyn Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Both institutions acquired significant quantities of his work early on, the Brooklyn Museum from Sargent’s career debut show in New York in 1909 and the Boston museum from a solo show there in 1912. The beauty of Sargent’s watercolors is in how seemingly effortlessly yet exactly he captured outdoor light and complicated man-made and natural forms. In landscapes, close studies of fruit and flowers and portraits of women you see at once the supremely deft action of the brush and the illusions of a sun-drenched halcyon world that it conjures. Prepare for bedazzlement.” (KEN JOHNSON-NYT)

Selected Events – Manhattan’s WestSide

Here’s the place to find today’s selected events. For other useful event info be sure to check out “Notable Events-June” , “on Broadway”  and “Top10 Free” in the header above. For DIY trip planning see “Resources” and “Smart Stuff” in the header above.

Big Apple Barbecue Block Party
This annual food and music fest is a benefit for the Madison Square Park Conservancy.
Madison Square Park, at Broadway and 23rd Street
From 11 a.m to 6 p.m., free, but food is $9 a plate
and drinks are $3 to $8.
(646) 747-0584 / bigapplebbq.org;

American Crafts Festival
This biannual display in Lincoln Center sponsored by the American Concern for Art and Craftsmanship — it also takes place in the fall — will fill Damrosch Park.
Damrosch Park, at 62nd Street, between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues, and Hearst Plaza, at 64th Street and Columbus Avenue, on Saturday from noon to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. craftsatlincoln.org.

Hare Krishna Parade and Festival 
The parade will begin at noon at Fifth Avenue and 45th Street and continue south to Washington Square Park, where a festival will follow.

Dance & Process* 
For this annual series, the Kitchen selects an influential choreographer who picks several up-and-coming artists for a 10-week group residency, culminating in this presentation of works. As this year’s curator, Sarah Michelson has chosen dance-makers who, like herself, bridge the worlds of contemporary visual art and performance: Kira Alker and Elke Luyten, Anna Azrieli, Moriah Evans and Yve Laris Cohen. (Burke-NYT)
The Kitchen, 512 West 19th Street, Chelsea
at 1pm and 8pm / $15, $12 for students and 65+.
255-5793 / thekitchen.org

New York City Ballet*
The company wraps up its “33 in 3” marathon (33 ballets presented over 3 weeks, with no two programs alike) as its spring season draws to a close. Of the final four programs, the Saturday matinee — which includes Alexei Ratmansky’s “Concerto DSCH,” Justin Peck’s “In Creases” and Balanchine’s “Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3” — seems like the best note to go out on, a good balance of neo-classical tradition and some of the company’s most important contemporary voices. (Burke-NYT)
David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center
at 2 and 8 p.m. / $29 to $155.
(212) 496-0600 / nycballet.com</a

Judy Collins
In the 1960s this classically trained pianist made a radical about-face into progressive folk, scoring a Grammy for her recording of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” and holding court with Joan Baez as one of the dominant women in counterculture songwriting. (Anderson-NYT)
Town Hall, 123 West 43rd Street
at 8 p.m., $42 to $67.
(800) 982-2787 / the-townhall-nyc.org

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

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

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. 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 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 night 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; 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..

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