Have you been out to the South Street Seaport lately? Check out the new Smorgasburg and enjoy the 300-seat beer garden and eight different hamburger sellers under one roof. From now until October a dozen market favorites including Pizza Moto, Landhaus, Asia Dog and Oyster Bar will be selling their wares at the market on Front Street.
There are two temporary bars created for the Smorgasburg experience, one inside, and the other on top of old shipping containers which bring brews to the patrons of the beer garden. On tap are favorites such as Captain Lawrence Kolsch and Sixpoint Sweet Action. Wines and cocktails are also available. For the teatotalers among us there are slushies from Kevin Natural Slush Company. Prefer your slushie spiked? Bartenders on hand are glad to help.
Location: Front Street in New York’s Financial District between Beekman and Fulton Streets
Hours: Monday-Thursday and Sunday- 11am-10pm; Friday and Saturday 11am-11pm
There is no shortage of what to do in New York, everyone will agree. But what is truly astounding is how many of those things require little, or even no money to enjoy. Here is a short list of a much longer one containing a wide variety of cultural events that will not cost you a penny.
• Concerts in the Park with the New York Philharmonic: All five boroughs will play host to one of the world’s greatest symphony orchestras, with Alan Gilbert conducting in four of them. They will be performing Dvorak’s Cello Concerto and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in Brooklyn on July 10; Queens July 11; Manhattan July 15 and in the Bronx on July 16. The program in Staten Island will take place on July 14, but the program has not been announced yet. For more information go to Concerts in the Park.
• Paul McCarthy: Life Cast: At the age of 67 McCarthy has gained the reputation as the “bad boy” of the art world. In his latest, and largest extravaganza, utilizing the huge space at the Armory, McCarthy parodies, or spoofs, or something, Walt Disney’s version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and calls it WS for White Snow. The entire production lasts seven hours, but it’s free, so feel free to leave at any time.
• Carol Bove’s “Caterpillars”: The Rail Yards are the last undeveloped stretch of the High Line elevated park, but it is going to be a morphed
Caterpillars on the High Line
into a landscaped public green space during 2014. Therefore now is a fantastic time to see the area as it was and is, but won’t be for much longer. Take advantage of this reservations-only exhibit of abstract spiral sculptures by Brooklyn artist Carol Bove. The seven pieces are spread over the 300-yard length of abandoned railroad tracks and are on display for free; it is only necessary to make reservations to enjoy them. Enter at 34th St between Eleventh and Twelfth Avenues. Make reservations here, Carol Bove.
It’s August, and the people of New York are taking back their streets! That’s right, for the fifth consecutive summer pedestrians rule on three Saturdays in a row beginning on August 4th, from 7am until 1pm on almost 7 miles of New York’s beautiful streets.
From the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park and on Park Avenue, and on the connecting streets cars, busses, cabs and motorcycles will be banished to be replaced by bicycles, skateboards, roller skates, and just plain feet.
On 51st Street stop by and pick up a free bike helmet, and at Foley Square take to the skies on a real urban zip line. There will be a climbing wall, urban art and a Whole Foods Market on hand to round out the strolling experience.
Everything is free on August 4, 11 and 18- so come on down and experience New York in a whole new way.
How about something really different? Every Friday at midnight you can check out “Karaoke Killed the Cat” at Union Hall, 702 Union Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The atmosphere is wild as a “karaoke dance party” ensues under the instigation of co-hosts Chris Goldteeth and Lord Easy. Those who dare get to choose from over 18,000 tunes to sing along with while the rest of the guests are enthralled by the antics of Goldteeth and Easy as they act as back-up singers, dancers, or even start water-gun fights while the music is playing.
Mr. Goldteeth explains that, “We do our best to rev the crowd up so everyone feels like a star.”
Join in the fun and feel like a star. There’s nothing to lose, since it’s absolutely free.
There is still time to catch the last week of the three-week Modern Beethoven Festival which already began on March 1st and continues until March 20th.
David Zinman
Conductor and Beethoven expert David Zinman will lead the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall in a wonderful way which promises to give audiences the feeling that they are hearing this music for the very first time.
Zinman is a native New Yorker and the chief conductor of the Tonhalle Orchestra of Zurich. He recorded “Beethoven: The Nine Symphonies” in 1999 before which time he spent ten years imagining what Beethoven’s music should really sound like, researching how performances were actually conducted at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries.
Each symphony will feature one of the following soloists: Peter Serkin, Alisa Weilerstein or Gil Shaham. For more information visit NYC-ARTS.
Enjoy the New York Jewish Film Festival from January 11 through January 26. This is an annual event celebrating its 21st year of bringing the most innovative and provocative films which focus on the Jewish experience throughout the world to the people of New York.
The Jewish Museum and the Film Society of Lincoln Center together present these less well known films, which sometimes go on to become quite successful, gaining entry into theaters around the country and broadcasts on television. Ajam was one such movie; a crime thriller shot on the streets of Jaffa in Israel, which was featured in the 2010 New York Jewish Film Festival and went on to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Film.
For more information visit the web site of the Jewish Museum.
Four Hundred Miles to Freedom is just one of the many fascinating films which will be shown at the festival.
The most famous place to bring in the New Year is without a doubt Times Square. This is where the famous ball descends along its path on a flagpole atop number One Times Square at exactly 11:59pm, taking 60 seconds to make its way to the bottom, when the New Year officially begins on the eastern seaboard of the United States.
Billions of people can watch this event on television or over the internet worldwide, but those who are lucky enough to be in New York for New Year’s Eve will have a real treat this year. Beginning at 4pm the usually bustling Times Square ‘bow-tie’ intersection is closed to traffic, and people begin arriving. The revelers are placed into viewing areas by the police officers, and as one area becomes full, another section begins to fill with revelers.
From 6pm until 6:03pm there is a ceremony to light and raise the Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball into place. The organizers of the event, Tim Tompkins and Jeffrey Straus, together with a few representatives of the Philips Lighting Company will flip the huge switch to light the Ball and begin its rise to the top of the pole to the accompaniment of some cool pyrotechnic effects.
The rest of the evening is filled with exciting surprises and entertainment, including the distribution of tens of thousands of hats, balloons, and lip balm in preparation for the famous midnight kiss. As midnight approaches wishes are read from the “confetti wishes” which are thrown up at the arrival of the new year, while there is a constant flow of singers, dancers, speakers and pyrotechnics to make sure the crowd of revelers is having the absolutely best time possible.
At 11pm Lady Gaga will perform, and from 11:53 pm until 11:59 there will be a special performance of the song “Imagine” by an as yet unannounced performer.
At 11:59pm New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will have the honor of pressing the button which brings the New Year’s Eve Ball down the 70 foot pole in its world famous 60 second descent. As it arrive at the bottom, the ball’s lights go dark and the numerals 2012 blaze on, signaling the moment of the beginning of the New Year.
On November 21st and 22nd youthful poets will read their works expressing “hurt and hope on their journey towards self.” The featured poets are Nia Allen, Aziza Barnes, Kedene McLeod, and Diamond Wynn. The poets are teamed with Writing Mentor Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai and Director/Choreographer Nicco Annan.
The unique hybrid performance is a creation of the partnership between New York Live Arts and Urban Word NYC whose goal is to support inner city youth in their artistic development. The project is now in its fourth year, and includes the input and participation of the spoken word artist Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai.
New York Live Arts was created in 2011 when the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company merged with the Dance Theater Workshop. It is housed at 219 West 19th Street, and led by the Executive Artistic Director Bill T. Jones and Artistic Director Carla Peterson. The CEO and Executive Director is Jean Davidson.
Do you love to dance? Have you ever thought about taking dance lessons? New York is literally overflowing with possibilities for anyone interested in getting into shape while also having an absolutely fantastic time.
Steven Hughes
One such place is “Stepping Out Studios, ” whose stated mission is to “introduce and spread the joy of partner dancing far and wide.” Stepping Out began in 1985, and has always been on the forefront of introducing the latest dance styles to New Yorkers; being the first to bring Argentine Tango and West Coast Swing to the Eastern Coast of the US. They have also played a key role in the exciting revival of Latin, Swing and Country Western dancing which has taken New York by storm over the last decade.
The latest development at Stepping Out has been the addition of Steven Hughes to the studio as the new managing director. Hughes has over 20 years of experience as a business owner, theater director, choreographer, producer as well as a certified professional dance instructor.
Stepping Out offers a lot more than just dance lessons. In addition to both private and group lessons, Stepping Out can provide wedding planning, corporate programs, teacher training programs and lots more. Check it out and come down and dance!
There is no shortage of places to go to hear some fine music in New York City. But what to do if you would like to be on the giving end of the music scene in New York, rather than the taking end? Easy, just get yourself over to Guitar Cities – New York, located at 1350 Avenue of the Americas, at 55th and Sixth Avenue. At their location in midtown Manhattan experienced guitar instructors Adam Neely, Tim Norton and Marcel Hamel have put together a talented, and more importantly, effective group of guitar instructors who will personalize a tutoring program in guitar for you which will perfectly meet your needs.
Neely, Norton and Hamel are all graduates of the famous Berklee College of Music in Boston. Their stated goal when forming their amazing team of guitar instructors was to not only have the most knowledgeable and gifted artists as teachers, but to make sure that each tutor was an “experienced communicator and teacher” with the ability to impart their vast knowledge onto the eager student.
Guitar Cities, which also has locations in Chicago, San Francisco and London, provides the instrument gratis, does not charge a registration fee, is open to all students of all ages and backgrounds, and will accommodate any style guitar playing which is desired, from jazz to rock, pop, blues and more.
There is no limit on how long the lessons must last, from a month to years. As long as the student is happy, Adam Neely, Tim Norton and Marcel Hamel are also happy. So stop by and start to learn guitar.
