Happenings for Week of December 11th

Week of December 11th, 2006



Come see Grand Central in a Whole New Light (A, H)
The Grand Central Kaleidoscope Holiday Light Show
on 42nd Street and Park Avenue
Main Concourse
Now through Jan 1st, 2007
11a - 9p (every half hour)
Free

Monday, December 11th, 2006

What Makes a Style “Local”? (A, C, E)
Observations on American Neoclassical Furniture
In the late 18th and early 19th century, uniquely American interpretations of English and French neoclassical furniture designs emerged in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and Baltimore, the principal formal furniture-making centers of the new American Republic. In this lecture, father and daughter, Stuart P. Feld and Elizabeth Feld, of Hirschl & Adler Galleries, will explore some of the most important cabinetmakers of that time from these four major centers of production. They will examine the stylistic impact of these innovators on the cabinetmaking trade and their influence on local production.
@ Bard Graduate Center
38 West 86th Street (between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue)
6 - 8p
Cost: $20
For more information and to sign up: bard



Christopher Williams on John Chamberlain’s foam sculptures (A, E)
Chamberlain belongs to that generation of artists who by using everyday materials has revised traditional perceptions of what is art, and has thus dismantled the boundaries, which clearly separated everyday man from the world of art. He is considered to be a leading representative and creator of Pop Art, sometimes his works are also associated with Nouveau Réalisme.
@ Dia Art Foundation
548 West 22nd Street (between 10th and 11th Avenues)
6:30p
Cost: $6
For more information and to make a reservation call: 212.989.5566

ISO (InterSchool Orchestras) of Carnegie Hill Orchestra and Concert Orchestra (M)
present works by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Bach, Britten, Strauss and Mozart
@ Peter Jay Sharp Theatre - Symphony Space
2537 Broadway (@ 95th Street)
7p
Tickets: $15
For more information and to buy tickets: symphony

Tuesday, December 12th, 2006

Klezmerfest (M)
Celebrating the great legacy of Yiddish instrumental music, Klezmerfest is an outstanding band in the great Eastern European tradition. Freylachs, doynas, and chassidls, along with old favorites from the days of Yiddish theater make for a heart-warming, foot-stomping concert for the whole family.
@ Winter Garden - World Financial Center
The World Financial Center is bordered by West Street, the Hudson River, Vesey and Liberty Streets
12:30p
Free
For more information: financial

Waldemar and Nadia do Burgundy again! (D/F)
Waldemar and Nadia return to host another delicious evening of wine and cheese.They will be presenting a selection of delectable artisan cheeses paired with our wines. And though the matches will be determined in advance, you’ll be able to mix and match for your own personal pleasure.
@ Burgundy Wine Company
143 West 26th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues)
6:30 - 8p
Cost: $35.00 (all inclusive) tasting fee
For more information and to sign up call: 212.691.9092

Marc Chagall and the Lost Jewish World (A, C, E)
Benjamin Harshav, Professor of Comparative Literature and Hebrew Language and Literature at Yale University, unravels Marc Chagall's famous depictions of the lost world of the Jewish shtetl, including his legendary Yiddish Art Theater murals in Moscow and several Guggenheim collection works, including Green Violinist and Paris Through the Window.
@ Guggenheim Museum - Peter B. Lewis Theater
1071 5th Avenue (at 89th Street)
6:30p
Cost: $10
For more information and to sign up: guggenheim



Holiday Food Series - Traditions on the Table: "The Hanukkah Culinary Tradition" (D/F, E)
Brooklyn-born chef and owner of Clinton St. Baking Co. & Restaurant Neil Kleinberg shares delectable twists to traditional Hanukkah treats. Once a chef at Lundy’s in Sheepshead Bay, he developed recipes for Lundy’s: Reminiscences and Recipes from Brooklyn’s Legendary Restaurant.
@ Central Library - Brooklyn
1 Grand Army Plaza (@ Eastern Parkway) - 2nd floor meeting room
7p
Free
For more information call: 718.230.2100

Wednesday, December 13th, 2006

Come learn how to make guacamole and other interesting avocado recipes…(D/F, E)
Chef Kenneth Collins of Tour will host a cooking demonstration and tasting sponsored by Hass Avocados. He’ll also show you how to make dishes from his avocado tasting menu.
@ Tour Restaurant
102 Eighth Avenue (@ 15th Street)
5:30p
Free
For more information call: 212.242.7773

Visit Open Galleries and Art Studios in Tribeca (A, C, E)
A large number of art spaces will keep their doors open later to offer evening activities such as openings, receptions, public programs, performances and special promotions.
6 - 8p
Free
For more information and/or maps of locations: tribeca

The Happy Ending Music and Reading Series (A, L, M)
Raconteurs, poets, and other cultural phenoms present their work as they showcase their other talents. Each reader is required to take one public risk. Reading in public cannot be one of them. This week’s artists: Leannae Shapton, Marcellus Hall, Chris Leo with music from Jennifer O Connor.
@ Happy Ending Bar
302 Broome Street (between Forsythe and Eldridge Streets)
Doors open at 7p, performance starts at 8p
Cost: Free
For more information: happy



Live at Lincoln: Avenue Q (A, M)
Join the creators of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical at this special event featuring performances by Kate Monster and other cast members
@ Barnes and Noble
1972 Broadway (@ 66th Street)
7p
Free
For more information: bn

The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio Michael Tree, viola (Code: T-TC5CY32-01) (M)
Enjoy Schoenberg’s richly Romantic Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) in a rarely performed arrangement by pianist Edward Steuermann, who reworked the string sextet for piano trio so he could perform it. Michael Tree, the founding violist of the Guarneri String Quartet, joins the ensemble for a quartet by Brahms.
The 92Y - Kaufmann Concert Hall
1395 Lexington Avenue (at 92nd Street)
8p
Cost: $40
For more information and to buy tickets: 92y

Thursday, December 14th, 2006

27th Annual Winter Solstice Celebration (C, H, M)
(featuring Paul Winter Consort , Renato Braz and Paul McCandless)
The Paul Winter Consort, with special guests Brazilian singer Renato Braz, and world-renowned double-reed wizard Paul McCandless, will be presenting a unique and intimate Winter Solstice Celebration showcasing the extraordinary natural acoustics of the largest Gothic cathedral in the world. This December's Winter Solstice Celebration will take place entirely in the Crossing and the Great Choir of the Cathedral. The program will offer as intimate a musical experience as one might have in the cavernous space under the 150' dome of the Cathedral.
@ Cathedral of St. John the Divine
1047 Amsterdam Avenue (@ 112th Street)
Doors open at 6:30p, performance starts at 7:30p
Cost: $75
For more information and to buy tickets: tickets

Laura’s List Holiday Event - Don’t miss out…(F/D, H, P)
Come join us and our friends from Sharyn’s Joey Thai Dinner Club
Bring in the holidays and meet new people
@ Joey Thai
17 East 31st Street (between Madison and 5th Avenue)
7p
$25 (all you can eat including tip and tax)
Bring your beverage of choice (wine/beer, spirits) and to share with others
This will be buffet style - not the typical sitdown dinner
Invite friends, family, coworkers, significant others, etc…
RSVP is necessary, please RSVP to: sharyn.rosenblum@harpercollins.com



A Jazzy Chanukah - A Chanukah Gift to New York (H, M)
Avishai Cohen Group is led by one of the most in demand trumpet players in New York and around the globe. For this event, he formed a group of Israeli musicians that will perform a set which was tailored specially for Chanukah.
@ St. Bartholomew’s Church
Park Avenue @ 51st Street
7:30p
Free
For more information: avishai

Friday, December 15th, 2006 (First Night of Hannukah)

Art Exhibit: Primitivism Revisited (A, C)
This exhibit is organized by Susan Vogel and curated by her graduate students from the Art History and Archeology Department at Columbia University. It re-examines the notion of ‘primitivism’, a concept which assumes certain relationships between primitive or traditional African art and contemporary art.
@ Sean Kelly Gallery
528 West 29th Street (between 10th and 11th Avenues)
For more information: gallery



Photography Exhibit: Clinton Irving Jones (A, C, E)
Winter in New York and Brooklyn in 1900
Never before seen photographs, printed from glass plate negatives by this newly rediscovered artist. In addition to Jones' early 20th Century images of Dutch domestic and agricultural architecture, shown this fall in Brooklyn in 1900, he created a series of winter scenes in Prospect Park, Brooklyn after an ice storm in January 1909.
@ Underbridge Pictures
111 Front Street, Gallery 202 (between Washington and Adams Streets)
For more information: underbridge



Circus Oz (A, C, D, M)
Circus Oz presents audiences with a circus that is also a playful theatrical subversion of the idea of 'circus'. As post-modern artists we have taken old forms and re-framed them. We shamelessly plunder the traditions of conventional circus and blend them with topical issues, relevant imagery, contemporary music, physical theatre and comedy. At our best we are pirates on the high seas of performance, looting our way through the riches of hundreds of years of convention, specialisation and defined genre. In circus we don't start with a script. The scripts are the bodies of the performers themselves.
@ New Victory Theatre
330 West 42nd Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues)
7p
Cost: $15 - 50
For more information and to buy tickets: circus

Woden (A)
A play which examines the morality of American corporate life. The story centers on the effect of corporate corruption on one family.
Starring: William Greville, Elizabeth Burke, Robert Armstrong, Jessica Tate, Deborah Johnstone, Carol Ann Palmaro, Bryan Luethy and Dorian Short
@ Cino Theatre - Theatre for the New City
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Streets)
8p
Cost: $10
For more information and to buy tickets: theater

Saturday, December 16th, 2006

Hike & Pilates (S)
Our day will begin at Bent Pilates studio, for a private 1 hour session with a certified instructor. Then we'll get out of town and get our hearts pumping & senses stimulated on a moderate-intensity 5-6 mile hike, where we will cross diverse terrain and enjoy breathtaking views.
Meeting place: Bent Pilates Studio, 828 9th Avenue (at 54th Street), 4th Floor
8:45a
Return location: 73 and Broadway (in front of Apple Bank)
For more information and to sign up: outdoorbound
Save $5.00 - after signing up email: info@outdoorbound.com and let them know you found out about trip from Laura’s list.

Holiday Shopaganza Extravaganza (H)
Forget about shopping malls and generic products. Come find gifts from local designers, crafty artisans and wellness practioners. DJ’s will be performing all day with hourly performances by local talent. There will also be incredible nutritious food prepared by Centerpoint’s resident cook.
Come and check it out.
@ Centerpoint Yoga Studios
324 Lafayette Street (between Houston and Bleeker), 7th Floor
12 - 6p
For more information: centerpoint

Walking Tour: New York in the Time of Antonin Dvorak (S)
On the anniversary of the world premiere of Dvorak’s great symphony "From the New World" at Carnegie Hall, we thought it would be fitting to honor the Czech composer with a look at the New York in which he lived from 1892 to 1895 as the director of the National Conservatory of Music, and with which he fell in love in the most unexpected way. We will see, in the environs of Stuyvesant Square and Gramercy Park, whether we can recapture the world of Dvorak and his fascinating friends, like Harry Burleigh, Will Marion Cook, and James Gibbons Huneker - above all whether we can recapture Dvorak’s wide-eyed rapture. Leader: Francis Morrone, an architectural historian.
Meet at the Northeast corner of Second Avenue and 17th Street
2p
Cost: $15
For more information and to sign up: walk



Movie Screening: Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (A)
The number one NASCAR driver Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) stays atop the competition thanks to a pact with his best friend and teammate, Cal Naughton, Jr. (John C. Reilly). But when a French Formula One driver (Sacha Baron Cohen), makes his way up the ladder, Ricky Bobby's talent and devotion are put to the test.
@ Sony Wonder Technology Lab
550 Madison Avenue (@56th Street)
2p
Free
For more information: sonywonder

The Give Me Your Toys Challenge Holiday Party (H, P)
Admission is 1 new, unused and unwrapped toy which will
be donated to the Children’s Starlight Foundation
Feel free to invite others, just remember the toy
@ Stitch
247 West 37th Street (between 7th and 8th Avenues0
10p
No cover - though you need to RSVP and bring a toy
Please RSVP to Joe Maximo: maxshade7@hotmail.com, put RSVP Party in the subject line and make sure to list names of all the people you will attending with - there will be a list at the door.

Sunday, December 17th, 2006



Hunter Mountain Ski Trip (Code: T-MM5RT45-01) (S)
There’s nothing like lunging down a snow-covered mountain. Join Makor for a fun day of snow and sun on Hunter Mountain.
Location: Meet outside New York Pipe Dreams located at 84th Street and York Avenue
6:15am
Cost: $85 / $110 Ski Rental
For more information and to sign up: 92y

Winter Hike: Russian Bear, 8.5 miles (S)
This loop trail offers marvelous diversity of its terrain and scenery. Our trail will take us up a steep ridge for a scramble, and undulate over the rocky high points
Time: 8:45 - 5p
Meeting Place: 73 & Broadway, NE corner (in front of Apple Bank)
Cost: $49
For more information and to sign up: outdoorbound
Save $5.00 - after signing up email: info@outdoorbound.com and let them know you found out about trip from laura’s list.

Bronx Zoo’s 10th Holiday Lights Season (A, C, H)
Live nightly entertainment by carolers, stilt walkers, ice carving artists and more.
Over half a million twinkling lights, more than 150 larger than life lighted animal, dinosaur and holiday sculptures.
@ The Bronx Zoo
2300 Southern Blvd (between Garden and East 181st Streets)
5 - 9p
Cost: $14
For more information and directions: zoo

A production of Suzan-Lori Parks’ 365 Days/365 Plays (A, C)
This production will reflect the Queens borough diversity
@ Queens Theatre in the Park - Corona Park, Flushing, Queens
Take #7 subway to Shea Stadium/Willet Point and then walk in the direction of the Unisphere
3p
Free, please RSVP
For more information and to RSVP call: 718.760.0064



Matisyahu performs with Ben Kweller (A, C, M)
Matisyahu simply seeks to serve as a conduit for the messages of peace and unity that flow through him, to improve the world the world by sharing his music, and without letting ego or worldly desires interfere in that communication. "That's what I'm aiming for," he admits. "I don't think I've fully gotten there, but that's the goal." And with Youth, he makes a quantum leap closer to attaining it. He not only heard a profound spiritual calling, but also discerned a revolutionary way to share his discoveries and reflections, via the reggae and hip-hop sounds that had long been an integral part of his day-to-day soundtrack.
@ Hammerstein Ballroom
311 West 34th Street (between 8th and 9th Avenue)
6:30p
Cost: $32 (plus service charges)
To buy tickets: tickets

Monday, December 18th, 2006

Book Discussion: Work by Mitch Epstein (E, L)
While Mitch Epstein is widely acknowledged as one of the world's most distinguished art photographers, a complete survey of his work has never been published before. Work allows readers to trace the evolution of Epstein's entire career, following formal and thematic concerns that allow us to see how his aesthetics, his techniques and his politics have shifted and influenced one-another over time.
@ Strand Bookstore
828 Broadway (@ 13th Street)
7 - 8:30p
Free
For more information: strand

Les Paul and his Trio play Midtown (M)
Les Paul, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, five-time Grammy Award winner, pioneer of the electric guitar and inventor of numerous recording tech-niques. Les says his greatest God-given gifts are perfect pitch, a love for music with the ability to learn it quickly, and the curiosity and persistence of an inventor who wants to know "how things tick".
@ Iridium Jazz Club
1650 Broadway (@ 51st Street)
8p, 10p
Cost: $35.00
For more information and to buy tickets: jazz

Key to Activities

A Art
C Cultural
D Dance
D/F Drink/Food
E Education
H Holiday
L Literature
M Music
NP Non-Profit
P Party
S Sport