Happenings for Week of August 27th, 2007

Monday, August 27th, 2007

Reading: Veronica A. Shaffer "I Hear Your Cry" (C, E, L)
In "I Hear Your Cry: Women in Prison," Veronica A. Shaffer takes readers into the heart of a women's prison, where she taught prisoners skills that released them from their emotional and physical jails. Her belief that the benefits of yoga and meditation empowers women who experience powerlessness and trauma pushed her to establish a fit and wellness program despite a number of obstacles. Shaffer currently teaches creative writing to men in prison.
@ Blue Stockings
172 Allen Street (between Stanton and Rivington Streets)
7p
Free
For more information: bluestockings

Monday Night Magic (C)
Featuring: David Oliver (Classic Doves, Exquisite Silent Manipulation), Harley Newman (Wild, Crazy and On The Edge Miracles) and Rocco (Magic Master & Sleight-of-Hand Champion)
Come and spend the most magical night New York City has to offer at “Monday Night Magic.” We’ve got a seat with your name on it prepare to be amazed. It’s a night of magic you will never forget.
@ St. Cement's Theatre
423 West 46th Street (between 9th and 10th Avenues)
8p
Tickets: $32.50, day of show: $37.50
For more information and to buy tickets: magic



La India (A, C, M)
Come join the sizzling sensation the “Princess of Salsa” La India as she heats up Lincoln Center with “salsaton,” her term for a sound fusion of salsa and reggaeton music designed to keep your hips shaking and your feet moving. An integral part of growth of dance music in discos in the 1980s, La India crossed markets in the 1990s, becoming salsa’s darling diva and the heir apparent to continuing the genre’s legacy. Her songs are infectious, her voice passionate, and the beats compelling a perfect combination for a hot summer night.
@ Lincoln Center - Damrosch Park Bandshell
Amsterdam (between West 62nd and West 65th Streets)
8p
Free
For more information: lincolncenter

Tuesday, August 28th, 2007

Piano in the Park with Sheldon Forrest (A, C, M)
Tap your toes to the music of Scott Joplin, the Gershwins, James P. Johnson, Fats Waller, Eubie Blake, Jelly Roll Morton, and more.
@ Bryant Park - Upper Fountain Terrace
Between 5 and 6 Avenues and West 40th and West 42nd Streets
12 - 1:45p
Free
For more information: bryantpark



Coney Island Takes over 43rd Street (C, D/F)
The thrill and tantalizing tastes of Coney Island come to NYC.
Brooklyn Diner USA is introducing their new Coney Island Seafood bar tonight. There will also be talent straight from the side show, Fire eaters, jugglers, mermaids and more. For those city dwellers who couldn’t make it to the Mermaid Parade this past June, this is the time to catch a glimpse of those elusive sea-creatures.
@ Brooklyn Diner USA
155 West 43rd Street (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue)
6 - 8p
Free
For more information call Jules: 212.584.4284



Book Launch Party for Chris Rose with his latest book, 1 Dead in Attic: After Katrina (C, L, P)
Rose, a New Orleans author and columnist for the Times-Picayune (the local New Orleans newspaper) who has written an incredibly touching and accurate portrayal of the aftermath of Katrina. Katrina is present in the mind of every New Orleanian and for those that still live there, daily reminders exist on every street corner. As we approach the 2-year anniversary of Katrina, it's our privilege to welcome Chris Rose for this very special event. The Washington Post Book World calls his columns: "impressionistic cries of pain and mordant humor... they so aptly mirrored the sense of surreal dislocation experienced by New Orleanians that they turned Rose into a voice of the tortured city."
@ Vestry Wines
65 Vestry Street (@ Washington Street)
6:30 - 8:30p
Free
For more information: wines

Wednesday, August 29th, 2007

Charli Persip +5 (A, C, M)
Charli Persip's nearly forty year mission includes distinguished residencies with the big bands of Dizzy Gillespie and Billy Eckstine, as well as gigs and record dates with Tadd Dameron, Frank Foster, Eric Dolphy, Roland Kirk, John Coltrane, among many others. Persip was the drummer on the legendary, "Eternal Triangle" recording, featuring Sonny Rollins and Sonny Stitt.
@ Grant's Tomb
122nd Street and Riverside Drive
7p
Free
For more information: jazz and profile

Book Discussion and Signing: Actors at Work (A, C, L)
by Rosemarie Tichler, Barry Jay Kaplan, Mike Nichols
It’s extremely difficult to be an actor, for many reasons: It’s mostly unrewarding financially. It takes a lot of hard work before an actor even gets a part. A career is apt to be short-lived. The field is incredibly competitive. Cream does not always rise to the top. And yet actors young and old line up by the thousands wanting to do it. What fuels this desire? What is it that drives actors to withstand the frustration of not getting parts, of getting bad parts in bad plays, of being mistreated by directors, misundertood by audiences, misinterpreted by critics? In a collection of interviews with a dozen artists, including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Patti LuPone, and Billy Crudup, the book explores not only the impetus to perform but also key topics about the process and profession, including the way actors approach a role, what techniques they use to deal with directors and other cast members, the ways in which they use their own personal lives in their work, and their influences, idols, and insecurities. The result is a book that actors will find indispensable and fans will find irresistible.
@ Barnes and Noble
1972 Broadway (@ 66th Street)
7:30p
Free
For more information: barnesandnoble



Meat Puppets and Guests come to NYC (M)
Rise to Your Knees recorded in the band’s adopted home base of Austin, Texas finds the Kirkwoods and new drummer Ted Marcus tapping into the same adventurous spirit that first put Meat Puppets on the map, recapturing the transcendent highs of their most celebrated work. The resulting music adds an inspired new chapter to the already massive legacy of a band whose body of music is an indispensable cornerstone of contemporary alternative rock.
@ The Knitting Factory
74 Leonard Street (between Church Street and Broadway)
8p
$20
For more information and to buy tickets: knitting

Thursday, August 30th, 2007

Singles Wine Tasting (D/F, E)
@ Bottle Rocket
5 West 19th Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues)
6 - 8p
Free
For more information: www.bottlerocketwine.com

Movie Screening: Wait until Dark and Cry Terror (A, C, F)
Wait until Dark: At 27B St. Luke’s Place (actually, No. 4, a minute away from Film Forum), multi-disguised Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine) and cohorts Richard Crenna and Jack Weston terrorize blind lady Audrey Hepburn to find that drug stash. With one of the all-time jump-in-your-seat sequences.
Cry Terror: Psycho airline bomber Rod Steiger, on his way to a half-mill payoff, keeps James Mason hostage in an East Side apartment (albeit with riv vu) and Mason’s wife Inger Stevens captive at 6 Barrow Street (in Film Forum’s vicinity). With a suspenseful West Side Highway drive and a chase into a PATH station.
@ Film Forum
209 West Houston Street (between Bedford Street and 7th Avenue South)
First film starts at 7:15p
$10.50 (2 films for 1 admission)
For more information: cryterror



Jenifer Jackson Returns to NYC (A, M)
Nothing slick, nothing fancy, nothing overdone or overblown. In other words: Just Jenifer's songs, Jenifer's voice and Jenifer's band. A truly in-the-moment recording, Jenifer's band knows these songs and each other so well, their ease and camaraderie provide a lived-in authenticity to this mellow-dramatic set of reflections.
@ Rockwood Music Hall
196 Allen Street (between East Houston and Stanton Streets)
7p
Free with 2 drink minimum
For more information: Jenifer

Friday, August 31st, 2007

Battles comes to the Seaport (A, M)
New York’s own Battles currently produce some of the most intense and hypnotic experimental music around.
@ South Street Seaport, Pier 17
FDR between Fulton and Beekman Streets
7p
Free
For more information: rivertoriver

Tambourines to Glory (A, C, M)
Tambourines to Glory is a spirited, tragic-comedy that follows the lives of Laura Reed and Essie Bell Johnson who decide to start their own gospel church on a street corner in Harlem. Laura dreams of becoming rich and famous while Essie genuinely desires to serve the lord and her community. When the Devil (not a symbol or metaphor, but Beelzebub himself!) enters the picture, the conflict intensifies between the two women, their community and their faith. As these powerful forces collide and the conflict between the characters spiral out of control, Laura and Essie fight to find their way back from the ravages of Hell.
@ City College - Aaron Davis Hall
150 Convent Avenue (at West 135th Street)
7 - 9:30p
$1 - 10
For more information and to buy tickets: harlem



Movie Screening: Kamp Katrina (D, E, F)
Kamp Katrina follows New Orleans native Ms. Pearl, who spontaneously converts her backyard into a tent-village for 14 displaced people for six months in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding of her beloved city. Ms. Pearl explodes off the screen, one of those flamboyantly larger-than-life personalities who, were this a fictional film, would seem too outrageous to be real. Kamp Katrina delivers a sometimes-shattering verité exploration of the very personal daily struggles imposed by this national tragedy on a small group of troubled survivors.
@ Pioneer Theater
155 East 3rd Street (between Avenue A and B)
9p
$6.50 - 10
For more information and to buy tickets: kampkatrina

Saturday, September 1st, 2007

Tai Chi (E, S)
Central Park is the perfect urban oasis in which to learn the basics of ‘yang’ style Tai Chi Chuan, an ancient martial art form with instructor Derrick Trent.
10 - 11a
$7
For more information call: 212.348.4867 x10

Walking Tour: Wall Street (D, S)
This tour will weave together the history, events, architecture and people of Lower Manhattan.
@ Meet at the front steps of the US Custom House
1 Bowling Green (between State and Whitehall Streets)
12p
Free
For more information: river

13th Annual Labor Day Bash (P)
Our Labor Day Bash is always a favorite because there's no work the next day and because we are able to reserve a top-of-the-line venue exclusively for Jewish professionals 21-39 all night long. Opia will be closed to the public for our event and we will have the entire space including the Main Lounge, Bar and Den to ourselves. Arrive early (9 - 10p) for 1/2 price Apple Martinis and Cosmopolitans, too.
@ Opia
130 East 57th Street (btwn Lexington and Park Aves)
9 - 2a
$20 with RSVP or in advance, $25 at the door
For more information and to RSVP: letmypeoplego

Sunday, September 2nd 2007



Museum Exhibit: Sensation and Sentiment: Cinema Posters 1912 - 14 (A, C, F)
In the tradition of early-twentieth-century circus and theater advertising, the first film posters are distinguished by their vivid color lithography, range of oversized formats, emphasis on spectacle in design, and direct address of such themes as domestic strife, romance, and patriotism. This exhibition includes posters selected from a recent acquisition from the renowned collection of Dutch film distributor Jean Desmet (1875 - 1956) for American, British, Danish, French, and Italian films dating from 1912 to 1914, along with rare photographs documenting the earliest sites of film exhibition in the United States.
@ Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53 Street (between Fifth and Sixth Avenues)
$20
For more information: moma

Bike Tour: The Brooklyn Bridge and Skyline at Twilight (E, S)
The Big Apple is justifiably famous for its night life and night lights. Here is a unique opportunity to see the city’s brightness at twilight. This is an ideal time to pedal around lower Manhattan as there is considerably less street traffic. This unique tour begins while it is still daylight, with a pedal through the historic and charming West Village. As we ride along charming streets and by quaint houses, we’ll pass by a famous restaurant that was once a classic “speakeasy.” We’ll then head to the new Hudson River Greenway, a splendid bike path with truly magnificent views of the New York Harbor. Passing nearby Ground Zero, we will visit yet another monument to human despair. We then ride through the nearly-deserted Wall Street area. Here, the spectacular Stock Exchange building is especially impressive at twilight. The highlight of our tour is of course a truly amazing pedal up the Brooklyn Bridge, on its own bike path, as daylight slowly dissipates and the lights of the city emerge. Twilight on the Brooklyn Bridge is an “only in the Big Apple awesome experience.” This unique tour is not over yet. As we leisurely pedal back to our starting point, we’ll pass by Foley Square, home to another prime-time TV program set. This tour is truly a special opportunity to experience a very different side of the Big Apple.
Meeting location: Greenwich Village, location to be revealed upon signing up
2:30 - 5:30p
$65, $10 less with your own bike
For more information and to sign up: bike

Movie Screening: Mean Streets with local short films (Sloth and June Weddings) (A, C, F)
See where it all started for Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro and Harvey Kietel in the seminal New York character drama Mean Streets
Sloth by Peter D'Addeo: a short study of one of the seven deadly sins. one that's a little more easy going than some of the other six.
June Weddings by Barbara Hammond: On the way to his son's wedding, a man stops in for a drink and talks about the past and the future with a lady who drinks champagne at noon.
As always there's free popcorn for everyone and free drinks for the winner of the Johnny Boy vs. Michael trivia contest.
@ Galapagos Arts Space
70 North 6th Street, Brooklyn
(between Kent and Wythe Avenues)
8p
Free
For more information: galapagos

Monday, September 3rd, 2007 (Labor Day)



Singles Hike: Raccoon Brook (S)
9 moderate-challenging miles over rugged terrain.
Raccoon Brook Hill hike is notable for the marvelous diversity of its terrain and scenery. Join us as we climb to several high vantage points for fine views of the countryside and changing leaves. After a lake shore lunch & swim, pass alongside the rolling waters of Pine Meadow and Stony Brooks.
Meeting location: 73rd Street and Broadway
9a (arrive at 8:45a to sign in) - 6p
$49
For more information and to sign up:outdoorbound
Save $5 - after signing up email: info@outdoorbound.com and let them know you found out about trip from Laura’s List.

Key to Activities

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