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Wed, Jan 31, 2024, 8:30 PM – Sat, Feb 3, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Stone Residencies: Brandon Lopez
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 31 – FEBRUARY 3, 2024
8:30 PM
The Stone
Glass Box Theater, The New School
55 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Not that chances to hear the spectacular bassist Brandon Lopez are so rare in New York City. But this weeklong residency, with a different ensemble each night, will allow us to do a concentrating exploration of Lopez’s considerable gifts.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: No one better to take over the old Café Loup space than NYC Front of House vet Michael Cechhi-Azzolina with his neo-Bar & Grill (Michael told me he can’t abide the descriptor “American Bistro”) Cecchi’s.
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Wed, Jan 31, 2024, 8:00 PM – Sat, Feb 3, 2024, 11:59 PM
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Wed, Jan 31, 2024, 8:00 PM – Sat, Feb 3, 2024, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Yuki Kawahisa: ten dreams of metamorphoses or me talk dirty someday
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 31 – FEBRUARY 3, 2024
8:00 PM WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY
3:00 PM SATURDAY
Exponential Festival
The Brick
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$22-$52
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Yuki Kawahisa has shown herself to be a pretty phenomenal actor over the last decade or so in New York City. This is an autobiographical performance piece.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Roman pinsa at Montesacro.
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Wednesday, January 31, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Takuya Nakamura
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2024
8:00 PM
Sisters
900 Fulton Street, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
We (by which I mean I) have come to mainly think of Takuya Nakamura as a Post-Cage/Satie pianist. But really he’s an electronic multi-instrumentalist, and tonight he’s playing trumpet and electronics.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can eat and drink perfectly well at Sisters.
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Wednesday, January 31, 2024, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sandbox Percussion feat. Connor Hanick
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2024
7:30 PM
92nd Street Y In Person & Live Stream
1395 Lexington Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
$48-$53; $31 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sandbox Percussion, joined by keyboard ace Conor Hanick, plays (among other great-looking things) a Lockdown piece by Christopher Cerrone, whose deft touch with both tones and structure makes him another of those contemporary composers you wonder why the mainstream crowd is ignoring. (BTW, you have to click through three pages before you are told how much of a service charge will be added to the stated ticket price. And this is supposed to be a [tax exempt!] community services organization?)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, fun South African food and wine at Kaia Wine Bar. Streaming at home, have a Paper Plane: 3/4 oz. each of Bourbon, Amaro Nonio, Aperol, and lemn juice into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glas or coupe. Garnish with a lemon twist.
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Wednesday, January 31, 2024, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Wed, Jan 31, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sun, Feb 4, 2024, 11:59 PM
OPERA
Heather Christian: Terce: A Practical Breviary
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 31 – FEBRUARY 4, 2024
7:00 PM WEDNESDAY – FRIDAY
9:00 AM SATURDAY
3:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
PROTOTYPE Festival
Irondale
85 South Oxford Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$40-$155
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Heather Christian presents a new feminine Mass, springing from the ideas of female Medieval mystics like Hildegard (duh) and Julian of Norwich and (NOT Medieval) Robin Wall Kimmerer), sung by a community chorus of caregivers and makers. As usual with Christian, the music will be eclectic — but instead of her frequent country-folk overtones, this time the inflections will come from Gospel and Neo-Soul. And, of course, Medieval Organum. The power move is to go to the 9:00 AM performance on Saturday — the actual Terce.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Sleek Milanese at Saraghina Caffèe.
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Tuesday, January 30, 2024, 9:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Caroline Davis: Portals
TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2024
9:00 & 10:15 PM
LunÀtico
486 Halsey Street, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Saxophonist Caroline Davis says that her intent with this fabulous band is to texturalize mourning and ancestral communication. But what’s most amazing is that this music actually sort of does that.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You should at least buy some drinks from the venue. But if you want some more interesting and substantial food than LunÀtico serves, nice pizza and tapas at Saraghina.
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Tue, Jan 30, 2024, 8:00 PM – Sat, Feb 3, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
The Wooster Group feat. Eric Berryman: Get Your Ass in the Water and Swim Like Me
TUESDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 30 – FEBRUARY 3, 2024
8:00 PM
Performing Garage
33 Wooster Street, Soho, Manhattan
$39-$59
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Another of The Wooster Group’s “live record albums”, this time a performance of a collection of examples of the Black American storytelling form called Toasts. Dolemite fans need not hesitate.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: From one garage to another: Antique Garage is so cute that you tend to forget how good the food is. And, it was Mediterranean before everybody and his brother were.
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Tue, Jan 30, 2024, 8:00 PM – Sun, Feb 4, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Vijay Iyer
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 30 – FEBRUARY 4, 2024
8:00 & 10:00 PM
Village Vanguard
178 7th Avenue South, West Village, Manhattan
$40
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One of the most interesting minds in current music. How interesting? Look at who he gets to play in his rhythm section.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Speaking of interesting, really interesting — and really delicious — Unapologetic Southern Indian at Semma.
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Tuesday, January 30, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Heavy Florals V: yuniya edi kwon & Holland Andrews / Scott Li
TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2024
8:00 PM
Sisters
900 Fulton Street, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
What unites all these fascinating musicians is that their aural explorations tend to be on the dreamier side.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can eat and drink perfectly well at Sisters.
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Tuesday, January 30, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Curtis Hasselbring & His Curhachestra
TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2024
8:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$21.95
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Mock-retro jazz with not-so-secret avant leanings.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Neighborhood Italian at Mariella.
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Tue, Jan 30, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sun, Feb 4, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins: Appropriate
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 30 – FEBRUARY 4, 2024 (continuing through MARCH 3)
7:00 PM TUESDAY, THURSDAY & FRIDAY
8:00 PM WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY
2:00 PM WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
2nd Stage @ The Hayes Theater
240 West 44th Street, Midtown, Manhattan
$115-$199.50; $40 limited availability under 30 years; $25 student rush
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The author of the best American play so far this Century comes up with a family drama that you can bet isn’t going to be just a family drama. Wonder if the title has a long “a” or a short one?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Westway Diner. Cuz it’s still there.
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Tue, Jan 30, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sun, Feb 4, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Shayok Misha Chowdhury: Public Obscenities
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 30 – FEBRUARY 4, 2024 (continuing through FEBRUARY 18)
7:00 PM TUESDAY
7:30 PM WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
Theater for a New Audience
262 Ashland Place, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$97-$132
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A bilingual play about a Bangla/English translator who perhaps doesn’t see as much as the thinks he does (does anyone?).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Good cocktails at The Rockwell Place.
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Tuesday, January 30, 2024, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC / DANCE
SADEH: Persian Mid Winter Festival
TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2024
7:00 PM
Dada
60-47 Myrtle Avenue, Ridgewood, Queens
TBD
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Trad Persian music and dance celebrating the Sadeh festival, going back to the early days of Zoroastrianism, celebrating the revelation of fire (a big thing for the Zoroastrians) to humans during the deep Winter (when we need it most).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I’ma recommend you do your eating and drinking at the venue, Dada.
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Tue, Jan 30, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sun, Feb 4, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Arlekin Players Theater: Our Class
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 30 – FEBRUARY 4, 2024 (continuing through FEBRUARY 11)
7:00 PM TUESDAY – FRIDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
7:30 PM SATURDAY
Under the Radar
BAM Fisher
321 Ashland Place, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$68.50-$138.50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
In 1941 Poland, a bunch of Polish kids and a bunch of Jewish kids are lifelong friends — until they aren’t.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can now get Cruz del Sur’s beyond-fabulous Guadalajaran Tortas Ahogadas in Park Slope near BAM!
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Tuesday, January 30, 2024, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Los Esplifs / Mei Semones
TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2024
7:00 PM
Union Pool
484 Union Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Great show! There are a lot of Neo-Psych Cumbia bands playing in Norteamerica, but Los Esplifs may be the best of them all. Because, I hypothesize, its members have more going on than just jokey Psych Cumbia. As for Mei Semones’s bedroom Alt J-Pop, if you can resist it you’re a very different person from me.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Chill Brazilian at Beco.
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Tue, Jan 30, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sun, Feb 4, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Mabou Mines: SUITE / Space
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 30 – FEBRUARY 4, 2024
7:00 & 9:00 PM
Mabou Mines @ 122 CC
150 First Avenue, East Village, Manhattan
$22; $17 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Nu theater by nu people.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Hearth's Variety Burger: the opposite of Superiority Burger.
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Tuesday, January 30, 2024, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Domenic Salerni, Carrie Frey & Raffi Boden: Inner & Outer Worlds
TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2024
7:00 PM
St. Paul’s Chapel, Columbia University In Person & Live Stream
1160 Amsterdam Avenue, Morningside Heights, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Three excellent string players play three composers you want to hear: Saariaho, Andrew Norman, and (less well known, but just you wait) Che Buford.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, one of the most pleasurable places in New York, the Hungarian Pastry Shop. You WILL leave smiling. Streaming at home, have a Lion’s Tail: pour 2 oz. Bourbon, 3/4 oz. Allspice Dram, 1/2 oz. lime juice, and 1 tbs. rich (2:1 sugar:water) Simple Syrup, with 1 dash Angostura bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shaker. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe.
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Tuesday, January 30, 2024, 6:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
DMG FREE WEEKLY IN-STORE MUSIC SERIES
TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2024
6:30 PM
Downtown Music Gallery
13 Monroe Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
More of the usual excellent Free Jazz and experimental stuff. Wouldn’t want to go more that a day or so without hearing Gían Pérez, would we?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Modern-Korean-inflected Golden Diner.
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Tue, Jan 30, 2024, 10:00 AM – Sun, Feb 4, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell & Joseph White: Meander
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 30 – FEBRUARY 4, 2024 (ongoing)
10:00 AM – 3:30 PM TUESDAY – FRIDAY
10:00 AM – 4:30 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
150 Eastern Parkway, across the street from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
$18 SATURDAY & SUNDAY; $12 students/seniors SATURDAY & SUNDAY; pay what you wish weekdays; free children under 12
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Having created a wonderful sound walk through Green-Wood Cemetery, the dream team of Gelsey Bell and Joe White do the same for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (one of my favorite places on earth, if you want to know). The soundtrack is available on the BBG website.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The best pancakes in town (and other great stuff) at Tom’s Restaurant.
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Monday, January 29, 2024, 9:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Mercury Symbol / Javi / Bobb Hatt / Kwami Winfield / FALSE FLUX
MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 2024
9:00 PM
The Living Gallery
1094 Broadway, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
TBD
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Kwami Winfield (This List’s current fave musician?). Mercury Symbol: noise (This List’s highest accolade?).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Thai and movies at Mao Mao.
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Monday, January 29, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
THEATER
Great Jones Rep: Aristotle Thinks Again
MONDAY & THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 29 & FEBRUARY 1 – 4, 2024
8:00 PM MONDAY & THURSDAY – SATURDAY
4:00 PM SUNDAY
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$30; $25 students/seniors; $10 ten tickets to each performance
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Let’s face it: when you have a non-linear exploration of the lasting cultural effects of Greek tragedy in an apocalyptic world, Charles Mee is exactly the guy you’d want to provide the text.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Acclaimed Southern Thai at MayRee.
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Mon, Jan 29, 2024, 7:30 PM – Sun, Feb 4, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Arts for Art / FourOneOne: OUT MUSIC FESTIVAL: The Future Is Pissed!
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 29 – FEBRUARY 4, 2024
7:30 PM
Theater for the New City In Person & Live Stream
155 1st Avenue, East Village, Manhattan
$27.73 per night in person; $6.62 per night live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
An outrageously good Free Jazz festival.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Suspend your disbelief of Superiority Burger.
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Monday, January 29, 2024, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Puppet BloK
MONDAY & THURSDAY, JANUARY 29 & FEBRUARY 1, 2024
7:30 PM
Dixon Place
161A Chrystie Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$20.50 advance; $21 door
TICKETS + INFORMATION
PUPPETS!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Expect the wurst at Loreley Biergarten.
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Monday, January 29, 2024, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Suzanne Bocanegra feat. Ruth Negga: Bodycast
MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 2024
7:30 PM
Skirball Center, NYU
566 Laguardia Place, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The “artist lectures” created by visual artist Suzanne Bocanegra should never work. They’re theatricalized talks, using props and other visual media, given by Bocanegra through the medium of an actor who repeats words fed to them through an earpiece by Bocanegra, sitting on the side of the stage. What’s weird is that they turn out to be fascinating, compelling: a seemingly bad idea gone right — and of course it’s all about the process rather than the content. Bocanegra continues her retrospective of these pieces at Skirball with a particularly personal one. Ruth Negga takes over the role of speaker (yeah, she can play me whenever she wants).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Meatcentric English (sorry, Ruth) at Lord’s.
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Monday, January 29, 2024, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
THEATER
Stephen Brower: Palatable Gay Robot (BETA)
MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 2024
7:30 PM
Poetry Electric
La MaMa Community Arts Center
74 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
An AI robot programed to be gay — but not too. They loved it in Edinburgh.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Elemental Argentine at Buenos Aires. Is that butch enough for you?
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Monday, January 29, 2024, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE / MUSIC
The Exponential Festival SalON!: inside / outside
MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 2024
7:30 AM
Brick Aux
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Free-$27
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Various bits from the kind of out-of-pocket theater/performance people the Exponential Festival showcases.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Free pizza at the Alligator Lounge!
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Monday, January 29, 2024, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Dana Lynn & Kyle Sanna
MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 2024
7:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$21.84
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Trad Irish goes mod, and thinks about the environment.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Better-than-Neighborhood Mexican at Fonda.
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Mon, Jan 29, 2024, 8:00 AM – Sun, Feb 4, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 29 – FEBRUARY 4, 2024 (ongoing)
8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
#stillHERE IRL
Green-Wood Cemetery, Sunset Park Entrance
35th Street at 4th Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$7 or more for soundtrack
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One of the first shows that you could actually Go Out! to back in the days of The Lockdown (although it's not quite "live"). Gelsey Bell, that vocal star of NYC Alt Classical, has conceived of a piece that walks you around Green-Wood Cemetery (starting at the Sunset Park Entrance). You download the soundtrack on your phone beforehand (the Times complains about how hard it is to download from Bandcamp to an iPhone — trust me: if I can figure out how to do it, anyone can). Bell wrote the text and narrates, with a co-composing assist from the inimitable Joe White (whose terrific new album you really ought to hear). The Cemetery itself will do the performing. (You can also listen to the soundtrack at home and pretend you're walking around the Cemetery.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Sunset Park entrance is only a short walk from Hometown BBQ Industry City.
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Mon, Jan 29, 2024, 6:00 AM – Sun, Feb 4, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: New York, New York
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 29 – FEBRUARY 4, 2024 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
What do you know? The New York Phil has gone and renamed Ellen Reid’s SOUNDWALK. Reid, one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers, put together a highly allusive soundtrack, played by members of the Philharmonic and a bunch of Alt Classical players about town. This walk isn't guided: you download an app that triggers sounds sent to your earphones from various cells around the Park as you wander. So you can do it over many times. (Speaking of wandering around Central Park, here's something that I, for one, never knew.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delicious pan-African at Teranga.
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Sunday, January 28, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Minnie Jordan Quartet / Nora Stanley Trio
SUNDAY, JANUARY 28, 2024
8:00 PM
The Owl Music Parlor
497 Rogers Avenue, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn
$12
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I don’t know anything about the two leaders, violinist Minnie Jordan and wind/electronics player Nora Stanley. But Stanley’s playing with Wendy Eisenberg on guitar and Ledah Finck on violin, so it’s got to be worth hearing.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Winning neighborhood Roman at Camillo.
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Sunday, January 28, 2024, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Lesa K / The Forest feat. Chad Hamill
SUNDAY, JANUARY 28, 2024
7:00 PM
Soup & Sound
292 Lefferts Boulevard, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn
Donation
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I know absolutely nothing about Vancouver pianist Lesa K — but her rhythm section of Luke Stewart and Tcheser Holmes is NYC state of the art. The Forest is a percussion quintet whose members include Michael Wimberly and Lesley Mok — and which will be joined for this performance by Spokane/Hindustani vocalist Chad Hamill.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Soup will be served. If you want a nightcap after the show, Any Thing will be waiting with its warm welcome and frankly not very good cocktails.
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Sunday, January 28, 2024, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Paradise Laboratory: Satoshi Takeishi, Shoko Nagai & Sita Chay feat. Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz & Yuka Yamamoto of The Fugu Plan
SUNDAY, JANUARY 28, 2024
7:00 PM
White Room, CRS (Center for Remembering and Sharing)
143 Fourth Avenue, NoHo, Manhattan
$20; $10 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The three current members of TOKALA are joined by two members of The Fugu Plan for a night of music that can end up going almost anywhere.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Thai dishes you probably haven’t seen before at Soothr.
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Sunday, January 28, 2024, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, January 27, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Attorneys General / Stefan Christiansen
SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 2024
8:00 PM
P.I.T.
411 South 5th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Attorneys General is revealing itself to be a rotating trio of wild guitarists (and, tonight, a non-guitarist) headed by David Grubbs. And the trio Grubbs has assembled this time, with Wendy Eisenberg and Kramer joining him, seems particularly interesting.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Unexpected but not really incongrouous Japanese-Ashkenazi mash-up at Shalom Japan.
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Saturday, January 27, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sanda Weigel: Gypsy in a Tree
SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 2024
8:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
There are "can a White man sing the blues?" issues with non-Gypsy performers of Gypsy music. But Romanian former child rock star Sanda Weigl's take on Balkan Gypsy music is good the way the early Stones were good: the rhythms, while losing all subtlety, become harder hitting — and the ironic self-awareness Q is through the ceiling. Meaning, it's not anything like as good as the The Real Thing, but it has its strong compensations.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Falafel and its friends at Taim Mediterranean Kitchen.
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Saturday, January 27, 2024, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sonelius Smith & Adam Kahan: The Eulipion Project
SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 2024
6:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sonelius Smith is a Hard Bop-into-Nu Thing pianist who played with like everyone in New York in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Now he’s back.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Not likely, perhaps, but if you’re really lucky Reyes Deli & Grocery will have some of their fabulous weekend tamales and barbacoa left.
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Saturday, January 27, 2024, 3:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
A Keyboard Extravaganza for Organs and Piano
SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 2024
3:00 PM
Saint Thomas Church In Person & Live Stream
1 West 53rd Street, Midtown, Manhattan
$20 in person; $18 students/seniors in person; $10 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
St. Thomas Church shows off its great new concert organ and its good older one, as well as a presumably splendid Steinway, with a three-way recital by Jeremy Filsell, David Briggs (NOT the Neil Youngone), and Wayne Marshall playing works by (among others) Langlais, Mozart, Alain, and Bach. (As for the live stream, don’t you dare try to listen to organ music on computer speakers!)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person,Frenchette goes Uptown and becomes somewhat less interesting at Le Rock. Streaming at home, have an Episcopal Cocktail: pour 1-1/2 oz. green Chartreuse and 3/4 oz. yellow Chartreuse into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into an Old Fashioned glass over ice.
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Friday, January 26, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Shoko Nagai: TOKALA
FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 2024
8:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Seeing ancient Persian instruments and artwork displayed from Imperial storage in the Palace Museum in Nara, Japan, accordionist/composer Shoko Nagai wondered what it must have been like to hear Persian and Middle Eastern music, transported via the Silk Road, in Japan a thousand and more years ago. The band TOKALA is an attempt to imagine an answer — in a very broad, suggestive, contemporary sense.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Jamaican with a chance of Trinidadian at Stella’s.
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Friday, January 26, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Friday, January 26, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
NTHNL / Cal Fish / Wicked Bush
FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 2024
8:00 PM
The Sex Shop
Location by DM, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
TBD
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Cal Fish is an irrepressible sonic explorer. Wicked Bush is a new trio featuring cellist+ Aliya Ultan. And show organizer NTHNL, well, his flute ‘n’ electronics are way too soft-grained and mellifluous for us around here (but thanks for the show!).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I feel bad about always sending you to Vietnamese-with-hints-of-Mexican Falansai. But that’s how much I like it.
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Fri, Jan 26, 2024, 7:30 PM – Sat, Jan 27, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Craig Taborn: Intercept Methods
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JANUARY 26 & 27, 2024
7:30 & 9:30 PM
The Jazz Gallery In Person & Live Stream
1158 Broadway (entrance on West 27th Street), NoMad, Manhattan
$39-$50 in person; $22 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Pianist Craig Taborn does more geniusing around — this time with some help from the brilliant Haitian singer/conceptualist Anaïs Maviel.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, sky-high cocktails and José Andrés bar snacks at Nubeluz. Streaming at home, have a Haitian Flyer: pour 1-1/2 oz. Rhum Barbancourt, 1/4 oz. lime juice, and 1/2 tsp. Simple Syrup into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Pour into a chilled Champagne flute. Top with Champagne. Garnish with a lime wedge.
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Friday, January 26, 2024, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Dwight & Ursula Mamlok Award Concert: The Rhythm Method/Noise Catalogue
FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 2024
7:30 PM
Tenri Cultural Institute
43A West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One thing we love to do here at The List is proselytize for the music of Ursula Mamlok, who infused her dodecaphony with color, wit, and humanity. So it’s a big draw to be able to hear prizewinners The Rhythm Method — one of the few string quartets around that can accurately be described as “incendiary” — and Noise Catalogue — a chamber ensemble even better than their name — play some along with pieces from their own repertoires.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The broth is particularly rich at E.A.K. Ramen.
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Fri, Jan 26, 2024, 7:30 PM – Sat, Jan 27, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber: Burnt Sugar Smokehouse
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JANUARY 26 & 27, 2024
7:30 PM
David Rubenstein Atrium, Lincoln Center
61 West 62nd Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Since Greg Tate died, the fabulous (amorphous) avant-Funk Rock band he formed seems to be specializing in tributes to itself. Which could not be more richly deserved.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can whine that Rosa Mexicano isn’t nearly as good as it used to be, and I’ll whine right along with you. But it isn’t affirmatively bad.
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Fri, Jan 26, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sat, Jan 27, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Experiential Orchestra & Artefact Ensemble: Passio: A Concert for Peace and Healing
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JANUARY 26 & 27, 2024
7:00 PM
Cathedral of St. John the Divine
1047 Amsterdam Avenue, Morningside Heights, Manhattan
$22-$82.50
FRIDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
SATURDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
They gave this concert a title that repels anyone who isn’t terminally lame. But Arvo Pärt’s Passio is a Holy Minimalist choral masterpiece.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It’s hard to look at its menu without yawning, but Marlow Bistro is fine.
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Fri, Jan 26, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sun, Jan 28, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Forward Festival 2024
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 26 – 28, 2024
7:00 PM
577 Records
Location upon ticketing, Brooklyn
$20 per night; $50 festival pass;
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A big huge Free Jazz festival, featuring A LOT of local-hero reedman Daniel Carter.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Brooklyn is a very big borough. I have no idea where this will take place.
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Friday, January 26, 2024, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Thu, Jan 25, 2024, 8:00 PM – Sun, Jan 28, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Great Jones Rep: Aristotle Thinks Again
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 25 – 28, 2024 (continuing through FEBRUARY 4)
8:00 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
4:00 PM SUNDAY
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$30; $25 students/seniors; $10 ten tickets to each performance
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Let’s face it: when you have a non-linear exploration of the lasting cultural effects of Greek tragedy in an apocalyptic world, Charles Mee is exactly the guy you’d want to provide the text.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Acclaimed Southern Thai at MayRee.
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Thu, Jan 25, 2024, 8:00 PM – Sat, Jan 27, 2024, 11:59 PM
DANCE / PERFORMANCE
Peter BD: Changeover
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 25 – 27, 2024
8:00 PM
Pageant
70 Graham Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$10.29-$30.87
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Another multidisciplinary multimedia presentation by Downtown motivator Peter BD.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, Mexican snacks and mad desserts at Maya’s Snack Bar.
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Thu, Jan 25, 2024, 8:00 PM – Sat, Jan 27, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Improv Nights 2024: A Tribute to Derek Bailey
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 25 – 27, 2023
8:00 PM
Roulette
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$25 advance; $30 door; $20 students/seniors at door
TICKETS + INFORMATION
John Zorn continues the long-ongoing series of concerts he assembles inspired by and in tribute to the towering British improvisational guitarist Derek Bailey. This year, the series is a benefit for Zorn’s Tzadik record label, which recently suffered a reversal owing to the bankruptcy of one of its distributors. As usual, the whole series looks awesome — but take a particularly close look at Saturday night’s lineup.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Good cocktails, better food than you’d expect, at Grand Army Bar.
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Thursday, January 25, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Thursday, January 25, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Present Sounds x Dada Strain: Peter Zummo feat. Danny Tunick: Different Birds
THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2024
8:00 PM
Light and Sound Design
Street address provided upon ticketing, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Veteran trombonist Peter Zummo joins with (slightly less) veteran percussionist Danny Tunick to do that Messiaen thing. If you get there at 6 PM, there’ll be a listening party for selected records through a really good sound system.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I think Mystica is the best cheffed-up Mexican restaurant in New York right now.
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Thursday, January 25, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Negativland & Sue-C: WE CAN REALLY FEEL LIKE WE’RE HERE / Valise
THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2024
8:00 PM
ISSUE Project Room @ First Unitarian Congregational Society
116 Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn
$21
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Negativland takes pop-culture detritus and collages it into . . . funny pop-culture detritus. Aided and abetted by multimedia electronics artist Sue-C, tonight they explore the unfunny circumstance of tech dystopia. Valise uses current tech to evoke ancient persistences.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I won’t say Inga’s Bar is the best place ever in the Northern part of Brooklyn Heights. But it’s the best place in memory.
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Thursday, January 25, 2024, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Ensemble Connect
THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2024
7:30 PM
Paul Hall, Juilliard School In Person & Live Stream
155 W. 65th Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$18 in person; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A typically appealing program from Ensemble Connect. A piece for flute, cello, percussion, and piano by Chen Yi. What one assumes will be the superior chamber version of Schoenberg’s hyper-Expressionist Verklarte Night, which in its orchestral version can get overbearing. And Wayne Shorter’s Terra Incognita: Shorter always confounded me as a jazz musician, because while his astringent style as both a player and composer should have been just what I liked in theory, in practice I generally found his work thin and underdone: astringent in a bad way. So who knew that his chamber music would entice in precisely the way his famous jazz work, at least to me, didn’t?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, mouthwatering Indian kabobs at Kebab Aur Sherab. Streaming at home, have a Bitter Giuseppe: pour 2 oz. Cynar, 1 oz. sweet Vermouth (Carpano Antico strongly preferred), and 1/4 oz. lemon juice, with 6 (not a typo) dashes orange bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into an Old Fashioned glass over ice. Garnish with a lemon twist.
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Thu, Jan 25, 2024, 7:30 PM – Sat, Jan 27, 2024, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Miss Lady Salad: ADMIN REVEAL
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 25 – 27, 2024
7:30 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY
Exponential Festival
Brick Aux
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$22-$52
TICKETS + INFORMATION
An IRL trip to Memeland.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: An old cheese shop lets its products strut on the plate at Pecoraro Latteria.
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Thursday, January 25, 2024, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Elizabeth A. Povinelli: Alice Henry and the Collapse of the Western Plateau
THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2024
7:30 PM
e-flux
172 Classon Avenue, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
On the one hand, a fantastical critique of Extractive Capitalism is just what This List likes — especially with a sound design drawing on Gregorian and Byzantine Chant and U.S. Christian devotionals. On the other hand, the people who’ve done the music for this — Thomas “Doveman” Bartlett, DM Stith, and Sam Amidon are all (sneering) Folkies — even if they’re Alt Classical-adjacent ones.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Stylish Cambodian at Lula Mae.
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Thursday, January 25, 2024, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Thu, Jan 25, 2024, 3:30 PM – Sun, Jan 28, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Clubbed Thumb: WINTERWORKS 2024
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 25 – 28, 2024
3:30 PM THURSDAY & FRIDAY
7:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
5:00 PM SATURDAY
2:00 & 5:30 PM SUNDAY
Houghton Hall Arts Community
22 East 30th Street, NoMad, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Nu theater.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: LittleMäd serves Korean-French food so good it gets an umlaut.
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Thursday, January 25, 2024, 1:15 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Schwarz / Shin Duo: Treasures of the High Baroque: Two Bach Sonatas for Violin & Harpsichord BWV 1016 & 1023
THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2024
1:15 PM
Gotham Early Music Festival Midtown Concerts
St. Malachy’s Church In Person & Live Stream
239 West 49th Street, Midtown, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
While for reasons that are obscure to me I like the Bach violin/harpsichord sonatas less than every other Baroque enthusiast in the world (give me the flute/harpsichord sonatas, which as far as I’m concerned are criminally undervalued), the presence of violinist Jörg-Michael Schwarz and harpsichordist Dongsok Shin is a guaranty of sensitivity and style.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, I’m not gonna even tell you what El Mil Sabores puts on their Torta Loca sandwich. You have to see it for yourself. Streaming at home, have a Violette Royale: pour 3/4 oz. Crème de Violette into a chilled Champagne flute. Top with Champagne. Garnish with a lemon twist.
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Wednesday, January 24, 2024, 9:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Omer Avital: The Wilson Live Experience
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2024
9:00 & 10:15 PM
LunÀtico
486 Halsey Street, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Bassist Omer Avital, bastion of the Smalls jazz scene in the 1990s, helped open a club called Wilson Live in Bushwick a few years ago. It flooded during Hurrican Ida, so Avital has taken his Wilson Live act on the road (not that it’s a very long road to Bed-Stuy). This band continues the Moroccan/Yemenite Israeli Avital’s recent exploration of Middle Eastern/North African music.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You should at least buy some drinks from the venue. But if you want some more interesting and substantial food than LunÀtico serves, nice pizza and tapas at Saraghina.
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Wednesday, January 24, 2024, 9:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Kelela
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2024
9:00 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$61.06
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Kelela’s Alt R&B is terrific (although if I were being really honest I’d say her most recent stuff is a little self-serious for me).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Detroit-style pizza La Rose Pizza.
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Wed, Jan 24, 2024, 8:30 PM – Sat, Jan 27, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Stone Residencies: Sylvie Courvoisier
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 24 – 27, 2024
8:30 PM
The Stone
Glass Box Theater, The New School
55 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Pianist Sylvie Courvoisier, of the crystalline touch and the steel-trap mind, with the usual Stone residency bunch of interesting and enticing combinations.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: No one better to take over the old Café Loup space than NYC Front of House vet Michael Cechhi-Azzolina with his neo-Bar & Grill (Michael told me he can’t abide the descriptor “American Bistro”) Cecchi’s.
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Wednesday, January 24, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Assembly #13: Curated by Lester St. Louis and Luke Stewart
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2024
8:00 PM
Sisters
900 Fulton Street, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
As always in this series, a bunch of experimental and Free Jazz improvisers who are really good.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can eat and drink perfectly well at Sisters.
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Wed, Jan 24, 2024, 7:30 PM – Fri, Jan 26, 2024, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Nihon Buyo in the 21st Century: From Kabuki Dance to Boléro
WEDNESDAY – FRIDAY, JANUARY 24 – 26, 2024
7:30 PM
Japan Society
333 East 47th Street, Turtle Bay, Manhattan
$57; $46 persons with disabilities
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Nihon Buyo — the formal Japanese classical dance style that grew out of Kabuki — isn’t as obviously crazed as say Butoh. But it’s still pretty crazed.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Sneak downstairs to what was the first izakaya many of us ever went to, Sakagura.
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Wednesday, January 24, 2024, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Mehrnam Rastegari
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2024
7:00 PM
DROM
85 Avenue A, East Village, Manhattan
$24-$29 advance; $30 door
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Mehrnam Rastegari, mistress of the Iranian string instrument known as the Kamancheh (sort of a smaller, more nasal cello), plays a kind of Iranian folk-pop. And boy is it GORGEOUS.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The food at Ravagh may be indifferent — but at least it’s Persian.
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Wednesday, January 24, 2024, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Playfield: Magic Heart Record Release Party / Elliot Sharpe
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2024
7:00 PM
Nublu 151
151 Avenue C, East Village, Manhattan
$22.66
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Playfield is an octet led by local Free Jazz hero Daniel Carter, which is all you need to know. Opener Elliot Sharpe may or may not be Elliot Sharp.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Go to Kafana. Bring cash cuz they don’t take plastic. Bring a hunger cuz their Serbian food is HEARTY (especially good when it’s fucking FREEZING out!). Bring a thirst because their appre le lettre Natural wine list is extensive.
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Wed, Jan 24, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sat, Jan 27, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Concrete Temple Theatre: Ernie’s Secret Life
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 24 – 27, 2024
7:00 PM
Dixon Place
161A Chrystie Streeet, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$38.50; $31 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
PUPPETS! With a Puppet Slam after Wednesday’s show!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I don’t know about you, but I'm in the mood for OG Cantonese. So let's walk over to a current kingpin, Green Garden Village.
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Wed, Jan 24, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sun, Jan 28, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Heather Christian: Terce: A Practical Breviary
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 24 – 26, 2024 (continuing through FEBRUARY 4)
7:00 PM WEDNESDAY – FRIDAY
9:00 AM SATURDAY
3:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
PROTOTYPE Festival
Irondale
85 South Oxford Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$40-$155
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Heather Christian presents a new feminine Mass, springing from the ideas of female Medieval mystics like Hildegard (duh) and Julian of Norwich and (NOT Medieval) Robin Wall Kimmerer), sung by a community chorus of caregivers and makers. As usual with Christian, the music will be eclectic — but instead of her frequent country-folk overtones, this time the inflections will come from Gospel and Neo-Soul. And, of course, Medieval Organum. The power move is to go to the 9:00 AM performance on Saturday — the actual Terce.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Sleek Milanese at Saraghina Caffèe.
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Wednesday, January 24, 2024, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
SU$HI
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2024
7:00 PM
ShapeShifter Lab
837 Union Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
If you’re worried about going too many days without hearing guitarist/artist Gían Pérez’s noise trio: don’t worry.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Who’d have thought one of the better and more distinctive Thai restaurants in New York City would be in Park Slope? Bangkok Degree.
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Tue, Jan 23, 2024, 8:00 PM – Sat, Jan 27, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER / DANCE / MUSIC
Salomé Egas: Más que un Pétalo
TUESDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 23 – 27, 2024
8:00 PM TUESDAY – SATURDAY
3:00 PM SATURDAY
Exponential Festival
The Brick
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
TUESDAY: free (preview)
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY: $27-$52
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A multidisciplinary breakdown of the Ecuadorian immigrant experience in the U.S., using dance, theater, music, video, etc.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Roman pinsa at Montesacro.
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Tuesday, January 23, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Tue, Jan 23, 2024, 8:00 PM – Sat, Jan 27, 2024, 11:59 PM
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Tue, Jan 23, 2024, 8:00 PM – Sun, Jan 28, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Ethan Iverson
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 23 – 28, 2024
8:00 & 10:00 PM
Village Vanguard
178 7th Avenue South, West Village, Manhattan
$40; $30 advance late shows
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Ethan Iverson: cerebral, funny, with a light pianistic touch.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Really interesting — and really delicious — Unapologetic Southern Indian at Semma.
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Tuesday, January 23, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Shelley Hirsch: And So it Was And Was and WaAAassSSssSss
TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2024
8:00 PM
Roulette In Person & Live Stream
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$25 advance; $35 door; $20 students/seniors; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This isn’t so much a career summation for veteran avant-vocalist Shelley Hersch as a statement of where she is now, in the fullness of her experience. Improvisations, text settings (in this case I mean texts in the IM sense), dedicated visuals, all-star accompanists (at least stars on The List), a good dose of humor: what makes Hirsch Hirsch.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, nice enough bistro at Bacchus. Streaming at home, have a Hunter’s Cocktail: pour 1-1/2 oz. Whiskey (your choice) and 1/2 oz. cherry brandy into an Old Fashioned glass over ice. Garnish with a cocktail cherry.
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Tuesday, January 23, 2024, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
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Tue, Jan 23, 2024, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jan 28, 2024, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Compagnie Hervé Koubi: Sol Invictus
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 23 – 28, 2024
7:30 PM TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY
8:00 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
The Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Avenue, Chelsea, Manhattan
$17-$82
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The word I’d use to describe French-Algerian choreographer (I specify his background because he himself makes a point of it) Hervé Koubi’s work is rich. Rich and imagistic. It may not be the most rigorous stuff around, but it’s very satisfying and enjoyable.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Bistro that’s been there forever (the restaurant, not the food) at Le Singe Vert.
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Tue, Jan 23, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sun, Jan 28, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins: Appropriate
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 23 – 28, 2024 (continuing through MARCH 3)
7:00 PM TUESDAY, THURSDAY & FRIDAY
8:00 PM WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY
2:00 PM WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
2nd Stage @ The Hayes Theater
240 West 44th Street, Midtown, Manhattan
$115-$199.50; $40 limited availability under 30 years; $25 student rush
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The author of the best American play so far this Century comes up with a family drama that you can bet isn’t going to be just a family drama. Wonder if the title has a long “a” or a short one?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Westway Diner. Cuz it’s still there.
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Tue, Jan 23, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sun, Jan 28, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Shayok Misha Chowdhury: Public Obscenities
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 23 – 28, 2024 (continuing through FEBRUARY 18)
7:00 PM TUESDAY
7:30 PM WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
Theater for a New Audience
262 Ashland Place, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$97-$132
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A bilingual play about a Bangla/English translator who perhaps doesn’t see as much as the thinks he does (does anyone?).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Good cocktails at The Rockwell Place.
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Tuesday, January 23, 2024, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
PHONOTONIC #4: Wendy Eisenberg / Qiujiang Levi Lu / Mobéy Lola Irizarry
TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2024
7:00 PM
Trans-Pecos
915 Wyckoff Avenue, Ridgewood, Queens
$13.20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Guitarist Wendy Eisenberg and multi-instrumentalist/electronicist Qiujiang Levi Lu are no strangers to This List. Mobéy Lola Irrizarry, whose wide-ranging conceptions encompass both their Latinx and their Indigenous American backgrounds (and their own individual idiosyncracies) is new, but belongs here.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Surprisingly, the Vietnamese café in the same building as Trans-Pecos, Nhà Mìn, has morphed into an excellent full-service restaurant.
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Tuesday, January 23, 2024, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Chanel Beads / Melody English / LST
TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2024
7:00 PM
Union Pool
484 Union Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Pop.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Chill Brazilian at Beco.
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Tuesday, January 23, 2024, 6:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
DMG FREE WEEKLY IN-STORE MUSIC SERIES
TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2024
6:30 PM
Downtown Music Gallery
13 Monroe Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
More of the usual excellent Free Jazz and experimental stuff.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Modern-Korean-inflected Golden Diner.
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Tuesday, January 23, 2024, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Pop-Up Concert: Ian Antonio & Josh Modney
TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2024
6:00 PM
Miller Theater at Columbia University
2960 Broadway, Morningside Heights, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Linda Catlin Smith’s Dirt Road is a wonderful piece: it really does feel like you’re ambling through a landscape. Too bad the excellent Ian Antonio on percussion and Josh Modney on violin are only playing parts of it.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Inventive Chinese at Atlas Kitchen.
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Tue, Jan 23, 2024, 10:00 AM – Sun, Jan 28, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell & Joseph White: Meander
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 23 – 28, 2024 (ongoing)
10:00 AM – 3:30 PM TUESDAY – FRIDAY
10:00 AM – 4:30 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
150 Eastern Parkway, across the street from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
$18 SATURDAY & SUNDAY; $12 students/seniors SATURDAY & SUNDAY; pay what you wish weekdays; free children under 12
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Having created a wonderful sound walk through Green-Wood Cemetery, the dream team of Gelsey Bell and Joe White do the same for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (one of my favorite places on earth, if you want to know). The soundtrack is available on the BBG website.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The best pancakes in town (and other great stuff) at Tom’s Restaurant.
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Monday, January 22, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Striped Light: Jessica Pavone / Dr. Thokozani Mhlambi / Eternities
MONDAY, JANUARY 22, 2024
8:00 PM
Secret Location (DM for address), Long Island City, Queens
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
No disrespect to local faves Jessica Pavone and Eternities, who are great, but the Big News here is the brilliant South African cellist/composer Dr. Thomas Mhlambi, whom you don’t get to here around here every day (or hardly any days).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Take the interesting walk (you’ll see what I mean when you do it) into the past at Brooks 1890 (where the ambiance is a lot more interesting than the food).
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Monday, January 22, 2024, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The MET Orchestra Chamber Ensemble: The Golden Twenties
MONDAY, JANUARY 22, 2024
7:30 PM
Weil Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall
154 West 57th Street, Midtown, Manhattan
$84
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The 1920s — one hundred years ago! — really were Golden Years for European Art Music — mainly because in that decade the Art Music borrowed heavily from Pop Music. On this program, we get tangy tangy music by Hindemith (bet you didn’t know there was a period when he was funny!) and Weill — and some of Schoenberg’s arrangements of Strauss waltzes!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Hunanese at Blue Willow.
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Monday, January 22, 2024, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Puppet BloK
MONDAY, JANUARY 22, 2024 (also JANUARY 29 & FEBRUARY 1)
7:30 PM
Dixon Place
161A Chrystie Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$20.50 advance; $21 door
TICKETS + INFORMATION
PUPPETS! (Curated by Theodora Skipitares, who knows.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Expect the wurst at Loreley Biergarten.
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Mon, Jan 22, 2024, 8:00 AM – Sun, Jan 28, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 22 – 28, 2024 (ongoing)
8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
#stillHERE IRL
Green-Wood Cemetery, Sunset Park Entrance
35th Street at 4th Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$7 or more for soundtrack
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One of the first shows that you could actually Go Out! to back in the days of The Lockdown (although it's not quite "live"). Gelsey Bell, that vocal star of NYC Alt Classical, has conceived of a piece that walks you around Green-Wood Cemetery (starting at the Sunset Park Entrance). You download the soundtrack on your phone beforehand (the Times complains about how hard it is to download from Bandcamp to an iPhone — trust me: if I can figure out how to do it, anyone can). Bell wrote the text and narrates, with a co-composing assist from the inimitable Joe White (whose terrific new album you really ought to hear). The Cemetery itself will do the performing. (You can also listen to the soundtrack at home and pretend you're walking around the Cemetery.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Sunset Park entrance is only a short walk from Hometown BBQ Industry City.
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Mon, Jan 22, 2024, 6:00 AM – Sun, Jan 28, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: New York, New York
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 22 – 28, 2024 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
What do you know? The New York Phil has gone and renamed Ellen Reid’s SOUNDWALK. Reid, one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers, put together a highly allusive soundtrack, played by members of the Philharmonic and a bunch of Alt Classical players about town. This walk isn't guided: you download an app that triggers sounds sent to your earphones from various cells around the Park as you wander. So you can do it over many times. (Speaking of wandering around Central Park, here's something that I, for one, never knew.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delicious pan-African at Teranga.
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Sunday, January 21, 2024, 9:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Sunday, January 21, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Sunday, January 21, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
I AM: Isaiah Collier & Michael Shekwoaga Ode
SUNDAY, JANUARY 21, 2024
8:00 PM
Sisters
900 Fulton Street, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$33.91
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A Spiritual Jazz winds-drums duo. With an opening solo set by trumpeter Chris Williams: chances to hear him might not be rare, but they are welcome.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can eat and drink perfectly well at Sisters.
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Sunday, January 21, 2024, 6:30 PM – 11:59 PM
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Sunday, January 21, 2024, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Weasel Walter - Sam Weinberg - Henry Fraser / Dommer / Eric Blitz - Andy Laties
SUNDAY, JANUARY 21, 2024
5:00 PM
P.I.T.
411 South 5th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Punk Free Jazz.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Pizza!
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Sunday, January 21, 2024, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Sunday, January 21, 2024, 4:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Bronx Arts Ensemble: Evening of Transcendent Sound at Wave Hill
SUNDAY, JANUARY 21, 2024
4:00 PM
Wave Hill
265 West 252nd Street, Hudson Hill, Bronx
$50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The title of this program makes it sound totally lame. But then you notice that the three composers being played are Kamala Sankaram, Brittany Green, and yaz lancaster, and it seems pretty damned compelling.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It's a bit of a schlep between Liebman's Deli and Wave Hill. But let's face it: if you want to eat that food, the walk can only help.
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Sat, Jan 20, 2024, 11:59 PM – Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 12:00 AM
MUSIC
Mercury Symbol / Soless Dialtone / Lucy York
SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 2024 (technically it’s Sunday — but you know what I mean)
12:00 AM
Hart Bar
538 Hart Street, Bushwick, Brooklyn
$10-$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Soless Dialtone: Kwami Winfield (This List’s current fave musician?) in almost sort of songform mode. Mercury Symbol: noise (This List’s highest accolade?).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I very strongly recommend the cocktails at the venue, the Hart Bar. For something more solid, Thai and cinema at Mao Mao.
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Sat, Jan 20, 2024, 8:00 PM – Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / DANCE
BlackBox Ensemble: Festival 2024
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, JANUARY 20 & 21, 2024
8:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
9:30 PM SATURDAY
SATURDAY: ShapeShifter Lab
837 Union Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
SUNDAY: Roulette
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$30 SATURDAY SHOWS; $25 students SATURDAY SHOWS; $25 advance SUNDAY; $30 door SUNDAY; $20 students/seniors SUNDAY; $55-$135 festival package; $45 students festival package
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Music with, on Sunday, dance. The kind of music we like around here: Saariaho, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Angélica Negrón, Feldman, Tristan Murail, Yaz Lancaster — like that.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Saturday, who’d have thought one of the better and more distinctive Thai restaurants in New York City would be in Park Slope? Bangkok Degree. Sunday, superb Palestinian at Al Badawi.
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Saturday, January 20, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Eclipse Quartet: At 20
SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 2024
8:00 PM
Roulette In Person & Live Stream
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$25 advance; $30 door; $20 student/seniors; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
L.A.’s Eclipse Quartet celebrates its 20th birthday with pieces by Saariaho, Fred Frith, Ali Can Puskulcu, and Niloufar Shiri (with Mehrnam Rastegari sitting in on kamancheh!).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, eclectic cuisine at As You Are. Streaming at home, have a Jack Rose: pour 1-1/2 oz. Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy, 3/4 oz. lemon juice, and 1/2 oz. Grenadine into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a lemon twist.
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Saturday, January 20, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Composers in Play VII: Shouts Unsung
SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 2024
8:00 PM
Piano Lunaire
Tenri Cultural Institute
43A West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$30; $25 arts professionals/seniors; free students
TICKETS + INFORMATION
David Zucchi on saxophone and Adam Sherkin on piano present an evening of works by contemporary composers who, no matter how advanced their music is, strongly reflect the cultures they come from. Mark-Anthony Turnage is characteristically British; Philipe Leroux is characteristically French (OK, he now lives in Montreal — but what’s the diff?); and Alex Paxton is characteristically Martian.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: They’ll be giving out beer and wine at the show. But if you want something at least slightly more solid, the broth is particularly rich at E.A.K. Ramen.
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Saturday, January 20, 2024, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MUSIC
ARTEK: Réunion de Gôutes: Apotheosies of Corelli & Lully
SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 2024
7:00 PM
St. Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church
552 West End Avenue, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$18.50-$55
TICKETS + INFORMATION
There was a longstanding dispute in Baroque France over the respective merits of the French and Italian approaches to music (among other things, the French emphasizing piquant sonorities, the Italian clear structures). François Couperin, surely one of the great composers in the Western canon and probably one of the most under-appreciated, attempted a synthesis — not least in this pair of tributes to a great Italian master and a great French one (never mind that the great French master was actually born in Florence). This is just marvelous music.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The neighborhood has certainly taken the Mediterranean Dagon to heart.
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Saturday, January 20, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sexy Thoughts feat. Rat Bastard / Chaser / Netherlands / 1,2,3
SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 2023
8:00 PM
The Broadway
1272 Broadway, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
$14.48 advance: $15 (plus possible fee) day of
TICKETS + INFORMATION
There’s a lot of good stuff (albeit not for the timid) on this bill of people who have played together in different aggregations. Sexy Thoughts is a truly deranged project of drummer Kevin Shea — and a guest appearance by Miami noise king Rat Bastard isn’t going to make it any less deranged. Chaser is a neo-No Wave band featuring Dominika Em and Shayna Dulberger. 1,2,3 is brand new band featuring — wait for it — bassist Tim Dahl (liked his great uncle Roald), drummer Weasel Walter (loved his great uncle Bruno), and saxophonist Matt Nelson (enjoyed his uncle Ricky). Netherlands are Psych-Sludge-Punk nostalgists.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Caribbeanized pizza at Cuts & Slices.
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Saturday, January 20, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Robert Dick & Stephan Haluska
SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 2024
8:00 PM
Zürcher Gallery
33 Bleecker Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Robert Dick, who plays flute so it doesn’t sound the way you expect, and Stephan Haluska, who plays harp so it doesn’t sound the way you expect.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Southern (U.S., that is)/Korean mash-up at C as in Charlie.
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Saturday, January 20, 2024, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sparks & Wiry Cries & Niloufar Nourbakhsh: Only Voice Remains
SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 2024
7:30 PM
National Sawdust
80 North 6th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$31.91
TICKETS + INFORMATION
If you’ve been missing out on the great new music coming from the Iranian diaspora, here’s your chance. Niloufar Nourbakhsh is one terrific, haunting composer.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: If only there were some good Persian food within walking distance of National Sawdust. Console yourself with some nice Sardinian at D.O.C. Wine Bar.
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Saturday, January 20, 2024, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Virtuous Cycle Salon Series: SU$HI
SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 2024
7:30 PM
Harvest Cyclery
1158 Myrtle Avenue, Bushwick, Brooklyn
TBD
TICKETS + INFORMATION
It’s hard to conceive of a band’s playing around New York City as much as Gían Pérez’s SU$HI does. But if you like guitar skronk as much as This List does, it never gets old.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Nigerian at Native.
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Saturday, January 20, 2024, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Abortion Funds Benefit Series
SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 2024
6:00 PM
Bowery Ballroom
6 Delancey Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$33.85
TICKETS + INFORMATION
It’s a long, varied bill. But This List sure likes the Nu R&B stylings of KeiyaA and the gleaming Pop of Chanel Beads.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Soba at Cocoron.
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Saturday, January 20, 2024, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sonelius Smith & Adam Kahan: The Eulipion Project
SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 2024
6:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sonelius Smith is a Hard Bop-into-Nu Thing pianist who played with like everyone in New York in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Now he’s back.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Not likely, perhaps, but if you’re really lucky Reyes Deli & Grocery will have some of their fabulous weekend tamales and barbacoa left.
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Saturday, January 20, 2024, 5:30 PM – 11:59 PM
OPERA
Laura Ortman: Malinxe
SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 2024
5:30 PM
PROTOTYPE Festival
Winter Garden
230 Vesey Street, Brookfield Place, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The extraordinary Laura Ortman (with a libretto by the extraordinary Autumn Chacon) recasts the Southwestern/Latin American legend of La Llorona — a woman who drowns children and then cries in mourning — as a story of a contemporary woman’s attempt, after having submerged herself in La Llorona’s watery realm, to avoid following La Llorona’s destructive path. (This was originally supposed to be performed outside, by the water — but not this week!)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It’s so boring in Brookfield place that I’m going to tell you to take the walk over to Artisano for cheffed-up Peruvian.
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Saturday, January 20, 2024, 4:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
New York Baroque Incorporated: Boreas — The Cold North Wind
SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 2024
4:00 PM
House of the Redeemer
7 East 95th Street, Upper East Side, Manhattan
Free-$1000
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This all too topical concert features the music of Purcell (you know what that means).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Earl’s Beer and Cheese: your place for beer. And cheese.
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Friday, January 19, 2024, 10:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Friday, January 19, 2024, 10:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Zemog el Gallo Bueno
FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 2023
10:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This Art-Roots post-Salsa with all kinds of psych and even experimental influences is exactly what Barbès is good for.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Jamaican with a chance of Trinidadian at Stella’s.
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Friday, January 19, 2024, 10:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Yotoco
SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 2024
10:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$21.95
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Yotoco plays Pan-Latin American dance-rock music. Usually, such musical syncretism is a recipe for disaster (or at least anodynity) — but they pull it off.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Colombia in Park Slope. DUH.
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Friday, January 19, 2024, 9:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Fluxus Techno
FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 2024
9:00 PM
Hart Bar
538 Hart Street, Bushwick, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A good bill (and a nice name-drop). This List is especially partial to the abstracted, jerky beats of bookworms.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I very strongly recommend the cocktails at the venue, the Hart Bar. For something more solid, cool VIetnamese at Little Mo.
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Friday, January 19, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Los Primos
FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 2024
8:00 PM
Freddy's Bar
627 Fifth Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Actual cousins. And one of them is Gían Pérez, so you know they bring the noise.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You're in one of the best bars in Brooklyn, for God's sake. (If you don't fancy Freddy's entirely edible pub grub, grab a slice at Luigi's beforehand.)
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Friday, January 19, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Yvette Janine Jackson: T-Minus, A Radio Opera
FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 2024
8:00 PM
Roulette In Person & Live Stream
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$25 advance; $30 door; $20 students/seniors advance; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Wait, what, one of a series of aural musical dramas about the impact of space tourism on the communities surrounding launch sites? It’s all in the hyper-capable hands of the International Contemporary Ensemble.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, good cocktails and even good food at Grand Army Bar. Streaming at home, have a Chimp in Orbit: pour 1-1/2 oz. overproof Rum, 1 oz. sweet Vermouth, 1/2 oz. Curaçao, 1/4 oz. each of white Crème de Cacao and Grenadine, 2 oz. orange juice, and 1 oz. lemon juice into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a Highball glass over ice. Garnish with a mint sprig.
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Friday, January 19, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Sun Ra Arkestra
FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 2024
8:00 PM
TV Eye
1647 Weirfield Street, Ridgewood, Queens
$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Oh wait. How did I not notice that the Sun Ra Arkestra is playing here Friday as well as the previously Listed Wednesday this week?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delightful Italianish American at Rolo’s.
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Friday, January 19, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Weasel Walter - Brandon Lopez - Michael Foster / Tim Dahl - Mark Morgan - Bob Bert / Vid Linger
FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 2024
8:00 PM
Radicle Wines
293 Greene Street, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
TBD
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Two radicle trios, and one radicle solo guitar set.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It’ll be kind of frustrating to be in such a good wine store and not be able to drink anything (unless you can). You can drown that sorrow by going down and across the street to Place des Fêtes.
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Friday, January 19, 2024, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sparks & Wiry Cries: 8th Annual NYC Songslam
FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 2024
7:30 PM
National Sawdust
80 North 6th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$35.79
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Like a poetry slam, but for art songs.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Hatch Chili on everything at Santa Fe BK.
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Fri, Jan 19, 2024, 7:30 PM – Sat, Jan 20, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Banana Bag & Bodice: Hubris Always Gets You In the End
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JANUARY 19 & 20, 2024
7:30 PM
Exponential Festival
The Doxsee @ Target Margin Theater
232 52nd Street, Sunset Park, Brooklyn
$22.95-$45.85
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The two remaining members of the wild Punk music/theater collective (not a perfect description but it’ll have to do) Banana Bag & Bodice (now the parents of an 11-year-old son) reflect on What It All Meant.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Really good Sichuan at Chuan Tian Xia.
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Friday, January 19, 2024, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Julia Bullock & Bretton Brown
FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 2024
7:30 PM
Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall
881 Seventh Avenue, Midtown, Manhattan
$84-$94
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I’ve seen soprano Julia Bullock do this before: an assemblage of seemingly disparate stuff, by people like (as tonight) Barber, R. Strauss, Poulenc, Weill, Bob Dylan, (Connie) Converse, and Rodgers pere and fille — and you walk out kind of flying.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Excellent Cuban food and a guaranteed good time at Victor’s Café.
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Fri, Jan 19, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Arlekin Players Theater: Our Class
TUESDAY – WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 16 – 17 & 19 – 21, 2024 (continuing through FEBRUARY 4)
7:00 PM TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
7:30 PM SATURDAY
Under the Radar
BAM Fisher
321 Ashland Place, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$68.50-$138.50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
In 1941 Poland, a bunch of Polish kids and a bunch of Jewish kids are lifelong friends — until they aren’t.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can now get Cruz del Sur’s beyond-fabulous Guadalajaran Tortas Ahogadas in Park Slope near BAM!
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Friday, January 19, 2024, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Donny McCaslin: I Want More
FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 2024
7:00 & 9:30 PM
Joe’s Pub, Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$42.50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
On the one hand, saxophone player Donny McCaslin got a lot of attention for playing on David Bowie’s (great) final album. On the other, there’s a reason Bowie selected him.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Incendiary Hunanese at Chef Tan.
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Friday, January 19, 2024, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC / DANCE / PERFORMANCE
Molly Crabapple: The Salon at CBH
FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 2024
7:00 PM
Center for Brooklyn History
128 Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The redoubtable artist/writer/labor historian Molly Crabapple curates a salon featuring opera, Electropop, vernacular dance, and readings.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: New American gem Inga’s Bar really is all that.
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Thu, Jan 18, 2024, 8:00 PM – Sat, Jan 20, 2024, 11:59 PM
OPERA
Mary Kouyoumdjian: Adoration
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 18 – 20, 2024
8:00 PM
PROTOTYPE Festival
Sheen Center
18 Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$40-$155
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Mary Kouyoumdjian has collaborated with her fellow North American-Armenian (believe me, that identity is important to both of them), the filmmaker Atom Egoyan, before; now she’s adapting him for an opera. Adoration was a typical Egoyan movie, with an ending showing you that causes, consequences, and circumstances can often be surprising. So can Kouyoumdjian’s music.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Vibrant Thai at Fish Cheeks.
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Thu, Jan 18, 2024, 8:00 PM – Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Sister Sylvester: The Eagle and the Tortoise
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 18 – 21, 2024
8:00 PM THURSDAY – SUNDAY
5:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Under the Radar
BRIC House
647 Fulton Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$31.01
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A live sound and video installation that involves the audience’s collectively reading a handmade book dealing with themes of activism and imperialism through the lens of a Turkish woman who becomes a leftist icon but ends up a proxy soldier in a U.S. war.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Sausages at Black Forest Brooklyn.
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Thursday, January 18, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Tim Berne
THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 2024
8:00 & 9:30 PM
Lowlands
543 3rd Avenue, Gowanus, Brooklyn
TBD
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Having been away for a while touring, the tough in-and-out alto saxophonist Tim Berne resumes his regular shows at Lowlands with the usual rotating bunch of excellent collaborators.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Cool Mexican at Alma Negra.
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Thu, Jan 18, 2024, 8:00 PM – Sat, Jan 20, 2024, 11:59 PM
DANCE / PERFORMANCE
Sharleen Chidiac: Home Entertainment Complex
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 18 – 20, 2024
8:00 PM
Pageant
70 Graham Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$10.29-$30.87
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sharleen Chidiac’s works are antic, allusive, gleefully non-linear. This List loves them to pieces.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, Mexican snacks and mad desserts at Maya’s Snack Bar.
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Thursday, January 18, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Fire Over Heaven
THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 2024
8:00 PM
Outpost Artists Resources
1665 Norman Street, Ridgewood, Queens
$17.18
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Don’t know much about guitarist Emmanuel Michael (although I’ll be happy to find out). But I know that sinóno — vocalist Isabel Crespo Pardo’s bottom-heavy band with cellist Lester St. Louis and bassist Henry Fraser — is one of the best units in current New York City, uncompromisingly exploratory but nice to listen to. We are very lucky to have Isabel Crespo Pardo around.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: See what’s brewing at Evil Twin Brewing Ridgewood Taproom (Evil Twin beer is also uncompromisingly exploratory but nice to consume).
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Thursday, January 18, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Thursday, January 18, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Music of Michael Ranta & Sarah Hennies
THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 2024
8:00 PM
Roulette In Person & Live Stream
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$25 advance; $30 door; $20 students/seniors advance; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Michael Ranta is an expatriate American percussionist who worked with many of the luminaries of 20th Century avant-classical music, but whose own compositions are rarely encountered. Not tonight, though, when they’ll be brought to life by clarinetists Madison Greenstone and Katie Porter and percussionist Sarah Hennies: master musicians all. Hennies’s mastery extends to composition, with pieces (unlike Ranta’s happily not rarely encountered — at least not around here) sounding like they’re written by a percussionist, but maybe not the way you’d expect: they explore the relationships of different pulses proceeding simultaneously, not so much escaping time as rendering its impact indeterminate. The ensemble will premiere a new Hennies composition tonight.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, good cocktails and even good food at Grand Army Bar. Streaming at home, have a Steel Drum: pour 1 oz. white Rum, 1/2 oz. each of white Overproof Rum, Maraschino liqueur, and lime juice, and 1/8 tsp. Absinthe, with 1 dash orange bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a lime wheel.
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Thu, Jan 18, 2024, 7:30 PM – Sat, Jan 20, 2024, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Dynasty Handbook: Titanic Depression
MONDAY & THURSDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 15 & 18 – 20, 2024
7:30 PM
Live Artery/Under the Radar
New York Live Arts
219 West 19th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
$15-$49; $32 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Last year it seemed like everybody was doing take-offs on Titanic. But only Dynasty Handbag’s had a point beyond being a mere spoof.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Drinks and small plates at the Lobby Bar at The Hotel Chelsea.
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Thursday, January 18, 2024, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Angélica Negrón & Sophie Parker
THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 2024
7:30 PM
Merkin Hall, Kaufman Music Center
129 West 67th Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$34
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Angélica Negrón could be President of the Avant-Garde Can Be Fun Club. Tonight she premieres a set of compositions for playable sculptures created by Sophie Parker. Club members Phong Tran and Darian Donovan Thomas join in the avant-fun.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: As you may recall, the revivified Old John’s Luncheonette is right across the street.
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Thursday, January 18, 2024, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Instrumental Underground
THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 2024
7:30 PM
IBeam
168 7th Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$15; $10 students
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Getting a shoutout for the wind quintet led by Free Jazz local hero Daniel Carter.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Hawaiian at Sweet Talk.
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Thursday, January 18, 2024, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The New York Festival of Song at Juilliard: Ned at 100: Celebrating Ned Rorem
THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 2024
7:30 PM
Peter Jay Sharp Theater, Juilliard School
155 W. 65th Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$28
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Ned Rorem’s birth not only with Rorem’s elegan, witty songs, but also the (variously) elegant, witty songs of Rorem’s friends and frenemies Bernstein, Poulenc, Thomson, and Copland.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Died-in-the-wool Francophile Rorem would have gone to Le Boite en Bois, and so should you.
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Thursday, January 18, 2024, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Pharmakon / Melissa / Cube
THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 2024
7:00 PM
Trans-Pecos
915 Wyckoff Avenue, Ridgewood, Queens
$18.87
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Lots of people make dark apocalyptic noise music. But Pharmakon’s is darker and more apocalyptic, if not noisier.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Nepalese-New York fusion you didn’t know you needed at While in Kathmandu (N.B.: cash only).
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Thu, Jan 18, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 11:59 PM
OPERA
Roman Grygoriv & Illia Razumeiko: Chornobyldorf
MONDAY & THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 15 & 18 – 21, 2024 (continuing through JANUARY 21)
7:00 PM MONDAY & THURSDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
La MaMa
74A East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$35-$75
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Another of those post-apocalypse human survivors misunderstanding the relics of civilization pieces. But this time to music by an extremely sardonic Ukrainian composer team.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Don’t fight it: the Ukrainian East Village Restaurant.
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Thu, Jan 18, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sat, Jan 20, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Concrete Temple Theatre: Ernie’s Secret Life
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 18 – 20, 2024 (continuing through JANUARY 27)
7:00 PM
Dixon Place
161A Chrystie Streeet, Lower East Side, Manhattan
THURSDAY: $28; $23 students/seniors
FRIDAY & SATURDAY: $33; $27 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
PUPPETS!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I don’t know about you, but I'm in the mood for OG Cantonese. So let's walk over to a current kingpin, Green Garden Village.
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Thursday, January 18, 2024, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Concert for Palestine
THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 2024
7:00 PM
Starr Bar
214 Starr Street, Bushwick, Brooklyn
TBD
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Many of the people we usually write about here unite to secure support for arts organizations in Gaza.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Souped-up Venezuelan hot dogs at Santa Salsa.
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Thursday, January 18, 2024, 1:15 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Emericus Ensemble: Tonos y canciones
THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 2024
1:15 PM
Gotham Early Music Festival Midtown Concerts
St. Malachy’s Church In Person & Live Stream
239 West 49th Street, Midtown, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
As you probably have noticed, if there’s one thing we love here at The List, it’s Spanish Baroque (and even Classical-into-Romantic) voice-and-guitar music.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, I’m not gonna even tell you what El Mil Sabores puts on their Torta Loca sandwich. You have to see it for yourself. Streaming at home, have a Coronation Cocktail No. 1: pour 2 oz. dry Vermouth, 1 oz. Fino Sherry, and 1/4 tsp. Maraschino liqueur, with 3 dashes orange bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a lemon twist.
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Thu, Jan 18, 2024, 12:00 PM – Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Tania El Khoury: Cultural Exchange Rate
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 18 – 21, 2024
12:00, 1:30, 3:00, 5:30 & 7:00 PM THURSDAY – SUNDAY
8:30 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Under the Radar
The Invisible Dog
51 Bergen Street, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$23.18
TICKETS + INFORMATION
An interactive installation recounting Tania El Khoury’s family’s parlous existence on the border of Lebanon and Syria (with a detour to Mexico City, where they discovered they had relatives).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Evenings, homey Lebanese at Nabila’s. Days, beer and snacks at Talea Cobble Hill Tap Room.
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Wed, Jan 17, 2024, 8:30 PM – Sat, Jan 20, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Stone Residencies: Amir ElSaffar
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 17 – 20, 2024
8:30 PM
The Stone
Glass Box Theater, The New School
55 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
If anyone is currently creating more consistently compelling and eloquent music than trumpeter Amir ElSaffar, with his absolutely organic fusion of Iraqi Maqam and jazz, I don’t know them.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: No one better to take over the old Café Loup space than NYC Front of House vet Michael Cechhi-Azzolina with his neo-Bar & Grill (Michael told me he can’t abide the descriptor “American Bistro”) Cecchi’s.
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Wednesday, January 17, 2024, 8:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Limited Resources
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2024
8:30 PM
Freddy's Bar
627 Fifth Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Another night of the kind of music this List Lists. Say hi to List Pal Ledah Finck on violin/viola.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You're in one of the best bars in Brooklyn, for God's sake. (If you don't fancy Freddy's entirely edible pub grub, grab a slice at Luigi's beforehand.)
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Wednesday, January 17, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sandy Ewen - Weasel Walter - Ravi Coltrane / THE JEW-O / Daniel Malinsky
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2024
8:00 PM
Sisters
900 Fulton Street, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A bunch of very out-there experimental artists and a jazz saxophonist who has overcome the burden of being the son of one of the greatest musicians of the 20th Century and the namesake of another.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can eat and drink perfectly well at Sisters.
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Wednesday, January 17, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Sun Ra Arkestra
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2024
8:00 PM
TV Eye
1647 Weirfield Street, Ridgewood, Queens
$25-$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Here’s a list of things that are like a Sun Ra Arkestra concert: .
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delightful Italianish American at Rolo’s.
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Wednesday, January 17, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sakamoto Tribute Ensemble, DJ Spooky & Yuka C. Honda: Celebrating Ryuichi Sakamoto
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2024
8:00 PM
Roulette
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$62.75 advance; $65 door
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I personally think Ryuichi Sakamoto was one of the more overrated musical presenses of the last 50 years or so, from the electronic Yellow Magic Orchestra in the 1970s to his later film scores and concert pieces. But plenty of people I respect — very much including those involved with this program — disagree.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: A newish bar around the corner from Roulette! The Little Pig.
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Wednesday, January 17, 2024, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Cirkus Moxie
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2024
7:30 PM
Brooklyn Art Haus
24 Marcy Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$29.89
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Circus!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Great great wine and actually good food at Four Horsemen.
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Wed, Jan 17, 2024, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Shayok Misha Chowdhury: Public Obscenities
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 17 – 21, 2024 (continuing through FEBRUARY 18)
7:30 PM WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
Under the Radar
Theater for a New Audience
262 Ashland Place, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$97-$132
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A bilingual play about a Bangla/English translator who perhaps doesn’t see as much as the thinks he does (does anyone?).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Good cocktails at The Rockwell Place.
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Wednesday, January 17, 2024, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Cole Blu / Peaceful Faces / Claire Dickson & Jesse Bielenberg
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2024
7:00 PM
Elsewhere
599 Johnson Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$17.81
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Taste can seem so random. Why do I find Cole Blu’s backward-looking minor-key guitar pop-rock enjoyable and Peaceful Faces’ vaguely annoying? If I weren’t writing on a short deadline, I’d really try to analyze it. Claire Dickson’s very slightly jazz-tinged Chamber-Pop is, thankfully, another thing entirely.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The best Vietnamese-Mexican food you ever had at Falansai.
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Wed, Jan 17, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sat, Jan 20, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Heather Christian: Terce: A Practical Breviary
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 17 – 20, 2024 (continuing through FEBRUARY 4)
7:00 PM WEDNESDAY – FRIDAY
9:00 AM & 3:00 PM SATURDAY
PROTOTYPE Festival
Irondale
85 South Oxford Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$40-$155
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Heather Christian presents a new feminine Mass, springing from the ideas of female Medieval mystics like Hildegard (duh) and Julian of Norwich and (NOT Medieval) Robin Wall Kimmerer), sung by a community chorus of caregivers and makers. As usual with Christian, the music will be eclectic — but instead of her frequent country-folk overtones, this time the inflections will come from Gospel and Neo-Soul. And, of course, Medieval Organum. The power move is to go to the 9:00 AM performance on Saturday — the actual Terce.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Sleek Milanese at Saraghina Caffèe.
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Wed, Jan 17, 2024, 7:00 PM – Fri, Jan 19, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Sour Milk: DIRT
WEDNESDAY – FRIDAY, JANUARY 17 – 19, 2024
7:00 PM
Exponential Festival
The Loading Dock In Person & Live Stream
170 Tillary Street, Bridge Plaza, Brooklyn
$17.85-$33.85 in person; $17.85 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This eco-dystopian exploration of a future New York City is so techno-immersive that it’s offered in person and remotely.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, wouldn’t you know it, you’re right around the corner from the wonderful Peruvian Pollo d’Oro, where the Pisco flows like water. Streaming at home, have a Black River: pour 3/4 oz. each of white Overproof Rum, blended Rum, and Montenegro amaro into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Nick & Nora glass. Garnish with an orange twist.
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Wed, Jan 17, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER / DANCE
Luke Murphy: Volcano
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 17 – 21, 2024
7:00 PM WEDNESDAY – FRIDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Under the Radar
St. Ann’s Warehouse
45 Water Street, DUMBO, Brooklyn
$54
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This sci-fi piece, borrowing its structure from streamed TV series, was originally conceived as a COVID Lockdown presentation: audience members viewed the procedings from indiviual glass-enclosed booths surrounding the stage. Now, the stage is enclosed in glass, with the audience watching from raked rows of theater seats. The piece comprises four 45-minute episodes, performed serially with breaks between them. And the story of two people subject to a social experiment in space is told mainly through dance rather than text; indeed, the piece has been said to function as a history of 20th Century dance as well as a theater piece. They liked it in Ireland.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Vietnamese bistro at Em Vietnamese Bistro.
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Wed, Jan 17, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Jerry Lieblich: Mahinerator
MONDAY & WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 15 & 17 – 21, 2024
4:00 PM MONDAY
7:00 PM WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY
The Tank
312 West 36th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$38.26-$64.30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This scifi play is really about words and how powerful they are — for good or, as here, for ill. Everyone who’s seen this one-person show agrees that actor Steve Mellor is astonishing. And so, for that matter, is playwright Jerry Lieblich.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Excellent Spanish at Casa Dani.
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Tuesday, January 16, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Anna Elder
TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2024
8:00 PM
Scholes Street Studio
375 Lorimer Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20; $15 students
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Pittsburgh vocalist Anna Elder, apparently in a serious mood, brings a program including, among others, such absolute masters as Scelsi, Berio, and Georges Aperghis.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Light Taiwanese at Win Son Bakery.
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Tue, Jan 16, 2024, 8:00 PM – Sat, Jan 20, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
The Wooster Group feat. Eric Berryman: Get Your Ass in the Water and Swim Like Me
TUESDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 – 20, 2024 (continuing through FEBRUARY 3)
8:00 PM
Performing Garage
33 Wooster Street, Soho, Manhattan
$39-$59
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Another of The Wooster Group’s “live record albums”, this time a performance of a collection of examples of the Black American storytelling form called Toasts. Dolemite fans need not hesitate.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: From one garage to another: Antique Garage is so cute that you tend to forget how good the food is. And, it was Mediterranean before everybody and his brother were.
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Tue, Jan 16, 2024, 8:00 PM – Wed, Jan 17, 2024, 11:59 PM
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Tue, Jan 16, 2024, 8:00 PM – Sat, Jan 20, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
John Jarboe: Rose: You Are Who You Eat
TUESDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 – 20, 2024
8:00 PM TUESDAY – SATURDAY
1:30 PM SATURDAY
Under the Radar
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$35; $30 students/seniors/trans
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A few years ago, Bearded Ladies Cabaret founder John Jarboe’s aunt told him that the reason he is gay, to her mind, is because while in the womb he ate a female fetal twin who was to have been named Rose (the first Jarboe had ever heard about that). This piece ensued.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Vegan Soul Food sounds like an absurdity. But people who’ve eaten at Cadence sure don’t think so.
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Tuesday, January 16, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Br-An-Ch: Angelica Sanchez, Brandon Ross and Chad Taylor
TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2024
8:00 PM
Roulette In Person & Live Stream
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$25 advance; $30 door; $20 students/seniors; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
You hear pianist Angelica Sanchez has formed a trio with guitar wiz Brandon Ross and drummer Chad Taylor and you think: I want that.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, nice enough bistro at Bacchus. Streaming at home, have a Winter Gin & Tonic: pour 1 oz. Gin into a Highball glass over ice. Top with Tonic (but leave some space!). Drizzle 1 oz. Sloe Gin over the top. Garnish with an orange wedge.
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Tue, Jan 16, 2024, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Krymov Lab NYC: Pushkin “Eugene Onegin” in Our Own Words
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 16 – 21, 2024
7:30 PM TUESDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
Under the Radar
BRIC House
647 Fulton Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$52.11-$67.93
TICKETS + INFORMATION
What place is there for Russian culture in the world, given the current state of Russia? Well might a great Russian artist self-exiled to New York City like Dmitri Krymov ask. (Wonder where great U.S. artists will be going after November?)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Rockwell Place is an excellent, though relatively unheralded, cocktail bar.
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Tue, Jan 16, 2024, 7:30 PM – Thu, Jan 18, 2024, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE / THEATER
Peter Mills Weiss & Julia Mounsey: Open Mic Night
TUESDAY – THURSDAY, JANUARY 16 – 18, 2024
7:30 PM TUESDAY – THURSDAY
4:00 PM THURSDAY
Under the Radar
Mabou Mines, 122CC
150 First Avenue, East Village, Manhattan
$27
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Peter Mills Weiss and Julia Mounsey do these great pieces that seem like they’re non-fiction except they’re not and seem like they’re funny except they’re scary. This one, for example, is a post-closing celebration of a venue that never existed.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Eclectic Chinese at uluh.
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Tue, Jan 16, 2024, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Ronald K. Brown / EVIDENCE
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 16 – 21, 2024
7:30 PM TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY
8:00 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
The Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Avenue, Chelsea, Manhattan
$17-$72
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Ronald K. Browne's African-American-vernacular-inflected contemporary dance is getting pretty mainstream for this List. But it isn't getting any less enjoyable.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Bistro that’s been there forever (the restaurant, not the food) at Le Singe Vert.
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Tue, Jan 16, 2024, 7:00 PM – Wed, Jan 17, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Arlekin Players Theater: Our Class
TUESDAY – WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 16 – 17 & 19 – 21, 2024 (continuing through FEBRUARY 4)
7:00 PM TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
7:30 PM SATURDAY
Under the Radar
BAM Fisher
321 Ashland Place, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$68.50-$138.50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
In 1941 Poland, a bunch of Polish kids and a bunch of Jewish kids are lifelong friends — until they aren’t.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can now get Cruz del Sur’s beyond-fabulous Guadalajaran Tortas Ahogadas in Park Slope near BAM!
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Tue, Jan 16, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins: Appropriate
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 16 – 21, 2024 (continuing through MARCH 3)
7:00 PM TUESDAY, THURSDAY & FRIDAY
8:00 PM WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY
2:00 PM WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
2nd Stage @ The Hayes Theater
240 West 44th Street, Midtown, Manhattan
$115-$199.50; $40 limited availability under 30 years; $25 student rush
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The author of the best American play so far this Century comes up with a family drama that you can bet isn’t going to be just a family drama. Wonder if the title has a long “a” or a short one?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Westway Diner. Cuz it’s still there.
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Tuesday, January 16, 2024, 6:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
DMG FREE WEEKLY IN-STORE MUSIC SERIES
TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2024
6:30 PM
Downtown Music Gallery
13 Monroe Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
More of the usual excellent Free Jazz and experimental stuff. Special shoutout to the Dafna Naphtali-Chuck Bettis-Ras Moshe trio.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Modern-Korean-inflected Golden Diner.
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Monday, January 15, 2024, 9:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Gián Pérez
MONDAY, JANUARY 15, 2024
9:30 PM
The Green Room 42, YOTEL New York Times Square In Person & Live Stream
570 10th Avenue, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$31.72-$57.47 in person; $26.57 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Don’t tell anyone, but for the night guitar noisemaker Gían Pérez is reverting to song form.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, Pueblan at Tulcingo del Valle. Streaming at home, have a Tokyo Love Song: pour 2 oz. Japanese Whiskey and 3/4 oz. each Sake and Curaçao, with 2 dashes orange bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a rocks glass over ice. Garnish with a Blood orange half-wheel (oh, any kind of orange will do) and some thyme or rosemary.
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Monday, January 15, 2024, 9:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Tropical Vortex & Secret Planet: La Perla / Combo Daguerre
MONDAY, JANUARY 15, 2024
9:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
La Perla come from Bogota, but they specialize in the (irresistible) percussive music of Colombia’s Caribbean coast. Combo Daguerre is Olivier Conan’s chance to admit he’s French.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Better than neighborhood Mexican at Fonda.
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Monday, January 15, 2024, 9:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Camille Bertault
MONDAY, JANUARY 15, 2024
9:00 & 10:15 PM
LunÀtico
486 Halsey Street, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sprightly French jazz-pop. What’s not to like?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You should at least buy some drinks from the venue. But if you want some more interesting and substantial food than LunÀtico serves, nice pizza and tapas at Saraghina.
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Monday, January 15, 2024, 8:30 PM – 11:59 PM
THEATER
Motus: Of the Nightingale I Envy the Fate
MONDAY, JANUARY 15, 2024
8:30 PM
Under the Radar
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$35; $30 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Italy’s searing Motus collective retells the Cassandra myth.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Way overperforming pub grub at Sidney’s Five.
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Monday, January 15, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Kassa Overall
MONDAY, JANUARY 15, 2024
8:00 & 10:00 PM
Blue Note
131 West 3rd Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$29.33
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Another musician — a drummer (and a good one) — whose jazz/Hip-Hop fusion is so valid, so organic, cuz Hip-Hop is the music he grew up with.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Peruvian Nikkei hotspot Llama San.
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Monday, January 15, 2024, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
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Monday, January 15, 2024, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Dynasty Handbook: Titanic Depression
MONDAY & THURSDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 15 & 18 – 20, 2024
7:30 PM
Live Artery/Under the Radar
New York Live Arts
219 West 19th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
$15-$49; $32 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Last year it seemed like everybody was doing take-offs on Titanic. But only Dynasty Handbag’s had a point beyond being a mere spoof.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Drinks and small plates at the Lobby Bar at The Hotel Chelsea.
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Mon, Jan 15, 2024, 7:00 PM – Tue, Jan 16, 2024, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Underground Uptown
MONDAY & TUESDAY, JANUARY 15 & 16, 2024
7:00 PM
Works and Process
Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
$25-$61
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Dance deriving from New York vernacular styles, with a different company each night.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Light Viennese at Café Sabarsky.
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Monday, January 15, 2024, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
OPERA
Roman Grygoriv & Illia Razumeiko: Chornobyldorf
MONDAY & THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 15 & 18 – 21, 2024 (continuing through JANUARY 21)
7:00 PM MONDAY & THURSDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
La MaMa
74A East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$35-$75
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Another of those post-apocalypse human survivors misunderstanding the relics of civilization pieces. But this time to music by an extremely sardonic Ukrainian composer team.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Don’t fight it: the Ukrainian East Village Restaurant.
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Mon, Jan 15, 2024, 7:00 PM – Thu, Jan 18, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Winter Jazzfest
MONDAY – THURSDAY, JANUARY 15 – 18, 2024
Various times
Various locations, Manhattan & Brooklyn
Various prices for individual shows
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This massive jazz festival, with shows throughout Manhattan and in Brooklyn, is as awesome as ever.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It’s like all over the place.
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Mon, Jan 15, 2024, 7:00 PM – Tue, Jan 16, 2024, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca: Searching for Goya
MONDAY & TUESDAY, JANUARY 15 & 16, 2024
7:00 PM
Second Floor Theater, 12CC
150 1st Avenue, East Village, Manhattan
$40-$70.31
TICKETS + INFORMATION
OK, let’s get hyperbolic for the New Year: Soledad Barrio is one of the greatest dancers in the world; her husband, Martín Santangelo, is a crisp if sometimes somewhat undisciplined visual imagineer. Their Noche Flamenca company produces, in New York City, Flamenco dance at least as good as anything now coming out of Spain. Their long-form works often seem to require a couple of years’ workshopping to reach fruition; this latest one, taking off on the black vision of Goya, has been through the process, and ought to be ready.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Get your momo working at Lhasa Tibetan Restaurant.
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Monday, January 15, 2024, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Abasement #67
MONDAY, JANUARY 15, 2024
7:00 PM
Artists Space
11 Cortland Alley, Tribeca (not really), Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Experimental music with visuals. Among other things, vocal-centered improv quartet Time Trout: truly unlike anything else out there — and how many acts can you say that about? And longtime off-and-on collaborators Marcia Bassett and Samara Lubelski, who like to fuck with sound and don’t mind being noisy about it.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I guess if you’re in the Alley, you’ve got to go to Au Cheval. Even if it isn’t a patch on the Chicago original, you can still put together a satisfying (if gutbusting) meal if you’re careful. (Hint: fried bologna is your friend.)
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Monday, January 15, 2024, 4:00 PM – 11:59 PM
THEATER
Jerry Lieblich: Mahinerator
MONDAY & WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 15 & 17 – 21, 2024
4:00 PM MONDAY
7:00 PM WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY
The Tank
312 West 36th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$38.26-$64.30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This scifi play is really about words and how powerful they are — for good or, as here, for ill. Everyone who’s seen this one-person show agrees that actor Steve Mellor is astonishing. And so, for that matter, is playwright Jerry Lieblich.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Excellent Spanish at Casa Dani.
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Monday, January 15, 2024, 4:00 PM – 11:59 PM
DANCE
Lisa Fagan & Lena Engelstein: Deepe Darknesse
MONDAY, JANUARY 15, 2024
4:00 & 8:00 PM
The Collapsable Hole
155 Bank Street, West Village, Manhattan
$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Another of Lisa Fagan's (this time with frequent collaborator Lena Engelstein) highly conceptual, very funny, highly allusive (somewhat illusive), and pop-culture-savvy dance pieces, this one involving unhappy curiosity, where people try to make themselves better but end up making themselves worse.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The bistro of the moment: Libertine.
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Mon, Jan 15, 2024, 10:00 AM – Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell & Joseph White: Meander
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 15 – 21, 2024 (ongoing)
10:00 AM – 3:30 PM TUESDAY – FRIDAY
10:00 AM – 4:30 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
150 Eastern Parkway, across the street from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
$18 SATURDAY & SUNDAY; $12 students/seniors SATURDAY & SUNDAY; pay what you wish weekdays; free children under 12
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Having created a wonderful sound walk through Green-Wood Cemetery, the dream team of Gelsey Bell and Joe White do the same for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (one of my favorite places on earth, if you want to know). The soundtrack is available on the BBG website.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The best pancakes in town (and other great stuff) at Tom’s Restaurant.
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Mon, Jan 15, 2024, 8:00 AM – Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 15 – 21, 2024 (ongoing)
8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
#stillHERE IRL
Green-Wood Cemetery, Sunset Park Entrance
35th Street at 4th Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$7 or more for soundtrack
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One of the first shows that you could actually Go Out! to back in the days of The Lockdown (although it's not quite "live"). Gelsey Bell, that vocal star of NYC Alt Classical, has conceived of a piece that walks you around Green-Wood Cemetery (starting at the Sunset Park Entrance). You download the soundtrack on your phone beforehand (the Times complains about how hard it is to download from Bandcamp to an iPhone — trust me: if I can figure out how to do it, anyone can). Bell wrote the text and narrates, with a co-composing assist from the inimitable Joe White (whose terrific new album you really ought to hear). The Cemetery itself will do the performing. (You can also listen to the soundtrack at home and pretend you're walking around the Cemetery.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Sunset Park entrance is only a short walk from Hometown BBQ Industry City (if you go over the weekend, you can get the fabulous pastrami).
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Mon, Jan 15, 2024, 6:00 AM – Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: New York, New York
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 15 – 21, 2024 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
What do you know? The New York Phil has gone and renamed Ellen Reid’s SOUNDWALK. Reid, one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers, put together a highly allusive soundtrack, played by members of the Philharmonic and a bunch of Alt Classical players about town. This walk isn't guided: you download an app that triggers sounds sent to your earphones from various cells around the Park as you wander. So you can do it over many times. (Speaking of wandering around Central Park, here's something that I, for one, never knew.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delicious pan-African at Teranga.
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Sunday, January 14, 2024, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Dynasty Handbook: Titanic Depression
SUNDAY, JANUARY 14, 2024 (continuing through JANUARY 20)
7:30 PM
Live Artery/Under the Radar
New York Live Arts
219 West 19th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
$15-$49; $32 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Last year it seemed like everybody was doing take-offs on Titanic. But only Dynasty Handbag’s had a point beyond being a mere spoof.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Drinks and small plates at the Lobby Bar at The Hotel Chelsea.
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Sunday, January 14, 2024, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
globalFEST
SUNDAY, JANUARY 14, 2024
7:00 PM
David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center
10 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$71
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Annoying: this festival of World Music has no point of view; the only thing uniting the selected acts is that they’re Not From Here. Relatedly, this has the same Colonialist Museum air that makes World Music so offensive as a category. Not annoying: many of these performers are great.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Oysters, Martini, Cadillac burger at P.J. Clarke’s.
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Sunday, January 14, 2024, 5:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
James Brandon Lewis: The Mahalia Project / ETHEL & Robert Mirabal
SUNDAY, JANUARY 14, 2024
5:30 PM
Joe’s Pub, Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$32.50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Saxophonist James Brandon Lewis plays his tribute to Mahalia Jackson with a really crack band. And the Tao Pueblo flautist Robert Mirabal continues his long fruitful collaboration with the ETHEL string quartet.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Sake and izakaya at Decibel.
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Sunday, January 14, 2024, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sound Bath: Beyond Flute
SUNDAY, JANUARY 14, 2024
5:00 PM
White Room, CRS (Center for Remembering and Sharing)
143 Fourth Avenue, NoHo, Manhattan
$20; $10 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This flute-electronics-percussion trio really does go beyond.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Thai dishes you probably haven’t seen before at Soothr.
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Saturday, January 13, 2024, 10:30 PM – 11:59 PM
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Sat, Jan 13, 2024, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jan 14, 2024, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
The Million Underscores: THOSE MOVEABLE PIECES
THURSDAY & SATURDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 11 & 13 – 14, 2024
7:30 PM THURSDAY & SATURDAY
3:00 PM SATURDAY
5:00 PM SUNDAY
We Are Here
563 Johnson Avenue, Williamsburg (sorry guys it’s not Bushwick), Brooklyn
$28.52
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Every kind of pas de deux you can think of. And many you can’t.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Pub grub with an attitude at Tu Mama Bar & Grill.
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Sat, Jan 13, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sun, Jan 14, 2024, 11:59 PM
OPERA
Roman Grygoriv & Illia Razumeiko: Chornobyldorf
THURSDAY & SATURDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 11 & 13 – 14, 2024 (continuing through JANUARY 21)
7:00 PM THURSDAY & SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
La MaMa
74A East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$35-$75
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Another of those post-apocalypse human survivors misunderstanding the relics of civilization pieces. But this time to music by an extremely sardonic Ukrainian composer team.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Don’t fight it: the Ukrainian East Village Restaurant.
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Saturday, January 13, 2024, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Harlem Quartet / PUBLIQuartet
SATURDAY, JANUARY 13, 2024
7:00 PM
Baruch Performing Arts Center
55 Lexington Avenue (entrance on 25th Street), Rose Hill, Manhattan
$48.50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Hard to tell whether these two fine quartets will be collaborating or playing strictly separately. (Well, also hard to tell why you’d put two string quartets on a program together if they weren’t going to play together.) The PUBLIQ is listed as playing one of its regular programs, with some Jessie Montgomery and some Vijay Iyer and some messing around with well-chosen vernacular pieces. As for the rest, there are rumors of Beethoven.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Vegetarian South Indian at Saravanaa Bhavan.
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Saturday, January 13, 2024, 6:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Barbès & Electric Cowbell: SECRET PLANET 2024
SATURDAY, JANUARY 13, 2024
6:30 PM
DROM
85 Avenue A, East Village, Manhattan
$24
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Most of the bands I’ve Listed at Barbès over the past year converge for a long night at DROM.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Very spicy Thai at Somtum Der.
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Saturday, January 13, 2024, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, January 13, 2024, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
DANCE
Molly Lieber & Eleanor Smith: Zero Station
SATURDAY, JANUARY 13, 2024
5:00 PM
New York Live Arts
219 West 19th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Molly Lieber and Eleanor Smith not only move as one person — they seemingly think as one person as well. And what they’re thinking about now is how much the hypersexualization of women sucks — and how contrary it is to women’s natural life experience.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I’m sounding the downhill alarm for Spanish funspot El Quijote. But see what you think.
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Sat, Jan 13, 2024, 4:00 PM – Sun, Jan 14, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Wende: The Promise
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY & SATURDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 10 – 11 & 13 – 14, 2024
9:00 PM WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY & SATURDAY
4:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
PROTOYPE Festival
HERE
145 6th Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Soho, Manhattan
$40-$155
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Wende is a Dutch singer-songwriter who started out doing Cabaret/Easy Listening and then thankfully for all involved morphed into more Pure Pop For Now People. If she wants to write a song cycle with Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s sister about The Human Condition or something, I’m not gonna stop her.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Raoul’s luncheonette, Revelie.
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Sat, Jan 13, 2024, 9:00 AM – Sun, Jan 14, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Heather Christian: Terce: A Practical Breviary
WEDNESDAY – THURSDAY & SATURDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 10 – 11 & 13 – 14, 2024 (continuing through JANUARY 20)
7:00 PM WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY
9:00 AM SATURDAY
3:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
PROTOTYPE Festival
Irondale
85 South Oxford Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$40-$155
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Heather Christian presents a new feminine Mass, springing from the ideas of female Medieval mystics like Hildegard (duh) and Julian of Norwich and (NOT Medieval) Robin Wall Kimmerer), sung by a community chorus of caregivers and makers. As usual with Christian, the music will be eclectic — but instead of her frequent country-folk overtones, this time the inflections will come from Gospel and Neo-Soul. And, of course, Medieval Organum. The power move is to go to the 9:00 AM performance on Saturday — the actual Terce.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Sleek Milanese at Saraghina Caffè.
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Fri, Jan 12, 2024, 8:30 PM – Sun, Jan 14, 2024, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Lisa Fagan & Lena Engelstein: Deepe Darknesse
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 12 – 14, 2024 (continuing through JANUARY 15)
8:30 PM FRIDAY
6:00 PM SATURDAY
5:00 PM SUNDAY
The Collapsable Hole
155 Bank Street, West Village, Manhattan
$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Another of Lisa Fagan's (this time with frequent collaborator Lena Engelstein) highly conceptual, very funny, highly allusive (somewhat illusive), and pop-culture-savvy dance pieces, this one involving unhappy curiosity, where people try to make themselves better but end up making themselves worse.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The bistro of the moment: Libertine.
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Fri, Jan 12, 2024, 8:00 PM – Sun, Jan 14, 2024, 11:59 PM
OPERA
Mary Kouyoumdjian: Adoration
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 12 – 14, 2024 (continuing through JANUARY 20)
8:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
5:00 PM SUNDAY
PROTOTYPE Festival
Sheen Center
18 Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$40-$155
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Mary Kouyoumdjian has collaborated with her fellow North American-Armenian (believe me, that identity is important to both of them), the filmmaker Atom Egoyan, before; now she’s adapting him for an opera. Adoration was a typical Egoyan movie, with an ending showing you that causes, consequences, and circumstances can often be surprising. So can Kouyoumdjian’s music.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Vibrant Thai at Fish Cheeks.
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Fri, Jan 12, 2024, 8:00 PM – Sat, Jan 13, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Tony Malaby: 60th Birthday Celebration
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JANUARY 12 & 13, 2024
8:00 PM FRIDAY
9:00 & 10:30 PM SATURDAY
FRIDAY: Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
SATURDAY: LunÀtico
486 Halsey Street, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
$21.95 FRIDAY; $10 SATURDAY
FRIDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
SATURDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
Saxophonist Tony Malaby is so deeply ingrained in the NYC out jazz scene that Big Birthdays come as no surprise. To celebrate, he’s assembled a couple of titanic players he’s been playing with forever, and another superb one he’s been playing with less than forever.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Friday in Park Slope, another chance not to get into Masalawala & Sons. Saturday in Bed-Stuy, you should at least buy some drinks from the venue. But if you want some more interesting and substantial food than LunÀtico serves, grab some Southern at Peaches.
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Fri, Jan 12, 2024, 7:30 PM – Sat, Jan 13, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Banana Bag & Bodice: Hubris Always Gets You In the End
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JANUARY 12 & 13, 2024 (continuing through JANUARY 20)
7:30 PM
Exponential Festival
The Doxsee @ Target Margin Theater
232 52nd Street, Sunset Park, Brooklyn
$22.95-$45.85
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The two remaining members of the wild Punk music/theater collective (not a perfect description but it’ll have to do) Banana Bag & Bodice (now the parents of an 11-year-old son) reflect on What It All Meant.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Really good Sichuan at Chuan Tian Xia.
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Fri, Jan 12, 2024, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jan 14, 2024, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Nile Harris: this house is not a home
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 12 – 14, 2024
7:30 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
5:00 PM SUNDAY
Under the Radar
Abrons Arts Center
466 Grand Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$24.05
TICKETS + INFORMATION
It’s DEFINITELY not a home: it’s an inflatable bounce castle, framing madcap invocations of very serious themes. You know what? This looks really good.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Ernesto’s for great Basque.
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Fri, Jan 12, 2024, 7:30 PM – Sat, Jan 13, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Darcy James Argue: Secret Society
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JANUARY 12 & 13, 2024
7:30 & 9:30 PM
The Jazz Gallery In Person & Live Stream
1158 Broadway (entrance on West 27th Street), NoMad, Manhattan
$33-$44 in person; $22 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
You think Darcy James Argue’s Brooklyn big band is going to be arch — but no, it stops at self-aware, with an eye on history while being completely planted in the contemporary. Great stuff, really (their most recent album is really great).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, José Andrés Mediterranean at Zaytinya. Streaming at home, have an Old Fashioned: in an Old Fashioned glass, muddle 1 sugar cube in 3 dashes of Angostura bitters. Pour in 2 oz. Rye. Fill the glass with ice. Stir. Express an orange peel into the drink and toss the peel in as a garnish, along with 1 or more cocktail cherries.
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Fri, Jan 12, 2024, 7:30 PM – Sat, Jan 13, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Cliff Cardinal: William Shakespeare’s “As You Like It”, A Radical Retelling
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JANUARY 12 & 13, 2024
7:30 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
3:00 PM SATURDAY
Under the Radar
Skirball Center, NYU
566 Laguardia Place, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$46
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Cree/Lakota theatermaker Cliff Cardinal recasts As You Like It as a reflection on the relationship between Indigenous people and Colonial settlers (when you think about it, you can see how this pastorale took him there) (of course, Shakespeare has one play that’s pretty much explicitly about that). This List only hopes that Cardinal leaves in its favorite sentence in all of English prose. How did that guy write like that?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Late shows, English meat dishes at Lord’s. Before the early show, grab a great sandwich at Court Street Grocers.
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Fri, Jan 12, 2024, 7:30 PM – Sat, Jan 13, 2024, 11:59 PM
DANCE
A Shared Evening: Jordan Demetrius Lloyd / Mina Nishimura
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JANUARY 12 & 13, 2024
7:30 PM
Danspace Project
St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery
131 East 10th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Jordan Demetrius Lloyd and Mina Nishimura each expands on a piece they presented at Danspace over the past couple of years that was each excellent to begin with.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Pan-regional Chinese seems like a bad idea. But Uluh makes it work.
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Friday, January 12, 2024, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Dither feat. Lee Ranaldo: Laurie Spiegel’s The Expanding Universe
FRIDAY, JANUARY 12, 2024
7:00 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$25.75
TICKETS + INFORMATION
What’s better than the guitar quartet Dither’s playing their guitar arrangements of pieces from Laurie Spiegel’s fabulous, a little crazy electronic-music masterstroke The Expanding Universe? Dither’s playing them with “legendary” (their word) guitarist Lee Ranaldo — even if Ranaldo will be playing keys. (It’s weird to see one of your college friends described as “legendary”, but I guess I have to face up to it: Lee is legendary.) They will all also play Ranaldo’s Hurricane Sandy Transcriptions — with Brian Chase joining on drums.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Detroit-style pizza at La Rose Pizza.
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Fri, Jan 12, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sun, Jan 14, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Arlekin Players Theater: Our Class
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 12 – 14, 2024 (continuing through FEBRUARY 4)
7:00 PM FRIDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
7:30 PM SATURDAY
Under the Radar
BAM Fisher
321 Ashland Place, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$68.50-$138.50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
In 1941 Poland, a bunch of Polish kids and a bunch of Jewish kids are lifelong friends — until they aren’t.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can now get Cruz del Sur’s beyond-fabulous Guadalajaran Tortas Ahogadas in Park Slope near BAM!
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Fri, Jan 12, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sat, Jan 13, 2024, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE / DANCE
Special Effects Festival
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JANUARY 12 & 13, 2024
7:00 PM
The Wild Project
195 East 3rd Street, East Village, Manhattan
$24.42
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A collection of inter/multi-genre works that also are rollicking.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Mexican-inflected cocktails that read badly but taste just fine, and Mexican pub grub, at Superbueno.
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Fri, Jan 12, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sat, Jan 13, 2024, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Ayodamola Tanimowo Okunseinde & Amir Denzel Hall: How We Danced Our Way Back Home
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JANUARY 12 & 13, 2024
7:00 & 8:00 PM FRIDAY
1:00 & 2:00 PM SATURDAY
CultureHub NYC
47 Great Jones Street, NoHo, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A technofuturist VR blast leading viewers to follow masquerade traditions from Nigeria throughout the African diaspora, with a serious message about the slave trade always in the background: Never Forget.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, might as well go to Atla for Mezcal/Tequila and Mexican café food.
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Friday, January 12, 2024, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Zoh Amba - Maria Grand - Caroline Morton - Leslie Mok
FRIDAY, JANUARY 12, 2024
7:00 PM
P.I.T.
411 South 5th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Two saxes, bass, and drums — each an indelible stylist. This should be something.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Persian tapas at Masquerade.
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Fri, Jan 12, 2024, 6:00 PM – Sat, Jan 13, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Unity Jazz Festival
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JANUARY 12 & 13, 2024
6:00 PM
Jazz at Lincoln Center
10 Columbus Circle, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$85.50 per night
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Everything Lincoln Center does these days seems annoying. But you can’t deny that there’s lots of good stuff among the offerings they’ve assembled here — even if these two nights are dwarfed by Winter Jazz Fest’s two concurrent marathons.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Speaking of annoying, Bad Roman.
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Friday, January 12, 2024, 5:45 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Kaki King
FRIDAY, JANUARY 12, 2024
5:45 PM
PAC NYC
251 Fulton Street, World Trade Center, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One of the best guitarists of the world — she’s almost her own genre — plays in the lobby of the Perelman Arts Center.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Laotian at Khe Yo.
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Thursday, January 11, 2024, 9:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Cumbia Vortex: La Perla / La Banda Chuska
THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 2024
9:00 PM
The Sultan Room
234 Starr Street, Bushwick, Brooklyn
$25.14
TICKETS + INFORMATION
La Perla come from Bogota, but they specialize in the (irresistible) percussive music of Colombia’s Caribbean coast. La Banda Chuska live in New York City, but they’re one of many bands reviving (and attempting with varying success to update) the Psychedelic Peruvian Cumbia style of the ‘60s called Chicha (in their case by upping the percentage of ‘60s Peruvian Surf Music in the mix and, unfortunately, slicking it up).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Souped-up Venezuelan hot dogs at Santa Salsa.
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Thursday, January 11, 2024, 9:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Saha Gnawa: Maalem Hassan Benjaafar & Innov Gnawa feat. Daniel Freedman, Amino Belyamani & Jason Lindner
THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 2024
9:00 & 10:15 PM
LunÀtico
486 Halsey Street, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Basically I’m just an old man who keeps repeating the same stories. So I was staying once in the Medina of Marakkesh, hanging out on the rooftop of my hotel. Some Gnawi were visiting another guest, and they played their sintars late into the night, inviting me to join their party. I didn’t know anything about Northwestern African desert music back then; and I was entranced by that percussive droning music that sounded Bluesy (and that, as it turned out, was also developed by Africans in slavery). Now you can be entranced, too.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You should at least buy some drinks from the venue. But if you want some more interesting and substantial food than LunÀtico serves, nice pizza and tapas at Saraghina.
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Thu, Jan 11, 2024, 8:30 PM – Sat, Jan 13, 2024, 11:59 PM
OPERA
Richard Kennedy: Hybrid Peasant
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 11 – 13, 2024
8:30 PM
Performance Space New York
150 1st Avenue, East Village, Manhattan
$16.75-$27.50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I gather Richard Kennedy shares my distaste for Capitalism. But he seems a lot funnier about it.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Argentine Italian at Da Radda.
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Thu, Jan 11, 2024, 8:00 PM – Sat, Jan 13, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
The Wooster Group feat. Eric Berryman: Get Your Ass in the Water and Swim Like Me
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 11 – 13, 2024 (continuing through FEBRUARY 3)
8:00 PM
Performing Garage
33 Wooster Street, Soho, Manhattan
$39-$59
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Another of The Wooster Group’s “live record albums”, this time a performance of a collection of examples of the Black American storytelling form called Toasts. Dolemite fans need not hesitate.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: From one garage to another: Antique Garage is so cute that you tend to forget how good the food is. And, it was Mediterranean before everybody and his brother were.
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Thursday, January 11, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Thursday, January 11, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Tim Berne
THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 2024
8:00 & 9:30 PM
Lowlands
543 3rd Avenue, Gowanus, Brooklyn
TBD
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Having been away for a while touring, the tough in-and-out alto saxophonist Tim Berne resumes his regular shows at Lowlands with the usual rotating bunch of excellent collaborators.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Cool Mexican at Alma Negra.
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Thu, Jan 11, 2024, 8:00 PM – Sun, Jan 14, 2024, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Sister Sylvester: The Eagle and the Tortoise
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 11 – 14, 2024 (continuing through JANUARY 21)
8:00 PM THURSDAY & FRIDAY
12:00 & 5:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Under the Radar
BRIC House
647 Fulton Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$31.01
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A live sound and video installation that involves the audience’s collectively reading a handmade book dealing with themes of activism and imperialism through the lens of a Turkish woman who becomes a leftist icon but ends up a proxy soldier in a U.S. war.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Sausages at Black Forest Brooklyn.
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Thu, Jan 11, 2024, 8:00 PM – Sat, Jan 13, 2024, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Albert Ibokwe Khoza: The Black Circus of the Republic of Bantu
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 11 – 13, 2024
8:00 PM
Live Artery/Under the Radar
New York Live Arts
219 West 19th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
$38.50; $31.50 students/seniors; $10 student rush (if not sold out)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The majestic South African performance artist Albert Ibokwe Khoza examines a recent past when Africans were literally put on display for Europeans.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Burmese at the Manhattan branch of Rangoon.
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Thursday, January 11, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Tim Berne - Jeremy Viner - Aliya Ultan - Kate Gentile / Cleek Schrey - Sean Meehan / Lester St. Louis / Kevin Murray
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2024
8:00 PM
Record Shop
360 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn
$10-$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One would be hard pressed to decide which of these acts, all by improvisers who sound in jazz or in contemporary classical or in outside experimental or in something or other, is the most intriguing.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Great burger, great shrimp cocktail at Red Hook Tavern.
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Thu, Jan 11, 2024, 7:30 PM – Sat, Jan 13, 2024, 11:59 PM
OPERA
Huang Ruo: Angel Island
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 11 – 13, 2024
7:30 PM
PROTOTYPE Festival
BAM Harvey Theater
651 Fulton Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$37.50-$49.50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
What’s really great about Huang Ruo isn’t just that he seamlessly blends Chinese and Western elements in his music, or that he inflects his classical pieces with pop and vernacular: a bunch of people do that. What’s really great about Huang Ruo is his innate mastery of structure: to paraphrase something the foundational rock critic Paul Williams said about some rock group or other in the 1960s, if you stranded Ruo in space, he’d take the surrounding imponderable ether of the universe and construct from it a spaceship to fly right back after you. This piece sets poetry written by Chinese immigrants on the wall of Angel Island, the San Francisco Bay immigration center through which they passed to face almost unimaginable discrimination. Films of those walls in the remains of that center by no less than Bill Morrison are part of the production.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: If only it were possible to get into April Bloomfield and Gabe Stulman’s Sailor, this would be a good time to do so.
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Thursday, January 11, 2024, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
The Million Underscores: THOSE MOVEABLE PIECES
THURSDAY & SATURDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 11 & 13 – 14, 2024
7:30 PM THURSDAY & SATURDAY
3:00 PM SATURDAY
5:00 PM SUNDAY
We Are Here
563 Johnson Avenue, Williamsburg (sorry guys it’s not Bushwick), Brooklyn
$28.52
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Every kind of pas de deux you can think of. And many you can’t.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Pub grub with an attitude at Tu Mama Bar & Grill.
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Thu, Jan 11, 2024, 7:30 PM – Sat, Jan 13, 2024, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Roderick George: Venom
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 11 – 13, 2024
7:30 PM
Live Artery
Gibney
280 Broadway (entrance on Chambers Street), Civic Center, Manhattan
$27
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A dance piece about the erasure of the LGBT community, first through the stigmatization and undertreatment of a deadly disease and then through marginalization and hostile legislation.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Fancy Peruvian at Artesano.
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Thursday, January 11, 2024, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Next Festival
THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 2024
7:30 PM
Merkin Hall, Kaufman Music Center
129 West 67th Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$29; $15 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Pieces by Curtis Stewart, a fantastic violinist who, even if he’s not Jessie Montgomery yet as a composer, is getting there. And by Yvette Young, whose guitar rock music frankly leaves me unpersuaded — and so does her guitar-and-strings music.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: As you may recall, the revivified Old John’s Luncheonette is right across the street.
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Thu, Jan 11, 2024, 7:30 PM – Sat, Jan 13, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Emma Horwitz & Bailey Williams: Two Sisters Find a Box of Lesbian Erotica in the Woods
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 11 – 13, 2024
7:30 PM
Exponential Festival
The Loading Dock
170 Tillary Street, Bridge Plaza, Brooklyn
$10-$25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Can’t wait to hear the punch line.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Wouldn’t you know it, you’re right around the corner from the wonderful Peruvian Pollo d’Oro, where the Pisco flows like water.
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Thursday, January 11, 2024, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sxip Shirey: Hour of Charm
THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 2024
7:00 PM
Joe’s Pub, Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$32.50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sxip Shirey, whom I'm going to continue to call the American Tom Zé until he or somebody else stops me, presents another installment of his variety show, featuring music and music-theater works by himself and likeminded (meaning incredibly eclectic) (and antic) artists (and Raquel Acevedo Klein — unless she’s more antic than she’s previously let on).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Incendiary Hunanese at Chef Tan.
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Thu, Jan 11, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sat, Jan 13, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Concrete Temple Theatre: Ernie’s Secret Life
MONDAY & THURSDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 8 & 11 – 13, 2024 (continuing through JANUARY 27)
7:00 PM
Dixon Place
161A Chrystie Streeet, Lower East Side, Manhattan
MONDAY: $23-$65; $23 students/seniors
THURSDAY: $28; $23 students/seniors
FRIDAY & SATURDAY: $33; $27 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
PUPPETS!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I don’t know about you, but I'm in the mood for OG Cantonese. So let's walk over to a current kingpin, Green Garden Village.
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Thu, Jan 11, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sun, Jan 14, 2024, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Asi Wind: Inner Circle
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 11 – 14, 2024
7:00 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
9:30 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
4:00 PM SUNDAY
The Gym at Judson
243 Thompson Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$110-$265
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I’d been sleeping on this magic show (probably its massive mainstream success shielded it from my view). But contrary to how things might appear, just because people like something doesn’t mean it can’t get Listed.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Classic Manhattan Red Sauce at Monte’s Trattoria.
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Thu, Jan 11, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sun, Jan 14, 2024, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Juliana F. May: Family Happiness
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 11 – 14, 2024
7:00 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
Live Artery
Chocolate Factory
38-33 24th Street, Long Island City, Queens
$13-$292
TICKETS + INFORMATION
If this is about family happiness it must be a very short piece.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Nice family Brazilian at Beija Flor.
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Thursday, January 11, 2024, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Yuko Otomo: Asks Matthew Shipp to Perform and Invites Elaine Equi and Brenda Coultas to Join
THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 2024
7:00 PM
Giorno Poetry Systems
222 Bowery, Nolita, Manhattan
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Everybody on the Downtown Scene knows poet Yuko Otomo. And her poetry’s combination of formal/structural experimentation and sheer exuberance exactly matches the Free Jazz she loves so much — and of which pianist Matthew Schipp is a stellar, indeed galactic, exponent. This List doesn’t go much for spoken-word-with-improvised-jazz-backup. But it sure goes for this.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Nice pasta at Forsythia.
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Thursday, January 11, 2024, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
OPERA
Roman Grygoriv & Illia Razumeiko: Chornobyldorf
THURSDAY & SATURDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 11 & 13 – 14, 2024 (continuing through JANUARY 21)
7:00 PM THURSDAY & SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
La MaMa
74A East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$35-$75
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Another of those post-apocalypse human survivors misunderstanding the relics of civilization pieces. But this time to music by an extremely sardonic Ukrainian composer team.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Don’t fight it: the Ukrainian East Village Restaurant.
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Thursday, January 11, 2024, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Thursday, January 11, 2024, 1:15 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
La forza delle stelle : Une femme | due donne | a woman
THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 2024
1:15 PM
Gotham Early Music Festival Midtown Concerts
St. Malachy’s Church In Person & Live Stream
239 West 49th Street, Midtown, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Trio sonatas — by women!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, I’m not gonna even tell you what El Mil Sabores puts on their Torta Loca sandwich. You have to see it for yourself. Streaming at home, have an American Trilogy: muddle a brown sugar cube in the bottom of an Old Fashioned glass with 2 dashes of orange bitters. Pour in 1 oz. each of Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy and Rye. Add ice. Stir. Garnish with an orange twist.
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Thu, Jan 11, 2024, 12:00 PM – Sun, Jan 14, 2024, 11:59 PM
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Wed, Jan 10, 2024, 9:00 PM – Thu, Jan 11, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Wende: The Promise
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY & SATURDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 10 – 11 & 13 – 14, 2024
9:00 PM WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY & SATURDAY
4:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
PROTOYPE Festival
HERE
145 6th Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Soho, Manhattan
$40-$155
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Wende is a Dutch singer-songwriter who started out doing Cabaret/Easy Listening and then thankfully for all involved morphed into more Pure Pop For Now People. If she wants to write a song cycle with Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s sister about The Human Condition or something, I’m not gonna stop her.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Raoul’s luncheonette, Revelie.
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Wed, Jan 10, 2024, 8:30 PM – Sun, Jan 14, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
John Jarboe: Rose: You Are Who You Eat
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 10 – 14, 2024 (continuing through JANUARY 20)
8:30 PM WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY
3:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Under the Radar
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$35; $30 students/seniors/trans
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A few years ago, Bearded Ladies Cabaret founder John Jarboe’s aunt told him that the reason he is gay, to her mind, is because while in the womb he ate a female fetal twin who was to have been named Rose (the first Jarboe had ever heard about that). This piece ensued.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Vegan Soul Food sounds like an absurdity. But people who’ve eaten at Cadence sure don’t think so.
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Wed, Jan 10, 2024, 8:30 PM – Sat, Jan 13, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Stone Residencies: David Mirarchi
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 10 – 13, 2024
8:30 PM
The Stone
Glass Box Theater, The New School
55 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Saxophonist David Mirarchi plays (very well) all over town all the time. So it’s not so much the chance to hear him that’s welcome, but the chance to hear him in so many different interesting contexts.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: No one better to take over the old Café Loup space than NYC Front of House vet Michael Cechhi-Azzolina with his American Bistro Cecchi’s.
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Wednesday, January 10, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sam Weinberg Trio / Wendy Eisenberg / Andrew Smiley
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2024
8:00 PM
Sisters
900 Fulton Street, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$10-$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Saxophonist Sam Weinberg begins a year-long residency with a set by his jazz trio and solo sets by two guitarists: Wendy Eisenberg, whom Listers must be tired of reading about by now (but not of hearing), and Andrew Smiley, who ought to get mentioned here.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can eat and drink perfectly well at Sisters.
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Wed, Jan 10, 2024, 8:00 PM – Sun, Jan 14, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Motus: Of the Nightingale I Envy the Fate
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 10 – 14, 2024 (continuing through JANUARY 15)
8:00 PM WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY
1:30 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Under the Radar
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$35; $30 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Italy’s searing Motus collective retells the Cassandra myth.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Way overperforming pub grub at Sidney’s Five.
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Wednesday, January 10, 2024, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Wed, Jan 10, 2024, 8:00 PM – Sun, Jan 14, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Winter Jazzfest
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 10 – 14, 2024 (continuing through JANUARY 18)
Various times
Various locations, Manhattan & Brooklyn
Various prices for individual shows
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This massive jazz festival, with shows throughout Manhattan and in Brooklyn, is back and as awesome as ever. Special mention must be made of the Marathons, Friday in Manhattan and Saturday in Brooklyn, where all-access tickets permit you to pop among venues. And just look at Sunday night’s line-up at Nublu!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It’s like all over the place.
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Wed, Jan 10, 2024, 8:00 PM – Sat, Jan 13, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Marissa Joyce Stamps: Being Up in Here and All the Other Businesses that Don't Concern You OR When You See a Buncha Black People Running, What Do You Do?
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 10 – 13, 2024
8:00 PM WEDNESDAY – FRIDAY
2:00 & 7:00 PM SATURDAY
Exponential Festival
The Brick
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$22-$52
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Black folks running with Magic Sneakers. But how far away from the familiar do they want to run?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It would be nice if you could get into the neo-Cantonese-American sensation Bonnie’s — especially since you get to walk past the Manhattan Special factory on the way.
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Wed, Jan 10, 2024, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jan 14, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Krymov Lab NYC: Pushkin “Eugene Onegin” in Our Own Words
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 10 – 14, 2024 (continuing through JANUARY 21)
7:30 PM WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
Under the Radar
BRIC House
647 Fulton Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$52.11-$67.93
TICKETS + INFORMATION
What place is there for Russian culture in the world, given the current state of Russia? Well might a great Russian artist self-exiled to New York City like Dmitri Krymov ask. (Wonder where great U.S. artists will be going after November?)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Rockwell Place is an excellent, though relatively unheralded, cocktail bar.
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Wed, Jan 10, 2024, 7:30 PM – Sat, Jan 13, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Yu Murai & Kaimaku Pennant Race: Hamlet | Toilet
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 10 – 13, 2024
7:30 PM WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY
2:30 PM SATURDAY
Under the Radar
Japan Society
333 East 47th Street, Turtle Bay, Manhattan
$37; $30 persons with disability
TICKETS + INFORMATION
If you thought that all Hamlet needed to be really good was more potty humor (there’s already the joke about “country matters”), Yu Marai and Kaimaku Pennant Race have your back.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Am I going to be predictable and send you for hidden basement izakaya at Sakagura? You bet!
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Wed, Jan 10, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sun, Jan 14, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Jerry Lieblich: Mahinerator
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 10 – 14, 2024 (continuing through JANUARY 21)
7:00 PM
The Tank
312 West 36th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$38.26-$64.30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This scifi play is really about words and how powerful they are — for good or, as here, for ill. Everyone who’s seen this one-person show agrees that actor Steve Mellor is astonishing. And so, for that matter, is playwright Jerry Lieblich.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Excellent Spanish at Casa Dani.
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Wed, Jan 10, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sun, Jan 14, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER / DANCE
Luke Murphy: Volcano
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 10 – 14, 2024 (continuing through JANUARY 21)
7:00 PM WEDNESDAY – FRIDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Under the Radar
St. Ann’s Warehouse
45 Water Street, DUMBO, Brooklyn
$54
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This sci-fi piece, borrowing its structure from streamed TV series, was originally conceived as a COVID Lockdown presentation: audience members viewed the procedings from indiviual glass-enclosed booths surrounding the stage. Now, the stage is enclosed in glass, with the audience watching from raked rows of theater seats. The piece comprises four 45-minute episodes, performed serially with breaks between them. And the story of two people subject to a social experiment in space is told mainly through dance rather than text; indeed, the piece has been said to function as a history of 20th Century dance as well as a theater piece. They liked it in Ireland.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Vietnamese bistro at Em Vietnamese Bistro.
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Wed, Jan 10, 2024, 7:00 PM – Thu, Jan 11, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Heather Christian: Terce: A Practical Breviary
WEDNESDAY – THURSDAY & SATURDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 10 – 11 & 13 – 14, 2024 (continuing through JANUARY 20)
7:00 PM WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY
9:00 AM SATURDAY
3:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
PROTOTYPE Festival
Irondale
85 South Oxford Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$40-$155
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Heather Christian presents a new feminine Mass, springing from the ideas of female Medieval mystics like Hildegard (duh) and Julian of Norwich and (NOT Medieval) Robin Wall Kimmerer), sung by a community chorus of caregivers and makers. As usual with Christian, the music will be eclectic — but instead of her frequent country-folk overtones, this time the inflections will come from Gospel and Neo-Soul. And, of course, Medieval Organum. The power move is to go to the 9:00 AM performance on Saturday — the actual Terce.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Sleek Milanese at Saraghina Caffè.
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Wed, Jan 10, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sun, Jan 14, 2024, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Underground Uptown
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 10 – 14, 2024 (continuing through JANUARY 16)
7:00 PM WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, SATURDAY & SUNDAY
6:00 PM FRIDAY
3:00 PM SATURDAY
Works and Process
WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, SUTURDAY & SUNDAY: Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
FRIDAY: Lincoln Center, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$25-$61
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Dance deriving from New York vernacular styles, with a different company each night.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: From the Guggenheim, light Viennese at Café Sabarsky. At Lincoln Center, Tatiana if you can.
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Wed, Jan 10, 2024, 7:00 PM – Sun, Jan 14, 2024, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca: Searching for Goya
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 10 – 14, 2024 (continuing through JANUARY 16)
7:00 PM WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY
8:00 PM FRIDAY – SUNDAY
Second Floor Theater, 12CC
150 1st Avenue, East Village, Manhattan
$40-$70.31
TICKETS + INFORMATION
OK, let’s get hyperbolic for the New Year: Soledad Barrio is one of the greatest dancers in the world; her husband, Martín Santangelo, is a crisp if sometimes somewhat undisciplined visual imagineer. Their Noche Flamenca company produces, in New York City, Flamenco dance at least as good as anything now coming out of Spain. Their long-form works often seem to require a couple of years’ workshopping to reach fruition; this latest one, taking off on the black vision of Goya, has been through the process, and ought to be ready.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Foxface Natural is the best restaurant in New York City.
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Wed, Jan 10, 2024, 2:00 PM – Sat, Jan 13, 2024, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Cristina Pitter: ixchel (we are still here, remember this medicine)
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 10 – 13, 2024
2:00 & 7:00 PM
Exponential Festival
JACK
20 Putnam Avenue, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$22.40
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Christina Pitter presents a performance installation/ceremony exploring the process of being in a relationship with the natural world. Not that there’s much of the natural world in evidence on Putnam Avenue.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Outrageously good pub grub at Meckelberg’s.
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Tue, Jan 9, 2024, 9:00 PM – Sat, Jan 13, 2024, 11:59 PM
THEATER / PERFORMANCE
Inua Ellams: Search Party
TUESDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 9 – 13, 2024
9:00 PM TUESDAY, THURSDAY & SATURDAY
6:00 PM WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY
Under the Radar
Clark Studio Theater, Rose Building, Juilliard School
165 West 65th Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$5-$125
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Poet/playwright Inua Ellams made a big impression here with his The Half God of Rainfall over the Summer. Here, he walks onstage with a tablet containing everything he’s ever written and, taking word prompts from the audience, sees what a search comes up with.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Oysters and a Martini, then a Cadillac Burger, at P.J. Clarke.
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Tue, Jan 9, 2024, 8:00 PM – Sun, Jan 14, 2024, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Kris Davis
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 9 – 14, 2024
8:00 & 10:00 PM
Village Vanguard
178 7th Avenue South, West Village, Manhattan
$40
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One of the most Kristaline pianists in jazz. (I’ll be here all week.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Really interesting — and really delicious — Unapologetic Southern Indian at Semma.
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Tuesday, January 9, 2024, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Instrumental Underground
TUESDAY, JANUARY 9, 2024
7:30 PM
IBeam
168 7th Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$15; $10 students
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Among other things, one of the more buttoned-down bands Gían Pérez plays guitar in (that is very relative, though).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Hawaiian at Sweet Talk.
