Showing posts with label Brookfield Place. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brookfield Place. Show all posts

Friday, July 21, 2017

NYC Days 33 & 34: In Which I Get The Lowdown on Common. Ok? Go!


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LOWDOWN HUDSON MUSIC FEST 2017
If it is July and the location is Brookfield Place, it must be time for the Lowdown Hudson Music Fest.

Somewhere between 5:00 and 5:30pm, on a hot Tuesday afternoon, I stepped outside of the air-conditioned comfort of Brookfield Place to see what the weather was up to and immediately regretted my decision. In a word, the weather was Brutal. I returned in a rush to the soothing comfort of the Winter Garden, and did not leave it until around seven when the outside temperature had dropped to a more bearable level, aided by a breeze rolling in off the Hudson River to help it along.

By this time someone calling herself Lion Babe - yes, indeedy - was turning up the heat on stage with what I can only assume was the latest style in black rhythm and soul, or whatever it was she was modulating her way through. Lion Babe appears to be the latest in a long and illustrious line of gymnastic warblers who may or may not have something important to say, but I find forgettable once the song is over. In deed, minutes after she left the stage I could not recall one catchy melody or hook that might have made me want to hear more.

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However, the audience was lapping it up, and they were soon right into the hip hop beats of the main act, the man calling himself Common. I guess with a name like that there is nothing else you can do but work hard to show you are anything but common. Even my limited knowledge of this genre recalls that Common (born Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr in 1972), has been around since the early 1990s, and is one of the early practitioners of hip-hop music in New York City.

I'm sorry, but maybe I'm turning into the grumpy old man I swore I'd never be. Having come of age in the 1960s, I guess I was spoilt by so many great songwriters and singers who not only had something to say, but who also knew how to say it with a great melody line, a catchy hook, and lyrics that didn't make you blush in front of your mother (let alone your grandmother!) Maybe too, I needed to have been born in a ghetto in 1970s New York to really understand and appreciate hip hop music, and rap.

Both Lion Babe and Common, and their crews of very talented musicians drank gallons of water and poured it all out again in copious amounts of sweat, while they commanded the stage as only hard working musicians know how to do. I am not doubting their talent in the least. It's just that the genres these performers have chosen to work in consistently fails to move me. I am well aware that the fault lying at the heart of my lack of appreciation is entirely my own, and not that of the performers on stage on Tuesday night.

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OK GO
I first became aware of OK GO, like millions of other fans, via the band's first viral video for the song, Here It Goes Again, which quickly became known as 'the treadmill song'. If you've never seen it, head over to YouTube right now and take a look. You'll be happy you did. The group has gone on to make even more complicated one-take music videos that seemingly defy the imagination, and each video is more complex in terms of its planning and choreography than the previous one.

Needless to say, I was not going to pass up an opportunity to see the group performing in New York during my stay, especially since the show was free. As soon as the show started I realized that despite viewing their videos dozens of times on YouTube, I was totally unfamiliar with their music.

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How can this be?, I hear you ask.

After giving the matter some thought I know why. In watching the videos, I have been so engrossed in the complex visuals that I have not been focusing on the actual songs themselves. For me, the music was just the accompaniment to the visuals, and to the complicated choreography. Stripped of the visual element, I initially feared the songs might turn out to be dull and uninteresting, but I was delighted to find the songs stand up perfectly well on their own.

Of course, several of the songs were well known to me, but others, shorn of their visual elements, were truly being heard for the first time. With OK GO I was in my musical element. I was on familiar ground. Here is a genre of music I understand. Here is a group that also knows how to write great hooks with strong melodies that audience members can pick up quickly, and are able to join in on with little teaching or encouragement.

Like Lion Baby, Common, and Flint Eastwood (the opening act for the night), the four members of OK GO were pouring sweat on stage almost as fast as they could down the cold water they were consuming in an effort to remain hydrated. Like the professional musicians who preceded them, they gave their all, and the 90-minute performance has been one of the musical highlights of my trip to date.

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Tuesday 18, July | Expenses $85.53 ($111.05)
Wednesday 19, July | Expenses $16.85 ($21.15)
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Any questions, comments or suggestions? How about complaints or compliments? Let me know via the comments box below.

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

NYC Days 29 & 30: In Which I Do The Usual; Plus Week 4 Expenses

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Most days I start out with a long list of possibilities to select from for that day's events and activities, only to ignore them all and do something else entirely. At some point during my day however (if I am not ensconced comfortably in a museum somewhere), I know I am going to need to rest and regroup, preferably in a location that has food, clean restrooms, and air conditioning. And preferably away from the heat, noise, hustle and bustle and humidity of the afternoon city. I have several favorite resting spots, and I thought I would write about them today. You never now when you might be in need of one yourself. Some are perfect as afternoon havens of rest and relaxation, others less so.

BROOKFIELD PLACE
I've mentioned Brookfield Place before on this blog, and I'm sure I will do so again because I use this as my personal 'cooling center' when I am in this part of Manhattan. PROS: It has lot's of public seating, food options aplenty, clean restrooms, free WiFi, air-conditioning, great views of the Hudson River, a weekly schedule of free music and arts events, and fancy shopping options if you need them. CONS: None that I can think of.

If you are visiting the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, or One World Trade Center and need somewhere to rest and recuperate after, this is definitely the place to head to, and since it is right across the road from these hot spot visitor attractions, I'm surprised it is not packed. The fact that it isn't, suggests that most visitors don't know about Brookfield Place or its public facilities.

By the way, there is a long underground pedestrian tunnel that connects to the Oculus and the vast subway and PATH rail networks that are located there. The Oculus itself has dozens of options for shopping and eating, but no public seating apart from that provided by restaurants and cafes, which are generally reserved for paying customers.

Location: 230, Vesey Street, Manhattan.


Above and Below: Brookfield Place. A place to eat, shop, rest, and relax.


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ROCKEFELLER CENTER
PROS: Lot's of public seating, plenty of food options, restrooms, free WiFi, and air-conditioning. CONS: due to the volume of people at this location, the restrooms are generally busy and not alway in the cleanest condition. I'm sure the janitors are doing their best, but the constant flood of visitors seeking relief in the two large restrooms on the lower ground floor must make their task almost impossible. As for the views, there are none to speak of until you surface onto the plaza above.

Despite the caveats noted, this is a place where you can go to hang out for ten minutes or ten hours! I'm sure the location closes down at some point very late in the evening or in the early morning hours, but from what I have observed, as long as you are not troubling other people, you can stay as long as you want.

Location: On Fifth Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets.



Above: 30 Rock, the building that hosts the Top Of The Rock viewing experience. 



Above and Below: A towering installation from Jeff Koons entitled, Seated Ballerina.



Above: This terrace double as an ice skating rink in winter and an outdoor restaurant over the summer. 
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TIME WARNER CENTER, COLUMBUS CIRCLE
PROS: This is my 'go to' place for the cooling air-con, clean restrooms, reasonably priced sandwiches and coffee (or higher class eating if that's your thing), and fancy fashion shopping options -- although I rarely if ever shop there. In fact, I have no interest in 'fancy shopping options' whatsoever, but that's another story. CONS: My main complaint about this location is the lack of available public seating options. To put it bluntly, there are no public seating options. Like the Oculus, the only available seating is provided by restaurants and cafes to paying customers. Out of interest, on its website, the Center claims to have "A prestigious collection of the largest Michelin-starred restaurants under one roof..." So if you are planning on eating a fancy meal there, make sure your credit card is well primed.

Personally, I think the owners of this building are doing the least possible to fulfill the requirements of their contract with the city. Often, agreements with city authorities to build massive skyscrapers such as the Time Warner Center come with stipulations for accommodating the public in some way. The owners are certainly doing this, but it is clear they don't want Joe Public hanging around, cluttering up the open spaces in their building -- especially if they are not there to spend their money. I go here for the sandwiches and coffee from the Bouchon Bakery Take-Out (not Michelin-starred!), and the restrooms, and for a much appreciated cooling break from the humidity, but that's about it. This is not a place to linger at.


I'm sorry, but I give up! I've been trying for far too long to load some images of the Time Warner Center in this slot, but I suspect a combination of aging iPad 2 and less than user friendly Blogger software has tested my patience to the effing limit, and I give up!

So instead I have loaded three other images: above is the delicious Juiciest Lucy Inside Out burger (I'm sure it's called something like that!), which I had at A.G. Kitchen at 269 Columbus Avenue, Manhattan. Well worth the USD$17.00 cost.

  Above: The Solders' and Sailors' Monument located at 89th Street and Riverside Drive in Riverside Park (on the Upper West Side).

And below, the scariest woman I have encountered so far on this trip! She resides in the Met Museum, and is not someone you'd want to bump into after the lights go out! You have been warned.

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ONGOING WEEKLY EXPENSES
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Museum Memberships $19.15 ($25.15)
AT&T SIM card $13.60 ($17.85)
MTA Pass $28.00 ($36.80)
Accommodation $152.00 ($200.00)
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Total Ongoing: US$212.75 (AU$279.80)
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ADDITIONAL DAILY EXPENSES
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Sunday 9, July | Expenses $32.50 ($42.80)
Monday 10, July | Expenses $118.65 ($157.10)
Tuesday 11, July | Expenses $78.00 ($101.30)
Wednesday, July 12 | Expenses $30.75 ($40.05)
Thursday, July 13| Expenses $47.65 ($61.00)
Friday, July 14 | Expenses $37.75 ($48.25)
Saturday 15, July | Expenses $30.00 ($38.30)
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Total Daily Expenses: US$375.30 | AU$488.80
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TOTAL EXPENSES WEEK 4: US$588.05 (AU$768.60)

*Figures in brackets are Australian dollar amounts.

Monday, July 10, 2017

NYC Day 22: A Day On The Lam


My first stop of the day was the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe at 126, Crosby Street. Unfortunately, the store is located in what I consider to be an out of way location that is not easy to reach -- at least when coming from Washington Heights by subway. The store is having a  30% off New York City related books and of course I was keen to see what they had to offer. Frankly, I was very disappointed. I expected to find dozens of books relating to New York City waiting to be consumed by eager readers. Instead I saw a couple of tables each holding a dozen or so mostly obscure books.

To be sure the bookcase set aside for books about New York was standing in the same place, and that had several dozen more books lined up on its shelves, but the much anticipated glut of titles that I was hoping for simply did not exist. Did I say already how much I was disappointed?

To my surprise, I saw what I can only assume to be the very same copy of the collected editions of New Yorker magazine that I had contemplated buying last year still on the top shelf of that bookcase. The editions are contained on a set of four CDs -- or were they DVDs? Anyway, there is was. Maybe it is my destiny to purchase it this time around.

In the end I bought three non-New York titles: What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, by Raymond Carver; Lost In The City, by Edward P. Jones (who is also the author of The Known World); and The March, by E.L. Doctorow. Both the Carver and Jones books are collections of short stories. I started the Carver collection on the train ride home, and was immediately delighted with my purchase. Initially I had thought I might return the book to Housing Works once I finish it, but now I might just have to take it back to Australia with me.

The massive atrium at Brookfield Place

Towers of glass and steel at Brookfield Place

Having decided to make my way to Brookfield Place after visiting the bookstore, I came up for air out of the subway near City Hall. As I walked by City Hall Park, I glanced to my left and looked towards the Brooklyn Bridge. Let me tell you, if I thought the Museum of Modern Art was crowded on Friday night, it turns out that it was nothing compared with the crush of people packed onto the narrow pedestrian walkway across the bridge. Man, it looked like they were shoulder to shoulder, and bumper to bumper from Manhattan all the way to Brooklyn! I don't think I will be walking the Brooklyn Bridge anytime soon. If I do, I think I will leave it until September when most of the summer tourist rush will be over. Mind you, I have made that walk numerous times on previous visits so I am in no rush to do so again -- at least not while there are thousands of other visitors doing so at the same time.

I spent several hours in the vacinity of Brookfield Place relaxing and taking in the views across the Hudson River of the New Jersey skyline. The cool breeze coming off the river was also a good reason to be sitting on a bench watching cruise boats, sailing craft, local ferries, jet ski riders, and private boat operators coming and going in an endless stream of activity. But the life of the river is not all fun and games. Keen watchers will also see the water police monitoring the activities of recreational water craft, and then there are the working tug boats pushing barges upriver (or down river) at the turn of the tides.

Looking forward to the OK GO gig in particular.

This plaza is made for partying and relaxing.

I wish I had access to photos from my first visit to New York in 2008 so that I could add them to this blog for comparison. The rise and rise of tall buildings along the New Jersey shoreline continues apace, and there is no reason to think that the proliferation of ever higher construction is going to stop anytime soon. After all, why should the skyscrapers on Manhattan be the only ones dominating the skyline along the river? And I bet an apartment in a New Jersey tower can be had for a lot less than one in a Manhattan complex. Not only that, but I also think the view of the Manhattan skyline from New Jersey is a lot more interesting than the view of the New Jersey skyline from Manhattan.

Week Three Expenses (Figures in brackets are Australian dollar amounts)
Museum Memberships $19.15 ($25.15)
AT&T SIM card $13.60 ($17.85) | Ongoing weekly
MTA Pass $28.00 ($36.80) | expenses $212.75 ($279.80)
Accommodation $152.00 ($200.00) |
Sunday, July 2 | Expenses $144.80 ($193.30)
Monday, July 3 | Expenses $15.00 ($19.75)
Tuesday, July 4 | Expenses $38.00 ($49.85)
Wednesday, July 5 | Expenses $19.00 ($25.00)
Thursday, July 6| Expenses $78.00 ($102.90)
Friday, July 7 | Expenses $22.00 ($29.00)
Saturday, July 8| Expenses $60.60 ($79.65)
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TOTAL: USD$590.15 | AUD$779.25
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Saturday, June 3, 2017

NYC Round-Up #6: Northside Fest, NYC Stories, New Ferries, 'Manahatta'

 
 Northside Festival 2017
One week every June, over 100,000 creative and cultural trendsetters converge in Brooklyn to uncover the future of music, innovation, and content with over 300 bands, 150 speakers, and 100 content creators.

The Northside Festival encompasses a constellation of venues – small clubs, outdoor spaces, boutique hotels, and more. A single day might include discovering your favorite band, the next big startup, or the best visual content you’ve experienced all year.

On June 10-11, Williamsburg’s main drag Bedford Avenue will transform into a public park (from Metropolitan Avenue to N 12th Street). Temporary wall units, interactive installations, and eye-popping sculptures will be staggered throughout the blocks.

Bedford Avenue is always rocking in the summertime, but never before like this! Jameson Music is proud to be showcasing promising artists on the Sine Metu Stage, bringing new sounds from across the U.S. to Northside Festival. Swing by between 2-6PM on Saturday and Sunday for performances by Jameson Music artists including Eve & The Exiles, Julia Haltigan, J-Council, HONEYHONEY, Cha Wa and Kristin Diable, plus other Northside favorites.

In addition to the installations there will be a variety of related activities to engage in and pop up parks! Artists currently participating include Nyssa Frank, Occupy Art, Chinon Maria & Maven Murals, Stickymonger & Andrea Tang, El Museo de Los Sures, Hiromi Niizeki, Peter Kato, Taezoo Park, J.H.S. 291 Roland Hayes & TalkingWalls Collaborative, Brooklyn Draw Jam, and Shoe String Press.

More information
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New York Stories
New York City is teeming with tales! In every window, around every corner, in every dark alley or sun-filled park or dusty corner store, something is happening. I loved the way the latest New York Times Magazine has taken ten news articles from the paper’s extensive archives into turned them into illustrated stories, or comics.

The magazine partnered with The Times's Metro desk to tell these stories in an innovative way: Through a series of comics drawn by some of the best illustrators in the business. Dive into this year's New York issue here…
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New Ferries Take to New York Harbor
New York City’s new NYCFerry service which has now begun transporting passengers around the city’s great harbor. The service, with six lines, will eventually link Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx along the East River.

Ferries on two of those lines — the Rockaway, Queens, route and the existing East River route — are up and running, with the South Brooklyn and Astoria routes expected to follow in August, and the Lower East Side and the Bronx routes in the summer of 2018.
A one-way trip will cost $2.75, the same as a subway ride. For $1 more, you can bring your bicycle onboard. (You can also purchase a 30-day pass.)

All routes have battery-charging stations and concession stands, and Wi-Fi is on its way, too.

The Rockaway route:
• This ferry will make three stops: Rockaway, Sunset Park and Wall Street/Pier 11.
• On weekday mornings, the earliest boat will depart Rockaway at 5:30 a.m. and Sunset Park at 6:15 to arrive at the Wall Street pier by 6:28.
• Commuting the other way? The earliest boat will depart Wall Street at 6:30 a.m. and Sunset Park at 6:45 to arrive in Rockaway by 7:27.

The East River route:
The ferry will still make stops at East 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan; Hunters Point South, Greenpoint, North and South Williamsburg and Dumbo in Brooklyn; Governors Island; and Wall Street/Pier 11 in Lower Manhattan. So what's new? There will be an additional vessel, which means more frequent service.

Check out all the routes and schedules here…
Download the NYC Ferry app to check schedules, purchase tickets, and learn more.
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Video available in online article here...
The Sounds of ‘Mannahatta’

At Left: Collect Pond Park in 1609. Collect Pond Park at Lafayette and Franklin Streets was once a five-acre basin in the 1600s, as shown in “Calling Thunder: The Unsung History of Manhattan.” By DAVID AL-IBRAHIM and BILL MCQUAY. Publish Date: April 25, 2017. 

Photo by LEFT: Markley Boyer/The Mannahatta Project/Wildlife Conservation Society; RIGHT: Stephen Amiaga/Wildlife Conservation Society.

It seems that visitors to New York have been complaining about the level of noise for a long time. Writing for the New York Times, JIM DWYER  notes that in 1748, a Swedish-Finnish naturalist, Peter Kalm, complained about the nightly chorus of the Manhattan’s frogs, writing, “They frequently make such a noise that it is difficult for a person to make himself heard.” 

So vibrant was natural life in New York before European settlement, the city could have become “the crowning glory of American national parks,” Eric W. Sanderson of the Wildlife Conservation Society wrote in “Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City.”

Even today, Dr. Sanderson said in an interview, our modern eyes can glimpse remnants of the landscape of 1609, when Henry Hudson sailed into the harbor, at places like Jamaica Bay, Inwood Hill Park and Pelham Bay Park.

“What you can’t ever find is the sound of what it was like,” Dr. Sanderson said.
Until, perhaps, now.



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Summer In The City
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The official New York City visitors site, NYCgo should be at the top of everyone’s list of websites when researching things to do—not just over the summer, but all year round. Here is a sampling of some of the summer concerts, movies and theatre events on offer, the vast majority of which are completely free:

Free Summer Movies…
The free summer film series have already begun, but be quick, you might miss out on La La Land, Life of Pi, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Lego Batman Movie, The Big Lebowski, Blazing Saddles, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, The Muppet Movie, Logan, The Secret Life of Pets, Finding Dory, Selma, and Hidden Figures, just to name a baker’s dozen from the extensive smorgasbord on offer.


Free Summer Concerts…
You can hear live music of all kinds across the City without spending a dime. From punk on Staten Island, to indie rock on the Manhattan waterfront; from classy nights outdoors with the Metropolitan Opera, to a diverse lineup of jazz and world music at SummerStage and Celebrate Brooklyn!, there is surely something for everyone.

Free Concert Seasons

Brookfield Place Events

Not Only, But Also…

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

New York City Arts Round-Up #2

I have often wondered, as I wandered around many an art gallery’s modern art wing, how it was that curators of exhibitions could tell which way was the right way to hang paintings that had no obvious clues to their orientation. Should they be hung vertically or horizontally? In the video embedded below, MoMA curator Sarah Meister and master framer Peter Perez analyze several photographs by Brazilian artist Gertrudes Altschul to determine how they should be oriented for the upcoming exhibition Making Space: Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction.

The exhibition (April 15—August13, 2017), shines a spotlight on the stunning achievements of women artists between the end of World War Two (1945), and the start of the Feminist movement (around 1968). Learn more here.


For MoMA’s latest videos, and invitations to live events Subscribe here…
Explore MoMA’s collection online…

Plan your visit in-person…
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Judith Leiber: Crafting a New York Story
Now through August 6, 2017
Museum of Arts and Design
2 Columbus Circle, Manhattan.

Judith Leiber’s jeweled, embellished and patterned clutches are the subject of this exhibition, which highlights Leiber’s skillfully crafted handbags. These works of art are influenced by both art deco style and techniques Leiber learned in Europe. Her bags are known for their boundary-pushing qualities from Swarovski crystal–covered pieces to those made with fabrics and material from India, Asia and Africa. Read more here…

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The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s
Now through August 20, 2017
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
2 E. 91st St., Manhattan.

In the 1920s American style of dress came to define the jazz era. This is the first major museum exhibition to focus on American taste during the creative explosion of the 1920s. The Jazz Age will be a multi-media experience of more than 400  examples of interior design, industrial design, decorative art, jewelry, fashion, architecture, music, and film. Giving full expression to the decade’s diversity and dynamism, The Jazz Age will define the American spirit of the period. Read more here…

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Storming the Gate (detail). Elizabeth Mateer and Alexander Peters


Dancers Among Us: A Celebration Of Joy In The Everyday
Now through May 5, 2017. Free to attend.
Brookfield Place, Level 2.
230 Vesey Street, Manhattan.

Jordan Matter’s Dancers Among Us presents one thrilling photograph after another of dancers leaping, spinning, lifting, kicking—but in the midst of daily life: on the beach, at a construction site, in a library, a restaurant, a park. With each image the viewer feels buoyed up, eager to see the next bit of magic. Organized around themes of work, play, love, exploration, dreaming, and more, Dancers Among Us celebrates life in a way that’s fresh, surprising, original, universal. There’s no photoshopping here, no trampolines, no gimmicks, no tricks. Just a photographer, his vision, and the serendipity of what happens when the shutter clicks. The exhibition at Brookfield Place (230 Vesey Shops, 2nd level) features twenty large-scale aluminum and vinyl prints, and an incredible video compilation of behind-the-scenes film.

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Not Only — But Also…

Best April Events in New York City From NYCGO
Along with the first real taste of spring, April in New York City means the return of Mets and Yankees baseball, the Tribeca Film Festival and premieres courtesy of Dance Theatre of Harlem, Ballet Hispanico and the New York City Ballet. New art exhibitions celebrate the photography of Irving Penn and Henri Cartier-Bresson and the colorful blown-glass creations of Dale Chihuly. For details on these happenings and many more, read on…

More April Events From the Village Voice
Since it is impossible for one website to list every conceivable event in New York City, here are more listings from the Village Voice… 
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