New York Events - New York Entertainment Guide

Recommended Events
Philip Glass & Van Dyke Parks Music Hall of Williamsburg : 8:00 p.m. May 19
Big Sur’s Henry Miller Memorial Library heads east to mark the nine years its writerly namesake lived at 992 Driggs in Williamsburg—“The ideal street for a boy, a lover, a maniac, a drunkard”—with a counterintuitively terrific double bill of Philip Glass and Van... More >>
Brooklyn	Music

Liars Brooklyn Masonic Temple : 8:00 p.m. May 19
Rock anarchists Liars' greatest asset is their distractibility. In the years since they jumped on music fans' radar by jumping on the Brooklyn post-punk bandwagon (or did they?), they've experimented with no wave, queasy-sounding art rock, post-Zappa discord and most recently (on last year's... More >>
Brooklyn	Music

Angel Olsen+Magmana+Steve Gunn The Glasslands Gallery : 8:30 p.m. May 19
This Chicago-by-way-of-St.Louis folk singer lives up to the pairing in her name, both decidedly heavenly and remarkably plain. Simple as soil, Angel Olsen's songs are distinguished by her possessed, tortured, heavenly voice—at times a tool in her poetess repertoire, most often a force in... More >>
Brooklyn	Music

My Dirty Dumb Eyes PowerHouse Arena : 7:00 p.m. May 20
Did you know that Mario Batali’s Crocs can double as pasta-makers? Or that Anna Wintour takes power naps in a Louis Vuitton trunk? Or that Martha Stewart hot-glues dildos to her oven knobs when she’s drunk? OK, OK, none of that is true (that we know of). Rather, these hilarious... More >>
Brooklyn	Literary Events, Comedy

Kevin Dozier Metropolitan Room : 9:30 p.m. May 20
One of the classiest singers on offer these days, Dozier has lifted his once appealingly diffident delivery into a stronger and punchier baritone. The excuse for this appearance is the release of his new Love’s Never Lost CD, on which the man shows good taste by muscularly crooning... More >>
Flatiron	Music

Mademoiselle Bam Rose Cinemas : 4:30 p.m. May 21
In Tony Richardson’s Mademoiselle, a stony-jawed Jeanne Moreau tenderly lifts the eggs from a bird’s nest, only to crush them in her fist—just because. And that’s not all. She also flings open floodgates, poisons the water supply, and indulges in large-scale arson. Based... More >>
Fort Greene	Film - Repertory & Special Screenings

Taylor Mac Joe's Pub : 7:00 p.m. May 21
The joyously flamboyant Brechtian who starred in the Foundry's Good Person of Szechwan (returning to the Public this fall, fwiw) has been workshopping pieces of his forthcoming "24-Hour History of Popular Music," with tonight dedicated to the sounds of the 1780s. Toss your tricorner hat up in... More >>
East Village	Music

Majical Cloudz+Gobby The Glasslands Gallery : 8:30 p.m. May 21
With a name like Majical Cloudz, you go in expecting horizon-leveling psychedelic hijinx, cocks on socks, general mayhem. Then you actually get a whiff of what Devon Welsh and Matthew Otto cook up in Montreal, and it's of a distinctly more intimate nature: high-impact atmospheric minimalism... More >>
Brooklyn	Music

of Montreal+Wild Moccasins Music Hall of Williamsburg : 9:00 p.m. May 22
Once upon a time of Montreal was a psychedelic twee pop band with Beatles-inspired melodies. Over the years, however, frontman Kevin Barnes has repeatedly flipped the script both on the band’s sound—from whimsical vaudeville to coquettish glam funk—and his own... More >>
Brooklyn	Music

Friend Roulette+EULA+Matty Fasano The Mercury Lounge : 9:00 p.m. May 23
This Brooklyn six-piece make orchestral, sweeping compositions sound as simple as lullabies. Chamber pop riddled with baroque elements and unlikely rhythms, their sonics swing from ghostly croons straight into robotic bleeps. Throughout it all—strings, brass, two drummers and two... More >>
Lower East Side	Music

Medeski, Mali, Mercurio, & Moore Le Poisson Rouge : 10:30 p.m. May 23
Medeski Martin & Wood's sci-fi keyboard traditionalist John Medeski, 7 Walkers' gris-gris growler Papa Mali, and Galactic's rhythm section—Robert Mercurio (bass) and Stanton Moore (drums)—are the M&Ms. The promising New Orleans-oriented supergroup is heralding its debut gigs with the... More >>
Greenwich Village	Music

Mariah Carey Central Park, Rumsey Playfield : 7:00 a.m. May 24
Is it that Mariah Carey's abnormally lucky, or that she's got a career mojo that just won't quit? Neither, I'd argue: Her career longevity is directly connected to her collaborative savvy, ability to nimbly surf pop trends, and the best cosmologists and stylists Daydream royalties can buy. Even... More >>
West 70s	Music

B.A.L.L.+The Upper Crust+Lord Classic+New York Junk Bowery Electric : 7:30 p.m. May 25
As surreal and potentially volatile a reunion as you'll stumble upon this year, B.A.L.L. was the troubled and troubling late '80s slop-rock assemblage of the Velvet Monkey's Don Fleming and Jay Spiegal, Shimmy Disc proprietor-bassist Kramer, and Bongwater drummer David Licht. Original Sonic... More >>
Noho	Music

Robert Fripp and the Orchestra of Crafty Guitarists St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery : 4:00 p.m. May 26
And you thought Amanda Palmer was ambitious. Guitarists versed in meditation and the Fripp's Guitar Craft technique will pay $1000 for the privilege of training with and performing alongside the King Crimson leader during a few East Coast gigs. The fee includes room, board, transportation, and... More >>
East Village	Music

The Shins+Man Man Williamsburg Park : 5:30 p.m. May 26
“This song will change your life,” said Natalie Portman's Sam to Zach Braff's Andrew as she played “New Slang” for him in 2004's quintessential indie classic Garden State. A more accurate statement would've been that Sam and Andrew would change the Shins' lives, as a... More >>
Williamsburg	Music

Laura Marling Roulette Brooklyn : 8:00 p.m. May 28
Laura Marling rose to fame in her teenage years, and after working with indie darlings Noah and the Whale, her debut solo full-length garnered a nomination for England's coveted Mercury Prize. Now, embarking on tour in support of her fourth, Marling is barely 23 but feels like a scion in the... More >>
Park Slope	Music

Fleetwood Mac Nikon at Jones Beach Theater : 8:00 p.m. June 22
Sure, Fleetwood Mac recently reissued their 1977 mega-hit album Rumours in hundred-dollar deluxe configurations with T-shirts and posters and a couple droplets of the witch juju Stevie Nicks used to withstand the rise of punk. And sure, the Big Mac has served up over 100 million LPs in sales... More >>
Allerton	Music

Here Lies Love Public Theater : Every Mon., Tue., Wed., Thu., Fri., Sat., Sun. until May 19
If the shoe-obsessed Filipina First Lady Imelda Marcos were able to attend David Byrne and Fatboy Slim’s new musical about her life titled Here Lies Love, she’d probably wear fancy high heels for the occasion. But, for the rest of us, comfortable footwear will be more practical as... More >>
Greenwich Village	Theater

The Gil Evans Project Jazz Standard : 7:30 p.m. daily until May 19
Ryan Truesdell's disc of previously unrecorded Gil Evans arrangements floored most of those who heard it and was recently named "Record of the Year" by the Jazz Journalists Association. A scholar whose approach to music has lots of heart, the young conductor breathes new life into classic Gil... More >>
Murray Hill	Music

Noah Preminger Jazz Standard : 7:30 p.m. daily from May 21 until May 22
The young tenor titan gigged a lot before hitting the studio to cut the new Haymaker, and that preparation shows: There's an easy balance between Preminger's horn and guitarist Ben Monder's unusually fluid attack strategies, and it gives everything else extra poise and additional punch. On... More >>
Murray Hill	Music

Chuck Close Photo Maquettes Eykyn Maclean : 10:00 a.m. every Tue., Wed., Thu., Fri., Sat. until May 24
How does Chuck Close make his paintings look like photos? See for yourself at “Chuck Close Photo Maquettes,” a new exhibition that gives a behind-the-scenes look into his process with a display of more than 20 photo maquettes—primarily large-format Polaroids that he draws a... More >>
East 50s	Photography, Arts, Art - Galleries

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Beacon Theatre : 8:00 p.m. May 20; 8:00 p.m. May 21; 8:00 p.m. May 23; 8:00 p.m. May 25; 8:00 p.m. May 26
You know who Tom Petty is. What you might not know is that he made appearances on both The Simpsons and King of the Hill. Having penned and performed countless breakthrough singles, Petty could have called it quits a long time ago if it weren’t for his dedication to proving rock &... More >>
West 70s	Music

Reasons to Be Happy Lucille Lortel Theatre : 8:00 p.m. every Tue., Wed., Thu., Fri., Sat., Sun. until June 11
Reasons to Be Happy may be the name of writer-director Neil LaBute’s latest play, but it seems that his characters are having a hard time coming up with any. Steph and Greg are thinking about getting back together after their bad break-up three years earlier, but there is a major catch:... More >>
West Village	Theater

The Big Knife American Airlines Theatre : 8:00 p.m. every Tue., Wed., Thu., Fri., Sat. until June 2; 2:00 p.m. every Wed., Sat., Sun. until June 2
Charlie Castle in Clifford Odets’s The Big Knife would seem to have it all—a successful Hollywood acting career, a big house, and a beautiful wife. But all is not well. His wife (Marin Ireland) is threatening to leave him, the almighty studio bosses own him, and a starlet is poised... More >>
West 40s	Theater, Broadway: Now Playing

El Anatsui Brooklyn Museum : 11:00 a.m. every Wed., Thu., Fri., Sat., Sun. until August 4
For years, the Nigerian artist El Anatsui was highly regarded for his abstract wood sculptures. But he didn’t really receive the acclaim he deserved in the mainstream until he showed his elegant metal tapestries made from flattened aluminum bottle tops at the Venice Biennale in 2007.... More >>
Prospect Heights	Arts, Art - Museums