Events

Following on a previous post, it occurs to me that we should figure out what's on in NYC the week we are there. The following is from an Events page - it's suspiciously short, given it's a city with a bazillion residents, you'd think there would be more going on in the spring...

Ladies and Gentleman, we may be able to attend the New York Dachshund Festival. OOOoooo SQUEEEE! This makes our visit even more worthwhile. Really. OH! And S&P, we could take in the Fertility and Adoption conference... because that's what two women in their late 20s wanted to do with their vacation to New York. Really.

All kidding aside, I'm hoping we get to the International Food Festival and the Washington Square Public Art Exhibit. If anyone out there has access to a more complete look at public events coming up in NYC in May, please let us know by leaving a comment. Thanks!

May

• Great Five Boro Bike Tour
• As the nation’s largest cycling event, the Great Five Boro Bike Tour attracts some 30,000 competitors to weave through the five boroughs on a 42-mile course. For more information, call (212) 932-0778.
• New York Jets Taste of the NFL Benefit
• The New York Jets sponsors an annual dinner in early May each year hosted by local 5-star restaurants, where guests can meet past and present football legends and participate in a silent auction, with proceeds benefiting programs that fight hunger. The specific restaurant venue may vary from year to year. Call (212) 485-8050 for more information.
• Ninth Avenue International Food Festival
• May transforms portions of Ninth Avenue from 37th to 5th street into one of New York's best street fairs. Call (212) 581-7217 for more information.
• Artists for the African Rainforest
• Celebrating a night for artists as well as Africa, the $500 per person fundraiser benefits men, women, and children of the Eastern Arc Mountains. Awards to activists are also announced. Call (212) 431-5508 for more information.
• Family Matters: National Fertility and Adoption Conference
• Hosted by the American Fertility Association, Family Matters: The National Fertility and Adoption Conference is the largest annual event of its kind. More than three dozen workshops are led by top physicians and healthcare professionals, providing fresh perspective on in vitro fertilization (IVF), female and male factor infertility, ovum donation, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), blastocyst transfer, alternative medicine, urology, adoption issues, and more. An exhibit hall features IVF programs, egg donor-surrogacy programs, urologists, and others. Meet face-to-face, ask, and learn. Call (212) 714-3537 for more information.
• Spring Dachshund Festival
• Every May, Washington Square Park hosts a party for Dachshunds and their owners, sponsored by the Dachshund Friendship Club. Call (212) 475-5512 for more information.
• Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit
• For more than 70 years, the Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit has featured some 250 artists in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. Call (212) 982-6255 for more information.
• Art & Literacy Street Fair
• Maria Hernandez Park hosts a procession of children singing and dancing around the park at this street fair sponsored by the Coalition for Hispanic Family Services Arts and Literacy Program. Call (718) 497-6090 for more information.

However - I seem to have hit a sort of paydirt with Google Calendar - which the New York Parks and Recreation department uses to post all public events scheduled in its parks. Lucky us, it's so packed with events it's hard to read!

New York Minute: Art, Hula Hoops and Public Exhibitions

I'm re-naming the just-named "New York Reminder of the Day" to New York Minute.

Because I'm cliche'd like that - and maybe slightly nostalgic for the pre-anorexia-drugs-and-rock-and-roll teen extravaganza film by the-olsen-twins-turned-mary-kate-and-ashley , New York Minute, in which MK&A take over manhattan pretending to be real grown-ups. Or I'm just being ironic. Don't ya think?

In any case, I came across this on the innertoobs and thought it was a perfect New York Minute:

Storefront opens Hula-hoop dome

New York’s iconoclastic Storefront for Art and Architecture is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a 26-day sequence of nightly events taking place beneath a lighted dome constructed out of white hula hoops. Built in Petrosino Park, a tiny sliver of green sandwiched between Soho and Little Italy, adjacent to the Storefront’s Kenmare Street location, the pavilion was designed by Korean architect Minsuk Cho and from a distance looks as if the moon has suddenly made a guest appearance in Manhattan.

I confess that after I got all excited about posting this, I realized the date on it was 2007, so the 25th anniversary they speak of is now a 27th anniversary and likely to not inspire construction of an outdoor geodesic dome made of lit hula hoops. Undaunted, I say - this is one of the things I'm looking forward to the most for our visit to NYC in the spring - we will be there at a ripe time for outdoor exhibitions, displays, performances, and architecture (arguably, most of architecture is outdoors, no?), and hopefully at just the right time for great weather.

I envision strolling through central park, stopping to admire some street artist's work, going to the craft and veggie markets on the Wednesday and Saturday, and finding the out-of-the-way galleries that do crazy things like this.

New York - I expect thee to surprise me. Do not disappoint!


(Just for fun, here's a clip of the aforementioned New York Minute featuring La MK&A. Enjoy - don't deny it. I know you will.)

New York Reminder of the Day: The Guggenheim

** Reminder of the day is a feature in which we obsessively document the daily reminders of our upcoming trip to New York. Enjoy the minutiae!

J was reading National Geographic today (because that's what she's like, folks. She reads National Geographic.) and we noticed a small article and photo of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, better known as the Guggenheim - one of New York's famed museums.

The Goog, as I have decided to call it, is famed from roles in recent movies such as
The International (in which it was the location for a massive, 20-minute-long shootout starring the luscious Clive Owen), and as the site of an extra-terrestrial manhunt by the slightly less luscious Will Smith in Men in Black. It was opened by Solomon R. Guggenheim as a permanent home for modern, contemporary and post-impressionist works of art. The Building itself is also a work of art whose spiral design done by Frank Lloyd Wright is recognizable by people around the world.

Coincidentally, there are also some important pieces of art and culture in this museum, collections by Cezanne, Gauguin, Picasso, Monet, among others. See current collections.

What I would love to do is go to one of their Art After Dark parties, taking place on the first friday of the month, mixing fashionable people, fashionable art, drinks, and the best DJs and town. Sounds like a rave for the young intelligentsia.... perfect for J and J. However - sadly, this event is over until the fall. ARG!