Good afternoon, this is W42ST Lifestyle Editor Sarah Beling with “Make Way For The Weekend” — your curated guide to the best of New York events in one convenient newsletter!
While sometimes it feels like we live in an algorithm-fueled matrix (why do I keep getting ads for hyper-specific-yet-nonsensical-T-shirts that say stuff like “I’m an Eldest Daughter Living in New York City Who Loves Pizza With A Grandma Who Loves Me” et al!!!), I’ll counter that the recent pop-up promo appearances from Bad Bunny jamming with Jimmy Fallon in the Rockefeller Center BDFM station and the cast of Severance at Grand Central (complete with director Ben Stiller filming them like a proud parent at the dance recital) fully charmed me. LOOKS LIKE I’M ANOTHER BRAINWASHED SHEEPLE LMAO but in all seriousness let’s have more truly enjoyable ads and less AI slop chasing me.
Have a wonderful weekend and keep your eyes peeled — you never know where Ben Stiller will pop up next!
…when you can only think as far ahead as Monday!
👯♂️ pump up the jam
If you’ve been looking for a fitness class that’s “scene”-free and all FUN, why not high-step your way to the Museum of Arts and Design for a “fiercely noncompetitive” dance aerobics class with the LA-based dance fitness project, Pony Sweat Aerobics January 17-18. Their philosophy is “dance-in-your-bedroom-to-your-favorite-mixtape fitness classes [that] encourage anti-perfectionism and radical self-acceptance through freedom of movement and thought” — and by the way, participants are invited to dress up in glossy spandex, headbands and leg warmers inspired by the decade’s classic workout gear. WHO CAN RESIST A COSTUME / NOT I!
🎤 how much time do u have
Yes, yes I am a sucker for a catchy title and boy howdy does Ask a F***boy at Caveat January 16 DELIVER. As you might expect, “Female comics present perplexing stories with men they’ve dated and a panel of ‘f***boys’ (male comedians) weighs in.” As anyone who has ever dated in New York City/dated other performers can tell you, this is a concept that could enjoy an unlimited run.
🎭 tune up and tune in
Make your way to 59E59 for the premiere of Radio Downtown now through February 9 a new theater piece culled from the archival interviews of WNYC’s Arts Forum, “a 1970s radically open format radio show about avant garde artists” where performers channel the likes of Harry Smith, Yvonne Rainer and Kenneth Anger and invite the audience “to see a future as imagined by these ’70s trailblazers — an erasure of the line between art & audience; a cultural community that embraces political activism; and an abundant, wild, and fully democratic creative life for America.” Hmmmmmmm given the state of *gestures around* I’m INTRIGUED.
🖼️ what makes new york, well, new york
Curious about the history of graffiti in the city? The Museum of the City of New York’s Above Ground: Art from the Martin Wong Graffiti Collection showing now through August “provides a window into a vibrant subculture of young creators and highlights previously unseen treasures from the Museum’s major collection of graffiti-based art,” featuring more than 300 works in aerosol, ink and other mediums by seminal street art figures like Rammellzee, Lee Quiñones, Lady Pink and Futura 2000.
NY♥️LA
There is no (friendly!!) NY-LA rivalry without LA, so it’s no surprise that a number of wildfire relief events have popped up in the past week. You can eat at UWS Malaysian restaurant Kancil between now and March 3 to raise funds for the LA Fire Department Foundation, head to the NY♥️LA comedy show at The Bell House January 27 and boogie for a cause at the We Stand With LA dance fundraiser at C’Mon Everybody January 18.
🎞️ film festival season continues!!
I know everybody talks about summer blockbuster season but I truly feel that winter is when I feel drawn to movie theaters the most (it’s already dark outside, after all!!). If you too are on a Winter Film Festival Of Your Own Making, why not pull up to Lincoln Center for the annual New York Jewish Film Festival now through January 29, featuring a wide lineup of new features, documentaries and a 50th anniversary screening of 1975’s seminal Hester Street (with Carol Kane in a decidedly un-Kimmy Schmidt performance!!).
❓❓❓ tbd
If you’ve been looking to break up the SAMENESS of another winter (literally and metaphorically) under the T**** administration, why not pair up with another artist and make something for us all to enjoy with The Strangers Show. You can sign up to team up with a stranger (duh) now through February 3 and we will all await your creations!!
🚢 into the wild
OK considering there have been dolphin sightings in the Hudson and whales spotted in New York Harbor, I predict there will be plenty to see at Classic Harbor Line’s winter Urban Naturalist Tour now through March 2. Hop on a boat and learn about the area’s native birds and seals from hosts Gabriel Willow or Russell Jacobs!
🎞️ yes yes more awards season movie content
The Museum of the Moving Image hosts a screening of A Different Man January 17, in which noted Gossip Girl villain Sebastian Stan plays “an aspiring actor with severe facial tumors from neurofibromatosis, whose drab life consists of a revolving door of demeaning commercial shoots and unsuccessful auditions, until his physician proposes a miraculous experimental surgery that will change his life in unanticipated ways” — bonus, director Aaron Schimberg will be there in person!
🎤 another title i fell for tbh
Sitting at the “unique intersection of drag, theater, rock-and roll-cabaret and performance art,” Pig Iron Theatre Company co-founder Dito van Reigersberg brings Martha Graham Cracker to the stage at Joe’s Pub for an evening of story and songs ranging from the works of Nina Simone, Black Sabbath, Madonna and Prince in The Martha Graham Cracker Cabaret January 17-18!
…what’s happening before and just after I hit your inbox next!
🍽️some good news
The much-loved West Bank Cafe is BACK, baby, and will be open for business once more (under the operation of new owners Michael and Tom D’Angora) starting January 23!
🎤 honoring the work of mlk jr
Commemorate Martin Luther King Jr Day and honor other civil rights activists on January 20 by attending “an urgent activation conjuring artistic medicine and ancestral reinforcements” featuring work from Liza Jessie Peterson, Andrea Ambam, Dria Brown, Liza Jessie Peterson, Andrea Ambam, Zora Howard, Keith Josef Adkins, Carl Hancock Rux, Nsangou Njikam and James Anthony Tyler at Brooklyn’s Ancestral Inauguration, join together in song and spirit with Community Singing at the New York Society for Ethical Culture, catch the world-famous Harlem Gospel Choir at Sony Hall, or attend a screening of documentary Chisholm ‘72: Unbought and Unbossed at the Museum of the Moving Image!
💰 let’s go discounts!!!
If you’re resolving that THIS is the year you stick to a budget (plz help me), you should know that it’s both Restaurant Week and Broadway Week January 21- February 9. Sounds like the ideal opportunity for a thrifty-but-indulgent-dinner-and-a-show night to me!!
📚 book launch alert!
Former Hell’s Kitchen TV host Charlamagne tha God interviews author Anita Kopacz about her novel, The Wind on Her Tongue January 21 at Greenlight Books. They’ll be discussing the second in her Daughter of Three Waters fantasy trilogy set in 1870s America, in which Kopacz examines “the landscapes of racism, colorism, and classism” through a reimagining of the mythical figure of Oya.
🎶 west side fest
Head to Hell’s Kitchen’s Enoch’s Cafe for an evening of song, story and shopping (sounds ideal tbh) at The Protagonist Festival January 24, where you can browse local goods and hear performances from indie pop vocalist Elza Spear as well as songs from Daniella Faith and Maggie Monaghan, poems from Zury Lowell and stand-up comedy from Conor Janda!
…for when you need to secure those hot tickets before they sell out!!!
📚 new york nico in print
As fellow NYC-based business stans, we at W42ST salute New York Nico’s dedication to shining a light on the places that make the Big Apple something distinct from the glorified corporate strip malls of many other cities in America (yeah yeah we also have corporate chains but you know what I’m talking about/when you see a place filled with nothing but Drybar, sweetgreen and European Wax Centers it’s over lol). ANYWAY he’ll be at the Stavros Niarchos Library to discuss his new book, New York Nico’s Guide to NYC January 27 (pro tip: tickets are free but make sure you register in advance and be sure to show up really early — I made the mistake of rolling in 10 minutes before curtain at a previous NYPL event and it was oversold and I was relegated to the livestream room, aka I could have saved my $5.80 subway fare / MY OWN FAULT, NOW I KNOW IT’S A HOT TICKET!).
☎️ did you hear about hugo and kim
Did you know that a new Stanford University study said it’s good for you to gossip??? Now don’t go crazy and Bad Art Friend anyone but if you love a li’l scoop why not head to the Town Hall to hear Normal Gossip podcast host Kelsey McKinney discuss her new essay collection You Didn’t Hear This From Me (Mostly) True Notes on Gossip February 11 — doctor’s orders!!
🔥 Hot tip
If Return to Office has left you mourning the demise of Hell’s Kitchen’s Hale and Hearty, fear not — my biggest Hale and Hearty fan and friend Danielle tipped me off that its founders have opened a Schnipper’s Quality Soups on the UES that has both delivery and pick up! And while I’m not sure how far their delivery range is, I did plug in a few midtown/HK addresses and they didn’t stop me from ordering so maybe you can snag that sweet work lunch once again!!!
⚠️ Omg I forgot to tell you
Snag a fancy coat at the Winter Vintage Dream Bazaar January 19
You can still sign up for the waitlist to see the free reading of Broadway’s Ain’t No Mo (featuring much of the original cast) at the Apollo January 20
Reminder: The Morgan Library and Museum has a free admission Friday happy hour every week!
That’s it for now! Call me beep me if you want to reach me! (sarah@w42st.com)
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