APRIL 12
From Atria Books: “What happens when you take four authors from three countries and put them on a bus to visit 12 cities in 8 days? Sounds almost like a literary reality show.” Or like the driver is going to die under suspicious circumstances…. “Atria’s Great Mystery Bus Tour will kick off on Thursday, April 12 at the Mysterious Bookshop on Warren Street in Tribeca at 6:30pm. Stop by and say hello to John Connolly, William Kent Krueger, Liza Marklund, and M.J Rose who will be talking about their books and signing copies.” Want to win a complete set of books by the authors appearing? Be one of the first five people to DM @paulieolsewski on Twitter.

APRIL 12–MAY 14
“Kevin McDermott: Portraits and Landscapes” at Steven Amedee Gallery. Left: Chad.

APRIL 13–JUNE 23
At Art in General: “In Rob Carter’s solo exhibition ‘Faith in A Seed,’ miniature replicas of three 19th Century estates—Charles Darwin’s Down House, Henry David Thoreau’s cabin at Walden, and Sir John Bennet Lawes’ Rothamsted Manor—will slowly disappear, overtaken by the gardens in which they reside. The transformation will occur over the course of the five-week exhibition.”

OPENING APRIL 19
At Frontrunner Gallery: “The ChiBeCa Project [by Leah Overstreet] is a portrait series documenting twenty residents, predominantly artists and small business owners, living and working on the edge of lower Manhattan. Framed by Chinatown to the east and Tribeca to the west, the neighborhood deserves its own name: ChiBeCa. For decades participants in the arts community have inhabited ChiBeCa, one of the few areas where one can still afford a studio. This unique pocket in Manhattan reflects intermingling cultures, dedicated artistic practice, and diverse definitions of ‘making it’ in New York City.”

APRIL 20–MAY 12
“Canal Park Playhouse is thrilled to present the New York premiere of Help! Help! I Know This Title Is Long But Somebody Is Trying to Kill Me, created by and featuring Drew Richardson, with direction by Avner the Eccentric: The performers of a vaudeville variety show have been murdered–except for Drew the Dramatic Fool! Unfortunately for him, the show must go on, or he’s next. Drew attempts every act in the show, from juggling 36 balls to sawing a woman in half, in this comical examination of fears–fear of performing, fear of failure, and fear of death.” There’s a related show on at the same time called Drew the Dramatic Fool.

MAY 1–JUNE 22
Two exhibits at RH Gallery. One is “‘On Air,’ the first New York solo exhibition by Soledad Arias. Arias’ text-based work explores the slippage of meanings in the aesthetic and literary reading of texts.” The other is a group show called “Text in Progress” and it includes Stephen Andrews, Joanne Cheung, Anne-Lise Coste, Jeff Elrod, León Ferrari, Joe Hardesty, Robert Kinmont, Stephanie Lempert, Micah Lexier, Ken Nicol and Qui Zhijie. This exhibition aims to explore text-based art practices which employ language to visually consider the process of conceptualizing ideas while also presenting a pictorial investigation of language itself.”

THROUGH MAY 5
At Pablo’s Birthday: “Artists Gero & Rees have developed a Tactical Play Exchange strategy to co-create a series of artworks over the past year. These works are forms that generally begin with contextual architectural elements derived from the site of exhibition, for example, the floor plan of the gallery, or other localized features. These become the core structures or null objects that will be added to, morphed and modified in multiple iterations using 3D modeling software and physical intervention. The digital files are passed back and forth between Gero & Rees creating a networked ‘ground of play’ that will extend itself, as adaptive potentiation, finally resulting in objects that are extensive transitive structures.”

MAY 8
Pen Parentis presents three authors who have won coveted prizes in short fiction: Josh Rolnick, whose collection Pulp and Paper won the John Simmons Short Fiction Award, Christine Schutt, whose short fiction won the O. Henry, Pushcart and Mississippi Review prizes, and whose novels have been shortlisted for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer, and a return appearance by Pen Parentis favorite Anna Solomon, whose short fiction has won the Pushcart Prize twice.

MAY 9
“Chutzpah Fest” (comedy) at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.

MAY 13
Food personalities Gail Simmons, Melissa Clark (love her writing in the NYT!), and Alan Richman will be at the Museum of Jewish Heritage to discuss “Jewish foods, home cooking, and the influence of their own mothers in forming their culinary memories.”

MAY 15–19
“Seats of Fancy” at RH Gallery: “The exhibition will feature unique and limited edition stools and chairs by Fredrik Färg, Harry and Camila Studio and Katrina Vonnegut, each made by the designers with unique processes. Färg’s stools from his ‘Succession’ series are constructed with leather, wrapped in rope and baked in the oven; Vonnegut hand-knits her unique chairs and ottomans while Harry and Camila Studio’s Dr. Bubbles on the Rocks is a sculptural chair cast in aluminum inspired by volcanoes.”

THROUGH MAY 22
“Canal Park Playhouse is thrilled to announce the extension of ‘House of Ghostly Haunts,’ the weekly Spook Show created and performed by Cardone the Magician. Ghostly, ghastly fun is haunting Canal Park Playhouse as vaudeville magician Cardone takes the stage on Tuesday nights. Guillotines are dropped, razors are swallowed, and spirits are conjured in a spellbinding celebration of the strange, macabre and the fantastical. While ‘House of Ghostly Haunts’ is family-friendly, no one under age 7 is permitted. The show ends in 10 minutes of complete darkness.”

MAY 24–NOVEMBER 30
“Common Ground,” an exhibit from the Public Art Fund at City Hall Park: “Traditional public monuments and statues had a clear civic purpose, many having been commissioned to commemorate an important event, notable individual, or significant group. The artists featured in this show—Elmgreen & Dragset, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Roger Hiorns, Jenny Holzer, Matthew Day Jackson, Justin Matherly, Paul McCarthy, Amalia Pica, and Thomas Schütte—have taken this tradition of civic sculpture and expanded upon it. Developing a new civic dialogue, the show explores the reappropriation of iconography from classical sculpture; engagement with themes of the individual and society; incorporation of language, symbolism, and metaphor; and the use of non-traditional materials and performance, among other themes.”

MAY 25
92YTribeca is screening Cabin Boy, including a Q&A with Chris Elliott and Adam Resnick.

JUNE 27–JULY 25
The Museum of Jewish Heritage is screening Mel Brooks films on Wednesday nights: Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Silent Movie, High Anxiety, History of the World Part I, and To Be or Not to Be.

JULY 17
Sam Moore is at City Winery.

JULY 26
Marshall Crenshaw is at City Winery.

MARCH 27
Open studios at the Clocktower Gallery: “See the projects and meet the artists in our studios: Julie Covello aka DJ Shakey, Caroline Cox, Sabisha Friedberg, and Haroon Mirza, plus take a tour through the Canyon Candy exhibition. Free & open to the public, no entry after 7 p.m.” (It starts at 6 p.m.) I love the Clocktower Gallery but you do need instructions on how to visit, which were in a recent email but I can’t find on their website: “The Clocktower Gallery is located in a City-owned building at 108 Leonard Street between Broadway and Lafayette, so please, remember to bring your ID for security. Enter through the grey door under the scaffolding and take the elevator to the 12th Floor. Take a left, enter through the red staircase B door, and walk up to the 13th Floor. The Clocktower offices and studios are down the corridor.”

APRIL 4
I can’t quite tell, but Isabella Rossellini might be at 92YTribeca; “selected works from the Green Porno and Seduce Me series” will be shown either way. Do you think she gets to keep the costumes for her own enjoyment?

APRIL 4–MAY 5
“Flux” at Cheryl Hazan Gallery: “Cheryl Hazan Contemporary Art presents three artists who work with metal to perform a kind of alchemy or flux. With interests in science and nature—in different ways, each transforms the hardness of metal into organic forms.” The artists are Matt Devine (that’s one of his works pictured), John Ensor Parker, and Carolina Sardi.

APRIL 5–MAY 12
“Kansas is pleased to present Lost in America, a solo exhibition of new work by Sylvan Lionni. [...] Sylvan Lionni reinterprets established hierarchies and dissolves cultural hegemony through appropriative techniques which deconstruct symbolic objects and their clichés. Familar icons are illuminated by a new vocabulary that serves to charter networks of analogy between lived and imagined form.”

APRIL 5
The Good Fairy—written by Preston Sturges—is at 92YTribeca.

OPENING APRIL 10
“On April 10, 2012, the one hundredth anniversary of RMS Titanic’s launch on her maiden—and only—voyage, the South Street Seaport Museum will open ‘Titanic,’ an exhibition that examines both the disaster and a century’s worth of fascination with the ship’s dramatic story. The exhibition will feature original historic objects and documents from Titanic and her passengers, as well with interactive elements and artifacts that show how the event has been remembered and interpreted in popular culture, including production items ranging from the 1953 film Titanic starring Barbara Stanwyck through to the most current interpretation, the upcoming four-part ABC miniseries, Titanic, written by Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park) scheduled to air April 14 and 15, 2012.” None of my business, but these days Julian Fellowes might be better known these days as the man behind “Downton Abbey.”

APRIL 10
“Pen Parentis will celebrate the new works of three authors who see the world a special way: Ann Napolitano, author of the novel A Good Hard Look; Deborah Copaken Kogan, author of Shutterbabe, memoir of her time as war photographer; and Tara Altebrando/McCarthy who writes successfully for both adults and for teens. The April Pen Parentis Salon—Visionary Women will begin with networking over wine and continue with readings from new works, book signings and discussion surrounding the balance of family with a successful literary career. All Pen Parentis authors are parents” but kids are not allowed.

APRIL 12
“Daily Show” writers do stand-up comedy at 92YTribeca.

APRIL 13
From Yahoo! Sports: “The skate contest [at the Tribeca Skatepark near Pier 25] is being organized by POW!! Skateboards and it is set to take place on April 13, 2012, from noon until 3 p.m. It is a best trick contest with a delightfully wicked twist, in that those competing in the skate contest are being asked to sport a hockey mask like Jason Voorhees in the Friday the 13th horror movies. [...] Prizes will be given out to the three best skaters wearing one of the masks. Those that don’t want to wear a mask may still skate, they just won’t be eligible for the top three prizes.”

APRIL 13
Betty plays 92YTribeca.

APRIL 19–MAY 19
At Hionas Gallery: Burton Machen’s “Urban Evolution: Portrait’s Project.” That’s one at left.

APRIL 19
Jaws screens for free at the Tribeca Film Festival’s “Drive-In” at the World Financial Center: “Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors open at 6 p.m. The programs will also begin at 6 p.m., with live music at 7 p.m., and screenings starting at dusk (approximately 8:15 p.m.).” That movie ruined the ocean for me.

APRIL 20
The Goonies screens for free at the Tribeca Film Festival’s “Drive-In” at the World Financial Center. See above for admission info.

APRIL 21
Knuckleball!, a baseball documentary, screens for free at the Tribeca Film Festival’s “Drive-In” at the World Financial Center. See above for admission info.

APRIL 21
Tribeca/NYFEST Soccer Day at Pier 40: “All ages and skill levels are welcome to ‘kick it’ at Tribeca with the second annual Tribeca/NYFEST Soccer Day, which brings together celebrities, film and media professionals, and New York youth for a day filled with athleticism, learning and fun. [It] will take place on Pier 40 in Lower Manhattan. The day will include an industry soccer tournament, a celebrity soccer match, and a youth soccer showcase, including soccer clinics for NYC youth, skill demonstrations and workshops.”

APRIL 28
Tribeca Family Festival Street Fair on Greenwich Street and surrounding streets; includes the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Day.

MAY 5
“Brooklyn-based electronic duo Silent Drape Runners return to 92YTribeca to curate a night of moody, David Lynch-inspired musical oddness. First, Silent Drape Runners perform their acclaimed ‘Twin Peaks: The Beginning,’ a live-resoundtracking of the beginning to ‘Twin Peaks.’”

JULY 11–12
“Buddy Guy and Neko Case will headline the second annual Lowdown Hudson Blues Festival. This free two-day outdoor concert will take place on July 11 and 12 at the World Financial Center.” The full lineup will be at artsworldfinancialcenter.com.

FEBRUARY 23–MARCH 15
Andres Michelena’s “Content” at One Art Space.

FEBRUARY 25–MARCH 31
Melissa Brown’s “Palisades” at Kansas Gallery.

MARCH 1–31
“Mark My Words,” A group exhibit of text-based and graffiti-inspired paintings, is at Cheryl Hazan Gallery. Left: “Never” by Dan Monteavaro.

MARCH 6–APRIL 28
R 20th Century is delighted to announce the gallery’s first solo exhibition of works by Korean artist Hun-Chung Lee. This new collection reveals Lee combining materials such as stack-laminated wood, steel, concrete and glazed ceramic to create uniquely beautiful and structurally innovative designs. In the gallery cases, a collection of ceramic maquettes hand-crafted by the artist offers an engaging study of his creative process and experiments with architectural scale.

MARCH 9–APRIL 7
“Hionas Gallery is pleased to announce ‘Lend Me Your Eyes,’ the first New York solo exhibition by sculptor and ceramicist Jessica Stoller. Stoller’s sculptures range from table-top figures and busts to large scale multi-piece works. In this solo endeavor Stoller continues using clay as a vehicle to explore issues of idealized beauty, vanity and the subjugation of the female body using porcelain as her primary media, a material inextricably linked to desire, secrecy and commodification.”

MARCH 10
This go-round of John Wesley Harding’s Cabinet of Wonders at City Winery features “Meg Baird (Espers), Sloane Crosley, A.H. Homes, Sondre Lerche, Eugene Mirman and more to come.”

MARCH 13
“The Pen Parentis Literary Salon rocks out on Tuesday, March 13th with big hitters Eleanor Henderson, Myfwny Collins, and Suzzy Roche (of The Roches). [...] Wine and great conversation will flow after the readings at the Libertine at Gild Hall (a Thompson Hotel at 15 Gold Street). Get a sitter: these writers all have children, but the event is strictly for adults. Admission is free, and everyone 21+ is invited to attend.”

MARCH 22
“First Sight” at Tribeca Cinemas: “TV journalist and documentary filmmaker Joya Dass”—who lives in this neck of the woods—”tackles the topic of curable blindness in children in the developing world, in this 50-minute documentary.”

MAY 5–6
Nanci Griffith plays City Winery.

FEBRUARY 14
Speaking and reading at the Pen Parentis literary salon: Austin Ratner, Amelia Kaheney, and Stephen Stark.

FEBRUARY 16
The band Betty will workshop new music at 92YTribeca.

FEBRUARY 17–MARCH 30
At FB Gallery: “FB gallery is pleased to present the first solo exhibition in New York of Brazilian artist Rodrigo Martins. […]In his paintings and drawings, Rodrigo represents slightly unusual situations that evoke feelings of strangeness and brutality. The images are fragmented, layered and at the same time appear to be merging. Musical influences, rhythmic patterns appear and give a sensation of time at once passing and frozen.”

FEBRUARY 23–MARCH 31
Cecilia Vissers at Masters & Pelavin: “Inspired by the landscape of ‘the far north’ of Scotland during a trip in 2011, Cecilia decided to focus on the cliffs and extreme edges of land, this is the most north-westerly point in mainland Britain. Isolated and dramatic. This work is an abstraction of the landscape, its purity, color and clear line. This will be the artist’s first solo exhibition at the gallery and in the US.”

FEBRUARY 24
Another show (this one acoustic) by Wyclef Jean at City Winery.

THROUGH FEBRUARY 25
Karim Ghidinelli’s “Individually Collected” at Cheryl Hazan.

FEBRUARY 25
“BMCC Tribeca PAC is proud to bring back NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston for a special concert: Randy Weston African Rhythms Orchestra Celebrate James Reese Europe & the Harlem Hellfighters.”

MARCH 6–APRIL 27
At RH Gallery: “‘Underworlds Rising’ is Yi Zhou’s first solo exhibition in the United States. The exhibition is built around Zhou’s 2010 short film The Greatness, a 3-D animated film inspired by Dante’s pilgrimage in The Divine Comedy set to a soundtrack produced in collaboration with Ennio Morricone. The film begins with a Grecian vase, modeled after Pharrell Williams’ head, shattering into pieces.”

MARCH 7–31
The Krappy Kamera Show at Soho Photo: “This unique and eagerly awaited exhibition [...] will feature images that have been produced using equipment from the low end of the technological scale. The concept underlying this show is that in the hands of an artist, any piece of equipment can be used to create engaging photographs. The Krappy camera includes well-known names such as Diana and Holga as well as obscure junk-store finds and homemade pinhole jobs.

MARCH 12
City Winery hosts a preview/rehearsal of the Rolling Stones tribute to be held at Carnegie Hall (that show will definitely feature “Art Garfunkel, Marianne Faithfull, Rickie Lee Jones, Ronnie Spector, Rosanne Cash, Steve Earle, Taj Mahal, Marc Cohn, The Mountain Goats, Peaches, Jovanotti & TV on the Radio, Glen Hansard of The Swell Season, Rich Robinson of The Black Crowes, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Jackie Greene and more to be announced”). This one goes out to my friend Shawnda—we used to scream along to this on road trips….

MARCH 22–TBD
At the Museum of Jewish Heritage: “Filming the Camps: John Ford, Samuel Fuller, and George Stevens: From Hollywood to Nuremberg.” Hollywood directors John Ford, George Stevens, and Samuel Fuller entertained audiences with American cinema classics like The Grapes of Wrath, Shane, and The Big Red One. But their most important contribution to history was their work in the U.S. Armed Forces and Secret Services, filming the realities of war and the liberation of Nazi concentration camps. [..] ‘Filming the Camps’ presents rare footage of the liberation of Dachau with detailed directors’ notes, narratives describing burials at Falkenau, and the documentary produced as evidence at the Nuremberg trials, among other historic material. Now, for the first time in the U.S., this material is being made available to a general audience.”

JANUARY 7–29
The Piccolini Trio’s “Circus in a Trunk” is back at Canal Park Playhouse.

JANUARY 8
Saturday Night Fever screens for free at Tribeca Grand.

JANUARY 11
“Join 92YTribeca for a special conversation about The New Group’s production of Russian Transport, as playwright Erika Sheffer, actress Janeane Garofalo and moderator Julian Sheppard discuss the play’s backstory and its journey to the stage. Russian Transport is a suspenseful family drama set in the Russian Jewish community of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.”

JANUARY 14
At 92YTribeca: “The 2nd Annual Cabo Verde Expo of NYC brings the flavors and rhythms of the tiny island archipelago to New York City with an exposition of the music, film, fashion, and visual arts of Cabo Verde.  This year’s event will feature the music of: ZeRui DePina, a singer, composer and instrumentalist known for his unique voice, heartfelt compositions and dynamic stage presence; and Candida Rose, whose soulful renditions blend her Cape Verdean roots with her love of jazz, creating a style she’s coined KabuJazz. The event will also feature a film, art, and a fashion show spotlighting the creations of Cape Verdean-American artists.”

JANUARY 15
Taxi Driver screens for free at Tribeca Grand.

JANUARY 17–FEBRUARY 5
“What happens when you get six of the best figurative artists in the world together in one room? ‘After School Special,’ an exhibition featuring original work by the Full-time faculty of the New York Academy of Art. Harvey Citron, Catherine Howe, John Jacobsmeyer, Margaret McCann, Edward Schmidt, and Wade Schuman.”

JANUARY 19
Broadway Danny Rose screens at 92YTribeca.

JANUARY 21
“92YTribeca proudly presents a special evening featuring two of the most talented pianists in modern jazz—Jason Moran and Geri Allen. Recently appointed the Kennedy Center’s Artistic Adviser for Jazz, groundbreaking jazz pianist/composer and 2010 MacArthur Fellow Jason Moran takes the stage with his trio The Bandwagon, featuring bassist Tarus Mateen and drummer Nasheet Waits. [...] This concert also features a special solo performance by pianist, composer, and educator Geri Allen, a musician of extraordinary breadth and exceptional sensitivity.”

JANUARY 22
Sweet Smell of Success screens for free at Tribeca Grand.

JANUARY 25
At 92YTribeca: The Telephone Book (1971). “Super rare 35mm film screening of a forgotten classic from the New York Underground! Sexually frustrated gamine Alice (Sarah Kennedy) is freed from her apartment-bound malaise when she receives the world’s greatest obscene phone call from one ‘John Smith,’ sending her on a picaresque journey through the Manhattan white pages in search of its maker. As Alice encounters ego-crazed porn directors, perverted psychologists, and priapic shut-ins, her trip grows more and more deranged, interrupted by first-person interviews with phone freaks and climaxing in one of the nuttiest half-hours of 1970s cinema.”

JANUARY 28, FEBRUARY 11 AND 18
The BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center is proud to present the talented winners of this year’s Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition in piano. This year’s three finalists—Kristopher Bowers in First Place, Joshua White in Second Place and Emmet Cohen in Third Place—will perform three solo concerts on January 28, February 11, and February 18 respectively.

JANUARY 28
Beaches sing-and-cry-along at 92YTribeca.

JANUARY 29
Wall Street screens for free at Tribeca Grand.

FEBRUARY 3
Husband-wife duo The Bengsons bring their Vaudevillian indie folk back to 92YTribeca.

FEBRUARY 8–MARCH 3
“Soho Photo Gallery is honored to present the winners of its second Small Works National Competition [...]. We initiated this competition to recognize those photographers who still enjoy the discipline of creating small masterpieces in an era when large photographs—very large—are in vogue. The competition’s rules stated that the height and width of entries could not exceed six inches in each direction.”

FEBRUARY 14
At Pen Parentis‘s free literary salon: Writers Austin Ratner, Stephen Stark, and Amelia Kahaney.

MARCH 27–28
Joan Osborne plays City Winery. You may like her for “One of Us,” but I always preferred “Right Hand Man.”

APRIL 25–26
The Bacon Brothers play City Winery.

A previous Pen Parentis event

NOVEMBER 8
“You are warmly invited to meet Elissa Schappell and Greg Olear [at] The Pen Parentis Literary Salon at Gild Hall. Their beautiful upstairs Libertine Library on the second floor is transformed into a place where people like you and me go to talk books and meet with authors who have kids. Books vended by Bluestockings for signings. Readings. Conversation. Wine.”

NOVEMBER 8
“The Mysterious Bookshop and Akashic Books will celebrate the release of New Jersey Noir. Editor Joyce Carol Oates will be here along with contributors including Bradford Morrow, S.J. Rozan, Jonathan Santlofer, Edmund White, Sheila Kohler, Gerald Stern, Michael Carroll, S.A. Solomon, C.K. Williams, Hirsh Sawney, Jeffrey Ford, and Lou Manfredo. Joyce will also sign copies of her new anthology, The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares.”

NOVEMBER 9–DECEMBER 22
At Apexart: “‘The Walls That Divide Us’ addresses the proliferation of state and city separation barriers across the globe as symbols of dissent in contemporary politics. Featured works explore phenomena including imperialistic enterprises, contested territories, security policies, border control, revolutionary movement, and mass protest.”

NOVEMBER 11
“Maslow 6 is pleased to welcome Donna Ferrato! Join us for a special event: Tribeca’s own Donna Ferrato will be signing copies of her new book: Tribeca 9/11/01-9/11/11.”

NOVEMBER 12–19
At Art in General: “I’ll Raise You One…” by Zefrey Throwell. “Each day for a week, from 10:30 a.m–6 p.m., seven players will gather around a white table in the storefront Project Space of Art In General to gamble away what most consider so dear, their clothes. At the end of each round, the players will get dressed and begin again, creating a meditative repetitious action that continues over the course of a workday.”

NOVEMBER 14
From BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center: “Please join us for our monthly get-together celebrating Tribeca, its businesses, the neighborhood and its friends. Everyone is welcome at the Flea Theater on Monday November 14, any time between 6:30 and 9 p.m. This is a free event—anyone with an interest in Lower Manhattan is welcome to attend. The food and drinks are free as well. Frankly Wines will provide libations while Da Mikele will bring pizza and MaxDelivery will be donating wonderful nibblybits.”

NOVEMBER 17–DECEMBER 3
“Surrounded” at One Art Space: “The poignant influence of New York City on the lives and artwork of four powerful, emerging Latin American artists: Ramiro Gamboa (Mexico), Renzo Ortega (Peru), Luciana Toyos (Argentina), and Juan Gabriel Zorrilla (Colombia).”

NOVEMBER 18
John Wesley Harding’s Cabinet of Wonders at City Winery: “The house band for that special show will be The King Charles Trio featuring Peter Buck (REM), John Wesley Harding (Appearing as Himself), Scott McCaughey (The Minus Five), Jenny Conlee-Drizos, Chris Funk, John Moen, Nate Query (members of The Decemberists).”

DECEMBER 15
Holiday caroling and the Trinity Youth Chorus’ rendition of Benjamin Britten’s “Ceremony of Carols” at St. Paul’s Chapel. It’s free.

DECEMBER 18
“Theater at Trinity presents its annual [free] reading of Israel Horovitz’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol: Scrooge and Marley, a multi-generational event with audience participation at St. Paul’s Chapel.”

JANUARY 7
Toad the Wet Sprocket, Ari Hest, and Willy Porter play City Winery. I love Ari Hest! Although I wish I hadn’t learned that this song was about the month of June.

FEBRUARY 15–16
Richard Thompson plays all-request shows (“Superbass”!) at City Winery.

FEBRUARY 20
Marcia Ball and BeauSoleil play City Winery.

SEPTEMBER 29–NOVEMBER 5
At the World Financial Center’s Courtyard Gallery: “‘Tao/The Way’ features over 50 works of art including large-scale ink paintings, beautiful tea ceramics, and abstract expressionist calligraphy by Adam T. Bernard, who spent 11 years studying Taoism and Chan (Zen) in Taiwan while working for a range of local artists, from a master potter to a scroll-mounter.”

OCTOBER 6
At 92YTribeca: “The Eclectic is a new concert series that gives a modern flair to the cabaret tradition. The evening features both standards and originals, representing a mix of pop, rock, musical theatre, R & B, country and jazz performed by Broadway’s finest and independent musicians. Produced by Rashad V. Chambers and Michael T, who also serves as music director and host.”

OCTOBER 6–NOVEMBER 5
R 20th Century is excited to announce the second solo exhibition of works by Brazilian designer Hugo França. The exhibition will feature a stunning new series of massive Casulo—Portuguese for ‘cocoon’—sculptures in solid Pequi and Imbuia woods.” That’s one of his pieces above.

OCTOBER 11
The free Pen Parentis Literary Salon presents Matt Costello and John Langan: “The ‘emerging master of the elegant macabre’ (so named in Locus Magazine) shares the stage with the creator of such multimillion sellers as The 7th Guest to read from new work, sign books, and discuss how their writing careers were influenced by becoming parents.”

OCTOBER 16
The 12th-annual Inside Tribeca Loft Tour, to benefit the Friends of Duane Park: “This year’s line-up of more than 10 lofts displays a wide variety of tastes and architecture with distinctive elements. They include an apartment that features a boxes-within-boxes architectural style, making up four bedrooms, each in a separate windowed box, so that the modern Danish furniture appears suspended in mid-air. Another apartment on view featured in Interior Design magazine was transformed from a raw asymmetrical space with exposed ducts and wires into a balanced, yin-yang centered living space [...]. This space highlights a choice art collection with pieces from such well-known artists as Keith Haring, Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol [...]. Tickets are available in advance for $50 at duanepark.org or for $55 from Duane Park, at Hudson and Duane Streets, at 12:30 on the day of the tour.”

OCTOBER 21–JANUARY 23
The McNeill Art Group Tribeca Project Space inside Artisan Lofts’ lobby presents The Westward Eye, “an exhibition that looks into the current state of the Los Angeles contemporary art scene, giving viewers a peek at artists who are continuing the legacy of the unique artistic vision of Los Angeles. Artists included are Nano Rubio [that's his painting at left] , Karl Hahn, Stephanie Farr, Karen Chu, Alexander Kroll, Tony Brown, Scott Santangelo, and Samantha Thomas. An opening reception will take place on Friday, October 21st, from 6–9 p.m.” After that, it’s by appointment only.

OCTOBER 27
“A new kind of party and a new kind of dance class” at 92YTribeca: New York Night Train’s Land of 1000 Dances. Jonathan Toubin, the DJ and brain behind the Soul Clap and Dance-Off, has been researching the dance crazes of the 1960s and finding ways to bring them to a contemporary club culture. Learn how to ‘pony’ like Bonie Maronie, ‘hitch hike’ across the floor, pass the ‘bug,’ and kill that ‘roach’! Georgia Walker, Sarah King and special guest dancers show you how the steps are done in front of B.A. Miale’s famous keytar-triggered visuals—which not only tell you the name of the steps, but show you old clips of your favorite artists performing them.” I’m so there. And I should warn you—I dance. You’ll know when I get really excited because I slap the floor.

OCTOBER 28
92YTribeca hosts a sing-along screening of Labyrinth.

AUGUST 22
From council member Margaret Chin’s office: From 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., “French Open champion Li Na will make an appearance at the USTA’s Mobile SmashZone [...] at Sara D. Roosevelt Park in the Chinatown District of Manhattan. She will participate in tennis activities with children from the local area to encourage health and fitness in the Asian community. In addition, Li Na will have an autograph session.”

AUGUST 27
Dar Williams will play City Winery after a screening of Vanishing of the Bees.

SEPTEMBER 6–11
At St. Paul’s Chapel (Broadway and Fulton): “The public will be invited to tie white ribbons—symbols of remembrance—with the words ‘Remember to Love’ on the fence of St. Paul’s Chapel from  September 6 through September 11. Names and prayers may be written on the ribbons.” (10 a.m.– 6 p.m.)

SEPTEMBER 8–OCTOBER 8
“Spaces & Places,” paintings by Babette Herschberger and Beatricia Sagar, is at Cheryl Hazan Gallery.

SEPTEMBER 8–OCTOBER 29
Opening at Apexart: “Private Stash, curated by jazz pianist Fred Hersch. The show includes examples of his work, his musical and visual inspirations, and a showing of his recent operatic production My Coma Dreams, based on the visions he saw during a two-month coma.”

SEPTEMBER 8–OCTOBER 9
At One Art Space: “Daniel Belardinelli’s new exhibit, Vital Signs [...] draws upon a constellation of addictions, personal loss and his own struggle to communicate verbally, producing wildly dynamic images that teeter between inner angst and an outwardly directed attempt to achieve meaningful contact. [...] The artist was also personally affected by the events of 9/11—a last minute change of plans prevented Belardinelli from joining an uncle on the ill-fated Flight 93. Dysfunction, loss and the sounds, beat and culture of the nightclub scene resonate through Belardinelli’s work.” Pictured above: “Born Into This.”

SEPTEMBER 9–15
Tribeca Film is screening three films at Tribeca Cinemas:
••• Beware the Gonzo (“the story of a 17-year old student who starts a revolution in his high school”)
••• Brother’s Justice (“Actor Dax Shepard makes the decision to abandon comedy in pursuit of his true dream: to become an internationally-renown martial arts star”; Shepard directed, too)
••• Grave Encounters (“Lance Preston and the crew of ‘Grave Encounters,’ a ghost-hunting reality television show, are shooting an episode inside the abandoned Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital, where unexplained phenomena has been reported for years.”)

SEPTEMBER 11
Counter-programming! The Crosby Street Hotel chose the tenth anniversary of 9/11 to screen that recent documentary about New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham.

The May Pen Parentis salon

SEPTEMBER 13
The Pen Parentis Literary Salon features writers Rebecca Wolff (The King, The Beginners), Sarah Gardner Borden (Games to Play After Dark), and Frank Haberle (winner of the Pen Parentis fellowship). The accompanying photo is not of them.

SEPTEMBER 13
INVASION! opens at the Flea (previews start Sept. 6): “While INVASION!—written by Swedish-Tunisian playwright Jonas Hassen Khemiri—isn’t set directly against the backdrop of September 11, it does—with wit, humor and a deft slyness—evoke some of the suspicions, prejudices and matters of cultural identity about Middle Easterners that resulted.”

SEPTEMBER 15–JANUARY 7
Opening at the Museum of Jewish Heritage: “‘Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race’ [which] shows how the Nazi regime aimed to change the genetic makeup of the population through measures known as ‘racial hygiene’ or ‘eugenics,’ and the role that scientists in the biomedical fields played in legitimizing these policies. When Nazi racial hygiene was implemented, the categories of persons regarded as biologically threatening to the health of the nation were greatly expanded to include Jews, Gypsies, and other minorities. Ultimately, Nazi racial hygiene policies culminated in the Holocaust.”

SEPTEMBER 16
From reader Kellee: “There’s a CD release party for Nation Beat on September 16 at 9 p.m. at 92YTribeca. I met band leader Scott Kettner several weeks ago and had a blast watching the band perform. Nation Beat’s music is described as a ‘fusion between thunderous Brazilian maracatu drumming and New Orleans second line rhythms, Appalachian-inspired blue grass music, funk, rock and country-blues.’ Scott himself is a pretty interesting guy and percussionist who plays a mean tambourine. (I’m not kidding—it’s actually a pandeiro—cousin to the tambourine). He can make it sound like a full set of drums.”

Here are just a few of the highlights on tap this week. More info on these—and the full slate—is in the Tribeca calendar of events.

Monday
The Manhattan Youth Downtown Community Center hosts a free weekly classical music concert for all ages: “If you can read music, bring your violin, viola or cello and join us for some great music and a lot of fun.”

Tuesday
Chaz Bono—Cher’s son (born as a girl named Chastity)—reads at Barnes & Noble. Transgender people are so unbelievably brave. ••• Pen Parentis’s literary salon features Ann Hood, Marina Budhos, and Cara Hoffman. ••• South Korean film Re-Encounter screens for free at Tribeca Cinemas: “Hyehwa is a veternarian’s assistant living a quiet life when suddenly her high school sweetheart reappears one day and tells her that the child they thought died when he got her pregnant at 18 is still alive. Lyrical and intimate, it’s a movie that sees two people tear themselves up in quiet desperation.” That’s the best kind! ••• The Blind Boys of Alabama and the Oak Ridge Boys play City Winery.

Wednesday
Robert Wilson’s “Video 50″ is at 92YTribeca: “A duck cackling into a microphone; a woman’s pancake-makeup-ed face staring tearfully into a smoking toaster; an ordinary couple having a hot dog eating contest on a sunny Sunday morning. With 100 brief episodes strung together for maximum befuddlement, Wilson doles out both the grotesque and the gorgeous.” ••• Reading at Apexart as part of its Almost Famous Reading Series: Marcy Dermansky, Heather Kristin, Albert Mobilio, Stephen O’Connor.

Thursday
The windmill-shaped New Amsterdam Plein & Pavilion opens at Battery Park. Attend the 10:30 a.m. ribbon-cutting, if you want. RSVP at 212-408-0111 or special.events@parks.nyc.gov. ••• The Nerve Tank’s “The Attendants” opens at the World Financial Center Winter Garden: “‘The Attendants’ is an interactive multimedia performance featuring two performers enclosed within an eight-foot, transparent cube and a new ‘score’ [Scary use of quotes! —Ed.] by composer Stephen Moore. Audiences can communicate with the performers via text messaging from mobile phones or home computers, which then appear on two plasma screens flanking the cube.” A preview is here. ••• Like teen angst? You’ll get lots of it at 92YTribeca’s “Mortified” show of monologues.

Friday
For the kids: The Paper Bag Players are at the BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center. ••• At 92YTribeca, Dilys E. Blum, senior curator of costumes and textiles at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, discusses the museum’s well-regarded show about couturier Roberto Capucci (that’s one of his dresses at left). ••• 92YTribeca screens Zoolander and Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Keanu rules.

Saturday
The opening of “Dormeur,” a show of work by Vincent P. of the Paris art collective Les Gros Monsieur. Visitors can take one of the 600 photographs (which I believe are all of Vincent P. sleeping). ••• Crash Test Dummies play City Winery. ••• Andrei Konchalovsky’s production of “Uncle Vanya” is at the BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center. ••• 92YTribeca screens 1973′s Walking Tall.

Sunday
92YTribeca has a walking tour about “the early history of Jewish colonial New York.” ••• Taylor Hicks plays City Winery. ••• Joanie Leeds plays for kids at 92YTribeca.

As for ongoing events, you might consider…
“It’s the end of the world as we know it, or mighty close to it, in Laurel Haines’s agreeably disjointed [play],” said the New York Times in its review of Laurel Haines’s “Future Anxiety,” getting its world premier at the Flea. “And while its many, many inhabitants may not exactly feel fine, they’re largely at peace with a world in which China imports American debtors as slave laborers, and the unemployment rate has dropped to a mere 65 percent.” Photo by Richard Termine for the New York Times.

Monday
Jim Connors of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum is giving the CB1 WTC Redevelopment Committee an update on logistics.

Tuesday
Writers Arthur Phillips and Whitney Terrell read at the Pen Parentis literary salon. ••• Colin Hay plays City Winery (also Wednesday and Friday).

Wednesday
Shirley MacLaine appears at Barnes & Noble to read from her new book, I’m Over All That! ••• The CB1 Tribeca Committee, where I’ll spend much of the time debating where to drink afterward. ••• Church Street School for Music and Art’s dance party at Santos Party House. Someone turned me on to host Andrew W.K.’s Twitter feed, which is pretty wonderful.

Thursday
Poets House commemorates Poem in Your Pocket Day by handing out poems at various spots. I’m hoping to participate. ••• Flashdance at 92YTribeca.  ••• Shelby Lynne plays City Winery; I’ll be there. Her “I Am Shelby Lynne” album is so good. Hey,  maybe she should cover “Maniac!” Imagine it slow and bluesy: I’m just a steel town girl on a Saturday night, looking for the fight of my life….

Friday
Strait-Jacket at 92YTribeca: “Joan Crawford stars as Lucy, a wife who takes an axe to the heads of her husband and his lover after catching them together. Twenty years later, just out of the asylum, she reunites with her daughter Carol (Diane Baker). Carol encourages her mother to spruce up her appearance with a flattering dress and some very clunky bracelets, but becomes concerned with her mother’s odd reaction to her fiancé.” It’s followed by 1987′s The Stepfather.

Saturday
Earth Day at the Visionaire: “Indulge in eco-friendly treats, hands-on activities, take-home gifts and more. Tours of green operating systems (microturbine, air filtration, solar photovoltaic panels, etc.) throughout the building and speakers sharing everyday living tips will be featured too!” Well, it’s not Andrew W.K.’s idea of a party…. ••• For kids: “Room on the Broom” at the BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center. ••• At 92YTribeca: Hollywood Shuffle and a Cry-Baby sing-along.

Sunday
Today’s the day for locals to buy single-screening tickets (a day before non-locals) to the Tribeca Film Festival. ••• An afternoon of jazz (from the Alan Levin Trio) and poetry at Bogardus Plaza.

As for ongoing events, you might consider…
Two exhibits of photography by Ed Kashi (“Aging in America” and “Madagascar”) are at the World Financial Center Courtyard Gallery. I’m assuming this one is from “Aging in America,” unless Madagascar is not at all what I thought.