This week, the Museum of Natural History is holding its 35th annual Margaret Mead Film Festival, showcasing international documentaries and talks with the people who made the films. The museum is using the occasion to show a retrospective of some of the best films from the past 35 years and will also showcase some new films (the image above is from a film called Space Tourists scheduled for Friday night). Check out the full schedule here, and dozens of other events in our weekly calendar below.
Email us at info at westsiderag dot com to let us know about upcoming events.
Please double-check times and prices with the event producer. Many venues offer special pricing for students, seniors and members.
Monday
1 p.m.
Occupy Wall Street Solidarity March A march starting in Washington Heights should reach 72nd Street and Broadway around 1 or 1:30 p.m. on its way to Zuccotti Park. FREE.
1 p.m.
Ethics in Literature: A Reading Group Leader Dr. Anne Klaeysen will host a discussion on Michelle Alexander’s, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. At the Society for Ethical Culture. $5 for non-members.
5 p.m.
Light Up Your Bike Bike New York and the Riverside Park Fund partner for a safety stop providing blinky lights and helpful tips for bikers young and old. 72nd St. at the Bike Path in Riverside Park. FREE.
6 p.m.
League of Professional Theatre Women Conversation with award-winning actress Donna Murphy and award-winning producer/director/writer, Rick McKay. At New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, Bruno Walter Auditorium. FREE.
7 p.m.
Ian Toll: Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 Ian Toll, author of Six Frigates, joins us for his new book, Pacific Crucible, the dramatic story, taken largely from eye witness accounts, of the war in the Pacific in the six months following Pearl Harbor. At the 82nd Street Barnes & Noble. FREE.
7 p.m.
James Arthur Baldwin, The American Poets’ Corner James Arthur Baldwin has been elected, by unanimous vote, to be the 2011 inductee into the American Poets’ Corner at the Cathedral. Visitors come to the American Poet’s Corner, located in the Arts Bay of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on the north side of the nave, to remember the authors they’ve long loved, and to see who else is honored, whom they may have not read. Poets, fiction writers, essayists, and dramatists: the American Poet’s Corner memorializes the literature of our nation in all its surprise, wit and beauty. At the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. $10 suggested donation.
Tuesday
10 a.m.
Hippo Playground Class: Creative Tuesday Art Class Join Marina, an experienced early childhood art teacher, for a creative Tuesday in the Hippo Art Studio. Each week, toddlers ages 2-4 will create artwork inspired by favorite stories, authors, artists, seasons and the ever-inspiring NYC. Classes will be limited to 10 children with accompanying caregivers and will be filled on a first come first served basis. In the Park House at Riverside Park’s Hippo Playground. $15.
11:30 a.m.
Hippo Playground Class: Mommy & Me Music Class Loretta Daley is a musical theatre professional with 15+ years experience teaching babies and young children in numerous Upper West Side programs.
Loretta’s classes for 1-2 year-olds include circle time filled with rhythmic games using a variety of instruments, animated story telling, puppetry and other engaging, musical activities. In the Park House at Riverside Park’s Hippo Playground. $15.
12 p.m.
Toe-Tappin’ Tuesdays – Dixieland Jazz with the Gotham Jazzmen The Gotham Jazzmen bring you all your old favorites and more on Tuesdays from 12:00 noon to 1:30 p.m. New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, Bruno Walter Auditorium. FREE.
7 p.m.
Robert Massie: Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Massie discusses his book Catherine the Great and the life of a woman who ascended to the Russian throne during the Enlightenment and became an absolute despot for 33 years, praised by some and condemned by others. At the 82nd Street Barnes & Noble. FREE.
8 p.m.
New Juilliard Ensemble New Juilliard Ensemble’s 19th season continues with an evening of very new works from American and British composers. Alumnus Philip Glass’ 75th brithday is celebrated with the performance of his Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra. At Alice Tully Hall. FREE.
Wednesday
9 a.m.
Walk NYC Walk NYC is a program that encourages New Yorkers of all ages to get fit while enjoying the outdoors. Parks will staff locations throughout the city with trained walking instructors to lead one-hour walks. Meet at 83rd Street & Riverside Drive. FREE.
2 p.m.
Guitar Afternoon Enjoy free live music performed by jazz guitarist Bill Wurtzel and guest musicians each Wednesday from 2 to 3 pm. Folk Art Museum. FREE.
Thursday
6 p.m.
Fundraiser to benefit West-Park Presbyterian Church Join the leadership and congregation of West-Park, Council Member Gale Brewer, members of the city-wide preservation community, and neighbors and supporters of West-Park for a fundraiser to benefit the church’s boiler repair/replacement fund. The Belnord Apartments 225 West 86th Street. RSVP required; please email semplelisa@aol.com.
7 p.m.
Margaret Mead Film Festival Opening Night Screening and Reception: Grande Hotel The Grande Hotel in the East African seaside town of Beira is a monument to the grandeur and folly of Portuguese colonial rule. Once billed as Africa’s most luxurious resort, it was later used as a headquarters in Mozambique’s revolutionary war. At the Museum of Natural History. $45.
7 p.m.
Tony Amato: The Smallest Grand Opera in the World Tony Amato, joined by students from The Manhattan School of Music, discusses his new book, The Smallest Grand Opera in the World, a fascinating memoir about his founding of the Amato Opera Company and producing grand opera in New York for 61 years. At the 82nd Street Barnes and Noble. FREE.
7 p.m.
Autumn in Central Park 2011 The Central Park Conservancy invites supporters to celebrate autumn in Central Park at the launch of a new benefit even. Dine and dance under a clear-ceiling tent adjacent to historic Tavern on the Green, with a beautiful nighttime view of the tree canopy and stars up above. Over five hundred guests are expected to come out in celebration of New York City’s most treasured green space. Most importantly, the event will raise vital funds that benefit the Conservancy’s mission to restore and maintain the Park. Next to Tavern on the Green. Tickets start at $1,000.
8:30 p.m.
New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players: I’ve Got a Little Twist Wander into Brigadoon and don’t be surprised to come face to face with the Pirates of Penzance! In this engaging original show, the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players (NYGASP) one of the country’s leading interpreters of the G&S repertoire, mix the wit and patter of those much-loved works with the best of Broadway musical theater. The result: The Mikado meets The Music Man, The Yeoman of the Guard take leave On the Town, and general hilarity ensues. Enjoy some of the best singer/actors working on Broadway and Off-Broadway today in hits by Leonard Bernstein, Lerner & Lowe, Jerry Herman, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Sondheim, and more and Gilbert and Sullivan classics. At the David Rubenstein Atrium. FREE.
Friday
Various Times
Margaret Mead Film Festival Showcasing great current and past international documetaries. At the Museum of Natural History. $50 for full pass.
8 a.m.
Walk NYC Walk NYC is a program that encourages New Yorkers of all ages to get fit while enjoying the outdoors. Parks will staff locations throughout the city with trained walking instructors to lead one-hour walks. Meet at 83rd Street & Riverside Drive. FREE.
8 a.m. (until 1 p.m.)
Green Market Choose from fresh produce & dairy, artisanal breads, baked goods, meats & poultry, honey, eggs. Clothing/textile recycling bin on-site. 97th Street and Columbus.
11 a.m.
Memorial Walk Tour – Veterans’ Day Special Combine a walk through Central Park with a look at how different generations of New Yorkers viewed the Park as a proper place to remember their veterans. The tour will last approximately 120 minutes and will cover about 2 miles. It will end at Grand Army Plaza (Fifth Avenue and 59th Street). For directions, please call 212-794-4064. (Groups of seven or more people should call 212-360-2726 or e-mail tours@centralparknyc.org to schedule a custom tour.) Behind the Maine Monument at Columbus Circle, Central Park West and 59th Street. FREE.
5:30 p.m.
Free Music Fridays Featuring Sean Lee, The Steamboat Disasters, Jeff Litman, and a special Asian pear and pear wine tasting. At the Folk Art Museum. FREE.
7:30 p.m.
2011 Stony Brook Premieres Created by composer John Lessard in 1986, the Premieres! series has commissioned works by a wide array of composers from the Americas in the last 20 years. This year the program includes the world premieres of Alex Mincek: Color-Form-Line: No. 2, for chamber ensemble, Stacy Garrop: The Book of American Poetry, Volumes III and IV, for mezzo-soprano and chamber ensemble, Frank Stemper: The Sensation of Waking, for baritone and chamber ensemble, and Felix Pastor: Acusmacia, for two percussionists and electronics. At Symphony Space. FREE.
8 p.m.
“Como Los Viejos Tiempos” “Como Los Viejos Tiempos”, featuring guitarist Abram Alberto and vocalist Alexandra Castaño, presenting a beautiful collection of boleros and folkloric songs about love from Mexico, Cuba, Colombia, Puerto Rico. From the popular “Sabor a Mi”, “Vereda Tropical” and “Flor de Azalea” and hidden gems like “Besame Morenita” and “Amor Se Escribe con Llanto”. At El Taller Latino. $15.
Saturday
Various Times
Margaret Mead Film Festival Showcasing great current and past international documetaries. At the Museum of Natural History. $50 for full pass.
7:30 a.m.
Central Park Bagel Bark This month’s Bagel Bark has moved from its original location at 69th St. on the east side, to 69th St. and Central Park West, just inside the Park near the Bridle Trail. Munch on pastries, bagels, and coffee with fellow dog walkers during off-leash hours courtesy of the Central Park Conservancy’s Central Park Paws. 69th St. and Central Park West, just inside Central Park near the Bridle Trail. FREE.
10 a.m.
Family Volunteer Day Lend the Conservancy a hand with our fall horticultural projects at our bi-annual Family Volunteer Day. Tools and gloves will be provided. Bring water to drink and wear closed-toe shoes. Ages 4+. Each participant will need to sign a liability waiver and photography consent before participating; children under 18 years old need to attend with a legal guardian who can sign on their behalf. Families only; no groups please. Free. For more information, call 212-360-2751. Meet inside Central Park at Safari Playground (West 91st Street). FREE.
10:30 a.m.
Neighborhood Volunteer Day Join Riverside Park Fund to help make Riverside Park a more beautiful place. The park’s monthly volunteer projects are a great way for individuals of all skill levels to make meaningful contributions to the park. These dates are a perfect way for ParkRovers and other individual volunteers to meet their neighbors learn more about volunteering in Riverside Park. Contact Director of Volunteers, Lynda Miller at 212-870-3070 or grassroots@riversideparkfund.org for more information or to volunteer for this day. Throughout Riverside Park. NEW
2 p.m.
The Fifth Festival of Universal Sacred Music The Society for Universal Sacred Music presents its marathon 5th Festival of Universal Sacred Music, a free, daylong festival celebrating the spirit of life and the love of God that makes life possible. Featured performers will be Anonymous 4 vocal ensemble, Indian classical singer and composer Deepak Kumar Pareek, The New York Virtuoso Singers, Harold Rosenbaum, Conductor and Artistic Director with James Adams on organ, The Riverside Inspirational Choir, Israeli singer Maya Raviv, The Canticum Novum Youth Choir, Edie Rosenbaum, Director, The Western Wind vocal ensemble, jazz singer Catherine Russell, pianist and composer Roger Davidson, chant singer David Newman, baritone Thomas McCargar with Brent Funderburk on piano, and the music of composer Sharon Farber with multi-instrumentalist Omar Faruk Tekbilek, percussionist David Kontesz and guitarist Freddy Schiftan as principal instrumentalists. At Symphony Space. FREE.
2:30 p.m.
The Art of the Park Tour Walk from the Tavern on the Green to Belvedere Castle and learn about the intricate design of Central Park’s web of pastoral landscapes and formal romantic vistas. For directions, please call 212-874-7874. Outside the Tavern on the Green Visitor Center and Gift Shop entrance, inside the Park at 67th Street and Central Park West. FREE.
2:30 p.m.
Silent Clowns Film Series “The Loopy Legacy of Lupino Lane (and his brother Wallace)”; Maid In Morocco (1925), Hello Sailor (1927), Roaming Romeo (1928), Be My King (1928), Good Night Nurse (1929). Live piano accompaniment by Ben Model. At New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, Bruno Walter Auditorium. FREE.
9 p.m.
Venezuelans in NYC Festival Featuring Juancho Herrera Jazz Trio & Ensemble a Contratiempo. El Taller is thrilled to once again collaborate with festival organizers to present the 2nd Annual Venezuelans in NYC Festival featuring the Juancho Herrera Jazz Trio and Ensemble a Contratiempo. At El Taller Latino. $10.
Sunday
Various Times
Margaret Mead Film Festival Showcasing great current and past international documetaries. At the Museum of Natural History. $50 for full pass.
8 a.m. (until 5)
79th Street Greenmarket Located on beautiful, tree-lined Columbus Avenue, this year-round market stretches from 77th St. to 80th St. each Sunday. Just behind the American Museum of Natural History, shoppers will find grass fed beef, goat cheese, fresh flowers, eggs, honey, baked goods, apple cider, and a large variety of fruit and vegetables. Columbus Avenue between 78th & 81st Streets.
1:30 p.m.
Concert performance of Verdi’s Il Trovatore Performed by the New York Opera Forum under the direction of Richard Nechamkin. At the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, Bruno Walter Auditorium. FREE.
5:30 p.m.
Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life A film in which Gainsbourg evolves from being a starving painter to the master of the French pop song. His music grabs the narrative reins, transforming a plump wife into a Hippopodame (a lady hippopotamus) and an adulterous and passionate evening into a worldwide hit, Je t’aime, moi non plus (I love you, neither do I). And so to tell the story of this master of provocation, this manipulator of words and women, of this shy but avid adventurer, let’s swap straight talk for wild rhymes and prepare to dive into the Paris of the swinging sixties to take part in a story as audacious as the risks that made little Lucien… Serge Gainsbourg. At Symphony Space. $13.
7:30 p.m.
Margaret Mead Film Festival: Closing Night Screening and Reception: Flames of God Muzafer Bislim comes up with some of his most insightful songs while sitting on the floor, recording lyrics into a cassette recorder bought at a flea market. A poet and songwriter who collaborates with the biggest names in Romani music, the 54-year old lives a life of modest means with his family in Shutka, Macedonia. Stored in the corner of his one-room house is a tottering, ceiling-high stack of handwritten, 25,000-word, multi-dialect dictionary of the oldest and most obscure words in the Romani language, which he has painstakingly collected over 35 years. At the Museum of Natural History. $45.
Ongoing Events
Lincoln Center: American Ballet Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Chamber Music Society, NYC Ballet, War Horse
NYPL for the Performing Arts: Residue: Installation by Eiko & Koma, Marlboro Music at 60
American Museum of Natural History: Ongoing Exhibits