My Urban Sherpa

Andrew Bird, no longer in New York

If you missed Andrew Bird at Carnegie Hall, but have caught wind of him from all the tremendous press he is enjoying, tune in on YouTube.

The Art of Love at the MET

Tonight at 6:00, Andrea Bayer, the MET’s Curator of European Paintings presents a lecture in conjunction with “Art and Love in Renaissance Italy.”

The exhibition which runs through February 16, 2009,  explores works of art created to celebrate love and marriage in Renaissance Italy.

The MET is located at 5th Avenue and 82nd Street.

On the Money: Cartoons for The New Yorker at The Morgan

“To the Dollar — As we knew it!”

An exhibition of cartoons for The New Yorker is on view at the Morgan Library, including eighty original drawings from cartoonists Ed Arno, George Booth, Roz Chast, Lee Lorenz and many others.

The exhibition is complimented by a series of talks and movies — offering a humorous way to look at money, which is a novel and welcome idea today.

The exhibition runs through May 24, 2009.

The Morgan Library is located at 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street with hours from Tuesday through Thursday, 10:30 ~ 5:00 pm, Friday 10:30 am to 9:00 pm, Saturday 10am to 6 pm and Sunday 11 am to 6pm.

Lectures include:
“The Past, Present, and Future of Cartooning at The New Yorker Magazine”
Robert Mankoff
New Yorker cartoon editor Robert Mankoff investigates how humor changes over time and how the times change humor.
Thursday, February 12, 6:30 PM

“Three Paths to The New Yorker: Roz Chast, Arnie Levin, and David Sipress”
Three New Yorker cartoonists discuss their backgrounds, schooling, and career experiences in a lively roundtable moderated by fellow cartoonist and retired art editor Lee Lorenz.
Wednesday, March 18, 6:30 PM
“At the Pearly Gates: Judgment, Heaven, and Hell in The New Yorker”
Walter Cahn
In a richly illustrated lecture, Walter Cahn, Carnegie Professor of the History of Art (emeritus), Yale University, explores the imagery and views of the hereafter in our own time. Largely a product of the Middle Ages, these depictions surprisingly share the pages of The New Yorker with more familiar satires on the foibles of doctors, lawyers, or twenty-somethings, among other hilarious subjects. Presented in cooperation with the International Center of Medieval Art.
Tuesday, April 21, 6:30 PM

Chinese New Year

The Chinese New Year begins today. How can you celebrate the Year of the Ox?

Image China – Chinese New Year Concert at Carnegie Hall

Tonight at 8:00 PM.
Qingdao Symphony Orchestra
Yongyan Hu, Conductor
Zhang Hongyan, Pipa
Wang Liang, Oboe
Sa Chen, Piano
The New York Choral Society
John Daly Goodwin, Music Director

BERNSTEIN
Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
XIAOGANG YE
Pipa Concerto
CHEN YI
Piano Concerto
CHEN QIGANG
Oboe Concerto “Extase”
GERSHWIN
Symphonic Picture Porgy and Bess (arr. Bennett)

Carnegie Hall is located at 57th Street and 7th Avenue.

Historic Bars & Restaurants in New York.

In September 2007, when we opened My Urban Sherpa, we wondered how we could keep up with all the restaurant openings in town. Now we are sprinting to keep up with restaurant closings.

New York may be down – but we’ve been down before. And we’ll get up again.

As a tribute to the city’s perseverance, we’d like to bring to your attention several bars and restaurants in town that made it through worse.

Pete’s Tavern 129 East 18th Street @ Irving Place (212) 473-7676
With cafe tables on Irving Place and a cozy wooden bar with character, this neighborhood favorite has been whetting whistles since 1864.

Russ and Daughters 179 East Houston Street @ Allen & Orchard Streets          (212) 475-4880

Reputed for their outstanding caviar and smoked salmon, we love them for making the Jewish delicacies our grandmothers no longer can. Russ & Daughters, a 4th generation family run business founded in 1914.

Katz Delicatessen 205 East Houston Street (212) 254-2246
New York’s favorite Jewish delicatessen since 1888.

The Old Homestead – celebrating 137 years in business.
56 9th Avenue @ 14th & 15th Streets (212) 242-9040

And speaking of steak houses,

Peter Luger Steak House, Brooklyn

Peter Luger has been serving steaks since 1887.
178 Broadway (718) 387-7400

Neighborhood bars who’ve made is past 1929 will also make it past 2009 -

The White Horse Tavern Happy 129!
567 Hudson Street @ Perry & West 11th Street (212) 989-3956

Old Town Bar & Restaurant
Gramercy’s favorite since 1892.
45 East 18th Street @ Park Avenue South & Broadway (212) 529-6732

21 Club

21 West 52nd Street @ 5th & 6th Avenues (212) 582-7200

The 21 Club, shown above, was built and 1871, and survived in style, the prohibition, the Great Depression and the financial joys and sorrows of the years since.
Please pay a visit to your neighborhood bars and restaurants — it is the best to keep their doors open.

The Mall ~ NYC

If you haven’t journeyed south to the Inaugural Events in D.C. ~ enjoy them in New York’s Mall – the Time Warner Center at 59th and Broadway. Samsung on the third floor is sure to telecast the day’s events.

Samsung offers free Wi-Fi, and Bouchon Bakery, next door,  serves a perfect cup of coffee.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Serve-A-Thon 2009

January 17th, 18th and 19th, the New York City Coalition Against Hunger is sponsoring NYCCAH’s 6th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Anti-Hunger “Serve-a-Thon” — a 3-day event featuring volunteer events at New York City’s food pantries and soup kitchens.

Support this event by volunteering in anti-hunger activities ~ donate ~ enlist friends/family/co-workers to sponsor your volunteer service.

Hurray for the heros among us.

Just when you start to lost hope in humanity – that people will deceive / lie / cheat their best friends for their own gain — how spectacular to find the  heros among us.

Hurray for Capt. C.B. “Sully” Sullenberger, his crew, the passengers, the people at US Airways, the rescue workers, and this great city,  for a restoration of faith in what we can do together.

Sledding in Central Park

If you are un, or under-employed, and feeling nostalgic for your past — say the comfort of your childood — how about a little sledding in Central Park?

CentralPark.com advises:

The Best Slopes
Manhattan’s greatest slope is in Central Park at Pilgrim Hill. Enter the park at 72nd Street on the East Side. Runner up: Cedar Hill, also in Central Park, between 76th and 79th Streets.

In (the unlikely) case of a crash Lenox Hill Hospital is the closest ER to Central Park’s Pilgrim Hill (100 E. 77th St., at Park Ave.).

Stay Warm Stylishly

Whether or not you’ll be free to frolick in the snow, you can stay warm stylishly this week with a snappy jacket from Burton’s.

Burton’s is located at 106 Spring Street in Soho.