The Weekend Shortlist June 1 to 3

Friday June 1

Location: Midtown West, NYC
Music: tUnE-YarDs
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Terminal 5
Food: Eatery
Drink: Valhalla
Miscellaneous: Central Park

tUnE-YarDs is an incredible experimental folk project led by Merrill Garbus that incorporates African rhythms and vocals. Also playing are two really great bands in Micachu & The Shapes and Delicate Steve, so definitely get there early. Nearby and delicious, Eatery offers a new American menu that’s asian influenced. Try the Red Curry Chicken Breast over roti pancake, with baby carrots and red curry coconut sauce ($16.95). Valhalla’s minimalist space is chill, letting the 24 brands of beer from all over the world on tap be the main attraction at this bar. While its warm out, waste a little time walking through Central Park, relax, and get out of the hustle and bustle of the city. Just watch your step. The working horses tend to leave surprises behind them!

Friday June 1

Location: Midtown West, NYC
Music: Judy Collins
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Town Hall
Food: Empanada Mama
Drink: Xai Xai
Miscellaneous: Vintage

Judy Collins is a legendary folk singer who played a huge part in the 60s folk revival scene bringing the style prominence, so whenever you can catch her performing live it’s a must see. Opening is jazz singer extraordinaire Madeleine Peyroux. Though small, Empanada Mama packs a hefty punch with more than 40 kinds of empanadas. Choose from a wheat or corn flour shell to start as ingredients include basic rice and beans to what they have dubbed “Viagra,” a wheat flour empanada stuffed with shrimp, scallop, and crab ($3). For drinks, I’d recommend the wine bar Xai Xai. With a South African theme, this darkly designed spot is great for a date as well as for before or after event drinks. The wines are incredible and they even have fondue! An alternative wine bar, Vintage has a wine list with over 200 wines by the glass or bottle from most of the boutique wineries in Long Island and Upstate New York.

Saturday June 2

Location: Bushwick, Brooklyn
Music: She Keeps Bees
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Big Snow Buffalo Lodge
Food: Potion Café
Drink: Life Café Nine 83
Miscellaneous: Stain

Hailing from Brooklyn She Keeps Bees is a duo consisting of Jessica Larrabee (vocals/guitar) and Andy LaPlant (drums) who make sweet bluesy rock with folk inflected vocals. Also on board are Big Ups, Slothrust, and The N’ere Dowells. For food in this neighborhood, Potion Café offers organically grown and traded food that’s part of the “slow food” movement and make delicious and creative food like the poached eggs in white wine sauce. For drinks, check out Life Café Nine 83. While it’s THE same Life Café that the RENT musical features in the play, it’s not the same location. This new Bushwick locale also possesses a boho vibe, an Americanized menu of ethnic food, and a fun selection of mixed drinks including martini’s and lemonade cocktails. A HUGE space decked out in old couches, Stain is an artsy bar that looks like an old-school coffeehouse yet serves local wines and beers.

Saturday June 2

Location: Midtown West, NYC
Theater: Death of a Salesman
Show time: See website for schedule; Through June 2, 2012
Venue: Ethel Barrymore Theater
Food: Eatery
Drink: Valhalla
Miscellaneous: Central Park

One of the greatest American plays, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman comes back to the Broadway stage for only 16 weeks starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Linda Emond, and Andrew Garfield. Nearby and delicious, Eatery offers a new American menu that’s asian influenced. Try the Red Curry Chicken Breast over roti pancake, with baby carrots and red curry coconut sauce ($16.95). Valhalla’s minimalist space is chill, letting the 24 brands of beer from all over the world on tap be the main attraction at this bar. While its warm out, waste a little time walking through Central Park, relax, and get out of the hustle and bustle of the city. Just watch your step. The working horses tend to leave surprises behind them!

Sunday June 3

Location: Upper West Side, NYC
Art: Francesca Woodman
Show time: See website for schedule; Through June 13
Venue: Guggenheim Museum
Food: Brother Jimmy’s Bait Shack
Drink: Cavatappo Wine Bar
Miscellaneous: Ship of Fools

Francesca Woodman is the first comprehensive survey of the artist’s brief but extraordinary career to be seen in North America. More than thirty years after her death, the moment is ripe for a historical reconsideration of her work and its reception. Woodman’s oeuvre represents a remarkably rich and singular exploration of the human body in space and of the genre of self-portraiture in particular. Her interest in female subjectivity, seriality, Conceptualist practice, and photography’s relationship to both literature and performance are also hallmarks of the heady moment in American photography during which she came of age. Brother Jimmy’s Bait Shack is known for their BBQ’d meats, smoked in house. The menu is all Southern favorites like po boys, catfish, fried chicken, along with burgers. Though it’s small, Cavatappo Wine Bar packs a mighty punch, offering an amazing selection of wines from all over the world for under $10 a glass. With more than 40 TVs featuring sports, Ship of Fools also has darts, pool tables, and video games.