Thursday, December 10 Washington Square Park Holiday Tree Lighting, with Mary Hurlbut and the Rob Susman Brass Quartet, free, 6:00
Friday, December 11 El Museo’s Holiday Posada and Parranda Party, El Museo del Barrio, $60, 7:00
Annual Christmas Revels return to Symphony Space
Friday, December 11
through
Sunday, December 13 The Christmas Revels, Symphony Space, $15-$45
Friday, December 11
and
Friday, December 18 Caroling at the Morgan, featuring singers from Mannes College, Morgan Library, free, 6:30
Saturday, December 12 NYC Santacon, www.nycsantacon.com, 10:00 am
Saturday, December 12 Flaubert’s Holiday Concert: Winter Tales with Flaubert Frog, Bryant Park, Le Carrousel, free, 1:00
Saturday, December 12 Phil Kline’s Unsilent Night, Washington Square Park arch, free, 7:00
Saturday, December 12 Hanukkah Gone Metal: 2009 Major League Dreidel Spin the Dreidel Tournament, with Gods of Fire and Category of Sixx, Knitting Factory, $10, 7:00
Saturday, December 12 Reverend Billy and the Life After Shopping Choir’s Holiday Revival concert, Brooklyn Lyceum, $10, 8:00
Saturday, December 12 Third annual Menorah Horah!, with the Schlep Sisters, Sapphire Jones, Sauci Calla Horra, and Golem, hosted by Kenny Mellman, Southpaw, $12-$16, 8:00
Saturday, December 12 Sephardic Music Festival Opening Night: Smadar Levi, Sarah Aroeste, and the Naming, 92Y Tribeca, $15-$20, 9:00
Saturday, December 12
and
Sunday, December 13 Music for St. Nicholas, Bartow-Pell Mansion, free tickets available at 718-601-7399, 1:00 & 3:00
Saturday, December 12, 19, 26
and
Sunday, December 13, 20, 27 Wild Holiday Party: Presents to the Animals, Prospect Park Zoo, free with zoo admission
Sunday, December 13 Annual Holiday Concert, featuring ensemble with members from the Scandinavian Chamber Orchestra of New York, Scandinavia House, $25, 4:00
Sunday, December 13 Darlene Love Christmas Show, B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, $45-$50, 8:00
Monday, December 14 Children’s Holiday Party, Museum of the City of New York, $75-$150, 3:00-6:00
Wednesday, December 16 “To All, Wassail”: 19th-Century Holiday Concert, Merchant’s House Museum, $25, 7:00
Wednesday, December 16 ChrismaHanuKwanzakah: A Holiday Anxiety Spectacular, Galapagos, $25, 7:00
Thursday, December 17 LES Stories: Holidays in the City, hosted by HR Britton, Tenement Museum, free but RSVP required, 6:30
Paul Winter is back at St. John the Divine for thirtieth annual solstice celebration
Thursday, December 17
through
Saturday, December 19 Solstice Journey: Paul Winter’s 30th Annual Winter Solstice Celebration, the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, $35-$80
Friday, December 18
and
Saturday, December 19 Holiday Candlelight Tours, $6-$18
Friday, December 18
and
Saturday, December 19 BLACK CHRISTMAS (Bob Clark, 1974), 12 midnight
Saturday, December 19 Chanté-Noël: A Martinique Holiday Celebration, Le Skyroom, French Institute Alliance Française, $20, 6:30
Sunday, December 19 Christmas with Aaron Neville, featuring Charles Neville, Highline Ballroom, $37.50-$40, 8:00
Saturday, December 19
and
Sunday, December 20 Santa in Central Park, Belvedere Castle, midpark at 79th St., free, 12 noon – 3:00 pm
Saturday, December 19
and
Sunday, December 20 Ronnie Spector’s Xmas Party, B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, $30-$35, 9:00
Sunday, December 20 Louie Multicultural Holiday Show, Children’s Museum of Manhattan, free with museum admission (tickets distributed beginning at 12:30), 2:00 & 3:00
Sunday, December 20 Jews and Chinese Food: A Love Affair, talk with Jennifer 8. Lee, author of THE FORTUNE COOKIE CHRONICLES, followed by buffet dinner, 92nd St. Y, Buttenwieser Hall, $39, 7:00
Monday, December 21
through
Wednesday, December 23 Charlie for the Holidays: CITY LIGHTS (Charles Chaplin, 1931) and MODERN TIMES (Charles Chaplin, 1936), $15
Tuesday, December 22 CAROLS FOR CHRISTMAS: ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC CHAMBER CHOIR (Christopher Swann, 1985), Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bonnie J. Sacerdote Lecture Hall, Uris Center for Education, free with museum admission, 2:00
Wednesday, December 23 Klezmatics: The Woody Hanukkah Sessions, City Winery, $30-$50, 8:00
Thursday, December 24 A Very Jewish Christmas, with Marion Grodin, Jon Fisch, Rachel Feinstein, and Gary Gulman, Gotham Comedy Club, $20 plus two-beverage minimum, 7:30 & 9:30
Thursday, December 24 Jewltide 7, with Dan Saks and the Funkadeli All Stars and DJ Mr. Jonathan Toubin, Southpaw, $10-$15, 9:00
Mel Brooks delivers silliness and Chinese food on Christmas Day
Friday, December 25 Chinese & a Movie: Mel Brooks Double Feature, all-you-can-eat buffet begins at 2:00, BLAZING SADDLES at 2:30, SPACEBALLS at 4:00, $25-$30
Saturday, December 26 Charanga Soleil — Holiday Fiesta/Fête, BAMcafé Live, free, 9:00
Sunday, December 27 Global Weekends: Kwanzaa Spirit 2009, American Museum of Natural History, Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, free with museum admission, 12 noon – 5:00m
Humphrey Bogart stars in Nicholas Ray’s powerful, intense film about a cynical Hollywood screenwriter with a violent side. Dixon Steele (Bogart, in one of his strongest performances) is asked to write a screenplay based on a pulpy romance he has little interest in, so he brings home a coat-check girl who has read the book so she can tell him the story. The girl turns up dead, and Steele, known for his drunken forays and abuse of women, is the main suspect. Aspiring star Laurel Gray (Gloria Grahame), who has recently moved into the same Beverly Hills apartment complex, supplies an alibi for Steele, but she might have ulterior motives for doing so. Ray’s moody, introspective gem keeps you guessing until the very end. This special screening, introduced by Ken Brown, is part of the Rubin Museum’s weekly Friday-night film series, which is currently focusing on the exhibit “The Red Book of C. J. Jung,” is in the gallery space right outside the downstairs theater. (All of the museum’s galleries are open for free after 7:00.) Upcoming screenings in this series include Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’ECLISSE on January 8, David Lynch’s BLUE VELVET on January 15, and Hiroshi Teshigahara’s THE FACE OF ANOTHER on January 22.
Sure, to some people holiday movies mean IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, MIRACLE ON 34th STREET, and A CHRISTMAS CAROL, but for us it’s the one and only HEBREW HAMMER. Adam Goldberg (SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, A BEAUTIFUL MIND) stars in this riotous low-budget laugh-fest that is as hysterically politically incorrect as possible. Goldberg is Mordechai Jefferson Carver, a “circumcised dick” who is hired by the Jewish Justice League, headed by Bloomenbergensteinthal (Peter Coyote), to save Chanukah, which Damian Claus (Andy Dick), Santa’s evil spawn, wants to destroy forever. The Semitic Stud gets help from Mohammad Ali Paula Abdul Rahim (Mario Van Peebles), head of the Kwanzaa Liberation Front, and Bloomenbergensteinthal’s sexy daughter, Esther (Judy Greer), who is a “nice piece of tuchus.” This is one funny self-described Jewxploitation flick that will bring knowing chuckles and guffaws to anyone who has ever attended Hebrew school or has an overbearing mother.
When local official Tange Tanzen (Raizo Ichikawa) comes upon a battle between two schools of sword fighting, including his own, he chooses not to get involved as rogue samurai Yasubei Nakayama (Shintaro Katsu) displays his discipline’s superiority by killing several members of Tange’s school. After Tange is expelled from his school for turning his back on his brothers, Yasubei is expelled from his as well as an act of honor and enmity. Soon the two ronin are helping each other while also falling in love with the same woman, Chiharu (Chitose Maki). But blood and betrayal await them as they set off on new paths that continue to cross. Inspired by the classic story of the 47 Ronin, SAMURAI VENDETTA is an entertaining period piece despite its overt cheesiness, especially the fight scenes shot on a bridge with a ridiculously fake sunset in the background. Although there’s not nearly enough sword play – there are long periods of sentimental melodrama – the finale in the snow is a doozy. The screening will be followed by a reception and book signing with Chris D., author of OUTLAW MASTERS OF JAPANESE FILM.
Over the last decade, writer-director Michael Almereyda (NADJA, HAMLET, THIS SO-CALLED DISASTER) has traveled around the world, bringing with him a handheld digital-video camera, capturing brief moments of unscripted real life of friends, family, and strangers. He has organized these small vignettes into forty-four segments divided into four somewhat thematic sections, coming together as a beautiful whole in PARADISE, an enticing visual poem that had a one-week run at MoMA this past September and now will be screened at the Maysles Institute on December 12, followed by a Q&A with Almereyda and curator Livia Bloom. The film opens with a long shot inside a stunningly blue airport passageway over music by DJ Spooky, welcoming viewers into Almereyda’s travels. He then turns his camera on a succession of children experiencing everyday life in different parts of the globe, including one charming boy who falls into a little pool to the delight of those around him. Each part — ranging from a few seconds to a few minutes — is linked either thematically or visually, including a series of shots involving fire, sparks, and a burning red sunset. Using natural sound and light, Almereyda allows each moment to exist in real time on its own, with no narration and no identifying tags, a sort of abstract meditation on the simple things than can serve as personal paradises.