Upper East Side
King Tut funeral exhibition opens at Met Museum
In April, the blockbuster King Tut exhibition will open at the Discovery Times Square Exposition. But starting Tuesday, the Metropolitan Museum of Art will open a more low-key Tut exhibition that focuses on the less flashy elements of the burial process of the boy king.
 “Tutankhamun’s Funeral” at the Met is made up of mummy bandages, linen sheets, mud seals and bags of natron and sawdust from the embalming process. Discovered in 1907 by Edward S. Ayrton, some of the funeral items bear the name of King Tutankhamun, and helped lead Howard Carter to his nearby discovery of the actual tomb in 1922.
Ayrton was working for New York lawyer and amateur archaeologist Theodore M. Davis, who later donated the funeral items to the Met Museum. (All the items in the new exhibition are normally on display, but have been given a special room and new book to coincide with the major Tut exhibition at Times Square.)
 “We thought it might be a good idea to give people another aspect of the story,” Dorothea Arnold, curator and chairman of the Department of Egyptian Art at the Met, said in an interview at the museum Monday. “You can start here and get the context.”
Indeed the Met offers deep context, with one of the best Egyptian art and textile collections in the world. When the original King Tut exhibition came to New York in 1979, it was on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art . In 2004, officials from the Met said they opted out of this tour because they did not want to add a higher entry fee. (Times Square tickets will cost $27.50 for the single exhibition, while the Met is always a $20 suggested admission for the entire museum.)
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March 15, 2010 2:08 PM Comments (0)
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Limited morning cab share program starts in Manhattan
The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission today launched a limited share-a-cab experiment along three designated routes in Manhattan that will operate weekday mornings from 6 to 10 a.m.
The first three routes are in Midtown, the Upper East Side and Upper West Side only.
The shared-ride fares are $3 or $4 per passenger (depending on the route) and can be paid in cash or by credit card. Passengers may only enter at one of three Group Ride taxi stand locations and then may be dropped off along the routes, which all end at Grand Central Terminal. The yellow cabs may not pick up additional passengers along the route and may not go to any other destination, according to the TLC’s taxi share passenger info card (in pdf).
The location and fares for the three Group Ride stands:
West 57th Street at 8th Avenue - Fare: $3
West 72nd Street at Columbus Avenue - Fare: $4
East 72nd Street at 3rd Avenue - Fare: $4
“It’s both a transportation and a social experiment,” TLC Commisioner Matthew Daus told NY1 this morning.”But it worked in the 2005 transit strike — people loved it. Mayor Bloomberg wanted us to try it as a pilot, or an experiment around the city so we’re starting with the three stands and we’ll see how it goes from there.”
Three more taxi stand locations have been approved for Manhattan plus one for US Air and Marine Air Terminals of LaGuardia Airport, the TLC announced in February (pdf).
Other stand locations planned for Manhattan:
Grand Central Terminal to 59th Street at 6th Avenue - $3
Penn Station to 59th Street at 6th Avenue - $4
Port Authority Bus Terminal to 59th Street at 6th Avenue - $3
Technically, tipping is optional and in addition to the flat-rate fare.
Image source: NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission.
Earlier: New 50-cent taxi tax jacks up JFK flat-rate to $45.50
MetroCard fare rises to $2.25 today for subway, bus
NY considers share-a-taxi experiment with lower fares
Taxis switch to zone fares during transit strike (2005)
March 3, 2010 8:09 AM Comments (2)
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Italy loans Greek kylix, Roman dining set to Met
A Roman silver dining set salvaged from Vesuvius’ ashes and a terracotta kylix from Sparta will be on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the next four years thanks to a special loan from the Republic of Italy.
 The silver, known as the Moregine Treasure, was buried in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79, and was unearthed in 2000 in a wicker basket and hidden in the basement of an unfinished public bath house. “The two canthari (drinking cups) are of particular interest and were likely prized antiques at the time they were buried, having been made over a century earlier at the very end of the Hellenistic era, likely in Alexandria, Egypt,” the Met states in its news release announcing the loan. “They seem to commemorate what is sometimes known as the Treaty of Brundisium between Mark Anthony and Octavian in 40 B.C., just four years after the assassination of Caesar. This historic treaty gave Mark Anthony command of the eastern Roman provinces, while Octavian was given control over Italy and the West.”
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February 24, 2010 12:12 PM Comments (0)
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Coyote returns to Central Park pond near The Plaza
 Central Park’s latest coyote visitor was spotted last night on the ice of The Pond, located near the southeast corner of the park, according to D. Bruce Yolton who has posted video and a trove of pictures on his blog, Urban Hawks.
Image source: Urban Hawks and Other Wildlife in Central Park and NYC.
Earlier: Bald eagle seen soaring over Central Park
February 23, 2010 7:21 AM Comments (0)
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Animal Collective, Danny Perez in Guggenheim takeover
 Update: An extra session has been added for March 4 from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m., the Guggenheim Museum announced today, March 1. Tickets are on sale now.
Animal Collective and artist Danny Perez will stage a site-specific performance at the Guggenheim Museum on March 4 “in the context of Tino Sehgal, for which the entire Guggenheim rotunda is cleared of art objects for the first time in the museum’s history,” museum officials announced today.
The original work, titled “Transverse Temporal Gyrus,” seeks to turn the museum into a “kinetic, psychedelic environment” with recorded music, video projections, costumes, and props.
The event will run from 9 p.m. to midnight.
Tickets will go on sale to museum members Thursday, Feb. 18 at 10 a.m. for $25. Any remaining tickets will go on sale to the general public on Friday Feb. 19 at 10 a.m. for $30.
Update as of 10:25 a.m. Friday: The Guggenheim’s official Twitter feed just announced the event has sold out.
Image source: Guggenheim Museum.
Earlier: Museums open late for fall/winter 2009/10 in NYC
Museum free hours in NYC for fall/winter 2009/10
Guggenheim Museum for sale, by Lego
February 17, 2010 4:33 PM Comments (0)
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Roosevelt Island Tram on track for March 1 suspension
Roosevelt Island Tram — famous for its “Spider-Man” movie cameo as well as stranding real-life riders over the East River in 2006 — is on schedule to shut down March 1 through Aug. 31 for a major modernization project.
This past weekend, the Roosevelt Islander blog reported the oft-delayed project is almost ready to begin. The tram is “on schedule for March 1 shutdown,” Roosevelt Island Operating Corporaton President Steve Shane states in a report to island residents reprinted on the blog.
Buses, subways and the Roosevelt Island Bridge will still offer access to the island, which is home to businesses, residences, an abandoned small pox hospital, a lighthouse that dates to 1872, and was the site of a jail that once housed Mae West as well as New York City Mayor William “Boss” Tweed.
The tram runs between Roosevelt Island and Manhattan adjacent to the 59th Street/Queensboro Bridge. The fare is the same as regular ride on an MTA bus or subway, currently $2.25. MetroCards are accepted.
Picture credit: Amy Langfield/NewYorkology.
Earlier: Roosevelt Island tram overhaul delayed by months
All 69 people rescued from Roosevelt Island trams
Roosevelt Island Tram rescue effort underway
February 16, 2010 2:35 PM Comments (0)
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Royal Shakespeare Co sets Park Ave Armory '11 dates
 The Stratford-upon-Avon-based Royal Shakespeare Company will come to New York in 2011 from July 6 through August 14 to stage 45 performances at the Park Avenue Armory as part of the Lincoln Center Festival.
The six-week residency will use a stage that will be “a full-scale replica of the award-winning Courtyard Theatre where the Company currently performs,” organizers announced last week.
In New York, the RSC will stage five (as yet undetermined) of the seven plays from its 2009-2010 season: “Antony and Cleopatra,” “As You Like It,” “Julius Caesar,” “King Lear,” “Romeo and Juliet” and “The Winter’s Tale.”
Organizers announced that first dibs on tickets will go to Executive Producers, Producers, or Supporters Circle members of Lincoln Center. “All other tickets will go on sale in the spring of 2011.”
TimeOut NY, noting ticket prices are likely to be nothing like the free Shakespeare in the Park, contacted Lincoln Center for a follow up: “A festival official says they have not set single ticket prices yet. And depending on ticket availability, they will offer student tickets, and they do plan to have an affordable ticket price. Of course, affordable is a relative term in this town.”
The Park Avenue Armory is located at 643 Park Ave., map.
Image source: Lincoln Center Festival website.
February 16, 2010 10:00 AM Comments (0)
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Big Bambú installation to take over Met's roof garden
 The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s rooftop garden this summer will host a “Big Bambú” a sprawling site-specific installation designed by Doug and Mike Starn, the museum announced today.
The bamboo structure, which will go on display April 27 in the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, will change throughout the exhibition, ultimately measuring 100 feet long by 50 feet wide by 50 feet high, according to the museum’s news release.
While the structure can be viewed from the garden as part of regular museum admission, special tickets will be made availble for small groups to walk through the inside of the artwork, “roughly 20 to 40 feet above the main level of the Roof Garden.”
“We need to make it so big in order to make us—all of us—feel small—or at least to awaken us to the fact that individually we’re not so big as we think. Once we’re really aware of our true stature we can feel a part of something much more vast than we could ever have dreamed of before,” Doug Starn said in the news release announcing the summer project.
Previously, the twin brothers installed a project by the same name in Beacon, N.Y.
Typically the museum gives over its entire roof garden to one artist each summer. The martini bar will also return to the roof garden for 2010.
Image source: Starn Studios/October 2008.
Earlier: Roxy Paine’s ‘Maelstrom’ opens on Met roof for summer
Koons’ ‘Balloon Dog’ marks its territory on Met roof
Frank Stella gets the Met rooftop for the summer
February 11, 2010 11:48 PM Comments (0)
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Restaurant Week: Modern, Le Cirque, Del Posto, Cipriani
Winter Restaurant Week reservations unofficially opened today as the event’s organizer, NYC & Co., posted the list via Twitter.
 Restaurant Week participants inlcude 21 Club, Cafe Boulud, Central Park Boathouose, Cipriani Wall Street, Craftbar, Del Posto, DB Bistro Moderne, Ed’s Chowder House, Esca, Gotham Bar & Grill, Kittichai, Le Cirque, Lupa, Lure, Mercer Kichen, Mesa Grill, The Modern, Morimoto, Nobu, Nougatine at Jean Georges, The Oak Room at The Plaza, Perry St, Petrossian, Red Cat, Riingo, River Cafe, Rock Center Cafe, Russian Tea Room, Sea Grill, Shun Lee, Spice Market, Tabla, Telepan, Tocqueville Restaurant , Tribeca Grill, Water Club, Terrace in the Sky and Water’s Edge.
During Winter Restaurant Week, Jan. 25 through Feb. 7, three-course meals will be sold for $24.07 for lunch and $35 at dinner. The prix-fixe price does not include beverages, tax or tip. It’s suspended on Saturdays and only some restaurants partake on Sundays.
Image source: NYC & Co.
Earlier: Restaurant weeks for Northeast road-trippers
2010 Winter Restaurant Week set for Jan. 25 to Feb. 7
January 11, 2010 11:11 AM Comments (0)
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NYC museums, restaurants, zoos open New Year's Day
 Although Jan. 1 is a holiday, many museums, restaurants, ice rinks, zoos clubs and other venues remain open on New Year’s Day in New York City. Here’s the list:
Special New Year’s Day events
Coney Island Polar Bear Club New Year’s Day swim - 1 p.m.
Salute to Vienna World’s Greatest New Year’s Concert! - 2:30 p.m at Lincoln Center
The Poetry Project presents the The 36th Annual New Year’s Day Marathon Reading at St. Mark’s on the Bowery – from 2 p.m.
Free 16th Annual Bowery Poetry Club marathon poetry reading - noon
ESPN Zone’s York’s 3rd Annual Ultimate Couch Potato Competition - 11 a.m.
Museums
Museum of Modern Art - 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Guggenheim Museum - 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
American Museum of Natural History - 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.
New-York Historical Society - 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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December 23, 2009 11:06 AM Comments (0)
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