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Things to Do in NYC This Week (May 23-May 30)

Looking for what to do in New York? We've got the latest on all the goings-on in NYC. This week, summer officially kicks off with Memorial Day Weekend, as does Fleet Week, tons of great live shows, exhibits, and more! 

 THE BIG EVENT

Fleet Week at The Intrepid

(5/23-5/28) The legendary aircraft carrier that’s now the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum celebrates the men and women of the armed forces during New York’s 30th Annual Fleet Week, which brings ships of every size steaming into the city. Through Memorial Day, check out tour guide talks, a free Friday night screening of Top Gun on the flight deck introduced by NASA astronaut and T-38 pilot Gregory C. Johnson, planetarium shows, kids’ activities, vintage military vehicles, ships open for free public tours, science demos, a Battle of the Big Bands on the flight deck on Saturday, and much more! For additional info, visit fleetweeknewyork.com.

PLUS

(5/23-5/29) If all the maritime action above inspires you to get out on the water yourself, Spirit of New York and Bateaux are standing by with special Fleet Week cruises. Hop aboard the all-glass Bateaux for a Hudson and East River spin, with a live band and dance floor on top of a gourmet 3-course plated meal. Or opt for Spirit, which offers lunch and dinner cruises with DJs, interactive games, and a delicious fresh buffet. You’ll get great views of the ships and some of the best skyline views in the world.

(5/26-5/28, 6/2-6/3) The Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit is held right in the heart of Greenwich Village every spring. This eclectic art exhibit was inspired by Jackson Pollock in 1931, when he brought some of his paintings to a sidewalk near the park in hopes of making a few bucks. The event has since grown to become traditional happening in Lower Manhattan with artists requiring a nomination in order to showcase their work. wsoae.org 

(5/27) Every Sunday on the Upper West Side you can find Grand Bazaar NYC, the city’s largest curated market—and most distinctive! This Sunday is the One Of A Kind Bazaar, which features authentic local makers of unique fashion, art, home goods, jewelry, furniture, stationery, and more. (There’s also some mighty tasty artisanal treats).

(5/28) Catch the Memorial Day Parade Ceremony aboard the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. Additional Memorial Day parades are held in Brooklyn and Douglaston, Queens. 

(5/28) Leonard Bernstein Centennial Celebration at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.

Manhattanhenge

flickr:Astronomy at Stevens

(5/29-5/30) Grab your camera and head out for photo ops to capture Manhattanhenge, when the sunset exactly aligns with Manhattan's street grid. The American Museum of Natural History has identified this year's dates and times, 5/29, 8:13pm, 5/30, 8:12pm. Other days this year, 7/12-7/13.

(Now-7/1) Swale's Moveable Food Forest docks for the summer at Brooklyn Army Terminal. swaleny.org

EXHIBITION OF THE WEEK

Georgia O'Keeffe

(Now-10/28) Georgia O'Keeffe: Visions of Hawaii at The New York Botanical Garden. Pioneering American modernist Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986) conveyed a distinct sense of place with innovative depictions of her surroundings, from stark New Mexican landscapes to New York cityscapes. Yet flowers and plants were subjects that engaged O’Keeffe throughout her career. Curated by Theresa Papanikolas, Ph.D., of the Honolulu Museum of Art, this landmark exhibition will offer a rare focus on 20 of O’Keeffe’s depictions of Hawai‘i from a nine-week sojourn in 1939 while on commission to produce images for a Hawaiian Pineapple Company promotional campaign.

PLUS

(Now-10/8) “A shoe tells a story,” says footwear designer Stuart Weitzman—and it’s done so through history, as people “used shoes to say something about who they were.” Weitzman should know: for three decades, along with running his eponymous company, he and his wife Jane have been collecting vintage footwear. Now, 100 items from their cache are on display in Walk This Way: Footwear from Stuart Weitzman Collection of Historic Shoes at the New-York Historical Society, supplemented by the museum’s own collection and some contemporary creations. “You could wear that today” rings true, surveying the range of Mary Janes (invented 1904), T-straps (popularized in the ‘20s because they stayed on dancing feet so well), and stiletto pumps (made possible by post-World War II technology). You’ll be entranced by the beauty of the shoes themselves, gleaming like jewels in their transparent cases, joined by rows of glittering detached heels. 

(Now-7/15) On stage, he was Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, and The Thin White Duke. David Bowie, the beloved English singer/New York transplant who sang about “Changes” and is revered for perpetually changing his sound and look over a five decades-plus career, is being celebrated in David Bowie isa major exhibition that makes its final stop at the Brooklyn Museum. This first-ever Bowie retrospective explores a creative process of reinvention, collaborations, and bold characterizations that shaped listeners’ own identities. The show includes 300+ significant objects from Bowie’s teens to his death in 2016, including handwritten lyrics, diary entries, photography, set designs, album artwork, and rare performance material, with many items exclusive to the Brooklyn Museum presentation. More than 60 stage costumes are on display. Advanced sound technology, alongside theatrical scene–setting, animation, and video, provides an immersive journey through Bowie’s formative artistic experiences.

(Now-9/9) Surface/Depth: The Decorative After Miriam Schapiro at Museum of Arts and Design (MAD). In June of 2015, Miriam Schapiro, the pioneering feminist artist and founding member of the Pattern and Decoration movement, passed away at the age of ninety-one. Surprisingly, given her status as the elder stateswoman of the feminist art movement, the tremendous impact of her oeuvre on contemporary art has yet to be fully acknowledged or critically assessed. This exhibition seeks to redress this gap in the history of American art through an exploration of Schapiro's signature femmages, the term she coined to describe her distinctive hybrid of painting and collage inspired by women's domestic arts and crafts and the feminist critique of the hierarchy of art and craft. You can read more about it here.

(Now-6/24) Memory Unearthed: Henryk Ross Photographs at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. Recovered like buried treasure after the Second World War, the photographs of Henryk Ross survive to tell the hidden story of the Lodz Ghetto. Two hundred of these photographs are on view now. Here is a $3 off admission coupon.

(Now-10/8) Heavenly Bodies at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Cloisters. Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination reflects the influence of religious art, ceremony, and imagery on clothing design. It’s a sprawling show, literallyencompassing 65,000 square feet and 25 galleries, including The Cloisters (the museum’s uptown branch dedicated to medieval art, housed in reconstituted European chapels and cloisters) and parts of the Lehman Wing, the Costume Center, and the medieval and Byzantine art galleries at The Met itself.

COMEDY

(5/25-5/26) Gotham Comedy All Stars at Gotham Comedy Club, with Rich Francese, Brian McFadden, Veronica Mosey, Dante Nero, and Christian Finnegan.

PLUS

(5/25-5/27) Get Out's Lil Rel Howery at Carolines.

(Ongoing) Catch the latest and funniest on the comic strip at the LOL Times Square Comedy Club. Use promo code CITYGUIDE for 50% off tickets!

Click here for more comedy shows in NYC this weekend.

KIDS

LEGO A CELEBRATION

(Now-8/4) LEGO BRICKS: A CELEBRATION! at Scandinavia House. To mark the 60th anniversary of the LEGO® brick, the American-Scandinavian Foundation presents an exhibition saluting the LEGO Group as a leader of learning through play, LEGO® Bricks: A Celebration! Featuring sculptures, mosaics, and interactive play zones by renowned LEGO® Certified Professional artist Sean Kenney, the exhibition will also include an overview of the LEGO Group’s history and educational mission, as well as a variety of children’s workshops.

PLUS

Stomp The Performers

(Ongoing) Exhilarating Family Fun at Stomp NYC. Special discount packages available!

Click here for more things to do with kids this weekend.

For more kids activities, check out our sister site nymetroparents.com!

SIGHTSEEING 

The Beast

It's back! Ride THE BEAST and experience NYC's custom-built offshore racing powerboat, the BEAST! Zoom across the water at a heart-pounding 45mph on a ride down to the Statue of Liberty and back!

New! Check out NYC's hottest new museum, exploring the world of espionage, SPYSCAPE

Go on an immersive adventure beneath the seas, from the South Pacific to the coast of California, with National Geographic Encounter: Ocean OdysseyTake advantage of City Guide's coupon code and you can enjoy it at a discount: $5 off by presenting a copy of City Guide magazine at the box office, or with the code CITY18 online at NatGeoEncounter.com.

Bring a loved one to take in the breathtaking view at Top of the Rock

Grab a photo with Taylor Swift, One Direction, Lady GaGa and others at Madame Tussauds New YorkUse this coupon and save $5 off admission! 

Zip up 100 stories in 60 seconds and see New York City atop One World ObservatoryUse this coupon and save 20% off!

Explore New York City from the best vantage points with Helicopter Flight Services Tours. Choose from four different itineraries.

MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE

Macy Gray

(5/23-5/26) Opry City Stage is New York’s new home for country music and culture, with good food and good times rooted in the South and served up in Times Square. They’ll be getting in on the Fleet Week action, kicking off Wednesday, May 23rd with a 2018 Fleet Week Party Featuring Roger Alan Wade, a radio host and singer-songwriter from Chattanooga. Wednesday and Thursday see shows by Grammy Award-winning singer Macy Gray, and Friday and Saturday nights starting at 8:30pm you can catch live streaming of Grand Ole Opry performances direct from Nashville.

(5/23) Witch & Bitch at Moxy Times Square. Learn how to do tarot card readings, and get your fortune told. 6pm-9pm.

(5/23) Neko Case at Littlefield.

(5/23) The Kooks with The Academic at Brooklyn Steel

(5/23) Pod Save America at Radio City Music Hall

(5/23) Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden.

(5/24) Tomorrow Is a Long Time, a celebration of a Bob Dylan 1963 concert at Town Hall, with special guests Bill Murrary, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, Laurie Anderson, Steve Buscemi, Bob Neuwirth, Peter Wolf, and more. 

Click here for more nightlife this weekend.

For information on LGBT nightlife, visit our brother site metrosource.com!

SNEAK PEEK, NEXT WEEK 

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Photo by Dan Martensen/concept by KK Barrett.

(6/1-6/3) Music fans gather for the Governor's Ball 2018 at Randall's Island Park, with a lineup including headliners Jack White, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Travis Scott, Halsey, Eminem, N.E.R.D., and more. 

(5/29) Kendrick Lamar, w/SZA, Schoolboy Q at Madison Square Garden.

(5/29-6/3) The World Science Festival offers special activities and panels throughout NYC. Perennial favorites return, including the main stage Big Ideas programs, intimate Salons, the Flame Challenge, Cool Jobs, and free outdoor events. This year also celebrates the achievements of Women in Science, and explores the impact of the award-winning teachers on the future of scientific discovery. 

(5/30-6/1) BookExpo returns to Javits Center! Guests for talks will include Trevor Noah, Nick Offerman, Nicholas Sparks, Megan Mullally, Jason Fry, Viola Davis and more. bookexpoamerica.com

(6/1) Depeche Mode at Brooklyn's Barclays Center.

(6/1-6/3) Mike & Molly's Billy Gardell at Gotham Comedy Club.

Like what you see here? Share it with your friends on Facebook! Find out more about what to do in May here. We've got June covered here, too! 

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