Week of December 18
The solstice, eveninglife, and other happenings
Happy flu season to all who celebrate. Happy holidays to all who are forced to celebrate all that, too. And happy winter solstice. (Good for the sun for phoning it in!) Your holiday calendar is no doubt packed this week, so we have a shorter list of events that you should nevertheless check out.
We’re particularly stoked on the Dirt/Elsewhere nightlife party on Wednesday which, to us, represents the beauty of eveninglife: pack in fun, then get to bed by midnight so your body has time to recover from all the trash you just put it through.
See you out there! xo
This week’s Most Likely to Succeed events
🆓 = costs $0, 🎨 = art, 🎼 = music, 🎬 = film, 📚= books, 🌳 = nature, 🎭 = performance, 🧠 = thinking topics, 🍸 = drinks available, 🦩 = party/friendly vibe
🔑 Click the venue link under each listing for full event details.
Monday, December 18
Holiday songs from the Stoop of the Tilden Mansion
Are you ready for something wholesome? The Gramercy Brass Orchestra will play holiday tunes from the stoop of the Tilden Mansion, aka the National Arts Club’s porch. If the weather is still trash this evening, it’ll move indoors to the National Arts Club’s gorgeous Grand Gallery. You’ll be glad you showed up.
The National Arts Club, Gramercy Park
Mon from 6-7:30p 🆓 🎼
Drawing from a Distance at the Noguchi Museum
The Noguchi Museum hosts Drawing from a Distance tonight over zoom. Drawings are inspired by Distance Noguchi, a series of 22-films ranging from one to eleven hours long that capture different scenes of the museum as the light changes throughout the day. In this class, you’ll learn some basic drawing techniques and then “settle into a flow while creating a long sketch.” BYO pencil, eraser, and paper.
Noguchi Museum, virtual
Mon from 7:30-9p 🆓 🎨
Tuesday, December 19
In Conversation: Jenny Holzer on Louise Bourgeois at Hauser & Wirth
Two legends for the price of none!!
Hauser & Wirth on 18th St, Chelsea
Tues from 6-7p 🆓 🎨 🎭
Sleepless Traveler at Printed Matter
We’ve been known to buy a poetry book for its evocative title, and Sleepless Traveler checks the box. (This one also lives up to our every expectation.) Tonight, Jahan Khajavi, Tim Moore and Louis Fratino will chat about this newly published collection by the late Italian poet, Sandro Penna.
Printed Matter, Chelsea
Tues from 6-8p 🆓 📚
BODY WORK at Performance Space New York
This performance/party is to help PSNY raise funds for their 2024 artistic programming. A low-tier ticket costs $45 and gets you nearly full workday’s worth of partying and music and performances from fun people like Mykki Blanco. It’s dangerous to tempt fate with a big Tuesday night rager during flu season, but go for it because you’re cool and fun, and we’ll always have DayQuil.
Performance Space New York, East Village
Tues from 9p-4a 🎼 🎨 🦩
Wednesday, December 20
Elsewhere and Dirt present The Nightlife Review Party
We LOVE when our friends are friends. Elsewhere is one of our favorite venues, and Dirt is one of our favorite culture newsletters. And the thing is, most Elsewhere events on weeknights end at 11p so you can party as hard as you want and still get a good night of sleep.
Elsewhere and Dirt recently launched a collaborative editorial series about nightlife, and tonight you can preorder the zine they’ll make of the work they just published (from writers who we love, like Whitney Mallett of the Whitney Review). We appreciate the gesture to celebrate nightlife at an eveninglife time.
Elsewhere, Bushwick
Wed at 7p 🦩 🎼 📚
Thursday, December 21
Winter Solstice Celebration at the Elizabeth Street Garden
We did it, babes. We made it to the darkest day of the year and now we have extra minutes of daily daylight to look forward to. Head to the Elizabeth Street Garden, one of the most perfect sites in all of the city, for a festive solstice celebration with free hot beverages and sweet company.
Elizabeth Street Garden, Nolita
Thurs from 6-8p 🆓 🌳 🦩 🎼
Frankie’s Clown House at Union Pool
For another kind of solstice party, head to Union Pool (lol to our friends from NYU) for some sort of art/music/DJ event that features Kyp Malone (from TV On the Radio!) and other artists. We don’t know what to expect, but that’s kinda fun.
Union Pool, Williamsburg
Thurs at 7:30p doors, 8p event 🎨🎼🦩🍸
Friday, December 22
Last day to see A Flower Made Out of Clay at Auxier Kline
“When you're lonely and tired of the city / Remember it’s a flower made out of clay”: this lyric from the Velvet Underground is the curatorial angle of this show. We may sometimes get lonely and tired of the city, but we never tire of group shows about this city. May we never stop romanticizing this beautiful, godforsaken place.
Auxier Kline, Two Bridges
Fri from 12-6p 🆓 🎨
Last day to see Rolf Nowotny’s DAPPER PEEPERS at No Gallery
This weird, trippy delight of a show closes today. Definitely see this one IRL.
No Gallery, Lower East Side
Fri from 12-6p 🆓 🎨
Last day to see Katherine Bradford’s Arms and the Sea at Canada Gallery
Bradford’s show dishes up dream-like figures and “allegorical images of people in odd and disquieting situations. Bradford’s figures hover in spaces either intimate or interstellar, becoming propositional actors in raw and lyrical spectacles.” Canada Gallery is always delivering the goods.
Canada Gallery, Tribeca
Fri from 10a-6p 🆓 🎨
Saturday, December 23
Last day to see Barbara Chase-Riboud’s The Three Josephines
Last chance to see new and recent bronze sculptures and works on paper from the true legend, Barbara Chase-Riboud, at the inaugural show at Hauser & Wirth’s Soho space.
Hauser & Wirth, Soho
Sat from 10a-6p 🆓 🎨
Wordplay workshop at the Noguchi Museum
This afternoon, explore “the words, texts, and archival documents of Isamu Noguchi and use writing as a tool for engaging with Noguchi’s sculptures.” This guided tour with prompts is free with museum admission.
Noguchi Museum, Astoria
Sat from 3-4p 🆓 (with admission)🎨
Matt Rogers presents Have You Heard of Christmas?
We’ve had this music stuck in our head for a whole year and aren’t mad about it. Comedian/musical theater genius Matt Rogers reinterprets his musical act, Have You Heard of Christmas?, for Town Hall, complete with a band this time around. Don’t bring your parents unless they’re cool.
Town Hall, Bryant Park-ish
Sat at 6:30p 🎭 🎼 🍸
Waiting for Godot (featuring Michael Shannon and Paul Sparks) closing night
Oh baby, WE LOVED THIS SHOW. The stage design! Paul! Michael!! Chef’s smooch. You have one more night to see it.
Theatre for a New Audience, Downtown Brooklyn
Sat at 7:30p 🎭
Sunday, December 24
Brownstone Jazz: Christmas Concert series
“DRESS TO IMPRESS,” the strictly-enforced dress code says, which is a nice omen for a good time. Every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Brownstone Jazz serves up live jazz performances in the parlor of a restored 19th century Victorian brownstone in Bed Stuy, the best private club in the neighborhood. Arrive early to get a good seat. Tonight is a Christmas show.
Brownstone Jazz at 107 Macon St, Bed Stuy
4p and 6p 🎼 🦩
Meet the BIG LIST
See what’s happening far into the future with the Days & Nights BIG LIST, available to our extra beloved paying subscribers. We update the list multiple times per week as new events are announced and intel is uncovered so you’re always a few steps ahead.
THAT’S ALL, FOLKS
Have tips? Feedback? Requests? Want to say hi? Just reply to this email or drop us a line at daysnightslist@gmail.com. Catch you next week.