Discover Music Venues

While the lineups at Radio City Music Hall have changed dramatically over the years, the "Showplace of the Nation" has long been at the center of the city's entertainment scene. Opened to the public in 1932, the Art Deco building, with almost six thousand seats, was initially intended to "house high-class variety entertainment. " However, the space was later converted to a movie hall, with films accompanied by stage shows. This lasted until 1979 when, for a variety of reasons, Radio City began transitioning into a concert hall. Besides consistently booking some of music's hottest stars, Radio City has also hosted numerous award shows, including The Grammys and The Tony Awards and is the home to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring the Rockettes, a tradition that commenced in 1933.

Originally known as the Manhattan Opera House, 311 West has had an interesting history. Oscar Hammerstein built the theater in 1906, but after a few short years, the Metropolitan Opera House came to him requesting that he not compete with them, and made him an offer that he could not refuse. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Hammerstein sold the building to the Shubert brothers where they continued to feature a variety of shows and concerts. In 1922, it was sold again, and this time a Grand Ballroom was added. Unbeknownst to the builders, they had created an outstanding acoustic setup where musicians from Harry Belafonte to the Grateful Dead have performed and recorded. Over the past twenty plus years, construction has been on-going as more multimedia studios have been added and a refurbishing done to the Hammerstein Ballroom to accommodate large private events.

Once described by writer Allen Ginsberg as “the most integrated place on the planet, ” the lively Nuyorican Poets Cafe is not only a venue for poetry readings. Audiences have witnessed visual artists, musicians, writers, actors, and every other kind of performer pass through its doors. Though the Nuyorican has cemented a place for itself in New York City’s art scene, its beginnings were humble. Puerto Rican-born writer and poet Miguel Algarín founded the group in his East Village apartment to give artists and performers of color a space to develop their craft. Many New Yorkers of Puerto Rican descent met regularly in Mr. Algarín’s living room to share their creative efforts, fueling the rise of what would be known as the “Nuyorican” artistic and literary movements. By the 1980s, the Nuyorican went from being excluded from the mainstream to attracting enough of a following to open a new location in a former tenement building on East 3rd Street. Today, the Nuyorican continues to draw crowds at its regular poetry slams, open mic nights, concerts, and art exhibits spotlighting talented people with powerful messages.

The multiple theaters inside this center are stunning and the list of performances impressive. Mikhail Baryshnikov had his dream become a reality in 2005 when he was able to provide a state of the art space for people in the dance, music and theater world to rehearse and perform.

New York City means a lot of things to a lot of people. For many members of the Sideways team, it means nothing if not basketball. But while the game historically flourished in and even helped define life in (parts of) the City, it is nowhere near its historical apex these days. Perhaps the playground ‘ball is as lively as it ever was. But the New York Knicks, the currently flawed tenants of Madison Square Garden, have not won an NBA championship in thirty years. Once beloved for its prowess, the team now seems more beloved for its power to inspire griping and grumbling among its loyal fans. Throughout it all, though, the Garden has remained a hallowed basketball ground, a place that has inspired basketball luminaries to some of their most electrifying performances. It is, perhaps, basketball’s most storied arena. The Garden wears many hats. The New York Rangers, the City’s NHL team, also calls this arena home. Musicians and stage performers come through here on tour (with Billy Joel recently being named the Garden’s first entertainment franchise, essentially a musician-in-residence), college basketball tournaments (and Saint John’s home games) are played, even wrestling events. Underneath, meanwhile, lies the transportation hub that is Pennsylvania Station. Once upon a time, this station was a beautifully built, high-ceilinged architectural masterpiece, an elegant way to arrive into Manhattan. It was torn down, however, in 1963, replaced by a much less grand iteration. (This loss of a great landmark was perhaps inspirational in the movement to preserve the beautiful Grand Central Terminal. ) Now, the future of the entire complex is up in the air as many are pushing for a new Penn Station. The Garden, meanwhile, has a ten-year operating permit, at the end of which, it may be forced to move.

“I’ve always been a fan of music, ” Paul Devitt told me as I sat down at the bar surrounding the piano in the back room of Sid Gold’s. He co-owns this amazing concept alongside Joe McGinty, a composer, arranger, and pianist, also known for having started the Loser’s Lounge, a group of talented performers who breathe new life into pop classics. Despite the fact that Joe is the more musical of the two, it was Paul’s idea to open Sid Gold’s Request Room, which is fittingly named after a Broadway talent agent. Paul is a lover of themed bars. He started in Philadelphia and opened his first bar, Silk City, in a vintage diner car where names such as the Roots and Diplo performed. Upon his move to New York, he opened Beauty Bar, which combines a classic bar with a retro salon. He has since opened Beauty Bars in San Francisco, Las Vegas, Chicago, Denver, and Dallas. “I’ve never had the drive to open ‘just a bar, ’” Paul emphasized. There is something to delight and astonish in every bar that he imagines. For example, when he ran Coral Room in Chelsea, there was a ten thousand liter fish tank, complete with “mermaids” swimming behind the glass. Paul smiled and said, “I always want to do something interesting. ”Paul met Joe a few times through a karaoke night that Joe hosted. When he came up with the idea to open a piano bar centering around pop songs, he knew that Joe was the man to ask. When I visited in August of 2015, just four months after they first opened, it was clear that his latest brainchild was already a hit. As Paul explained, “The reaction Beauty Bar got twenty years ago is what Sid Gold’s has now – so I know it is a success. ” Sid Gold’s classy karaoke-esque request hour begins at 9pm every night, and even “Monday nights are mobbed, ” he explained, both shell-shocked and pleased. The bar already has amassed a faithful crew of regulars. Paul partially credits the location with Sid Gold’s success, since the Request Room is a unique gem among a row of sports bars. He also pointed out that Sid Gold’s is different from similar establishments because of the lack of Broadway songs being sung. “Joe doesn’t know a lot of show tunes. Occasionally people come in wanting them, and he’ll play a couple, but it’s not his thing. ” I asked Paul what his own go-to song was. He laughed and responded, “Righteous Brothers, Loving Feeling. It’s always good to do a sing-a-long, here. ”Joe is at the piano most nights, but when I visited, it was his night off and a young man named Julian was impressively mastering the keys. Some members of the Manhattan Sideways team stayed to witness the singing and to request their own tunes. The highlight of the night, however, was when Paul himself took the mic and started crooning.

While the lineups at Radio City Music Hall have changed dramatically over the years, the "Showplace of the Nation" has long been at the center of the city's entertainment scene. Opened to the public in 1932, the Art Deco building, with almost six thousand seats, was initially intended to "house high-class variety entertainment. " However, the space was later converted to a movie hall, with films accompanied by stage shows. This lasted until 1979 when, for a variety of reasons, Radio City began transitioning into a concert hall. Besides consistently booking some of music's hottest stars, Radio City has also hosted numerous award shows, including The Grammys and The Tony Awards and is the home to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring the Rockettes, a tradition that commenced in 1933.

Both a space of learning and of performing, Kaufman Music Center is home to Merkin Concert Hall, Lucy Moses School, and Special Music School. The organization was founded in 1953 and receives most of its funding through donations from music enthusiasts. The Merkin Concert Hall has been around since the 1970s and was renovated with the rest of the building in 2007. Vocal and acoustic performances of classical and new music send resonating sounds throughout the spacious 450-seat room, with its well-lit stage and impressive grand piano. Each year, the concert hall hosts the Ecstatic Music Festival, which presents one-night-only artist collaborations from across the spectrum. The Special Music School is the only public school in the city to offer music as a core subject to its gifted students, and the Lucy Moses School offers a variety of classes in music, dance and theater. "Lots of people will come back to play here as an adult having taken classes as children, " explained Communications Director Joan Jastrebski. In the summertime, the classrooms turn into musical theater workshops where specific age groups work with writers and choreographers to develop a performance for their final recital. Because every good show needs its props, a team of designers gets together to go over every last detail. Alex, one of the interns, shared with me the story of how the team scurried around to fabricate a prop microphone out of tape and foam when one went missing from the set, only to find it moments from show time. "What is exciting about the center is what people are doing, " Joan added when she took me to watch little ones dance passionately to playful music in the Ann Goodman Recital Hall. She also allowed me a peak into one of the private practice rooms on the third floor where Genya Paley, who had been with the center for over three decades, was giving a piano lesson to a young boy. "Yes, right, " said Genya as the child played each chord individually, "Now put it together. " The lovely harmony that followed exemplified the intersection of practice and performance.

"Practice! " has been the immediate, entertaining response when asked how to get to Carnegie Hall - at least for its would-be performers. For the rest of us, the formal entrance to the concert hall is either on Seventh Avenue or 57th Street. Carnegie Hall has been a premier concert destination since 1891. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1962, the building is a stunning ode to Italian Renaissance architecture and boasts excellent acoustics. A New York City icon, the hall continues to attract classically trained and modern musicians from the world over, including the Beatles who performed two shows during their first trip to the United States.

On 24th street for ten years before moving to 32nd in 2013, the Cutting Room caught my attention before I even entered. I spotted a guitar in the window decorated with kaleidoscopic colors, and soon learned that famed artist Mark Kostabi had created it. Once indoors, I was immediately drawn in by the eighteen hanging guitars that serve as a massive chandelier. Someone had an incredible vision and was able to take what the owner, Steve Walter, described as a “white box” of a carpet store and turn it into an over-the-top venue for appreciating music. One of the two partners behind this fantastic place is Chris Noth, known for his roles as “Big” on Sex and the City and Peter Florrick in The Good Wife. He felt that Manhattan was missing the same connection and deep passion for live music that he had growing up, and he and Steve wanted to bring this back to our city. Steve is also devoted to music—growing up on the Jersey Shore, he played guitar in a band, graduated from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and had the original vision of a 1940s supper club that is now pulsing on 32nd. The stunning forty-six foot mahogany wood bar is gigantic, evoking the image of a Stratocaster – a Fender guitar model – wrapping itself around one whole side of the room. They built a grand staircase in the center, where there is a gallery with Kathrina Miccio’s paintings of iconic musicians. I took the challenge and attempted to name as many as I could, from Billie Holiday to Billy Joel and BB King, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Keith Richards, Steven Tyler and Jimmy Page in the middle. Continuing my walk around the staircase, I found a collection of photographs with fascinating shots of Paul, John, George and Ringo done by Lennon’s former girlfriend, May Pang. The Cutting Room offers an eclectic mix of performers, and on any given night there may be several shows going on—sometimes jazz and rock, and sometimes even classical music. Mondays are usually devoted to Broadway, where theater stars drop in to perform. Hearing Steve rattle off the long list of musicians, spanning decades, who have performed in both the former space and the current one was like listening to a who’s who in the music hall of fame: Judy Collins, Emmylou Harris, Neil Young, Sting, Adam Levine, and not too long ago, ninety-four year old Pete Seeger. How I wish I had known about that event. From the industry’s top musicians to the up-and-comers, every night is an exhilarating experience that includes fresh American fare, a bottle of wine and a good crowd of people.