THIRD STREET MUSIC SCHOOL’S HOLIDAY CONCERT Located on in the heart of the East Village, Third Street Music School Settlement’s early childhood programs are good for the soul — but not exactly inexpensive to maintain, or provide (more than 75% of students receive financial aid or participate in tuition-free instruction and low-cost enrichment programs). Founded read more here »

BY TRAV S.D.  |   Frank Fay was copied, but not liked “Of all the great vaudevillians, I admired Frank the most.”—James Cagney Almost all of the great comedians spoke with reverence about Frank Fay (1891-1961). He originated the stand-up comedy style we associate with Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Johnny Carson, Jay Leno and David read more here »

  BY JIM CARUSO  (jim-caruso.com)  |  I  love spending the holidays in New York City — but between the over-blown seasonal spectaculars, the inclement weather and throngs of gaping tourists, a Manhattan Christmas can sometimes be overwhelming. In concocting this list of December must-sees, I’ve noticed that my choices are all masterpieces of simplicity — emphasizing read more here »

PENNY JONES & CO. PUPPETS: MOTHER GOOSE TALES No storm is super enough to pull the strings of Penny Jones and Co. Puppets. “When our season was hitting its stride,” recalls Jones, “We got nine feet of water in the basement, no electricity, heat, water, elevator, stove, telephone, Internet, laundry. We had to cancel all read more here »

BY OPHIRA EISENBERG  |  Ten years ago when my friend told me that I should listen to his podcast, I have to admit I was pretty skeptical about the entire medium. I remember saying, “So let me get this straight — you plugged a microphone into your computer and talked about what was on your read more here »

  BY TOM TENNEY  |  In 1961, Ellen Stewart revolutionized the New York performance scene when she opened Café La MaMa in the basement of an East Ninth Street tenement. The African-American fashion designer-cum-impresario imagined the new space as an alternative to popular Off-Off Broadway venues like Caffe Cino and the Gaslight — small spaces that read more here »

GREENWICH VILLAGE ORCHESTRA Music Director Barbara conducts The Greenwich Village Orchestra, for a program including Brahms’ Violin Concerto and Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Suite. Violinist Itamar Zorman, the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition winner, will be the concert’s guest soloist. Presented this summer at a Galilee Mountains festival in its chamber form, GVO’s performance of Israeli read more here »

BY MARTIN DENTON  (of indietheaternow.com)  |  I  remember vividly the moment I knew Kevin Augustine was a genius. It was a sultry August afternoon in 1999. I was sitting in the audience in the now-defunct Collective Unconscious space on Ludlow Street in the Lower East Side, partaking of yet another show in the third annual read more here »

BY TRAV S.D. (travsd.wordpress.com)   |   What a pleasant surprise! I went to the current revival of Tennessee Williams’ 1965 “The Mutilated” to watch two heavyweights slug it out and received that spectacle in spades, plus a good deal more. Mink Stole and Penny Arcade are both larger-than-life as Williams’ sordidly symbiotic odd couple, Trinket and Celeste, read more here »