BY NORMAN BORDEN  |  For those interested in the cultural and political history of New York City during one of its most creative and turbulent periods –– 1958 to 1979 –– you will be enthralled by the more than 130 vintage prints in this sprawling exhibition of Fred McDarrah’s work for the Village Voice. As read more here »

BY SCOTT STIFFLER   |  If Shakespeare were around in the 1960s, his mighty pen and massive stable of players might have found a suitable home in the comic book pages — where, like the best Marvel and DC superheroes, their origin stories and epic adventures could be told by the master, then adapted by read more here »

BY SAM SPOKONY  |  Guitar virtuoso Habib Koité’s new album tells a very personal story of his home in Mali — and now he’s brought his band halfway around the world to share it with American listeners. The February 25 release, “Soô” — which literally translates to home — shows off Koité’s mastery not only read more here »

BY STEPHANIE BUHMANN  stephaniebuhmann.com     LESLIE WAYNE Wayne manipulates the medium of painting by approaching oil paint as a sculptural material. She often scrapes, folds, cuts and builds up her surfaces, creating works that take on three-dimensional textures. The tactile quality of her work evokes the experience of geology and natural phenomena. Her relationship read more here »

BY STEPHANIE BUHMANN  stephaniebuhmann.com   |  PANCHO WESTENDARP: THINGS THAT BARELY EXIST |  Westendarp’s drawings, videos and installations seek to analyze relationships between time, space, memory and movement. He states, “Developing our own way of measuring time means creating our own notion of history and developing new rituals where time can be practical and playful.” Through March 9, at Robert Henry Contemporary read more here »

BY SCOTT STIFFLER |  From Chicago, Toronto and other chilly climes they come — to perform daring acts of indie theater and mock a weary Manhattan’s notion of what passes for excessive snowfall. Over the next three weeks, as the predictions of a certain Staten-Island based groundhog will likely continue to prove annoyingly accurate, the read more here »

BY MICHAEL LYDON  michaelydon.com  |  The first wave of 1960s Greenwich Village folk music was all acoustic: unamplified flattop guitars, banjos, dulcimers, harmonicas and the occasional standup bass. The groups were small — many solos and duos, a scattering of trios and a few rare quartets. Drums? Never! Most of the folkies were college-age white read more here »

WEST VILLAGE CHORALE WINTER CONCERT The West Village Chorale, having dug out from more than one storm since their December holiday concert (as seen in the picture, with maestro Michael Conley wielding the baton), presents a program of unconventional selections. The choral music arrangements for “Found in Translation” are inspired by everything from Mozart to read more here »

BY SCOTT STIFFLER   |  Back in the day, before a quick Google search did the all the heavy lifting, you had to be an extremely motivated sleuth to piece together a complete stranger’s dossier. Brick and mortar research methods like a trip to the library, poring over the city’s daily papers and informed gossip read more here »

BY SAM SPOKONY  |  Two years after winning a coveted “rising star” award from DownBeat Magazine, bassist/composer Linda Oh has certainly become much more than a vibrant young talent in the eyes and ears of jazz fans. With three albums under her name, she’s explored the depth of both acoustic and electric sounds, with a read more here »