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Session 73 1 Live Music Music Venues Bars Upper East Side Uptown East

Session 73

Session 73 is the everyman's live music bar. With a casual vibe and bands that always get the crowd moving, the space is the essential neighborhood watering hole. Ryan Morrissey, the general manager, spoke about the bar's origins and the reason for its success.Corby Thomas, the owner of Session 73, noticed that there was no venue for live music on the Upper East Side. He opened the bar in 2000, but as a harmonica player, he really wanted to bring in blues and funk groups. The neighborhood, however, made its wishes known and embraced cover rock. "Music is the life blood of this place," Ryan said, adding, "Musicians like being here." Some of the bands return multiple times, including "The Characters" who have been performing at Session since 2002. Many of the bands play "just to have a good time," whereas others are often school teachers or engineers, performing here as an outlet for their creative side. This attitude seems to resonate well with the patrons, as they, too, are able to get into the music. According to Ryan, "People get goofy and have a good time," causing the bar to become "really high energy at night," with people dancing and singing along.It is not solely about the music: the food and drink have also attracted attention. The bar's sliders have been especially popular since day one, and the innovative cocktails on the menu are often requested, especially since two employees, Lauren and Christina, started infusing their own liquors behind the bar. On the day that some of us from Manhattan Sideways stopped in, the glass vats of cucumber lychee and cucumber lemon gin were about to be switched over to pumpkin spice vodka for the fall. The Moscow mule was mixed to perfection while the special of the day, a cucumber martini, was refreshing. We also tried Ryan's personal favorite, the Strawberry Habanero Margarita with smoked paprika salt on the edge. His description works best: "It doesn't hit you hard, but then you feel it." Finally, we sampled a bright red "wicked lemonade" made with a house-made mixed berry simple syrup.As we sipped on the concoctions, I asked Ryan about the crowds that they receive. He explained that they get all sorts of people visiting Session 73, but that most are locals rather than tourists. Because of this, they often are quite well-dressed. There is no dress code, but people on the Upper East Side "tend to want to look their best." The busiest day, oddly enough, is Sunday. "It's the craziest thing I've ever seen," Ryan said, wide-eyed, describing the big rush that occurs on what is considered to be the slowest day for most businesses.Ryan showed us to the Session 73's back room, which is used for private events and holds up to eighty people. A variety of functions happen in this room: Ryan is especially proud of the charity events that the bar hosts, but the back room has seen everything from first birthday parties to funeral wakes. "The bar is here for its neighbors through all stages of life," Ryan offered. "People meet and get married and have kids in this bar." He should know - Ryan met his wife at Session 73. In closing, Ryan shared that his neighborhood staple inspires the locals. When he stands out front, he often hears someone reminiscing about the time that they have spent here. Some of his favorite lines have been, "Remember when we were there last weekend," or "That was a wild night," and, of course, "I love that place!"

Lost Gem
Madison Square Garden 1 Music Venues Event Spaces Sports Arenas Chelsea

Madison Square Garden

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.

Lost Gem
Sid Gold's Request Room 1 Bars Live Music Music Venues Jazz Blues Flower District Tenderloin Chelsea

Sid Gold's Request Room

“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.

Lost Gem
Kaufman Music Center 1 Music Venues Music Schools Lincoln Square Upper West Side Midtown West

Kaufman Music Center

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.

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