Shaun Rice

Dance
Dance Gang at Riverside Park
71st St Basketball Courts (72nd & Riverside Dr)
Upper West Side/Manhattan
(212) 408-0219
7PM

Guerilla art duo Dance Gang performs a new and unique site-specific dance created just for the park at the 71st Street basketball court, as part of the ninth annual Summer On the Hudson festival.

Concert - Country
Kings County Optry at Freddy's Backroom
485 Dean St (at Sixth Ave)
Prospect Heights/Brooklyn
(718) 622-7035
8:30PM

Each month, Kings County Opry offers an excellent sampling of local country, bluegrass and related styles.

Comedy
Always Be Funny at River Bar and Grill
500 W 43rd St (at Tenth Ave)
Manhattan
(212) 594-6399
8:30PM

J-L Cauvin hosts this new stand-up night featuring Helen Hong, Rory Scoval and headliner Gary Gulman.

Theatre
Broadway In Bryant Park 2009
Sixth Ave (at 40th St)
Midtown West/Manhattan
(212) 768-4242
12:30PM

The Great White Way comes to Bryant Park for this annual summer series of weekly performances, sponsored by 106.7 Lite FM. Today catch numbers from The Little Mermaid, 9 to 5, The Toxic Avenger and next season's Pure Country.

Books
In The Flesh at Happy Ending
302 Broome St (b/t Eldridge and Forsyth Sts)
Lower East Side/Manhattan
(212) 334-9676
8PM

The erotic reading series welcomes wild-man memoirist Mike Edison (I Have Fun Everywhere I Go), Megan Carpentier (Jezebel.com) and Blaise K (who runs the How I Learned reading series). Rachel Kramer Bussel-whose work has been published in the anthologies Best Sex Writing 2009 and The Mile High Club-hosts.

Gay
A Photographic Journey Through Buenos Aries at the Harvard Club of New York City
27 W 44th St (b/t Fifth and Sixth Aves)
Midtown West/Manhattan
6:30PM

Travel writer Michael Luongo (Gay Travels in the Muslim World, Frommer's Guide to Buenos Aires) leads a visual tour of the vibrant Argentine city.

Beauty
Rejuvenate Face & Body Anniversary Party
26-17 23rd Ave (at 26th St)
Astoria/Queens
(718) 626-4434
7PM-10PM

Rejuvenate Face & Body spa is celebrating its fifth anniversary with a bash for you. The first 30 people to R.S.V.P. will receive a goody bag packed with beauty products, including Pangea moisturizers, Bluewick soy candles, Marinanella soaps and more. Enter a raffle to win a free facial, massage or waxing service. Enjoy snacks and drinks and hit up the experienced and knowledgeable staff to answer all of your skin- and body-care questions.

Film
Wall Street at Summer On The Hudson/Pier 1
W 70th St (at the Hudson River)
Manhattan
(212) 408-0219
8:30PM

Remove the restless camera pyrotechnics and incomprehensible jargon, and you have a corny old melo: broker Charlie Sheen (green) perpetrates illegal practices to please surrogate poppa/company-trader Douglas (tough), a mega-villain mastermind who spits out absurdities like 'Lunch is for wimps' and longs to destroy his rival Stamp (lost). Soon Charlie's climbing the ladder in search of a fast buck and a flash fuck: Hannah (vacuous). Inevitably, he descends into a mire of insider-dealing, Faustian intrigue, and personal betrayal, culminating in his responsibility for Douglas' near-liquidation of the company where Sheen Sr (natch) is an Incorruptible Working Class Hero union rep. Charlie's cured, of course, by the most clichéd comeuppance of 'em all - family illness - which he should have foreseen, given the homespun homilies about abysses and doom repeatedly offered by full-time office soothsayer Holbrook (solemn). Dramatically inept, the film also muddles its naïve moralising: though condemnatory of avarice and dishonesty, Stone seems seduced by the financiers' luxurious lives and frantic energy, and even expects us to sympathise with the ghastly Charlie's final regret and redemption.

Concert - Blues
The Doc Marshalls at Hill Country
30 W 26th St (b/t Broadway and Sixth Ave)
Chelsea/Manhattan
(212) 255-4544
9PM

Local honky-tonk quintet the Doc Marshalls is playing behind its new album, Honest for Once. It finds frontman Nicolas Beaudoing & Co. hitting several high notes; Beaudoing's roots were pulled out of the border dirt between Texas and Louisiana, and both flavors come through in his crisp songwriting and singing.

Concert - Jazz
Frank Foster Big Band at Grant's Tomb
Riverside Dr (at 122nd St)
Upper West Side/Manhattan
(212) 666-1640
7PM

Longtime Basie associate Frank Foster pilots his large ensemble as part of the Jazzmobile series.

Fishing
62nd Annual Macy's Fishing Contest at Prospect Park Audobon Center Boathouse
Ocean Ave (at Lincoln Road)
Prospect Heights/Brooklyn
(718) 287-3400
10AM-4PM

Since 1947, the R.H. Macy's Fishing Contest has been teaching kids about the joys of this solitary sport. The event kicks off with the annual "Kiss the Fish" ceremony, when a large fish, named R.H. Macy (after the department store's founder) is tagged and released. The lucky kid who hooks that little gilled guy wins a prize. More awards will be handed out daily for the contestant who catches the most fish or reels in the largest finny friend. The five-day competition also includes educational workshops during which participants can study a bit of aquatic ecology or just learn how to cast a line. All ages.

Cabaret
Any Wednesday with John DeMarco at Barnes & Noble
1972 Broadway (at 66th St)
Upper West Side/Manhattan
(212) 595-6859
6PM

Barnes & Noble hosts this weekly series of free half-hour concerts by cabaret and musical-theater vocalists. This week, John De Marco shares tunes from his newest CD, Pure and Simple.

Health & Wellness
Laughter Yoga at Soimex
1430 Broadway, Ste 1107 (at 40th St)
Midtown West/Manhattan
(212) 594-7982
5:30PM

If you believe laughter is the best medicine, you'll want to check out this laugh-out-loud complimentary yoga class. The session demonstrates the concept of laughter yoga, a series of yogic exercises designed to induce laughter without any reason. So why purposely give yourself the giggles? Laughter is said to offer relief from stress, reduce pain, aid digestion, improve sleep, lower blood pressure, improve circulation and boost the immune system. We're smiling just thinking about it.

Concert - Opera & Classical
New York Philharmonic at the Great Lawn/Central Park
Central Park (from 79th to 85th Sts)
Manhattan
8PM

Music director designate Alan Gilbert takes the reins for the Phil's summer tour of the parks, conducting Mozart's Symphony No. 41 ("Jupiter") and Beethoven's Symphony No. 7. Bring your cell phone (set on vibrate, of course) and cast your vote for the encore.

Concert - Rock
William Elliott Whitmore at Hudson Square
Spring St (b/t Varick and Hudson Sts)
Soho/Manhattan
5PM-7PM

You wouldn't know it to look at him, but blues man William Elliott Whitmore has a gravelly growl waiting to get out and entrance his listeners. You can expect to hear a clutch of songs from his current album, Animals in the Dark, at this free, after-work wind-down, which also features a farmers' market.

Books
David Farley at Barnes & Noble
396 Sixth Ave (at 8th St)
Greenwich Village/Manhattan
(212) 674-8780
7PM

Farley reads from An Irreverent Curiosity, his nonfiction book about miracles and an Italian church's peculiar relic: J.C.'s foreskin.

Musical Theatre
Live at Lincoln: 9 to 5 at Barnes & Noble
1972 Broadway (at 66th St)
Upper West Side/Manhattan
(212) 595-6859
4:30PM

Cast members of the Broadway musical 9 to 5 perform excerpts from the score.

Comedy
Punch Up Your Life at the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe
126 Crosby St. (b/t Houston and Prince Sts)
Soho/Manhattan
(212) 334-3324
8:30PM

Pete Holmes and Jessi Klein bring jokes, silliness, overly intimate personal stories and top comedians to this weekly free show.

Gay
Dykes on Mics at Ochi's Lounge/Comix Basement
353 W 14th St (at Ninth Ave)
Meatpacking District/Manhattan
(212) 524-2500
9PM

Amy Beckerman and Leah Dubie perform stand-up comedy with special guests every week.

Looking for a place in Queens to get your smoke on?
Try the little Egypt section of Astoria...and more specifically the Egyptian Coffee Shop. New York Times named it one of the top five hookah restraunts in the entire city. No frills or alcohal here - just a 24 hour bare bones cafe serving coffee, light food and hookah. And with hookahs starting at $7 - why not give it a try?

The Down Low on Hookah-Mania
Over the past few years or so, the water pipe used to smoke a smooshy, wet tobacco has gained popularity with teens and college students. The trend has been burning up in larger cities in the U.S. enough to support several thriving hookah bars and cafes.

Let's just get something out of the way: The hookah pipe -- isn't for drugs. So get the image of the very stoned caterpillar from "Alice in Wonderland" out of your head. It's a water pipe, and while it's structurally similar to a bong and can be used for opium (mixed with tobacco) that's not its primary use. It's for tobacco -- specifically, a sticky mixture of 30 percent tobacco, 70 percent fruit and molasses.

The Egyptian Coffee Shop
25-09 Steinway St.
Astoria, NY 11103
(718) 777-5517

Film
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three at the Elevate Acre/River to River Festival
55 Water St
Manhattan
8PM

Come see the original film that inspired the remake in theatres now. Four hijackers, got up like Groucho Marx and led by Robert Shaw with the voice of a Dalek, kidnap a New York subway train and hold the city to ransom. Saviour of the system is Transit Authority Inspector Matthau, harking back to his early acting days as a grim heavy, and with a Bronx accent as thick and fancy as a piece of angel cake. It's a slice of Urban Crisis life, you see, and to prove it the occupants of the train 'represent a cross-section of New York: a pimp, a Puerto Rican pregnant girl, a hippie, a hooker, a WASP, a wino and a homosexual'. This movie's so up-to-date even the mayor's a laughing-stock.

Opera & Classical
Metropolitan Opera Summer Recital Series at Rumsey Playfield/Central Park SummerStage
E 72nd St (at Fifth Ave)
Manhattan
(212) 360-2777
8PM

After a Brooklyn-only offering last year, the Met returns to all five boroughs this summer with a series of free outdoor recitals. Lending buzz to the first one is Broadway leading man Paolo Szot, due to become a Met star next season; tonight you can hear him alongside two rising stars, soprano Lisette Oropesa and Alek Shrader, all accompanied by pianist Vlad Iftinca.

Lecutres
Its All About Numbers Baby w/David Reeves at Pete's Candy Store
709 Lorimer St (b/t Frost and Richardson Sts)
Williamsburg/Brooklyn
(718) 302-3770
7:30PM

Cartoonist David Rees (Get Your War On) is also something of a numbers expert; in this lecture, hosted by filmmaker and Brooklynite Jamie Hook, Rees will explain how to succeed at any numbers-based game of chance, including the lottery.

Books
Rebecca Cantrell at Barnes & Noble
150 E 86th St (at Lexington Ave)
Upper East Side/Manhattan
7PM

The novelist recaptures Weimar Berlin in A Trace of Smoke, a mystery that tracks the killer of a gay cabaret singer.

Classes
Conquer Your Fear of Public Speaking and Social Anxiety at the New York Open Center
22 E 30th St (at Madison Ave)
Midtown East/Manhattan
(212) 219-2527
6PM-Midnight

Jerry Seinfeld once humorously said, "According to most studies, people's number-one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two? Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy." If this applies to you, attend this interactive workshop to overcome your fear. You'll have the opportunity to simulate and practice virtually any speaking situation you're likely to encounter in personal and professional life, including conversation, reading aloud, employment interviews, panel discussions, handling confrontation and more.

Comedy
Recess at B Bar
358 Bowery (at 4th St)
East Village/Manhattan
(212) 475-2220
8PM

Every Monday, Rich Mercier and Jon Lang present a laid-back comedy show of stand-ups on the LES.