From bucking broncos in Madison Square Garden to blowing out the birthday candles for Alexander Hamilton's big day, DNAinfo has all your weekend events across the neighborhoods.
Midtown West
Professional Bull Riders @ MSG
Ever wondered what it's like to ride a bucking bronco? Find out vicariously this weekend as professional bull riders from around the country converge on Madison Square Garden to take on the 2,000-pound animals.
Address: 4 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10001
Date: Fri. - Sun. (Jan. 1 - 3)
Time: Fri., Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 1 p.m.
Cost: $10–$195
Upper West Side
Amiri Baraka @ Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center
The former poet laureate of New Jersey, whose controversial poem about 9/11 prompted then-governor Jim McGreevey to abolish the position, reads at Saturday's open house of the Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center.
Address: 270 West 96th Street NYC, NY 10025
Date: Saturday (Jan. 9)
Time: 3pm - 7pm
Cost: Free
SoHo, Tribeca, Nolita
King Lear @ SoHo Repertory Theater
Playwright Young Jean Lee presents a new spin on the Shakespeare classic, in which she ditches the namesake king and focuses instead on the indifference of Lear's children towards their declining father.
Address : 46 Walker Street, New York, NY 10013
Date: Fri. - Sun. (Jan. 8 - 10)
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $30 - $40, students $20
Lower Manhattan
New York Guitar Festival Opening Night
Grammy-nominated slide guitarist Debashish Bhattacharya and his tabla-playing brother, Subashish open the New York Guitar Festival with a night of Hindustani guitar music at the World Financial Winter Garden.
Address: 220 Vesey Street New York, NY 10281
Date: Friday (Jan. 8)
Time: 8 p.m.
Cost: Free
East Village
GlobalFEST Opening Night @ Webster Hall
The annual collection of up-and-coming musicians from around the world opens Sunday with a star-studded lineup including contemporary Zydeco artist Cedric Watson. The performances will fill three stages in Webster Hall.
Address: 125 E 11th St., New York, NY 10003
Date: Sunday (Jan. 10)
Time: 7 p.m.
Cost: $40
Washington Heights
Live Jazz at the New Leaf Cafe
Check out a rotating cast of live jazz performances each Thursday and Friday night at Fort Tryon Park's cafe and restaurant.
Address: 1 Margaret Corbin Drive, New York, NY 10040
Date: Fri. (Jan. 8)
Time: 8pm – 11pm
Price: Free
Celebrate the birthday of Founding Father and U.S. Constitution drafter Alexander Hamilton at the Morris-Jumel Mansion. There will be period costumes, colonial music and a birthday cake.
Location: 65 Jumel Terrace at W 160th St, New York, NY 10032
Date: Sunday (Jan. 10)
Time: 11am – 4pm
Inwood
Recycle your Unwanted Electronics in Inwood
Save the earth and clean out your closets at the same time by dropping off unwanted electronics in Inwood Saturday. The one-day-only event safely disposes of old TVs, computers, radios, printers, and other items that could otherwise leak nasty chemicals into a landfill.
Date: Saturday (Jan. 9)
Time: 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
Location: Lt. William Tighe Triangle at Riverside Drive near Dyckman Street & Broadway
Price: Free
East Harlem
Pre-Screening of Reggie Workman's Jazz Documentary
The National Jazz Museum in Harlem presents an autobiographical documentary by legendary bassist Reggie Workman. "Trio 3: At This Time" reveals the behind-the-scenes of Workman's 2009 tour with jazz legends Oliver Lake, Andrew Cyrille and Geri Allen at Birdland jazz club.
Date: Saturday (Jan. 9)
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: 104 E. 126th Street, Suite 2C, New York, NY 10035
Midtown East
Public tours of the Plaza Hotel
Skip the $600-per-room nightly rate and check out the legendary Plaza Hotel with a guided tour. Architecture guru Francis Morrone will show you the behind-the-scenes of the 102 year old hotel, including special areas off-limits to tourists.
Date: Saturday (Jan. 9)
Time: 3 p.m.
Location: 768 Fifth Ave, New York, NY 10019
Price: $15, seniors $10
Upper East Side
The President’s Wife and the Librarian
The New York Society Library unveils an exhibit with decades of correspondence between President Theodore Roosevelt's wife Edith and NY Society Librarian Marion King. The friends traded more than 500 letters sharing their personal insights from the Great Depression through World War II.
Date: Fri. - Sat. (Jan. 1 - 3)
Time: noon–4pm
Location: 53 E 79th St., New York, NY 10075
Price: Free
Upper West Side
The Butterfly Conservatory @ the AMNH
Escape the winter chill with a trip to the American Museum of Natural History's tropical butterfly conservatory, where temperatures stay at a balmy 80 degrees.
Date: Fri. - Sat. (Jan. 1 - 3)
Time: Daily, 10am–5:45pm
Location: Central Park West (at 79th St), New York, NY 10024
Price: $24, seniors and students $18, children 2–12 $14
Midtown East
Gossip Girl fanatics can take a three-hour bus tour the sites featured on the CW teen drama - including Henri Bendel, the Palace Hotel and other locations around the city.
Date: Sunday (Jan. 3)
Time: noon
Location: 455 Madison Ave (at 51st St), New York, NY 10022
Price: $40