Quality Entertainment, New York Style!…read more One of my favorite things to do in NYC. The Iron Mule is an example of why you live in New York. Cutting edge entertainment and talent from all over the world. I've been checking out the Iron Mule since before they were the Iron Mule. I remember them as "First Sundays" in East Village at the Pioneer Theater on 3rd Street at A. First Sundays first started screening comedy shorts in early 2002. When the Pioneer closed they moved to Tribeca then upper Manhattan and they seem to have moved around quite a bit. Over the years they have screened thousands of comedy shorts. Once a month, they show comedy short films from around the world (literally), and accompany them with remarkably entertaining patter from the host duo, Jay Stern and Victor Varnado. Throughout the prior month the team at Iron Mule has been looking through a multitude of submissions from the US, Europe, Australia, Asia, etc. Only the best get shown each month. For each show there's an Audience Award that you can help vote for, and a Judge's Award determined by a secret cabal. Since 2012 there has been a different local artist each month acting as a guest judge that helps determine the Judge's Award. I frequented Iron Mule for years and I've seen very little marginal work here - most of these movies are funny, creative, and well executed. To see a list of the shorts coming up next month go to ironmulenyc.com. And don't let me forget Wanna Be A Star! You'll find this a little hard to believe, but you can enter your name to be drawn from among those in the audience that "Wanna Be A Star." One name is picked (by the prior winner, usually) to play a role in a comedy short that is filmed and edited over the next 4 weeks then shown at the next Iron Mule screening. The management has a different local film maker each month who works to write, produce, direct, film and edit a short comedy (with a little help from his or her friends) just in time for the next Iron Mule show. Definitely Recommended! Quality comedy shorts at Iron Mule in Brooklyn! For me this is 5 star entertainment! Very Fun! And Very New York!

We had a girls weekend and it worked out that we were able to do a pick your own at the painted…read moregrape. We had Miss Becky all to ourselves and we had a fantastic time. She was helpful and engaging and we were all so pleased with our projects. Fun way to spend an evening and make something fun.

Attended Painted Grape for a Open Studio paint night with my bachelorette party. We had a great…read moretime! We each choose the same photo, so although open studio refers to "fend for yourself", our instructor Christy helped us through every step. She was awesome! Christy was a great teacher, took photos for us and even encouraged our lack luster artistic abilities. If you are doing an open studio with a group, i do recommend choosing the same photo unless you are ALL artistically inclined and don't need instructions. This place is BYOB which was great for us, however we were told that cups were provided. This was not the case. It was difficult to scrounge up 6 cups for us to enjoy our wine, eventually it worked out. If you are bringing your own drinks, I would recommend bringing cups too just to be safe. I would recommend this place and would be back.

As of December 2023, the requirement that you have to be vaccinated to attend the in-person…read moreconcerts has been lifted. (It was lifted a while ago, but real life got the better of me and I'm just getting back to this now.) The Friday night concerts are now called The Troubadour. But regardless of the name, it's a wonderful place to catch some music on a Friday night. There are other events, both online and in-person, too. See https://folkproject.org/ for more info.

I love this place. I have been to two concerts here and they were both excellent! It is very well…read moreorganized by volunteers. The music is great. Most of the crowd are musicians. I am not. I just left the halloween concert and each musician sung one song. If you love folk music, try it. This concert cost $10 which included great home made free food and drink for intermission. I have now been to about 15 concerts. It is every Friday. It has improved greatly! How do you go beyond 5 stars? The sound system is the best I have ever heart.

Mahwah, NJ - this is a sweet little local history museum that's home to the Donald Cooper Model…read moreRailroad as well as the Les Paul in Mahwah exhibit which includes a display of his guitars. You can also visit the Old Train Station and Erie Caboose, all part of the permanent exhibits. Guitar lovers and Les Paul fans can even book a session to play on one of the guitars owned and played by the legendary Les himself! We came especially to see the model railroad with our kiddo which is only open on Saturdays from 1-4pm, but checked out the other galleries too. The museum holds some changing exhibits as well as talks and events from time to time. Admission is a modest $5 and free for children under 18 and students under 20. Worth a visit if you're a local or just passing through.

Visited the Mahwah Museum today for the Les Paul presentation by Professor Sean McClowry who gave…read morea very informative session on the technical achievements of Les Paul - inventor of many innovations in the field of recorded music. From multi track recording, use of echo, solid body guitar development. On and on. Looking forward to the next presentation on Saturday, May 21st, where Sean will explain and show the process of cutting a disc using some of Les Paul's original equipment. Also, exhibits on Palisades Amusement Park, Mahwah History and downstairs. A huge train exhibit. Well work visiting this gem. All the volunteers were warm and friendly.

Cindy O'Keefe I've…read morebeen attending the Senior Classes at the Kennedy Dancers for a number of years and enjoyed learning different types of daces Ballet, Jazz Contemporary Dance different types of exercises Yoga, Zumba and also socializing. Last year {2023} I had Major Surgery and went through several months of rehabilitation . Knew I had to continue some types of exercises and my income was limited . So I decided to go back to The Kennedy Dancers Classes In the beginning it was hard for me to keep up with the different movements in each class. As time went on and the encouragement from the teacher Erik and Gigi (Diane-the Executive & Artistic Director) and others I kept coming to the classes. I've come a long way, maybe I'm not as fast ,but I'm getting there. I'm Thankful for the Kennedy Dancers and the funds and grants that are given to them by N.J. State Council on the Arts and hope they and others continue to help fund the Senior Program so the Seniors that are on a limited income can keep attending the classes.

I was looking for ballet classes for my daughter as her school stopped offering one and found…read moreKennedy Dancers by accident. I am really glad that I found this place. They are highly organized, skilled and really good at what they do. I liked that they have this diverse mix of classes where my daughter enjoys her Ballet and Gym. She is learning fast and waiting for her classes all week. Diane is also flexible with makeup classes if we miss a class or two during normal schedule. Overall I am really happy with them and would recommend Kennedy Dancers to friend/family.

I came here on a Sunday morning with my girlfriend. Drove quite a bit too check this carnival out…read moreas it is located in a rural, isolated location. However, it is at a baseball stadium, presumably for the local semi-professional team. Firstly, if you plan on coming, grab discounted tickets by going into Walgreens. You'll save $5/ticket rather than buying at the door. Though it is an ice sculpture 'park' it is held all inside. Upon entering, the are a couple of 'carnival games' that you can play. This includes the mining/sifting activity you may have seen in museums and also throwing games to knock down cans and clowns. They also sell some food and beverages here. We ordered French fries, chicken tenders, and hot chocolate. The hot chocolate was a small cup, something I don't think it's with sharing at all but getting your own. There were only three chicken tenders at $5 but they were only OK. The French fries I thought were actually pretty good. They had some other meals available but it's the typical food you find at carnivals, though maybe not as diverse. That is the upper level of the carnival. Heading down, you enter the main attraction. It's cold so make sure you bring your jacket, gloves, and also recommend snow pants for the kids. Reason being, it's a giant freezer for all the ice sculptures. There were ice slides, Merry go round, small Ferris wheel, bumper cart photo booth, etc. I uploaded some pictures for you to get an idea of what's there. There is a main slide made of ice. This is where the snow pants come in as they will let you slide much easier. In jeans, I wasn't sliding down much at all. They also had a few games here too, free to play (minus the admission cost of course). If you win, you get a ticket to play for free at the prize winning games at the upper level described previously. You can essentially keep playing until you win down stairs which is nice. The day we came there was also snow on the ground. You can actually walk onto the field and build snow man or have a quick snow ball fight. Overall, we were here for a little under an hour and a half. Though the ice sculptures are very nice and detailed, for the admission I thought we would see more. This is probably better for families and kids though. It was a cool thing to see but I don't think I would be coming back. Maybe if I have children in the future but not anytime soon. Just a bit expensive and far for something that I expected to have a bit more 'wow' factor. Again though, the sculptures were incredible. Just wish it was cheaper or more worth it having to drive so far.

A wonderful little theater group in the heart of Nyack. The…read moreshows are carefully picked and it's stressed to the kids that each role is equally important. There's no "star" of any show. The staff teach the kids about teamwork and camaraderie as well as community. Great place for kids from 4-18 They have performances/programs year round as well as summer camp offerings. Highly recommend

Very fun and educational festival to bring the family to. My family went to the one located in…read moreEast Burnswick NJ. Even though we arrived later in the day there was plenty of parking. You were able to bring in chairs which made it easy to find a spot and walk around with out the fear of losing your seat near the main arena where the performances were at. There are all different types of vendors that were selling anything from clothing to toys. I enjoyed walking around the entire site and seeing different artifacts. Each vendor had their own story to tell too. My son was able to get his face painted and there were also different food vendor selling traditional foods and classic festival food too. In the main arena they had live shows all day long. With dances, singing and just telling each tribe history and educating people on their beliefs and traditions. Their clothing were beautiful and colorful. Each dance was introduced with the meaning behind it. This was just a fun and educational festival. My son made friends with some of the Native kids and they played and had fun for hours. Would recommend this for anyone wanting to learn more about each native tribe while having fun.

Produced by the Redhawk Native American Arts Council, Redhawk Powwow at FDR State Park is an annual…read moreevent under its ninth year with gathering of Native Americans and non Native Americans to come together. There are a lot of dance contests for Native American men, women, children as well as spectators. The event itself took place in a small section of the FDR State Park located in Yorktown Heights, New York. (Westchester) Native Americans participating in the Powwow wore beautiful regalia. Some were extremely colorful and ornate. I love looking at all handiwork. You can see very colorful, beautiful bead work, shells, bone, and metallic cones adorning many of the regalia. The main arena housed many of the dancing events and contests. It's important to listen to the announcer as he advised guests about Powwow etiquette, the types of dance and to top it off he had a great sense of humor. The Native American music went well with the dancing, which was truly a sight to behold. While you are a guest at the Pow Wow always remember to follow their etiquette, and remember common courtesy goes a long way and should be extended to everyone. Vendors sell food and Native American crafts as well as Peruvian Indian crafts. The food lines were too long and moved slowly. I wish the lines were shorter so I could go back and test out some more food. In the mix, you can find corn soup, fry bread, Indian tacos, tamales, Indian pudding, strawberry drink, salmon with vegetables, bison burger, scoon dogs, and venison chili. The Indian taco is fry bread that is savory. You can get refried beans, or red beans, with cheese, sour cream and other toppings. If you are vegetarian, they can make one up for you. Just tell them what you want on it after they give you the choices. The fry bread is delicious. It is slightly chewy and I had mine with honey and cinnamon. You can get blueberry, strawberry, apple, and pumpkin fry bread. The strawberry drink was refreshing and delicious as well. There are chunks of strawberries in the cup along with the ice. Good strawberry flavor and the right amount of sweetness. I really wanted another cup, but the long lines never cease. Along different areas there were some picnic benches. A small tent housed several birds of prey that were beautiful and majestic such as peregrine falcons, a Eurasian Eagle owl, and a kestrel, the smallest of the raptors in America. There was a birds of prey show in the main arena. Prices for Native American crafts are reasonable for all the handiwork that goes into making some of the items. There are crafts for adults and children. Vendors sell beadwork, leatherwork, bows and arrows, blankets, pottery, jewelry, crafts, children's toys, feathers, dream catchers and music. There is a small archery tent for kids who want to test out a bow and arrows and a teepee in the center for visitors to crawl in and experience what it feels like to sit inside of one. Pluses for the Redhawk Powwow at FDR are: Beautiful Native American regalia and lots of dancing, a very funny announcer, affordable crafts, flushing toilets, good eats and lots of fresh air Minuses are long, slow food lines, time constraints had us leaving before we heard the outcome of the contests.