Joshua Bright for The New York Times The New York Philharmonic at Prospect Park is one of many outdoor concerts happening around the city on Wednesday.Updated, 6:44 a.m. | City summers are sticky, but there’s a saving grace: plenty of fun free stuff, even midweek.
If you can get through the day on Wednesday and the weather cooperates, you will be rewarded with a slew of concerts.
The New York Philharmonic kicks off its summer series with a concert in Prospect Park at 8 p.m., followed by fireworks.
At Crotona Park in the Bronx, D.J. Kool Herc, who pretty much invented hip-hop circa 1973, will perform at 7 p.m.
And B.B. King, still on the road at 87, is playing the Lowdown Hudson Blues Festival near the World Financial Center downtown at 6 p.m.
From old school to very, very old school (Tchaikovsky), it’s all out there.
Here’s what else you need to know to start your Wednesday.
WEATHER
Hot (high 80s), gray and muggy with thunderstorms likely in the afternoon and evening. Bring the umbrella.
TRANSIT & TRAFFIC
- Roads [ 6:41] The ramp to the New Jersey Turnpike eastern spur is closed because of an overturned truck on Route 3, 1010 WINS reports.
Alternate-side parking rules: in effect.
- Mass Transit [ 6:44] Delays on the 6 train southbound. Click for the latest status.
COMING UP TODAY
- William C. Thompson Jr. campaigns at a subway station in the Bronx, Christine C. Quinn campaigns at a subway station in the West Village, and Bill de Blasio goes to Brooklyn to voice support for keeping Long Island College Hospital open. At 7 p.m., Republican mayoral candidates take part in a debate live on NY1.
- In the comptroller’s race, Scott M. Stringer appears on “Morning Joe†on MSNBC at 8:15 a.m. Eliot Spitzer is interviewed at 8:30 a.m. on CNBCs “Squawk Box,†then holds a petitioning party at night in Manhattan. Women’s groups will hold a press conference at City Hall at 11 a.m. to criticize Mr. Spitzer.
- Andy Golub, an artist who dislikes public nudity laws and likes publicity, intends to lather body paint on naked models in Times Square in the afternoon. He has been arrested in the past for doing so.
- Space Shuttle Pavilion - the new home for the space shuttle Enterprise â€" opens at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in Manhattan.
- Jury deliberations continue in the trial of Nicholas Brooks, charged with killing his girlfriend inside the SoHo House club.
- But not outside: a master Tibetan butter sculptor will show how it is done at 5 p.m. in a free celebration at the Rubin Museum of Art in Manhattan.
- For more events, see The New York Times’s Arts & Entertainment guide.
IN THE NEWS
- Newly released F.B.I. files on the late Mayor Ed Koch describe a plot to paint him as a racist by circulating a forged letter in his name warning that the city would be “faced with a crisis†if a black mayor were elected. [Associated Press]
- The police issued more tickets for biking on the sidewalk than for speeding in a car last year. [Streetsblog via Gothamist]
- Eliot Spitzer is said to be offering campaign workers the unheard-of sum of $800 a day to collect signatures to get his name on the ballot. [Daily News, New York Times]
- Prosecutors say the Bonanno crime family has branched out into Viagra sales . [New York Times]
- Chase, the beloved golden retriever who retrieved bats for the Yankees’ New Jersey minor-league team, died a few days after his retirement at age 13. [Associated Press]
- Two stars for Wylie Dufresne’s latest adventure in restaurant science, Alder, which features “a nice, normal plate of fettuccine, except that it tastes exactly like a Katz’s pastrami on rye with mustard.†[New York Times]
AND FINALLY…
Fifty years ago this week, a girl group of high school classmates from Queens called the Exciters were No. 86 on the charts with the effervescent “Get Him,†the sequel to their No. 4 hit “Tell Him.†Ya Ya Yo, indeed.
E.C. Gogolak contributed reporting.
We’re testing New York Today, which we put together just before dawn and update until noon.
What information would you like to see here when you wake up to help you plan your day? Tell us in the comments, send suggestions to anewman@nytimes.com or tweet them at @nytmetro using #NYToday. Thanks!
