Good morning on this sun-splashed Friday.
There is probably no maritime tale better known than the battle between Captain Ahab and Moby-Dick, imagined by one of our favorite New Yorkers, Herman Melville, whose birthday falls on Saturday.
Critics had mixed reactions to “Moby-Dick” when it was published in 1851. Commercially, it sank like the Pequod.
Although we’ll be celebrating Melville this weekend, he died a virtual unknown.
Surely, he’d be surprised to discover that walking tours now take you past a house on Pearl Street where he was born (a block away from a coffee shop named for another character in “Moby-Dick”), to the house where his family lived on Bleecker Street.
At East 26th Street and Park Avenue South, where he lived from 1863 until his death, there is a Herman Melville Square.
In his honor, we suggest you seek some of the city’s underwater bounty.
Even if you are unlikely to harpoon a white whale in the Hudson, New York City is rife with places to drop a line.
The city has countless spots in all five boroughs for salt- and freshwater angling.
Or, if you’re not feeling quite so adventurous, you can always join us at Barney Greengrass, Russ & Daughters or wherever else you prefer to go net a nice whitefish.
One of Melville’s favorite spots, the Battery, appears in our Week in Pictures slide show.
Here’s what else is happening:
WEATHER
Unless you’ve been hiding in a subarctic Starbucks, you know it’s been hot.
It’s still hot.
Sunny and humid today, with clear skies and a high near 90.
The heat should ease up just a bit this weekend, with temperatures in the upper 80s and a chance of rain late Saturday.
IN THE NEWS
• A new report recommends that officers turn on their body cameras more often when engaging with suspects. [New York Times]
• Success Academy received an $8.5 million gift to add more of its charter schools in New York City. [New York Times]
• An area of the Upper East Side lost 31 percent of its rent-stabilized housing in eight years — the steepest drop in the city. [I Quant NY]
• A Sanitation Department supervisor collapsed and died on Wednesday after complaining about the heat. [Daily News]
• The Police Department is reviewing a rough arrest in the Bronx on Sunday that followed a traffic stop. [Daily News]
• A Brooklyn woman whose infant was found dead in a bag in a Victoria’s Secret pleaded not guilty to murder. [New York Times]
• The state comptroller issued a report criticizing the National Guard for a Hurricane Sandy fuel deal. [Capital New York]
• A company owner must pay $48.3 million to families of 2008 crane collapse victims. [New York Times]
• Scoreboard: Rangers edge out Yankees, 7-6. Padres banish Mets, 8-7.
• For a global look at what’s happening, see Your Friday Briefing.
COMING UP TODAY
• The Brooklyn Academy of Music will announce a $25 million project to link three of its spaces and create permanent visual art galleries.
• In the mood for some tragedy? Catch a performance of Euripides’ “Hecuba” in Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem. 6 p.m. [Free]
• Or for some lighter fare, “The Karate Kid” plays outdoors at the Lost Battalion Hall Recreation Center in Queens. Activities begin at 7:30 p.m., and the movie screens at dusk. [Free]
• Rappers Big K.R.I.T. and Angel Haze perform in Prospect Park. 7:30 p.m. [Free]
• Afropunk @ Lincoln Center presents sets by Vintage Trouble, LION BABE and the Skins, and a screening of documentary series “The Triptych” in Damrosch Park. 7:30 p.m. [Free]
• Yankees at White Sox, 8:10 p.m. (YES). Mets host Nationals, 7:10 p.m. (SNY).
COMMUTE
• Railroads: L.I.R.R., Metro-North, N.J. Transit, Amtrak
• Roads: Check traffic map or radio report on the 1s or the 8s.
• Alternate-side parking: in effect until Aug. 15.
• Ferries: Staten Island Ferry, New York Waterway, East River Ferry
• Airports: La Guardia, J.F.K., Newark
• Weekend travel hassles: Check subway disruptions or list of street closings.
THE WEEKEND
Saturday
• An exhibit of artwork created by inmates opens on Governors Island. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. [Free]
• More than 150 cats and dogs are up for adoption at Adoptalooza in Prospect Park. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. [Free to pet, prices vary]
• Marjorie Eliot and her ensemble play at the seventh annual Stan Michels Memorial Jazz Concert in Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan. 1 p.m. [Free]
• Hear sets from 15 eclectic musical artists at Full Moon Fest at the Brooklyn Mirage in East Williamsburg. 3 p.m. until sunrise. [$70-$80]
• Spoken word, music, and break-dancing from local artists at the second annual “Bronx Raised” Hip-Hop Series in the Willis Avenue Community Garden in the Bronx. 6 p.m. [Free]
• The Bard of Avon hits Bryant Park with an outdoor performance of “Romeo and Juliet.” 6:30 p.m. [Free]
• Watch the city get trampled at a screening of “Godzilla” at Grandview Playground on Staten Island. 8:30 p.m. [Free]
• Yankees at White Sox, 7:10 p.m. (WPIX). Mets host Nationals, 7:10 p.m. (SNY). NYC FC hosts Impact, 2 p.m. (YES). Red Bulls at Union, 7 p.m. (MSG).
Sunday
• Learn more about the Godfather of Soul at a showing of the documentary “Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown” at the Richard Rodgers Amphitheater in Marcus Garvey Park. 6:30 p.m. [Free]
• It’s the first night of the Empire Biscuit Comedy Festival in the East Village. Shows at 7, 9 and 11 p.m. [$16]
• Spielberg’s classic “Jurassic Park” plays in Sunset Park in Brooklyn. The movie starts at 8:45 p.m. but arrive early for a good spot. [Free]
• Clap Your Hands Say Yeah celebrates the 10th anniversary of their debut album at the Bowery Ballroom. 9 p.m. [$20]
• Yankees at White Sox, 2:10 p.m. (YES, TBS). Mets host Nationals, 8:08 p.m. (ESPN). Liberty host Storm, 3 p.m. (NBATV, MSG). Cosmos host Strikers, 5 p.m.
• For more events, see The New York Times Arts & Entertainment guide.
• And if you seek things to do outside the city, The Times’s Metropolitan section has suggestions. See Friday and Saturday listings for Westchester, Long Island, New Jersey and Connecticut. See Sunday’s listings for Westchester, Long Island, New Jersey and Connecticut.
AND FINALLY …
For all of you who lament that the best things in life happen only “once in a blue moon,” tonight is your night.
For the second time this month, a full moon will grace the sky – a rarity that happens every two to three years because of a slight discordance between the lunar cycle and the calendar year.
But as we bid farewell to July, it’s unlikely that our natural satellite will actually shimmer in shades of azure.
Blue moons tend to look just the pale gray of an ordinary full moon and reveal hints of blue only under very particular atmospheric conditions, like during volcanic eruptions.
Still, no matter their hue, blue moons hold a certain mystique. Elvis Presley even hit the charts with two songs about this celestial oddity: “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” by Bill Monroe, and “Blue Moon,” by Rodgers and Hart.
Where do you plan on catching a glimpse?
Reporting was contributed by Benjamin Mueller.
New York Today is a weekday roundup that stays live from 6 a.m. till late morning. You can receive it via email.
For updates throughout the day, like us on Facebook.
What would you like to see here to start your day? Post a comment, email us at nytoday@nytimes.com, or reach us via Twitter using #NYToday.
Follow the New York Today columnists, Tatiana Schlossberg and Benjamin Mueller, on Twitter.
You can find the latest New York Today at nytoday.com.