Library

The main branch of the New York Public Library is celebrating it's 100th birthday this year.  Actually it is 42nd street building that is 100 years old.  The library itself was established in 1895 when the Astor and Lenox Libraries with the Tilden Trust were consolidated.

 Often referred to as the Main branch, it is the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.  Mr. Schwarzman, 2/14/1947, is the Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of the Blackstone Investment Group.  Worth $5.9 billion, he has compared President Obama's plan to raise carried interest taxes, share of profits paid to an investment manager, as equal to Hitler's invasion of Poland in 1939.  He gave the Library $100 million, hence the name change.
Designed and constructed  by Carrere and Hastings, the Beaux-Arts building is the largest marble structure ever attempted in the U.S.  It stands on what used to be the Croton Reservoir.  500 workers spent 2 years dismantling the reservoir and preparing the site.

 More than 15 million items are in the library and they include the Gutenberg Bible and Thomas Jefferson's copy of the Declaration of Independence.  While it is called the public library and is open to the public it is funded by private contributions.

Happy Birthday!

Maurizio Cattelan: All

 That's the artist, in bed with himself, talking to himself.  Witty man.

 The show is at the Guggenheim through January.
 He's retiring and has decided to hang it all up at the Museum.

 There are life size horses, mules, the pope, etc.  He does taxidermy, no not to the pope, the animals.  His first show at a gallery consisted of locking the front door and hanging the sign: "Be back soon".
 

My favorite piece is called La Nona Ora [The Ninth Hour] and it depicts Pope John Paul ll being felled by a meteor.
Cattelan was born in Padova, Italy on 9/21/60 and is now based in New York.  Jonathan P. Binstock curator of contemporary art at the Corcoran Gallery says Cattelan is "one of the great post-Duchampian artists and a smart ass, too."
Duchamp is fascinating.  Would like to see more of his work and read a good biography.  He renounced making art in the 1920's when he was about 40.  Cattelan says he is 'retiring' from making art at around 50.  Is this exhibit an homage to Duchamp?

Cymbeline

Went to the Barrow Street Theater to see the Fiasco Company's production of Shakespeare's "Cymbeline".
The critics are right.  This is a complicated and strange play but the Company does a great job making it fun and interesting.  I agree with everything the critics say about it.  The actors include their own music, sometimes a cappella, and sometimes accompanying themselves on their instruments.  Very talented actors and remarkable work by the two actors who also directed.
 Barrow Street Theater is a small, intimate space that has shown some great work.  A couple of years ago I saw "Orson's Shadow" and "Our Town", both excellent.

Afterwards we went to a local Greenwich Village bar.  Nancy had wine; Sandra had bourbon. Frank had a Martini.  I had a Manhattan.

 

The Village Vanguard

Went to the Village Vanguard with Sandra to hear Bill Frisell, one of Sandra's favorite guitarists.  Performing with him was Jenny Scheinman on electric violin, and Brian Blade on drums.  Mr. Frisell, unfortunately took a back seat to Ms. Scheinman who gave a mixed performance.  Two early pieces, one of which was written by Mr. Frisell called 'Rag', were very good.  She played it in what I would call a Celtic style.  Building to a very quick raised finish with all three players.  The last piece, 'Embraceable You' was so slow people were nodding off.  $25 admission, $16 for one drink [tip included] so so value.
The Village Vanguard was opened on 7th Ave. South 2/22/35 by Max Gordon.  At first it included folk music and beat poetry.  It became an all jazz venue in 1957.  Over 100 live jazz albums have been recorded there.  The first one in 1957 was Sonny Rollins.  Some other artists who have performed there: Bill Evans, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Wynton Marsalis, John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Art Pepper, Chris Connor, Gerry Mulligan and Barbra Streisand.

Hide/Seek

Yesterday, Sunday, I went to the Brooklyn Museum.  The Museum has an exhibit from the portraiture galleries of the Smithsonian.  David C. Ward and Jonathan Katz are the original curators and Tricia Laughlin Bloom coordinated the project for the museum.  It is called 'Hide/Seek Difference and Desire in American Portraiture'.  The exhibit has had some controversy.  A piece depicting a crucifix with ants walking over it stirred up some "christians" [no spell check, I meant a small 'c'].  There are some wonderful sites, The Brooklyn Museum, The Smithsonian, and You Tube that will give you a very good view of the exhibit.  The theme is gay and lesbian artists as subjects of gay and lesbian artists.
Then  refurbished subway station at the Museum.

 and then the Museum

 Minor White's 'Tom Murphy' and the exhibit's image.
When you first walk into the room you hear Ma Rainey singing: "Prove it on Me Blues".  When she was arrested in 1925 for hosting a lesbian orgy she released that song.  She also made more than 100 other recordings between 1925 and 1928.   She is the premier blues singer in music history.
The exhibit is divided into 7 periods:
1.  Before Difference ...  Thomas Eakins' "Salutat"  "the male body as object of admiration by a male audience."
2.  Modernism ... "Portrait of Marcel Duchamp" by Florine Stettheimer,  and Berenice Abbott's photo of Janet Flanner in which she has two masks on her top hat.
3.  1930's ...Photo of Lincoln Kirstein by Walker Evans.  Kirstein was about 18 and in college.
4.  Consensus and conflict ... Rauschenberg's and Jasper Johns' pieces as a response to the breakup of their relationship, Alice Neal's portrait of Frank O'Hara.  O'Hara's poem 'In memory of my feelings' is the title of Jasper Johns painting.  Rauschenberg's is titled 'Canto xiv' from Dante's poem.  It's the canto of the placing of the 'Sodomites'.
5.  Stonewall and after ... Warhol's 'Camouflage Self-Portrait' 
6.  Aids ... A.A. Bronson's  'Felix June 5 1994'
7.  New Beginnings ... Annie Leibovitz's photo of Ellen Degeneres.
Many great artists were gay; celebrated being gay; formed relationships with other gay artists, sexual and otherwise.  It was through their work and open lives that has helped move society's attitudes and brought us to where we are today.

Man and Boy

Went to the Roundabout Theatre Company's proiduction of Terence Rattigan,s 'Man and Boy'.  It's at the American Airlines theater on 42nd Street.  Frank Langella gives a great performance.  I also enjoyed the actor who played his son, Adam Driver.  It is directed by Maria Aitken who did 'The 39 Steps' on broadway and a lot of other work in New York and London.
Terence Rattigan, [6/10/11-11/30/77] who was gay and out only to his close friends, has also written 'The Winslow Boy', 'Separate Tables', 'The Browning Version', 'The Deep Blue Sea', and the screenplays for 'The Prince and the Showgirl', 'The VIPs', 'The Yellow Rolls Royce' and 'Goodbye Mr. Chips'. 

At the movies I saw 'Tree of Life', not my cup of tea.  I watched one hour and it was like watching clips from the TV show NOVA without dialogue.  One scene has Sean Penn walking through the corridor of a large corporation in a big city like Chicago.  Then next time you see him he's walking through the desert.  No dialogue, no explanation.  Maybe it was supposed to be an homage to Michelangelo Antonioni. 
Also not for me is Clint Eastwood's 'J. Edgar'.  Too long, too slow and most importantly it's dishonest.  He makes him sympathetic.  No way that the man who kept secrets and who used those those secrets to destroy innocent people like Jean Seberg is a sympathetic character.
What I did like very much was 'The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill'.  It's a documentary about a homeless man who becomes interested in a group of wild parrots.  He befriends the parrots, feeding and caring for them, and they give his life purpose.

Saw and heard Christine Ebersole and the Aaron Weinstein trio at Birdland.  Wonderful!!  He plays the violin to accompany her as she sings.  First time I've heard them together.  He's 26 and remarkable.  Bought Ebersole's new CD of Noel Coward songs.  She has 2 tony awards for 'Grey Gardens' and '42nd Street'.  
I'm feeling much better the last couple of days.  Finally, after weeks, I got around to cleaning the house.  Really gave the bathroom a good scrubbing.  When I finished both boys went to their kitty litter and then laid down on the bathroom floor and stared at me.  I guess they were relieved in more ways then one.

Town Hall and OWS

 
Town Hall in NYC is a broadway theater.  Not the kind of town hall in some cities where they actually have town meetings.  Last night our town hall had a show: 'Broadway Unplugged'.  Great voices singing without the use of amplification.  It was excellent, especially the duet 'All the Things You Are'.  The program did not list the performers but I know Terri White from 'Follies' and Bill Daugherty and Nancy Anderson from other shows.  The artists who did the duet I do not know.  I am sure I will be seeing them again, soon.

Today's walk took me to Chinatown.  Then across the Brooklyn Bridge to my pension office.  I went to change banks for my direct deposit.  On the way back I decided to walk by Occupy Wall Street.  I heard the police had emptied it and arrested a couple of hundred people.  There were a lot of TV News people hanging around, waiting.  Maybe, because a number of OWS demonstrators were talking about taking back the park.  Does OWS mean to stay until every goal is met?  I support their goals of accountability for the fiscal collapse, but the odds are against it.  Getting the park emptied was a lot easier. 

Iphigenia in Tauris

A production under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs is playing at the Lion Theater on Theater Row.
The good news:  they have cut Euripides 4 hour play down to 1 hour.  My seat was on the aisle with lots of leg room. It costs $20.  Iphigenia and Orestes have a moment of reunion that is moving.
But, the acting is over the top which is OK for something that is the inspiration for Opera but the actors aren't consistent.  The actor playing Orestes does it as though he had Turret's Syndrome.  Being pursued and driven from every town by the Furies would cause some physical and psychic reaction but how he has chosen to play it is too distracting.  I'm glad that I went because it brought me back to my Freshman Lit. class with Mr. Christ.  He was an exceptional teacher and the best I've ever had.  It was a great course and reading classic literature with Mr. Christ is still one of my most cherished memories.

The Bridge

We called it the 59th Street bridge but it was actually the Queensboro Bridge, which has since been named the Ed Koch bridge.  But everyone calls it the 59th Street bridge.  When I and my friends in Queens were teenagers this was our bridge.  We, who rushed with adolescent excitement into the "city" called it the 59th Street bridge because that's where it left us off.  The 'City" was Manhattan and specifically downtown.  The village, Greenwich Village.  This was the early 1960's.  You could get served as a  17 y/o  in bars.  The beats were reading their poetry that spoke of sex, straight and gay.  The music was just as free form, be bopping  off cafe walls all for the price of a cup of coffee.  Streisand, Dylan, and Peter, Paul and Mary might be in a club performing .  Tomorrow's star might be in Washington Square Park strumming and singing for spare change.  Maybe Lanford Wilson's new one act would be at a club or we could go see Jason Robards, directed by Jose Quintero, in 'The Iceman Cometh'.  So what part of that great art did I get to.  We went to whatever bar would serve us.  Hey, I was 17, but I'm making up for it now.

Fashion

New York is ranked with Paris and Milan as one of the fashion capitals of the world.  I don't know anything about fashion, but it is indicative of the importance of fashion in our society that I can probably name as many designers as I can current movie directors, and I love movies.  We used to have a garment district and during the day on 7th Ave. there would be men pushing racks of clothes up and down the avenue.  I don't know what happens in regards to fashion on 7th Ave today but those racks are being pushed on other streets.  We do have a lot of schools of fashion, many of them prestigious: FIT, Parsons, Pratt Institute, NY School of Design, Art Institute of NY, Berkeley College, and LIM which is the only school in the country solely focused on fashion.

Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street which began 9/17/2011 has been criticized for not proposing an agenda.  It has been reported that the man who gave the movement its name and has been instrumental in its organization is an English professor and an anarchist.  So some believe there is a lack of organization and an agenda.  However,  Occupy Wall Street, Dallas has called for a general strike for 11/30/2011 from 12:01 AM to 11:59 PM.
1.  Refrain from buying any goods or services including but not limited to petroleum products, consumer goods or bank transactions.
2.  Refrain from working for a wage excluding those who provide emergency and necessary functions.
3.  Join or form local groups to peacefully protest.

House of Worship

 The Cathedral of St. Sava, on West 25th Street, is the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of NYC.  Designed in 1851 by Richard M. Upjohn it was initially Trinity Chapel, the uptown branch of Trinity Church on Wall Street.  At that time it was the church of Edith Wharton who wrote about the church and its congregants in The Age Of Innocence.  In 1944 it was consecrated as the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral.
St. Sava [1174-1236] is the patron saint of Serbia.  He was born a Serbian Prince and became a monk.  He was the country's first Archbishop and also wrote the first Serbian constitution.

More Photos from the Met

Out

                                                                          My Brain.
When you get to my age doctors want you to get a flu shot because getting the flu is dangerous.  People die each year from the flu.  So I got my flu shot and then I got the flu.  But before the flu my brain was already going in circles.  Saturday I had tickets to Lincoln Center's new play Blood and Gifts.  One for me and one for Sandra.  It snowed.  Really, a lot.  So Sandra wasn't coming into the city.  She gave her ticket to her daughter who gave it to her neighbor.  The subway had a power failure at 59th street.  I gave myself an hour of travel time when it usually takes 20 minutes.  It took one hour and twenty minutes.  I found out later that my guest made it in time by taking a cab.  She waited 15 minutes and left.  We missed each other.  I was too frazzled to stay. 
Then, Monday was Halloween.   I hate big crowds but since I'm writing about the city I felt I should include some of the big events.  This is what the Halloween Parade looked like:

I assume the parade was where everyone was facing.  Saw nothing but peoples backs. 
But then Tuesday was a great day.  I was invited by my neighbor, Carole, to the Players Club for lunch.  That opening photo is of their staircase.  It is a beautiful building, designed by Stanford White.

It costs $2000 to join and $1500 a year in dues but is open for lunch and dinner.  It was formed in 1888 by Edwin Booth and 15 others.  Modeled after London's Garrick Club, The Players Club was the first "Gentleman's" club in America.

Mike Daisey's Monologue

Saw this at the Public Theater last night.  It is funny, thoughtful, and disturbing.  Mike is a self-described geek.  He believes Steve Jobs to be a showman and a genius.  Steve Jobs partner, Steve Wozniak is the geek in the partnership and another genius.  There is a great deal of humor in the show.  I doubt that I could have sat for 2 hours, without a break, if it wasn't very funny and provocative.
To paraphrase Mike:
if you control the way people view and interact with the world, you control their world
having Google to find out something for you doesn't mean you're smart, you get smart by using your head and digging in with both hands
everyone complains that nothing is hand-made, whereas everything is handmade and some of those hands are bloody and deformed from making the stuff we use everyday.
Mike Daisey loves technology and what Steve Jobs and his partner Steve Wozniak created at Apple.  The two of them started out as rebellious, counterculture entrepreneurs.  Their first creation was a pirate box to make long distance phone calls, stealing from A T & T.  The first call on the box was when Jobs had Wozniak call the Vatican to tell them that Henry Kissinger, at the White House, wanted to speak to the Pope.  The Cardinal, or whoever it was that answered the phone, said the Pope was asleep but he would wake him up.  Wozniak freaked and hung up the phone  They sold hundreds of those boxes.  Then they got a job from Atari to make an easily programmable computer game in 2 months.  The job paid $700.  But if they made it especially easy to program and in one month they would get $1000.  Steve Wozniak, the geek in the partnership, did it.  They split a $1000.  Wozniak later learned that Jobs was paid $5000 and there were no requirements about the time frame or the programing.
About 10 years ago there were reports of numerous suicides at a technology assembly plant in China.  So Mike Daisey posed as an American businessman so he could get access to the workers and some of the bosses.  Workers were as young as 13.  They would spend at least 14 hours on line doing the same robotic movement.  Probably the reason for the suicides.  One worker died after being at his work station for 34 hours.  The company is Foxcomm in Shenzhen, China.  440,000 thousand people work there.  They have 25 cafeterias and  each one can sit 20,000 people.  The plant assembles technology parts for Apple and many other companies.  Because of the robotic working conditions, joints in the workers hands disintegrate.  To shift workers around to other lines would easily alleviate those joints, but they don't.  The liquid used to clean the face of the iPhone causes neurological injuries in the workers' hands.  They were using plain alcohol, but the new solution cleans faster.  Many workers are let go at 25 years of age because by that time they're not able to keep up the pace.   
Steve Wozniak saw the show and wept.  He told the NY Times that he would never be the same.
At the end of the show Mike Daisey says he hasn't really told us anything we don't already know.  What he hopes he has done is plant a virus in our consciousness.  Can we buy more stuff without thinking "who made that"?

P.S.  There is some controversy about the show.  His interpreter during the visit contradicts some of his statements.  But what I have written here has been checked and deemed accurate.

Movie house

 Went to the Sunshine Movie House on Houston to see, "The Skin I live In".  Pedro Almodovar's new movie.  Many of his movies have won awards and been critical successes.  I've seen Volver, Talk to Her, All About My Mother, Live Flesh, High heels, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Matador, and Dark Habits.  I love movies.  A lot of his films are about the battle between the sexes.  However, in an Almodovar movie the gender of the sexes can not be taken at face value and the battles are with knives and guns.  His plots are often about seeking revenge.  Some of them are very good, as is All About My Mother and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.  The Skin I Live In is a typical Almodovar movie but not one of his best.

The Sunshine was built in 1898 as a theater and Yiddish vaudeville house.  It was known as the Houston Hippodrome.  For 50 years it was a hardware storehouse.  On 12/21/2001 it opened as an art-house film showcase with 5 screens, stadium seating, and Dolby digital surround sound.  The renovation and interior design were done by Pleskow and Rael. 

House of Worship

 The Buddhist Association of New York is located on Elizabeth Street just above Canal Street.

. 

 Some facts about Buddhism:
It is a system taught by the Buddha, and it originated in the 6th century BCE in Northern India.  There are 376 million followers; so it is the fourth largest faith.  Main sects are Mahayana,  northern Buddhism, and Theravada, Southern Buddhism.  The sacred texts are Pali Canon,Tripitaka and Mahayana Sutras in the  original language Pali.
Basic beliefs:
There are 4 truths:
all life is marked by suffering-
suffering is caused by desire and attachment -
suffering can be eliminated -
suffering is eliminated by following the noble eightfold path.
The eightfold path is: right beliefs, right aspirations, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right meditational attainment.

Philharmonic and King Lear

Went to the Philharmonic at Lincoln Center this week to hear Lorin Maazel conduct.  The program in the first half consisted of two pieces by Mozart, Symphony No. 38 in D major, K.507 [1786] and Concerto In C major for Flute and Harp, K.299/297c [1778] with Robert Langevin on Flute and Nancy Allen on Harp.  The concerto was an audience favorite, while I enjoyed the symphony more.  The second half had two pieces by Debussy, Jeux: Poeme danse [1912-13] and Iberia, from Images for Orchestra [1905-08].  Images is a good description.  I had images of Hollywood westerns of the 1950's.

Friday was King Lear at the Public with Sam Waterston [Lear], Enid Graham [Goneril], Kelli O'Hara [Regan], Kristen Connolly [Cordelia], Michael McKean [Gloucester], Bill Irwin [Fool] and John Douglas Thompson who was excellent as Kent/Caius.  My favorite moment of the night was Lear's curse on Goneril. Waterston does rage very well.  Many in the audience gasped when he gave the curse.
Here it is.

Hear, nature, hear; dear goddess, hear!
Suspend thy purpose, if thou didst intend
To make this creature fruitful!
Into her womb convey sterility!
Dry up in her the organs of increase;
And from her derogate body never spring
A babe to honour her!  If she must teem,
Create her child of spleen; that it may live,
And be a thwart disnatured torment to her!
Let it stamp wrinkles in her brow of youth;
With cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks;
Turn all her mother's pains and benefits
To laughter and contempt; that she may feel
How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is
To have a thankless child!  Away, Away.

Salmagundi Club

The Club is having its Fall Auction and my neighbor Carole Teller has the above painting "The High Line" in the auction.  A salmagundi is a salad of chopped meat, anchovies, eggs, and onions on lettuce with oil and vinegar.  Whereas the Salmagundi Club is an artists' club on Fifth Avenue between 11th and 12th Streets.  It was founded in 1871 and is located in one of the finest 'double-wide' brownstones in the city.  There are 850 members, comprising artists and patrons.  Some of their famous members have been Thomas Moran, William Merritt Chase, Louis Comfort Tiffany, N. C. Wyeth, and Childe Hassam. 
Other works:

The Dao of Tea

On 9th Street, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues is Cha-An, a Japanese restaurant that has a tearoom for the 'performance' of the Japanese Tea Ceremony.  Dottie and I went last night.  The first picture is of our hostess in the Mizuya area beginning the cleaning of the bowl that we will use to drink our tea.  She will use a small linen cloth called the Chakin to clean and wipe the bowl.  She will unfold it from her kimono; fold it in a particular pattern; wipe the bowl; unfold it and then fold it in another pattern and put it back in her kimono.  The guests drink from the same bowl, and this is done after each serving.  The ceremony can take up to 40 minutes.  At the end of the ceremony she discusses what she has been doing. She also showed us and let us handle the Chashaku.  A thin narrow bamboo like spoon used to scoop the tea.  It was her grandmother's, and that is a particular part of the ceremony: to share and use something with a personal connection.

In the 'Tokonoma' area is a scroll with calligraphy.  Our scroll translates as 'today safe'.  Our hostess explained that it is meant to say: "a quiet day is a safe day and a safe day is a good day." 

But before the tea you eat some sweets.  Red bean sweets and they are very sweet.
There are two basic tea ceremonies.  Chaji, which involves a full course meal and can take up to 4 hours and Chakai, simple sweets and then tea.  The tea is taken from the buds of the green tea leaf and ground up.  It is the richest part of the plant having the most caffeine and is also very expensive.  It is called Matcha.
Tea first came to Japan in the 9th century but it wasn't until the 15th when Murata Juko developed the tea ceremony as we now know it.  In the 16th century Sen no Rikyu wrote in his book 'Southern Record' the principles of the ceremony: harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility.  Both of them were Zen Buddhist monks and Zen Buddhism is the primary influence in the development of the ceremony.  Our evening certainly lived up to the principles.

Drinks for Deirdre

Went to one of my favorite Watering Holes to toast Deidre's Birthday.  Bemelmans Bar is in the Hotel Carlyle at Madison Ave. and 76th Street.  Functioning for more than 5 decades it has been recently restored to its Art Deco brilliance by Thierry Despont.  It has leather banquettes, nickel trimmed black glass tabletops, black granite bar, a 24 Karat gold leaf-covered ceiling, and a pianist.  Plus the only surviving Bemelmans' commission open to the public, 'Central Park'.  It covers the walls of the bar.

Ludwig Bemelmans, 4/27/1898 - 10/1/1962 was an Austrian-American author and illustrator.  He is best known for his six Madeline books.  Bemelmans Bar is most famous for its Sapphire Gin Martinis.  I enjoyed both.  Happy Birthday Deirdre!

Lemon Sky

Sunday matinee at Theatre Row to see the Keen Company production of Lemon Sky.  It stars Keith Nobbs, Kevin Kilner, Kellie Overby, Amie Tedesco, Alyssa May Gold, Logan Riley Bruner, and Zachary Mackiewicz.
A great deal of the play is narrative that is directed to the audience by the main character Alan, Keith Nobbs, who has moved to San Diego to live with his estranged father and his father's new family.  The father abandoned Alan and his mother when Alan was five.  Alan manages 6 months in the house before he is kicked out by his father for suspicions of homosexuality.  The writer Lanford Wilson has said it is his most autobiographical play.  I loved it.  Most especially impressed with Keith Nobbs and Kevin Kilner, the father and son.
Lanford Wilson, 4/13/37 - 3/24/11 is considered to be one of the founders of the off-off broadway theater movement.  He began at the Cafe Cino in Greenwich Village with one act plays; the most successful was "The Madness of Lady Bright" which played for 200 performances. The title character is a drag queen.  He then worked at La Mama and his most successful play there was 'Balm in Gilead".  He co-founded the Circle Rep in 1969; won the Pulitzer Prize in 1980 for "Tally's Folly", and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2004.  His most popular play was "The HOT L BALTIMORE" which ran for 1166 performances, and was made into a TV sitcom by Norman Lear.  Other popular plays are "The Fifth of July" and "Burn This".  In Lemon Sky you can see some of the techniques that made Lanford Wilson so remarkable.  Besides the narrative quality from the main character as in "The Glass Menagerie", other characters in the play step forward and talk directly to the audience.  My favorite 'bit', as Elaine Stritch might say, is the repetition of lines.  Early scenes are played briefly.  Lines used are repeated.  It gives the play a poetic, musical quality, that catches you and brings you into the play even more.

Wall Street Demonstration

As many people know there have been demonstrations centered at Zuccotti Park against Wall Street.  Today, the day after the big demo, I don't like crowds, I went down to take a look and to take some photos.

 

Lots of people

The police were a strong presence and moving people along.  One Sergeant said to keep moving or "GET in the park!".  I left.
It was not possible to find recent figures but in 2005 the average CEO pay at an S&P 500 corporation was $11,358,445.  Average!  The ratio as of 2004 of CEO to Worker pay was 431 to 1.  The average American worker at that time earned $27,460.  One sign at the demo showed the ratios around the world.  Japan is 20 to 1.   I just kept walking and I found more cops.  Mariska Hargitay from Law and Order Special Victims was filming on the courthouse steps at Foley Square and Tom Selleck was filming something called True Bloods, between Police Plaza and the Municipal Building.
Is there a relationship between the number of police dramas in our culture and the passivity of many people to the inequities in that culture?

Pastel Demonstration

Went to the National Arts Club on Gramercy park South to see a demonstration of drawing with pastels by this year's Hall of Fame Honoree Bill Creevy.  The demonstration involved copying a piece he had already completed and discussing the techniques he uses and some of the problems with pastels, all the different kinds of paper, the "dust", the difficulty in transporting the work because of the 'looseness' of the medium, more "dust".  He is also a very opinionated guy, which made the day even better.
What he said and did:

From Leonardo DeVinci: 'If you can make an oval you can draw anything'.
He begins with white paper, some use black or colored paper, and works with cooling colors because of the subject: browns, ochers, reds.  The subject is a building in a run down part of New Orleans.  He just keeps making circles of different colors corresponding to the scene until he covers the entire paper.

Degas is his idol; he talked a lot about him.  Degas' mother was American and Degas lived in New Orleans for awhile.  Bill Creevy is from New Orleans.

Then he used a brush and some liquid to bring form to the work.  He doesn't like calling it water coloring or painting.  He talked about the differences between the Brush and Pencil artists.  That some groups try to impose an hierarchy. 
One of the remarkable things about the pastel show was the variety in the works on display.  Many looked like oil paintings and some had a lighting effect that I wouldn't expect with pastels.  I have photos of some but the reflection of the flash and the reflection from the glass over the pastel affects the photo. 

Back to Bill.  He talked about his own work and how he tries for some mystical, spiritual effect.  Like the Hudson River School, whom he admires.  The views of  nature are more than 'a scene' for him and for me for that matter.  There is a timeless, other, deeper quality than what is shown.  Bill believes that what those painters had in the 19th Century and what was not uncommon among people of that time was a sense of pantheism.  He believes people today are cynics.
He has written a number of books on pastel drawing and oil painting.  His pastel book is 20 years old and still in print.  It costs $25 and for every sale he gets a $1.  He's learned about contracts since then.

What I'm Reading ... The Weekend Times

I subscribe to the Weekend NY Times and get the daily Times on line.  This 'program' that the Times has created has helped make them more solvent.  They've paid off their mortgage early, which is great news, when so many Papers and Magazines are going under.  The front page on Saturday had an article on the deforestation of the planet.
In addition to the loss of the rain forest in Brazil by farming and the growing desert in Africa, the Australian forest and the American forest is under attack from pine beetles.  As the planet has warmed up the life expectancy of the pine beetle has lengthened.  They dine on our forests longer, so less forest.
Some good news.  China plants a great many trees to control flooding and the growth of the Gobi Desert.  Parts of America and Northern Europe, what we in America call the rust belt because of the loss of manufacturing through the rise of the global economy, is becoming greener.  Is it enough?
My friend Mara, a climate change expert with the European Union says it's too late.  Personally, I think we lost the planet when the world population hit 7 Billion.  Just about the time scientists created in vitro fertilization and cloning.  Does anyone else remember John Lennon and Yoko Ono on the Dick Cavett show in the early 70's talking about Zero Population Growth.  They said then that over-population was the single greatest threat to our future.  We're as ravenous as pine beetles. 
In other parts of the paper there's These articles.
Wall Street Demonstrators are being pepper sprayed and arrested.
Drones, small, unmanned, attack spacecraft, have killed Anwar al-Awlaki.  He is described as an American born jihadist.  The attack was carried out by the newest member of our military, the CIA, in our newest field of war, Yemen.
The magazine section had readers' questions for Michael Pollan, author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and Mark Bittman, author of "How to cook Everything" and How to Cook Everything Vegetarian; wrote the second one after his heart attack.
Michael Pollan likes frozen when the fresh isn't available and sometimes prefers it to the 'fresh' at the local supermarket, because the produce is often picked at its peak of quality.  Beware of greens wrapped in plastic, breeding ground for salmonella.  Best breakfasts: oatmeal, or fresh fruit with yogurt or 2 free range eggs on whole grain toast.  Won't eat, feedlot meat and tomatoes that have been refrigerated.
Bittman thinks Ratatouille is the best film made about food, I vote for Babette's Feast, Best novel about food 'The Belly of Paris' by Emile Zola.  I'll put that on my list. The fish you can eat quilt-free is sockeye salmon of Bristol Bay, Alaska.  However, since the flotsam and jetsam from the Fukushima nuclear reactor started washing up on the west coast, I eat Atlantic salmon.  

Opera Season Begins

Went to the Met last week to see Verdi's Nabucco.

It is Verdi's third opera of the 28 that he wrote and his first commercial success and is based on the biblical story of the Hebrews' exile in Babylon.  Nabucco is the Italian name of the historical figure we call in English, Nebuchadnezzar.  The opera is most famous for the piece "Va, pensiero" sung by the Chorus.  It is a prayer in which the Israelites express their longing for their homeland.  It was considered for many years as the unofficial anthem of Italy.  Arturo Toscanini conducted the piece at Verdi's State funeral in Milan.
The Met's chorus of about 80 voices did not disappoint.  You can see it on you tube from a 2002 Met production, but hearing it live in that wonderful space was extraordinary, impossible to duplicate on tape.  
The major performer for me was Maria Guleghina who sang the role of Abigaille.  The role is very difficult and has been the cause of the downfall of a number of singers.  Callas sang it 3x.  Sutherland and Leontyne Price refused to sing it.  Maria Guleghina sang it at the Met in 2002.  The roof lifted with the cheers from the audience when she took her bow.  We are off to a good start.  Thank you, Met.

The Monarch Butterfly

I was talking on the phone with Tom, looking out the window at my view from the 18th floor when I saw a Monarch Butterfly.  They've begun their migration.  She, of the darker color, was just flapping her wings heading back to Central America.  I kept looking to see if there were more coming so I could get a photo, but no luck.  So I went off to the park to find one, but there were none there.
The Monarch Butterfly travels each year, spring and fall along the East Coast about 2500 miles.  Their life span is only 2 months.  So no single monarch completes the journey.  Unfortunately, deforestation of their habitat has drastically reduced their numbers and they are being considered for endangered species status.  I'll keep looking and cheering them on.  I'd put a flower pot on my windowsill for them to rest but right above the front door on the eighteenth floor where it gets windy.  I don't think so.   

Dance

I haven't been to a dance concert in quite awhile.  So, it was good that my Irish Rep membership got me to Noctu.  Noctu is a dance play.  It wants to "tell the story of Irish dance from the viewpoint of the dancer", says Breandan de Gallai, the creator.  The Irish Rep stage is small compared to the average space, perhaps 20' by 30', maybe more.  So this performance is very much up close and that definitely heightens the excitement.  There are 16 dancers, 3 of whom are 'principal soloists'.  One, describes herself as a poor dancer who struggles to perform with the more talented ones.  Another says he is gay and found it necessary to relocate to Germany to live and work because of the homophobia in rural Ireland.  The third soloist is a withdrawn, non talkative male dancer.  The "play" proceeds similarly to in 'A Chorus Line'.  The dancer says something about him or herself and then dances. The dancer who never feels up to the competition breaks into my favorite dance piece in the show.  It's a combination of Irish Dance and Ballet, foot stepping with balletic form.  The Irish dance's high kicks turn into wonderful leaps with a balletic line stretching arms and legs.
The play's book isn't strong.  Whereas the playbill bios tell a more interesting story, though brief.  14 of the 16 dancers began dancing before beginning grade school.  One dancer started at age 10 and one, at what he calls the late age of 16.  Peta Anderson 'learnt' [very Irish] jazz, tap and ballet at the age of three.  Jack Anderson 'whilst' at school was a dancer with a professional company.  I love the Irishness in their writing.  I can hear the lilt in their voice. There are some with Masters degrees; one studying architecture, others psychiatric nursing, teaching, physics, accounting and finance.  They are all so young, mid-twenties, and so accomplished.  That's the story I wanted to hear.  All that happens to us between 3 and 23 and then to be able to do what it takes to become a professional dancer.            
I was also impressed by the music choices.  Miss Brown to You by Mary Coughlan , Deer Stop by Goldfrapp, Cu Chullian's Despair by Beoga, Night of the Shadow by Kate Bush, original music by Joe Csibi, Hornpipes by Sean O'Brien, La Cumparsita by Juan D'Arienzo, music by Bjork, Some Vague Utopia, 3rd Mvt. by West Ocean Quartet, I will Survive by Cake, My Big Bad Handsome Man by Imelda May, Dance Me to the End of Love by Leonard Cohen, Getting Some Fun Out of Life by Madeleine Peyroux, The Firebird Suite: Infernal Dance by Igor Stravinsky, Burning down the House by Talking Heads and Night of the Swallow by Kate Bush. 

Averno

"Ancient name Avernus.  A small crater lake, ten miles west of Naples, Italy; regarded by the ancient Romans as the entrance to the underworld".
It is also the name of one of Louise Gluck's books of poetry.  One of the poems that I like is "The Night Migrations", and it's appropriate for today's anniversary.
It's the 10th anniversary, what a strange use of that word, of the attack on the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan.  I was 14 blocks north at my job as an Occupational Therapist in a High School for Special Needs teenagers.  On that Tuesday morning I was helping the transition from bus to school when I saw a plane flying low.  Someone said it crashed into the Twin Towers.  I walked over to Hudson Street and saw the second plane hit.  I thought war.  I looked around for more planes.  Back at the school it was primary day, and people had come to vote.  Now it was all confusion.  We got the students off the buses and into the building.  I had my camera, so I went out again.  This time to the West Side Highway.  The fire trucks and ambulances were racing to the burning buildings.  Policemen were running downtown, toward the buildings.  Then the buildings fell and now people were walking up towards us, ashen.  Clothes and skin were covered with ash.  The only noise was the sound of the sirens.  We were in shock,. quiet, confused, and scared. I tried to give blood at St.Vincent's but the line was two blocks long.
Today we have word of a possible attack here in NYC or Washington, DC.  Someone said that's the cost of being a warrior nation.  Perhaps, but people who control through subjection and fear will attack any free country that stands as their polar opposite.
An omen is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, good or bad.  Omens are most often perceived as a bad event as in ominous.  The ancient Romans had Augurs to foretell the future.  They did it by analyzing the flight of birds.  What would they make of those big birds flying from the east, on 9/11?  Men so intent on destruction they killed themselves.  9/11 was ominous, but for whom?

From 1941, music by Walter Kent lyrics by Nat Burton.  Come now sing out. 

              There'll be bluebirds over
              The white cliffs of Dover
              Tomorrow
              Just you wait and see.

              There'll be joy and laughter
              And peace ever after,
              Tomorrow
              When the world is free,

              The shepherd will count his sheep
              The valleys will bloom again
              And Jimmy will go to sleep
              In his own little room again.

              There'll be bluebirds over
              The white cliffs of Dover,
              Tomorrow
              Just you wait and see.

              Requiem in Pace

L E S Galleries

There are 61 Lower East Side galleries.  Today I visited about 8.  The area is from Lafayette to Ridge Street and E. Houston to Henry Street.  The staff are all very nice and for the most part are happy to have you take some pictures. 

Sicilian Photographer Davide Bramante puts 8 to 12 photos on one negative.  His work is at the Mark Miller Gallery on Orchard Street.  Along with the work of Felipe Galindo.  Mr. Galindo's show is called used/reused.  He takes objects like the program to an art exhibit and draws people on it who are looking at the art.  My favorite was a flattened can of Budweiser Beer on which he drew 4 guys.  It's called 4 Buds.  You can see more at the web page www.markmillergallery.com. 

Arnold J. Kemp's 'don't make friends' comprises full-scale digital scans of torn and crinkled foil, ripped into various mask forms

Kim Keever's "Early Man and Missing Landscapes" are 5 large imaginary landscape photographs that Keever has photographed through the wall of a 200 gallon tank filled with water that he injects pigment into.
An extraordinary creative group of people to fill our eyes and minds.

Opening night for the L E S Galeries

I didn't make the opening last night.  I was busy rescuing a damsel in distress.  She was very drunk and collapsing on the street.   About in her forties or fifties carrying two shoulder bags.  I reached to help and touched her.  A mistake.  She recoiled.  So when I asked if she was all right she slurred that she wanted to be left alone.  I left; went to a bar for some club soda and to watch, to see that she was all right.  She leaned on a fence with her head down and didn't move for the time it took me to drink the soda.  I went back out and talked to her.  You see, I was thinking of that girl who got drunk and was raped by a police officer.  We're all too vulnerable to add to it by being drunk in public.  The Damsel listened to me talk about all the traffic and how dangerous the streets were at night.  She agreed to let me help her home.  I really had to lift her because she couldn't walk.  Fortunately, there was a Starbucks and she agreed to a coffee.  When we got inside I found a table with two young ladies.  I thought they might help and might make my Damsel more comfortable.  They were taken aback by her condition and ignored us.  The Damsel wanted an espresso.  I got her a double.  She drank a little and then nearly conked her head on the table.  Eventually, I thought to ask my espresso friend if she had a cell phone.  She dug it out of her bag and gave it to me.  I asked who should we call.  Her husband, Harold.  I couldn't work the phone.  I gave it to the young lady at the table and she found Harold; handed me the phone, saying you're really nice.  I dialed Harold and gave the phone to our Damsel.  She mumbled into the phone "I'm coming home" and hung up.    Then got up and stumbled out of Starbucks.  She was intent on getting home by herself.  I caught up.  Got her to wait.  Went back got the phone and her bags and walked her to her apartment building.  By then she was on her own two feet and asking me my name telling me who she was, thanking me etc.  She had gone to a meeting and a lot of hard work was brought to naught.  Frustrated she got drunk.  Don't ask me who she is.  I'm just talking about it because this is what happened to me last night when I thought I was going to a Gallery opening.       

"Circumstance"

"Circumstance" is an Iranian film produced  by among others Sundance and Netflix.  Written and directed by Iranian-American Maryann Keshavarz, it is about two girls aged 16 beginning a romantic relationship.  The President of Iran has told us that there are no gays or lesbians in his country, and about 8 years ago, while sharing a cab with my friend Andrew we got into a discussion with our Pakistani driver about gays in Pakistan.  He assured us there weren't any in Pakistan.  "It's just in the West there are such things."
So it is always good to see and support artists who are talking truth to power.  Modern Iran is shown not only as a patriarchy but with a defined class system.  They show the wealthy, educated class with their privileges and the poor on the streets, panhandling.  People have criticized the film because it doesn't look like Iran and the actors have foreign accents, but never having been to Iran and not speaking the language, this is not an issue.  One of the subplots is about a group of girls, the 2 girls, 2 male friends and an Iranian-American.  They decide to do voice overs to the American  film "Milk" and then slip the DVDs into casings with other labels.  It's a funny scene and cleverly subversive.
I am reminded of the time I went to hear Nuola O'Faolain speak at Barnes and Nobel.  She read from her book, "Are You Somebody?  The Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman"; about the Ireland she grew up in; how much it has changed and how that change happened.  "It was pop culture", she said, "liberation through Rock and Roll." Tom Stoppard's play "Rock and Roll" explores the same idea.

What I'm Reading

Miramar by Naguib Mahfouz.
Mahfouz won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1988, and one of my goals is to read a book by each of the Nobel Prize winners.  Mr. Mahfouz is number 37 of 103.  What I find common in all of them is a social, and political focus.
The story is "set in Alexandria in the early 1960's.  Six characters, all exiles by circumstances, are brought together in the decayed elegance of the Pension Miramar.  The central figure is Zohra, the beautiful peasant girl, whose relationship with the other five characters symbolically reflects the most basic political and social realities of the period."  The introduction is by John Fowles, another great writer.
The historical content is mostly in the 66 notes at the back of the book.  These are about the political events in Egypt during the early part of the 20thCentury.  In 1914, using the war as an excuse, the British deposed Khedive Abbas Hilmy, the Sultan, and established a Protectorate, suspending the powers of the Legislature.  After the war a delegation, in Arabic a wafd, led by Saad Zaghloul demanded independence from the British.  Saad and 3 others were arrested and deported, and this led to demonstrations.  800 Egyptians were killed before the British relented and freed Saad.  After 3 years of continued struggle the British allowed a Monarchy, with limited powers, under Fuad I.  During the 30 years of occupation the Wafd became the dominant political party, a democratic liberal leaning political part].  The second revolution in 1952, led by Nasser, a socialist, put an end to the monarchy, the Wafd and the occupation.  The failure of the Wafd Party to be more aggressive in their opposition to the British created the exiles of this story.

And in the New York Times:
Americans spent $28.1 Billion on health supplements, many of them to lose weight.  One of the popular ones from China is Pai You Guo.  The Feds say it has 2 dangerous ingredients plus a suspected carcinogen.
Nashville this spring had a lot of visitors...cicadas... it happens every 13 years.
Who's the most economically optimistic in the USA ... Washington, D.C. [the only one with a positive view]  Least: West Virginia.  NY is 20th.
The latest to be 'Glitter Bombed' is Newt Gingrich.  It's Gay political theater against hostile or insensitive public figures.
One of the participants in the housewives series committed suicide.  Before the suicide he told his mother: "they're just going to crucify me this season".

Master Class

Terrance McNally's play "Master Class" is at the Manhattan Theater Club starring Tyne Daly and Directed by Stephan Wadsworth.  I saw it last week and I agree with Ben Brantley of the NY Times "Tyne Daly is remarkable.  It's impossible to take your eyes off her", and The New Yorker "Brilliant! Tyne Daly captured my heart".  I haven't written about the play because these are people that I admire and I wanted to write something worthy of them.  Their work says it best.
Terrance McNally:
He was born in St. Petersberg Fla. on 11/3/39.  Grew up in Corpus Christi, Texas and came to NYC in 1956 to attend Columbia University.  He majored in English and was Phi Beta Kappa.  His first job was as a stage hand at the actors studio where he became a protege and lover of Edward Albee.  He is currently married to Thomas Kirdahy.
Some of his notable work:
Next
Ritz
The Rink,
Lips together, teeth apart
The Lisbon Traviata
Kiss of the Spider Woman
Ragtime
Love Valour Compassion
Master Class
Deuce
And Corpus Christi    It portrayed Christ and his disciplines as Homosexuals.  It was not popular.  When it opened in England, 'The Defenders of the Messenger Jesus', a Muslim group, issued a fatwa against him.
All told he has written the  book for 11 musicals, 3 operas, 3 TV movies, 3 film adaptations of his plays and 32 plays.  He has 4 Tonys,  2 Obies, 2 Lucille Lortel Awards, 1 Emmy, 4 Drama Desk Awards and has received 2 Guggenheim Fellowships and a Rockefeller Grant.
Tyne Daly:
Born on 2/21/48 in Madison, Wisconsin she grew up in Westchester County, NY.  Her father John Daly was an actor and brother Timothy Daly is an actor.  She was married to Georg Stanford Brown,1966 to 1990, and has 3 children.
Her credits.  Consistently working in TV since 1968.  17 Emmy nominations and 6 wins, [4 for Cagny and Lacey].  One Golden Globe [Cagny and Lacey] and 1 Tony for Gypsy.    

The Select

The Elevator Repair Service is presenting their latest work, The Select [the Sun Also Rises] at the New York Theater Workshop.  They are the inventive company that did "Gatz" last year at the Public.   The Sun also Rises is Ernest Hemingway's first novel and considered by many to be his best.  Written in 1926, one year after 'The Great Gatsby'.  According to the New York Times Hemingway's book has never been out of print and is believed to be the most translated of all novels.  The story is about a group of expatriate Americans and British living in Paris.  They travel to Pamplona for the festival of Fermin, the bullfighting and the running of the bulls.  The book was first called Fiesta, then The Lost Generation [a label used by Gertrude Stein about expats after the war who were living in Paris] and then The Sun Also Rises from the Biblical quote "What profit hath a man for all his labor under the sun?  One generation passeth away and another generation cometh: but the earth abidith.  The sun also ariseth and the sun goeth down and hasteth to his place where he arose."
The plot: Jake loves Lady Brett and she loves him, but Jake was wounded in the war and can't perform.  Lady Brett has affairs with Mike, then Cohn, then Mike again and then the bullfighter Romero.  Everybody drinks too much.  They fight.  Romero is badly injured in the fight but has a successful day in the ring and he and Lady Brett go off together.  Eventually she contacts Jake who rescues her from a seedy Hotel.  They talk about their love for each other and what might have been.  Then Lady Brett marries Mike.  During the story they drink a lot, dance some, then drink some more.  Some of them go on a fishing trip and drink.  I mean like 3 or 4 martinis and 3 or 4 bottles of wine each with lunch.
It did not work as a drama.  3 and a half hours of waiting for something to happen or some beautiful language, nada.  Cohn is Jewish and characters use anti-Semitic epithets about him and to him.  There are some gay men at the cafe in Paris and "faggot" is used.  Hemingway's characters aren't just crude they're not interesting.  They have nothing to say.  OK, maybe that's the point, but it would have gone over a lot easier if I could have joined in the drinking.  

House of Worship

The Friend's Meeting house is across from Stuyvesant Park at 16th Street.  They are commonly called Quakers because they 'tremble at the word of God'.   The term was first used as a put-down by their enemies but today the Friends use it themselves.  They began to appear in England in the 1640's, at the height of the Reformation.
They believe in "continuing revelation".  Truth is continually revealed to us from God, so there is no need for Priests.  They reject religious symbolism and the sacraments. The Society of Friends has evolved over the centuries.  The evangelical sect, the largest, believe in the literal interpretation of the bible as God's word.  The liberal sect believe in an evolving relationship between us and God.  Some liberal sects are universalist and even non-theistic.  Traditionally the Quakers have always and still believe in the full equality of women, pacifism, anti-slavery, social action and refusal to swear an oath.  Their children are taught their SPICES along with their ABC's.
S...simplicity
P...Peace
I...Integrity
C...Community
E...Equality
S...Stewardship
"My religion is very simple.  My religion is kindness."
The Dalai Lama.

Tryst

The Irish Repertory Company is doing a first play by Karoline Leach with Andrea Maulella and Mark Shanahan.  It takes place in 1910 London and is the story of a charming con man who marries women for their money.  Then runs.  It is expertly performed for a play that changes gears a couple of times.  The main tension is in the character of George.  Is he in love or is he playing the woman for her money?  The fact that the tension can hold up for 2 hours is a mark of the expertise of the performers, and the writing.  My problem is with the ending.
SPOILER ALERT:   The fact that he kills her, turns the drama upside down. Not for love or money, I guess.

I've been setting up my fall theater season.  Membership in the Irish Rep, the Classic Stage Company, the Public Theater, and 4th St. Warehouse, and of course the opera.  Tickets to King Lear, The Elevator Repair Service production of The Select and Master Class with Tyne Daly, and more.  What, you live in New York City and yor're bored!

Washington Square Park

The weather has been wet and stormy the last couple of days.  So when the sun eventually came out I headed for the park, this time Washington Square Park.  NYC has 1900 public parks and at 9.75 acres Washington Square Park is one of the most famous.  NYU owns the buildings surrounding the park and thinks of the park as its quad but the park is public.
Initially it was marsh land with the Minetta Creek flowing through it.  The Dutch turned it into a farm and then gave it to their freed slaves.  It then became known as "the land of the Blacks".
The NYC Common Council purchased the land in 1797 and made it a potter's field and the place for public hangings.  One or two hangings have been reported to have taken place in the park.  The Cemetery was closed in 1825 but never moved and it is estimated that 20,000 souls rest underneath the park.  During remodeling of the park in 2007 a headstone from 1797 was unearthed.
In 1826 it was a military parade ground.  In 1871 the park came under the control of the newly formed Parks Commission.  In 1934 Robert Moses included the park in his urban renewal plan.  He wanted to extend Firth Ave. through the middle of the park.  The opposition was strong, and most especially tireless, considering the fact that it took over 30 years to free the park of vehicular traffic.  They won, thanks to the hard work of Jane Jacobs, Shirley Hayes and Eleanor Roosevelt, who lived on Washington Square Park West.
In time the park became a hangout for artists, musicians, comics and many types of performers.
First the Beatniks and folksingers in the 50's and early 60's.  The community, mostly working class, considered them "undesirables" and got the authorities to 'clean' up the park.  April 9, 1961 was what the NY Mirror called the 'Beatnik riot'.  500 musicians had gathered to protest the law requiring permits in order to play music in the park.  They were met by police with billy clubs, and ten people were arrested.  The park was thereafter patrolled by police and was pretty much a community park until the 70's when it became a hangout for drug dealing and general criminal activity.
Some of the many people who have hung out in the park: Buddy Holly, when he lived nearby, Stanley Kubrick played chess in the park and Barack Obama held a political rally there on 9/27/07.
$16 million is being spent for the renovation.

House of Worship

The Church of the Nativity on 2nd Ave. between 2nd Street and 3rd was initially the site of a Presbyterian church built in 1832.  The Catholic Archdiocese bought that building and founded the Church of the Nativity in 1842.  The old building was demolished in 1970 and the current church was built.

In 1842 it served the growing numbers of Irish immigrants in the community, then Italians and now Hispanics from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.  Described as having a cinder-block and brick institutional drab look it was built by the parishioners at basement prices because the neighborhood could not afford more.  The inside is plain white, with oak pews and little else but an altar.  Unfortunately, It is scheduled for closing by the Archdiocese of the City of New York.  Staffed by up to 4 Jesuits at one time, it has one priest now.  As the neighborhood has become gentrified and rents increased many parishioners moved further north.  Manhattan with 25% of the churches has only 17% percent of the church going population.  The younger more affluent community growing in the east village does not appear to be church affiliated.  Dorothy Day, who dedicated her life to the poor, worshiped here for many decades.
In related news:  the Sunday Times had an article about a monastery closing in North Dakota because of the lack of new novitiates.  It is a Benedictine Monastery as founded by St. Benedict in the 6th Century for those wishing to serve God through work and prayer.  It is  not a cloistered Abbey.  The last novitiate to be accepted into this Abbey was in 2002 and since then 9 monks have died.  One of 40 in the U.S., Assumption Abbey was founded by Swiss Benedictine Monks in 1890 and was populated by German speaking monks from Russia and Hungary, because North Dakota was 'settled' by immigrants from those countries.  The Abbey currently has 1900 acres with 155 cows, 8 bulls and 155 calves.  Usually the Monastery would just sell the calves, but this year they are selling the entire herd.
"No more cowboys taking vows", was the headline.  Brother Placid Gross, I swear by all that's holy that's his name, is the last cowboy monk at Assumption Abbey and at 76 years of age it is more than he can handle.  There are 28 monks in residence but Brother Placid says they are more interested in 'intellectual stuff'.
"Happy trails to you
until we meet again
happy trails to you
keep smiling until then."
Dale Evans Rogers

Summer Streets

For the fourth year in a row and for four Saturdays in August one street is open to the public from 72nd Street and Central Park East to the Brooklyn Bridge.

There is a lot to do and a lot of New Yorkers out today doing it.
Some of the activities available, free bike repair, free portraits with your bike, free bike rentals, free rock climbing and free cookies and lemonade.

There are sand boxes for some play.

You are sure to have a good time.  So if you are in the city next Saturday bring the whole family.

Empire State Building

The real estate between 34th street and 33 street on Fifth Ave. had been home to the Astor's.  The famous Mrs. William Astor lived at 34th and Fifth.  Because her ballroom could only accommodate 400, N.Y.'s social elite were listed as 'the 400'.  Her nephew was at 33rd.  The nephew built the Waldorf Hotel on his site, ruining the neighborhood; so Mrs Astor built the Astoria Hotel on her corner and moved uptown.  So  they created the Waldorf-Astoria so I could have my prom.
The Empire State Building was planned during the booming 1920s by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon but completed in1931.  It is constructed in the Art deco style of the time.  It cost $40,948,900 then, about $500,000,000 today.  It was largely vacant in the early years.  They say fees to the observation deck paid the bills.  The bills for building the Empire State Building were paid by one man, John Jacob Raskob, KCSG, 1879-1950.
Born in Lockport, NY, his grandfather was an immigrant from Germany and his father sold cigars.  After High School he went to a local Business School but had to drop out when his father died in 1898.  He worked as a secretary to support the family.
1911 ... hired as a personal secretary to Pierre DuPont
1914 ... appointed Treasurer
1918 ... Vice President for Finance of DuPont and General Motors.  He was an early investor in GM and engineered DuPont's ownership of 43% of GM.
In the 1928 Presidential campaign he supported Al Smith for President.  Chairman of the Board, Sloan supported Herbert Hoover.  Raskob was asked to resign.  He sold his stock, built the Empire State Building, and made Al Smith President ... of the Empire State Building Company.
The KCSG after his name signifies that he is a knight of the Catholic Church.  He was given the title for his philanthropy, not because of the 13 children his wife had.  Another member of the KCSG is Rupert Murdoch.

3000 men rose the framework at a rate of 4 and a half stories per week to 102 stories total and 1454 feet.
In 1951 the Raskob Estate sold the building for $34 million
Today $550 million is being spent on renovations with $120 million being used to make the building Greener
It has its own zip code  10118
In 1945, a plane crashed into the building, killing 14 people.  It also resulted in Betty Lou Oliver surviving a plunge of 75 stories inside an elevator.  That still stands as the Guinness World Record.  Anyone want to go for 76. 
It was the tallest building for 42 years until the World trade center in 1973
There have been over 30 suicides.  The first was by a worker before the building was completed.  He had been laid off.  Evelyn McHale on 5/1/47 jumped from the 86th floor, landed on a U.N. limo and her curiously intact body was photographed.  It was later used by Andy Warhol for his painting 'Suicide'.  Elvita Adams on 12/2/79 jumped from the 86th floor only to be blown back and land on the 85th floor with a broken hip.
In 2/24/97 a Palestinian gunman shot 7 people, killing one and wounding himself.
There have been 110 million visitors to the Empire State Building.  Named America's favorite building in a poll by the American Institute of Architects, designated a National Landmark and listed as one of the 7 wonders of the Modern World.  But I've never liked that name!