TMI !!!!
Oh, wait…
“That’s what we should be doing. I don’t want to use the word ‘screwed’, but I screwed him,” Trump continued. “That’s what we should be doing.”
In 2009, Trump came under scrutiny for renting property to Gaddafi so that he could pitch a Bedouin-style tent in an upscale New York suburb. Trump claimed ignorance in the matter, saying that he was unaware that his land had been rented to the dictator. After a day of controversy, Trump reportedly forced Gaddafi off the property.
March 25th is the 100th Anniversary of one of the saddest events in U.S. labor history, the Triangle Shirt Waist Company Fire. Some say this tragedy had the biggest impact on New York of any event until 9/11.
This story has always resonated with me. It’s so said that all these young women, mostly recent immigrants, died so tragically. Mainly, because the doors were locked and they couldn’t escape down the stairs. Many jumped to their death.
This event led to many changes in public safety and labor laws. It’s a reminder that laws and regulations are necessary.
Unfortunately, it always seems to take a tragedy to drive change in America…
This article in today’s New York Times shows how one woman is trying to keep the memory alive:
“I GREW up with this story, and I’ve always wanted to do something about it,” Ruth Sergel said. “It’s like a black hole in your heart.”
In 2004, Ms. Sergel started doing something about the story she grew up with: the Triangle Waist Company fire, which killed 146 garment workers in 1911, almost all of them Jewish and Italian immigrants. She had just read a book about the fire, to distract herself from worrying about the premiere of a short film she had directed at the the Tribeca Film Festival.
At the end of the book, “Triangle: The Fire That Changed America,” was a list of names and addresses of the victims, and Ms. Sergel was moved to discover that many had lived within blocks of her apartment on East Third Street. Eager to do something about the story that had created a black hole in her heart, she hit upon what she called “the schmaltziest idea.”
On March 25, the anniversary of the fire, she and a few dozen friends put her idea into action: they divided up the names and addresses, and fanned out across the Lower East Side, the East Village and Little Italy, armed with sidewalk chalk. In front of each building where a victim had lived, they chalked a name, age and cause of death — in white, green, pink and purple, often with drawings of flowers, tombstones or a triangle. They chalked, “Pauline Horowitz, Age 19, Lived at 58 St. Marks Pl., Died March 25, 1911, Triangle Factory Fire.” And “Albina Caruso, Age 20, Lived at 21 Bowery, Died March 25, 1911, Triangle Factory Fire.”
That first year, they chalked 140 names, plus the word “unidentified” six times, in front of the old factory building, just east of Washington Square.
“After you chalk one or two names, something starts to happen,” said Ms. Sergel, 48, an artist who cobbles a living from grant to grant. “Chalking helps reveal a hidden geography of the city. If there are two victims across the street from each other, you wonder, ‘Did they walk to work together? Did their families console each other?’ The whole rest of the year you associate those buildings with that person.”
We finally got to watch this documentary tonight…
It’s a “must see”….
I always wondered why Eliot Spitzer resigned and Diaper Dave Vitter is still in the Senate….
Now, I know…
This is now out on DVD, so please rent or buy it today!
Filed under Movies, New York, Politics, The Economy
Since today is Hugh Jackman’s 42nd Birthday, I’m going to repost this one…..
Broadway Memories: Hugh Jackman as Peter Allen In “The Boy From Oz”
One of our great nights in the Theatre, a few seasons ago, was to see Hugh Jackman in “The Boy From Oz” on Broadway. If you only know him as Wolverine, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
This guy is amazing on stage. He totally captured Peter Allen’s style and personae. Peter was a showman and Hugh definitely is one, too.
And he never missed a performance during the entire run of the show.
Here are some clips:
And a couple of clips of the real, late, great, Peter Allen:
Filed under Broadway, Entertainment, Music, Theatre
Well, we are on the way home from another great trip to New York. Sunday was the best day yet. It’s always great fun to be in New York on Tony Awards Weekend. We actually attended the Tony’s one year and it was a blast. This year, we just enjoyed them from various vantage points around Mid-Town.
However, let me start at the beginning of the day…
We started the day by visiting the “High Line”. This is a garden the City of New York has created along the old El Track- the old elevated train track since replaced by the subway. This is a great urban garden in the sky. It was also hot as hell. You can actually walk from the Village to Chelsea along this track and they are in the process of extending it father uptown. It’s really worth checking out. Just not on a hot, humid day.
We then saw one of the best play productions I’ve ever seen in New York. August Wilson’s “Fences” at the Cort Theatre on Broadway.
As a side note, it was also Puerto Rican Day in New York. We always seem to see Denzel Washington on Puerto Rican Day. The last time was when we saw him in “Julius Caesar” a few years ago. It was so much chaos, we were afraid we wouldn’t hear the play that day. Things seem to have calmed down this year. It’s always fun to be on the fringe of these festivities and see people celebrate their heritage.
Back to “Fences”. I can’t recall seeing a better play with better performances. Denzel Washington was just wonderful. You did not see a Hollywood leading man, you saw a fine actor playing a complex and often unflattering character. Viola Davis, as Rose, his wife was also amazing. She uses her voice and projects emotion like few actresses I’ve seen. She is one of the greats.
It was also so good to have the extra bonus of seeing Chris Chalk in this play. Chris played the key role of Denzel Washington’s character’s son. Chris is a UNC-G graduate and played one of the leads in one of Steve’s plays, “Passing Ceremonies” a few years ago. It’s great to see a local man make good and go from Greensboro to Broadway. Chris also gave an excellent performance and more than held his own with Denzel Washington and Viola Davis. He was that good.
Here are a couple of clips from YouTube:
Here is another clip with Chris and Denzel:
We were so blown away and drained after “Fences”, we had to have a drink. Then we wanted to see something a little lighter, so we went to the early show of Leslie Jordan’s “My Trip Down the Pink Carpet.” Leslie won an Emmy for his guest performance on “Will and Grace” a couple of years ago and is also well-known from the movie and TV Series “Sordid Lives”. You would know him if you saw him.
Leslie Jordan’s show was both light and fun and deep and endearing. He talked about his journey as both an actor and as a Gay man of 55. He detailed his struggle from a young child in a military family in Chattanooga,TN to Hollywood and beyond. He touchingly and funnily described his struggles with substance abuse and his journey from self-hatred and internal homophobia to a happy, proud gay man. It was a journey most Gay men my age can understand and relate to on one level or another. We have all come a long way both individually and collectively over the years. He also had lots of amusing stories about Cloris Leachman, Robert Ulrich, Mark Harmon, Meagan Mullaley and others. It was a great way to cap off our theatre weekend.
Scott, Steve and Leslie Jordan
We then went over to Times Square where they had set up chairs to view the Tony’s on a giant screen in Times Square. It had rained earlier and was still threatening rain, so there was not the crowd they had anticipated.
We weren’t about to sit around in the middle of Times Square and watch a giant TV screen.
We also hadn’t really eaten all day, so we decided to go to Joe Allen’s for dinner and to watch a little of the Tony’s there. Joe Allen’s is a famous old Theatre District Restaurant with good, classic American food. It’s also a haunt frequented by theatre people.
In past visits to Joe Allen”s, I once sat at the bar once next to Penny Fuller and John McMartin. I literally ran into Linda Lavin going out the door one night. Whoopi Goldberg and Frank Langella were once seated at the next table. Minnie Driver was next to us another night. It’s that kind of place. It’s entire staff is also composed of young people trying to make it in the theatre. It was fun to overhear the comments during the Tony’s.
During one of the long commercial breaks, we went back to the hotel to finish our evening.
It was wonderful to see Denzel Washington and Viola Davis win Tony’s for performances we had seen only hours previously. It was also wonderful to see this fine production of “Fences” win the Tony as Best Revival of a Play. And to see Catherine Zeta Jones, who we saw in December, win Best Actress in a Musical, for the exquisite production of “A Little Night Music”. We were lucky to see many of the nominated shows and performances this year. We are blessed.
I’m now sitting in the USAirways Club at LaGuardia recapping this as we head home to Greensboro. New York always both energizes me and wears me out. It’s time to go home and take our great memories of another great weekend in New York with us. I’ve dropped enough names…
And we are already planning another trip in December!
Filed under Entertainment, Travel
Well, when you are 51, the phrase “a night on the town takes” on a whole new meaning. It’s 10:00 pm and we just got back to the hotel after our evening show…Gone are the days of dancing until dawn or staying up late at some piano bar. If you try to do that at our age, you just look kind of sad. Definitely not our style any more. One needs to know when to walk away from the dance floor while one still has some dignity left. We only go to piano bars early in the evening now…anyway, enough of that…
Tonight we saw “Everyday Rapture.” It’s Broadway “semi-star”, as she put it, Sherie Rene Scott’s one woman show on Broadway.
Sherie, who we’ve seen in a couple of shows, memorably “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” has put together this show about her journey from being a “half Mennonite” in Topeka, Kansas to Broadway. Religion seems to be our common thread in shows this weekend.
As Steve put it, “She’s a gay man in a white woman’s body.” She talked extensively about growing up worshipping both Jesus and Judy Garland. My favorite part was when she recreated singing “You Made Me Love” you to Jesus–like Garland famously did to Clark Gable–at her favorite gay cousin’s shunning ceremony.
She went to school with Becky Phelps, Rev Fred Phelps’ daughter. He is the so-called preacher who leads the protests at gay funerals, most famously Matthew Shepard’s and protests at soldiers funerals. He is the embodiment of all that can be wrong with religion and Sherie talked about seeing Becky change from when they were happy children together until he is the hateful woman she’s become today.
There was also a hilarious sequence were she interacted with a little boy on the internet because he had lip-sinked to one of her songs. He wouldn’t believe it was really her e-mailing him unless she would produce a picture of her with Idina Menzel. Quite the contrast from her simple, trusting youth to today’s cynical cyber kids.
It was 90 minutes of non-stop fun to share her journey. She is a very talented lady.
Here is a promo video:
Early to bed tonight so we don’t waste tomorrow morning. We have both had long weeks, so we are calling it a night. Hopefully tomorrow, brunch in Greenwich Village at the Riviera, then we have tickets to one of the hottest shows in town. The sold out production of “Fences” with Denzel Washington.
More to come…
Filed under Entertainment, Travel
Day two in the City is also going great. It’s been such a hectic week at home, that we broke our rule and actually lounged around the hotel room this morning. We had to rest up because we have two shows to see today!
First, we saw Barbara Cook, Tom Wopat and Vanessa Williams in “Sondheim by Sondheim.” It was a thoroughly engaging and enjoyable show at the legendary Studio 54. We’ve seen countless shows in that space and all I can think about whenever we do in is that Liza, Halston, Warhol and so many others had so many decadent nights in that place. I always wonder if one of them passed out– or worse– around where our seats are…
Back to the show…
This show was really like an episode of “American Masters” on PBS. I mean that in a good way. It was a multi-media presentation with pictures and clips of Sondheim as well as Sondheim himself reminiscing and talking about his life and shows. Then you had all these wonderful performers singing his songs.
Barbara Cook is amazing. She sounds as good as she did when we o her in concert a few years ago. She is doing 8 shows a week as a very active part of the ensemble. And she is about 82 years old. For those who don’t know her, she was a big star on Broadway in the 1950’s and 1960’s. She won her first Tony Award as the original Marion in the original cast of the original production of “The Music Man.” She is a phenomenon.
Tom Wopat has come a long ways from the “Dukes of Hazzard.” He is a well established Broadway performer now. We saw him give a great performance in “A Catered Affair” a couple of seasons ago. He is a joy to see on stage.
We also had the unexpected surprise of seeing Lewis Cleale, who we say in “Sunset Boulevard” with Petula Clark a few years ago. He had stepped in for Norm Lewis.
Vanessa Williams is still so beautiful and talented. She has so many talents. She was just wonderful in this show, too. She’s come a long ways from Miss America.
That’s one of the things I love about Broadway. Scott Fitzgerald said “There are no second acts in American lives.” Broadway proves him wrong every season.
Here are some clips from the show:
We had an unexpeted treat on the way to dinner. We saw Christen Chenoweth at the stage door of “Promises,Promises.” That show is also great fun. I saw that about a month ago when I was last up here on business.
We had a great meal at Trattorria Trecolori on W 47th Street. Black linguine with seafood. I had to make reservations a week ago as it has gotten to be entirely too popular. With great Italian food at great prices, with wonderful service in Mid-town, I’m not surprised.
Well, this was just a quick note. We are off to another show and the evening on the town. More to follow….
Filed under Entertainment, Travel
We are in New York for one of our long weekends of theatre and fun. It has started out wonderfully.
Last night, after dinner one of our favorite little french places, “Pergola Des Artistes”, we went to see the first show of the trip, a new play, on Broadway called “Next Fall”.
I’m a little bit afraid of “highly praised” new plays on Broadway. I’ve been fooled too many times. Two examples being “Pillowman” and “The Shining City”. Both of these plays were critically praised and turned out to be derivative, poorly written and poorly directed crap. I was counting the lighting instruments in the ceiling during “Pillowman” because I was so bored. “The Shining City” was just an absolute mess. After these experiences, I usually lean more towards off-Broadway plays were I have never been disappointed.
I am happy to say “Next Fall” breaks the curse. It was a wonderful play with a lot of heart. It’s probably so good because it started off-Broadway and transferred to Broadway with it’s original cast and director.
“Next Fall” tells the story of a relationship between two gay men, “Luke” a born again Christian, and “Adam” a questioning agnostic, and their family and friends. An accident sets in motion a series of scenes from their past as they try to handle the present situation. It explores how so many people of different faiths and beliefs come together and interact. It is a play about the many levels and types of beliefs. The play is so beautifully written that it draws you in and two and a half hours fly by. It engages you on so many levels-among them emotional, intellectual and spiritual. I won’t tell you more than that. I’ll just urge you to see it!
The show is beautifully acted and directed. I’m convinced the only reason several of the actors are not Tony Award nominees is because they are not “names”. They are simply some of the best actors I have seen on Broadway or anywhere else. The show is nominated for Best Play and Best Director and it would have my vote!
Here is a short video with the cast and director discussing the show and a link to the sh0w’s website:
http://www.nextfallbroadway.com/new/
We are heading out to a matinee. Two shows today….more to come…
Filed under Entertainment, Travel
I love New York. That’s no secret. I have been there more times than I can count and I never get tired of the City. If I ever win the lottery, the first thing I will do is purchase us a little pied a terre there. I recently did some quick math and realized I’ve seen close to, if not more than, 100 shows in New York-both on and off-Broadway. Not too bad for a little boy from Danville, Va.
I also want to point out that it is a myth that New Yorkers or rude and surly. I find them some of the warmest, nicest people I’ve ever encountered. They know, from living in the City, that we are all in this together and are usually more than willing to help out. It’s the tourists who can be rude and obnoxious.
Since everyone knows I love New York and go there frequently- and summer travel season is upon us- I’m going to make some comments and recommendations for those of you who may be traveling there soon. I’m purposely going to focus on mainstream things as I figure anyone who wants to read this isn’t as seasoned a New York traveler as I/we are. There is nothing too gay or too edgy here. I’m also focusing mainly on Mid-Town Manhattan and the Theatre District. You may also want to go back on my Blog to December and read the day by day recap of our adventures on that trip for some additional ideas.
Restaurants:
First of all, we try to do New York like a New Yorker. We do not eat at chain restaurants-in New York or any where else- or expensive designer or “hot” restaurants. We eat at good, reasonable locally owned restaurants. We are not pretentious “foodies.”
WARNING: Do not eat anywhere near Times Square! I can’t stress this enough. The goal in that area is to soak the tourists. The food is not good and is horribly over priced. If you go over to 8th, or even better, 9th Avenue, you will find much better food at much better prices at the local restaurants.
Here are some of our favorites:
Hotels:
We don’t normally do fancy Hotels, either. Unless we are staying there for free on my Frequent Guest Points. If that’s the case, then we love the Hilton Times Square. Otherwise, here are some recommendations:
Please note: It is our view that hotels should be safe, clean and comfortable. These are. They may be a little more basic than some others, but if you plan to spend a lot of time in your hotel, you should not be traveling-especially to New York. Hotels are only places to shower, change clothes and sleep. You should be out in the Streets the rest of the time.
Shows:
Some of the best theatre in New York is off-Broadway or off-off Broadway. There is not a lot running right now that I’ve seen that is really good. My advice is to avoid the long running shows. I took a colleague to see “Phantom of the Opera” when we were there on business a few years ago. It’s been running so long, the cast is sleep-walking through it. Same with “Chicago”, which I’ve seen several times. I won’t recommend “Mamma Mia” because I hated it, but most people really enjoy it- especially women.
You should never have to buy full price tickets to a show in New York unless it is a big, big hit or a limited run. My advice is to always go to Playbill.com or TheatreMania.com and use the discounts on those websites. You can purchase tickets over the web, phone or take them to the box office. You usually get the best seats available. The TKTS booths, in Times Square, has discounted tickets for shows the same day. The last few times I’ve gone there, the seats were horrible. Rear balcony, obstructed view, etc. I think the shows dump their worst seats there, so avoid them if you can.
Here are some current shows I do recommend:
Some other shows to consider that have been running a while are:
We are heading up there again shortly and I will hopefully have some more current shows to recommend. Also, many of these shows have clips on YouTube if you want to check them out.
Nightspots:
Some Tourist Stuff That Is Fun:
I’m sure I’ve forgotten some stuff, so I will probably revise this as I go along. Feel free to add your comments on things I’ve missed or things you disagree with.
Most importantly: Go to New York!!! It’s a wonderful town. Explore it on your own so you can give me your recommendations.
Filed under Entertainment, Travel
Lost in the 21st Century 