Sydling St. Nicholas

August 1, 2011
This past week has been ultra-relaxing. We have been staying with Alaina's grandparents in this quaint village in Dorset, England. Surrounded by rolling hills and organic farms, it is deeply inspiring in its beauty and G and Grand represent the idyllic environment perfectly. Their relationship is a model of everlasting love and I hope that one day we can demonstrate this virtue to our own grandchildren.

Summer Travels 2011

July 26, 2011
In a few hours, we bid adieu to Brooklyn and embark on a transcontinental adventure. Our first stop is Sydling St. Nicholas, Dorset, England to spend a week with G and Grand Buckland and the English side of Alaina's family. From there, we continue around the globe to India, where we will travel with Sarah and Eric for four weeks, exploring Kerala and the South first, followed by a trip to the North into the mountains. I have a basic sense of what we will be doing, but almost no idea what sort of experiences await. That is adventure! Unexpected…

Weddings

July 19, 2011
What a wonderful reason to bring your friends together and have a party: for we are in love forever! Folks will travel great distances to be present for this official declaration and the ensuing celebration can be a transcendent joy. This past weekend featured an unfortunate conflict of lovefests: Dan & Tekela in Wisconsin or Dave & Kelly in Warwick (great place to get married!). Lake Geneva, WI was filled with boats, beaches, beer, blunts and buddies and we gorged ourselves on Chef Daniel's amazing appetizers, complemented by cheese and fried everything. And while we were forced to choose between…

Book of Mormon

July 13, 2011
I love a spectacle and Book of Mormon delivers. Broadway is all about over-the-top song and dance and this show pays homage to the medium while simultaneously mocking its culture. The ridiculousness of of our obsession with entertainment is one micro-target of this show, and Broadway/Orlando worship is akin to religious worship here, with Mormonism serving as the kebab of this perfectly executed skewering. In a way, bashing this religion is too easy; it seems obvious that it was completely invented by a mortal man with a keen sense of drama who hooked his followers with a tale that makes…

Land 11

July 13, 2011
Since before I knew her and before her parents knew, Alaina has been hosting parties in Warwick, NY. Six years ago, we were married on that property and The Land Party is one of my biggest annual highlights. It is a chance to relax and party with friends and family in a beautiful setting with woods and a pond. We camp, cook out and play music deep into the night. It provides a sense of freedom that I rarely have in my life and I take full advantage. This year's party was a three-day extravaganza over July 4 weekend and…

Shakespeare In The Park

June 28, 2011
The man could write. His works are still the standard by which all theatre is judged. Every play is epic; a dense thicket involving love, betrayal, violence and wisdom. The characters are the grandest ideals or darkest corners of our own psyche and play out macrocosms of the subtle moral conflicts we engage daily. Every word he writes carries ten more words' worth of meaning and twist the plot dizzyingly. It is great literature and scintillating theatre. Alaina is hooked up at Central Park's Delacourt Theatre, which means we don't have to queue up beforehand for the always free tickets.…

Boston Bruins: Stanley Cup Champions!

June 18, 2011
Up until 9th grade, hockey was a huge part of my life. I played on various school teams and attended camps dedicated to improving my ice skills. The Bruins of my middle school years were a solid bunch, led by Ray Borque, Cam Neely and Adam Oates and were tantalizingly good but never achieved the dream of winning a Cup and faded into an afterthought through mismanagement and the end of my playing days. For the past 20 years, I have watched the team collapse year after year, losing painfully to the arch-rival Canadiens several times in the playoffs and…

Casey Allyn Young

June 8, 2011
I love my job. I am truly blessed to have the opportunity to make music with children. They have the most amazing ability to live passionately and exclusively in the moment. Past and future have no real value to them and so every moment is absolutely vital. True, it means they sometimes cry when you take their drum away, but they are just expressing their love for that instrument without any possible way to rationalize it temporally. They are the best improvisers and demonstrate unbridled joy in all aspects of music. I am always inspired. Casey was in my classes…

Sleep No More

May 25, 2011
I am still baffled by what I witnessed last night and have been thinking about it constantly since I left the performance; it takes place inside the abandoned McKittrick hotel in Chelsea and audience members are free to explore four floors of exquisitely decorated rooms, each one an art installation of bizarre bric-a-brac that conjures an eerie mystique. Performers move through the spaces and interact with one another and audience members, all of whom are instructed to wear uniform white masks concealing identities and reactions. The piece is based on Macbeth and while the scenes allude to the events of…