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…

What’s New?

May 24, 2011
In a tree in the Green-Wood Cemetery across from my balcony is a Robin's nest I have been binocularing in on and today I saw three little beaks open above the lip of the nest to be fed from mom. It was beautiful. It is hard to believe its been a month since I last wrote here, but it has been a month full of good entertainment. We saw some great Theatre (Blackwatch, Under Construction, Warhorse, Sister Act and seeing Sleep No More tonight), have experienced some great outdoor Brooklyn events (Fifth Ave Street Fair and Food Truck Rally), started…

When Outside Becomes Lovely

April 19, 2011
Shelter in Winter is essential, but around this time I yearn to shed it! Windows and doors fly open and I soak in the natural warmth. Preparing to spend time outdoors in the cold is taxing, requiring layers of mental and physical reinforcements, but as the temperature rises our need to be bundled falls and our focus shifts from maintaining maximum core heat with efficient insulation to bathing in solar omnipotence. I have made recent excursions to The Brooklyn Botanic Gardens and The Green-Wood Cemetery to enjoy the beautiful displays of plant regeneration that occurs after their own period of…

Peter and The Starcatcher

March 23, 2011
This is amazingly fun theater. It is creative and celebrates imagination in so many ways, appealing to all ages and is a play in the best, most playful, sense of the word. The story is a prequel to Peter Pan with an absurdly hilarious cast of misfits sailing the high seas using spartan props to create elaborate scenes with Gondry-style guerrilla effects. The wordplay is fast and clever, slipping in something for everyone, young or old or high or low. Nobody is excluded in this world. I love working with kids because they are so creative and always flowing with…

Godspeed You! Black Emperor

March 18, 2011
Their music sounds like nothing else; eminating soundwaves create an aural sea of vibrations for mental flotation... It is grand and glacial, creeping along while building and releasing intensity in epic breaths that last night's venue could not have suited any better. St. John's Church on 60th and Columbus is one of those truly impressive spectacles you would go visit on a trip to Europe, but seeing as I never go to church in my own country except for the occasional wedding, I would not typically find myself in such a space; quite a shame for its extraordinary beauty. Luckily,…

The Prospect Park West Bike Lane

March 12, 2011
When NYC DOT installed this bike lane in June 2010 I was overjoyed. It made my daily commute much safer, more enjoyable and it sent a message that biking was encouraged in this city where it is so necessary to reduce traffic and pollution. To make this lane, the high-speed, three-lane (plus two parking lane) superhighway known as Prospect Park West was reduced to two driving lanes with a row of parked cars acting as a barrier between bikes and cars. Sure, it was brilliant and improved safety while encouraging healthier lifestyles but this is Park Slope, Brooklyn, one of…

The Banya and Halusky

January 30, 2011
I took a trip down to the Russian bathhouse Sandoony USA yesterday and was finally enlightened to the exoic pleasures of the banya. With three saunas, a steamroom, hottub, small pool and ever-essential frigid dunktub, there was plenty of extreme temperature variation and testing of human tolerance; the body only enjoys so much warmth before it enters pre-panic mode and begins to sweat, then finally begins screaming at the brain to remedy the situation. At that point evacuating 190 degrees of heat and plunging into 50 degrees of water seems like a pretty good idea. And it is extremely refreshing.…

The Pitmen Painters

December 4, 2010
A group of miners in Northern England in the 30s discover their hidden artistic talents in this beautiful Broadway show. Under the tutelage of an art professor in weekly meetings, they develop a folk style that becomes a phenomenon and gain international art fame while continuing their daily labors in the mines. It is a nice story, and although there is very little drama to it (minor conflicts weave into the dialogue occasionally but have little impact on the development), I was inspired by the two hour dissection of art, culture and meaning. While these men may lack the technique…

Supergood Reality

November 12, 2010
On November 19, 2010, Reality happens at Ars Nova. As part of their annual ANT FEST for developing works, they have invited me to take the stage and do my thing, which generally includes music, video, monologue and mayhem. Over the past eight years, I have performed many incarnations of this show in different venues, most of which no longer exist (Arthur's Dress Shop, Trilogy Theater, Monkeytown), but Ars Nova is by far the nicest theater I have ever been a part of. I am thrilled to have this opportunity and I hope that YOU can join us. Tickets are…

Something Different!

October 26, 2010
Last night at the Bell House was one of the most exciting musical nights I've ever experienced. Headlining the three act bill was HOTTUB from Oakland, including some friends of mine that I see too rarely. The three-lady MC team put on a ripper of a show and work the crowd into a lathered frenzy of sweat while cooling them off with beer showers... One of the girls, who made no bones about her hefty 150 lbs, coaxed me into hoisting her on my shoulders and parading her around the crowd while she bucked and rapped with no fear of…