Awesome Entertainment!

September 23, 2010
The past week has been full of good fun. Friday night was Ween at Central Park: these guys pack a party and serenade the masses with every genre of music imaginable. Saturday evening was my first encounter with Brooklyn Bowl and I love it. Great food from Blue Ribbon and a rawkus stage and pit (with a fun boom box show by Javelin) with a backdrop of balls and lanes make this LEED-certified building a very happening spot. On Sunday I was treated to a dress rehearsal of BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON on Broadway and was so unbelievably excited to…

Fear of Weather

September 16, 2010
I have never been so terrified of weather conditions as I was this afternoon. At about 5:00, it began thundering intensely and incessantly, no rain, but loud and windy, and then, at about 5:30 it hit. It was like a wave crashing into my home. The wind was so violent that rain was coming up into my windows, and took out several plants on the balcony. And it was purple dark... branches torn, trees uprooted and cars crushed. It was phenomenally intense and by 5:50 it was over, leaving only destruction behind. While I have lived through some wild hurricanes,…

Fear of Islam

September 14, 2010
For months now, we have been subjected to a manufactured controversy over a proposed mosque "near" the site of the World Trade Center so I was almost relieved to hear that France's parliament just passed a law prohibiting burqas in public: it's not just our country but the whole world that's gone mad! What is wrong with you people? I can not conceive of a single legitimate reason why anyone would oppose either a mosque in lower Manhattan or a veil covering the face of a devout Muslim. It is completely insane. Sure, I've heard the "reasons" for not wanting…

Maine

September 7, 2010
From Cape Cod to Maine for the final leg of my summer travels... Portland has been blessed by the arrival of Andrew and Rachel last summer. Rachel is involved in the art community there and I attended a vibrant outdoor fair in which she and other local artists set up booths to display and vend their wares, while bands rocked the stage in beautiful weather. We then hit up Hugo's Restaurant, where Andrew is Chef de Cuisine and indulged in gastronomic delight with his absurd tasting menu. Both of them are incredibly creative and passionate artists and have settled into…

The Capeman

August 16, 2010
Theater is typically immune to foul weather, but when the venue is Delacorte Theatre in Central Park, The Doppler Radar is the main tool for determining a show's viability. At 8pm, when Paul Simon's Capeman was scheduled to start, standing umbrellaless was a mistake so Alaina and I huddled under the one we had and waited the next hour until it was closer to mist than storm and we filled our seats in the quarter-bowl. Before the head of The Public Theatre, Oskar Eustis, gave his introductory thanks and acknowledgments (calling the Delacorte "the greatest theater in the greatest city…

Phish 3D and The Bloody Bloody Band

May 4, 2010
3D technology is everywhere and I think we can safely say it has proven itself beyond a gimmick. It truly enhances the visual experience even without the original cliched application of sharks and other objects popping into your face. Phish 3D is the best look I've ever had at my favorite band, bringing the audience onstage with incredible depth and perspective, allowing visual details that would be invisible to anyone at the show and some that would be unseen even in a 2D format; I saw what their "farewell" show in 2004 simulcast in a theater, and this blew it…

Tranny Fun

November 7, 2009
I was de-virginized last night at my first Rocky Horror Picture Show experience and it was, as I had been warned, highly participatory. If you yourself are still a virgin, I will enlighten you: the ridiculous 1975 rock musical B-movie is augmented by a group of live actors who dress (scantily) as the actors and lip-synch the lines while yelling commentary at the screen. Audiences are encouraged to throw stuff, dance and yell at appropriate or inappropriate moments. Before the midnight show at Clearview Cinemas in Chelsea, all the virgins--as in audience members who had never seen the show before--were…

What a Weekend

November 1, 2009
The past 3 days have been jam packed with goodness. There was a flood of Taylors into the city for the action, which began with The Brooklyn Museum show (see below) on Thursday night. Friday was my show at Monkeytown, which was a great experiment in the unique venue and hopefully the first of more evenings there. Saturday was Halloween, which has to be my favorite holiday for the fun and zaniness that defines the night. While I used to love it because of the booty stash I collected and hoarded for months, I now just love a good reason…

Who Shot Rock n Roll

October 30, 2009
When my mother-in-law said two years ago that she was going to write a book about rock n roll photography I was skeptical; while her knowledge of photography is about as deep as anyone in the world, her familiarity with the subject matter was pretty thin. Last night, all doubts were erased as I attended the opening of her exhibition at The Brooklyn Museum. She has pulled together 175 incredible photos from all aspects and generations of rock n roll and presented them beautifully, with text that demonstrates her complete understanding of rock's cultural power. It is inspiring to see…

Good in the Hood

October 23, 2009
Tonight was a surprise explosion all over 5th ave. First I found myself bicycling home from work and every 2 blocks there was a musician/band performing on the corner, a beautiful action coordinated by local musicians. I was reminded of Firenze, Italia, where I lived for 3 months in 1999 and was always amazed at the variety of music and art produced in the streets. Not that New York doesn't have it's fair share of incredible buskers, but in Florence (and most of Italy, for that matter) the art was more public. It was a corridor of musical bliss... And…