NYC You Are Here

More Movies of 2011 in Short Review

2012-01-14T17:06:00.000-08:00

Drive -- This Action Film is set on the West Coast in L.A. Or is it? Here we have a film where the director has made a Fairy Tale world much like the one around us now. The first half of the film has this hazy feeling that makes much of the action better. Ryan Gosling plays a lone wolf that makes money as a Stunt Driver. He Drives for the movies and also is a mechanic by day, but by night he is a calm no nonsense getaway Driver for hire. He moves in next to a young mother (Carey Mulligan) who is married to a man in Prison. When this man gets out he brings trouble with him. This strange family needs the Drivers help and he helps them because they are his only connection to the real world. Is this Driver a bad guy with a heart of gold, or a good guy in a rough spot? The other bad guys are real mobster types played by Ron Perlman (born right here in Washington Heights, NYC) and Albert Brooks. This is a great part for Brooks. He should be cast in more roles like this one. So why Does this story not end as good as it begin? Well in the end the Fairy Tale seems too much and some of the plot points that could have been easily fixed where just glazed over. Making this a good film that could have been great!

Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel -- This documentary on the infamous Roger Corman is so much fun! Just like the man himself. If you don't know Roger Corman is a Film Director and Producer who's career spans many decades. He is the grandfather of gore! The ploitation behind Exploitation!! He put the amp in camp!! In the 60's he did an Edgar Allan Poe Series with Vincent Price that gave the world The House of Usher(1960), and The Pit and the Pendulum(1961). He is the man behind movies like the original "The Little Shop of Horrors" (1960), Death Race 2000 (1975), Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979), Children of the Corn (1983), and the first biker flick ever The Wild Angels (1966). Without him and his New World Pictures, America might not of had a wide distribution of foreign Films. We might not know names like Ingmar Bergman, François Truffaut, Federico Fellini, or Akira Kurosawa without him showing the films at Cinemas and Drive-Ins around the country. There are too many famous Actors, Directors, and Writers that got their start with Roger to put here, but many of them made it into "Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel." This documentary has been a long time coming and now that's its here everyone should see it.

Shame, Directed by Steve McQueen -- This is a stylized and powerful film about a successful business man (Michael Fassbender) who also is a sex addict. Having everything going for him he has an endless amount of sex coming to him, but he still wants more. He seems to have it all together but it is really all falling apart. Then his sister (Carey Mulligan) comes to stay with him. She has issues of her own and this becomes the heart of the story. Can he be unselfish and be there for his sister? Or has his sexual desire and fulfillment taken over his will. Here in New York, where six degree's of separation mean a whole different thing, almost anyone can live on the edge of anything. How close are you?

Movies of 2011 in Short Review

2012-01-12T00:09:00.000-08:00

Midnight in Paris -- This funny little film that is written and directed by Woody Allen starts off much like "Manhattan." This time we get Paris with its beautiful buildings and canals, and its streets sparkling with rain. Our protagonist is not Allen but Owen Wilson playing the part of Gil a screenwriter who longs to be a novelist. This dream is criticized by his fiancée who needs to be kept in a certain lifestyle that dreamers can't afford. One night a magical thing happens at midnight and Gil is taken to the 1920's. A time he has always fantasized about. Night after night he meets all the Lost Generations stars Cole Porter, Josephine Baker, and Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Even Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein and Pablo Picasso. As Gil spends his days with upper class Americans his nights are filled with the who's who of the Jazz Age. Will he decide to stay in the 1920's or go back to the present and make his life in the "here and now" all that he longs for.

Melancholia -- This strange story written and directed by Lars Von Trier, is typical of most of his films. It is dark and disturbing, it builds slowly in many directions and ends with a bang. This is how he brings the general public, who spend their lives in the real world, into his mind fulled with the twist and turns of this awkward genius. In this film Kirsten Dunst is a depressive bride that has everything and still seems to be a discontent. Bring into play that a planet from the far riches of space is coming to swing passed earth and you get a story line that is all Von Trier. Charlotte Gainsbourg plays another stellar part for the director as the sister that worries that this might be the end.

A Dangerous Method -- In most Cronenberg films there is an underlining characteristic of sexual Deviance. So its about time he made a film that comes right out and says "'aren't we all sexual deviants?" How does one make a film about sex and the human condection? Well, just go back into history. like the "Kinsey" film about the life of Alfred Kinsey, Cronenberg has chosen science to portray how we all think about sex. This film goes back to examine Dr.Sigmund Freud's "Talking Cure." Young Psychiatrist Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) uses Freud's (Viggo Mortensen) method on a young Jewish women who has history of sexual abuse, played by Keira Knightley. Knightley seems to shine in any period piece and this is no exception. Fassbender is not in her shadow in this film, but is right there next to her showing intelligence and poise. When this women is sent to the asylum she becomes the heart of the Jung/Freud relationship. This film makes one feel like dusting off some old books to study Freud and the human condection in depth.

Elf Girl By Rev Jen

2011-12-13T09:54:00.000-08:00

This holiday season on a sunny day in the L.E.S. one might just see a real elf walking her dog. This would seem strange living in Chicago or Boston, but here in New York everything can and will happen. This place is a mecca for artiest, weirdos, and outsiders. Wrap all these into one and put elf ears on top and you get Rev Jen. Aka Elf Girl the “patron saint of the uncool.” She lives her life in a fun and unexpected way and puts it all into words that paint a wonderfully uncool picture of how to "make it" in lower downtown. Her book starts with a job at Bloomingdale's as a Christmas Elf and continues in such a flirtatious manner that it is hard to put down. She makes writing look easy the way she runs through her jobs as an elf, Slurpee Technician and Curator of the Troll Museum. This is not just a coming of age story for nonconformist. It is almost a how to in being yourself and getting that self out to the masses. She has so many Ideas and takes them as far as they will go. Like Doo-Doo the Hard drinking Teletubby or Rats, the shortest running show on Broadway. As life in the LES gets bigger and more and more upscale its nice to know that there are still the underground artists walking around with elf ears.

To get more on REv Jen check out:
Live Nude Elf: The Sexperiments of Reverend Jen
Reverend Jen's Really Cool Neighborhood/Les Misrahi
The Adventures of Electra Elf: The Complete Series on DVD
Or go to an Anti-slam:
http://www.revjen.com/antislam/index.html
and check out:
http://www.revjen.com/
or vist the Troll Museum!

Book Then Movie: The Rum Diary

2011-12-11T22:48:00.001-08:00

This book was not one that was a big success for Hunter S. Thompson. He said in an interview on Public Television that it had "bounced about seven times." The letters of rejection keep on coming and he let it lie. He only came back to his story made up from the chatter of reporters at San Juan Star in 1960, because "it's got a romantic notion." Then it was finally published in 1998. This "story" of a American journalist who takes a freelance job in Puerto Rico in the 1950s is written with the reflections of a much older man. This tone was set by Thompson only being 22 when he went down to Puerto Rico with thoughts of writing for the newspaper only to get denied. He spent his time getting drunk and getting the "real" story from the other American drifters on the island at the time. This book is about the Hunter before...Before the 60's and 70's. Before Loathing, and the Campaign Trail. This is a younger Thompson. One just starting his way with words. The public had to read it after getting to know the Gonzo Journalist. The public will have to do the same for the Movie. The Johnny Deep character from "Fear and Loathing" is Hunter S. Thompson for some people. Those people will have to get to know the other Thompson, the one that came before.

Two Joans on the Beach at the Anthology Film Archives!

2011-11-20T23:16:00.001-08:00

Last Thursday the Anthology Film Archives hosted a kick off party for "Joan's Digest: A Film Quarterly." Things where set up to celebrate everything Joan. The films on screen both have Joan's and both are on the beach. "Which Joan do you Prefer, Crawford or Bennett?" First was Crawford in "Female On The Beach." This 1955 drama about a beach house that has some strange secrets. The nice young man that keeps his boat at the dock, the friendly older couple just down the water. and the bright and smiling real Real Estate agent all seem to be apart of the perfect beach community. They are all a little to interested when Crawford moves in, but who would not want a beautiful neighbor. Joan gets to say some steamy lines and the audience gets to see a lot of Joan's thighs. As the film creeps to the end the whole thing unravels but still is tied up at the end. Next up on the sand is "Woman on the Beach." This Film Noir with Bennett and Robert Ryan is directed by Jean Renoir. The film is set in a small town with troubled people that have troubled relationships. Love and desire blend together with nightmares and lies to send this beach community into real electricity charged situations. Bennett plays another bad girl in the sand. It was a full night of hot and cold running Joan's. The shin-dig for the "Joan Digest" was a night full of fun and film. That night has passed and gone but the Archives is giving people two more chances to decide which Joan is best this Monday and Tuesday. But why chose they both are so great in there own way. Go down and just bask in the glow of two Joan's on the Beach.

Joan's Digest: A Film Quarterly:
http://www.joansdigest.com/

Anthology Film Archives:
http://anthologyfilmarchives.org/
Monday and Tuesday:
7:00 PM
JOAN'S ON THE BEACH: THE WOMAN ON THE BEACH
8:45 PM
JOAN'S ON THE BEACH: FEMALE ON THE BEACH

The Rich Films of Vincente Minnelli at BAM

2011-10-21T10:34:00.000-07:00

Anyone who is sick of going to the movies just to watch a DVD projected on to a bigger screen should rush over to BAM in Brooklyn for the last two weeks of their retrospective on one of the master directors in film, Vincente Minnelli. Its hard to control the want to take every night off and go see the sweeping scenes, the crisp close ups, the wonderful almost undecided camera movements of this Director. This is what film is all about. The richness of these movies makes one feel pulled into the screen not pushed away from it like the flat BLU-RAY and CGI films of today. So much has been missed already this fall. BAM has been sprinkling his films over their calender for the last two months and in Oct. has shown New York a full taste of his genius. What is left? Plenty! Lets start with "A Matter of Time" with Ingrid Bergman, Liza Minnelli (Yes she is his daughter), and Charles Boyer. This rarely-shown film was Vincente's last and BAM has brought to us a Swiss Film Archive print with an extra sequence. Shot in Italy this is the story of a once vibrant countess that had many love affairs and was a muse to artists. Minnelli's films have a protagonist that want to bend and shape the world to their liking just to find out that the world is the one doing the shaping of peoples lives. This theme is repeated in most of his work. BAM does touch on his more serious work with "The 4 Horseman of the Apocalypse" and "The Seventh Sin." The "4 Horseman" is about a family that is on both sides of WW2. And "Sin" is about a adulterous doctor’s wife set in China during cholera epidemic. This is a remake of "The Painted Veil" that had Greta Garbo as the wife that wanted change and excitement. Minnelli was brought into this film mid-production and had only to finish a few scenes, but his touches made it the passionate piece of cinema it is. On a lighter note, Vincente was well known for his Comedy and Musicals. Showing soon is one of his best comedy's "The Reluctant Debutante." Made in 1958 this is a story of a father and mother that want to bring their daughter into society, but all she wants is the love of a young drummer. Lets just say he does not fit the bill her parents had written for her. With Rex Harrison, Kay Kendall, and Sandra Dee its not hard to poke fun at the upper crust. Fun is fun and what is more fun then a good musical. Those who do not like these type of film may have never seen Minnelli's efforts in the medium. With most of the retrospective over there are still some of his best musically based films left to see. "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever" is a Streisand picture made when she was young and still had a talent for elaborate parts. Like the one in this film about a woman from Brooklyn that goes a little wacky after being hypnotized. Also there is Judy Holliday's last film that is a laugh riot with Dean Martin in the mix, "Bells Are Ringing." One can not forget "Gigi" witch earned Nine Oscars including Best Director for Minnelli and Best Picture for 1958! Last but not least is "Brigadoon." This is one of the best Musicals ever made and has a lovely story played out by Gene Kelly in one of his best performances. Here he slips into the land of Brigadoon and falls in love. Fantasy and reality fight for dominance in this film. The viewer is picked up and set down in the mind of the director that spent his life going back and forth from the fantasy of Hollywood pictures and the reality that we all live in everyday.

Fritz Lang's Metropolis with Sci-Fi Giveaways!!

2011-10-13T18:59:00.000-07:00

Witness a NYC Sci-Fi event this weekend at the Sunshine Cinemas. Come Downtown for "Metropolis" by Fritz Lang. This tale of the future is one of Lang's early German Expressionist films he did before being pushed to move to America during the War, where he mostly made Pulp films. (The Big Heat (1953), While the City Sleeps (1956)) This is the 1984 version of "Metropolis" with Giorgio Moroder's pop-rock soundtrack. Found footage that was cut for the original 1927 Science Fiction Classic is added to this to make it 80 minutes long. On Friday and Saturday night this silent Sci-Fi, the most expensive silent film ever made, is showing at Midnight. As with most Sci-Fi Films the Sunshine Cinemas has some giveaways for those who love all things Science Fiction. So Spend some time this weekend looking to the future to a mega-city and explore the concept of humans abusing technology. http://www.landmarktheatres.com/market/newyork/sunshinecinema.htm
Sunshine Cinema
143 East Houston Street, between 2nd and 1st Ave.
New York, NY 10002
(212) 260-7289
http://nycyouarehere.blogspot.com/2011/02/while-city-sleeps-with-fritz-lang-at.html

Lyonel Feininger at the Whitney One More Week!

2011-10-09T13:18:00.000-07:00

The Whitney Museum of American Art is showcasing a New York born artist that moved to Germany and was a leading force in German Expressionism and the Bauhaus. Lyonel Feininger spent fifty years of his life in Germany before the Nazi's dislike of Modern Art made him come home to the Big Apple. Feininger started out as a Cartoonist before taking his characters to new places with Cubism and other forms of Expressionism. This retrospective is all encompassing. Its not just the paintings he is none for of architecture, street scenes and fractured seascapes. Here there are beautiful examples in watercolor and oil, and small wood block prints made of the tops of Cigar boxes when painting supplies became scarce during the war. Along with a small group of the early cartoons. Also a room full of hand-carved wooden figures and buildings, little sculptures of his world, his city, only known as City at the Edge of the World. Now for a small fee one can drift into this world uptown on 75Th Street.

Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Avenue at 75Th Street
New York, NY 10021
General Information: (212) 570-3600
info@whitney.org

General admission: $18
Ages 19–25: $12
Ages 62 and over: $12
Full-time students: $12
Ages 18 and under: FREE
Admission is pay-what-you-wish on Fridays, 6–9 pm

Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods

2011-09-18T22:04:00.000-07:00

Now a days people are looking for a way to make everyday meals healthier. It is nice to know that there are some companies that have had the same mantra for over thirty years. Bob's Red Mill has been a leader in bringing good people "natural foods in the natural way". This mill outside of Portland Organ is a stone grinding miller of whole grains. Up there in the north west Bob and his family have been the leader in whole grain products, from flours and hot cereals to baking mixes and grains. From rolled oats and Muesli to flax seed and wheat germ. Bobs has everything, beans, soup and bread mixes, even baking soda. They have more then 400 products that are made from raw ingredients that are sourced from farmers throughout the United States and Canada. Not only do they have 50 different certified organic products, they also have a line of certified gluten free products. Then on top of that all of their products are certified Kosher by a Rabbi. The letters GMO have been out of the papers lately, but Genetically Modified Organism's are not real food. The Red Mills products come from identity preserved seeds. Bob's can not say the same for it neighbors and because of wind drift cross pollination their products don't carry a GMO-free label. So all this means that Bob uses real seed to make real food the way nature intended. Now in their search to "provide our customers with something that is fully nutritious and delightful to eat,” they have brought out two Hemp products. Bob's Hulled Hemp Seed and Hemp Protein Powder are made from “One of nature’s most perfect foods.” How is Hemp good for you? Well, our bodies use proteins called Amino acids. These Amino acids are important to muscle tissue and a healthy immune system. All in all hemp has twenty known Amino Acids, ten that our bodies cannot produce by themselves. Like most of Bob's products these can be added to smoothies and sprinkled over cereal, or used in baking. No need to go far to find Bob's meals and cereals. They are carried in many health food stores and groceries. One can also put in a order online. They internationally ship UPS or in the US through the postal service. One can even ship some whole grains to military addresses out of the US. If you want to start to eat better with less toxins in your everyday diet then try Bob's Red Mills natural foods.

http://www.bobsredmill.com/

Coming Apart at the BAM in Brooklyn

2011-08-22T12:37:00.001-07:00

When a film is shot entirely in one room It makes an entertaining plot. Some of these films are very good and have edge of your seat thrills almost all brought out with just a few actors and great Dialogue. Look at "12 angry men" about a jury's decision or Hitchcock's "Rear Window", and "Rope." Also there is the Film "Sleuth," starring Michael Caine and Laurence Olivier where the whole plot is based on words. One could call this a "Plot Device." Using this one room scenario even great comedy can be achieved like in Kevin Smith's "Clerks." This week BAM is screening a one room film called "Coming Apart." Based in New York and on a kind of a true story about moving into the same building as your ex and their new lover. This film in very lets say.. interesting. This is concerted an "60s independent classic" shot for around $60 thousand dollars. The infamous Rip Torn, plays Psychiatrist Joe Glazer, a man that has chosen to "Come Apart" and film it with a hidden camera and some well placed mirrors. This breakdown leaves some with a strange feeling of dislike and others saying they loved it. A film one has to see first before makeing a dissection on if it's just over the top or under the skin.

Tue, Aug 23 at 4:30, 6:50*, 9:30pm
*Intro by Milton Moses Ginsberg

Forbidden Planet Sci-Fi Event at Midnight!

2011-08-19T16:44:00.000-07:00

Witness a NYC Sci-fi event this weekend at the Sunshine Cinemas. "Forbidden Planet" the 1956 Classic Science Fiction Film is on the big screen for two night's at midnight. Tonight Friday the 19Th and tomorrow Saturday the 20Th the men of Earth go into deep space for the first time. This film was the first Sci-Fi film to take men into the stars. Starring the young Leslie Nielsen, and Anne Francis, Forbidden Planet gives us everything a unearthly film should have. With space travel, strange worlds and of course robots. Well one robot. "Robby the Robot" was one of the first movie robots to have a personality and can do some pretty neat tricks. Come one and all so see what Sci-Fi is all about in the LES this weekend. What else do you have to do late night? To make this an extra special event the Sunshine Cinema has brought together the city's leaders in Cult and Collectibles. Kim's Video has teamed up with the Cinema with giveaways and coupons. And "Forbidden Planet" the Comic store has also stepped up with coupons for all who love Sci-fi. Its not everyday that one can go out into the nether regions of space and back in one night. So get downtown and out of Earth's atmosphere with "Forbidden Planet" this weekend!!

Mostly Mozart Festival At the Lincoln Center

2011-08-03T13:10:00.000-07:00

It is that time of year again when the Lincoln Center has their Mostly Mozart Festival. This year they are putting focus on Mozart naturally, but also on Igor Stravinsky a modern composer known for his work in the 30's and 40's. Featuring a film of the 1966 CBS News Special on Stravinsky, along with a screening of Stravinsky himself conducting the Symphony of Psalms in Hungary. This year there are musical offerings with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra and special guest Conductors, Pianist, Soprano's, and much more. One can enjoy an All-Mozart Program with Iván Fischer conducting and the lovely soprano Lucy Crowe, on Tue. the 9th and Wed. the 10th. Then there is a night of music where Mozart shares the stage with Haydn lead by the French conductor Jérémie Rhorer. The French pianist Bertrand Chamayou will also perform Mozart's Piano Concerto No.12 in A major, on Tue. the 23rd and Wed. the 24th. There will be more programs with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra on the weekends through August. Then come the Quartet's with nights filled with music from the Takács Quartet and Emerson String Quartet. There will also be dance and even an Opera. Don Giovanni, "Mozart’s most haunting opera" will be on stage several times this month. Along with these big events there will be smaller shows under the New York sky in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse. These start late at 10:30pm and will be intimate little gatherings. So get ready for some Mozart this August through the 27th at the Lincoln Center.

Essential Pre-Code at the FIlm Forum

2011-07-30T16:24:00.000-07:00

Get back to the good old days when women were sexier, men were scoundrels and the movies were dirtier. When skin was shown and eyes left open wide. The days of good one liners and strange plot twists. Yes, the Film Forum is giving it to us with the Essential Pre-Code. Films, mostly from the thirties, selected to make ones temperature rise. With actress like Jean Harlow, Ginger Rogers, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford and Mae West. Leading men such as Carry Grant, Warren William and James Cagney. Bad boys and naughty girls fill the screen down on West Houston for two and a half more weeks. So get out and get dirty in black and white.

Seedbombs for NYC

2011-07-16T19:43:00.001-07:00

Here is a great idea on how to bring the green back into inner-city neighborhoods. This company makes "Seedbombs" that are dispensed by candy machines. This is a way to use change to make a real difference. This mixture of clay, compost, and seeds will take that vacant lot and bring it back to the green side of the spectrum. By anonymously throwing this green explosion one can make what was gray and empty, green again. This is as much about awareness as it is plants. If some of these derelict urban site's become randomly green it makes people think. Maybe "We" could be using this space better. If this does not help support public gardens and green space, what does? One can get a bag of Bombs from the Web. They also will send out a "SeedBoumb" Vending Machine anywhere. The best part is that they are all ready out there. One in Union Square Farmers Market and one at Marlow & Daughters on Broadway in Brooklyn. All one has to do is put in change and make a change in what surrounds us.
http://greenaid.co/

German Expressionism at the MOMA Two More Days!

2011-07-09T15:42:00.000-07:00

German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse

There is only two more days to get up to the MOMA and check out their exhibition on German Expressionism. In Germany before the first world war artiest where going through an awakening. Using new printing techniques and experimenting with form and color these artiest came into their own in the 1920's. Painters like E. L. Kirchner and Max Beckmann, to Oskar Kokoschka and Vasily Kandinsky, Erich Heckel and Emil Nolde shared a feeling that they where on the edge and could see the a world full of change. Then the war came into play with all it's wreckage and plight. After the war was over some of the artiest used there art to show the poor and widowed population of Germany. Others look to the life of the rich in the nightclubs with their loose women and dancing. The MOMA has a broad display of this short movement that seem to say so much about those times in Eastern Europe. With prints, woodcuts, paintings, etching, sketching, and water color this show has two more days to tell New York that art might not change the world right away, but it can show how the world changes.

Marilyn Monroe Showcase at BAM

2011-07-07T14:46:00.000-07:00

Head over to BAM in Brooklyn to make these hot July nights even hotter. The blond bombshell herself is steaming up the screen in a multi night showcase of comedy and Drama. What is there to say about Marilyn Monroe. She lived in the limelight and died as a legend. Tonight she plays a blind young New Yorker trying to catch a rich husband with her two friends in "How to Marry a Millionaire". Also catch her "Dumb Blond" routine in "Gentlemen Prefer Blonde's", "The Prince and the Showgirl" or in "Let's Make Love" in witch she sings the Cole Porter song "My Heart Belongs to Daddy." BAM has also got prints of Marilyn's more dramatic rolls. She expands her range in "Niagara", "River of no Return", and "The Misfits." In "Misfits" she stars along side Clark Gable. This would be both stars last film before they burned out. All these are going to be shown in restored 35MM prints. So go over to Brooklyn and see Marilyn in any of these classic films.

She was an absolute genius as a comedic actress, with an extraordinary sense for comedic dialogue. It was a God-given gift… Nobody else is in that orbit; everyone else is earthbound by comparison.”—Billy Wilder

Street Book Here is New York E.B White

2011-06-06T21:56:00.000-07:00

Found - Houston and 2ND
Picked up because - E. B. White is he American Author of Charlotte's Web

Finding certain books on the street feels like fate. One look down and there could be an adventure at your feet. This small volume by E.B. White has some revealing things to say about New York City. Written in 1948 when the city was different, but was it that different then? The City has always been the City of Dreams, has it not? This book has been called an essay because it kind of teaches more to the reader then one would think. In this White touches on the real New York and how it feels to live in the Big Apple at the height of its glory. He seems to know all the things that ring true for the city and its people. With a turn of phrase and informative rants this book is a must read for all New Yorkers. This Street Book came with a note inside "Here is to finding your New York during your stay. Enjoy the Adventure and embrace serendipity." So if fate steeps in and "Here is New York" is your next read don't feel surprised

Really Really Free in NYC

2011-05-27T22:09:00.000-07:00

It seem like the idea of getting something for free is coming back into most Americans minds. Think back to when you got free French fries with your burger, of a free wash with your hair cut. Yes as we all slim down our "footprints" and our budgets the concept of free has been brought back. There is lots of ways to find what you need for free online. Craigslist has been a good place to find free stuff. There is also a helpful little site called Free Cycle, just join and search for that perfect item your looking for. If your looking for free goods or services with a sense of community go seek out the Really Really Free Market (RRFM). New York City's RRFM is held the last Sunday of the month in the Grenich Village at The Judson Memorinal Church just outside of Washington Square Park. These Free Markets are not a place to sale or barter, it is about sharing resources. This is seen as an alternative to our consumer based culture. Most of them like NYC's are held once a month in public parks, community commons or Church's. If you don't have a Really Really Free Market close at hand, why not start one yourself? "If you Build it they will come" and the RRFM movement can help you with that.

City's With Really Really Free Markets:
New York City - Reno, Nevada -Cottage Grove, Oregon - Minneapolis, Minnesota - Milwaukee, Wisconsin - Lancaster, Pennsylvania - Austin, Texas - Grand Rapids, Michigan - Belfast, New York - Tallahassee, Florida - Detroit Michigan - San Francisco Bay - Wilmington, Raleigh, Greensboro, Charlotte, Carrboro, and Greenville North Carolina -.Washington DC - Richmond, Virginia - Cincinnati, Ohio - Dayton, Ohio - Indianapolis, Indiana and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania are home to monthly Really Really Free Markets.

Web Sites:
http://newyork.craigslist.org/
http://www.reallyreallyfree.org/
http://www.freecycle.org/

Elizabeth: The Golden Age at the Film Society of Lincoln Center

2011-05-20T16:28:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of The Film Society of Lincoln Centers respective on Elizabeth Taylor. This weekend New Yorker's get a chance to see this screen goddess in the best films of her career. See Her with great leading men like Paul Newman in Tennessee Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Or with James Dean and Rock Hudson in Giant. She also stars with two actors that became her husband's Montgomery Clift (Raintree County and the out of print A Place in the Sun), and Richard Burton, twice her husband many times her co-star. They play lovers in both Cleopatra and Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf. In which Taylor was given the Oscar for best actress for her role as the aged wife of an alcoholic. As an added plus there will be a photo exhibit in the lobby of the Walter Reade Theater celebrating Taylor and her life in film. What is there to be said about Elizabeth Taylor. Some consider her the last classic movie star. She had a soaring career and rocky life, but always came through with style and grace. She has shown the world that everyone can make a difference. It is hard to look into her velvet eyes and not love her. She grew up right in front of all of us, a life worth living and remembering.

Atlas Cafe

2011-05-06T11:41:00.000-07:00

When looking for good food that is also good for you it seems like one has to pay more. This is not true at the Atlas Cafe between 4Th and 5Th on 2ND Ave in the East Village. This quaint little cafe has Vegan and Vegetarian food and Desserts. These Vegan Desserts are not what one would expect. They are light and fluffy and amazing for not having dairy in them. Bring the whole gang to Atlas and eat outside in the sun this summer. They have a great big menu that has some Meaty selections too. This place has good coffee, yummy smoothies and even shakes, if all you have time for is a drink, but it is worth the sit for their wraps and sandwiches. Proving good food does not have to break the bank and that Vegan, Veggies, and Meat Eaters can all go out together. The Atlas Cafe is now a big-little place on 2ND Ave.

Jane Eyre 2011

2011-05-01T21:22:00.000-07:00

This story has been done this way and that for years and years. Its been used over and over for film and other theatrical endeavors. This new Jane Eyre is darker then most with a Gothic atmosphere. This is a romance told with a gray background. As the young Jane grows up to be a quiet and passionate women. The Brooding Anti-hero lead character Edward Rochester (Michael Fassbender) lives a strange life that builds into a tragic tale of woe and Misfortune. Within all this is a love story that the young actress Mia Wasikowska was born to play. Her eyes and calm, yet expressive way of filling the title role give this Eyre a real presence. BBC and Focus Features come together to give us this vary new adaptation of Jane Eyre that is as grim as it is romantic.

Bill Cunningham New York at the Film Forum

2011-04-04T19:56:00.000-07:00

Some would argue that the New York street is where fashion begins and ends. The place designer's look to for ideas, where people show off their stuff and where personalty is everything. Who better to show this to the rest of us then Bill Cunningham. This photographer has been the city's documentation for over three decades. Riding around on his Schwinn snapping photos of anyone and everyone that looks great. Taking his time to point out style, color and trends. He says that he has a three pronged approach, showing the public whats hot on the runway, who's waring what at the big gala events, and don't forget the street style. He has worked for many magazines and publications. Director Richard Press has used his camera and Bill's photography to tell the story of this workaholic that works for New York and it's stylish population.

Held over at the Film Forum till April 7Th ONLY!!

The Queen of Spades at the Metropolitan Opera

2011-03-22T16:35:00.000-07:00

The moon was almost full as the crowed filled the courtyard around the famous fountain at Lincoln Center last Friday night. The spring is almost here and the people are coming out into the night now that the cold has gone away for the year. The spring and Fall, in New York are the best for the weather is almost perfect, no unbearable heat of the summer and no freezing cold that the winter brings. So as is expected for the Opera the Women are in skirts and dresses and the men in nice jackets and light sweaters. The Metropolitan Opera always starts on time so getting uptown on time is a must. This night the stage was set for a production of Tchaikovsky's "Queen of Spades." The music was written by the great composer but the plot was adapted from a short story published by Alexander S. Pushkin in 1834. The story is set in the late 1700. The last years of Empress Catherine the great. This opera had its premiere in St. Petersburg in 1890. Which if fitting for Act 1 opens in a public park of the great Capitol in the Summer. The Stage opens on Hermann (Vladimir Galouzine) a dark men with a dark mind. He is walking through his world in a kind of daze as the rest of polite society are living around him. Hermann admits to the Count Tomsky (Alexey Markov) that he is in love with a girl he does not know. When the Prince, Yeletsky (Peter Mattei) enters with his new fiancee Lisa (Karita Mattila) and her grandmother The Countess, (Dolora Zajick) Hermann knows that it is Lisa he has fallen for. As the day gets late Tomsky shares the history of the Countess and how she won her fortune in Paris Decades ago with "the three cards." The countess stills keeps the secret of "the three cards" and will die at the hand of whom ever takes the information from her. The others laugh at this fairy tale but Hermann has had the seed planted in his mind. That night he begs for Lisa's love and wins affection taking her in his arms. In the second act there is a grand ball with wonderful dress and dance. Lisa has become icy toward the prince and he knows that something has happened to her feelings for him. Lisa sneaks Hermann a key for the house to use after the Countess leaves on a trip. Hermann driven by his imagination uses the key to confront the Countess and gain the secret of the Cards. This is a tale of Love, Obsession, and Madness. How will the Cards Lay? Who will escape the fate that the cards tell? Completely played out in Russian this Opera is as emotional as it sounds. Framed on the stage with a set that seem as deep as the characters. Every stage set up pulls the audience deeper into this torchered tale. Mark Thompsom has out done himself on the costumes for "Queen of Spades." The beautiful and detailed costumes feel muted and faded and bring a rich texture to the production. Tchaikovsky's music is full of the build ups and breaks downs of the cast of characters and Conductor Andris Nelson keep this ominous score together by using all the talent in his orchestra. At the Ball in Act 2 there is a play within the play where two lovers are in Cupid's hands. This is where one sees the Dance that is a staple for Operas of the time. Choreographer John Meehan gets his own story to tell in this Ballet of two lovers. The Dancers are angelic and happy and his story has a happy ending. Will the real Drama have this type of ending? Will the Cards save them or damn them? One has only one more chance to find out this Saturday in the gold room at The Metropolitan Opera House in Lincoln Center Plaza.
Queen of Spades -
Saturday, March 26, 2011, 1:00 pm - 4:30 pm

“Our Future Is in the Air" Black and White at the MET

2011-03-18T14:24:00.001-07:00

In with the new and out with the old. At the turn of the century the old was horses, ships, and painters. The new was motorcars, airplanes, and photography. New and exciting machines made one generations world much, much different from the one before them. Everything was slowly changing including art. The torch was being passed to new a kind of artist. One that could tell for himself what made art. With the camera one could stop time, create a image that would last forever and only took an instant. In the 1880's handheld cameras made everyone into a photographer. It also made some photographer's into real artist. They where the first to conquer this new medium and the MET has set two exhibits together to show just how magic that time was. “Our Future Is in the Air" an "exhibition that suggests the twinned senses of exhilarating optimism and lingering dread that accompanied the dissolution of the old order." Then the MET brings out three giants of photography Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, and Paul Strand to go along with the World changing theme. These two together show just how important that time was in the art community.

Both are up until April 10th.

Evening Of the Arts with the L.E.S. Dance Academy

2011-03-04T13:01:00.000-08:00

Come Down to the Lower East Side this Saturday and Sunday and enjoy New York's Art community. This is a feast for all senses with Art, Dance, & Music, with Food and Wine. Come and support the L.E.S. Dance Academy and feel uplifted by the amount of culture these young people have to share. The $10 door charge and 20% of all Art Sales go to help the Academy bring Dance to the Neighborhood for the next year. Meet NYC YouAreHere's Blogger in person at this event Saturday at 6pm and Sunday at Noon. Art is Here and you should be to.
L.E.S. Dance Academy Studio 62 Orchard St (Orchard and Grand) Second Floor!!

Oscars on the Big Screen....At the Sunshine Cinema

2011-02-26T15:53:00.000-08:00

Watch the Oscars on the big screen at the Sunshine Cinema Downtown on Houston at 2ND Ave. This Indie theater is going to play the Oscars on their largest screen for free. Yep you heard it right! They will be playing Hollywood's big night right here in NYC for free. Hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco both turned down the offer to host Sunday's Oscars. Then Decided that their 'chemistry' was right for the Job. The stars will be out and shining in LA. The Men in black and white and the ladies in silk and sequins. As if one need a reason to dress up and enjoy the red carpet. If you want to make it a special night head Downtown to the Sunshine and see the stars all in lights.

Al Pacino's 70's - THE PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK

2011-02-20T16:29:00.000-08:00

This week go back to the 70's with Al Pacino at the film forum. The two films that stand out from this retrospective are "The Panic in Needle Park" 71' and "Scarecrow" 73'. Panic is a gritty New York story with Pacino as a street pusher that brings a young girl into the seedy circle of drug addicts and crooks on the West Side. Mostly shot on the streets this film by Jerry Schatzberg gives one the feeling of being part of the gang of degenerates. This film has a one day run this Monday. In even a shorter run with only two shows is "Scarecrow" also by Jerry Schatzberg. This 70's classic pairs Al Pacino with Gene Hackman as two down and outs hitching from California to Detroit. This is a dialogue movie that has both actors at the height of their abilities. If you would like to get an insight on either of these two films the director will be having a Q & A after the 7:40pm show of "Scarecrow" on Thursday. Once again the Film Forum brings New York what it wants to see.

THE PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK - Monday - 1:10, 3:20, 5:30, 7:45, 10:00
DOG DAY AFTERNOON - Tuesday - 2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:30
SERPICO - Wednesday - 2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:30
...AND JUSTICE FOR ALL - Thursday - 1:10, 3:20, 5:30
SCARECROW - Thursday - 7:40*, 9:50 Q & A after the 7:40pm show!!

Lemmy on "Lemmy"

2011-02-19T12:32:00.001-08:00

Motorhead's frontman who plays the bass was born on Christmas Eve but he is no saint. This English rocker has been bang-in' around the scene forever and is now over 60 years old and still rockin'. He was a roadie for Jimi Hendrix and was part of the band "Hawkwind." That is all ancient history because what we know him for is being the godfather of Heavy Metal. This is because no one played as loud and as fast a Motorhead. They where the first to not give a shit and turn the amps way up. Lemmy's distortion is produced naturally by the amplifiers set high volume. No pedals here. Now at the Cinema Village one can rock out with one of the best in his new documentary just called "Lemmy." This is a mash up of 16 mm film and HD video that takes you into Lemmy inner sanctum and on stage with plenty of crowed footage. Lets not forget all the other rockers that give you their take on the man in black... too many to list here. Producers Greg Olliver and Wes Orshoski took three years out of their lives to bring us one of the best rock in roll films out sense "Gram Parsons: Fallen Angel." Playing till this Thursday with only one late night show a day at 9pm here is the rock and roll alert - "Get down to the Cinema Village and see "Lemmy!!" When its to late one will have to get the DVD.

"Lemmy gives the filmmakers enough time and candid access to create a profile of the man that goes deeper than just the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll - even though in Lemmy's case, there's enough of a surplus of all three to power multiple documentaries."
-Ian Buckwalter, NPR

Kitten with a Whip with Jhon Waters:Anthology Film Archives 40th anniversary

2011-02-05T17:37:00.000-08:00

If one happened to walk passed 2ND street and 2ND Ave last night you could not help but wonder: Whats the big line for? Would you believe it was for a film made over 40 years ago. The Anthology Film Archives was celebrating their 40Th anniversary with John Waters and one of his favorite films starring Ann-Margret called "Kitten with a Whip." This is known as one of the worst movies of all time but that's what makes it so good. Young 17 year old Judy (Ann-Margret) escapes from reform school and takes David (John Forsythe) a man running for senator, hostage in his own house. "She is all out for kicks... and every inch of her spells excitement." Made in 1964 about 10 years to late for its beatnik juvenile delinquent plot this film has all but been forgotten except to people like John Waters and Mystery Science Theater 3000 (fifteenth episode of season six). Not too forgotten to the New York film goers proved by the turn out at the Anthology last night. For those lucky enough to get in it was a fun night of pulp theater with Booze, Kicks and car chases. This was one of those nights that proves just how big the downtown film community is and that film is not dead.

WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS with Fritz Lang at the Film Forum

2011-02-03T11:48:00.000-08:00

Fritz Lang is well known for the films he made in Germany. Not wanting to be told what to do by anyone, let alone the Nazis Lang left Germany for France and then America. Lang made twenty-one American features in twenty-one years. The critics found his American work sub-par to his German masterpieces. Getting on his back for making Film Noir and Pulp films. Lang's pessimistic view was perfect for these types of movies. The best of these have gritty scripts like the police drama The Big Heat (1953) and While the City Sleeps. (1956) While the City Sleeps is set in a news room where a race is on the find the Lipstick Killer. The publisher (Vincent Price) has set the bar high for the men fighting to get the new job of running the company. This is not the whole story. There is a short of love story filled with sarcasm and drunken advances. On top of all this is the Killer with all his mother issues. Lang makes New York a very twisted place While the City Sleeps.

Do not miss the rest of Fritz Lang's American films at the Film Forum!!
Most shows are two for one admission:

THE BIG HEAT back by demand with daily showtimes through Tue. Feb. 8 - Separate Admission.

Thur. 3rd HANGMEN ALSO DIE! & CLOAK AND DAGGER.
Fri. & Sat. 4Th/5Th MINISTRY OF FEAR & MAN HUNT.
Sun. & Mon. 6Th/7Th CLASH BY NIGHT & RANCHO NOTORIOUS.
Tue. 8Th HOUSE BY THE RIVER & Raymond Burr in THE BLUE GARDENIA.
Wed. & Thur. 9Th/10Th YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE & YOU AND ME.
Thur. 10Th BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT - Separate Admission.
Thur. 10Th Spencer Tracy in FURY - Separate Admission.

The Illusionist

2011-01-28T13:16:00.000-08:00

From the minds that brought the world "Les Triplettes de Belleville" appears "L'Illusionniste" or "The Illusionist." This is an inspiring and sad story of a Magic Man at the end of vaudeville when stage acts where struggling and T.V. was new. This french film with little subtitles was made from a script written in 1956 by mime, director and actor Jacques Tati. Directed by Sylvain Chomet the film comes to life with likable characters and beautiful watercolor backgrounds. This touching tale is now nominated for Oscar for the best Animated Feature film of the year. So go out and get some magic in your life with "The Illusionist."

Bad Biology With Frank Henenlotter In Person!!

2011-01-20T10:52:00.000-08:00

Get ready for some Bad Biology! Come one and all to see this messed up sexual romp form the man that brought you Basket Case and Brain Damage in the 80's. Frank Henenlotter is said to be one of the best horror/comedy Directors, but he likes to think of his films as Exploitation films like the ones he would watch on 42nd street when he was young. Back in the '60's and 70's when Times Square was a different place. "I never felt that I made ‘horror films’, he has said. "I always felt that I made exploitation films. Exploitation films have an attitude more than anything – an attitude that you don’t find with mainstream Hollywood productions. They’re a little ruder, a little raunchier, they deal with material people don’t usually touch on, whether it’s sex or drugs or rock and roll." This weekend get your fill of sex and death at the Sunshine Cinemas on 2nd and Houston. Yes for just under ten dollars one gets all the drug-addicted penises and mutant babies you can stomach. Plus much, much more!! Director Frank Henenlotter will be there in person for a Q and A on Friday. R.A. the Rugged Man who helped write Bad Biology will also be around for this big night in the LES. Saturday has its own set of wild and strange appearances with Actresses Eleonore Hendricks, Playboy Bunny Rachael Robbins, B-movie Star Tina Krause, and the film's Sexy Hooker Vicky Wiese. One never knows there might Possibly be even more stars, freaks and musicians coming downtown this weekend for some Bad Biology.

Phebe's

2011-01-19T18:43:00.000-08:00

Phebe's is a East Village Bar that changes with the City. From its humble beings to the new century Phebe's has been where to go on the Bowery for a good stiff drink and some grub. Getting its start as "the Old Landmark Restaurant Bar," where for 40 cents one could get the "Business Mans Lunch." (Tomato juice, soup & a roast) They Keep up this tradition with cheap eats all week long. With 1/2 off appetizers for Happy Hour. (4-8pm) Do not make the mistake of ordering to many, they are huge. Also check out the two for Tuesdays with Classic Burgers buy one get one free. (8pm-midnight) Threw the '70's the bar stayed true to the neighborhood by being the little gritty pub on the corner. Changing with the city it is not as down and out now with big windows and a heavy dark wood interior. They now even feature music on the weekends. This bar and grill makes good on its old school Corner of the Bowery. Not a dive bar, but a slice of downtown New York.

The Leopard Held Over With 3 More Days

2011-01-17T00:28:00.000-08:00

This sweeping epic of a film was often compared to "Gone With the Wind" and one can see why. In "Wind" the Southern States are fighting to keep a way of life. The South is forced into change. As in The Leopard, where Sicily is in the mist of revolution. This is a time where old ideas are challenged and new blood is thrust into grand Society. “If we want everything to stay the same, everything must change.” Burt Lancaster plays Prince of Salina. A man that straddles two worlds, the old aristocratic world and the new free nation. The Leopard is a splendid Italian film based on Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa novel which is considered one of the most important novels in Italian history. Director Luchino Visconti brings this tale to the screen with beautiful Italian exteriors and lavish gold leaf interior's. The last third is a grand ball that's highlight is when Lacaster and his future daughter in law dance to a previously unknown Verdi waltz. Do not miss this extend run at the Film Forum you will find it beautiful, brilliant and moving.

HELD OVER! Till the 20Th!!
SHOW TIMES: 1:00, 4:30, 8:00

Street Books - Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert

2010-12-13T17:02:00.000-08:00

Found - Central Park
Picked up because - Its a classic

In the days of high speed Internet and cable T.V. its hard to realize how monotonous life was back in the 1850's. In France at the time there was a big difference between everyday life and the popular novels. Gustave Flaubert wanted to point out this fact in his first novel "Madame Bovary." In this story a young Doctor marries an older widow his mother picked out. Then he becomes a widow himself, ah such is life. When he meets the young Miss Bovary she marries the Doctor. He moves from one small town to a slightly bigger town in northern France, near Rouen in Normandy to please his new wife. The book is told through his "eyes" till this point. Then the reader gets into Madame Bovary head. She wants luxury and romance, but gets bored with her not so sharp husband. Walk with her down the wrong road of infidelity and debt. This bestseller of the 1850's was put on trial when it came out for "offenses against morality and religion." The story of longing and seduction is considered a masterpiece. Reading it now over a century latter the themes seem to echo forward. After all life might be different but the struggles of love are the same.

Get Ready to See Red - Its SantaCon NYC

2010-12-10T18:58:00.000-08:00

Every December there is one day when all the the crazy Santa dressed people get drunk and jolly. Tomorrow is NYC's SantaCon and be ready to see red and white all over the city. Here is the run down, Santa's meet and go out to drink the day away and then split up into subgroups. This goes on long into the evening. In there own words "Santacon is a non-denominational, non-commercial, non-political and non-seniecal Santa Claus convention that occurs once a year for absolutely no reason." So get a suit find a hat and get a ho ho ho'in.

PHIL SPECTOR In All His Crazy Glory Once More at the Film Forum

2010-12-08T22:35:00.000-08:00

In life there are ups and downs, highs and lows, agony and ecstasy. This is true for everybody. Some weirdo geniuses have very high ups and the lowest lows. Does Agony bring the genius that gives ecstasy? Phil Spector was a musical savant. He came up with a sound big enough to be called "The Wall Of Sound." Everybody wanted to find out his secret that brought hit after hit. ( "He's A Rebel" "Then He Kissed Me" – The Crystals, "Be My Baby" – The Ronettes, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling'" – The Righteous Brothers, "Imagine" – John Lennon, "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" – Ramones ) Not just hits, songs that are different but still linked with that "thing." This music that Phil heard in his brain he had to mach with what came out of the studio. How was he able to produce pure magic? Know one may ever know. He is not the first to be loved for one thing but despised for another. His music changes peoples lives even now 40 years latter. He helped shape Rock-n-Roll and forever changed the way people listen to the radio. Lots of good things come from bad people. This film shows that maybe Phil is not bad, just misunderstood like the Rebel in his songs. This exclusive interview done during his second trial for the murder of a struggling actress seems like a "I told you so" from Phil. In it he is as funny as he is serious. This interview is stuck together with courtroom footage, news reports, and vintage video from the 60's and 70's. The music with the muted courtroom in the background is Enough to look at without the subtitles to read. This makes one miss the point of one if not all three. Other then that, this is an eye opening documentary for the BBC. Just what the music public wants, history with dirty laundry. This time he gets off, but the next time he goes to court he gets19-years-to-life in prison. We know he did not write it but "He Fought the Law and the Law Won."

FILM FORUM
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND - 1 WEEK ONLY!
NOW TILL TUESDAY, DECEMBER 14
http://www.filmforum.org/films/spector.html

25% off at the Lincoln Center

2010-11-30T22:33:00.000-08:00

NYC youarehere wants to see you Jazz it up at the Lincoln Center this holiday season. The Red Hot Holiday Stomp is how cool cats celebrate. And how! In the Santa's red and white will be Wycliffe Gordon and other friends of Jazz at Lincoln Center. So get balled up, find a doll and head up to the Rose Theater between December 9Th and 11Th. Use the link to Save 25% on tickets with code “Red Hot 25”!

Tickets start at $15 with your discount!
Link: http://jalc.org/concerts/details309a.asp?EventID=2353

Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless is back!!

2010-11-28T19:00:00.000-08:00

There are lots of Turkey Day traditions. For the film buff going out the theater on ThanksGiving is the whipped topping on the pumpkin pie. This last Thursday while celebrating with a late show at the Film Forum this New Yorker picked up a postcard for Breathless. Back by popular demand this 1960 classic of the French New Wave will be playing through December 7th.

When one thinks of New Wave men with strange hats and whips come to mind. "Whip It" was Devo's biggest hit and was a part of American New Wave. But long before this strange video the French New Wave was brought out in film. Jean-Luc Godard is one of the most recognized directors of the French wave. When he collaborated with fellow director, François Truffaut on Breathless 1960. They brought out this new style with beauty and a "Cool" all its own. "À bout de souffle" in French literally means "at breath's end." The way the characters breath seems to be connected to the meaning of the film like when Patricia "sighs", or when Michel "huffs." He has got some problems with the cops but is as cool as a cucumber, his only worry being how this American girl has him falling for her. Michel played by Jean-Paul Belmondo is Godard's homage to Humphrey Bogart, with his fedora and suit. More then that Jean-Paul hits it on the head he is the French "Bogie." He is sexy, slick and troubled. He might be nothing but trouble for Patricia who sells the New York Herald Tribune on the streets of Paris with dreams of being a journalist. This love story is played out on those streets. What a ground breaking film that it seems to be get more and more praise every year.
http://www.filmforum.org/

Take Over Manhattan With The Muppets

2010-11-24T20:27:00.000-08:00

This weekend take over Manhattan with the Muppet's. The third of the original feature films starring Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo and the rest. In this movie the Muppet's take their musical show to New York in hopes of making it big and becoming stars. They make friends in the big city, but have little luck in breaking into Broadway. Will they stick it out in the Big Apple? The film is directed by Frank Oz who also plays Fizzier Bear, Miss Piggy and Animal. The creator of the Muppet's artist Jim Henson plays many different roles including Kermit. This was Henson's final film before his death in 1990. He started creating puppet characters in 1954 and gave us not only The Muppet Show, but other T.V. shows like Fraggle Rock, Muppet Babies and Sesame Street. He also brought us into his imagination with films like the Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. So go out and hit the town with the Muppet's in "Muppets Take Manhattan" playing at the Sunshine Cinema at Midnight for four days this weekend.
http://www.landmarktheatres.com/market/newyork/newyork_frameset.htm

Must See in NYC - John Lennon's Imagine Circle

2010-11-22T16:39:00.000-08:00

John Lennon lived in NYC for the last years of his life. He worked on his solo material and lived the family life with his wife and child in the Dakota Apartments on the Upper West Side. It was outside the well known building that Lennon was gunned down in December of 1980. Many fans would come to mourn for the loved Beatle in front on West 72ND Street. So many that the city of New York had to make a memorial. "Strawberry Fields" and the Imagine Circle designed by Bruce Kelly was opened on what would have been Lennon's 45Th birthday, 9 October 1985. A grassy hill on the west side of the park is "Strawberry Fields" The Imagine Circle in just inside the opening to the park at Central Park West at West 72ND Street. This triangular pathway with a round mosaic of inlaid stones with the word "Imagine" at the center is black and white but is always covered with colorful flowers from fans. The mosaic is a reproduction of one from Pompeii. A city near modern Naples that was completely destroyed and then buried by the volcano Mount Vesuvius. This is not just a beautiful part of Central Park its a gathering place for lovers of John Lennon and his message of peace.

Katz's Delicatessen

2010-11-16T10:05:00.000-08:00

Katz's is New York's landmark eatery in the L.E.S. This Delicatessen has been on the corner of Ludlow and Houston for over a century. Only moving once from the east corner to the west corner because of subway construction. They are now known for there famous pastrami sandwiches which are Huge. One can get a half pastrami sandwich with soup, not as intimidating. This pastrami is tasty enough to be on the food channel but before TV it was their Knackwurst and Bean special that was a big neighborhood tradition. Tradition is definitely important to Katz's. As Billy Crystal says in When Harry Met Sally, "There's nothing more New York then Katz's." Don't miss the hustle and bustle of Katz's Delicatessen.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

2010-11-10T20:37:00.000-08:00

This film is the last saga in the Millennium Trilogy. In it the audience gets to fill in the blanks of the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo past. She spends most of the film sitting on her hands as the rest of the characters take the action where its going. This story as in the second one is more of a conspiracy then a mystery. Director Daniel Alfredson has a suspenseful take on Stieg Larsson story line. It starts out in the hospital, goes to jail and ends in a Court room. This whole ride has been exciting and now its almost at an end.

Morning Glory - Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford & Diane Keaton

2010-11-09T16:00:00.000-08:00

A Morning Glory is a flower that blooms early in the morning and recoils in the evening. This early riser is a tough little vine. This is a fitting title for the new romantic comedy written by Aline Brosh McKenna (The Devil Wears Prada, 27 Dresses) and staring Rachel McAdams. This is a work place comedy based around a clumsy workaholic. Working in TV and broadcasting can take over ones life. It takes a lot to bring you the Morning News. People wake in the middle of the night to get to work before the sun. The news show Daybreak is in fourth place and has been known as kind of a joke. When this young rambling producer comes in to save the show she has her work cut out for her. The long time host played by Diane Keaton laughs off her new spunky boss. Harrison Ford comes in as a mean old news man that forced into Morning News because of his contract. Keaton has wonderful comic timing and Ford plays a great bitter drunk. They compliment each other. The love story seems pushed to the back of the action with Patrick Wilson playing a journalist that has the hots for our crazy young producer. The premiere last Sunday, Nov. 7, at the Ziegfeld Theater brought stars out to the red carpet, and Morning Glory hopes to bring couples into the theaters.

Roger Waters The Wall at MSG

2010-11-08T14:33:00.000-08:00

The two shows in early October were not enough for New York or Roger Waters. No he had to come back to fill up the garden for two more nights. This year he has brought back a fan favorite, The Wall. The Wall is the eleventh studio album from Pink Floyd. This was one of the English rock groups best albums. A concept album that deals with themes of personal isolation. Its tells how when life falls apart one puts up a block, a brick, "another brick in the wall." This double album had a film that came latter. The stage show has most of the visual effect of the film. High points being songs like "Hey You" and "Comfortably Numb." There are two more shows in the North East in Philly. A quick train ride and one can be transported into the mind of Roger Waters behind The Wall.

Records Are Art!!

2010-11-04T23:16:00.000-07:00

In Brooklyn WRecords By Monkey have been making bracelets and other jewelry out of reclaimed Records for more then 5 years and now they are trying their hand in Fine Art. They unveiled the new concepts at a gala opening last week at Sustainable NYC in the East Village. See how its possible to make Art out of the worst Music. This show is in the back of the shops wonderful coffee and dessert bar. Sustainable NYC is the new green store on Avenue A and is all about making old new by Sealing recycled, re-purposed, and local goods. A new place to shop for gilt free gifts.

Sustainable NYC-139 Avenue A New York, NY (at 9th St) East Village
WRecords By Monkey:
http://www.wrecordsbymonkey.com/

NYC Haunted Spots to Visit on Halloween

2010-10-30T15:12:00.000-07:00

Its the time of year to dress up, have fun and see something scary. This city is an old one. So there is no shortage of haunted spots to check out. Here are a few that may just surprise you. Starting with the oldest haunt in town "The Bridge Cafe." This is in a building that dates back to 1794. Believe it or not this was a old pirate bar and brothel. In what was The Fourth Ward this bar was in a hood that was no joke. "A travel guide of the day called it the most violent street on the continent." If you messed around in this place a 6-foot-tall Irish bouncer would bite or cut off an ear and pickle it in a jar above the bar. Her name was Ms. Gallus Mag, a woman not to piss off. Then there is "The Death House" on West 10Th. It is said that 22 people have died in the house. This was once Mark Twain's old stomping ground and he is said to haunt the stairwell of the house. Then in 1987 Joel Steinberg beat his 6-year-old adopted daughter Jessica Steinberg to death. Just walk by and feel the death coming out the windows. Some spots with ghosts are places people walk passed every day. Like Empire State Building where there has been 14 suicides from the Building's observatory. Five in 1947 alone. Also in 1945 a B-5 Bomber crashed into the building killing 14 people. It is said if one was to walk by at Midnight screams can be heard from above. Then Washington Square Park was once a potters Field where the poor bodies that were unwanted by the church were put to rest. Most of the graves were not deep enough and reports of stepping on crushing bones were made. In the 18Th century the park was used for hangings. It is said that the large tree in the northwest corner of the square is Hangman's Elm, but there is some evidence that the tree was where the fountain is now. In 1825 the cemetery was closed. So when walking through this park that is now a tourist attraction think about the people hung there and the 20,000 bodies that remain under foot. Happy Halloween!!

Bridge Cafe
279 Water St
The House of Death
14 West 10Th Street (near Fifth Avenue)
Empire State Building
350 Fifth Avenue
Washington Square Park
West 4Th Street and MacDougal

Can a Little Trash Be Good For You?

2010-10-28T19:34:00.001-07:00

In a big city like New York maybe a little trash could be good for you. The Trash Bar in Brooklyn that is. This Rock and Roll dive bar in Brooklyn is a place to go if your down and out or just out. They have got live music, a pool table, and a gritty kind of wisdom. Like the all-knowing, the all-seeing, Trash Heap from Fraggle Rock. "I'm orange peels, I'm coffee grounds, I'm wisdom!" The trash bar knows their are trash and are proud of it. Every now and then one should wonder into Brooklyn for some loud music and good times. You might get there and find a divine truth or just get drunk. There is even some rat like cheaters around the bar like the Muppet's Philo and Gunge. On Sundays they have small music acts for hardly a cover. Last Sunday the line up started with an open bar before nine. On the stage first was "Slide FX." A DC band that has a blond in front and a Classic Rock/Alternative Pop sound. Kim Cameron has a professional voice backed by a tight band. Her voice can sing bubble pop and pull out some blues. If someone was a songwriter that needs a pop sound to cut a demo get "Slide FX" for the recording. There own songwriting need some work, but the sound is good. Next to set up was "The Never Evers." New transplants of Brooklyn from Canada. This band has bad Youtube videos but are really good on stage. Also with a chick up front, but with a garage rock trio behind. This is like "The Yeah Yeah Yeahs" without the Art Rock. The Punk tunes work with the hot chick singer. These Canadian kids know how to Rock, EH? They would be a great warm up band for any young crowd. Next up a Industrial duo with a light set up, feed back and looped radio broadcasts. Its dark, its creepy, it works. They are "Food Stamps." The guitar was thrashing and he was singing with her in the background. This would sound good in headphones and is a sight on stage. Last was an all dude trio from Switzerland, "Stevans." In town for the CMJ's, they played this last night before going back over the Atlantic. This brit pop band kicked ass during a kinks cover. Other then that there was a football game. It was Sunday night. So If you are into new bands, are in a band that wants to play a trashy bar, or are just into getting drunk and watching football without all the frat boys, go down and see Trash Bar on Sundays. You'll have a good time and maybe learn that a little trash isn't a bad thing.
Trash Bar
http://www.thetrashbar.com/
Side FX
http://www.sidefxband.net/
The Never Evers
http://www.facebook.com/pages/the-Never-Evers/329915225481
Food Stamps
http://www.myspace.com/foodstamps space.com/foodstamps

Stevans
http://www.stevans.net/

Night of the Living Dead a Full Moon and The Thriller!!

2010-10-22T19:22:00.000-07:00

This weekend New York will be host to many creepy events. The Moon will be full and this makes the cool October night even more strange. Friday and Saturday night the Sunshine Cinemas on Houston in the LES will run "Spooktacular!!" With "Night of the Living Dead." the first feature-length film directed by George A. Romero. "They're coming to get you, Barbra!" This is what Zombies are all about!! Also on Saturday they will creep and crawl across the land, they will make you want to shiver. Their sliding and dancing might prepare you for "THE THRILLER." The world will fill with half dead fans of Michael Jackson for a dance off. So in the next two nights with Halloween still over a week away you might just see some clumsy and staggering beings that are not the normal New York drunkards.

http://www.landmarktheatres.com/Market/NewYork/SunshineCinema.htm
http://www.thrilltheworldnyc.com/

New York Philharmonic's Night With Brahms

2010-10-18T14:18:00.000-07:00

This last Saturday was a night full of fall colors and winds. Lincoln Center was alive with people dancing in the courtyard to a free concert that ended just in time for all to find their seats at the Opera or Symphony. The New York Philharmonic, lead by Conductor Alan Gilbert, had a full evening of Romanticism. Starting this concert with Passacaglia, op. 1 from one of Schoenberg's pupils Anton Webern. This was Anton's last piece completed while working with Schoenberg. This Passacaglia uses the basic late-romantic complements of instruments of a standard orchestra. This "passacaglia melody" is made up of eight-measure phrases that repeat through the piece in one way or another. This passacaglia theme is also heard in Brahms 4Th Symphony that rounds out the evening. Then Pinchas Zukerman a world-renowned violinist that studied in the 60's at the Juilliard School came out on stage to play Brahms Concerto in D major for the Violin and Orchestra, Op. 77. This was Brahms first Violin Concerto. He had the pleasure of working with the top Violin around in the 1850's Joseph Joachim. Who helped his good friend with this composition. On this night in October 2010 Pinchas Zukerman chose to play Joachim's Cadenza, the over-embellishment that Joachim played when performing this concerto. After a standing ovation and a small violin encore of one of Brahms lullaby's there was a intermission before the main event. The Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98, was Brahms last Symphony and is considered one of the masters best works. In 1872 Brahms Said he would never write a symphony. He went on to finish 4 very different pieces in this medium. The forth shows opposing emotions. This is a bittersweet piece that evokes many different feelings. With a intense first movement and a second that seems serene. Then the third seems to build and fall to build again and leave you ready for the finale movement where we see the passacaglia. This symphony takes forms of a romantic love affair that is striking, then easy, then faltering to end in a over emotional build up of unconditional love and discontent. This is what romance is and always will be.

Win Tickets to a New York Movie Premiere!!

2010-10-15T13:20:00.000-07:00

There is a new thriller in town and its name is "Kalamity." This high suspense indie film is having its Premiere at the Village East Cinema here in New York City on October 22. We at NYC youarehere want You to be there. We have two tickets to give away for the premiere and two tix to give out for the rest of the run. The first two people to email bleyer@gmail.com will win the tickets. It's that easy to get a free thrill ride at the movies. This film has a young cast of talented players including Jonathan Jackson, Nick Stahl, Alona Tal and former GUSS Girl Beau Garrett. Check out the Trailer and be one of the first to see the film. NYC youarethere!!

http://www.kalamitymovie.com/

A Look Back on Poverty In Harlem

2010-09-30T22:26:00.000-07:00

This picture of Poverty In Harlem became a "representation of urban poverty" in 1969 and was put into history books and encyclopedias. Check this report on the family now.

http://www.citylimits.org/news/articles/4151/a-poster-child-for-poverty-in-harlem-speaks-back?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+citylimitsorg+%28City+Limits+News%29

Hipsters, Hustlers, and Handball Players: Leon Levinstein at the MET

2010-09-07T20:41:00.001-07:00

Leon Levinstein is an American photographer that's life's work is the New York City Streets. "In my photographs I want to look at life—at the commonplace things as if I just turned a corner and ran into them for the first time." "I want my photographs to be spontaneous rather than contrived." After moving to New York in the Forties he became obsessed with strangers and real life moments. He spent 35 years snapping photos of this fine city. The MET has over forty of his photographs on display till October 17. These show has Pimps, long-hair's and Hustlers. It also has families at Coney Island, lovers, young people, old people..its New York in black and white.

Hipsters, Hustlers, and Handball Players: Leon Levinstein's New York Photographs, 1950–1980

Max Manus at the QUAD CINEMA

2010-09-06T21:38:00.000-07:00

Max Manus is a film about the German invasion of Norway. Max Manus was a saboteur and part of the Norwegian resistance movement. During the World War II occupation the Norwegian people where controlled by the Gestapo, and the Gestapo wanted Max. He showed determination and cunning, crossing the Swedish border many times and blowing things up. Keeping the Germans on their toes. Never giving up, knowing that the war could be won. In real life Manus' finished two books after the war. His books have been translated into English twice where the names have been changed. Manus never changed any names in the Norwegian text. He was a hero, and lets face it everyone loves a good Nazi movie.

Max Manus
In Norwegian, English, German, Russian and Finnish with English subtitles

Also at the QUAD CINEMA
More killing of Nazi's, this time its the French Resistance to Nazi occupation.
Army of Crime (L'Armée du Crime)
In French with English Subtitles

Blondie August 31st, 2010

2010-09-01T19:36:00.000-07:00

This is New York and sometimes that makes all the difference. A lot of music got its start right here in the Big Apple. Great acts like The Ramones and Blondie that span time with hits that rock forever. At this show on the last day of August the hits just keep on coming. "Debbie" Harry has still got it belting out one after another "Call Me,""One Way or Another," "Tide is High," It was nice to hear "Maria" the first single from 1999 reunion album. When you get to see a new york band in the city they always tell the best stories. Harry was happy to tell us about when young kids came down to CBGB's painting graffiti and took the band uptown, "across the border." That night that inspired "Rapture." So the band that formed here in 1974 came back on a Tuesday and played a kick ass set-list for all the hometown fans. Including a string of covers for a extra long Encore.

Blondie Encore -
Pet Cemetery - Ramones
See No Evil - Television
Can't Put Arms Round a Memory - J Thunders
Havana Affair - Ramones
Jet Boy - N. Y. Dolls
and Heart O Glass (*of course)

The Extra Man

2010-08-26T22:12:00.000-07:00

An “extra man,” is a escort for women that live longer than their men. They have the need for a man to fill the extra seat. You see, in society there is boy-girl-boy-girl seating at a table. This makes a need for a intellectual. A man with class to bring to dinner parties, the theater, or art openings. Kevin Kline plays Henry Harrison a character right out of a F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. “I’m not extra, I’m crucial, filled with wit and intelligence.” In this film as in most of Fitzgerald's writing there is a partially involved narrator Louis Ives played by Paul Dano. This young man moves to New York to find himself and become a writer. He seems to belong to a different time, with old clothes and soft speech. He shears a apartment with Henry who is a little off his rocker. This eccentric man brings new meaning to young Louis's life by teaching him the tricks of the city. The neighbor Gershon is something of a big foot played by John C. Reilly. The only thing that seemed out of place was Katie Holmes as Mary. Mary works with Louis at a environmental magazine. She plays a very green and hip photo editor that is more then selfish. Holmes is the only one in the cast that is "acting." She squirms through her small part not portraying exactly what Louis needs as a crush. Co-writer-directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini's made you love most of the cheaters in "The Extra Man." Just as they did in "American Splendor," the story of the late Harvey Pekar. An "extra man" is not needed to go to see Kevin Kline in this movie.

The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

2010-08-25T21:08:00.000-07:00

This great work of Twentieth Century American Fiction was not so well known in Fitzgerald's life time. The first printing that came out in 1925 was over 20,000 copies and sold out. The second printing (3,000) sat on the shelves of a warehouse for 15 years. Only after the news of his death did the last of the second printing finely sell. His novel is not just a social history, but is a pleasure to read. The Jazz Age, that great party before the depression. This is what is represented with the bigger then life characters in the Great Gatsby. The twenties was a time of bootleggers, flappers, and self made men. Fitzgerald knew how full and just how empty these characters lives could be. "The Jazz Age, it was an age of miracles, it was an age of art, it was an age of excess, and it was an age of satire." Gatsby is the man of the Jazz Age. He Has "some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life...an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness." This is a story about life, love and money from the 20's. It is also a story about New York, Long Island and how even back then young people flocked here to be where the actions is. The narrator Nick Carraway comes from the Midwest to find himself before being married. His story is told by reconstructing events in Gatsby's life from his own prospective. This Tall Tale is not just Gatsby's, or Nicks, but it becomes yours as you form your own prospective. "I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life." Nick lives next door to Gatsby on Long Island. On the Island rich people have big parties, nice cars, and huge estates. In Contrast some of the story goes on inside Manhattan, in small apartments, city streets and train stations. Nick's NYC is a big bustling place full of surprises. The whole book has a dark feeling that is heightened when in the city and lifted, if only slightly, within the excess of Long Island. But this is a vale, a fake cover for people that want to run from not through life's twist and turns. A must read for any New Yorker.

Weekend of BBQ at The Bell House

2010-08-24T17:28:00.000-07:00

Labor day is just a couple of weeks off, but The Bell House is BBQ crazy already. They just got there license to have drinks and food out front and are celebrating with Happy Hour free Burgers and hot dogs. That's right FREE BBQ outside one of Brooklyn's favorite music venues. Happening this Friday the 27Th from 5pm to 7pm. They have Veggie burgers too, but get there early because the Veggies go fast. Then go inside and get great $3 drink specials. Its is Happy Hour you know. Stick around for HAPPY HOUSE at 10pm (also free) with resident DJ's Mister Disco, Danaskully and Enginesatsea. That's not all, if Friday is busy and there is no time to get down to Brooklyn, don't sweet it. This BBQ goes on all weekend with more free meat on Saturday from 6pm - 8pm and drink specials too. So sit out side on their new outdoor tables, drink in the sunlight, drink up some beers, and chow down for free. Stay on Sat. for RELEASE THE BEAST. Rock out with a guests DJ's from Philly Billy W. and Ryan T. and resident DJ's Fucci and Bryan Blackout will be on hand to help get everyone Rockin & Rollin. Its not a weekend with out Sunday and on Sunday the BBQ is not free but cheap enough not to care. Sunday from 1pm - 5pm The Bell House is helping NYC Daily Deals turn two. That means $2 drafts and well drinks and $2 BBQ. Whats a Birthday with out gifts? The Bell House is giving the gifts to customers with a raffle that is said to have so many prizes you are almost guaranteed to win. So this weekend go out to Drink and Eat, inside and out at The Bell House.

Check out these other events at The Bell House!!!
FRI 9/10:
Dead Flowers Productions presents
LALA BROOKS with
JENNY DEE & THE DEELINQUENTS
WED 9/22:
ANTI-FLAG
SAT 10/2:
VAN DYKE PARKS
CLARE & THE REASONS
SAT 10/2:
THE VIBRATORS That's right the Vibrators!! 70's Punk in the new Millennium!!
http://www.thebellhouseny.com/
http://www.nycdailydeals.com/

Invited Underground by Baker St.

2010-08-21T14:56:00.000-07:00

Going underground on a Friday night is easy at the National Underground. This Roots Rock Americana Music Bar owned by Joey DeGraw and Gavin DeGrawin in the LES is a hopping good time. From the honky-tonk upstairs to the bands "underground" in the basement this place is worth the trip downtown. With good drinks, cheap beer and great hamburgers you can make a night of it on Houston St. Yes, its on Houston St. the strip between the east Village and Lower Manhattan. Baker St. is a street somewhere..anywhere USA, but in NYC Baker St. is a Band with a good sound and a great attitude. This band is one part Indie Rock, one part 90 Rock, and the rest Singer Songwriter. The slow/fast pop songs are so much like the music of our high school years. The song bird at the helm is Michelle Hutt, who not only has a voice but plays her original songs on the guitar. With Mike Kennelly on Bass, Kevin Oshinskie on Drums and new guitarist's Jimmy Nugent the Band is now complete. Some more time with the second guitar is needed to make the music sound like it does in Michelle's head, but when they put on a show thet kids pile in to hear not only the music but also the banter.

Baker St's next show is Sunday the 29th at Trash Bar in Brooklyn. They also have a show At Ace of Club's on 9/10.

Baker St. --
http://www.bakerstband.com/ (Under Construction)
www.reverbnation.com/bakerst (MP3s, Photos and Videos available)
Check out their EP - Distroy The Internet
National Underground --
http://www.thenationalunderground.com/

The Girl Who Played with Fire

2010-08-18T18:21:00.000-07:00

The movie The Girl Who Played with Fire is the second novel in the Millennium Trilogy, written by Stieg Larsson and has the same charters as the first, but different directors. This is another great film that happens to be in a trilogy. The first films mystery is cut and dry. This new story is more conspiracy then mystery. Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was directed by Niels Arden Oplev. The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest are directed by Daniel Alfredson. One can tell the difference a director makes. The first film was slower with a way about it that made it creepy, it had a presence. The second film was faster with quick cuts and more action, it was exciting. Noomi Rapace plays a great part perfectly, one feels that "The girl" has gotten a little older and wiser.

Hungarian Modernism at Shepherd & Derom Galleries

2010-07-27T22:50:00.000-07:00

It is a good summer for fans of Cubism, Expressionism, and Abstract Art. There are big shows at the City museums and smaller gallery exhibitions that focus on art from these schools. Right now the Shepherd & Derom Galleries on East 79Th Street has a wonderful mix of artiest from Hungary. This is "a survey of Modernism in Hungary by artists who began their careers between the 1910s and 1920s and lived and worked through the turbulence of the century." In 1925 French, Dutch, German, Italian, Russian, and Hungarian artists were just coming on to the world stage with the Art d’Aujourd’hui exhibition in Paris. Hungarian Artists went to the city centers to cultivate this new kind of thinking. In this show are some beautiful examples in painting, drawings, and sculpture. The Shepherd & Derom Gallery has been the place for major museums and private collections to acquire works of 19Th century art since 1966. In 1977 they started a center to help museums and private collectors with maintenance and preservation of fine art. They have more than 2,000 European and American period frames. The exhibit has been extended through August and walk in's are welcome.

The Hungarian Artist --
István Beöthy (1897-1961), József Csáky (1888-1971), István Fárkas (1887-1944), Béla Kádár (1877-1956), Anton Prinner (1902-1983), László Moholy-Nagy (1895-1946), Alfred Reth (1884-1966), György Román (1903-1981), and Hugó Scheiber (1873-1950)

58 East 79Th Street - New York, NY 10075 - Tel: 212-861-4050 - Fax: 212-772-1314

Fred's Amsterdam Ave & 83st.

2010-07-21T20:51:00.001-07:00

Dog and cat lovers alike will enjoy a bite from Fred. A bite to eat that is... Fred's is a warm and welcoming bistro on the Upper East Side. This place is all about mans best friend and is asking people to come, sit, and stay! This is driven home with pictures of dogs in all shapes and sizes decorating the subbasement dining room. Don't like walking downstairs to eat, then sit outside at one of the many tables on the sidewalk. The friendly Wait staff will come out to take your order.Their burgers are under $11 and come with fries and a side-salad, no skimping here. If salad is your "thing" then take notice of the many different salads full of more then the normal ingredients with signature dressings. With delivery and take out you can pick something up when walking your pup or order in within the "Leash Length." (66Th to 100Th st. Riverside to Central Park West)

Winnebago Man

2010-07-20T15:48:00.001-07:00

In this day and age a man can be world famous and not even know it. With the help of the Internet and Youtube any-stupid-thing can be seen by 20 million people. This is what happened to Jack Rebney. You might not know him by name but he is the foul-mouthed RV salesman that has become an Internet sensation. Some people know him as the "Angriest Man Alive" or just as the “Winnebago Man.” In the 90's VHS tapes surfaced of outtakes from a promotional video for the popular motor homes. Without Youtube that might have been the whole story, but this new way to share Video clips made Jack a star. Who is this guy? What is he doing now? How has this effected Jacks life? These are the questions filmmaker Ben Steinbauer set out to answer. This is a funny look at not just Jack Rebney, but at how America has changed and will continue to change with technology.

Here is the clip...there are some funny, but very bad words that Blogger does not like so check it out on youtube --
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDQQfBrSUs0

Peruvian Jazz at TUTUMA Social Club

2010-07-18T11:39:00.000-07:00

Jazz is alive and well in the big city. Here In New York Jazz can be heard when strolling through Central Park. One can see Jazz programs at Lincoln Center or Carnegie Hall, but small Jazz clubs around the city are the best place for a music lover to experience Jazz in the Big Apple. TUTUMA Social Club on 56Th Street is one of these sweet spots for lunch or dinner, drinks, and Jazz. The heavy handed bar tenders make great drinks, and with no cover the music is always free. Free is good and they know it. That's why they have a fun little raffle after every set giving out a free drink or dessert to the lucky name pulled from the box. The music and food are a fusion of Perúvian and American style. This Afro‐Peruvian Jazz music gives us a link between contemporary Jazz and black music of coastal Perú. Trumpet player Gabriel Alegria's Afro-Peruvian Sextet plays every Sat. and Sun. thorough July and August. Gabriel Alegria is not only the Music Director at TUTUMA, but also is the Associate Director of Jazz Studies at New York University. His love of the arts started young and he went into music right out of high school. His family have been active in the arts in Perú for generations with a novelist and an acclaimed playwright, and now the family can be proud of this young composer. Check him out along with all the other ensembles at happy hour or late night downstairs at TUTUMA Social Club.

TUTUMA Social Club -- "Rising Stars" Mondays, Guitar Night Wednesday's, and Family Night Sundays with the Gabriel Alegria Afro-Peruvian Sextet:
http://www.tutumasocialclub.com/

The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector

2010-07-16T19:07:00.000-07:00

In life there are ups and downs, highs and lows, agony and ecstasy. This is true for everybody. Some weirdo geniuses have very high ups and the lowest lows. Does Agony bring the genius that gives ecstasy? Phil Spector was a musical savant. He came up with a sound big enough to be called "The Wall Of Sound." Everybody wanted to find out his secret that brought hit after hit. ( "He's A Rebel" "Then He Kissed Me" – The Crystals, "Be My Baby" – The Ronettes, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling'" – The Righteous Brothers, "Imagine" – John Lennon, "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" – Ramones ) Not just hits, songs that are different but still linked with that "thing." This music that Phil heard in his brain he had to mach with what came out of the studio. How was he able to produce pure magic? Know one may ever know. He is not the first to be loved for one thing but despised for another. His music changes peoples lives even now 40 years latter. He helped shape Rock-n-Roll and forever changed the way we listen to the radio. Lots of good things come from bad people. This film shows that maybe Phil is not bad, just misunderstood like the Rebel in his songs. This exclusive interview done during his second trial for the murder of a struggling actress seems like a "I told you so" from Phil. In it he is as funny as he is serious. This interview is stuck together with courtroom footage, news reports, and vintage video from the 60's and 70's. The music with the muted courtroom in the background is Enough to look at without the subtitles to read, you find your mind missing the point of one if not all three. Other then that, this is an eye opening documentary for the BBC. Just what the music public wants, history with dirty laundry. This time he gets off, but the next time he goes to court he gets19-years-to-life in prison. We know he did not write it but "He Fought the Law and the Law Won."

Held Over through August 3 Only!

THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY OF PHIL SPECTOR at Film Forum -
http://www.filmforum.org/films/spector.html

Love Ranch

2010-07-13T15:30:00.000-07:00

Joe Pesci is back to his old tricks in a movie about the business of sin. The true story behind Love Ranch is almost better then the film. The Mustang Ranch, the first legalized house of prostitution in Nevada, did have a notorious couple behind the scenes. Joe and Sally Conforte not only sold sex they also had a take in boxer Oscar Bonavena. Joe Pecci plays the hustler husband and Helen Mirren plays a madam that's made a life out of solicitation. In comes a young fighter, but can he win? Helen Mirren and the Argentinian boxer played by Spanish actor Sergio Peris-Mencheta have some great scenes, if only the rest of the cast felt more comfortable around each other. The last time director Taylor Hackford worked with Helen was "White Nights" in 1984. They got married sometime in the last 26 years and they come together now to tell a story out of the wild west. The big sky's and panoramic views are abundant in the west and help any film. The 70's where a different time, a time without cameras everywhere, a time when you could get away with almost anything, and some people did.

The Mustang Ranch
http://www.worldfamousbrothel.com/

Street Books - Valley of the Dolls Jacqueline Susann

2010-07-09T22:53:00.000-07:00

Found - Coat check in Atlantic City
Picked up because - Wanted to read again

Vally of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann was a instant hit. Her tale of three friends brought together by life in 1940's New York City, was a sensation in 1966. Even now one can find it in every book store, or when getting coats from a casino in Atlantic City. This book is worth reading a second time. This is hard because when you lend it out to people it never comes back. That's what happens with really good books, they come in and out of your life. New York.. if you can make it there you can make it anywhere.. hard to say why this rings true. People come to New York to catch a dream. Each of Jacqueline's woman has a dream to achieve, each one has heart to break, and each find help in the "Dolls." Those beautiful little helpers that keep everything on track. This story is set when women were on the verge of liberation. It has all the dangers that have to be over come to make it on your own. Read it and then pass it on, its that good.

EARTH: Fragile Planet at the Society of Illustrators

2010-07-02T21:07:00.000-07:00

In the Upper East Side there is a little vintage 1875 carriage house with a red door that has quite a collection. The Society of Illustrators was founded in February 1901 as a place to "promote the art of illustration and to hold exhibitions from time to time.” Now a century later they are doing that and more. With this new exhibit, open till July 31st, the society is putting the focus on the Earth and how delicate it is. This is displayed vary well in five categories one being the Earth itself. Then Air, Water, Wildlife and best of all Energy. This was a nicely put together with multi-media works from over 120 artist. A stone throw away from Park Ave on 63rd street you will find this red door and cool stuff behind it.

Society of Illustrators:

http://www.societyillustrators.org/Default.aspx

Don't show up July 9 - 10 the Galleries will be closed but You are invited to the Society of Illustrator's Annual End of the Year Barbecue a Pirate Barbecue on July 23, 2010

http://www.societyillustrators.org/Events-and-Programs/Special-Events/2010/Pirate-Barbecue/Pirate-Barbecue.aspx

Big Nicks Broadway & 77th St

2010-07-01T20:03:00.000-07:00

New York City, the city that never sleeps. Where do you eat when not sleeping in NYC. Well Big Nick's Burger Joint & Pizza Joint is open 23 hours a day and serves everything under the sun and moon. Tucked away on Broadway just off of 77Th street Nick's is not big but has plenty of seating space. This "dinner" is a bustling place that has been open since 1962. Big Nick Cares is what it says on the menu. He cares about quantity, quality and keeping prices low. You can ask him because he is always around, or that's what the staff says.This joint is hopping with two doors. Behind door # 1 is the line for slices, and behind door # 2 is the counter with tables in the back. There is sidewalk seating but you miss half the experience by not sitting inside. The dim lighting and old pictures, this is New York. Their Burgers are yummy and they have stake or waffle fires. Also the pizza is nothing to sneeze at. The White Pizza is one of everyones faves. Nicks has much much more then Burgers and pizza. So much that you could eat there everyday for a year and a have something different. Know matter what time it is, its a good time at Big Nick's.

Dead Men Dreaming June 18th, 10

2010-06-26T12:17:00.000-07:00

Dead men Dreaming, normally a opening act, headlined this show at the Gramercy Theater last Friday night. It was a Cd release party that seemed at times a little out of control. DMD's vocalist Mike Triana was told to "be Cool" because last time the band graced this stage he got "tipsy" and accidentally pulled the fire alarm. Even when staying "cool" on water and beer Mike still is an amazing front man. A little off of his normal antics but still rockin with his band of talented metal-heads behind him. The back and forth of the guitars is tight even on the new songs. Out of control was the audience with drinks, crowed surfing, and some fights. Well all is fun in Rock-in-Roll. Check out DMD's new CD "Last Call' and remember when you go out to see the show keep your eyes open for crazies.

Music Art on the Streets with 60 Pianos in the Five Boroughs

2010-06-20T16:02:00.000-07:00

New Yorkers are going to hear music everywhere they go in the next two weeks. This musical art installation through the city starts tomorrow. Other Music as Art in the city are small and easy to miss. Like the "bells" on the Herald Square yellow line platform, (Christopher Janney installed "REACH New York, An Urban Musical Instrument.") but you won't miss this. British artist Luke Jerram has given 60 Pianos to the city for public use. NYC is not the first to get this experiment. Places like London, Sydney and Sao Paulo had the first taste. This is a traveling show that gives people a way to come together on the streets. "There's going to be a huge amount of talent here," Jerram said. Is this why the Big Apple gets twice as many pianos then any other city? Where are these painted and decorated instruments going to be? Lincoln Center, Central Park's bandshell, Metropolitan Museum and 24 other Manhattan locations. Over on the other side of the east river there will be 10 in Brooklyn, 5 in Queens, and the last eight split between Staten Island and the Bronx. Each piano will be open roughly from 9AM-10PM and each has an attendant, but do they play? If you can tickle the Ivory get out and play-around. After the city is done with the show the pianos get donated to schools and hospitals. This nonprofit, Sing for Hope will take your old piano too. Whether you play or not just open your ears to hear the Art.

"REACH New York, An Urban Musical Instrument." Christopher Janney installed In 1996
Get to know all the Art in the Subway System at:
http://www.mta.info/mta/aft/about/N11802_AFTenroutemechx.pdf

Sing for Hope:
http://singforhope.org/about/

Breathless French New Wave 1960

2010-06-17T14:13:00.000-07:00

When one thinks of New Wave men with strange hats and whips come to mind. "Whip It" was Devo's biggest hit and was a part of American New Wave. But long before this strange video the French New Wave was brought out in film. Jean-Luc Godard is one of the most recognized directors of the French wave. When he collaborated with fellow director, François Truffaut on Breathless 1960. They brought out this new style with beauty and a "Cool" all its own. "À bout de souffle" in French literally means "at breath's end." The way the characters breath seems to be connected to the meaning of the film like when Patricia "sighs", or when Michel "huffs." He has got some problems with the cops but is as cool as a cucumber, his only worry being how this American girl has him falling for her. Michel played by Jean-Paul Belmondo is Godard's homage to Humphrey Bogart, with his fedora and suit. More then that Jean-Paul hits it on the head he is the French "Bogie." He is sexy, slick and troubled. He might be nothing but trouble for Patricia who sells the New York Herald Tribune on the streets of Paris with dreams of being a journalist. This love story is played out on those streets. What a ground breaking film that it seems to be get more and more praise every year.
http://www.filmforum.org/

This film is running through June 24Th at the Film Forum --

http://www.filmforum.org/

Orchestra Sinfonica Di Roma at Carnegi Hall June 7th 2010

2010-06-14T11:32:00.000-07:00

As the story goes...when walking down the street with his violin a man was asked: How do I get to Carnegie Hall? - Practice. Practice. Practice. This scene must happen a lot even now. For on your first trip to this world famous concert hall its easy to get lost. If you think your walking the wrong direction just ask someone that looks like they are in the know. Hopefully the answer you get is more then - Practice. Practice. Practice. Once one finds 57Th and 7Th Avenue prepare to be amazed and humbled by this turn of the century building built entirely of masonry. On June 7Th the "Hall" was host to the Debut of the Rome Symphony Orchestra. (Orchestra Sinfonica Di Roma) The program started off with Italian composer Giuseppe Martucci's Notturno, op. 70, No.1 and Tarantella, Op. 44, No. 6. Martucci was one of many in Italy that wanted to compose non-operatic Italian music. Writing most of his work for the piano to then orchestrated them latter in his life, the Tarantella No. 6 was one that he orchestrated just a year before his death. Then the lovely Soprano, Eilana Lappalainen came out with a Choir of many talented singers to sing Francis Poulenc's Gloria for Soprano, chorus and Orchestra. This was an eye opening performance with all the singers in the background and Eilana's voice reaching the molded cycling. The Conductor, Francesco La Vecchia is one of the most passionate conductors to watch on stage. The last Symphony on the program was Italian Composer Alfredo Casella's Symphony No. 3, Op. 63. This was the darkest selection of the night, very edgy with heavy bass and cello movements. The Carnegie Hall audiences are not as trained as the patrons at Lincoln Center, clapping between measures and whispering during the music, but its all about the sound that radiates around this perfect room. Most of the audience did not stay for the two encores that Francesco gave us names of in Italian, but if they did stay most would have known these short melodies.

New York Philharmonic Memorial Day Concert May 31, 2010

2010-06-13T23:17:00.000-07:00

The New York Philharmonic Played the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine on Amsterdam Avenue on last day of May. This Memorial Day Concert is free every year and has been something people line up for for over 19 years. Alan Gilbert a native New Yorker took the helm of the New York Philharmonic as Music Director in September 2009. This was his first time conducting at the beautiful Cathedral Church of St. John that was made when New York was first becoming a "melting pot." This was to be a "house of prayer for all nations," and was made in 1887 when Bishop Henry Codman Potter called for a cathedral to rival St. Patrick's Cathedral on east side of Fifth Avenue in midtown. This year's program opened with Aaron Copland's Fanfare for The Common Man. This was written in 1942 and become Copland's best known work. Next on the program was two symphonies Haydn's Symphony No. 49, La passione, and Schubert's Symphony in B minor, Unfinished. The second Symphony, the "unfinished" was found 40 years after Schuberts death in a desk drawer. This piece was dark and moving and was received by the standing room crowed with a hush and whisper. Then Beethoven, they always save Beethoven for last, maybe because the weight of his music follows you as you walk down the street. On this night The New York Philharmonic played the Egmont Overture, written for a play that at its heart is about political liberation. This was one concert of many that we as New yorkers can enjoy for free.

Solitary Man With Michael Douglas

2010-06-09T19:20:00.000-07:00

Solitary Man is the new movie directed by Brian Koppelman and David Levien that stars Michael Douglas and co-stars Danny DeVito, Susan Sarandon and Mary-Louise Parker.
Brian Koppelman and David Levien collaborated on film before including last years “The Girlfriend Experience.” "Girlfriend" might have given them New York fever because this film is all about making it and breaking it in the Big Apple. Douglas plays a big TV car dealer who throws it all away, but why? Why does he choose to chase girls and give out sleazy honest advice? Being over fifty must be hard. This is a great role for Douglas, he alone would make the movie. But some familiar co-stars make this "Solitary Man" much, much more.

Girlfriend Experience Review

http://nycyouarehere.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html

Harry Brown with Michael Caine

2010-06-09T18:46:00.000-07:00

Vigilante movies leave one with fulfillment of some kind. Think Taxi Driver, Boondock Saints, Rolling Thunder. Most vigilante's are the little guy that gets up and kicks ass for what he believes is right, or sticks up against what he believes is wrong. In this thriller from Britain, Michael Caine is Harry Brown. An old man with a mission. This marine that fought in Northern Ireland, takes on the thugs in Elephant and Castle housing estate, a ghetto of London. This film proves again that violence in the first ten minutes makes for a good movie.(Goodfellas, Reservoir Dogs) The fact that everybody loves Michael Caine means everybody in the audience wants him to succeed.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

2010-06-03T21:28:00.000-07:00

This film adaptation of Stieg Larsson first novel of the "Millennium" trilogy, is the highest grossing Swedish film in history. Stieg Larsson died suddenly in 2004 and left behind three unpublished novels. These books have made a world of fans. This is a story of a strange computer hacker played by Noomi Rapace, who is helping disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Mikael Blomkvist) look for a murder inside a dysfunctional family. Harriet Vanger disappeared more then 40 years ago and everyone in the family is a suspect. Even with all the ghost in the closet's of this wealthy estate in England, most of the films graphic violence has to do with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo's background. A film like this is hard to talk of without taking away from the viewing experience, so just go out and see it before the remake comes out.

Roman Polanski's - Ghost Writer

2010-06-03T21:26:00.000-07:00

In this political thriller an unnamed journalist (Ewan McGregor) gets a job to good to be true, both in the script and in real life. In the script he gets a lot of money to finish a book that's half written. On the set he gets to work with another world famous director, Roman Polanski. "He drives you quite hard …he pushes you quite hard, Roman …and you're called upon to look for great detail [and] look for the truth of a scene. He doesn't worry about how long a scene is. He just wants you to move from point to point as honestly as possible and find the fine details that make something very realistic." This film adapted from the novel by Robert Harris, has a lot to do with reality. The story of a former British prime minister named Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan) who went from acting to politics, is more about how politics can change the world. Adam has hit a scandal just as his second ghost writer starts his task, an autobiography. Adams wife, Ruth is played Olivia Williams and Kim Cattrall plays his slick tough assent. This cat and mouse game is full of stylish lines and sophisticated camera shots, but there is more to the story then the telling. One can not help but see the similarity between this plot and Tony Blair's relationship with George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Halliburton. Shot in Germany because Polanski can't use US locations. This film is about how political leaders are closer to each other then the public thinks.

Noah Baumbach’s - Greenberg

2010-06-03T21:22:00.000-07:00

This films starting credits show a close up of young Florence Marr (Greta Gerwig) talking to herself and other cars while driving. She lives and works in the hills of LA. In Comes Roger (Ben Stiller) her boss's brother. He is here to Watch the house while the family fly off to Vietnam. Roger is a New Yorker that happens to be from LA. He can not drive and seems to be just more trouble for Florence. He is home to build his brothers dog a doghouse. For someone that is "trying to do nothing right now" the dog house seems like a hurdle. Stiller plays a bumbling narcissist in his 40's that just happened to spend some time in the mental hospital. Coming in from the east like he has just been bumming around New York without ever growing up. When his old band mates and ex girlfriends all have grown into awkward adults, but at least they are adults. What about Roger? He spends his time writing letters to company's for offenses that most would overlook. As he gets closer to Florence aging seems like it might matter, if anything matters. Florence gets to know just what Roger means by “Hurt people hurt people.” All in all this film is a kind of wondering love story with two "Hurt people."

Tim Burton’s - Alice in Wonderland

2010-06-03T21:18:00.000-07:00

Director Tim Burton likes the strange and unusual. He likes to take people to other worlds, places where the unreal can happen..but can he take you down the rabbit hole? In this version of Lewis Carroll classic Alice in Wonderland, Alice (Mia Wasikowska) is taking a trip into a land where rabbits carry watches and roses are painted red. With Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, and Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, this tale is vary strange indeed. Burton can feel proud to have made a film that can be compared to the cartoon. That has great scenes with the Tweedle brother's, Dee and Dum, a vary convincing caterpilar, and does not forget every-ones favorite the crazy cheshire cat. With only one scene at the end, some kind of hatter dance, that seems hokey and out of place. It could have been almost perfect..well at least it was really cool. The only snag was the 3D. Anyone that went to the IMAX without the 3D scored, everyone that picked 3D lost. Yes, they lost great vibrant color, and some parts that where sent into blurry messes. This movie was not filmed in 3D and is more proof that movies converted to that medium are not as good as the original 2D.

Pearl Jam Msg May 20th & 21st

2010-06-03T17:27:00.000-07:00

Pearl Jam is one of the best bands to come out of the USA. Some feel that they are the best live band in the world. This two night stand at the Garden helped prove that maybe those people are right. These shows sold out almost immediately. New York has been waiting for Eddie Vedder and his pals to get there butts up here since they played in Philly to close the spectrum earlier this year. "Sold out" at the garden is 500 seats shy of 20,000. So to sell out the garden means that kids still love Peal Jam, and Pearl Jam like to spread the love around by having up and coming bands open for them. On Thursday night it was the Black Keys and then Friday was Band of Horses. In New York Friday is one of the busiest days in the city. All the hustle and Bustle of getting out of work and grabbing something to eat makes it hard to make it to the garden on time. Missing the open act sometimes is unavoidable. Lucky for New Yorkers that missed out these two bands are playing NYC this summer. The Black keys are going to be at Summer Stage July 27Th, and 28Th. Both shows are sold out but that does not mean that one can't get in. If not just hang in the park where you can hear the whole thing. The Band of Horses get to play The Williamsburg Waterfront on June 20Th. Some Pearl Jam shows are for the hard core fans. The setlist for Friday shows that this was one of those shows. Playing everything but the kitchen sink, Vedder showed the packed house how he can fade back and forth from the tight band formation to mesmerizing front man. This back and forth with the fast and slow that grunge is known for is what makes this band one of the best. The shining moment being when Bridwell from Band of Horses came out to sing "Hunger Strike" with Eddie. "Hunger Strike" is the third song from that far away album "Temple of the Dog" Bridwell played the part of Chris Cornell and hit the mark with his wailing vocals. Next time these guys announce a tour get you tickets and prepare to Jam.

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/pearl-jam/2010/madison-square-garden-new-york-ny-63d4d29f.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUiTCmR1I9E&feature=player_embedded

Must See in NYC - Staten Island Ferry

2010-05-19T20:39:00.000-07:00

The Staten Island Ferry is a every day thing for commuters back and forth from Manhattan, to Staten Island. This quick trip through the New York Harbor provided for free gives you a great view of The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. One can get great pictures of the skyscrapers, but don't drop your camera. Every 30 minutes it leaves from the Whitehall Ferry Terminal on South Street, take the 1, 4, 5, N, R, W, J, M, Z subway lines. The concessions in every boat has food, soda, and even beer. Then after the free ride why not head to china town for some food?

Street Books - Inner City Hoodlum Donald Goines

2010-03-26T14:15:00.000-07:00

Found - Eastern Parkway and Washington Ave across the street from the Brooklyn Museum of Art
Picked up because - The name of the book "Inner City Hoodlum"

This is a short little fiction that is set in the "Cesspool of Los Angeles." This story is about the streets and from the streets. This is the last book from who is concerted one of the first African American writers of urban fiction Donald Goines. Inner City Hoodlum, which Goines had finished before his death, was published posthumously in 1975. Donald did have a hard life on the streets. He Lived and finally died on the streets when he and his wife were shot to death in Detroit one October night. Goines has been a thief, a pimp, drug dealer and an addict. He has lived the life of his characters. He wrote 16 books in just five years, most in jail or the Penitentiary. Some of his books have become films, such as "Never Die Alone" and "Crime Partners" with Ice-T and Snoop Dogg. Many rappers have praised Goines and his writing like RZA, 2Pac, Nas, Ghostface Killah, Ludacris, and Common. This career criminal with seven prison sentences proved he could also be a writer and could give the "real" story from the ghetto. In this book he has a good story of two friends that get pulled deeper and deeper into the "game." A story that runs into some tight spots that make it that much more exciting. To bad this author was gunned down in the streets and the identity of the killer or killers remains unknown.

Apology

2010-03-21T12:08:00.000-07:00

The author of this blog has been slow with posting because of a family emergency. This has keep her from posting for sometime. We apologize and will be posting soon.

Great Performers Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra Feb. 19, 2010

2010-02-21T21:09:00.000-08:00

The Avery Fisher Hall on Broadway and 65Th st is a wonderful place to open your ears to music. The acoustics are just perfect for classical music. This brisk windy night in February brought the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra to New York as part of Lincoln Center presents Great Performers. The Great Performers this night included masters like conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin and the lovely Viktoria Mullova on Violin. The music was started with Brahms Violin Concerto in D major, 0p. 77, written in 1878. This is the German composers only violin concerto and said to be "against the violin" and "unplayable." The difference in this piece from other violin concerto is the difficult part of the soloist on Violin. On stage Viktoria Mullova was amazing with her swift movement and straight back. You became entranced by the second measure. Then after intermission a smaller part of the orchestra came out to do a "new piece" from 1996. (Theo Verbey Conciso) This short fierce number reminded one of a soundtrack to a Thriller. After this the whole Orchestra came out on stage. The Cello and Bass section was quite large and had a sound that was dark and rich. Last on the Schedule was Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra, BB 123 from 1943. In this each section of the orchestra is used as a soloist would be, making this contrast to the conventional concerto. The build up and breakdown with the strings was breathtaking. The oboes, bassoons and clarinets seemed to be in a different wind section then the other horns. The use of drums and cymbals was key to the arrangement. The fifth and final movement was a intense clash of everything once apart thrown together. This was a great night full of what Lincoln Centers promised, "Great Performers."

Other events this week:
*Beethoven Cycles: Quartets VI
Tuesday, February 23, 2010 7:30 PM
This is the last of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center complete quartets of Ludwig von Beethoven. Alice Tully Hall, Starr Theater
Look for more Beethoven on May 13, 2010 - Beethoven Cycles: Violin Sonatas
*Monday, February 22 2010, 8:00 PM.
Juilliard String Quartet. The foursome plays music by Mendelssohn, Davidovsky, and a Mozart quintet (with Robert Mann, viola). Alice Tully Hall at 1941 Broadway New York, NY 10023,

http://new.lincolncenter.org/live/

Eric Clapton & Jeff Beck at MSG

2010-02-20T14:02:00.001-08:00

This weekend New York got to see two old school "Rock Gods" on one stage. First was Jeff Beck the English Rock-n-Roll cowboy. Beck has a Jazz style with heavy undertones. With a repertoire of mostly instrumental numbers he played with a orchestra behind him. He plays his Fender Stratocaster with out a pick and has the sound of a "talking Guitar." He was the man that took Eric Claptons place in the Yardbirds. Clapton once said of Beck "With Jeff, it’s all in his hands." Ending his set with the Beatles "A Day In a Life" was intense, much like when we saw him at the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame Benefit Show. When he left the stage out came the grips to switch the orchestra set up to a band with two keyboards and a Oriental rug. Clapton came out strong with Blues covers on a acoustic guitar. He also had two beautiful soul singers that filled the air with such stunning harmonies. Not playing much of his solo stuff he did give us "I Shot the Sheriff" and "Cocaine." Then in the time it took to blink they where out there together. The give and take, push and pull, back and forth was almost enough to make you dizzy. Nice to see Clapton being pushed by playful Beck. They did an old favorite "Moon River," and then a slew of Blues jams. The crowed got to their feet for Sly and the Family Stone's "Higher." And last but not least was Clapton's signature song, Robert Johnson's "Crossroads." These men met at a crossroads when one left a band as the other was entering, but they still have a great esteem for each-other.

A Must See in NYC - Chelsea Hotel

2010-02-17T23:33:00.000-08:00

If your not from the city then you need a place to stay when on a visit to New York. There are lots of famous hotels on the Island but non as cool as the Chelsea. If you can't get a room then just head over and bask in the glory of "The last outpost of bohemia." This red-brick building on West 23rd Street was the first cultural preservation sight listed by New York City. Built in 1883 it was the city's tallest building with only twelve flights till 1899. Once the center of the theater district the Chelsea Hotel is in Midtown close to the Empire State Building, and minutes from Greenwich Village in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. Lots of historical events took place in New York that involved this hotel, like when the Titanic sank some of the survivors stayed at the Chelsea. All this History is nice but the real skinny in not about the building or the neighborhood, its the guests. Hundreds of writers, artists and musicians made it their home though the years. If your are a writer or love authors then this is a real treat. So many thinkers and writers stayed in these rooms. House hold names like Arthur Miller, Mark Twain, Thomas Wolfe, and Tennessee Williams. This is where Arthur C. Clarke wrote "2001: A Space Oddyssey." It was also a beat hang-out with writers and poets in every hallway. William S. Burroughs, Gregory Corso, and Allen Ginsberg all where guest. Their friend Jack Kerouac wrote "On the Road" during his stay at the Chelsea. Some of the hotels literary guests never got the chance to check out. Dylan Thomas died of alcohol poisoning in 1953 after falling into a coma in his room. Then author of "The Lost Weekend", Charles R. Jackson committed suicide in his room at the Chelsea on September 21, 1968. Home to writers and artist alike, the Chelsea has Art filling every hallway and staircase. Creativity seem to seep out of the walls and into the minds of visual artists that stayed in the hotel. Both artists Harry Everett Smith and painter Alphaeus Philemon Cole lived and died there. Andy Warhol made "Chelsea girls" at the hotel. It was called a "three and a half hour cesspool of vulgarity and talentless confusion which is about as interesting as the inside of a toilet bowl" by Rex Reed. Lots of Warhols Factory stayed in the hotel like the lovely Edie Sedgwick. Warhol was not the only director to be connected to the Chelsea, the wacky Stanley Kubrick called it home for a time. If you think that's a lot of famous names check out the list of Musicians that lived within the hotels walls - Tom Waits, Virgil Thomson, Dee Dee Ramone, Sid Vicious, Patti Smith, Henri Chopin, Rufus Wainwright, Ryan Adams, John Cale, Édith Piaf, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Alice Cooper, Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, Canned Heat, it goes on and on. Janis Joplin had an fling with Leonard Cohen there. Cohen then went and wrote the song "Chelsea Hotel #2," about it. The Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious, was staying in the hotel in October of 78' when he woke up and found his girlfriend Nancy Spungen stabbed to death. He had not been able to remember what happened that night and died himself soon after. It has been a long haul for this building in midtown. Lots of ups and downs, highs and lows made famous by the creative forces that mingled inside this red building with black iron railings. This is where you get the New York you imagined when listening to songs or reading the passages of the greats. So get a room and open the window on the New York night that inspired so many legends.

"The building sits on 23rd Street with the air of a great dame who finds herself in the midst of a party of her social inferiors but instead of complaining decides to join right in the fun."
The New York Times

Living with legend
The last outpost of bohemia
http://www.chelseahotelblog.com/

http://www.hotelchelsea.com/

Street Books - Present at the Future Ira Flatow

2010-02-05T10:04:00.000-08:00

Found- Ludlow and Stanton St. in the LES.

Picked up because - Ira Flatow is on NPR.
Ira Flatow is the heart of NPR's Science Friday. He has come out with a book to help us realize that we live in the future now. This book makes things like Cosmology and Nanotechnology look easy, well easy to explain anyway. He does us a favor by breaking down science principles in such a light hearted way. The first five chapters look inward to the mind. These are kind of a searching exercise for you brain. Then he moves out to space before coming home again to Global Warming. This look at the energy crises does not stop there. No Mr. Flatow dives deep into the types of energy we use and could be using in the future. One of the most eye opening chapters is about technology at its smallest, Nanoscale Science and Engineering. Before it all over he dabbles in the everyday science he likes to point out in a segment he calls "Beauty in the Details." In this book Ira Flatow shows us that the future is now so we are all "Present at the Future."

It's Complicated and the Oscars

2010-01-31T21:47:00.000-08:00

This movie has three big names that we will see this year at the Oscars. Not for this fun little comedy, but because Alec Baldwin & Steve Martin are hosting the Oscars together. The last time we had more then one host was in 1987, when Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn shared the stage with Paul Hogan, you remember "Crocodile Dundee." We will see these two costars give there leading lady, Meryl Steep her first Oscar for playing Julia Child in "Julie & Julia." In "It's Complicated" she also plays a cook. She spends the movie Cooking in a too perfect kitchen that she is taring down for a New perfect kitchen. Her sweet Architect Adam (Martin) falls for her. Just as she seems to have a real chance with new love her old love walks back in the door. Well its not just like that but you see the Complication. Her kids are grown and the marriage he had with Jake (Baldwin) ended in divorce ten years ago. Alec is right up his ally playing a kind of sweet womanizer. Jake did run of with the much younger Agness (Lake Bell), that ten years ago and then married her. Now he is back and that makes Streep's Jane, the other woman. If Jane wants, wait Jane does not know what she wants. This film is to sweet at times, but is also laugh out loud funny at other times. Have fun with this movie and with its cast at the Oscars.

Who Shot Rock & Roll? Last Two Days in Brooklyn!!

2010-01-30T10:38:00.000-08:00

Rock & Roll is a driving force in peoples lives. It can be personal and public at the same time. Our minds eye "sees" music in it own way but our memories of music are generally the same as others. Many types of media helped shape what music means to all of us. Now music is on Myspace and Youtube. For everyone that remembers the 80's it was MTV. Before that the in the 70's radio was king. The one thing that seemed to grow with the music is photography. With the help of print media like "Rolling Stone," and the fact that photography is still used as one of the best ways promote a band or album, photography has stuck around. A new Book by Historian and author Gail Buckland shows us the role played by photographers in Rock & roll history. The Brooklyn Museum was the first stop for the accompanying photography exhibition. This is Weekend from 11-6pm is you're last chance to check out these performance photos, portraits and behind-the-scenes snapshots of musicians you know and love. (Dylan, Jagger, and Lennon, Madonna, Tina Turner, Michael Jackson, Bjork, Blondie, James Brown, Johnny Cash, Notorious B.I.G., U2, and the Velvet Underground) Their are all there in black and white as well as color. This includes the work with many photographers, like David Corio, Annie Leibowitz, Chris Stein and Richard Avedon. If you can't get down there to see this then check out the book with captions that accompany over 250 portraits told from the photographer's perspective. This Book and Museum tour of pictures will help us think more about all the things that make music so universal.

Exhibition's Museum Tour:

Worcester Art Museum

Memphis Brooks Museum of Art

Akron Art Museum

Columbia Museum of Art.

Tonight the Moon is Full

2010-01-29T12:17:00.000-08:00

The Moon "Thy beauty haunts me heart and soul, Oh, thou fair Moon, so close and bright;" Do you think William Henry Davies wrote those words on a night like tonight, when the Moon is at its brights because it is so close? Tonight the Moon will be especially beautiful. The biggest and brightest full Moon of the year. The tug of the Moon will bring in the tides and they will be at their highest. Moving in a elliptical orbit the Moon has times when it is far off, or very near to us. Tonight is the closest it will be in 2010 and she will have a friend with her. "The moving Moon went up the sky. And nowhere did abide; Softly she was going up, And a star or two beside." (Coleridge (1772-1834) Tonight, a Friday night, it is not a star you see up next to the Moon it is Mars. Mars will be one of the brightest lights in the sky. The red planet has been missing from the nights sky for some time. This is because the Earth moves quicker then Mars around the Sun. So just as he Sun sets look to the eastern Sky and see them Climb together into the night, the Moon and her friend Mars.
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From The Rime of the Acient Mariner

The moving Moon went up the sky.
And nowhere did abide;
Softly she was going up,
And a star or two beside-
By Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

The Moon by William Henry Davies

Thy beauty haunts me heart and soul,
Oh, thou fair Moon, so close and bright;
Thy beauty makes me like the child
That cries aloud to own thy light:
The little child that lifts each arm
To press thee to her bosom warm.
Though there are birds that sing this night
With thy white beams across their throats,
Let my deep silence speak for me
More than for them their sweetest notes:
Who worships thee till music fails,
Is greater than thy nightingales.

More pomes:
http://home.hiwaay.net/~krcool/Astro/moon/moonwords/moonpoems.htm
http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/thematic_poems/moon_poems.html

http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Themes/Moon.htm

Old Movies Sell Out in NYC

2010-01-22T23:39:00.000-08:00

This weekend is a big one for film buffs in the Big Apple. First the Film Archives is playing Joseph Cates "Who Killed Teddy Bear?" This 1965 exploitation flick not only will shock and amaze you, but you will see it as a snap shot of the seedy Times Square of the time. Getting into the Archives on this Friday night would have been possible if you were on time, but being late to a packed show was not in the cards tonight. Hope to be on time and see it in the next two days for its only in a weekend run. Well whats next? How about "High and Low" part of the more then a month long Kurosawa retrospective at the Film Forum. Akira Kurosawa is a Japanese director that has been called "Great Master" and "a giant" even "prophet." It is hard to pin point how much the director influenced cinema today. Great that sounds good, lets get to the West Side for the 9:15pm show. Too bad someone did not think ahead because the Film Forum had a big red SOLD OUT sign on the door for "High and Low." Got to get down there and see something before the 18th of February. Fine, so sweet, its New York plenty to do on a Friday night. Get some food and still have lots of time to walk back toward the LES to the Sunshine Cinema's and see the Midnight showing of "Jurassic Park." (You know that little move about the big lizards. Well lets just pop around and get in line for tickets. Wait does that little sign say SOLD OUT. What is this...is everyone and their mother downtown and at the movies? And next week is Evil Dead!! One must be ready then just in case the old movies SELL OUT.

Film Archives: http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/

Film Forum: http://www.filmforum.org/

Sunshine Cinema: http://www.landmarktheatres.com/

West Side Story

2010-01-20T18:12:00.000-08:00

What is more New York then West Side Story. With a Musical based on Shakespeare and set in the Upper West Side with music by Leonard Bernstein, how could you go wrong? This is a love story surrounded by a gang rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, much like Romeo and Juliet. The new Broadway revival of West Side Story is quite different from the original, this is the first to introduce the element of authenticity with Spanish added throughout the songs. On the other hand it is quite true to the original by using choreography of late director Jerome Robbins restaged by Joey McKneely (The Boy from Oz, The Life). All this directed by Arthur Laurents, the original author of the book. This is running at the Palace Theatre located in Times Square at 1564 Broadway. After seeing this on stage one can see why it was so controversial at the time of its first release. On top of the violence, they used lots of 50's slang like "daddy-o", they even had to make up fake swear words. The best part of the show is how well the dance fits the music. The Movie makes you cry but this production does not become that emotional. You don't feel as much for the lovers and as you do for some of the other parts. Its hard to get the chemistry that Richard Beymer had with Natalie Wood. The Spanish made the stage feel more like Spanish Harlem. Worth every penny to go out on the town and see a homegrown story on the bright Broadway.

Crazy Heart

2010-01-18T12:10:00.000-08:00

Movies that center themselves around music can go one way or the other, either the music is lost in the background, or it outshines the actors and story. This film is the exception to the rule. The acting is too good to be out-shined and the music is what drives the script. Everyone is talking about Jeff Bridges and how he made playing a down-and-out alcoholic country-and-western star look easy. He does the same thing in this film for drunks as he did in "The Big Lebowski" for pothead bowlers, by making a lovable looser. By the first stop on this ragtag tour of rundown honky-tonks and bowling alleys Bridges get lost and all that is left is Bad Blake. This is a man left to his own undoing after years of being on the road. Then he meets a young writer for the Sante Fe newspaper, Jean Craddock played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. The light in her eyes makes him not only think twice about where his life is going, (or has been) but also starts the fire under him to wright songs once more. Gyllenhaal balances her characters laid-back back youth with the responsible mother in a totally organic way. She is perfect next to Bridges lost and lonely wonder. Bad Blake has lots to come to terms with from the tattered life behind him. It is tough to look back when all you have done for years is try to forget. When Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell), Blakes old opening act comes back as a star asking Bad to wright songs for him will Bad sit back and become second fiddle? The screenplay is based on the 1987 novel of the same name by American novelist Thomas Cobb. This and the fact that director Scott Cooper let the landscape of the west be big and beautiful with wide shots of mountains and desert's made this film feel like authentic Americana. Even the secondary characters feel like they belong in the American west. When it comes to music that makes a movie it helps to have a Producer like T Bone Burnett. He help bring you the songs you loved from O Brother, Where Art Thou? In this movie with the help of Stephen Bruton, T Bone has made a film not just about a musician, but a film about music and how it can make or break a persons life.

P.S. - T Bone Burnett has also produced some of our favorite albums. (Elvis Costello's album, Secret, Profane and Sugarcane, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss album Raising Sand, Cassandra Wilson's Thunderbird album, Brandi Carlile's The Story and more) All this and he still can rip it up on stage if you get a chance to see him live.

A Single Man

2010-01-10T17:31:00.000-08:00

The sixties are all over the big screen with funny comedies and light hearted dramas. Tom Fords A Single Man, is set in the 60's but is not on the light side of drama. This has a dark forlorn quality that is not seen often in film. Colin Firth is so moving in this story of a man dealing with losing the love of his life. Played out in one day the script is about a detached yet emotional man that can no longer see the point in life. The story is based off a Christopher Isherwood novel that must be a impressive read. George Falconer (Firth) is a gay British university professor living in Southern California. The sudden death of his lover Jim (Matthew Goode) takes him by surprise and puts him in a living coma of grief and despair. When we lose someone close to our heart it is hard to see life like before, it is hard to see what can make the next day seem brighter. Even George's close friend Charley (Julianne Moore) is holding on to the past. It is hard to see how much you could mean to someone new when the past lives in your mind everyday. Can a Spanish stranger (Jon Kortajarena) or a young student (Nicholas Houltt) make George look to the future with hope? This is told through the eyes of Tom Ford a famous fashion designer is known for crisp and clean lines. Tom had to finance it himself and did a fine job in his directorial debut. The production team that created the sets in Mad Men made the sets in this film just picture perfect. This with the grainy style made some say this flick is clichéd or dated. With their logic just because a movie uses camera movement or wide pans instead of jumping from shot to shot with little cuts makes it seem slower or old-fashioned. Not the case in this beautiful film set in a time that might seem simpler then the fast paced world we live in now.
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An Education

2010-01-03T18:25:00.000-08:00

This film is one of many that came out in 2009 that is set in the 1960's. In this British drama a older man brings excitement into a young girls life. This is a coming-of-age film based on a short essay by the British journalist Lynn Barber published in the literary magazine Granta. The full autobiographical memoir was only published in book form in June 2009 after filming started. This young lady is smart, beautiful and bored to death of her suburban life. Her parents only want her to study and concentrate on getting into Oxford. She sees school as her only way out of her bourgeois surroundings. She is a good girl who is a A student and plays the cello but what she really wants is to smoke, talk about art and live in Paris. Then a debonair older man saves her and her cello from the rain by giving her a ride home. With his good looks, charm and class David (Peter Sarsgaard) courts Jenny (Carey Mulligan) in a gentle and loving manner. She helps him trick her protective parents into letting her go to concerts, jazz clubs, and even Paris. This is the life she has daydreamed about but as she quickly learns the grown up life is not all fun and games. England in 1961 was at a turning point with women going on to university, minorities moving up in the world, music and culture clashing with tradition. Nick Hornby created a screenplay that shows all this in subtle little ways like the old feddy duddy father or the girls teachers. When you compare these characters with David and his friends you can see why Jenny wants to rebel. Even now every girl grows up to be a young women with or without heart break and this story is no different. Director Lone Scherfig lets the film unfold in a way that makes it more then Jenny's story, its a loss of innocence that could happened to any women.

Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenca at Lucille Lortel Theatre

2009-12-27T22:19:00.000-08:00

Madrid’s Noche Flamenca is recognized as the most authentic flamenco touring ensemble and likes to call New York City home in the winter months. We are lucky to get a chance to see these emotional performances at the Lucille Lortel Theatre this year. Noche Flamenca celebrates the essence, purity and integrity of traditional flamenco. Flamenco is made up of three elements cante (song), Baile (dance), and Toque (guitar). Some say song is the heart of flamenco, but most people recognize it because of the Dance that uses the arms and elbows with rhythmic stomping of the feet. In Spain flamenco came from a blending of the local customs with Arabic and Gypsy Cultures. This song and dance where a tradition during the retaking of the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors that took over 800 years in the Middle Ages. Then in the Golden Age of Flamenco this art went from groups in town squares to public performances in cafés cantantes. This is when the Guitar players supporting the dancers became more and more prevalent. The first guitars are thought to have originated in Spain in the 15Th century. With so much history one can see why this is not like any other art form. In this dance company you get a true communal spirit with the singers, dancers and musicians. Noche Flamenca has been the passion of Artistic Director Martín Santangelo and wife Soledad Barrio since 1993. When Soledad Barrio takes the stage its such an emotional experience. She is considered one of the greatest performers of her time. Soledad Barrio has won awards from over 12 different countries for her excellence in dance. The singing is so heart felt along with the beautiful strumming of the guitars and the expressive Dance, it's just so moving. Everyone in New York has only till January 16 catch the world renowned Noche Flamenca.

The Third Man

2009-12-19T20:41:00.000-08:00

One of classic film noir's undisputed masterpieces has a week long run at the Film Forum. So now through to the 29Th is your chance to see the 1949 British black and white film The Third Man. This is the 60Th anniversary and the Forum has a new 35mm print. This copy is of the British release and begins with the voice of director Carol Reed, describing post-war Vienna from the point of view of a racketeer. Unlike the US release that has eleven minutes cut off and has a different voice over. "I never knew the old Vienna..." starts off the fast paced clips of the city devastated and recovering from the Second World War. This is a city divided, split into five zones. One international zone and four separate zones each representing one of the victorious Allies. This is a city at start of the Cold War where the black market is king and racketeering is a way of life. In comes the American pulp author Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) looking for his old friend that sent him a plain ticket and a job offer. This "friend" is Harry Lime played by the legendary Orson Welles. On arrival Martins discovers that Lime has been recently killed by a truck accident. Martins get in town just in time for the funeral and finds strange things when talking to Harry's friends and enemies. This starts Martins off on a goose chase to find out what happened in Limes last moments. Everyone that was at the scene knew Lime and had the same two man story. This seemed strange so Martins so he takes a offer to stay in town and do a lecture on writing so he can look around. Limes porter that saw more then he should have reviles that there was a third man. Maybe Anna (Alida Valli), Lime's actress girlfriend can be of some help. She is one of the only people that cared for the off the wall Lime. With no subtitle's you understand just as much as Martins does as he searches for the truth. Unusual camera angles, seedy locations, and dark atmosphere make this film unlike any other. Reed used tricks that added to the feel of the film. Water was used to make light reflect off the cobbled streets, dark shadows where used to hide and show plot points and a musical score played by completely on the zither made everything seem suspenseful and strange. Not that some humor was not slipped in. "You know what the fellow said – in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."added in the script by Welles. Then Welles latter said "When the picture came out, the Swiss very nicely pointed out to me that they've never made any cuckoo clocks." This got 100% on the tomatometer on http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/third_man/ . So get down to the Film Forum on Houston just west of 6th Ave and enjoy one of the best films of all time.

STEVE KIMOCK & CRAZY ENGINE Late Night Dec. 04, 09

2009-12-10T21:40:00.000-08:00

Stave Kimock gave New York two chances to see him late night with Crazy Engine. This engine runs smooth with his son John Kimock on drums and Melvin Seals with his legendary Hammond B3. The old keyboard sounds great when Stave uses his own vintage analog equipment. With them is cello player from NYC's indie music scene named Trevor Exter. If that is not crazy enough Bobby Vega was a guest for these two dates. You could have seen them twice and get two completely different experiences. The second show was at BB Kings which is a ideal place to see a show and have drinks. When the Kimocks come back to the big city go out and check them out.

The Road

2009-12-04T13:55:00.000-08:00

This is a epic story that is at its root a great post-apocalyptic Sci-Fi scenario. After a mysterious end of days the world becomes day to day test for survival. This journey through a barren landscape heads south in hope of finding warmer winters. The travelers are one a man with memories of a world gone forever, and the other a boy that is a spitting image of his mother who knows nothing but this grim reality. Wandering down the road is as dangerous as it is necessary. Is life worth living when all it consist of is trying to scavenge for food and hide from the bad guys. Hard to stay in the present when some relics of the old world bring back flashes of yesterday, and you have to jerk awake everyday from dreams in color. Must keep going, must keep checking stuff out, must be weary of anyone on the road. Filmed in parts of the America like New Orleans, Mount St. Helens, and run-down parts of Pittsburgh its easy to see how close we could be getting to a much harder existence. In this even lonely wanderer's like Robert Duvall realize "there were signs" that this was coming.