A Lunchtime Concert at the World Financial Center (Diana Krall and Orchestra)

The word evidently got out about the free concert celebrating Diana Krall's new album, "Quiet Nights," the one today at 1 p.m. in the Winter Garden of the World Financial Center downtown, because by the time I got there at 12:30 p.m. the place was filling up. And what a place! The large curved glassed atrium, dotted with soaring palms, seems a good place for a concert, and indeed, the one today had the feeling of a spring renewal. Though many in the assembled crowd, some standing, some sitting on the curved raked steps, looked dressed for work, there was an air of informality, like summertime.

Diana Krall and her orchestra took the stage promptly, and the audience greeted her entrance warmly. She played songs from the new album, a sexy, lingering affair, including classics of bossa nova. It's a tall order to sing "Quiet Nights" (Corcovado) and say something different from the memorable one recorded by Astrud Gilberto. With her breathy but full vocalizations and improv, Krall made it her own, choosing to rest her good piano talents for the moment to concentrate on the phrasings. Her "Boy from Ipanema" was likewise tropical and sexy, giving a full sense of the pleasures of the female gaze. Of the songs in the 45-minute set, I was most impressed by her interpretation of Rogers and Hart's "Where or When," a song Frank Sinatra understood and one hard to nail for the right amount of wistfulness. The orchestral arrangements took some pleasant unexpected directions, including impressive solo jazz riffs, but I feel that this venue is not the best in the world for acoustics. A lot of the richness of the sound gets lost somewhere up there in the palm fronds. Best to see this group in Carnegie Hall when they play there in June, but then of course, the concerts will not be free.

Leaving the building by the exit near the concourse and the water, everyone seemed impressed with the overwhelming blue skies and warmer weather. It was good to know that there will be many more concerts down here this summer, indeed on the sultry evenings imagined in the Jobim lyrics. I overheard someone say, "I wish I was unemployed, too, so I wouldn't have to go back to work." While the landscape didn't include Rio's hunchback mountain, boats floating in the Hudson seemed good enough for everyone on such a brilliant day.

Images: Diana Krall in concert. The Winter Garden, World Financial Center, New York by Walking Off the Big Apple. More images will be posted on Flickr WOTBA.

WOTBA New York Events Calendar: Monday, March 30 - Sunday, April 5, 2009

Before the listings, a bit of news. File this item under "something to keep in mind later." News reports indicate that the planned streetscaping of Broadway from Herald Square to Times Square may force the Macy's Thanksgiving Day route to take a different route from its historic path this coming fall. (See NYT article, "Change the Parade Route? Can They Even Do That?"). Like Sixth Avenue or something. In related New York pedestrian news, MTA has authorized its "Doomsday Budget," allowing for rate hikes on subways and buses. Add in the news of the general decline of the automobile industry, well, the result may be that we'll be walking more. This is good for WOTBA. Strolling is in your future.

• HOW THE WEST WAS OTHERED. Monday, March 30. Into the Sunset: Photography's Image of the American West. Museum of Modern Art. I plan to see the new photography exhibit at MoMA soon, although as a westerner myself (Texas) and a student of photography of the West, I will probably get riled up about the representations. Maybe not. Expect a review. Through June 8.

• FREE FAMOUS JAZZ SINGER LUNCH. Tuesday, March 31. Diana Krall gives a free concert at 1 p.m. at the Winter Garden at the World Financial Center in celebration of her new album, Quiet Nights. I can't find ANY excuse not to go this, unless someone was putting on an Olympics for the unemployed in the East Village. Serious. Did I mention the 32-piece orchestra? Maybe Elvis will be lurking in the corner. (ed. note: See review of concert here.)

• FREE VARESE MUSIC LATER. Tuesday, March 31. 8 p.m. Juilliard Percussion Ensemble. Alice Tully Hall (at Lincoln Center) 1941 Broadway, at 65th St. Daniel Druckman conducts Varèse’s Ionisation. Learn more about the crazy sounds coming from Varèse’s Village basement.

• FAX MACHINE TOSS. 2009. Tuesday, March 31. Unemployment Olympics! Tompkins Square Park, East Village, baseball diamond at 10th and A. 1:30 p.m. Games: Fax machine toss, "You're Fired!" race, and Pin the Blame on the Bosses. Only those unemployed are eligible for the competition. See child-like website for more information. Uh-oh. Same time as the Diana Krall concert, and this looks promising.

• FOOLS. Wednesday, April 1. Don't believe anything anyone tells you today.

• GOURDS MUSIC. Wednesday, April 1. 7:30 p.m. The Gourds, Super Satellite, Ethan Azarian. Mercury Lounge, 217 E. Houston St. Adv. tickets $15, otherwise $17.

• PSYCHEDELIC VISIONARY ARCHITECTURE PAINTINGS OF OUR DREAMS AND DISCONTENT. Thursday, April 2. Paintings by Michael van den Besselaar. Nostalgic About The Future. April 2, 2009- May 9, 2009. Reception: April 2, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm., Black & White Gallery, 636 W 28th St.

• WELSH-BORN SINGER-SONGWRITING IN CHELSEA. Judith Owen: Mopping Up Karma. Metropolitan Room, 34 W 22nd St. Thursday-Saturday 9:45 p.m. $25 plus two-drinks. "Shine" is a nice song.

• SLACKER AUSTIN MOVIE. Friday, April 3. Film Society of Lincoln Center's Series: New Directors/New Films 2009. Fri Apr 3: 6:15 (at MoMA). Also Sunday, April 5 at 4 p.m.(at FSLC) Bob Byington's Harmony and Me, screening with short, It’s All in the Fingers by Kei Ishikawa, Poland/Japan, 2009. I have tickets already. I know Bob from my Austin dayz.

• TELL ME HOW YOU'RE FEELING TV. Sunday, April 5. In Treatment returns for a new season of sexy repressed feelings on HBO.

Image: Macy's, near Herald Square, with daffodils, from April 2008.

Straightening Out the Minettas

In Greenwich Village, on the east side of Sixth Avenue (Avenue of the Americas) between 3rd Street and Bleecker Street, several little nooks and corners of this area bear the name of Minetta, a reference to the trout-filled stream that once meandered in this place. Native Americans called the stream "Mannette," meaning "Devil's Water." Variations of the name over the years include Minnetta, Menitti, and Manetta. Let's look at the various Minettas, all within yards of one another in lower Mannahatta.

Minetta Triangle. Near Bleecker Street, Minetta Street, and Avenue of the Americas. the historical sign (NYC Parks & Recreation site) on the park fence explains the park's naming for Minetta Brook, once a real stream that originated near what is know Gramercy Park and meandered through Greenwich Village to the Hudson River near W. Houston Street. The stream has since been diverted and paved over with decades worth of concrete. Basements along the way still flood. Freed slaves lived along Minetta Brook in the 17th century, and more African-American families later joined these communities.


View Larger Map

Minetta Green. Near Minetta Lane and Sixth Avenue, cast your eyes downward in this tiny park and behold images of trout that once frolicked in this burbling brook.

Minetta Street, starting at Minetta Lane and winding down to near Sixth Avenue and Bleecker, follows the course of the old stream, Minetta Brook. When in the area, I often choose to follow the street, as if I'm giving in to an unconscious primal impulse. (See image below.)

Minetta Playground. W. 3rd St. and Avenue of the Americas. Swing sets, jungle gyms and the like. The McDonald's next door donated new equipment ten years ago. These Minetta parks were neglected for a long time and only restored in the early 1990s.

Minetta Lane (top image) is the name for a short street between MacDougal Street and Sixth Avenue. At the top of the lane sits Cafe Wha? on the north side and the Minetta Tavern on the south side of the lane's intersection with MacDougal. Down the gently-sloping lane you would find the Italian restaurant and wine bar, Bellavitae (very good), and the Minetta Lane Theatre.

Minetta Lane Theatre. 18 Minetta Lane. Inside is a 399-seat theater that has staged well-received productions including the recent Adding Machine and Garden of Earthly Delights.

Minetta Tavern. 113 MacDougal St. Recently renovated and reopened, the Tavern has been a Village fixture for over 70 years. Once a hangout for the Beats, the tavern is now attracting visitors for the high quality of its food. (I wonder if trout is ever on the menu.)

For more on the ecology of early Manhattan, see the website at the Wildlife Conservation Society on The Mannahatta Project.

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple. March 28, 2009. Top, Minetta Lane. Middle, trout in Minetta Green. Bottom, Minetta Street. More images will be posted on Flickr in a set.

Freewheelin' Jones Street

From Spring 2009

I assume most of the civilized readers of these pages would be familiar with Bob Dylan's second studio album titled The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan from 1963. The covers features Dylan walkin' down the street with Suze Rotolo, his girlfriend at the time. They're walking down the middle of the street, and there's snow on the ground. The street on the album cover is Jones Street (pictured above) in Greenwich Village, a small street west of 6th Avenue and between Bleecker Street and 4th St. (positively!), and in 2009, it doesn't look too different from the photo on the album (taken by Don Hunstein, a photographer with CBS).

Jacques Brel, Songs of the Street, and On Bleecker Street

Last month, Eric Blau passed away at the age of 87. A resident of Manhattan, the multi-talented Blau, a man of several careers, was best known as the creator, along with composer Mort Shuman, of the musical review, Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. (obit from the NYT here). The review opened on January 22, 1968 in the Village Gate and played for over four years. When I was younger, I didn't think there was anything better than the songs of Jacques Brel. For the review, Blau translated Brel's lyrics into English without losing any of their sensitivity and power. I can still remember most of the lyrics from "Jacques Brel," hearing "Amsterdam" and "Fanette" even as I write this.

I pass by the former Village Gate most every day while strolling along Bleecker Street. The sign for Art D'Lugoff's famous spot, notable for its legendary jazz performers, is still there. The new venue, Le Poisson Rouge, now occupies the space, and its programming has demonstrated a thoughtful willingness to pay homage to the Gate's history but also to celebrate the innovations of contemporary art and performance.

But I want to talk about Jacques Brel for a minute. Born in Belgium, the country that served as a source for many of his lyrics, Brel moved to Paris in the 1950s, singing his songs and playing guitar. His early career in many ways parallels Bob Dylan's. As Brel gained popularity through his performances in cabarets and concert halls, his songs grew in complexity, darkness, and lyricism. He wasn't scared to sing songs about the rougher parts of town and the less idealistic aspects of love.

Many of Brel's songs show an acute sense of observation, especially about everyday life, and I think of him as a flâneur. His songs paint images of large cities and small towns as people go about their business, enjoying small things or encountering disappointments. While his songs are often full of people, we find, as one song goes, we're alone.

In 1968, while the nation and world experienced life-changing revolutions in culture and society, many people adopted the songs of Brel as their own personal standards. The Zipper Theater in the Garment District, sadly closed this January, staged a well-received revival in the spring of 2006, anticipating that we would again need some of these songs in our lives.

Image above by Walking Off the Big Apple, March 23, 2009. By the way, that corner of Bleecker and Thompson has some powerful songwriting vibrations. Bob Dylan wrote "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall" in a basement apartment there.

WOTBA New York Cultural Events Calendar: Monday, March 23 - Sunday, March 29, 2009

A chilly start to this week, but looks like it will gradually warm up by the end. I'm ready for Springtime. What follows is a handful of literary, musical, and artistic events for this lovely Spring week in New York.

• LITERARY TRIVIA. Monday, March 23. A Literary Showdown: Jonathan Lethem, Chip Kidd, A.J. Jacobs, Darin Strauss, Susan Jane Gilman 6:30pm. Three teams of five authors, five editors and five agents in literary trivia game. Dixon Place, 161 Chrystie St, between Delancey and Rivington Sts.

• THOUGHTFUL DRAWING. Tuesday, March 24. The Drawing Center. Information Architectures Series, described as "a series of talks and discussions in which leading philosophers, architects, designers, editors, and artists consider how information is diagrammed, modeled, structured and otherwise disseminated in the expanded field of drawing." March 24, 25, and 26. 6:30 pm. 35 Wooster St.

• ENSEMBLE MUSIC. Tuesday, March 24. New chamber group, Philos Ensemble, in a program of C.P.E. Bach, Max Reger, Beethoven, and Joan Tower. 7:30 p.m. Synagogue of the Arts in TriBeCa. 49 White St (between Church St. and Broadway). Free, donations suggested.

• ARTISTS WITHOUT BOUNDARIES. (inset) Last week to see "The Artist as Troublemaker" at the Austrian Cultural Forum, 11 E. 52nd St.

• SYMPHONIC MUSIC. Thursday, March 26. New York Philharmonic Open Rehearsal: McGegan, Schäfer and Handel. 9:45 a.m. $16. Splendid opportunity to watch the renowned Philharmonic try to get it perfect. Also good for morning people. See website here for details.

• GENRE-BENDING MUSIC. Thursday, March 26. The Rafiq Bhatia Collective. Word comes from my alma mater that a Boston-based music group of Oberlin students and alumni will play two sets downstairs at Cornelia Street Cafe at 8:30 & 10 p.m. Jazz with multi-ethnic infusions.

• MOVIES ABOUT DATING SOMEONE MORE FAMOUS THAN YOU. Friday, March 27. Guest of Cindy Sherman, in theatrical release at Cinema Village. 22 E. 12th St. One of my favorites from the Tribeca Film Festival 2008, the movie follows Gallery Beat guy and surfer dude, Paul H-O, as he rides out the waves dating one of the most successful artists of our time. It's the best documentary I've seen using a lot of access TV footage. Cinema Village page here for more info, showtimes and tickets.

• ART-LOVING FLANEURS. Gustave Caillebotte: Impressionist Paintings from Paris to the Sea opens at the Brooklyn Museum, Morris A. and Meyer Schapiro Wing, 5th Floor. Through July 5, 2009. Flâneur alert! One of our most favorite guys about town. Streets of Paris, a little rain, and strolling people on the boulevards.

• VERTICAL NATURE ART. Saturday, March 28.Vertical Gardens. Exit Underground, beneath the main gallery. Exit Art 475 Tenth Ave. Opening: Saturday March 28, 6-8pm. A project of SEA (Social Environmental Aesthetics), Vertical Gardens is an exhibition of architectural models, renderings, drawings, photographs and ephemera that depict or imagine a vertical farm, urban garden or green roof. Through May 3, 2009.

• NEW YORK WALKING AROUND BOOKS and WALKING TOUR. Sunday, March 29. 4 p.m. Flatiron Walking Tour, signing and reception for "Inside the Apple," by Michelle and James Nevius. $25 per person, which includes the walking tour, a copy of the book, and a reception at Idlewild Books, 12 West 19th Street (near Fifth Avenue). Advance reservations and payment are required. 212-414-8888, or email events@idlewildbooks.com

Image: The Austrian Cultural Forum is near many of the sites that I described in last week's posts.

The New York Hotel That Looks Like It's in Miami

From Spring 2009

I've walked by the Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel in Midtown on Lexington several times, and I always say to myself something like "Kinda wild. Kinda groovy. Très tropicale!" I would prefer to sound like Baudelaire in my head, but the inner soundtrack is more a beatnik patois. "Like, man, I dig the waves on this cool aqua hotel dream machine and that fine sign on the side with the oval letters spelling out the hotel name. What means a double tree?"

Miami. Originally named The Summit (later, Loews New York and after, the Metropolitan, before the Doubletree), the hotel was the creative inspiration of architect Morris Lapidus. Opened in January 1961, the building seemed way outside the limits of New York architectural tastes. Flamboyant and excessive, it stood in contract to the more minimalist designs of International Style buildings nearby, classics such as the Lever House (SOM) and the Seagram Building (Mies van der Rohe in collaboration with Philip Johnson). According to an article in the New York Times from March 2005, "When the Summit Hotel (now the Doubletree Metropolitan) opened on Lexington Avenue at 51st Street in 1961, with its curving facade coated in sea-foam-colored brick, the joke was that it was too far from the beach."

Lapidus is most famous for his Miami Beach hotel, The Fontainebleau, built in 1954, so naturally, this dramatic building on Lexington bears some resemblance to that resort. According to the Wikipedia article on the Fontainbleau, the architect, based in New York, dreamed up the designs for the Miami hotel while riding the subway from his home in Flatbush to his office in Manhattan. When the Summit opened in 1961, the critical reception was less than enthusiastic. Over the last few decades, his reputation has been resuscitated, even to the extent that designs such as this hotel are said to prefigure the post-modernist movement. Playfulness and fantasy in design are OK now, as witness to pretty much everything constructed in Las Vegas. This was not true in the heyday of the International Style in the post-war period and especially not in buttoned-down New York.

The hotel was extensively renovated a few years ago with the help of Alan Lapidus, an architect and son of Morris, who was on the original design team. In the fall of 2005, the hotel was designated as a New York City Landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Committee. Morris Lapidus also designed the Sheraton Hotel (originally the Americana) on E. 53rd St. near Seventh Avenue. That building features a bent slab shape but is more restrained than the Doubletree. Another Lapidus building in the city, the Paterson Silk Building (or Odd-Job building) on the southwest corner of University place and 14th St., was demolished in 2005, about the same time as the renovations for the Doubletree, setting off a controversy at the Landmarks Preservation Committee. (The City Review article on the matter here.)

Website for the Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel. The website shares the tidbit that Judy Garland and Noel Coward attended the opening of the hotel in 1961. A convenient subway stop is right outside the door.

Image by Walking Off the Big Apple. It's big picture day.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery on East 52nd Street

"-S'il vous plaît… dessine-moi un mouton!"

Like many others, I learned French in school by reading Le Petit Prince, the charming and thoughtful story written and illustrated by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. So I was delighted, even in a child-like way, to come upon a charmer of a building, 3 East 52nd Street, and to see on the exterior a plaque honoring the French author and aviator.

According to Christopher Gray, in an April 2001 NYT Streetscapes article about the building, the organization La Section Americaine du Souvenir Francais put up this plaque memorializing Saint-Exupery. It's not where he lived, as I shall explain.

During the early years of WWII, from January 1941 and April 1943, the writer lived much of the time in New York, in a penthouse at 240 Central Park South and in a rented mansion in the village of Asharoken on the north shore of Long Island. He also spent some time in Quebec City. He wrote The Little Prince in the Long Island mansion during the summer and fall of 1942. In 1943 Saint-Exupery left New York for Europe, and there he joined the Free French Forces as a pilot. On July 31, 1944 his plane went down, and he was not seen again. (The Wikipedia article on Saint-Exupery presents fascinating material on the many efforts to account for what happened on his last flight.)

In his article for the Times, Gray reported that the commemoration group that put the plaque on E. 52nd St. tried originally to place it on the front of 240 Central Park South, but the owners refused, worried that it would draw crowds. So why 3 E. 52nd Street? Well, this is a place where Saint-Exupery liked to hang out, spending time with his friend, the painter Bernard Lamotte. In 1942 the first floor housed the French restaurant, La Vie Parisienne (in 2009, La Grenouille), and Lamotte used the top floors for a studio. With the fall of France, 3 E. 52nd became a favorite gathering spot for an artistic circle of friends.

I first spotted the building last week when I was walking north through the Olympic Tower and its arcade that connects E. 51st Street to E. 52nd St. The building ahead was perfectly framed within the tower's glass doorways. With its unusual steep dormers, blue trim, and over-flowing window boxes, the house seemed a perfect place for French charm in Midtown.

"Mais les yeux sont aveugles. Il faut chercher avec le coeur. " - Le Petit Prince, p. 97

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple, March 17, 2009.

Shhh, Don't Tell: Quiet Modernist Escapes in Midtown Manhattan

Midtown Manhattan can seem overwhelming at times. The density created by the tall buildings, the crowds flocking to Rockefeller Center and Radio City, the flagship stores along Fifth Avenue, and the general mayhem that ensues on a day with parades or other special events makes Midtown the area to avoid among many natives. For residents and visitors alike, knowledge of quick escape routes and calming spaces nearby can make the difference between an exciting adventure in the city or a long and exhausting day in New York. I prefer to have a nice day.

I'm not crazy about crowds, but that's what you get when you want to see a parade on Fifth Avenue. Fortunately, I've developed an emergency kit of serene places in Midtown where I can escape for a little while. I've always managed to find Paley Park (inset) just when I needed it, a small space built in 1967 on the site of the former Stork Club at 3 E. 53rd Street. William S. Paley, the founder of CBS, donated the park and named it after his father. The waterfall at the back of the space works to soften the noise of the street. Those chairs are actually comfortable.

The other day I discovered the calming interiors of two nearby spaces - Olympic Place, an arcade in the Olympic Tower just off Fifth, connecting St. Patrick's on E. 51st St. with E. 52nd, and Park Avenue Plaza, between E. 52nd and E. 53rd. and between Madison and Park. Olympic Place, though a modernist walkway, explicitly asserts a connection to classical Greece as it serves as the home to the Onassis Cultural Center. The center features galleries with free admission and open to the public Monday through Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Park Avenue Plaza, featured below, is an open and airy space, with its own water features, a fine bookseller (Chartwell Booksellers, specializing in Winston Churchill material), a chocolate boutique, and more. While I was there several people were sitting quietly at tables and eating their lunches while a man played piano. The space has something of the same aura as Olympic Place, though they're configured differently, but the similarity has something to do with the buildings sharing the same architecture firm, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, within a few years of one another (1977, 1981).


For resting outside, I recommend the Lever House at 390 Park Avenue between E. 53rd and E. 54th Streets. Now here's some Skidmore, Owings & Merrill to get excited about. The 1952 building is famous for introducing the world to the glass curtain wall, and while some may hate them for their evil spawn, I think this building has aged well. These days, there's some big Kitty love going on in the pedestrian public space. Below, you're looking at “Wind-Up Hello Kitty” (2008) by Tom Sachs.


From here, you could follow the footsteps of Greta Garbo by heading over to her place on the East River. Then you would be totally alone, dahlinks.

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple, March 17, 2009. Clicking on most any image on this website opens a larger version.

St. Patrick's Day Parade, Fifth Avenue (A Slideshow)

The clear skies and mild temperatures lured me to Fifth Avenue today to watch the St. Patrick's Day Parade, and like several hundred thousand others lining Fifth Avenue between 44th and 86th, it took a while for me to jockey into position so I could see anything. I started in the area near St. Patrick's Cathedral (why not?) and then walked north a few blocks to where I could get a closer look. The church you see in some of the images is St. Thomas, an Episcopal church on Fifth Avenue at 53rd St. I also spent some time at 54th and Fifth Avenue before I decided to press on to a calmer part of midtown. The only misgiving I have about this slideshow is that no sound accompanies it, and indeed, there was plenty of traditional Irish music issuing forth from many marching bands.

The St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York carries with it some heavy tradition, with important roles played in the festivities by members of the church and law enforcement. In fact, the police presence is rather awesome. In my experience attending parades in New York, though, I get the feeling that this is the one that they don't mind policing.

Don't you love that old guy who died his hair, eyebrows and beard that color green? He was happy to pose for pictures with everyone.

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple. March 17, 2009. Fifth Avenue.

St. Patrick's Day Parade and Pub Map

View Larger Map

Happy St. Patrick's Day to ye. A few hundred thousand souls, wearing their green, will be taking to Fifth Avenue today. The parade starts at 11 a.m. at Fifth Avenue and 44th Street, and then marches north on the avenue, clan by clan, to 86th Street. Meanin' - if you were thinkin' about an easy commute to the area in question, you might consider your plans.

A little investigation mapwise reveals that many of New York's Irish pubs may be found in the area around Times Square on the west and then to the east over to Third Avenue, above 42nd St. and south of 57th St. I haven't even mapped many of them, and point of fact, the most famous Irish tavern in NYC, bein' the first, McSorley's, is way down in the East Village. You'll find some Irish there, for sure, but almost everywhere later today on the emerald isle of Manhattan.

Like Irish films? Over the past few days, I've been conducting an informal survey of everyone's favorite underrated or undiscovered Irish films. See my post titled "More Than a Few Irish Films" on Tribeca Film Institute's Reframe site.

WOTBA New York Cultural Events Calendar: Monday, March 16 - Sunday, March 22, 2009

Yippee! Spring Break! St. Patrick's Day. Let's have a parade. Green beer is flowing through the streets, and spring bulbs are breaking through the ground. Actually, I've only seen the latter.

This scene looks fun, yes? Mild weather brought many people to the Union Square area this past Saturday.

• FILM. Monday, March 16. Program titled Deeper into Movies: Michelangelo Antonioni Double Feature - Blow Up (1966) & L'Avventura (1960). Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker St. Doors open at 8:30 p.m. and event at 9 p.m.

• CHOIR MUSIC. Monday, March 16. Phoenix and Kansas City Chorales. 8pm. Alice Tully Hall (at Lincoln Center)

• GREEN PEOPLE. Tuesday, March 17. St. Patrick's Day Parade. Tuesday, March 17. 11:00 a.m. Starting @ 44th Street and Fifth Avenue. Hey, for a "Shoe Leather" post for Reframe, I spent the last few days asking people about their favorite Irish films. 'Twas fun!

• FILM. Tuesday, March 17. Experimental filmmaker Ken Jacobs with Return to LH6. 7:30 p.m. Light Industry, 220 36th Street (between 2nd and 3rd Avenue), 5th Floor. $7. http://www.lightindustry.org/

• JAZZ MUSIC. Wednesday, March 18. Dee Dee Bridgewater. Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall. 8:30 PM. Tickets from $34 - $44

• BOOMER MUSIC. Thursday, March 19. Fleetwood Mac. 8 p.m. Madison Square Garden. Unleashed: Hits Tour 2009.

• LITERARY. Thursday, March 19. New Yorker writer Adam Gopnick talks about John Updike. 7pm. Free New York Public Library, Celeste Bartos Forum. Fifth Ave, and 42nd St.

• WORLD MUSIC. 2009 Friday, March 20. Drums & Dances of Guinea. Sidiki Conde & Tokounou. 8:00 PM. Peter Norton Symphony Space. Like world music? See the website of the World Music Institute.

• MORE WORLD MUSIC. Mexican singer-songwriter Lila Downs. 10 p.m. Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall. Tickets: $36–$46

• NOSTALGIC POP MUSIC. Saturday, March 21. Lesley Gore. Sat 8pm. College of Staten Island Center for the Arts 2800 Victory Blvd, at Canterbury Ave, Staten Island. Tickets: $40 Cool. Leslie Gore.

• THEATER. Sunday, March 22. ‘GOD OF CARNAGE’ opens on March 22. By Yasmina Reza (“Art”) with Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, James Gandolfini and Marcia Gay Harden star. Bernard Jacobs Theater, 242 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200.

Recent Books on New York City Life and Art: A List for Spring Reading

All I want is a week to browse through bookstores, and although I don't see that week in my near future, I have found time this weekend to scout out some relatively new and interesting New York-oriented books. A few of them deal with the city's everyday visual culture - murals, storefronts and subway art, for example, that makes the city stimulating and always surprising.

• On the Wall: Four Decades of Community Murals in New York City by Janet Braun-Reinitz (Author), Jane Weissman (Author), Amy Goodman (Foreword). Paperback. 288 pages. University Press of Mississippi. (February 1, 2009)
Based on six years of research and interviews, this book traces the story of many of the post-1968 murals that dot the city, recovering the context of these vibrant works.

• House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street
by William D. Cohan (Author). Hardcover. 480 pages. Doubleday (March 10, 2009) A well-received telling of the collapse of Bear Stearns. For those who ask about the origins of the global financial crisis, this book promises to be a good place to begin.

• The Dancer's Way: The New York City Ballet Guide to Mind, Body, and Nutrition
by Linda H. Hamilton (Author), New York City Ballet (Author). Paperback. 240 pages. St. Martin's Griffin (December 23, 2008)
When I saw City Ballet dancers rehearse at Lincoln Center last month, I was envious of their willowy but athletic physiques. Although I don't plan to lace up toe shoes anytime soon, I might check out this book.

• Yankee Colors: The Glory Years of the Mantle Era by Al Silverman (Author), Yogi Berra (Foreword), Christopher Sweet (Editor), Marvin E. Newman (Photographer). Hardcover. 208 pages. Abrams (March 1, 2009)
Nostalgia for the pre-steroids era aside, this coffee table book features many rare color photos of the golden age, 1949-1964. One day I'm going to map out a special Mickey Mantle walk.

• Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York by James T. Murray (Author), Karla L. Murray (Author). Hardcover. 336 pages. Gingko Press; first edition (January 15, 2009)
A visual guide to a sadly dying breed of neighborhood stores.

• Art and the Subway: New York Underground by Tracy Fitzpatrick (Author). Hardcover: 288 pages. Rutgers University Press; illustrated edition edition (February 28, 2009)
Art of the subway, in the subway, and on the subway.

• Broadway Celebrates the Big Apple: Over 100 Years of Show Tunes about New York City (Piano/Vocal/Chords). Paperback: 256 pages. Alfred Publishing (January 15, 2009)
Including faves such as Ev'ry Street's a Boulevard in Old New York, The Streets of New York, and Lounging at the Waldorf.

• New New York Interiors by Angelika Taschen (Editor). Hardcover. 300 pages. TaschenAmerica Llc; Mul edition (December 1, 2008)
Sumptuous images of city interiors, large and small, reveal successful attempts at creating the NY look.

Image: Times Square. March 2009.

After the Madoff Hearing, Reflections on the Pickpockets of Five Points, and A Trip to the Chopsticks Store

While standing with the pack of reporters, camera people, and producers facing the door of the Federal Courthouse yesterday morning, waiting for signs of movement in the Madoff case, I would occasionally turn around and watch people exercising in a group class in an outdoor playground in Columbus Park. The slow synchronized movements of dozens of people and the sounds of traditional Chinese music that played on tape made a good contrast to the media frenzy on the sidewalk.

Yet, the very place where these exercisers waved and stretched their arms and legs on a morning in a park, so peaceful a scene, was once one of the most notorious slums in New York. Known as Five Points, signifying the intersection of what is now Worth, Baxter, Mulberry, Mosco, and the defunct Little Water streets, the neighborhood's chief characteristics included desperate poverty, environmental degradation, crammed immigrant housing, poor sanitation, casual and revenge murders, exploitation, and education in the arts of the pickpocket. Martin Scorsese based Gangs of New York on historic events in this era. I believe I've also recommended before Timothy J. Gilfoyle's A Pickpocket's Tale: The Underworld of Nineteenth-Century New York, a fascinating look at this milieu through the diary of George Appo.

Up the street was Mulberry Bend, another den of depravity that Progressive-era reformer Jacob Riis made famous in a series of photographs in The Shame of Our Cities. One might say the neighborhood's old traditions came back for a day with the court appearance of Bernard Madoff, pickpocket extroardinaire.

The area has long given over to a prosperous Chinatown, and so I felt I could safely find my way to Yunhong Chopsticks Shop. Since I frequently order Asian food for delivery, and I remembered that I had some leftover chicken cashew from Rim Thai Cuisine on W. 23rd. St. (good food, water features, good prices, nice presentation) from the night before, I decided to buy some chopsticks. When I eat Asian food now at home, forks will not do. The boutique at 50 Mott St., the first of its kind, features a variety of sticks in a range of prices, including some beautiful high-end gift sets and chopsticks that say Happy Birthday in Chinese. I selected two pair of wooded ones with bright green and blue tops, and after paying for my purchase, I walked a long winding path home.

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple: Mosco St. and Yunhong Chopsticks Shop. Chinatown, New York.

Outside the Courthouse for the Madoff Plea Hearing

I hadn't planned on staying for nearly three hours outside the Federal Courthouse in lower Manhattan this morning, but I got drawn into the reporter pack covering Bernard Madoff's plea hearing. Just a handful of his victims were on hand to witness live the guilty pleas of the man who made off with their life savings, so a small army of mainly broadcast journalists took turns interviewing them. I found one crew that seemed efficient in relaying the events from inside the courtroom, so I was able to hear right away the "sorry" statements Madoff made to the judge. Most of the working press patiently awaited the most important news - whether the judge would grant bail or remand Madoff into custody. When the word "jail" starting buzzing around the crowd, there was a lot of excitement, but for most everyone, it was time to pack up. Madoff would not be coming out the door to greet the cameras.

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple, March 12, 2009.

A Morning Walk in SoHo: Two Roosters, the "Acting" Police, a Little Graffiti, Two Eggs and Some Home Fries

My walk this morning began with the sound of "Cockadoodledoo!" that you sometimes hear in Greenwich Village. No, not really, but last April 15, 2008 the neighborhood woke up to the same sounds. I don't know what's with the seasonal appearance of barnyard animals in LaGuardia Community Gardens, but these guys always provoke a few double-takes among passersby.



I really wanted breakfast, and so from stopping to watch the roosters strut their stuff I wandered south of Houston into SoHo. Approaching the corner of West Houston and Prince Street, I came across the sight of many policemen, some traffic police and others in riot gear. I was somewhat alarmed until I saw the fleet of catering and equipment trucks. I knew then that it was a location shoot, so I asked about it. I approached a young policeman, asking him if he was a real policeman. He said no, he was an actor, and pretty happy to be mistaken for one. I learned they were filming a TV show titled The Unusuals.


View Larger Map

Mistaking actors for real policemen is also not unusual in this neighborhood, despite the name of this particular show, because so many crime dramas are filmed here. I was embarrassed later on my walk when I asked two real policemen if they were real policemen. Strolling past a storefront on Wooster I saw in the window a painted gun sculpture by artist David Buckingham titled "Travis Bickle III."

While walking to and from the Landmark Coffee Shop and Pancake House on Grand Street (@ Centre Street), I noticed several empty store fronts and more than the usual amount of graffiti. With the deepening recession, SoHo looks shabby genteel these days, with frayed edges in its old designer clothing. It's starting to feel like 1976 all over again, the year of Taxi Driver. At the corner of Wooster and Grand Street, I noticed that street artist Banksy's rat mural is now gone, whitewashed and ironically spray-painted over with graffiti.

My breakfast at the Landmark Coffee House and Pancake House, depicted here in the slideshow, was just what I wanted and amounted to only $5.65. After gazing out the window and looking at the signs in Chinese along Centre Street, I paid my bill and made my way home. When I arrived back at the rooster coop on LaGuardia Place, I ran into a former neighbor who was pushing his child in a stroller, and I stopped to say hello. I hadn't seen that child since she was an infant. The walk was nice, I thought, in its New York normal way, even if I realized upon seeing this growing child that with every walk and every recurring season, I've grown, just like the city around me, a little bit older.

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple, morning, March 10, 2009.

WOTBA New York Cultural Events Calendar: Monday, March 9 - Sunday, March 15, 2009

Want to stay focused, happy, and productive? My advice is to not twitter too much, concentrate on lengthier tasks, ignore at least some of the articles on the terrible economy, think like a philosopher, take long walks and eat your vegetables. I learned this the hard way last week by not heeding my own advice.

• FILM. Monday, March 9. Announcement of the feature films in this year's Tribeca Film Festival, April 22-May 3. Here's the lineup from IndieWire. Also, an additional announcement is expected Wednesday.

• OFF-BROADWAY. Did you read Frank Rich's essay on Sunday? A must! See Some Things Don't Change in Grover's Corners. Get tickets to Our Town at the Barrow Street Theatre, 27 Barrow Street.

• MARCH MADNESS. Big East, baby! March 10 – March 14, 2009. Madison Square Garden, 4 Penn Plaza at 32nd St. Go Cards!

• EXERCISE AND MEDIEVALISM. Tuesday, March 10. 7:30 a.m.-8:30 a.m. Fitness Walking Program in Fort Tryon Park. Year-round. Free but registration is required. What a great way to start the day. Then hang out for an hour until The Cloisters opens at 9:30 a.m. See NYC Parks site for more info.

• MISSING PLUTO. Tuesday, March 10. Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate: From Planets to Plutoids – Our New Solar System. 7:30 p.m. LeFrak Theater, first floor (Enter at 77th St). American Museum of Natural History. $15 adults ($13.50 Members, students, seniors) Moderator Neil deGrasse Tyson, Director of the Hayden Planetarium, and his panel debate the system.

• MUSIC. Tuesday, March 10. Chicago Symphony Orchestra. 8pm Carnegie Hall 154 W 57th St. Pierre Boulez leads Stravinsky's Symphony in Three Movements and Four Studies for Orchestra, Elliott 's Carter's Réflexions (NY Premiere), and VARÈSE! -Ionisation and Amériques. For more on VARÈSE, see this item from WOTBA.

• MUSIC. Wednesday, March 11. Big R.E.M. Tribute at Carnegie Hall. 20 artists (Kimya Dawson, Jolie Holland, Patti Smith, Darius Rucker, the Feelies, Bob Mould, Guster, Vic Chesnutt and Elf Power, Dar Williams, Marshall Crenshaw, Ingrid Michaelson and others), each performing R.E.M. At 8 p.m., Stern Auditorium, Carnegie Hall, remtribute.com; $38 to $125.

• BOOKS. Thursday, March 12 . Brad Gooch, 7 p.m. Church of St. Luke in the Fields, 487 Hudson St (at Grove St). Tickets: Free. Gooch reads from his new biography of author Flannery O’Connor. See more on Flannery's NYC days on WOTBA.

• MUSIC. Friday, March 13. Jerry Jeff Walker Band. 8pm. B.B. King Blues Club & Grill 237 W 42nd St. Also Saturday.

• MULTI-MEDIA. Sunday, March 15. Opening of The Danube Exodus: The Rippling Currents of the River—by Péter Forgács and The Labyrinth Project. The Jewish Museum. Link to page on museum site. 11:00 am - 5:45 pm.

Image: Where to stock up on chocolate and other candy before performances at City Center and Carnegie Hall. Myzels, 140 West 55 St.

Walking Arcades of the Theater District: Minskoff Alley and Shubert Alley

Continuing a look at walking arcades, please find below a couple of images of two walking passages near Times Square - Minskoff Alley and the famous Shubert Alley. Not far from the arcades in Midtown in the fifties, these alley passages show off the visuals of the area's theatrical culture. The Minskoff Theatre, opened in 1973, was refurbished for its long-running hit, The Lion King, the musical that arrived here in 2006 after playing at the New Amsterdam Theatre since its debut in 1997. The alley runs from 44th to 45th. The theatre itself is located in a tall office building, One Astor Plaza.


The older Shubert Alley runs between 44th and 45th, connecting the Booth and the Shubert Theatres and the back of the Minskoff Theatre. In 1975, A Chorus Line opened at the Shubert for an astonishing fifteen-year run. The theatre, opened in 1913, sports a decorated Venetian Renaissance exterior designed by architect Henry Beaumont Herts (also of the similar Booth Theatre). The auditorium and murals were remodeled in 1996. A shop, One Shubert Alley, is popular with Broadway fans.


The revival of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit is currently in previews and opens March 15. The cast includes Christine Ebersole, Rupert Everett, Jayne Atkinson (actually, you can glean this information from the photo above) and the immortal (well, she may be) Angela Lansbury.

Walking through Shubert Alley leads to W. 44th and immediately to several more famous destinations in the Theater District - Sardi's, the Helen Hayes Theatre, and the St. James Theater.

As the city planners think about ways to take automobiles off blocks of Broadway, it would be advantageous to find opportunities to incorporate more walking arcades and alleys into the Theater District and in other parts of the city.

For much more on the theatres of Broadway, see this related post.
Images by Walking Off the Big Apple. March 5, 2009.

The Walking Arcades of Midtown

Those of us with a flâneur sensibility go into throws of sophisticated excitement at the very sight of an arcade. I'm not talking about a shoot 'em up palace of games, but the kinds of passageways first built in Paris in the 19th century. Here, let me pass the mic over to Walter Benjamin, our greatest collective biographer, for a description of the early ones:

"An illustrated Paris guide said: 'These arcades, a new contrivance of industrial luxury, are glass covered, marble floored passages through entire blocks of houses, whose proprietors have joined forces in the venture. On both sides of these pass ages, which obtain their light from above, there are arrayed the most elegant shops, so that such an arcade is a city, indeed a world, in miniature'. The arcades were the setting for the first gas lighting." 1935 From The Arcades Project by Walter Benjamin

When I arrived at the New York City Center on W. 55th this past Sunday for a performance of Paul Taylor's company, I spotted an arcade across the street, and exploring it (it was rather humble), I glimpsed a fairer one in the distance. So, yesterday, I returned to Midtown to explore these arcades, four of them, that link 51st Street with 55th Street. I began with the spacious one between 51st and 52nd and then walked north through the rest.

This area of Midtown, around the hotels and places in the Theatre District, between 6th Avenue and 8th Avenue, features several arcades. Although these arcades in particular are a little too cold and corporate for my taste, they nicely break up these long blocks for the benefit of pedestrians. In fact, together they make a nice short-cut from City Center to Radio City Music Hall, if one ever needed that sort of thing.

Many of these large arcades came into existence as a trade between corporate developers and the city. The city provided the private developer with financial incentives to create these public spaces.

"There was the pedestrian who wedged himself into the crowd, but there was also the flâneur who demanded elbow room and was unwilling to forego the life of the gentleman of leisure. His leisurely appearance as a personality is his protest against the division of labour which makes people into specialists. it was also his protest against their industriousness. Around 1840 it was briefly fashionable to take turtles for a walk in the arcades. The flâneurs liked to have the turtles set the pace for them." 1938 Walter Benjamin

A turtle. Charming.

View Larger Map

The images are in sequence. The arcades pictured above are between 6th and 7th Avenues. Top image: Equitable Life, between 51st and 52nd St. Middle: Flathotel, between 52nd and 53rd St. Bottom: between 53rd and 54th. Not shown: the small passageway between 54th and 55th. I'll be writing more about these types of places, including the famous Shubert Alley (44th-45th, between 7th and 8th). I rather like that one in the middle that looks like it's lined with gigantic pumpkins.

Follow Your Money: The New York Financial Crisis & Recovery Walk

I think I've reached my bottom when it comes to bad financial news, a personal capitulation if you will, so I've devised a 10,000 step program to aid our road to recovery. Surveying the urban landscape of New York, the financial capital of the world, I've mapped out the pinpoints of flickering light (some have flicked off) - among them, AIG Private Client Group (70 Pine Street), Bernard Madoff's penthouse apartment (133 E. 64th St.), RIP Bear Stearns (383 Madison) until its purchase by JPMorgan Chase (270 Park Avenue), Lehman Brothers (745 7th Ave.), and several more. Feel free to connect the dots for a self-guided walk. And don't forget to stop in the increasingly relevant Museum of American Finance on Wall Street.


View Larger Map

"Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?"*

You may not know this, but the epicenter of financial forecasting is Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. For some reason, great wisdom about recessions and depressions emanate from this very heart of historic bohemia. The great Cassandra, Dr. Doom, Nouriel Roubini, teaches at NYU's Stern School, just off the park. Ben Bernanke, the Fed Chair and authority on the Great Depression, taught at NYU for a short time, and artist Edward Hopper, who showed us what empty streets look like in bad times, lived on the north side of the park most of his life. Washington Square Park is a veritable Findhorn when it comes to mysterious financial wisdom.

My close proximity to the park allowed even me, a flâneuse with a master's degree in American Civilization from the Universidad de Tejas, to tap into the vibrations. During the fall of 2007, while many New Yorkers whiled away their afternoons sipping absinthe, the Dow over 14,000, and chatting up the gentrification of the Bowery ("Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people. They're drinkin', thinkin' that they got it made"*), I was staring into the murky future of post-capitalism:

• Walking Off Class Struggle in New York 9/17/07
"Walking Off the Big Apple is increasingly concerned about the appalling division of social classes in the city. Though an ever-present part of the city's life, documented over the ages in fiction and non-fiction, the current configuration of hedge fund managers on top and the working poor at the bottom bothers the moral conscience."

• Style and Sustenance in NYC on $25 a Day 9/17/07
"Walking Off the Big Apple is sometimes upset, along with her fellow citizens, over not having enough money to enjoy the city. New Yorkers pay so much in rents and mortgages now that we have little for anything else. Budget-minded tourists, I would imagine, also feel like there's not much left after one night in a hotel. Luxury travelers, on the other hand, can afford the $1,000 a night hotel rooms and probably don't care how much they spend during the day."

• "The Pain Threshold," Or, Maintaining Dignity with Our Euro-spending Friends 10/7/07
"The weak dollar means that Americans will think twice about visiting Europe and also limit purchases of European goods. At some point, European companies arrive at "the pain threshold," and there comes a knocking at the door. Many articles in the business pages, such as this one, indicate the threshold has already been breached. It could get worse, though, and some one's hand could get caught in the door after it's open and then slammed back shut."

• Walking Off the Wall Street Bears: A Subprimer 11/13/07
"Much of the worries on Wall Street these days stem from the crisis in subprime mortgages, risky loans to often credit-risky individuals to buy homes for themselves. However, these individuals found themselves overwhelmed financially with often high adjustable rate mortgages, and they faced foreclosure. Some of the lenders are also up a creek."

Now, here in the late winter of 2009, I stare upward, awaiting future signs of where next to walk. I'll keep you posted.

* Lyrics, Bob Dylan. "Like a Rolling Stone." Proves my point about Washington Square.

Image from 9/25/2008. Wall Street subway station.

Snow Day: Washington Square Park

From Winter 2009

Some days are quiet in Greenwich Village, bespeaking the village origins of this community in lower Manhattan. The early mornings are almost always peaceful here, given over to runners and people walking their dogs, but gradually, the area around Washington Square Park picks up momentum when students start arriving for morning classes. On days with nice weather, the park is crowded by noon. When the weather really warms up in late spring, the area becomes a destination for residents and visitors alike to mill around the park, dine in cafes and restaurants, and drink in the pubs, bars, and taverns until the wee hours of the morning. But, on some days like today, with a major snow storm to keep people inside, life in the Village seems little different than in a rural hamlet.

Image: Washington Square Park, southeast corner, noon, after a major snowfall. March 2, 2009. The rust-colored building on the right is NYU's Bobst Library (Elmer Holmes Bobst), designed by Philip Johnson and Richard Foster, opened in 1973.

WOTBA New York Cultural Events Calendar: Monday, March 2 - Sunday, March 8, 2009

This Monday is a snow day here in New York, with a major snow storm in progress, yet some people will find in today's wintry conditions an opportune time to visit area parks and museums.

On Sunday or Monday of each week, I usually compile a list of ten or so recommended cultural events for the week. While choosing is hard, it must be done.

• ART. Monday, March 2. Martin Kippenberger: The Problem Perspective. Through May 11, 2009. MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art), 11 West 53 Street.

• MUSIC. Monday, March 2. Bellini's La Sonnambula. Directed by Mary Zimmerman with Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Florez. The Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center. See upcoming dates and info at Met Opera website. For more about Lincoln Center and a few notes about the opera, read my recent post here.

• ART. Tuesday, March 3. Tony Oursler. Cell Phones Diagrams Cigarettes Searches and Scratch Cards. Through 11 April 2009. Metro Pictures, 519 W 24th St.

• FILM. Tuesday, March 3. Adam Resurrected (2008). 9 p.m. A black comedy with Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe, Derek Jacobi, and Ayelet Zurer. Director Paul Schrader in person. Film Society of Lincoln Center. Series: Film Comment Selects.

• MUSIC. Tuesday, March 3 and Wednesday, March 4. Van Morrison, performing with Astral Weeks. Beacon Theatre.

• MUSIC. Tuesday, March 3- Sunday, March 8. Michel Legrand Jazz Trio, String Quartet and Harp. 8:30 and 11 p.m. Birdland, 313 West 44th Street.

• DANCE. Wednesday, March 4 Savion Glover. 7:30pm. Joyce Theater, Chelsea.

• ART. Thursday, March 5. The Armory Show - International Art Fair of New York. March 5-8. Piers 92 & 94, Twelfth Avenue at 55th St. Thursday, March 5 - Saturday, March 7 Noon to 8 pm; Sunday, March 8 Noon to 7 pm.

• THE CURRENT CRISIS. Friday, March 6. “Meltdown: The Economic Collapse and a People’s Plan for Recovery” panel discussion 7pm. New York Society for Ethical Culture, Upper West Side. Free.

• FILM. Friday, March 6. New 35mm restoration of John Stahl's Leave Her to Heaven (1945). Film Forum, 209 W Houston St. "The American family melodrama at its most neurotic. Stahl's film is so lurid that it seems to exist on another plane of reality."– Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

Image: In a snowy day, it's fun to melt peeps in hot chocolate.