Tag Archives: american culture

NYC Photo Journal: Halloween 2014: Rob and Dorit Thereminize at Joe’s Pub

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Joe’s Pub is a nightclub/bar/theater venue for New Yorkers of all ages. Halloween night is special: out come the theremins for a little spookiness to add to your dinner. Meanwhile, outside, and a few blocks down, you have the world renown Halloween parade, and chances are while walking the streets you’ll see a lot of fake blood and some very interesting costumes. If they are costumes. After all, this is the Village. (Greenwich Village)   Meanwhile, inside, the usually great burgers are being served (it was a busy night and many orders were incorrect), but (cousin) Rob Schwimmer and Dorit … Continue reading →

NYC Photo Journal: OHNY (Open House New York) Brooklyn Booze to the Dump

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This was the twelfth annual Open House New York weekend, where New Yorkers get to prowl around, crawl through and visit places in the city that are normally closed to the public. It’s a great way to see the behind the scenes operations of the city, see architects’ and artists’ studios and offices, tour incredible architecture, learn about history, see entrepreneurship in action. I spend a lot of time in Brooklyn and Saturday provided me with entré to: 1. The Brooklyn Navy Yard. Here we learned about some young folks who got together and started a distillary in a beautiful old … Continue reading →

NYC Photo Journal: From 1887 to Modern Times

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Saturday, September 20, 2014   but …   eventually I was at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, for a luncheon, a celebration of alumni and tours of buildings. There had been a terrible fire in a building and the subsequent reconstruction of it was wonderful. A few photos. The fun and interesting thing about this well-renown institution of art and architecture that was founded in 1887, is that a myriad of stray cats live in the boiler room. The cats are cared for, fed, taken to the vet, and adored by students and faculty members, alike. They roam the … Continue reading →

Fresh Heir

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  Vivian Dorothea Maier b. February 1, 1926, New York City d. April 21, 2009 (aged 83), Chicago More and more people have stumbled upon the story of the New York City born photographer who worked as a nanny in Chicago, and, who, in her “spare time” took more than 150,000 photographs. The photographs were taken mainly in Chicago, but also in New York City and during worldy travels; street photographs that document the quotidian nanoseconds of the lives of people of all ages; laughing, crying, looking at the lens or moving past, clueless. She favored a Rolleiflex; black and white … Continue reading →

New York City Photo Journal: From Madeline to Sunset

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  In an old house in Paris, that was covered in vines, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines…the smallest one was Madeline. In addition to the Madeline books, Bemelmans was a prolific writer and wrote for adults. He was involved with working in, decorating and writing about restaurants and bars. Ludwig Bemelmans’ grandson has taken over the Madeline legacy: John Bemelmans Marciano. There is nothing like the original. One of my favorite museums: The New-York Historical Society New-York Historical Society 170 Central Park West at Richard Gilder Way (77th Street) New York, NY 10024 Phone (212) 873-3400   … Continue reading →

On Stage: Heaven and Hell: The Passenger

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  The Passenger An opera by the late Mieczyslaw Weinberg based on a radio play by Zofia Posmysz, libretto by Alexander Medvedev. As part of New York City’s Lincoln Center festival, the opera was performed by the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra, conducted by Patrick Summers, staged at the Park Avenue Armory, a grand venue. The Passenger is about heaven and hell. In heaven, one is aboard a ship bound for Brazil. Passengers walk the deck, drink, dance. All is white: the people, their clothes, the band, their instruments. All is pure until it is divulged … Walter is a German … Continue reading →

1964, When All Was Fair

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    Welcome to the past: The fiftieth anniversary of the World’s Fair is the background for memories that I will share in a subsequent post. I was a High School student at the time, and the 1964 World’s Fair, housed in Flushing Meadows Park in Queens, was the thrill of every visitor. The fair’s theme was “Peace Through Understanding,” its icon was a 12-story steel model of the Earth called the “Unisphere,” and it ran for two six-month seasons, April 22 – October 18, 1964 and April 21 – October 17, 1965. Admission price for adults (13 and older) … Continue reading →

Phreaking Out: The Incredible Era of Phone Hacking in the 60’s and 70’s

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When I first heard about “Phone Phreaking” I was in the car. It was about two months ago and I was mesmerized by an NPR program. Phone Phreaking was a 1960’s phenomenon that continued into later years. It was a cult, an in-club for a select group of young folks, mainly, to commune from afar and break the law by hacking the phone. These were teens, outlaws, misfits, techies, the nerds of yesterday gone wild, invading the secrets of mass communication and learning a language that only machines could speak. It was true to the times, it was The Who’s … Continue reading →

Part 2: A Vacation Journal: Hundertvasser, MoCA, Xu Bing, Phoenix, Amish Chicken

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Sunday, July 14, 2013 First stop at the Eclipse Mill: Now a home for artists and writers, the mill houses beautiful works and creative workers. I saw a small but excellent exhibit by the artist Hundertvasser, whose art has been featured on postage stamps. They are beautiful modern works that have embedded foil.   Second Stop: Mass MoCA. There are always many works to see of various artists.         But the most incredible exhibit was of the featured artist, Xu Bing, from China, whose works are monumental and criticisms and reflections of society. His animation on the … Continue reading →

Mercury in Retrograde: Think Before You Hit “Send”

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Here’s a good one. We are in a retrograde: when this happens, with >>> Mercury, <<<< communication gets bollixed. Means of communication get wonky. Come to think of it, I still do not have my phone issues resolved with Verizon. Sometimes communication gets really tangled, misconstrued, lost. Other times things that have gone unresolved pop-up and get closure. This was one heckuva pop-up! But there is no closure… My nephew received an iPhone for his High School graduation and while he was in Florida with his folks recently, visiting grandma, (the very grandma who will be moving back to New … Continue reading →

314. Opera: Dr. Atomic: John Adams: The Metropolitan Opera, NYC

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Dr. Atomic premiered in San Francisco in 2005. From the Met Playbill: “This monumental contemporary opera is a riveting examination of one of the most significant episodes in world history: the events leading up to the testing of the first atomic bomb in New Mexico in 1945. Like composer John Adams’s previous operas Nixon in China and The Death of Klinghoffer, doctor Atomic not a reenactment of a historical moment but rather an exploration of the people, personalities, and issues involved in an epic incident. The focus of the piece is the title character, J. Robert Oppenheimer, the cultivated American … Continue reading →

566. The Save The Post Office Quest: Evan in Linn’s Stamp News

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The latest in my son’s quest to memorialize the U.S. Post Offices that are threatened or that have been closed. Click to enlarge; the article is in the blue box.   3 CommentsChronological   Reverse   Threaded   reply jadedruid wrote on Dec 7, ’11 I think it is very cool that he is getting so much press about this. It is an awesome idea. editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Dec 7, ’11 I saw this on your Facebook page. I’m saving everything! reply sanssouciblogs wrote on Dec 8, ’11 Very cool! xoxo    

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566. My Son Evan In TIME Magazine

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Never would I imagine that my son would be featured in The Washington Post (internet and hard copy), National Public Radio, NPR, the BBC, Australian Radio and TIME Magazine (on-line and now hard copy, below), but here we go. Click on the pages to enlarge.   11 CommentsChronological   Reverse   Threaded reply exukbritbrat wrote on Dec 9, ’11, edited on Dec 9, ’11 I’m going to Superpharm tomorrow in the hope that this edition has arrived.  Then instead of standing in the aisle reading it i shall buy it!  Never underestimate your child!  Look who he has a parent!  Like mother … Continue reading →

385. Part 3a. Photo Journal: A pit stop at the Yankee Candle Company

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Friday, 7/17/09 Over the Berkshires and through the woods… We are traveling northwest to the town of North Adams. (lower right arrow to upper left arrow) This is what happened along the way; a pit stop at THE Yankee Candle Store in South Deerfield. A bathroom stop ended up being an over an hour adventure. (Last year’s trip led us to The Vermont Country Store; once you go in you can’t get out! Former post) Room after room, theme after theme, shop after shop. Almost as good as Disney Land. Ha! I just linked this with an About article and … Continue reading →

533. The Pornography of Advertising?: Killing us Softly: Jean Kilbourne

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“Even Cindy Crawford would like to look like Cindy Crawford.” This morning I received an email which contained a link to the final video here. After I watched it, I found the previous parts of the video/documentary and decided to post them. As per Wikipedia: “Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D. (born January 4, 1943) is a feminist author, speaker, and filmmaker who is internationally recognized for her groundbreaking work on the image of women in advertising and her critical studies of alcohol and tobacco advertising. She is also credited with introducing the idea of educating about media literacy as a way to … Continue reading →

458. Is It Too Much to Ask For Things to Work? Blame It On The Computer.

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My on-going rant continues, and will be twittered and fed through Facebook. My hope is that eventually one of Dell’s people will read my blast. I’ll call this one: Who’s Minding the Store? Excuse me while I open my briefcase filled with righteous indignation and let it fly. I wonder what people who lived during the incredible time of the Industrial Revolution would think of this blog. Their lives were changed by the advent of processing and manufacturing, machines, and mass production. Long hours. Moving away from farms and into cities. The world has been spinning out of control. From … Continue reading →

385. Part 3a. Photo Journal: A pit stop at the Yankee Candle Company

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Friday, 7/17/09 Over the Berkshires and through the woods… We are traveling northwest to the town of North Adams. (lower right arrow to upper left arrow) This is what happened along the way; a pit stop at THE Yankee Candle Store in South Deerfield. A bathroom stop ended up being an over an hour adventure. (Last year’s trip led us to The Vermont Country Store; once you go in you can’t get out! Former post) Room after room, theme after theme, shop after shop. Almost as good as Disney Land. Ha! I just linked this with an About article and … Continue reading →

436. Hot Soupy and Pie: on the late Soupy Sales

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I know that somewhere in the depths of my posts there is at least a mention if not a blog on the late Soupy Sales who passed away at age 83, in The Bronx, New York. He died in a hospice after a long illness. He was born Milton Supman in Franklinton, N.C. The Supmans were the only Jewish family in town and owned a dry goods store. He dubbed himself “Soupy” because his neighbors pronounced his last name as “Soupman.” In his early years he was a dance-show host and d.j. and collected jazz; he used Charlie Parker’s “Yardbird … Continue reading →

271. Travel Part 4: Art for Sunday: On to North Adams, MA: Mass MoCA: What’s new in contemporary art

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Part A – From last year’s post on North Adam’s MA, to give you a little background. Saturday July 7, 2007 Our annual trek to the Berkshire Mountains. North Adams, MA We love it this area of Massachusetts; it is a juxtaposition of blue collar and culture. North Adams was a mill town, like many other towns situated near canals. In the 1800’s factories sprung up near water which enabled transit of materials and goods. In the 1980’s the Sprague Electric Works was shut down and deemed a contaminated site.The company was housed in a 19th century mill which stood … Continue reading →