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ANTHONY'S ARCHIVES

August 2006 - April 2007

-  April 27, 2007 - 

May Day - 1956

Back in the 1950’s in Brooklyn, my parish church of St. Thomas Aquinas, celebrated May Day with the crowning of Mary, BVM - “Blessed Virgin Mary”   On this particular Sunday, all the girls dressed in white like bridesmaids and the boys also in white in short pants and buster brown collars. We all carried flowers of spring. A marching band led all the church societies, nuns, priests and parishioners in procession around the block with banners furling. In the church, a vestal virgin like young girl on a side altar, crowned the statue of our “blessed mother” with a wreathe of lilies.

And we all jubilantly sang:

Bring flowers of the rarest,
Bring blossoms the fairest,
From garden and woodland and hillside and dale;
Our full hearts are swelling,
Our glad voices telling
The praise of the loveliest flower of the vale.

O Mary, we crown thee with blossoms today,
Queen of the Angels and Queen of the May,
O Mary, we crown thee with blossoms today,
Queen of the Angels and Queen of the May.

Melody

I am sure in some mysterious way this rite of spring came down through the centuries from the pagans to the Christians to the worshippers in Park Slope Brooklyn in 1956.

(note the date on side of above photograph)

-  April 27, 2007 - 

"The Last Roundabout"

I

Guess I will never learn! I gave up my subscription to the Roundabout Theatre Company four years ago but I bought a single ticket to their revival of “110 in the Shade.” After 4 years of attending 20 productions I only stayed twice for the entire play. Wow, have I seen a lot of first acts.  Roundabout somehow landed on Broadway. It’s like the angels plopped down the Papermill Playhouse in New Jersey on 42nd St. What I mean to say is that their productions are merely adequate.  They sign up so-called  “stars” from the TV or Film World and drop them into “classics” whether they fit or not. So I went to see “110.” 

Soon as I heard the new tinny orchestrations I knew that second act was not in my cards. A chorus of 8 was supposed to be an entire town - yeah a ghost town I guess from the drought. And the “stars”: John Cullum who was too old to be Audra McDonald dad and she was neither gawky, ugly or fat to drive her to sing the riveting first act aria “Old Maid”.  So I stayed for the second act. Why? I wanted to see how they would handle the rain. HA! HA! A single pipe over downstage so the actors had to walk into it to ensure they got wet. I got soaked yet again

- April 16, 2007 - 

"Rainy Days and Mondays"

"Talkin' to myself and feelin' old

Sometimes I'd like to quit

Nothing ever seems to fit

Hangin' around

Nothing to do but frown

Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down"

The Carpenters

- April 15, 2007 - 

"Supreme" Moment

Bloomberg Radio interviewed our own Gary Newman for his wonderful involvement with the Off Broadway theatre company, New York Theatre Workshop.

Gary's Interview

Me and my sister in our Easter finest bought at Robert Hall's in Newburgh, New York

- April 9, 2007 - 

Dyngus Day

On Holy  Saturday, the day before Easter as a young boy, my family colored Easter Eggs, cooked the kielbasa and baked an Eater Ham (my polish ancestry) but.... on the day after Easter I got to throw water on my mother and sister!

Dyngus Day, also spelled Dingus Day, is a Polish Holiday always the Monday after Easter..  It is very popular in Poland, and in Polish communities in America. After the long Lenten holiday, Dyngus Day is a day of fun. It is always celebrated on the Monday after Easter.

Guys, on this day get to wet the ladies down. Sprinkling or drenching with water is the goal. They chase after the ladies with squirt guns, buckets, or other containers of water. The more bold and gallant boys, may choose to use cologne. Hitting (gently, please) the ladies on the legs with switches or pussy willows is also common. Yes ladies, can strike back.

Ladies , got their revenge on Tuesday, when tradition has it that you throw dishes or crockery back at the boys. It has become increasingly popular for the ladies to get their revenge on Monday, tossing water back at the boys.

Note: Dyngus Day is also called Wet Easter Monday. Hmmmmm, I wonder why!?

Origin of Dyngus Day:

When exploring the roots of Dyngus Day, Historians point to the baptism of Polish Prince Mieszko I in 966 A.D. Baptism with water signifies cleansing, fertility, and purification.  Somewhere along the way, the tradition of tossing water on the girls and hitting them with pussy willows evolved.

April 1, 2007 - 

Fools  Day

APRIL is the cruellest month, Breeding lilacs out of the dead land,

Mixing Memory and desire,

Stirring dull roots with spring rain.

The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot

Fools Day began in the 1500's when the Gregorian Calendar took over from the Julian. Those who forgot the change and attempted to celebrate New Years Day (previously celebrated on the 1st of April) on the wrong date were teased as "April Fools."  Well in New York City it would be easy to act the fool since we have to track all the ethnic New Year celebrations: Lunar New Year, Rosh Hashanah and Muharam to mention only a few.  At least April lost Daylights saving time to March to confuse us even further. Happy New Year!

March 20, 2007 - 

"March Madness"

Well I dragged Gary to a marathon performance of the three plays of "Coast of Utopia" by Tom Stoppard. We started at 11 am and finished at 11 pm. Three plays with two hour breaks between for lunch and dinner. The first two plays are terrifcally written and staged. It is unfortunate that the final play's story line based on fact peters out and does not conclude with a dramatic flourish. It is a shame. I guess once Stoppard locked himself into a historical epic he could not change the facts. So go see the first two plays and you won't  feel shipwrecked if you abandon ship and don't stay for the final one.

- February 27, 2007 - 

CARNEVALE!

On February 17, the Saturday before Ash Wednesday, Gary and I with 50 family members, friends and business associates celebrated Carnevale.

Carnevale means “farewell to meat” in Latin while Marde Gras is french for “Fat Tuesday” the day before Lent. Carnevale observes the final overindulging in revelry, food and drink before the last dark days of winter and the abstemious observance of Lent. For the last 32 years I have been observing this festive day in some form or another.

Back flash to 1960 when I was in parochial school in Newburgh, NY. My parish announced a Carnevale Supper Party on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.  Since my parents could not go since my father had Parkinson’s disease, I went by myself – quite adventurous for a 13-year-old boy. The basement of the schoo, Gallo Hall, was decorated in red white and green streamers with cafeteria tables filled with steaming trays of lasagna and bracciole. An accordionist played the Tarantella while I danced misty eyed with an old lady named Anna, dressed in black. I wolfed down three sfinge and two cannoli. I was in Italian heaven.  Maybe this was the family I never had as I devoured the food, the company, the music, the masks, the dancing, the laughing and all the love that appeared to be overflowing. The next day was back to home and ashes.

After graduate school in 1974, I was living in Park Slope, Brooklyn sharing a great floor-through with my two roommates, Fran and Loretta (we were the original “Threes Company”).  In that cold winter of unemployment and discontent, I thought back to that Tuesday night at Sacred Heart School and decided to throw my own Carnevale to escape the blues.

Fran, Loretta and I invited our friends and family maybe around 30 of us total. The parlor was festooned in red, white and green and Loretta had made lasagna (she was so drunk during the party she tried to remove the tray from the oven without potholders! OUCH) I was DJ and put on a LP, “Never Can Say Goodbye” Gloria Gaynor’s new disco hit. We danced around the living room as the frost melted on the windows.

In 1976 we decided to return the holiday to its Venetian roots and required costumes. I came dressed as Saint Anthony including the Baby Jesus, Loretta as the White Rock Girl and Fran as Olive Oy. We danced with 75 other costumed revelers to “Turn the Beat Around” by Vickie Sue Robinson.

The party got so big that we moved it to a loft in Manhattan and attendance grew to 250 by 1982. We dropped the food, charged $10 to cover rental and DJ. We even had a costume parade and awarded prizes. First prize went one year to Scarlett O’Hara in a balloon cotillion dress and one year to Dorian Gray complete with gilt frame and once to a sexy faun with hairy legs and bare smooth chest (get me drunk to hear the rest of that story!)

The dark era of Aids set in and like the Dark Ages, we all retreated in fear and anxiety for a few years.  After the loss of many friends and time lost to the spirit of Carnevale as it stole back in. At first it was just dinner with a few close friends at Tommaso’s restaurant in Brooklyn that celebrated the feast.

I started to build a new family of friends and loved ones to replace my lost family of youth and my dearest friends vanquished by the scourge of Aids. In 1994, twenty of us attended a matinee of the Lincoln Center production of “Carousel.” I hired a minicoach and we went off to Coney Island on a cold Saturday in February and rode the carousel and ate at Gargioulo’s, a famous Italian haunt close by to the Cyclone. 

Flash forward to 13 festivity filled years later and last week, February 17, 2007. Fifty of us attended a matinee of “A Chorus Line” followed by meeting the cast after the show.  We hopped on a motorcoach and drank champagne and listened to my favorite Broadway overtures. When we arrived in Brooklyn, Loretta told our tale of Carnevale as we passed out feathered masks, noisemakers, champagne poppers, serpentines and Marde Gras beads (and yes some Ladies bared all to get them!). Gary turned his traditional cartwheels down the motorcoach aisle as we approached Tommaso’s.

We had a 12 course Italian gala dinner with plenty of wine and beer and cheer. Tommaso dressed as Pagliaccio, sang “The Wind Beneath My Wings”, a song he has sung for me many times dedicated to all of our friends that were no longer with us.

The highlight of evening is always Gary’s and my “performance". Gary’s sister, Denise joined us as we entered as the “Dreamettes” and lip-synced and danced in unison. “We’re Your Dream Girls- We Will Make You Happy...” We tossed out while cocktail gloves and we all disco-danced ourselves silly into the night. Exhausted we all climbed back on the bus heading into Manhattan as we watched the DVD of the movie "Moonstruck." "Snap out of it!"

"Snap out of it indeed!'

They say you can’t choose your family. WRONG. After 32 years, I have a very choice extended family of partner, brother, sister, in-laws, personal and business friends.  On the gray day of Ash Wednesday, the morning after every Carnevale, I can look back and say what such a lucky guy I am. Carnevale can mean Carpe Diem too and I could die tomorrow with a great smile. "All You Have to Do is Dream..." But then I remember, the sunrise of Easter is only a short 40 days away.

- February 7, 2007 - 

Italian Jounneys

Well it was a rude shock to return to NYC and face bitter temperatures after being in sunny Italy for two weeks.

Gary and I landed in Rome and spent two glorious days in our beloved city. This is my favorite place in the world after New York. A simple stroll down a narrow stone cobbled street is an adventure when the little byway opens up onto a wonderful surprising piazza.

We motored up through Umbria to the shrine of St. Francis at Assisi.  One of the joys of traveling off-season is not having hoards of Germans, Vandals or school groups flashing their cameras around you. In the silence of the basilica one can almost sense the saintliness of Francis.

Via Perugia, Siena and San Gimigano we arrived in the jewel of Tuscany, Firenze where the Briggs teams joined us for 4 days of wonderful tours, vino, food and more vino. What can one say that many famous authors have eloquently waxed on about the Duomo, the David, Ufizzi and Ponte Vecchio. We had a day in the country truffle hunting with a dog name Lampo, lightning in Italian. He dug up 8 of them!

After the group flew to Rome, Gary, our dear friend, Mary Dearborn and myself landed like Odysseus on Sicily.  What a wonderful, mysterious mythic land. Palermo is a fascinating city with its mixture of Greek, Roman, Norman, Arab, Spanish architecture and cuisine. We stopped at Cefalu a lovely seaside resort which did make us wish we visiting in season to enjoy the turquoise blue sea. We did have lunch of arancine (rice balls) and cannoli seaside as the small waves lapped at our feet.

The full moon hovered over our terrace at the San Domenico Palace in Taormina. It was so large you felt you could reach up and touch it. We hiked up a smoking Mt. Etna with the snow and black lava all around us like a lunar landscape. And we visited Kaos, the hometown of the famous Italian writer, Luigi Pirandello.

And from Kaos we returned to Gotham-

We proudly think we have it better in the USA but sitting on Piazza Navona sipping an espresso and watching the passigetta makes one wonder if we really do.

January 9, 2007 - 

"Men don't make passes at girls who wear glasses!"

Last night’s Gary Newman, Briggs Managing Director channeled the famous Dorothy Parker at our Fifth Annual June Briggs Awards celebrated at the "21" Club. As always, Gary gave a wonderful reading and since you couldn’t be there, here is an excerpt:

                                                        "A Diary from a New York Lady"

                            During Days of Horror, Despair, and World Change

Monday.

Breakfast tray about eleven; didn't want it. The champagne at the Amory's last night was too revolting, but what can you do?  You can't stay until five o'clock on just nothing.  They had those divine Hungarian musicians in the green coats, and Stewie Hunter took off one of his shoes and led them with it, and it couldn't have been funnier.  Ollie Martin bought me home and we both fell asleep in the car - too screaming.

Miss Rose came about noon to do my nails, simply covered with the most divine gossip.  Didn't notice until after she had gone that the damn fool had put that revolting tangerine-colored polish on my nails; couldn't have been more furious.

Started to read a book, but too nervous.  Called up and got two tickets for the opening of "Run like a Rabbit" for tonight.  Telephoned some divine numbers to go with me, but they were all tied up.  Finally got Ollie Martin.  He couldn't have more poise, and what do I care if he is one?

Can't decide whether to wear the green crepe or the red wool. Every time I look at my fingernails, I could spit.

Damn Miss Rose.

- January 1, 2007 - 

"Bang the Pot Fast!"

When I was a boy in the Bronx, I was allowed to stay up till midnight on New Year’s Eve. My aunt would make homemade pizza and my family would all play “tumbula”, sort of an Italian version of Bingo!  At midnight I would run out into the tenement hallways and bang a big pot with a wooden spoon to celebrate the New Year and ward off evil spirits. I still do it.

- December 25, 2006 - 

"What Child Is This?"

- December 15, 2006 - 

"One Night Only"

“One Night Only” was first title of DreamGirls when it was work-shopped back in the 1980’s. I was fortunate to see the original Broadway production directed by the late and sadly lamented genius Michael Bennett.  After 25 years, DreamGirls is on the screen. Nothing will match the visceral excitement of the live production but I have to admit the movie is darn good. It is ironic that the Broadway staging was highly cinematic while the film version is highly theatrical in its style, lighting and pacing.

The two big surprise performances are by Eddie Murphy (who knew he could sing and move?) and by Jennifer Hudson who manages believe it or not to out do Jennifer Holiday in the big Diva-in -the- Sky number; “I am telling you, I am not going.”  She blows away Beyonce who does however look incredibly beautiful as “Diana Ross.”

The writer/director Bill Condon who scripted the film version of Chicago has done an excellent job. He has changed the script to incorporate the 1950 racial tensions and radio-recording payola milieu. He was very clever to start the movie with only the on stage performance songs and holds back till a big emotional moment where the characters use song to express their feelings.   All in all it’s a great holiday movie like Chicago and far superior to Phantom and Rent.

- December 5, 2006 - 

"Where ya going? - Barcelona"

Just got back from Barcelona while attending EIBTM. What a beautiful city, sort of a mixture of Paris and Rome. The Modernista movement architecture of Gaudi is mind boggling in its use of re-cycled materials and colors. The Gothic Quarter is a fascinating warren of side streets filled with quaint shops and tapas bars. The Christmas Market vendors had just opened all around the cathedral selling mangers with all the accompanying figurines Once strange tradition is placing a “shitting shepherd” in the crèche that the children gleefully try to discover among the many characters of the Nativity.

- November 28, 2006 - 

Bad Day on Black Friday

When did "Black Friday" become a national holiday? It seems like we should call Thanksgiving, "Black Friday Eve!"  Stores open at midnight for consumer show downs! My mother used to start her shopping on Labor Day and use the lay-away plan. Remember those times before credit cards? She would spy a coat or toy for us and then have it laid away with a deposit and paid it down till Christmas. Remember Christmas Clubs? Remember when we said "Merry Christmas" and not the PC "Happy Holiday"?  Feliz Navidad!

- November 13, 2006 - 

Breast of Lame Duck

Thanksgiving and the Macy*s  parade are coming up. After last week’s Republican debacle, I am serving duck instead of turkey. Now that we all have "seats at the table", we can share sides of ego stuffing, masher potatoes, bumpkin and rum-filled pies and Democratic relish. Before dinner, our voices will raise in song for grace and thanks: “We gather together to thank the voter’s blessing, they chasten and hasten their will to make known.  The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing. Sing praises to his name they forget not their own.”

- November 6, 2006 -

"Come Out, Come Out Who Ever You Are!'

Well one more high placed religious leader has tumbled from their self-made heaven of righteousness and arrogance. There is really one simple answer to all of this. Just accept homosexuality as one expression of God’s and nature’s wonderful diversity. If we did this, there would be no reason to hide one's essence. The religious leader or governor would have no need to get married for convenience and then have to cheat. The government would not have to spend unnecessary time and money to monitor “Don’t ask – don’t’ tell.” Unwanted children could have loving adopted parents. The News can focus on issues that really matter. The President can get us out of the war. The Pope can have time to heal the sick and feed the poor. And we all can be much happier.

- October 31, 2006 -

A Treat Grows in Brooklyn

Back in the 1920’s, right through to the 60’s, the children of Brooklyn would fill nylon stockings with flour and use large colored chalk sticks to make their marks on every wall, sidewalk and surface in sight! And if you were chicken, you probably wouldn’t have taken part in the many egg fights that the older kids in the neighborhood would start. It wasn’t so much about the treats as the tricks back then. On 86th St. between 4th & 5th Avenues in Bay Ridge, the stores used to sponsor a contest for the best decorated windows. Local school children would paint fantastical spooky scenes on the storefront windows with  colored “glass-wax”.

- October 29, 2006 -

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

There are some shows I know I am going to hate from the opening overture downbeat. The conductor was in the orchestra pit but the sound was so electronically amplified and tinny that I wondered why they even bothered to have live musicians. They could have just had it all on tape. (well the musicians union wouldn’t allow that but I am sure Disney would love to!).

This is yet another cardboard Disney production that belongs in Orlando not on Broadway. The “Animatronics” in the Magic Kingdom’s Hall of Presidents and “It’s a Small World” show and garner more emotions than the robotics on the New Amsterdam stage. Imagine hearing the "Small World" song over and over for three hours. It is apropos that Disney owns the New Amsterdam, home of the Ziegfeld Follies. All of their shows are really only vaudeville reviews held together by a thin narrative thread. – scene piled upon scene. The only uplifting moment in the show is when Mary Poppins levitates up to the theatre ceiling not unlike the finale of that other ghastly show Cats.  As I was sitting there I kept thinking how magical Mary Martin's Peter Pan was. During that show we eagerly clapped for Tinkerbelle to stay alive, not clap for the expertise of Flying by Foy.

The scenery is bombastic and often gets stuck like the behemoth set of Sunset Blvd. It may be the only dramatic action on stage when the vast mansion set moves up and down. Also I have not seen so many old fashioned “in one” scenes played in front of a downstage drop since Show Boat.

The acting is cardboard and often unintelligible. Ashley Brown as Mary is wooden and uncharming, Gavin Lee as Bert should have stayed in London and the children were ghastly. The only interesting performance was by Ruth Gottshcall as the wicked Miss Andrew.

One tell-tale sign of a non engaging show is when my mind starts to wonder. During the dance break of “Step in Time”  I mused that Mary “pops in” to the family scene, ascending and descending from the heavens like the Virgin Mary herself dispensing her blessing on the children. In this case a spoonful of medicine would have helped the sugar go down. Oh Julie where art thou? Rent the DVD.

- October 30, 2006 -

Ironman

This weekend my good friend from Rome stopped in NYC on his way back from the 2006 IronMan competition in Hawaii (he is a consummate triathlon participant too). Danilo trains at the exclusive Hotel de Russie by the Spanish Steps and that is how I met him while working out at their gym back in 2000. So I arranged a fun evening for Gary and my NYC trainers (Reebok Sports Club, Sports Club LA and Elysium) to meet him. It was a great night of Mexican food and margaritas discussing the state of sports in both our countries, current affairs and even Madonna's adopting. We Americans think we are so savvy but in essence we are provincial in our international attitudes -in vino veritas.

October 19, 2006 -

"The Garden of Edie - An American Tragedy"

Christine Ebersole is spellbinding in the new musical version of Grey Gardens based on the famous cult 1976 documentary. The documentary filmed six weeks in the very eccentric lives of Edie Bouvier Beale and her controlling mother Edith. There home “Grey Gardens” in the Hampton’s has fallen into such squalor that Eddies cousin, Jackie O embarrassingly comes their rescue. Seeing the movie before the musical definitely enhances the experience. The musical cleverly sets up the second act (which the documentary covers) with the “what ifs” of 30 years prior.  The first act music is a loving pastiche of Kern, Gershwin and Porter contrasted to the Sondheim acidity of the second act. One of the final songs “Around the World” sound like an homage to “My Way” which would make sense since Edie certainly did it her way. The ending is very poignant - Little Edie is trapped with the tragedy of having no choice in of life, living with her mom, her cats and her “memories.”   It looks like Tony Award winning performances for Diva Ebersole and Mary Louise Wilson as Edith.

- October 18, 2006 -

"The Devil Made Me Do It!"

We all used to laugh at Flip Wilson's TV character, Geraldine when she said "The devil made me do it!" Well it is not funny at all when today's DC Capitol sinners use the same line. He blames his alcoholism and now child abuse for his actions with his staff. Can't anyone today just say, " I screwed up!" There must be something wrong with me to be the way I am. I just came out natural. "Very interesting!"

- October 13, 2006 -

“Little Italy in Spanish Harlem”

Spanish Harlem was once known as Italian Harlem, home to the largest Italian American population in New York City even larger than downtown. All that changed in late 1950's as most of the immigrants moved up and out. Only some grandmothers still remain, sitting at their window sills . There are though some restaurants that still remain, a palimpsest of the past. Patsy's Pizza on First Avenue 117/118th Streets is the true original pizzeria with one of the few legal coal burning ovens in the city. Legend has it that Sinatra would call from Vegas for some pies and have them flown out to him! Another quaint old-fashioned place is Piatto D'Oro on 349 E. 109th St. Aime is the congenial host serving up some tasty spaghetti & meatballs and a dish called Breast of Sophia Loren! When I go there I imagine Michael Corleone running out of the toilet as I yell, "Drop the gun!."

- October 12, 2006 -

“Hello Gorgeous!”

Barbra Streisand serenaded Gary last night for his birthday at a sold out concert at Madison Square Garden.

Prior to the show we spotted a very thin Oprah with her "girlfriend" Gayle, Michael Kors of design and "Project Runway" fame, Mike Wallace, Rosie, Donna Karan, Geraldo Rivera, Mayor Koch, Jason Gould (Bab's son with Elliott Gould), Tony Bennett, The Divine M, and Diana Krall. Some crowd!

Barbra sang wonderfully in some unflattering Karan wardrobe. Il Divo looked liked Disney World manequins that were programed to sing like Andrea Bocelli. They were an insult to the the real La Diva's talent.

The highlight of the evening though was when Streisand shouted out "Shut the f**k up!" to a heckler during an unfortunate President Bush sketch the kind that should have been cut from "Saturday Night Live." You can take the girl out of Brooklyn but not Brooklyn out of the girl! She later apologized to the crowd for the outburst.

- October 11, 2006 -

“You Can Go Home Again!”

Last Saturday I took the D train up to the Bronx to visit my old neighborhood, the Belmont/Arthur Avenue section – the authentic Little Italy of New York City.   I find it exhilarating to walk down Fordham Road starting at the Grand Concourse (The Champs-Elysees of the Bronx!) – past the Loewe’s Paradise, the old Alexander’s and all the stores and street hawkers.  As a boy in the 50’s this thoroughfare was filled with Italians, Irish and Jews. Today, the new Latino immigrants shop and buy their children Easter outfits and gold for their daughter's Quinceanera. They are the heart and soul of  our city: the house keepers, restaurant workers, hotel staff, construction workers and school teachers.

Once you cross Third Avenue (I miss the El), the bustle subdues. The tranquil campus of Fordham University is on your left while the treetops of the Bronx Zoo and the NY Botanical Gardens looms ahead. The old White Castle is still serving up “belly bombers” (“buy ‘em by the stack”) without the tray car service by young ladies on roller skates. The Bronx Park Motel still rents rooms by the hour. LOL. 

A right turn onto Arthur Avenue brings me to the “nabe.” You can smell the baked bread, cappuccino and pizza.  First stop for me is for fresh ravioli at Borgatti’s on 187th Street - next some good Barolo at Mt. Carmel Wines with a stop at DeLillo’s Pastry for cannoli and savoiardi.

Back on Arthur Ave. you pass by many small shops, a throwback to the day when one shopped at a different store to buy their specialty -past the rabbits and lambs hanging in Biancardi’s Meats, the roasted coffee beans of Maries Roasted Coffee, cheeses and olives at Teitels and the prosciutto bread and pignoli at Madonia Bakery. 

Down the block is the grand but faded open market on Arthur Ave. Mayor LaGuardia banned street vendors that were clogging the streets with their pushcarts. He built markers around the boroughs where the vendors could rent stalls to sell their wares. It is a nostalgic stroll down memory lane to a bygone way of life. Close your eyes and you could be walking a stalls in Naples – ceramic bowls, espresso machines, bracciole, figs, tripe, torrone and arancini. nhh

Last stop is for dinner at Roberto’s, my favorite restaurant in all of NYC. It must be a lot of people’s favorite since there is a long line to get in even at 5pm!  My good friend, Roberto selects our menu of shrimp, crab with butternut squash, radiatore with cherry tomatoes, osso buco with polenta, branzino steamed in foil, strawberry cream mille-feuille pastry finished off with espresso and home-made limocello.  This is the closest I can get to the Amalfi Coast without flying there and only a 45- minute train rides back to Manhattan.

- October 2, 2006 -

Foley’s Folly

Paging Mark Foley!  What is there to say? Haven’t we learned that a righteous person who has an extreme position or bete noire on a topic usually is hiding those feelings himself? "Let ye who is without sin ...."

- September 30, 2006 -

So I go to this famous steakhouse in Chicago and order the traditional shrimp cocktail appetizer followed by a juicy porterhouse steak as my entrée. And then I ask for my favorite steakhouse side, creamed spinach. “Sorry we are not serving creamed spinach tonight” sadly says the waitress. WHY? “ECOLI!”  “The chef has prepared creamed broccoli rabe instead” UGH! We take things to such extremes in this country. In all of the United States this steakhouse could not get their hands on some uncontaminated spinach! What about all that organic crap that Whole Food sells at twice the price? Or thaw out one of those hard-as-bricks frozen cartons of Birdseye? Or were they afraid to serve it, fearful of some suing them for a tummy ache?  Poor Popeye, he must be starving to death. I had ratatouille instead.

- September 27, 2006 -

"Hog butcher for the World"

Greeting from the ITME Show in Chicago.  If I had to not live in NYC, Chicago would be my only choice of city in the U.S. Poet, Carl Sandburg describes it:"Hog Butcher for the World

Stormy, husky, brawling,City of Big Shoulders:

They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen your painted women under the gas lights luring the farm boys."

Well things have not changed much only the farm boys shop in Nordstrom's and the painted women are on myspace.com. LOL Anyways, the ITME show is wonderful, seeing old friends and the NYC booth is a big hit with our own farm boys: two NYC Firemen from the NYFD 2007 calendar.

- September 25, 2006 -

Autumn in New York

Well the frost is not quite on the pumpkin but it is definitely autumn in New York. One of the sure signs the season has started is the old vestigial tradition of gala opening nights in the concerts halls.  The opera and the philharmonic along with the “400” decamped for the summer sheds and “cottages”. This made great sense before the invention of air-conditioning. Well today Met and Avery Fisher don’t close for the summer but the ritual of Fall opening nights is still with us. Indeed tonight, the Metropolitan Opera has its grand and glittering event. This year though, the new general manger Peter Gelb will drag the old stodgy company into the 22nd century by offering a simulcast of the Madama Butterfly on the big screen (is it stilled called a “jumbotron’?) on Times Square. Of course this is big news for the Met but everyone else has been using the tools of information age for many years. "un bel di" in stereo and "Live from NYC!"

- September 22, 2006 -

“Don’t Cry for Me New Jersey”

“The truth is I never left you. All through my wild years, my mad existence…” Well ex-governor Jim McGreevey is back on top so to speak. He and his lover were on “Larry King” last night promoting his new book, Confession. It would have been better if he titled the book, TRUE Confessions and talked about the real reason he resigned from office. Not from scaling the Golan Heights but being a bottom feeder of dirty politics. It may have been more “courageous” and “honest” if he came “out” and admitted mistakes as a governor and continued in office as an openly gay politician.   

- September 21, 2006 -

Papa Knows Best!

BestWell the “times they are a changin’” if this atheist, ex-seminarian, lapsed Catholic starts agreeing with the Pope! Well he is in hot holy water now that he has spoken on the topic of extreme Islamic terrorism. Excuse me; I am tired of all the over-reacting to every little critique that someone makes. Agree or not, open dialogue can only lead to understanding and progress. Where is the uproar when President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela named President Bush as the devil incarnate?  Hmm  this is scary if I start agreeing with the maniacal dictator too!

- September 18, 2006 -

Ciao Ciao Oriana

A New Yorker, (I identify with) that you may never had heard of past away on Sept 15. Oriana Fallaci was an Italian and an Upper East Sider. She was a radical journalist/author not unlike Gore Vidal, Joan Didion or Susan Sontag. She was glamorous but blunt. She asked hard questions and gave politically non-correct observations especially recently on the state of Islam. Try reading "Rage and Reason" with shows her deep love for New York City after 9/11. NY Times obit

- September 11, 2006 -

"Where were you ..."?

There are iconoclastic moments in one’s personal life: births, weddings, and deaths. There are similar ones in our recent national psyche: Pearl Harbor, D-Day, the assassination of JFK, the 1976 Bicentennial and now we have 9/11.  Today I am thinking the real challenge is not the seachange event itself but the effect it has and how we move on. I don’t think it is coincidental the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid would up in New York City. We New Yorkers are indeed intrepid children of our immigrant parents, robber barons, and fearless explorers. We rise up after devastating plagues, fires, blackouts and attacks. We rise up. We rise up. Excelsior!

- September 6, 2006 -

Junior's

One of my favorite delis has opened in Times Square, Juniors (deli is short for the German word, delicatessen meaning delicacies). Each time I went to Brooklyn I was sure to stop at Junior's for their famous cheesecake. I like it plain. It is so rich I want to enjoy the creamy flavor unimpeded by fruity toppings. Try the cheeseburgers accompanied by the best onion rings in the world! And they still make Lime Ricky's (cherry soda with lime) and the famous NY City Egg Creams (made with chocolate syrup, milk and seltzer - yum). Of course, this Juniors is not in downtown Brooklyn but the Times Square version keeps the spirit of the place and oh my since it is around the corner from our office, my belt has gone up a notch!

- September 1, 2006 -

One of your licensed tour guides, Robert Fields aka Westfield, has had his first novel published, Suspension. Robert has been a guide for us for many years and I am sure you will enjoy his new work. I read it in one sitting. We are so proud of him. From Publishers Weekly -
Had it been set anywhere but New York City, Westfield's raucous debut would be viewed as an absurdist tale, but in the shadow of 9/11 and bolstered by Westfield's accessible prose, it's a striking portrait of life in the Big Apple. Andy Green, a Hell's Kitchen denizen, pays the rent by writing tricky multiple-choice questions for an educational testing service and soon finds himself quasi-managing the floundering cabaret career of his Russian émigré friend, Sonia Obolensky.

- AUGUST 24, 2006 -

"Thursday in the Park with Streep"

Well I saw the NY Shakespeare Festival production of Mother Courage and her children  at the Delcacorte Theatre in Central Park the other night. Well La Diva Merrill Streep is once again hauling out another accent to fill in her lack of being an emotional actress. God, she is worse than Olivier. At least Sir Lawrence found a nose or a hunchback to enhance his performances and to get to his inner character. With her, the accent IS the character. This time it’s some Serbian -Croatian taxi-driver coupled with an annoying laugh. Think Sophie's Choice channeled through Bette Davis. So how is the play and production? Mother is often thought to be one the cannon of 20th century dramatic literature. Like some classics you know it is good for you but it goes down like castor oil. Of course it has all the Brechtian devices like titles over each scene, characters commenting on the scenes, and plenty of songs adding up to that brechtian device of "alienation." The casting Streep may have been the genius stroke to alienate the audience from the character. We don't know if she is sympathetic, selfish, a bitch or just doing the Streep- give- me- love show. And for the music, The NY Times article quoted the big bad Wolf director saying new music was being composed to bring it up the modern era since the original score was too Kurt Weill like. Well Weill - HAHA - the music is so much Berlin circa 1930 that Tesori should have just kept the original score by Paul Dessau.Mother is not the big disaster like the last Brecht outing, the vulgar production of Three Penny Opera, which was destroyed in embryo by RTC. Well at least I have fond memories of the Jerry Robbins production starring Anne Bancroft. Now there was a Mother for us all.