Imagine What the City Might Have Been...

It's not hard to discern from this blog, that I enjoy being a New Yorker. There is a certain cache that comes with the title and I take it for all it's worth.

People from all over this country, from around the world, plunk down thousands of dollars to spend a weekend here. I can take a $2.00 subway ride and see everything they can. Whenever I travel people want to hear New York stories.

They want to talk about everything that makes New York...well, New York. The buildings and Broadway; the nightlife and the neighborhoods; rush hour and the residents.

One resident that was synonymous with the city in the late '70's was John Lennon. His status as a musical and artistic icon was equal to New York's status as the city. The two seemed akin to one another, and Lennon himself may have put it best. “I have a love of this country. Two thousand years ago, we would all have wanted to live in Rome…and now this [NYC] is Rome. This is where the action is.” ~John Lennon

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex in Manhattan is paying tribute to that relationship with the exhibit, John Lennon: The New York City Years.

The Annex is only here for a few more months and this exhibit, with help and permission from Yoko Ono, is their “Casablanca.” The prices for the museum are a little steep but Lennon and his assassination are both integral parts of this city's history.

It might be too New York to miss...

Write or Wrong, It's Up To You!

I'm a writer and an avid reader. It's so easy for me to get sucked into a good story, to fall in love with incredible characters. I can't tell you how many times I've missed my train stop or looked up to notice the wee hours of night had slipped into morning while I had my nose buried in a great book.

More than once, I've been so invested in a particular story that my emotional state was drastically altered – to joy and anger – by events I never saw coming.

Sometimes the twist caught me so off guard that I would have given anything to sit with the writer as they were madly typing away and stop them from killing off my favorite character or ending the story at that absolute worst moment!

I'll bet you've been there too.

Well here's your chance to play writer's assistant. Tonight at 8:00 pm you can let your inner author-critic-fan out and help to create the story at Saara Dutton's Choose Your Own Adventure, at the Parkside Lounge in Lower Manhattan.

Four different authors will be writing a story, and the audience will get to choose what the characters do, where they go along with a host of other wild options.

Sounds like a great way to kick the weekend off.

It's A Beautiful Day

I love this city unequivocally. But sometimes, on a drab and dreary day like this, the traffic and the noise can bring me down a little.

I have to make a conscious effort to see the beauty around me; the swelling architecture rising into the gray clouds and the aroma of coffee mixed with an infusion of culture and the capacity of difference in just one train car are all parts of what adds up to this great place we call New York City.

And still, sometimes, I forget. My face is buried in a book, or my iPod is drowning out the morning calamity.

It's during these moments that I need help to appreciate the allure of the city.

The Met, an amazing example of that opulent architecture in itself, is offering a helping hand. An exhibit in The Tisch Galleries, The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion, opened in early May and will be on display through early August.

“Exploring the reciprocal relationship between high fashion and evolving ideals of beauty, The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion focuses on iconic models of the twentieth century and their roles in projecting, and sometimes inspiring, the fashion of their respective eras," -- http://www.metmuseum.org/

If you have nothing on tonight's agenda, why not put an infusion of beauty into an otherwise lackluster Wednesday?

Tuesday Trip to the '60's

The first day back to work after a long weekend is often a slow-going affair, with email to scroll through, phone calls to return and a pile of paperwork to organize.

It can be fun (and therapeutic) to ease back into full work-mode after a weekend of parties, family and friends with a Tuesday night in NYC.

Think of it as the cherry on top, something to add that little extra... A warm weeknight in Manhattan can also help to break up the week.

There's an endless supply of activities in the city to keep you occupied, from movies & museums to poetry readings and lounges. And there is also music.

With summer around the corner, and your inner-freshman still near the surface after the long weekend, doesn't an early evening rock 'n' roll show sound tremendous?

Tonight The Soft Parade is playing at B.B. Kings in Midtown. Parade is a cover band, dedicated to taking you back to 1967 for a few hours with a full repertoire of classic rock songs originally performed by the legendary band The Doors.

With a 6 p.m. start, the concert is a perfect way to avoid the rush hour commute and keep that weekend buzz going.

Music is as synonymous with summer as baseball, convertibles and vacation. Make an effort to catch a concert or two this season, you won't regret it.

Barbecues and (Off) Broadway

I'm sure at least a few intrepid men and women have already put into action a plan so ingenious that, no matter who attempts to thwart the undertaking – a nosy co-worker or overly ambitious lackey – they are bound to succeed at escaping work early and heading off into the blissful sunset of the rare three-day weekend.

Happy trails, and Happy Memorial Day to those travelers!

Some of us, however, will be city bound for the holiday. Absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Memorial Day weekend is a kick-starter; a circle on the calender that tells everyone summer is here and it's okay to let their hair down. There will be baseball and barbecues, family and friends, laughs and libations.

But there's also the theater.

Can you think of a better way to exercise your inner party animal than seeing “The Who's Tommy”?

This weekend is your last chance. “Tommy” is being performed at The Gallery Players in Park Slope.

A matinée on Sunday, burgers on Monday. Tuesday won't be so bad.

Art For More Than Your Eyes

Ever get the feeling that, sometimes, artwork – paintings or sculptures or photos – leaves a little bit to be desired? You know, that tactile need to feel the artists' intentions with your hands as well as your mind.

Imagine staring at a vast mural of some far off, long eradicated woodland hung in a 'look but don't touch' museum. Don't you wish you could get that full five sensory experience going? Smell the earth on the air, feel the warmth of the sunlight, lie on the grass...

Me Too.

Ernesto Neto wants to give that sensation to you. The Brazilian artist's newest installation at the Park Avenue Armory opened last week.

The Armory, a vast metallic space, cold, hard and cavernous, is juxtaposed with Neto's wispy installation; gossamer strands of Lycra splayed, pulled and manipulated into amoeba-like displays, infused with various aromas and different textures for everyone to experience.

A beautiful painting or stark photograph can illicit great emotions, but sometimes you need to get down and dirty...sometimes you just want too reach out and touch.

Go ahead, you've got until June 14th.

Pedestrian Summer

I was once asked what I love about summers in the city, and one answer popped immediately to mind.

Walking.

Well, if you're like me, your summer is about to pick up. Mayor Bloomberg, in a rare great decision, has approved a plan to close down two sections of Broadway to vehicles – Herald Square between 33rd & 35th streets and Times Square between 42nd & 47th streets. The two tourist hot spots are notorious for gridlock and crowded sidewalks. Now, for a few months anyway, they will be car, truck and taxi free. There is even a plan to set up tables and simulcast several events on the Times Square mega-screens. Read about it in the New York Times.

Sounds like a little slice of pedestrian summer heaven...

So why not enjoy a good walk around Manhattan? You can embark on a mission to Strand, trying to find that elusive Hunter S. Thompson volume or simply tackle the city like a tourist – why not take leisurely stroll to a museum?

You can check out the new Aernout Mik exhibit at MoMA. “Mik—whose work encompasses motion picture, sculpture, architecture, performance, and social commentary—interrogates the nature of reality and subverts the traditional relationship between viewer and viewed.” – from MoMA.

If you're intrigued, the exhibit runs from May 6th through July 27th.

The Poetry Brothel: New York at Papa B Studios

Image by mirosim via Flickr

The Poetry Brothel is coming to Papa B Studios in Brooklyn tonight at 9 pm. "The Poetry Brothel is an organization of poets and artists whose mission is to expand New Yorkers' personal, intellectual and fiscal interest in poetry through events, workshops and other projects. Intimacy, community, passion, service and transformation of environment and self are the guiding principles behind The Poetry Brothel. With these principles in mind, The Poetry Brothel creates worlds in which poets and non-poets can better come together to celebrate the pleasures of poetry." So, even if you don't know that much about poetry, come enjoy yourself at the brothel and experience poetry in a way you've never seen it before. Check out the website for details.