a walk in the fridge

We almost lost all facial features on our walk to drop of filthy sheets at the laundry before taking an icy stroll to our old breakfast haunt on 8th and back to Union Square

 This house on 10th St was the home of Eleanor Roosevelt til 1942

First Presbyterian on Fifth Ave

and Forbes Magazine building on same.

Fifth and 13th

This foyer display featured wallpaper commemorating landmark events in history. 

But look!

The dates are all wrong.   Explain.

Where the longest Off-Off Broadway play is still running. The mitt is Sheldon's,

Crossing Sixth. 

We have passed this tantalising restaurant before

On West 14th Love the sign

This classic ex-bank is now a mens' spa. Cop the penthouse!

The Joyce on 8th is exclusively dance oriented

In a gay card and gift emporium

We ate here one evening last year

A logo for a womens' employment co-op

I think this is the same bike I saw in the West Village covered in summer blooms last year

More Union Square

Loved this sign in Trader Joe's

Oh and Sheldon bought me a new bag which I love and  a new hat for himself.  He looks like Omar Sharif in Dr Zhivago crossed with Fred Basset.

92nd St to Jewish Museum

We walked along 92nd st from the Y

These buildings are a really beautiful shock. One, they are wooden and two, they are coloured.

Cnr of Park and 92nd

Thanks heavens some people haven't heard of 12th Night

And here we have arrived at the Jewish Museum

 where we saw a wonderful exhibition devoted to Harry Houdini. 

It was not only full of fantastic photographs and memorabilia and props

 but featured art work inspired by his life, profession and obsession with exposing spiritual fakers.

 One installation  was by  Matthew Barney 

 and was a white room with fake moulded plastic draperies and 3 striking photographs. You viewed the contents through a glass door.  There was a perspex coffin with plastic stonework, Casts of Houdini's handcuffs lay on the bottom of the casket and 7 showbreed pigeons were wandering about just pecking, preening  and leaving piles of calling cards all over the lot. 

 The theme was Death and the power of Nature over all that man creates.

Bucky Pizzarelli's 85th Birthday Concert

Now this was a performance that my heart was set on. We've never been in town at the same time as the brilliant guitarist John Pizzarelli and his wife, singer Jessica Molaskey but, joy of joys, they were guest artistic directors of the Lyrics and Lyricists series at 92Y for a birthday celebration of John's dad Bucky, the most in-demand "sideman" for every major recording session from the early 40s to the present day. And I mean, for everyone from Peggy Lee, Rosemary Clooney, Vaughn Monroe and Nat King Cole to Roberta Flack, Frankie Valli, Neil Sedaka, Ray Charles, Julie London, Dion and the Bellmonts and Del Shannon.

John Pizzarelli

I was a little surprised to find that we were the youngest people in the audience by about forty years but as tt pointed out, these were the diehards who had probably attended every opening night on Broadway in the 50s and 60s in their jewels and furs.

The show began with a large movie screen against a deep blue lighted curtain showing a photo of the very young Bucky Pizzarelli as we heard a vintage recording of the lad playing a lightning fast rendition of "Bye Bye Blues" on the banjo. A dim spotlight revealed his son John with his back to the audience gazing up at the screen clutching his own banjo, and as he took over the melody, slowly the other five musicians took their places and one by one joined in with the song...Aaron Weinstein on violin (who we saw performing with Barbara Carroll at the Algonquin last year), Martin Pizzarelli (the youngest sibling) on bass, Tony Tedesco on drums, Ken Peplowski on sax and clarinet and pianist Larry Fuller. Then the three guest vocalists took their places at three mike stands upstage and sang the melody in unison...

Jessica Molaskey (if you don't have her albums, start buying them, they're a treat)...

the honey voiced Darius du Haas...

and another Broadway fave, Judy Kuhn.
I must confess that the excitement of seeing all these incredible talents on one stage combined with the sudden realisation that we are ACTUALLY LIVING IN NEW YORK and able to attend such occasions on a regular basis caused me to go into some terrible meltdown for the first ten minutes or so and I could do nothing but sob wetly and soundlessly whilst the blissfully unaware Ms. Molaskey chirped her way through "It's A Good Day". But I pulled myself together in time to witness some extraordinary performances. Judy Kuhn's ethereal version of "Spanish Harlem" made me hear the words for the first time and appreciate what a gorgeous song it is, the same with Ms. Molaskey's reading of  Del Shannon's "Runaway".

Interspersed throughout were projected photos tracing Bucky's long and highly successful career accompanied by audio reminiscences of the greats he had worked with. Mr du Haas gave us a beautiful "Georgia on My Mind" ...

and Ms. Kuhn stilled the room with a breathtaking "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face".

 John Pizzarelli opened the second half with Dave Frishberg's "I Wanna Be A Sideman" with special lyrics written for the occasion by Mr. Frishberg and soon it was time for the guest of honour himself to take the stage. Father and son led off with a virtuosi duet of "Honeysuckle Rose" ...

followed by Bucky's sublimely delicate "This Nearly was Mine". Then the whole band pulled out all the stops for the grand finale, Louis Prima's electrifying "Sing, Sing, Sing" which raised the roof even though most of the audience were only standing to lean on their walkers and shuffle up the aisle to catch the bus. But those of us who remained seated joined the cast for a jolly singalong of "Yessir, That's My Baby" and a knockout concert came to a close.

The final projected image...young Bucky in the centre with his family.

Another triumph for the 92Y. Forthcoming attractions include the music of Burton Lane featuring Liz Callaway and an evening of Comden and Green hosted by Phyllis Newman. I'll be performing that night so tt will have to see that one alone. Lucky bugger.

Angel Cop

Today Sheldon took us to the 92nd St Y for an extraordinary concert which he will describe in detail. We went to this coffee shop on 91st and Lexington just before the gig. Sheldon was ordering and I had seated myself and I was rummaging through my new bag (which I now hate and have to replace cos it is too big and heavy but that's another story) Anyway I had neglected to close the zip and my money wallet,  which I also hate because it doesn't suit American bills but that's another story, was poking out for all the world to see. Well next thing there's a " Hey,Buddy!" and a very striking older gentleman is flashing a silver badge and giving me a lecture on how dangerous it is to let New Yorkers see your cash, Turns out he is a retired policeman and is a "Police Uniforms of the World" collector..like cop helmets from Helsinki and gendarme headgear from Paris and he was a delight.  He told us how he had nearly broken his leg in a foot chase and how cop shows are all bullshit.  He gave us his card and his name is Robert Brutsche and it was a pleasure to meet him. That's what New Yorkers are like. Ready to tell their life stories in ten minutes.

Two Singular Sensations

There are several excellent books on the market about the theatrical phenomenon that is A CHORUS LINE but the most fascinating and comprehensive is a beautiful coffee table edition called THE LONGEST LINE by Gary Stevens and Alan George. Performers themselves (Alan appeared for three seasons with NYC Opera and Gary was in the original Broadway cast of Sondheim's MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG), the two devotees of "ACL" turned their passion for their favourite musical into positive action by penning this lavish tome, which is now in its 14th printing, and raising money for a commemorative plaque to be permanently installed at the Shubert Theatre. I have long treasured my own copy of THE LONGEST LINE but when Gary and Alan turned up at the Palace Theatre stage door in London last year full of effusive charm and praise after a performance of PRISCILLA I didn't immediately make the connection. Thankfully we had exchanged addresses so once the penny dropped I was able to write and congratulate them on their spectacular achievement. We stayed in touch and last Saturday night the boys kindly invited us to their dream home for a splendiferous dinner, rare video footage and riotous conversation. Their magnificent waterfront apartment is a shrine to their beloved "ACL" with all sorts of spectacular memorabilia on every surface, including a door which they brought with them from their previous Manhattan abode because it had been signed by cast members many and varied including our own David Whitney (Zach in the Australian revival company).

We are thrilled to have such wonderful and talented new friends in our lives.

(from left: Alan, Gary, Sheldy & TT)

A splendid Sunday evening

As we emerged from the matinee of EARNEST we heard our names being called from across 43rd St and within seconds we were scooped up in the loving embrace of PRISCILLA's Tad Wilson and his family.

Tad was coming from the Brooks Atkinson Theatre where he had farewelled his castmates from his last Broadway hit ROCK OF AGES which played its final performance before going on hiatus until March. Tad and Julie's brilliant son Taylor had just finished his callback for a performing arts course. Taylor was quietly confident so they were in a celebratory mood. Fingers crossed!

We've been ardent fans of jazz singer Jack Donahue since we discovered his first album "Lighthouse" in 2004. We fell deeper in love with his smooth voice and artistry on his subsequent albums "Strange Weather" and "A Small Blue Thing" and were intrigued by his choice of material which runs the gamut from Cole Porter, Kurt Weill, Alec Wilder and Johnny Mercer to Kenny Rankin, Jay Leonhart, Suzanne Vega and Barry Manilow. The gentleman also writes songs himself so he's no slouch. For years I've searched his website in vain to see if he had any plans to tour Australia and two days ago it suddenly occured to me to check for any upcoming dates in the New York area. BINGO!! A single appearance at the Laurie Beechman Theatre at 6pm on a Sunday evening.

We hadn't realised that Mr. Donahue recently released a new "live" album called PARADE so the programme was mostly made up of new material, highlights which included a bossa nova arrangement of "Before the Parade Passes By", a glorious interpretation of "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" (his favourite standard), a heartrending "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" , a complex funny/touching reading of "If I Only Had a Brain", and  two wonderful Barry Manilow tunes, "When October Goes" and "All the Time".We were seated ringside and I'm sure we made spectacles of ourselves as tt was in floods of tears throughout the set and I was sitting with my mouth agape with admiration. Not only is he a consummate musician but in performance he radiates warmth, is terribly funny and happens to be a major spunk. After the show he was waiting by the exit so we boldly made ourselves known as the crazed fans that we are and were somewhat astonished to be wrapped in warm hugs, handed free cds and invitations to coffee dates and tours of New York. The man is a gentleman and a prince and I truly hope he achieves the major stardom that he deserves.