Last week I went to the free concert put on by the New York Philharmonic in Central Park. There were approximately 60,000 people there according to the conductor’s announcement. I arrived just after 7pm to the great lawn filled with throngs of happy people spending the wonderful evening with their loved ones and picnic baskets. I maneuvered my way to my friends about 3/4 of the way back from the stage and partook in the mass quantities of food and drink. Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and Hendrix were among the composers who’s music graced our ears. Wait, what? Hendrix? As in Jimi Hendrix? Yup, that’s right, they finished the evening with Purple Haze (which by the way, is about one of Hendrix’s favorite bars, NOT marijuana). My favorite was Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, mainly for sentimental reason as I used to flop around on the living room floor when I was 7 when the cannons would fire. I would highly recommend heading out to one of this summer’s free concerts. A list can be found here of the next few shows, including another on July 15th in Central Park at 8pm!

We went over to Brooklyn last night to see the Met Summer Concert at Prospect Park and despite the train ride and the odyssee getting back to Manhattan from Brooklyn later that night, we had a really good time. ;-)

I am not sure how many people were at Prospect Park last night but it was so many and all seemed to have a great time.

There was just one interruption during the concert when I a police helicopter patrolled above the park disturbing everyone listening to the music. When the helicopter took a second turn flying across the concert, the crowd (like literally all the people in the park) flipped them off and they finally went away.

Totally nuts.

After the concert we went to some place at 15th and 8th Av, or maybe 16th? Anyway, a good night out in Brooklyn.

Photo from nycgmc.org

Last night, I attended the Gay Men’s Chorus concert called Vibrate. As usual, they put on a fabulous show.

The concert began with a rousing rendition of “Feelin’ Good”. They launched into a series of diverse music - everything from Latvian 19th century songs to jazz to a contemporary song called “Vibrate”. My favorites included a tingling piece called “Tree of Peace”, the joyful “Take the A Train”, and “What a World” (a song which begins with the lyrics “Men reading fashion magazines”).

After an intermission, the chorus took the stage wearing rainbow shirts with glow sticks and sang “Maneater” . The audience was treated to the Youth Pride Chorus - a group of very talented young people who gave a lively performance of some contemporary music. The chorus then sang a series of South Africa songs, my favorite being “Revival”. The show ended with a hilarious version of Gwen Stefani’s “Wind it Up”, complete with lederhosen and drag queens.

With talented singers and a fun repertoire, the whole concert was such a treat. The chorus will be performing on Saturday, June 14th at the Brooklyn Pride Parade.

I’ve been working in the West Village for a few weeks now and I’ve been enjoying one of this job’s biggest perks: free live music at lunch. In Washington Square Park, everyday some jazz band or solo guitarist is playing. And some of them really impress me.

My first week, I heard this incredible reggae band, featured in the Tribeca Film Festival’s Playing for Change. I still remember the catchy tune they played that day in the park. Then there’s a small jazz band that plays almost everyday. Their very talented trumpet player does these amazing solos.

But my favorite band so far has been a small group including a base, washboard, and fabulous violinist. When I first heard them play, this violinist, a strikingly beautiful Asian woman, was awing the crowd with a solo in the song Summertime. Happily, they’ve returned every couple days to the park right around lunchtime.

Concert Master Michelle Kim’s is visiting the place her parents escaped from– North Korea– so that they could have a better life. Although she is happy their escape made it possible for her to have a life of freedom, she is excited to be in the land of her heritage, although she is saddened by the poverty.

If music soothes the savage beast, it also transcends diplomatic barriers. Jim Dolan of ABC/Eyewitness News is covering the historic concert by our own NY Philharmonic in Communist North Korea. Check out his blog.

The other night, I was walking down 3rd Avenue and stopped next to the movie theater on 11th Street to wait for the light to change. I looked down towards Webster Hall and my jaw literally dropped when I saw the name on the marquee - The Slits! For those of you not into punk rock, you might not know about them, but The Slits are probably my favorite punk rock band ever. They started in 1976 and have broken up in the past, but have now reformed and are touring (they also toured in ‘06 and ‘07, but I somehow managed to miss that entirely).

The show at Webster Hall on Monday turned out to be a party for the launch of Chloe Sevigny’s clothing line, which I am not hip or young enough to get into, though the 17-year-old me probably would’ve crashed it in my beat-up Docs. However, The Slits are playing again on March 5 at Mercury Lounge, and I am so excited I could spit.

There are still tickets on sale, and they are only $10(!), so old punk rockers, go get your Slits on. And it would probably do you young whippersnappers some good to see some punk rock history alive and kicking on stage.

Here is part two of my rant that I am re-posting.

Things got really quiet. I mean really and I could tell that there were a lot of other birds that were listening now.

Me: Yes. I came there because I want to help make scene that revolved around the artists.

So I’m really not an opera fan. And I would go so far as to say that I actively disliked his various “crossover” projects like the Three Tenors, or concerts with artists like Sting and Elton John. But I have to say that when I woke up this morning and heard that Luciano Pavarotti had died, I felt a little…sad.

Like Frank Sinatra, Pavarotti has always been a presence in my New York “experience.” I come from a long line of Brooklyn-born Italian Americans, to whom… Well, I guess I can end that sentence right there, can’t I? I come from a long line of Brooklyn-born Italian Americans. There you have it.

But without a doubt, the most passionate lover of all things Pavarotti in my life was always my maternal grandmother–at this point my soul surviving grandparent. And though none of us ever really shared her passion, we totally enabled it, buying her cassette tapes, then CDs, videos, opera tickets, you name it. I still remember the day, in either late 1997 or early 1998, when my mom took her to the Met to finally see her idol live, in person. I couldn’t believe it had taken that long–that my grandmother had fostered such a lifelong adoration of this man, and had never had the opportunity to see him live.

When she finally did, it was a magical experience. And not just for her! I hadn’t even been to the performance, and I could feel the power of it radiating through my grandmother afterwards. I remember sitting on the fountain at Lincoln Center waiting for her and my mom to emerge, and feeling such excitement and anticipation. And when I finally saw them walking towards me, the joy and satisfaction written across my grandmother’s face filled me with more happiness then I would have thought possible.

So thank you, Mr. Pavarotti. Just one account of one life affected by your work. Clearly, you will be missed.

[image from here]

An article in today’s NY Times entitled “In Tanning Circles, the Roof is Becoming History” http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/04/nyregion/04summer.html brought back memories of rooftop activities and suntanning on “tar beach”

When I first moved to Queens, “tar beach” became my tanning hangout. The sun beat down directly on me, and it couldn’t be more convenient. After about an hour, when the tar got too hot to make it comfortable to be there any longer, I got as much color as a day by the ocean. It was especially useful at the beginning of the summer, when my legs were too white to be displayed in public. There in the privacy my building’s rooftop offered, I could get my tan started enough to feel okay about walking out onto the sand after Memorial Day. But, alas; as I prepared to get my pre-summer base layer two years later, I found the door to the roof bolted shut. I was locked out of tar beach forever.

But the rooftop offered other pleasures. I and my neighbors went up there on July 4th, to watch fireworks, or just to hang out on a hot summer evening. As a child, the roof of my building in the Sheepshead housing project had a wonderful view of Coney Island,– the Cyclone, the Parachute Jump, and of course the Fourth of July fireworks. Our apartments weren’t air-conditioned then, so we would go up on a hot summer night to cool off. Just listen to the old Drifters hit song “Up on the Roof” and you will understand what the roof meant to urban-dwellers in the pre-AC era. Indeed, my parents told me stories of growing up in Brooklyn in the 40s and 50s, when entire families would bring blankets and pillows up to the roof for huge slumber parties of neighbors escaping sweltering apartments to all sleep together. One big campout. Think of the ramifications if people did that today. One can easily argue that air-conditioning ruined the community feel of the neighborhood. In the blackout of ‘03, I met neighbors I never knew when we all gathered outside my building.

Most of the building roofs are locked now for safety. The Times also mentions a new phenomenon however. The roof, which is today is often not made of tar, but concrete or metal sheeting, has become prime real estate. Some have been turned into terraces, sun-roofs, and even sectioned into extra rentable amenities, even with cabanas.

I love air-conditioning, cell phones, and computers. But I admit to waxing nostalgic for the community on the roof or the front of the building where, perched in their beachchairs, the “building yentas” reigned.

I went to watch the New York Philharmonic at Central Park tonight. The event was spectacular, the music was perfect, the New Yorkers were at their best & worst behavior. When thousands of people gather for a free classical music concert, fun times will definitely ensue.
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