Saturday, July 15, 2017

NYC Days 26 & 27: In Which I Battle Hay Fever and High Humidity

Washington crossing the Delaware (click on images to view full sized)
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Wednesday 12, July | Expenses $30.75 ($40.05)

HAY FEVER BE DAMNED!
I did not bother to note in my last post that I thought I was coming down with something, and so it came to pass.

I went to bed last night feeling worse than I did before I left the house for the City Winery show, and this morning I awoke suffering from a full-blown allergic reaction to something in the New York air. Maybe my visit to the New York Botanical Garden, and Conservatory Gardens was not such a good move on my part. I spent the night trying to breathe with a succession of toilet tissue plugs pushed into my nostrils soaking up the gunk that oozed from somewhere inside my head. I slept on and off until 11.00am, and while the flood of snot, or whatever the stuff is, has eased for now (and is more white in color than green), I will be staying in today.

NEW YORK STEAK AT VICKI'S DINER
I was in no mood to cook for myself tonight, so I went to Vicki's Diner, and ordered a New York Steak with vegetables. Soup de jour was a good Greek vasolatha. The soup was lovely, but the steak was dry and over-cooked. I suppose I should not have expected much more from a short order cook, but we live and learn (mostly). Vicki and her head waiter are both Greek, although I couldn't work out if the waiter was her husband, father, or what. I do remember him from my 2010 visit, and I suspect that he has been working there for many years, as seems to be the case in many New York establishments.

Above: a small pot (it was too small to be called a bowl) of a traditional Greek bean soup called vasolatha.

Above: Apparently this a New York Steak.

Here are today's many and varied activities that I missed:

Jazz+Wednesdays @ The American Folk Art Museum
2.00pm—3:00pm. During the run of the exhibitions Eugen Gabritschevsky: Theater of the Imperceptible and Carlo Zinelli (1916–1974), the Bill Wurtzel trio will perform music that celebrates the creativity and expressiveness of the human mind. Limited seating available.

FREE: Spiral Music Series @ THE RUBIN MUSEUM, 150, West 17th Street.
6:00—9:00pm. Tonight… Indian raga blends with Andrew Shantz + Zac Colwell…

Wednesday Night Poetry Slam
9:00 PM. $10.00 - $20.00. At 236, E. 3rd Street
Hosted by Jive Poetic! Line forms outside a half hour before doors open at 9:00pm.

9:00pm—1:00am. Kennedy Administration
Club Groove, 125 MacDougal Street.

FREE: SUMMERSTAGE: Mon Laferte / Princess Nokia / ÌFÉ in association with the Latin Alternative Music Conference
5:00 pm - 10:00 pm. Rumsey Playfield, Central Park. Alt-Chilean songstress with NYC-underground tribal hip-hop and Afro-Caribbean electronica.

FREE: SUMMERSTAGE: Ladies of Hip Hop Festival with Special Guest Amirah Sackett
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm. Queensbridge Park, QUEENS. Showcase featuring all-female talent from around the globe uniting communities through dance. Featuring 7pm LOHH Dance Workshop.

Bryant Park Accordion Festival. Yes, this event has returned this year for another series of concerts on the Bryant Park stage. So far I have missed all of them!

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Below, for your edification, I have included some images by the wonderful Greek artist known as El Greco.


Above: The Vision of Saint John (1608-14) Oil on canvas by El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos). Greek, Iraklion (Candia) 1540/41-1614, Toledo.
The painting is a fragment from a large altarpiece commissioned for the church of the hospital of Saint John the Baptist in Toledo. It depicts a passage in the Bible, Revelation (6:9-11) describing the opening of the Fifth Seal at the end of time, and the distribution of white robes to "those who had been slain for the work of God and for the witness they had borne." The missing upper part may have shown the Sacrificial Lamb opening the Fifth Seal. The canvas was an iconic work for the twentieth-century artists and Picasso, who knew it in Paris, used it as an inspiration for Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.
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Below: Cardinal Fernando Niño de Guevara (1541-1609), ca 1600-1604. Oil on canvas by El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos). Greek, Iraklion (Candia) 1540/41-1614, Toledo.
This intense portrait depicts Fernando Niño de Guevara (1541-1609), who was named cardinal and is dressed as such here. In 1599 he became Inquisitor General of Spain but resigned in 1602 to serve the rest of his life as Archbishop of Seville. The painting probably dates from the spring of 1600 when the cardinal was in Toledo with Philip III and members of the Madrid court. El Greco had lived in Venice and in the Farnese Palace in Rome, where Titian's portraits (such as those of the Farnese Pope Paul III) would have revealed to the Greek painter the psychological possibilities of portraiture.

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Dateline: New York, New York
Thursday 13, July | Expenses $47.65 ($61.55)

I awoke this morning feeling 100 percent better than I did yesterday. The flow of gunk from my nose had slowed to a dribble rather than a flood, and with or without the help of Zirtek, I seem to have turned the corner on this latest hyperallergic reaction to -- what? I have no idea what triggered this current debilitating episode of hay fever, but I'm happy to be over the worst of it. I was even thinking about where I might go today, until...

Until I went to the toilet, did my 'bizness', and went to flush the waste away only to find the water to the building had been turned off! You've got to be kidding!, says I to myself. But no, there was no water to be had. Luckily, I had some water chilling in the fridge which I was able to boil for a mug of tea (you didn't think I was going to waste it on the toilet, did you?), so I could at least enjoy a hot drink with my breakfast.

Now What? I hadn't showered for 36 hours, and I didn't fancy the prospect of descending into the hot and humid subway system unwashed and unclean, although gawd knows there are plenty of people in a worse state down there than I would have been. Just the same, I decided to wait it out, and hope the water would be back on before the end of the day. In the meantime there was nothing for it but to pull up a chair in front of the Edgestar portable air-con, and relax and continue reading Jim Thompson's very disturbing thriller, The Killer Inside Me, one of six books purchased so far during this trip.

{time passes}

Just after midday I tore myself away from my book with an, I wonder if...? To my delight, while the hot water was still off, the cold water was flowing freely which took care of a very foul looking (and smelling) toilet bowl. I decided that I should make the effort and head out for the afternoon, and what better place to go than back to an air conditioner Metropolitan Museum. I took a cold shower in water that was about one degree above freezing and walked to the nearby M4 bus stop. Now I know what you are thinking, dear reader. Why is this guy catching buses all the time, when the much faster subway system is available. Well, I'm glad you asked, so I will explain.

It's true that the subway system is fast and efficient. Unfortunately, the A-train which also runs close to where I am staying doesn't go anywhere near Fifth Avenue, where the Met Museum is located, and where several other major museums are also to be found such as the Guggenheim, the Museum of the City of New York, the Museo del Barrio and a number of others. However, to my great convenience, the M4 bus (once it reaches Fifth Avenue), runs all the way down that famous avenue, passing all those museums on Museum Mile, as that section of Fifth Avenue is known. Indeed, the M4 travels all the way to Midtown where it terminates at 34th Street/Penn Station.

The only real inconvenience with catching the bus is that it increases the length of time it takes to reach the museum I am heading to. Still, every cloud has a silver lining, they say, and since I tend to be an 'Always look on the bright side of life,' kind of guy, I have plenty of time to read my books, or just stare out the windows and watch New York City slide by in all it's raucous glory. Truly it can be said, that no two bus rides are ever the same. If nothing else, a ride of this type only reinforces the idea that driving cars in this city must be among the most stressful things any New Yorker can choose to do. Come to think of it, driving anything in this city has to be a major stressor. How there isn't an accident at every intersection I will never know.

Oh, and for the record, the M4 bus route passes up Madison Avenue, and runs all the way to Fort Tryon Park, Inwood, which, after visiting one of the museums on Fifth Avenue, also turns out to be a great convenience since I don't have to make my way across Central Park to Columbus Circle to board an A-train for the return journey to Washington Heights.

Thursday, July 13, 2017

NYC Day 25: In Which I Go Zapping For Dweezils


Dweezil Zappa—What’s In A Name?
Billed as “Storytelling with Guitar Accompaniment”, and to be followed by a Q&A session, today's main event at City Winery gave fans of the great Frank Zappa and his son Dweezil, an opportunity to learn about both their musical careers and accomplishment at this event..

Dweezil Zappa was born on September 5, 1969 in Los Angeles—the son of Frank and Gail Zappa. It was inevitable that from the moment of his birth that his life would be filled wall-to wall with music (his father having listed his religion as “musician” on Dweezil’s birth certificate).

What's in a name, indeed? Dweezil Zappa and {Someone-or-Other} Kennedy who was the Mistress of Ceremonies, provided an entertaining evening of questions and answers related to Dweezil Zappa's life, his own music career, and the life and career of his much acclaimed father Frank Zappa.

Dweezil spoke about his early years learning to play guitar, and recalled a seminal moment when he was 12 and Eddie Van Halen visited the family home. Van Halen gave him a guitar and also taught Dweezil a few classic Van Halen moves, all of which made a huge impression on the young boy.

He also recounted tales that did not reflect well on Lou Reed (who is regarded as something of a Rock God in New York City). Apparently Lou, in what came across as professional jealousy in Dweezil's stories, had a habit of making disparaging remarks about Frank Zappa's music and compositions. According to Dweezil, Reed had even make the comment that Frank Zappa 'couldn't write a hit song if he was given a year on a Greek island to do so'.

Dweezil was not able to explain the reasons behind Lou Reed's antipathy to Frank's music other than professional jealousy, since Frank Zappa was light years ahead of Reed when it came to musical ability. That Zappa never had a 'hit' as measured by the Billboard charts is of course besides the point. Zappa senior had no interest whatsoever in achieving that sort of ephemeral success. In a strange, and ironic twist to these stories, Dweezil recounted that when Frank Zappa was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it was Lou Reed who was chosen by the organizers to deliver the induction speech. Dweezil did not say what his father, Frank thought about this.

Dweezil said that Frank recorded and released more than 60 albums during his career, but Frank's musical 'vaults', containing hundreds of studio and live concert tapes, had many more hours of music stored on them. What will happen to this music now is anybody's guess.

The most interesting and in some ways shocking parts of the evening were when Dweezil talked about the ongoing fight he is having with his family to be able to play his father's music. A fight that again proves the adage: You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family.

I don't think Dweezil explained fully why it was that the Zappa Family Trust wants to stop him from playing Frank's music. In fact, they have been going to extremes in their attempts, going so far as to issue Cease and Desist orders for example, stopping him from using the phrase "Zappa Plays Zappa," and worse. The Trust, which is administered (if I remember rightly), by his brother, Ahmet and sister, Diva, has even gone so far as to try (unsuccessfully), to stop Dweezil from using his surname, 'Zappa' in all promotional material! Seriously, WTF!

Throughout the Q&A, Dweezil played brief instrumental guitar licks to illustrate his father's compositional style and abilities, but these moments were probably the least successful aspects of the night, since the music really only comes alive when played with a full band. I must say I enjoyed the evening more than I thought I would, and listening to Dweezil's stories made me determined to listen to more of his and his father's music, and to catch Dweezil in live performance when the opportunity presents itself.

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Tuesday 11, July | Expenses $78.00 ($101.30)
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Wednesday, July 12, 2017

NYC Day 24: In Which My Day is Mostly Forgetable - But Not Completely


Closing time at the Metropolitan Museum
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Today was one of those non-event days. By the time I got my act together, and to be frank, I don't think I managed to even do that, it was well past midday. I planned to return to the Met Museum and spend a few hours in the larger galleries, but after a good hour or so on the M4 bus, and somewhat starved of food, on arriving at the museum I immediately headed downstairs to the cafeteria where I bought something to eat and drink. I then proceeded to update my blog with yesterday's events. By the time I had done this, I had little more than an hour to wander through a few rooms before it was time to depart.


Above and a detail below: Geometry, a fresco (transferred to canvas) dating from 1760.
Attributed to Giovanni Battista Tiepolo and Girolamo Mengozzi.

 
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Above and info panel below: The Patio from the Castle of Velez Blanco.

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Above and info panel below: When I saw the above pages from a book (dating from 1434 - 35) illustrating the four Gospels, I immediately thought 'Comics!'. In a time period when few people could read or write, the best way to teach the story of the gospels was to illustrate them. 

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Above: I don't know about you but this statue of Saint James The Greater looks like it could have been the inspiration for one of the characters out of a Pirates Of The Carribean movie. According to the info panel for this statue, Saint James The Greater ('greater' than who or what?), is even wearing a hat "...emblazoned with a cockleshell emblem." Am I right, or am I right?
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BOOK SHOPPING AGAIN
At something of a loose end, I jumped on the first available bus, an M3, going down to the East Village, and alighted at 14th Street, whereupon I made my way to that most famous of all New York City book shops, the Strand Book Store (at 828, Broadway and 12th Street). This was my first visit during this trip, and I'm quite sure it won't be my last. As always, I was quite overwhelmed by the vast array of books lining its "18 miles of books," as they like to claim (and I am not about to question that claim any time soon). In deed, I wandered between dozens of towering bookshelves and display tables groaning under the weight of the books piled on them thinking to myself, Where are you supposed to start? And where are you supposed to stop?

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Of course, I had to buy something while I was there, and in the end was able to restrict myself to just three books, The Killer Inside Me, by Jim Thompson, The Bell Jar, by Silvia Plath, and Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys. All three authors and their books are highly regarded, and all have been on my radar for years, so the decision to buy was not hard. What will be hard, assuming I manage to read all six books I have bought so far, is whether to leave them behind in New York, or whether to take them back to Australia with me. Given that I returned home last year with a bag filled with books, I suspect I already know the answer to that question.

As a huge fan of Stanley Kubrick, the quote on the cover of Jim Thompson's book is of particular interest to me because it was Thompson who wrote the screenplays for two of Kubrick's earliest films, The Killing, and Paths of Glory. 

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Monday 10, July | Expenses $118.65 ($155.90)
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