NYC Day 10: Short Sharp Shocked

MICHELLE SHOCKED RESIDENCY AT CITY WINERY
Michelle Shocked joins City Winery (155, Varick Street, New York City) for a summer residency performing a different album in its entirety each night and more.

The indie folk-singer took the music scene by storm in 1988 with her debut album, Short Sharp Shocked, which went on to receive a Grammy nomination and win Folk Album of the Year. Her powerful and versatile music incorporates various styles from blues to rock to traditional fiddle tunes. Tonight she kicked of her residency with a performance of Short Sharp Shocked. 

Short Sharp Shocked was the second album by Michelle Shocked, and was originally released in 1988. The photograph of Shocked that appears on the cover was taken by Chris Hardy of the San Francisco Examiner at a protest in San Francisco during the 1984 Democratic National Convention.

Michelle and her three fellow musicians put on a great performance, and I came away from the gig more than happy with my decision to book a place at all three shows of her City Winery residency as they are billing it (despite the fact that the gigs are each about a month apart). The seat I had chosen, while close to the stage, was not exactly located in the best position since I had to twist my body to the right to see the performers. Thankfully I was able to reposition my chair for a more comfortable look.

Since Michelle was there to perform her now classic album, Short Sharp Shocked in full, that constituted the set list. However, towards the end of the night, to the audiences surprise, she brought her father onto the stage, and recounted a story about how he had taught himself to play mandolin when she was still a child. To our delight, with mandolins in hand they both played Woody's Rag, an instrumental attributed to Woody Guthrie. 

You might assume that the night was 'over before it had begun' if only because the original album had maybe 35 minutes or so of music on it. No so. By adding several longish stories and song introductions, as well as extended instrumental breaks which allowed the musicians to shine, the show went for almost 90 minutes, and this does not include the 20 minute opening set provided by guitarist and Short Sharp Shocked record producer, Pete Anderson and his fellow musicians, who then backed Michelle throughout her set.

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Monday 26, June | Expenses $78.00 ($101.50)

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New York City Day 9: Walk Like an Egyptian to The Bitter End!

The Chrysler Building basks in the glow of
late evening sunlight. 

GIGS, GIGS, AND MORE GIGS
I wrote in an earlier post that I had dubbed this visit to New York as my Music and Art Tour, and nothing that has happened since my last series of posts a week ago to change this designation. Since last Sunday 25th my evenings has included a night at The Bitter End to catch the Singer/Songwriter Sessions and the All Star Jam that follows it. On Monday night I returned to City Winery to see Michelle Shocked and the Pete Anderson trio run through her now classic album, Short Sharp Shocked, and again on Tuesday night I was there to help celebrate the 30th birthday of Jesse Paris Smith with a host of guest musicians including her brother Jackson and legendary mother, Patti Smith.

I had a night off on Wednesday, but I had reserved a ticket to see Cassandra Wilson at the Blue Note Jazz Club in Greenwich Village on Thursday night. In the end, I decided to cancel that booking, and reschedule for tonight, Sunday, July 2. My final big gig for the week saw me visiting the Highline Ballroom for a rollicking performance of the Playing For Change Band, of which more later.

A MORE FOCUSED NYC VISIT
It occurs to me that by building this visit around art and music, I am a lot more focused than I might otherwise have been. On previous visits to New York, I have concentrated on free music events more than anything else, and then left pretty much all other activities to the whims of the day. Purchasing two museum memberships (MoMA, and The Met), has allowed me to pick and choose talks and tours to attend, and while my general museum visits are still unfocused, I am enjoying the return visits to the Met Cloisters and The Met Museum in particular. While I have only made one visit to the Met Breuer at this time, I will go there again this week to take in any new works on show. I will also return to MoMA for a deeper look at the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibition.

Here's my week in review along with my daily expenses in US and Australian dollars.

METROPOLITAN MUSEUM MEMBERS EVENT
The Met Fifth Avenue Members Event -- Irving Penn: Centennial. Learn about the life and work of the great American photographer Irving Penn with New Yorker writer Vince Aletti, Vogue executive fashion editor Phyllis Posnick, and Curator in Charge of the Department of Photographs, Jeff L. Rosenheim.

I went to The Met Museum in time to attend the Irving Penn talk. I must say I found the talk and the information about Penn's career as a (mostly) fashion photographer for Vogue magazine more interesting than I thought I would. I have never had a lot of time for fashion or the designers, their famous models or the magazines that thrive on haute couture, or the world of high fashion. However, Irving Penn took his role very seriously, and did not just shoot fashion for anyone, and that included Vogue. Phyllis Posnick, worked at Vogue for many years, and said she constantly had to persuade and convince Penn to take on assignments for the magazine. I had a quick look at the Centennial exhibition after the talk, but will return for a more leisurely look on a future visit. I also had a little time to walk through some of the Egyptian rooms and again I will return to these at a later date for a more careful look. 

However, it occurs to me after several somewhat disorganized visits to the Met Museum, that I need to be more focused about my examination of the massive art collections on offer. The best way of doing this, it seems to me is to use the museum map to plan each visit so that I can concentrate on one section at a time and so work my way through the whole building floor by floor and all 20 major departments.

Above: The Temple of Dendur

Above: detail of inscriptions on Temple of Dendur wall.

Here are the main departments moving clockwise around the First Floor: Greek and Roman Art; Africa, Oceania and the Americas; Modern & Contemporary Art; European Sculpture & Decorative Arts; Medieval Art; Robert Lehman Collection; The American Wing; Arms & Armor; Egyptian Art.

The Second & Third floors: Greek & Roman Art; Ancient Near Eastern Art; Art of The Arab Lands; 19th and Early 20th Century European Paintings and Sculpture; Modern & Contemporary Art; Photography; European Paintings 1250-1800; European Sculpture & Decorative Arts; Musical Instruments; and American Wing (mezzanine). Then there are the collections at The Cloisters, the Breuer, and of course MoMA. 

And let's not forget all the allied programs that each museum runs like talks, tours, film screenings and musical performances. And this is without visiting any of the dozens of other museums and galleries across the city! Far out! I really have to get my act together.

Above: Bat-or Kalo on stage at the Bitter End and below

posters from the 60s and 70s decorate the walls of the venue.

THE BITTER END: Singer/Songwriter Sessions & All Star Jam
I've written about the Bitter End numerous times on this blog so I won't go over old news. I will say that as a big supporter of new and emerging performers, I love how this venue has stayed close to its roots and continues to support young talent through the singer/songwriter sessions and in many other ways. It is interesting to see young performers working on their stagecraft, and sharing their songs and music in a small, intimate venue like this, knowing as I hope they do, that some of the greatest musicians, comedians, and other performers have also trodden the boards of the narrow stage on which they themselves are standing.

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Sunday 25, June | Expenses $49.00 ($64.55)

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NYC Day 8: The Met Cloisters, and Week 1 Expenses

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THE MET CLOISTERS
Yet another first visit, this time to the Met Cloisters, a Medieval museum located in Fort Tryon Park, at the top end of Manhattan. I timed my visit to catch a midday tour/talk entitled Wings in the Middle Ages: Birds, Beasts, Angels, and Altarpieces, led by Michael Morris an expert in this particular area. Between now and the end of August there are another eleven different gallery talks/tours that I could participate in. These take place on weekends at 12:00 PM and 2:00 PM. There are also daily Highlights tours (at 3:00 PM), and daily Gardens of the Met Cloisters tours (at 1:00 PM).

Among many other treasures, the Cloisters Museum if famous for its numerous medieval tapestries, and the most famous of these are the magnificent tapestries that are known as the Unicorn Tapestries.

Even though I have only managed to visit each of the museums and their offshoots once each to date, purchasing memberships to MoMA and The Met Museum is fast turning out to be the best thing I have done in preparation for this visit. Since I feel no obligation to exhaust myself trying to see as much as possible each time I visit one of these institutions, I find my outings are much more relaxing and less stressful than they might have otherwise been if I was trying to pack too much into each visit.

WEEK 1 EXPENSES: USD$483.00
As near as I can work it out, the weekly spend for my first week in New York was just $483, which averages out to a daily figure of $69.00. This includes transport, accommodation, food, recreation, and shopping. For readers coming late to these updates, my expenses are so low due to the fact that I am apartment and cat sitting for a friend, and I am contributing a very nominal amount to help offset costs associated with maintaining this apartment. Hence the biggest expense of any trip, accommodation, is turning out to be my least expensive cost, something for which am incredibly grateful for.

NYC Day 7: Michelangelo at the Oculus, Georgia O'Keeffe at The Met Museum

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MICHELANGELO AT THE OCULUS 
Day seven saw me make my first foray below Midtown, where I went as far as Fulton Street, and went to the Oculus, that soaring transportation hub that covers a network of subway lines and PATH train lines link Manhattan with New Jersey. Coincidentally, a major display of large scale reproductions of scenes from Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel frescoes had began that very day. It costs $15 to get up close and personal with the panels, but people can get a reasonably good look at the works without having to pay. However, the closer the experience, the better I would suggest. Having said that, I elected not to get up close and personal, but will do so before the exhibition ends on July 23.

NEW 10.5" IPAD VERY ENTICING
Finding myself within sight of the Apple Store at the Oculus, I simply had to stop in and check out the new 10.5" iPad Pro. I am finding increasingly difficult to ignore the Siren Song of the new iPad, and I have a sneaking suspicion that it won't be too long before I treat myself to the latest iteration of that amazing device.

Met Museum art class in progress

THE MET MUSEUM
After a late lunch I headed to the Metropolitan Museum for my first 2017 look at that major institution. Despite the several hours I spent there, I never got much further than a few rooms on the first floor. Specifically, I spent most of my time in the Greek and Roman sections, while using my smartphone to listen to audio guides associated with some of the art works.

I eventually made my way to the Modern and Contemporary Art wing where I was delighted to find Thomas Hart Benton's magnificent America Today series depicting aspects of American life as he saw it during the early 1930s. I also stayed until 7:30pm, long enough to participate in a talk about Georgia O'Keeffe's Cow's Skull: Red, White, and Blue, one of her best known works.

I could have stayed on until 10:00pm and participated in a Members Only tour of one of the major exhibitions, but by 7:30 I was way past hanging around until 9:00 when the event was due to start.

NYC Day 6: A Visit to MoMA, and The Yankees

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A FIRST LOOK AT MoMA
Here's a quick wrap up of my main activities over the past three days. On Thursday I made my way to the Museum of Modern Art for the first of what will be many visits. I spent 90 minutes or so taking a good look at Making Space: Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction, a major exhibition that has been underway for a month or so already.

To be honest, I don't pretend to understand abstract art, and I suspect that like a lot of people who don't really 'get' this type of art, I tend to have a somewhat poor opinion of it. Even as I wandered through the exhibition, I could see other visitors making comments to each other about some of the works on display. The general feeling that a lot of people have about abstract art -- including myself -- is summed up in the comment, "Even I could do that!"

To which the artist in question might have asked, "Then why didn't you?"

It's a fair question, and one I don't have a good answer to, so I'll just leave lying there on the table for ongoing contemplation.

Once I felt I had seen enough of the abstract art, I took a quick look at Frank Lloyd Wright at 150: Unpacking The Archive, another major exhibition that will require multiple visits to get the full value from. In fact, I was quite overwhelmed by the sheer scope of the exhibition during my brief walk through the twelve rooms (each of which focuses on a different aspect of Wright's extensive career).

From this exhibition I made my way up to the general art wings where I spent ten minutes with Money's Water Lilies, and where I paused briefly before some Mexican artists including of course Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. By this point I had reached my art appreciation limit, and was ready for some lunch. I was also dog tired, and would have loved to be able to lie down and get some sleep, but I have decided to stop my afternoon naps and push through each day well into the night in an attempt to get on top of my ongoing struggle with jet lag.

N.Y. YANKEES vs L.A. ANGELS
As tired as I was, and I was very tired, I took a Bx13 bus to Yankee Stadium to watch the New York Yankees take on the Los Angeles Angels, in what was being sold as a half-priced game. I should have realized of course, that 42,353 other people (or thereabouts), had also decided that they would take advantage of this special promotion. The massive queues at all the gates to Yankee Stadium had to be seen to be believed, and once seen had to be negotiated with great forbearance as they inched their way past hard-pressed security officers. Oh, and as for that 'half-price deal', it seems I didn't qualify for the deal because the promotion was being sponsored by MasterCard, and tickets had to be purchased with a credit card from that company, and I had left my card home. Ces la vie!

Since I had made the effort to get to the stadium, there was nothing for it but to pony up $21, which got me a seat in the boondocks high above the field of dreams with an eagle eyed view of the play far below. In fact, I joked to nobody in particular that if I was any higher up I would be in danger of getting nose bleeds because of the rarified atmosphere. Another pithy thought occurred to me to the effect that if I had to go any higher, I would need to be issued with bottled oxygen, again due to the rarified atmosphere so high above the ground. Some days I surprise even myself with my pithy thoughts!

For the record, the Yankees copped a shellacking from the Los Angeles Angels, despite leading the Angels early in the game 5 -1. I left at the start of the ninth innings when the Angels had reversed their fortunes and were well in the lead with a score of 10 - 5. Ces la vie, indeed!

NYC Day 5: Sleep. Glorious Sleep, and A Fort Tryon Park Evening Walk

Holy Moly! Look at the line-up below of the many choices available to me on this, my fifth day in New York City. And exactly how many of them you may well ask, did I get to? The answer dear reader is... None. Nada. Nil.

Last night, I didn't get to bed until 1.45am, and that late night, coupled with the still lingering effects of jet lag, pushed me to stay in and rest. I don't know about you, but the older I get, the longer it takes for me to recover from jet lag and the effects of extended travel. To recap, I arrived in New York City late on Friday last, after some 32 hours of travel, either in airport transit lounges, in the air, or in trains or taxi's getting too and from my places of accommodation. Thirty-two hours!

So today, after rising late, I was again in bed just after midday for another five hours of much needed sleep recovery. The great thing about being in one city for an extended stay, as I am, is that I can afford to relax and recuperate, without feeling like I am wasting my precious days sleeping! I don't leave New York until early in September, so why worry. I have more than enough time to do all that I have planned to do.

Beside, it is obvious when you look through the list below, that there was no way I was ever going to attend more than one or two of the events listed anyway. And my daily diary for the next couple of months looks very similar. In the end I settle for a leisurely walk to Fort Tryon Park, which is less than ten minutes from the apartment at which I am staying, and watched the sun set over the Hudson River, from Manhattan's highest natural land feature. The photos illustrating this post are of the gardens at the Park.

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. Koto, Shamisen, and Flute music from Japan, with Sumie Kaneko + Haruna Fukazawa…

FREE: RIVER TO RIVER FESTIVAL: JUNE 21
12pm - 2pm | Brookfield Winter Garden. STORYTELLING STATION by En Garde Arts
1pm - 2:30pm | 192 Front Street. TOUR: THE OTHER SIDE OF WALL STREET PRELUDE by Black Gotham Experience 7:00PM—

N.Y. YANKEES Vs ANGELS 
Free Cap Night

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: Fête de la Musique: Wax Tailor / Her / Ayo / Ala.Ni
5:00 pm - 10:00 pm. Rumsey Playfield, Central Park. An evening of French contemporary talent and genres ranging from hip-hop to soul and pop.
2pm - 2:40pm | Intersection of Broad and Wall St. THANK YOU FOR COMING: PLAY by Faye Driscoll
5PM - 6PM | South St. Seaport Museum. MEMOIRS OF A UNICORN. By Marjani Forté-Saunders
5pm - 6:30pm and 7pm - 9pm | 192 Front Street. TOUR: CAESAR’S REBELLION Pts 1 & 2 by Black Gotham Experience
8:00pm - 11pm | Pier A Harbor House. RIVER TO RIVER LIVING ROOMS by The Dance Cartel.

MOMA Member After Hours
6:30–8:00 p.m. Enjoy private access to Frank Lloyd Wright at 150: Unpacking the Archive, and Robert Rauschenberg: Among Friends after the Museum has closed to the public. MoMA educators will be on hand to share insight on the works on view. Please use the Ronald S. and Jo Carole Lauder Building entrance, east of the main Museum entrance on 53 Street and present your membership card upon arrival. Member guest admission tickets can be purchased at Member Services. More Information… | More After Hours Info…

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