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.

NYC Day 21: In Which I Visit Robert Rauschenberg at MoMA

Click images to view full sized

Rauschenberg at the Museum of Modern Art
I returned to the Museum of Modern Art this afternoon, planning to catch up on a couple of major exhibitions that I have yet to immerse myself in, and was immediately assailed by thousands of other visitors who had decided to do the very same thing. Talk about crowded! It took me some time to remember that MoMA, like a number of other museums across the city, offer free entry to all-comers on Friday evenings -- and by gawd, they turned out in force.

I spent the bulk of my time examining the very extensive Robert Rauschenberg Among Friends exhibition. As the title implies, not only are visitors treated to a wide range of Rauschenberg's abstract art, but friends such as Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Susan Weil, and others are represented in the more than 250 works on show.

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Milton Ernest "Robert" Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the pop art movement. Rauschenberg is well known for his "Combines" of the 1950s, in which non-traditional materials and objects were employed in innovative combinations. Rauschenberg was both a painter and a sculptor and the Combines are a combination of both, but he also worked with photography, printmaking, papermaking, and performance. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1993. He became the recipient of the Leonardo da Vinci World Award of Arts in 1995 in recognition of his more than 40 years of fruitful artmaking. [Source: Wikipedia...]

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Let me be perfectly frank with you, dear reader, abstract art is not at the top of my list of favorite art styles or genres, and I confess that more than once I have said the same things you have probably said when confronted with some abstract or modern art, "Even I could do that!" The fact that I haven't 'done that', I guess is the difference between myself and Robert Rauschenberg, and it most definitely is the reason that his art is hanging in the Museum of Modern Art (and in many other galleries and art museums around the world), and my art is not!

I would love to be able to explain the intricacies and raison d'etre of Rauschenberg's work, but that is way outside my area of expertise so I will have to leave it to you to do your own research on this area of art and the artists who practice it and who continue to push the boundaries of what art, all art, is.

It's a cop out on my part I know, but I will let Rauschenberg's art speak for itself (now there's a cliche if ever there was.)

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I will also refer you to Wikipedia and share a brief quote from that site on Abstract Art:

Abstract art uses a visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an attempt to reproduce an illusion of visible reality. The arts of cultures other than the European had become accessible and showed alternative ways of describing visual experience to the artist. By the end of the 19th century many artists felt a need to create a new kind of art which would encompass the fundamental changes taking place in technology, science and philosophy. The sources from which individual artists drew their theoretical arguments were diverse, and reflected the social and intellectual preoccupations in all areas of Western culture at that time. [Source: Wikipedia...]

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Sunday 9, July | Expenses $32.50 ($42.80)
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NYC Day 20: In Which I Go Gardening at New York Botanical Garden (sort of)

I was never much of a gardener. Even when I had my own home with what little passed for a suburban garden, I did the bare minimum to maintain what few flowers survived despite my indifference and neglect. Maybe the fact that I used to suffer (and occasionally still do), from severe bouts of hay fever had something to do with it, but now that I seem to have outgrown that annual debilitating reaction to pollens and other allergens, I still spend as little time as possible pottering in gardens.

So it was as much a surprise to me as it might be to those who know me, that today found me in the Bronx visiting the New York Botanical Garden. In four previous visits to New York I had never made it to either the Botanical Garden or to the Bronx Zoo. Today I was tempted to visit the zoo, but remembered that Wednesdays are 'pay-what-you-wish' days at the zoo, and it being Thursday today, I decided to leave that institution for another week.

"The New York Botanical Garden is a botanical garden and National Historic Landmark... The 250-acre (100 ha) site's verdant landscape supports over one million living plants in extensive collections. Each year over one million visitors visit the garden's remarkable diversity of tropical, temperate, and desert flora, as well as programming that ranges from exhibitions in the Haupt Conservatory to festivals on Daffodil Hill." [Source: Wikipedia]

While I freely admit that I was never much of a gardener, that does not mean that a well maintained plot of land does not interest me, and to my surprise I enjoyed my visit far more than I thought I would. It might have had something to do with escaping the mad rush of Manhattan's crowded noise filled streets. You can almost convince yourself that you are out in the country far from Midtown as you amble slowly along well kept paths, past towering sequoia's, and thousands of flowering plants, acres of manicured lawns, and clipped hedgerows.

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Come to think of it, you are far from Midtown, and you are in what little is left of once open countryside. However, the ever present hum of surrounding traffic, and the distant sound of car horns and the sirens of emergency service vehicles provides a constant reminder that the city is just 'out there' waiting to swallow you up when you leave the relative peace and quiet of the gardens.

As noted in the quote from Wikipedia, a regular schedule of exhibitions are programmed throughout the year at the Botanical Garden, and currently the exhibition of note is that of the American glass blowing artist/sculptor, Dale Chihuly. Simply titled, CHIHULY, the exhibition runs now through until October 29, 2017, and presents dozens of stunning creations that defy the imagination. That something as fragile as glass can be colored, heated, bent, twisted, and shaped into the myriad forms that Dale Chihuly manages to achieve, has to be seen to be believed.

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Numerous large sculptural works are placed throughout the grounds of the garden, and are waiting to be discovered as visitors walk around the huge site. Others are on display in the gallery's of the LuEsther T. Merton Library, while still more are placed carefully throughout the massive Enid A. Haupt Conservatory -- a wonderful architectural gem if ever there was one.

By the way, if you find the prospect of walking for hours around the 250-acre site daunting, fear not. The Botanical Garden has very thoughtfully provided people movers (or trams as they are called), that follow a long winding circuit around the grounds with stops at a number of key locations where visitors can alight or rejoin the trams As they circle the site. A pre-recorded audio commentary is played throughout the ride which draws attention to a range of trees and plants, landscape features of interest, and historical information about the gardens and their formation.

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As you would expect, there are daily tours that focus on different areas of interest to visitors, such as the Perennial Garden, Native Plant Garden, Thain Family Forest, a Bird Walk, Notable Trees, the Conservatory, and others. In addition, musical performances are also programmed over the summer months. I left the site just after 6:00pm, but if I had stayed on I could have enjoyed live music from performers that were setting up equipment on a temporary stage. The music was due to begin at 7:00pm and go through until 10:00pm, but after five hours or so on site, I was more than ready to call it a day.

There are two major dining options at the Botanical Garden; the Hudson Garden Grill is the more upmarket of the two, with waiters on staff to administer to your every need. The Pine Tree Cafe located by the main entrance is a far more casual affair, and I suspect a more economical option as well. There are also a number of very casual 'street food' style  dining options available. These are provided by the Burger Truck, and The Cantina, both of which operate from Tuesday to Sunday. Meanwhile the Taco Truck and the Conservatory Plaza Bar are advertised as operating on weekends only. However, I did see the Taco Truck setting up for service this evening near the stage before I left, so you never know. Also according to the weekly What's On sheet, since the last four dining options mentioned above are outdoor venues, they are open "Weather permitting."

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Oh, and most importantly, the restrooms were large, clean and well maintained. And no, I don't have photos of those. You wilI just have to take my word for it.

Finally, if I, an indifferent gardener, could find much to enjoy and appreciate at the New York Botanical Garden, I can only imagine that keen gardeners will feel they have found a little piece of heaven right there in the Bronx -- and who would have ever thought that? If you have the time and the interest, I have no hesitation recommending a visit.

IF YOU GO
2900 Southern Blvd, Bronx.
Open: Tuesday through Sunday
Hours: 10:00am - 6:00pm
Prices: Adult: $23; Senior: $20;
Phone: +1 718-817-8700
Online: www.nybg.org/

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Wednesday, July 6 | Expenses $78.00 ($102.90)

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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.

Note: Click on images to view full sized.

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

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Back In The U.S., Back In The U.S.S.A.

Above: The Met Breuer on Madison Avenue

My apologies to Lennon & McCartney for stealing their song title and hacking it to suit my purposes, but here I am again, three days into a three month extended stay in America -- most of which I will spend in New York City. The trip from Australia to New York went smoothly enough, but after 32 hours of air travel, extended transit stops and time spent traveling between accommodations and airports, you can be sure I was more than happy to collapse into bed once I arrived at the Washington Heights apartment at which I will be staying.

I spent the first day close to home base, and did little more than walk to a local AT&T store where I swapped my Australian SIM card for an AT&T GoPhone SIM ($54.43). This gives me unlimited data (6Gb high speed/shaped after that), as well as unlimited local and international phone calls each month.

I had dinner (quesadilla and a beer; $22.00) at my local 'go to' nosh house, the Hudson View Restaurant at the corner of 181st and Fort Washington Avenue, before finishing my day with some grocery shopping ($78.17) at Frank's Gourmet Market on W 187th street -- though I'm not too sure about the 'Gourmet' designation. Now that I think of it, the Hudson View does not exactly live up to its name either, but I guess that's marketing for you.

Marsden Hartley’s Maine @ The Met Breuer
The following day, Sunday, after buying an MTA Pass ($121.00) giving me unlimited travel for the next 30 days, I rode an M4 bus as far as East 75th street, and went to the Met Breuer to see the Marsden Hartley exhibition that finished that same day. It was a large collection from this American artist who spent his final years in his home state, Maine -- hence the title of the show, Marsden Hartley's Maine.

The exhibition featured many oil paintings and a smattering of other media from this local artist. I myself had never heard of Hartley until I read about him on the Met Museum website in preparation for this visit. For the most part I found his work engaging, with its strong masculine themes, bold and colorful flourishes, and dark, foreboding land and seascapes.

Here are a few images from the exhibition and the location:

Entrance and ticketing counter

Marsden Hartley's Maine (Note: exhibition now closed)

Above: The Lighthouse; Marsden Hartley

Above: Canuck Yankee Lumberjack at Old Orchard Beach, Maine

Above: Flaming American (Swim Champ); Marsden Hartley.

Above: Lobster Fishermen

Knotting Rope; Marsden Hartley.

Above: Information panels.

 

Above: The Wave; Marsden Hartley

The Met Breuer
Corner E 75th & Madison Avenue
*Prices: Students, $12; Senior $17; Adult $25 ; children under 12 free
*Suggested prices only.

Dear Reader, you may notice strange formatting for this and subsequent blog posts. Sadly, using my aging iPad 2 to update this blog is not turning out to be the exciting and innovative experience I was hoping it would be. However, under the circumstances, right now it is the best I can do.