Our Town Downtown February 14th, 2013

cityArts P.16

DINING

NYPRESS.COM

• COMMUNITY NEWS BELOW 14TH STREET • FEBRUARY 14, 2013

THE RETURN OF BRISKET PAGE 15

ALSO INSIDE STOP & FRISK STATS FOR DOWNTOWN P.3 ‘THE BACHELOR’ BARES HIS SOUL P.4 OP-ED: STREAMLINING ROUTES TO END THE BUS STRIKE P.23

SNOW

MUCH FUN! Tuesday, February 26 th, 2013 Cocktail Reception: 6:15 PM Awards Ceremony: 7:00 PM Please RSVP to Lconnor@manhattanmedia.com or 212.894.5441

Photos by Aaron Adler

ANTI-FASHION FOR BABIES & THE PLANET P.6

Mount Sinai Medical Center Icahn Medical Institute Goldwurm Auditorium

1425 Madison Avenue at 98th St.

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2013

Celebrates American Heart Month It’s Electric: The Basics of Electrophysiology February 12, 2013 1st Avenue at 16th Street, 3 Linsky, Conference Room 12:30 - 1 pm Sweetheart CPR: “It’s So Sweet To Have A Healthy Heartbeat” February 13, 2013 10 Nathan D. Perlman Place, Bernstein Pavillion 5:30 - 7 pm Hispanics/Latinos & Cardiovascular Disease: Raising Awareness February 19, 2013 1st Avenue at 16th Street, 3 Linsky, Conference Room 12:30 - 1 pm Heart Healthy Day: Health Screenings & Counseling February 22, 2013 10 Union Square East, 2nd Floor Conference Rooms 1 & 2 11 am - 5 pm Heart-Healthy Cooking & Ask the Expert February 28, 2013 317 East 17th Street, Fierman Hall, 8th Floor 2 - 4 pm Don’t Stress Your Test February 26, 2013 1st Avenue at 16th Street, 3 Linsky, Conference Room 12 noon - 1 pm To learn more about these events, please call 212.420.2806 or visit us online at BiHeartInstitute.org/about-us.php.

Strengthening Hearts. Revitalizing Lives.

Regina Quattrochi, the CEO of Baily-Holt House, talks to residents and staff at the re-opening of the residences. Baily-Holt has housed and assisted people with HIV and AIDS since the 1980s. The building was severely damaged in Hurricane Sandy.

PHOTO BY SANG HEE MA

NEIGHBORHOOD CHATTER New Park Snacks Come spring, Hudson River Park will be offering new food and drink options throughout the park. According to the recently released Request for Proposals, which will be open until March 15, the West Side park is looking for bids for seven new food carts and trucks to be located in various locations including Battery Park City, Hell’s Kitchen and Hudson Square.

These new additions will more than double the six mobile food vendors currently operating in the vicinity. According to DNAinfo.com, the Hudson River Park Trust is interested in certain vendors that offer food and drink at affordable rates. Specifically, they want vendors that charge $2 or less for at least two items. The Hudson River Park Trust is hoping that not only will the low prices improve visitor satisfaction; the monetary increase from monthly fees will help with the projected $80 million deficit.

Hudson River Park is looking to have these mobile vendors up and running by May 1.

Manhattan Rental Market Report Real estate brokerage firm MNS has released its January 2013 Manhattan Rental Market Report. MNS specializes in the sale, rental and marketing aspect of residential properties in both Manhattan and Brooklyn, and the report focuses on market summary, inventory analysis and trend prices.

As far as downtown neighborhoods are concerned, Soho, Tribeca, the Lower East Side and Harlem yielded the most interesting finds.

In terms of average prices, Soho was ranked most expensive for non-doorman studios, and

one- and two-bedrooms in doorman buildings.

While the non-doorman studios were most expensive, rent for doorman studios in Soho had the second largest decrease in all of Manhattan.

Tribeca was ranked most expensive for nondoorman one- and two-bedrooms (even with a 1.9 percent decrease in two bedrooms) and for doorman studios. While Tribeca’s doorman studios had the highest mean studio rental prices in all of Manhattan, the rent price for non-doorman studios had the largest decrease in Manhattan by far at 32.9 percent due to a 43 percent fall in inventory. Soho and Tribeca were the only two neighborhoods in Manhattan to experience a crisscross of studio price trends between doorman and non-doorman, and both switches happened between this past December and January.

Doorman studios on the Lower East Side had the highest price increase in all of Manhattan at 26.1 percent. The yearly basis average increase shows that rents were raised by $225 or 8 percent. In the past month alone, rents were raised $207 due to a fall in inventory.

If you want to live in Manhattan, this report shows that Harlem is the place to be. It was ranked least expensive in all of Manhattan and experienced a drop in rent of at least $49 across all studios, one bedrooms and two bedrooms. One-bedrooms in both doorman and non-doorman buildings experienced the highest drop of $78. “Rents are lower in this area compared to other desirable places in Manhattan, so any renters interested in going uptown should not wait around,” MNS said in its statement.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2013

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PAGE 3

Stop and Frisk Numbers Show Racial Disparities for Downtown Precincts

By Joanna Fantozzi

T

he NYPD recently re-released citywide stop and frisk data from 2011 that reinforce what many opponents of the controversial policy have criticized: Almost 90 percent of all people stopped and frisked citywide in 2011 were minorities. The statistics were re-released just in time for the trial next month that will determine the legality of this police practice.

The statistics, which were also divided by precinct, showed that minorities were even more likely to be stopped in neighborhoods with higher percentages of white residents, like the Lower East Side. In the 1st precinct, even though blacks and Latinos only make up 27 percent of the population, they constituted 85 percent of all stops.

In the 9th precinct, blacks and Latinos make up

almost half of the population, while almost threequarters of all people who were stopped and frisked in 2011 were black and Latinos.

“It’s not really ‘I don’t like you because you’re black or Latino’; it’s ‘I see you as a potential criminal,’” said Babe Howell, a professor at CUNY School of Law explaining her theory on the numbers. “If you stop a black or Latino kid, chances are you aren’t stopping someone who will be related to the mayor.”

According to Robert Gangi, the director of PROP, the Police Reform Organization Project, people on the street can only be stopped if they look suspicious, or are committing a crime. In addition, police can also stop an individual if they fit the description of a known criminal in the area.

Gangi said, although this practice is legal, sometimes police officers go over the top.

“There’s a lot of pressure for police to meet their quotas and in a desperate effort to do so, they will engage in unwarranted or illegal stops,” said Gangi.

NYPD statistics show that not only did stop and frisks increase steadily from over 540,000 in 2008 to almost 686,000 in 2011, but crime has also steadily decreased. Murders are down 43 percent,

and this year, on Nov. 26, not a single person was reported stabbed, shot or slashed, according to the NYPD. Nick Viest, the chair of the 19th precinct community council on the Upper East Side, said that he supports the NYPD stop and frisk policies.

“From what I’ve witnessed, they’ve handled these things very professionally and appropriately,” said Viest. “When you look at these statistics at face value, people get concerned, but they are responding to specific descriptions. They are doing the job necessary to keep the community safe.”

As far as stopping those who fit a certain description, Victor Goode, also a professor at the CUNY School of Law, said he doesn’t quite buy that explanation.

“Let’s say there a report of purse snatching [by] a young African-American male, 14-16 years old,” said Goode. “When the suspect is characterized as broadly as that, it gives them [the police]

Data for the 9th Precinct. Courtesy of NYPD.

The 2011 NYPD data on the controversial policy bears out common criticism of the practice

an excuse to stop almost anyone.”

Next month, Darius Charney, a senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, and his colleagues, will try to challenge the constitutionality of the NYPD stop and frisk practices like these. However, he did stress that stop and frisk is not an illegal police tactic in and of itself.

“Their argument that black and Latino people are more likely to commit crimes is not the best, because these are law abiding folks that are being stopped,” said Charney. “Are you saying that black and Latinos are more likely to look suspicious?”

The trial, “Floyd vs. The City of New York,” a class action lawsuit, is set to begin on March 11.

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2013

A Bachelor on Valentine’s Day Sean Lowe, star of ABC’s ‘The Bachelor,’ weighs in on everything from the ideal date to mistakes women make in their search for the perfect mate.

By Angela Barbuti Sean Lowe will be alone this Valentine’s Day— but don’t feel bad for him just yet. The 29-yearold recently finished taping a season of ABC’s The Bachelor, where he had his pick of 26 women, all vying to win his heart. His quest for love is being aired every Monday night, with America watching as his personal life is made public. Lowe, a Texas native, was chosen for The Bachelor after competing in The Bachelorette last year, where he was the third from last contestant to be sent home. Immediately pegged as the “nice guy,” ABC rewarded Lowe for his sincerity—and sixpack abs—by selecting him as Season 13’s bachelor. He can’t tell us whether or not he found a soulmate, but definitely speaks from experience when he says, “When you meet the right person, you’ll know.”

Everyone calls you a nice guy. Do you think that’s a good assessment?

[Laughs] I think I am a nice guy. I had no idea that’s how I’d be perceived after doing The Bachelorette. Usually the adjectives that are used are ‘genuine’ and ‘sincere.’ I never really thought of myself in those terms. It’s cool that America does see that. I don’t go out of my way to be a nice guy.

I’m the man that my parents brought me up to be. But I would rather be a nice guy than a jerk, I guess.

You are dating multiple women on national television. What do your family and friends think?

I think they’re really enjoying it. Of course, if anyone is allowed to make fun of me, it’s my family and friends—and they certainly do that. It seems like every Monday night they’re calling me, ragging about something I said or did. It’s all in good fun and they’re all proud of me, I know they are. I think I made them proud not only through my actions, but just the way I presented my family during this whole process.

You’ve been on some really lavish dates on the show. What is your ideal date?

Not the typical ‘Bachelor’ date. I don’t need the extravagance or the exotic settings, although that’s really nice and I’m glad I had the chance to do it. My ideal date is just something simple.

I want to spend as much time with the woman as possible. Take her to a place that allows us to talk, someplace where we can really get to know each other. That could be an intimate dinner at

a romantic restaurant or dinner at my house that I prepare, or it could be just a walk through the park.

Did you expect all the drama that happens this season?

[Pauses] No, I did not. I was actually oblivious to a lot of it. [Laughs] You know, Tierra is certainly the name that’s been talked about most frequently lately and I had no idea that that was going on in the house. Outside of a few murmurs from girls who basically just said, “Well, we really don’t like Tierra.” And I would ask them, “Okay.

Why? Give me some examples.” And they really couldn’t come up with any. So watching the show on Mondays has been eye-opening for me because I just didn’t know this stuff was going on.

Which moments were most memorable?

The first night was a really surreal moment. I’ll never forget Lindsay coming out in a wedding dress or Ashley, the Fifty Shades of Grey girl, who was just completely over-the-top and drunk.

What surprised you most about being “The Bachelor”?

You know, I was shocked it only took me a few weeks to really start developing relationships with multiple people. One of my greatest fears coming into this was that I really wouldn’t find a connection with anybody and it would be a waste of time. But after those first couple of weeks, I found myself really falling for AshLee and Des and Sarah. I was overwhelmed by how many great women were on the show.

Are you allowed to tell us what you’re doing on Valentine’s Day? I can answer it. I’ll be in Dallas not doing much of anything, to be honest with you. If I have a Valentine, I wish that I could spend it with her. But obviously I can’t say if I do or don’t. I’m just going to be celebrating the day by myself.

Do people recognize you around Dallas?

Everyone is always so nice and that’s why I never turn down someone who comes up and asks for a picture. People normally say, “We were rooting for you and heartbroken when it didn’t work out with Emily. We think you’re such a nice guy and can’t wait to watch you this season.” It’s gotten really crazy and that’s one of the drawbacks from doing this whole thing. I would rather be able to go to the grocery store or out with my friends without being stopped. That’s not the case these days.

You have a degree in social science. Has that helped you on “The Bachelor”?

[Laughs] I would like to think that my social skills are above par.

What are your future plans?

It’s hard to say. I love my business and I’ll definitely be part of Factory Girl over the course of

the next decade or so. It’s a business I own with two partners. We do custom furniture, handbags, all kinds of stuff. We’re basically targeting women; they’re our main demographic. That’s the exciting part of life for me. I don’t know where I’m gonna be in 10, 15 or 20 years and I like that.

A year ago I would never have imagined that I’d be where I am today. I guess I’ve learned not to map out my future, because as soon as you try to do it, God has other plans for you.

What advice would you give single girls looking to settle down?

I would say, don’t try too hard. I find that a lot of women overanalyze the smallest things that guys really are not paying attention to. Like, “how come he hasn’t texted me back? It’s been almost three hours now.” Meanwhile the guy’s probably out doing something and just lost track of time.

I think as a rule, it’s better to just relax and be yourself.

Watch Sean on “The Bachelor” Monday nights at 8 p.m. on ABC.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2013

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The Travails of Online Dating Come Alive OkCupid veterans ock to Housing Works Bookstore Cafe to swap horror stories

By Alissa Fleck Studies everywhere are examining the same panic-inducing question—will online dating, with its guaranteed ability to let you endlessly shop around and tailor your perfect mate, ruin relationships forever?

Last week’s OkCupid Show (Stories of Love, Sex and the Internet) at the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe in Soho wasn’t able to answer that exact question, but it certainly offered up some interesting case studies and shed a little light on what it’s like to date in the OkCupid age.

Event co-host and comedian Adam Jacobson relayed to a packed house his own experience— an all-too-familiar scenario. At some point in your dating life you fall into a lull, he explained, one where you make a habit of going on two to three dates with friends-of-friends you meet at parties, only to watch things awkwardly peter out. You bump into them here or there, quickly accumulating a list of places you have to avoid for your own social and emotional well-being.

Eventually Jacobson, like millions of other Americans, joined the dating site OkCupid.

Around this time he was approached by friends, each of whom had a barrage of stories to share about their own experiences. Dating sites, Jacobson learned, apparently make some people act a little cuckoo. “Everyone had a crazy OkCupid story,� he said. “I decided we had to put together this show.�

(Some of these stories, while entertaining, are not newspaper appropriate.)

Jacobson explained a phenomenon of online dating he saw emerge during the course of his site usage; it allows people to become less invested in their relationships. One woman he dated simply disappeared for four months, while another broke up with him via tersely worded text message.

Comedian Charla Lauriston said she’s been using online dating sites for the past five years. “I assumed I was the kind of person who had to,� she said, explaining she had long been an identical twin to one of the “popular girls� in school, while her own memories involve time spent alone in the corner reading the sci-fi fantasy novel Ender’s Game. (On OkCupid, you have the option of searching for keywords, allowing you to find profiles of those who share your exact literary interests, for instance.)

Lauriston started out with the site eHarmony, but was humiliated when after a long dry stretch, a site representative called to inquire about the lack of activity on her account.

She then moved on to OkCupid, which offers its services for free and permits its users to slip through the cracks as they wish. “If you’ve been on OkCupid, these are not weird at all,� Lauriston said, of her own dating escapades, which included a man who urinated in her Prius and another who “shamed her� for

eating fried chicken in front of white people at a restaurant.

Surely these tales resonate with many; the evening brought to light several points about the online dating experience. First, a paradox: while in some ways online dating seems to force people to hold out longer with an incompatible match than they otherwise might, it also encourages less investment with the ability to peruse seemingly infinite other opportunities.

One storyteller speculated OkCupid actively tries to steer people away from their “best matches� because it would hurt the site’s membership.

Ryan O’Connell, the editor of Thought Catalog, said OkCupid gives its users instant self-esteem boosts and makes people “immediately open.�

No matter what happens, one thing remains true: Using OkCupid guarantees there will be adventure.

Had it not been for OkCupid, Jacobson con-

PAGE 5 ceded he would not have had some of the most exciting times of his life, nor met his current long-term girlfriend.

Some discussed yet another phenomenon which arises with OkCupid use—small niches of people who have dated the same users will band together, hash things out, and often forge unforgettable friendships. “You keep hoping it will work out,� explained comedy writer Michelle Markowitz, “but ultimately you do it for these weird experiences.�

ST 4 L A &&, 8

“Ravishing� —New York Times

MATISSE I N S E A RC H O F TR U E PA I NTI N G

Through March 17

metmuseum.org

4QFDJBM )PMJEBZ 0QFOJOH PO 1SFTJEFOUT %BZ t 7JTJU UIF .FU o 5IF $MPJTUFST o The exhibition is made possible in part by Additional support is provided by the Jane and Robert Carroll Fund and the Diane W. and James E. Burke Fund.

The exhibition is organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in collaboration with the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, and the Centre Pompidou, MusÊe National d’Art Moderne, Paris.

The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Henri Matisse, Young Sailor II, 1906, oil on canvas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection, 1998. Š 2012 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2013

Direct Action Fashion Show Promotes Spectacle and Going Green Oyster shell dresses and grass suits raise awareness of the city’s community gardens

By Alissa Fleck

M

ichael Leete, who works at the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) in Alphabet City, showed up for last weekend’s “anti-fashion” show dressed as a sparkly orange tree. Leete, 28, and fellow acts were decked out headto-toe in all recycled and organic material.

“We’re exposing a different side of fashion,” Leete explained of the show’s mission. “We’re showing how it can be used in protest to make the act more interesting.”

While high-end fashion is invading New York City for February Fashion Week, MoRUS and its partner organizations had something a little different, something a little earthier, in mind for their show, which took place at the museum’s C-Squat on Avenue C. Another volunteer, Barbara Ross, came strapped with dangling oyster shells.

“New York City once had oysters in the Hudson River that were wiped out,” she said of her costume’s purpose. “There’s talk of bringing them back to help with storm surges.” Ross’s oyster shell costume was meant to shed light on the potential environmental benefits of mollusks.

“All these costumes have a green message,” she said.

“Fashion can also be functional,” Leete said, adding that costumes like his, a part of the Earth Celebrations series, were intended to raise awareness of the city’s prolific community gardens and plans to demolish them.

Earth Celebrations is a nonprofit organization directed by activist Felicia Young that aims to preserve these gardens through art and performance.

The show brought attention to how costumes and props can be used to promote positive change in the face of social, environmental and political issues—including the use of puppets to support the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Young said the gardens grew out of rubble-filled lots of the 1970s, cultivated by individuals who helped transform neighbor-

hoods previously considered slums. Real estate developers then began targeting those very spots.

“These gardens should not be a temporary stopgap on the way to luxurious neighborhoods,” Young said. “These are not vacant lots.”

Over time, since the organization’s founding in 1991, politicians like former Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Mayor Michael Bloomberg got involved in helping preserve the gardens by providing grants and helping raise awareness.

Volunteers Isabelle Garcia, 31, and Lauren Mittelman, 24, walked the recycled runway in suits made of grass, which was grown directly onto the costumes by Bill Di Paola, a MoRUS co-founder and staunch activist in the city with the environmental organization Time’s Up! Mittelman said the suits represented how easy it can be to grow something no matter the context. “If you can grow grass on a suit in a week, you can grow sustainable stuff anywhere,” she said.

Another audience member, Jerry Trudell, said he used to squat nearby in the 1990s and helped start the transformation of vacant lots into gardens that brought Earth Celebrations into being. He said a garden procession went around every year to support and bring visibility to the garden coalition by uniting garden activists from different areas.

MoRUS’ “anti-fashion” show also included a brassy performance by the Rude Mechanical Orchestra, a volunteer-run band, complete with dancers, which regularly shows up at a variety of protest events, rallies and benefits throughout the city. The band first formed to protest the Republican National Convention.

Hanna Kyle Moranz, 31, a dancer who’s been with the band since 2008, said the orchestra, like MoRUS and its partner organizations, “strongly believes in the power of spectacle for positive change.”

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2013

The Moody’s Foundation Center For Cardiovascular Health At New York Downtown Hospital

Through the generosity of the Moody’s Foundation, New York Downtown Hospital created a comprehensive, state-of-the-art center that focuses on the prevention, early detection, and treatment of cardiovascular disease through a holistic, integrative approach. Our team of physicians works with you to assess your cardiovascular risk and design individualized treatment plans that allow you to live a healthier, more active life. Our cardiovascular specialists can also perform procedures at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital – Weill Cornell Medical Center, allowing our patients access to innovative treatment options.

Our Cardiac Rehabilitation Center has been recognized for its high level of service, and we offer Cardiovascular Wellness Evaluations designed to attain a multi-faceted approach to achieving your best health.

We are committed to providing a superior level of care and patient service, and invite you to learn more about the services we offer.

Consultations and testing services are easily scheduled with a single phone call, and in most cases can be arranged and performed within 24 to 48 hours. Most major insurance plans are accepted, and convenient appointments are available, including early morning and late afternoon visits.

Wellness & Prevention Center

170 William Street, New York, NY 10038 Telephone: (646) 588-2526 www.downtownwellness.org

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2013

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PAGE 9

Healthy y Manhattan Fun Facts for Heart Month There is no better time to learn vital information about your heart, how it works, and how to keep it as healthy as possible. You owe it to yourself and to your family members to remain with them for as long as possible – and to feel great, too.

Here are a few interesting facts about your heart: Your heart beats about 100,000 times per day, and sends over 2,000 gallons of blood throughout your body daily.

Your heart is about the size of your fist, but serves to keep the blood going through 60,000 miles of blood vessels that are contained within your body.

Broken heart syndrome actually exists. It usually takes place close to a time of crisis, such as a break up or a death of someone close to you. It can lead to heart failure or the feeling of heart attack-like symptoms. This further proves the severity of problems that stress can cause on the body and heart.

Laughter is one of the best natural things we can do to instantly improve our heart health. Plenty of research show

that certain emotions constrict the blood vessels, such as stress.

More recently, research has shown that the opposite is true as well. Laughter has a positive impact on heart functions as well.

Heart attacks are most common on Monday mornings, when our levels of stress (cortisol) are at their peaks for the week. Richard Krasuski, MD, director of Adult Congenital Heart Disease Services, actually refers to Monday morning as the “witching hour” because of the increased rate of heart attacks at this time time.

High blood pressure (a reading other than 120/80) is quite common. In fact, high blood pressure affects more than 30 percent of the US population! If left untreated, high blood pressure can lead to heart attack or stroke. While there are certain factors that increase high blood pressure, such as smoking and a poor diet, there are also plenty of things that you can do to normalize your blood pressure as well, such as reducing stress, eating better and working out.

The Impact of Stress

heart conditions and issues, one major step that you can take to improve your heart’s condition in the long-term is to reduce stress in your life.

However, we know that there are stressful aspects of our lives that we cannot eliminate entirely, such as the traffic on your commute home, or a hectic home-life.

Instead, we can alter our reactions to those stressors and learn not to let those things bother us so much, thus helping to normalize our blood pressure over time.

In addition to the lifestyle changes and possible medications suggested by your physician, you may want to consider adding medical hypnosis into your health journey as well.

To that end, Dr. Carol Ginandes has authored a very relaxing new program, “Perfect Pressure, Healthy Heart: A Systematic Hypnotic Approach For High Blood Pressure.” It will help you to identify and reduce stressors over time and to work towards a more normalized blood pressure reading – and the only “side effects” from this program are feelings of relaxation and happiness about your life. Her program contains five enjoyable hypnotic tutorials that will allow you to foster better overall health as you work to lower your blood pressure.

Cam Marcus is the co-founder of The Hypnosis Network.

For more information see www.hypnosisnetwork.com

Since we know that stress is a major factor leading to multiple

The Truth About Vein Care...

Its Really Not About Being Vain

Visit either our Manhattan or Morristown office: New York, NY 530 First Avenue, Suite 6D 1-877-VEIN-NYU (834-6698) Morristown, NJ 95 Madison Avenue, Suite 415 1-973-538-2000

Those bulging, inflamed and unsightly veins on your legs may be more then simply a cosmetic issue.

In fact, veins that protrude from your skin like small sections of rope are really unhealthy veins that no longer function properly. Instead of acting as one-way valve that keeps blood moving toward the heart and lungs, varicose veins allow the blood to leak back down, away from the heart and lungs, and pool in the leg. This often results in fatigue, swelling, throbbing, heaviness, and aching in the leg.

But there is good news...veins that are cosmetically unappealing or cause, pain or other symptoms are prime candidates for newly developed treatments. Minimally invasive techniques are now used by vascular

surgeons to effectively eradicate the symptoms and unsightly appearance of varicose veins.

In fact, NYC Medical Center has recently established a full service Vein Treatment Center, the first of its kind in New York. Its faculty of surgeons has developed many procedures for simple and convenient vein care (most of which are covered by insurance) The NYU Vein Center is located 530 First Avenue, Suite 6D (at 31st Street)

For more information, contact the NYU Vein Center at 212.263.8346 (VEIN) or 877.834.6698

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PAGE 10

Welcome { back }

We are thrilled to announce that NYU Langone Medical Center has reopened – with enhancements to many of our programs and services, alongside a new Urgent Care Center. Our unwavering commitment to our patients and to the community has been the inspiration and motivation that drove a timely and safe reopening.

We are back, stronger than ever â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and taking excellence to a new TM^MT <W Ă&#x2026; VL \PM ZQOP\ 6A= 4IVOWVM [XMKQITQ[\ NWZ aW] KITT ! WZ ^Q[Q\ ___ 6A=45+ WZO Ă&#x2026; VLILWK

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2013

Helping Loved Ones Maintain a Healthy Heart

By Christopher Mango. D.C. Â February is American Heart Month, so letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s forget the sweets and flowers for a minute and focus on what matters most: being around for all those special moments life has to offer. I often hear patients concerned about heart conditions, whether itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s due to family history or a physical ailment. The good news is, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s never too late to start thinking about a healthy heart. Here are a few tips to keep your heart healthy and ensure a long life with your Valentine. Â

Get educated! Â Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s start with debunking one common myth: that a low-fat diet equals a healthy heart.

In fact, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s quite the opposite. For the last 50 years, we have been told that cutting out fats will put us on the health track. However, fats are a vital component of any healthy diet. Not only do they aid in the absorption of vitamins and minerals and provide food for the brain and organs, but, quite simply, they fill you up! If you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t eat fat, you wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel full, and you will end up consuming more calories from grazing on processed foods looking for that full feeling.

Incorporate heart-healthy fats into your diet like fish, chicken and avocados. Â

De-stress Stress is a major player in heart health and needs to be addressed. Small everyday stresses from work, relationships and commuting build up and can have a profoundly negative effect on heart health by increasing your homocysteine and cortisol levels. These are blood markers that put you at high risk for heart disease.

Get a hobby Everyone has a busy life, but we must start finding time for ourselves. Try and take time each day to do something that you enjoy, like reading, exercising, gardening or crafts. These daily fun hobbies go a long way in decreasing stress and increasing your heart health.

Take five We work long hoursâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and worse, most of us are working long hours in front of glowing screens. Take five minutes during the workday to close your eyes and clear your mind. If you have difficulty letting go or feel distracted, try visualizing yourself doing a specific activity such as hiking in a forest, or simply concentrate on your breathing. Try and install a screen saver on your work computer that prompts you to get up every hour, get a drink of water, use the restroom or simply stretch.

Lose the belly fat Everyone knows increased activity and physical fitness have positive effects on your health.

So get out there and start moving. If you are new to exercising, start slow, with a short bike ride, walking, power walking or light jogging.

Just 10 minutes a day the first week, 15 minutes the second week, 20 minutes the third week and 30 minutes the fourth week. If you do exercise regularly, then challenge yourself to diversify your workouts. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just bike for an hour each day; mix it up with quick, higher-intensity workouts. Use full body movements like jumping, sprinting, pull-ups, pushups, etc. Â

Eat real food Getting real food in America is becoming more and more difficult. Ever notice the only real food in our grocery stores is a thin line

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2013 along one side and the back wall? Everything else in the middle is processed foods that wreak havoc on the body. Stick to the perimeter of your grocery store and allow yourself all fruits and vegetables, all antibiotic-free “clean” meat and fish, eggs, olive, coconut and other plant oils, and all nuts and seeds.

Avoid all processed carbohydrates On June 19, 2011, after 19 years, the USDA finally did away with the Food Pyramid. The outdated diet graphic taught generations of Americans that processed carbohydrates should be the main staple in their diet, resulting in a number of negative health effects that are visually evident in people all around us. All these processed carbohydrates like gluten, wheat, breads, pastas, rolls, wraps and cereals—really anything out of a box or bag—turn into sugar during digestion, inhibiting the body’s ability to produce insulin, causing insulin resistance and eventually diabetes and heart disease. Eating large quantities of processed foods are shown

OUR TOWN DOWNTOWN to have a negative effect on fats and cholesterol in our blood. They lower the good blood cholesterol (HDL) and raise the bad blood fats (triglycerides). It is best to limit grains in general, but if you still have a need for grains, go with unprocessed carbohydrates that are found in real oats, buckwheat, rice and legumes. An easy rule to remember the difference here between unprocessed and processed foods, is if you can pick the food in nature and eat it, then it’s considered a good carbohydrate.

Avoid or cut back on manufactured sugars.

It cannot be stressed enough the poisonous effects all manufactured sugars have on the body.

It’s unavoidable to have some treats here and there, but make an effort to avoid all those little daily toxic indulgences: cookies after lunch; a candy bar in the afternoon; added sugar in coffee; these may be small changes, but if you add them up throughout the day or week they can make a huge impact. Be careful not to substitute

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with artificial sweeteners, which are possibly worse than sugar itself. If you need a sweet fix, grab a piece of fruit and don’t worry about fruit sugars; these don’t have the negative effects that manufactured sugars have on the body.

supplement, and don’t bother. Those are the specific types of omega 3 that may promote healthy circulation, help maintain regular heart rhythm, support blood-vessel elasticity and regulate lipid levels.

Supplementation

Vitamin D3

If you follow the advice above, you are on your way to a healthy heart. Unfortunately we live in a time of intensive farming and genetically engineered crops. Diet alone is not always the answer. Preventing heart disease may require looking at what supplements are out there. Take your time in choosing a brand of supplements that have little to no filler, and try to purchase from a retailer with an educated staff who can tell the differences between one brand and the next. Here are some pointers to get you started:

Studies have linked deficiency in vitamin D3 with heart disease. We only produce this vitamin naturally when we are in the sun. Since most of us spend our daylight hours inside working, most of us are deficient.

Omega 3 fatty acid Only found in cold-water fishes and some plant products. Make sure on the label it lists EPA and DHA. If it’s not listed, it’s a cheap

B complex This series of vitamins are thought to help control circulation and decrease homocysteine levels.

Dr. Christopher Mango’s practice, Mango Chiropractic, is at 2 E. 76th St. He has been helping New Yorkers for over nine years through a holistic approach that uses a variety of advanced techniques and counseling to relieve the body of pain and dysfunction.

Baby teeth need care too Pediatric dentists offer checklist for a child’s first two years Many parents have questions about how to take care of their children’s teeth. When should they start going to the dentist? When should they start brushing? Should they discourage thumb-sucking? What kind of toothbrush should they use?

Proper care of a child’s deciduous teeth — also known as “baby” or primary teeth — is vital.

Baby teeth are important in speech development and in chewing food properly, which promotes healthy nutrition. They hold space for the future eruption of permanent teeth. If a baby tooth decays or is removed too early, the space necessary for the permanent tooth is lost and can only be regained through orthodontic treatment.

Infected baby teeth can cause the permanent teeth to develop improperly, resulting in stains, pits, and weaker teeth.

Most pediatric dentists agree that regular dental care should begin by age one, with a dental check-up at least twice each year for most children. Some may need more frequent evaluations and care. In accordance with this recommendation, the following dental checklist for infants and toddlers has been provided by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry:

Birth to six months • Clean the infant’s mouth with gauze or use a soft infant toothbrush after feedings and at bedtime.

• Consult your child’s pediatrician regarding fluoride supplements.

• Regulate feeding habits (bottle feeding and breastfeeding).

Six to 12 months • During this time, the first tooth should appear.

Consult the pediatric dentist for an examination.

• Brush teeth after each feeding and at bedtime with a small, soft-bristled brush.

• As the child begins to walk, stay alert to potential dental and/or facial injuries.

• Wean the child from the bottle by his or her first birthday. (If a woman breastfeeds her child, the AAPD recommends breastfeeding for at least one year. The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding for at least two years.)

12 to 24 months • Follow the schedule of dental examinations and cleanings, as recommended by your child’s pediatric dentist. Generally, dental examinations and cleanings are recommended every 6 months for children and adults.

• As your child learns to rinse his or her mouth, and as most deciduous teeth have erupted by this age, brushing with a pea-sized portion of fluoridated toothpaste becomes appropriate.

• Generally, thumb-sucking before age two is normal and harmless. When thumb-sucking is not stopped by the appropriate age — generally by age five — then parents should discourage the act. Prolonged thumb-sucking may contribute to crowded and/or crooked teeth development and bite problems.

Diet tips for healthy teeth The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry recommends the following to ensure your child eats correctly to maintain a healthy body and teeth: • Ask your pediatric dentist to help you assess your child’s diet.

• Shop smart. Do not routinely stock your pantry with sugary or starchy snacks. Buy “fun foods” just for special occasions.

• Provide a balanced diet, and save foods with sugar or starch for mealtimes.

• Do not put your young child to bed with a bottle of milk, formula, or juice.

• If your child chews gum or sips soda, choose those without sugar.

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THE 7-DAY PLAN FRIDAY

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

BEST PICK

MAD Fun

Museum of Arts and Design, 2 Columbus Circle, 11 a.m., $20-$30. madmuseum.org [Feb. 16]

.com

Smells like something fun and entertaining for the whole family is brewing! The Museum of Arts and Design invites you to their Family Fun Day, an event inspired by the exhibit “The Art of Scent.” You and your family will enjoy learning about scents and perfumery as you create your own fragrance.

Visit nypress.com for the latest updates on local events.

Submissions can be sent to editor.otdowntown@strausnews.com

Ice T Turns 55

FREE Vintage Pop Up

Flatiron Hotel, 9 W. 26th St., 9 p.m., $30-$70, 21+. 646-542-8644, richvaldes.com Ice T is a performer whose fan base spreads far and wide. If you love Ice T the rapper, the detective, the husband or any other persona, head on down to the Flatiron Hotel to celebrate his day of birth!

This black-tie affair will be filled with special performances and special celebrity guests that will have you thinking it’s all a dream!

Ivana Helsinki Concept Store, 251 Elizabeth St., 6 p.m., 21+. 2buildandordestroy.com Dynamic duo Seth Nicolas Randall and Tishka Dupera of the Two Build and/or Destroy apparel brand are inviting one and all to take in and take home their distinctive styles of vintage clothing and accessories. Bring an open wallet and an open mind!

SATURDAY

Chenoweth Live! ◄ Kristin The Allen Room, 33 W. 60th St., 9:30 p.m., $329-$350.

Writers Studio Reading Series Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker St., lepoissonrouge.com, 5:30 p.m., $10.

This week, the series celebrates the Harvard Review. Come hear renowned writers read works of fiction and poetry in the name of keeping literary matters alive and relevant.

MONDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

◄

Ensemble du Monde

lincolncenter.org Every once in a while, there comes a person whose talent truly electrifies; Kristin Chenoweth is that person. Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to hear her powerhouse vocals and larger-than-life stage presence transport you to another world.

SUNDAY

TUESDAY

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2013

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New York Society for Ethical Culture, 2 W. 64th St., 7:30 p.m., $10-$150. ensembledumonde.org The Ensemble du Monde, though hailed as “the future of classical music,” will be paying homage to Mozart as well as his contemporaries in a truly remarkable concert that will leave you yearning for yesteryear.

for Smoke’ ◄ ‘Blues Whitney Museum of American Art, 945 Madison Ave., 11 a.m., free-$18. whitney.org In this exhibit, jazz and the blues take shape as a visual art form. Come see for yourself the influence of music on contemporary art from 1950 to the present.

Globetrotters Are Back! ◄ Harlem Madison Square Garden, 2 Pennsylvania Plaza, 7

Legends of Laughter The 13th St. Repertory Co., 50 E. 13th St., 7 p.m., $15-$20. web.ovationtix.com Comedian Spatz Donovan invites you to join him for a night of extreme joy and laughter as he brings back some of the greatest comedians of all time, including Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis.

p.m., $80-$250. harlemglobetrotters.com If you’ve never seen the Harlem Globetrotters, get tickets now! This rare display of immense basketball talent is truly an experience worth investing in. Plus, this year, for the first time, you create the rules.

New York Rangers vs. Montreal Canadiens

FREE Hair Models Wanted Aveda Institute, 233 Spring St., 1 p.m. yelp.com Cosmetology student Lorena Sanchez is in search of a hair model who is not afraid to go short. This person would go to the Aveda Institute Soho at 1 p.m. to receive a free and supervised haircut.

What have you got to lose (besides some split ends)? For more information, contact Lorena at loresanchezv1981@gmail.com.

What better way to watch the New York Rangers and the Montreal Canadiens take the ice than by sitting back, relaxing and enjoying 2010’s best hot buffalo wings? Let the game begin!

Love … or Whatever

The Art of Lottery

The Duplex, 61 Christopher St., 7 p.m., $10, 21+. theduplex.com Experience the great American love songs the way they were intended to be heard. Justin Van Pelt and Daniel Lincoln will perform with no sap, no hype, no exaggeration; they let the lyrics speak for themselves. $10 cover and two-drink minimum.

3 Legged Dog, 80 Greenwich St., 7 p.m., $250-$950. issueprojectroom.org Come on down for the benefit art lottery and party for Issue Project Room! Supporter-level ticket holders will be able to enjoy seeing the artwork while enjoying food, cocktails and musical performances.

Ticket holders will be allowed to take home any artwork of choice in order of lottery selection.

to Spirits ◄ Speaking The Mysterious Bookshop, 58 Warren St., 7 p.m., $29. eventbrite.com Do you ever feel a powerful presence around you? Think it might be a deceased friend, family member or stranger? Medium Lisa Atkinson can help answer all these questions, plus many more, with her live message readings. Follow the calling!

and Strings Quilt Block ◄ Strips American Folk Art Museum, Lincoln Square, 6 p.m., free-$10. folkartmuseum.org In honor of Black History Month, the American Folk Art Museum is inviting you to create a Southern-style quilt with fabric artist and educator Dr. Ed Bostick. You bring the sewing kit; they will bring the fabric.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2013

OUR TOWN DOWNTOWN

Downtown Social

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Fashion mogul Tommy Hilfiger and New York City Schools Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott visited with students at the High School of Fashion Industries on West 24th Street last Thursday. The visit kicked off NYC Fashion Week and gave students a chance to chat with one of the most famous and successful designers in the world. Hilfiger critiqued students’ work and talked about his background and life.

He ended the visit by inviting the entire class to his runway show later that evening.

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2013

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PAGE 15

The King Is Dead, Long Live the King!

Handicapping the competition for Brisket King of NYC

By Regan Hofmann

B

risket is big business these days.

After years of struggling in the Passover ghetto, the notoriously fickle cut of beef is having a full- fledged moment in the sun, thanks in large part to the awareness campaign begun some six years ago by New Yorkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Texas BBQ pioneers, Hill Country Barbecue Market.

Unlike most other smoky locales, which worship the almighty hog, Texas has always been cattle country and, as the old saying goes, smoke â&#x20AC;&#x2122;em if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got â&#x20AC;&#x2122;em. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not to say brisket doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t exist in other traditions, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always been the ugly-duckling cousin to specialties like Carolina whole hog or Kansas City ribs.

Not so much in Texas. There itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all beef and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all good, from the Flintstones opening credits-worthy heft of the ribs to the Central Texas snap and spice of sausage. But the real test of the pitmasterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s art is the brisketâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;done wrong

itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a tragic husk, a catâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cradle of stringy, lifeless fibers bound by a salty rub (no sauce to save you here). To do it right takes dedication and skill, which may be why New York chefs are almost monomaniacally focused on it (just ask Brisket Town-nĂŠe-Labâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Daniel Delaney). Now lifers and dilettantes are chasing the deckle dragon, after the perfect balance of fatty excess and smokelaced, lean meat.

At next weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Brisket King of NYC showdown, the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s boldest will square off against reigning champion John Brown Smokehouse for the crown and the glory. The meaty affair now in its third year (the second under such regal auspices) is organized by Food Karma Projects, which could lead a master class in hosting tasting events. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve crowned victors in everything from gumbo to cassoulet, invaded Governors Island with pigs and celebrated craft beers, always with enough food and drink to go around and a ticket-selling philosophy that understands giving attendees a little elbow room is worth more than selling out to capacity every time.

While the rules of competition do not specify the BBQ treatment, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a safe bet that at least 75 percent of the dishes on offer will have gone through the smoker in some capacity; the lineup

includes all of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s BBQ brisket Brahmins.

There for the fight will be the aforementioned Delaney; Smorgasburg darlings and now brickand-mortar East Villagers Mighty Quinnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s; Harlem grandpappy Dinosaur BBQ; the brand-new Fletcherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Brooklyn BBQ, run by a former pitmaster for heavy hitters Wildwood and R.U.B.; lone ranger Robbie Richter, the Hill Country O.G.; and the reigning champs John Brown, back to defend their honor.

Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be rounded out by a broad selection of wild-card restaurants, from the Mediterranean/ Middle Eastern-inflected Taboonette to the Caribbean Mango Seed, the Creole Tchoup Shop, and the grilled cheese specialists Melt Shop. Most interestingly, also on the roster are farms being represented by hired-gun chefs, clearly angling more for name recognition than for a chance at the big crown. Of these, the most curious is Møsefund Farmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s apocryphal Mangalitsa pork brisket, which, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re predicting, will get tons of audience love but no official recognition, like the Olympic figure skaters who were back-flipping before judges would give them any points for it.

Competition will be tough, but ultimately the field will be easily divided into a lot of sliced BBQ briskets served slider-style with a slaw, some just-like-bubbe-used-to-make braised versions, some way-outta-left-field (last year saw a deep-fried, panko-breaded meatball) and a few creative smoked treatments. The judgesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; top three will be diplomatically representative,

but our moneyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on John Brown for the crown, for the Kansas City-style competitor has a secret weapon none of the Texas guys can match: burnt ends. Traditionally, the rub-encrusted, fatty ends of each brisket are saved up over the course of the week, held in their juices like a proper braise, and offered as a blink-and-youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll miss-it special at the best KC smokehouses. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the best of both worlds; truly a brisket fit for a king.

Brisket King of NYC will take place Wednesday, Feb. 20, from 7 to 9 p.m. (VIP hour with open bar from 6 to 7 p.m.) at Santos Party House, 96 Lafayette St. Tickets are $45 or $75; to purchase, visit BrisketKingNYC.com.

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Success Academy Charter Schools

is applying to open two new elementary public charter schools in CSD 1.

When: August 2014 Where: Community School District (CSD) 1 Grades: K and 1st grade for the 2014-2015 school year and serving K-8th grade at full scale

Success Academy has a proven record of excellence, with our scholars consistently scoring in the top 5% of all 3,500 public schools in New York state for reading, science and math.

To learn more about Success Academyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s proposed new schools, please visit: SuccessAcademies.org/NewSchools We encourage your input: NewSchoolsD1@successacademies.org

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2013

cityArts

Edited by Armond White

New York’s Review of Culture . CityArtsNYC.com

Three New Movements A sampling of modern composition

By Jay Nordlinger

A

concert by the American Composers Orchestra in Zankel Hall included the premiere of a piece by Kate Soper. She is a doctoral student at Columbia.

We heard the first movement of a three-movement work, now is forever. (Today’s composers are big on small letters.) The first movement is a kind of scena for soprano and orchestra, and it sets a poem by Jorie Graham about Orpheus and Eurydice. Soper premiered the work herself, as soprano. Not many classical composers have sung the premieres of their works.

They tend to play the piano, or conduct. Who was the last to sing, Samuel Barber? Soper is a tall, beautiful, self-confident woman, and she was charming and modest in her program notes, as well as in the short film the presenters showed about her.

Soper is not a classically-trained singer, as she freely admits. But she is a competent and fearless singer. She has a smallish voice, and she sometimes could not be heard through the orchestra. But she clearly knows how the piece should go. I was surprised, incidentally, that she used a score.

Her piece is like many other contemporary pieces: busy-busy. It is also markedly American. It is extreme in various ways: extreme in feeling, dynamics, rhythm and vocal range. Her notes match her conception of how the words should be spoken, I gather. The ending is nicely and appropriately abrupt: “and what is possible swiftly took hold.”

I can’t say that I was taken with the work, but I would like to hear it again, which is higher praise than it may sound. The piece is certainly not boring—not boring for a moment. And Soper is a young composer who is working things out. True, she’s a year older than Schubert was when he died. By the same token, she’s 71 years younger than Elliott Carter was when he died.

Also in Zankel Hall, Nicolas Hodges played a recital. He is a British pianist who plays a good deal of modern music. His program included a new piece by his countryman, Sir Harrison Birtwistle.

This was Gigue Machine, a contemporary look at an old form, as the title tells you.

This piece is mainly a festival of rhythm, I think. The composer noodles around: sometimes playfully, sometimes fiercely, now and then tenderly. The pianist slaps at the keyboard. Frankly, the notes seemed wrong to me, though surely they seem right to the composer. How about to the pianist? I confess that the notes seemed to me virtually random. If the pianist had been playing wrong notes, who would have known?

Obviously, Sir Harrison speaks a language that I don’t speak, and that I can’t make heads or tails of. I trust there is a method to what strikes me as madness. But “trust” is the word: I cannot see it, or hear it, for myself. Andy Warhol said, “Art is what you can get away with.” There is an element of that in music, too.

Another piano recital took place at the 92nd Street Y—this one

by Marc-André Hamelin, the Canadian virtuoso. He is a pianist

Nicolas Hodges

Kate Soper who rolls his own: that is, he also composes. And he often gives his audience something from his pen, usually something brief, often an encore.

In this program, he played his Variations on a Theme by Paga-

nini: and you know the theme—the Caprice No. 24, in A minor.

This caprice is a gift that keeps on giving. It has inspired almost as much music as Orpheus and Eurydice. Many composers have written variations on the piece, including Brahms and Rachmaninoff.

Actually, Paganini himself was the first.

The piece is a fine one to write variations on, sure. But that’s not the only reason composers keep doing it. They do it because others have—because it’s a tradition—and they want to have their say.

Hamelin’s say is a rompy, riffy joy. In the course of his variations, he quotes from a variety of music: Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony; the famous D-flat variation from Rachmaninoff ’s Paganini rhapsody; Liszt’s Campanella. The piece is nutty, but nuttily wonderful, and the audience whooped at the end.

Lenox Hill Democratic Club Presents a

Gun Reform/Safety Panel

Wednesday, February 27th 2013 7PM to 9PM At Church of the Holy Trinity 316 East 88th Street (between 1st and 2nd ave) 32 Old Slip New York, NY 10005 212-962-5620 504 Washington Street Hoboken, NJ 07030 201-683-9821/9822 www.BrownstoneAgency.com

Veterans are Honored Here We are committed to celebrating the significance of lives that have been lived, which is why we have always made service to veterans and their families a priority.

Many of the men and women who protected our freedoms do not receive the proper respect they are entitled to at their passing. Sometimes this is because their families and funeral providers may be unaware of the veteran benefits available, or it may be because they simply did not know what their final wishes were.

That is why we are pleased to offer you this Veterans Planning Guide. By reading the information and completing the appropriate forms, you will take an important step for your future peace of mind and at the same time secure all the Veterans burial benefits you are entitled to.

To receive a complimentary Veterans Planning Guide or to learn more about preplanning options, contact us at 212-288-3500.

Guest Speakers: Barbara Hohlt States United to Prevent Gun Violence New Yorkers Against Gun Violence Brina Milikowsky Senior Policy Advisor and Counsel NYC Office of the Mayor/ Mayors Against Illegal Guns Jason C. Lippman Senior Associate for Policy and Advocacy The Coalition of Behavioral Health Agencies, Inc. Bring a neighbor and be informed on gun control issues and legislation.

To be informed of upcoming events visit the Lenox Hill Democratic Club web site and sign up for our email list:

www.lenoxhilldems.org David Menegon President Lenox Hill Democratic Club lenoxhilldc@gmail.com

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PAGE 18

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2013

FILM CITYARTS

LEON BOTSTEIN, MUSIC DIRECTOR

CLASSICS

DECLASSIFIED

BRUCKNER’S SYMPHONY

NO.

8

Sun, Feb 24, 2013 at 4 PM From the thunderous opening theme to the immense scherzo and militant fanfares of the finale, Leon Botstein and the orchestra explain it all, and then let you enjoy this awe-inspiring work in a whole new way.

ANTON BRUCKNER Symphony No. 8

Love Vigilantes ‘Warm Bodies’ fights the post-9/11 cold war

By Armond White

L

ook past the walking-dead formula of Jonathan Levine’s Warm Bodies that combines the zombie craze with the Twilight franchise’s freaky love story and notice its sometimes clever and exact satire of modern alienation.

In its post-nuclear-holocaust premise, Warm Bodies depicts a society that has lost its soul. The walking dead are called “corpses,” not zombies, and these corpses are defined as “a state of being we don’t understand.” That describes R (Nicholas Hoult), a stumbling, half-awake soul who falls in love with uninfected Julie (Teresa Palmer). Both living and half-dead battle third-stage skeletal creatures called “bonies.” R complains “I just want to connect”—essentially the adolescent desire recognizable in Levine’s two previous films The Wackness and 50/50.

Romantic Levine goes against the cynicism of current zombie trash and the unfelt Twilight series. In finding sappiness in the horror genre Warm Bodies has only half a good idea (reminiscent of the movie Idle Hands), but that streak of decency makes you wish it were better.

When R describes bumping into people yet being “unable to say I’m sorry” or points out, “I don’t like hurting people, but this is the world now,” he shows moral clarity. His combination of helplessness and yearning are genuinely contemporary. After he attacks Julie’s boyfriend

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(Dave Franco), his cannibalistic drive and remorse are sharpened: “I get his memories if I eat his brain; I feel less dead.”

That “less dead” pang makes Levine one of those American Eccentrics trying to figure out this callous, dangerous, non-spiritual, secular, post-9/11 world. (If Levine went any further,

he’d be Kafkaesque.) The war between the living, the less-dead and the bonies gets a surge when R falls in love with Julie (there’s even a Romeo & Juliet balcony scene). And it’s illuminated like E.T.’s heart light—the essence of Levine’s childof-the-80s yearning.

In finding sappiness in the horror genre, ‘Warm Bodies’ has only half a good idea (reminiscent of the movie ‘Idle Hands’), but that streak of decency makes you wish it were better.

Levine’s uninfected living who join the lessdead to fight the avariciousness of the bonies become what post-punk band New Order called “love vigilantes.” In the film’s subtler details of racial fear and ethnic isolation (Julie lives among barricaded gentry), Levine continues his crosscultural commitment, identifying compassion as a 1984-style rebellion. R and Julie go on a mission to “exhume” the human race.

This sensitive need can be expressed in creative genre narratives like Walter Hill’s Bullet to the Head or muddled by overwrought genre films like Zero Dark Thirty. Levine proves more courageous than the latter when R says, “I wish I could say we killed the bonies with love, but we just straight up killed them all.” He finally finds the satirical edge of the walking-dead genre.

Follow Armond White on Twitter at 3xchair

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2013

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PAGE 19

Lay’s Test Crunches 3 Fan Nominated Chip Flavors

By Joseph Pisani The next Lay’s potato chip will taste like chicken and waffles. Or cheesy garlic bread.

Or Sriracha, a hot sauce often used in Thai dishes.

Lay’s is letting potato chip lovers decide which one of the three will be its newest flavor.

All of them will be sold at retailers nationwide starting next week. After trying them, fans have until May to vote for their favorites. The flavor with the most votes will stay on store shelves.

But if the other two flavors sell well, they may remain in stores, too, said Ann Mukherjee, chief marketing officer at Frito-Lay. “Who knows, we don’t know what’s going to happen.’” she said. ``Our intent is to keep the one that people vote for.’’

It’s the latest promotional stunt that tries to engage customers through social media and direct interaction, much as Hasbro’s Monopoly did with its recent contest that ended with the addition of a cat game token and the demise of the iron.

Lay’s Chicken & Waffles, Cheesy Garlic Bread and Sriracha were suggested by three people through the company’s “Do Us a Flavor’” campaign. A panel of chefs and flavor experts looked through about 3.8 million submissions and selected about 20 flavors to prototype. From there, the judges picked the three finalists. Mukherjee said that each dish was cooked in the test kitchen and compared with the flavored chip.

Fans will have three ways to vote for their favorites. They can do it though Lay’s Facebook page, by texting “VOTE” to 24477 or through Twitter using the hashtags #SaveChickenWaffles, #SaveGarlicBread or #SaveSriracha.

The person who submitted the winning flavor will win $1 million, or one percent of the chip’s 2013 sales, whichever is more. The runners-up will win $50,000.

Although the new flavors are not supposed to hit stores until Tuesday, some stores have started selling them. Fans have been posting images of the bags to social networks such as Instagram and Twitter. “We started shipping them,” said Mukherjee. “I think some of our retailers got excited and put it out on the floor earlier.”

Lay’s adds about one new potato chip flavor every year, said Mukherjee. Last year it launched the Lay’s Classic BLT, made to taste like the sandwich.

This is the first time in Lay’s 75-year history L I V E J A Z Z N I G H T LY that it has let U.S. consumers choose the company’s next flavor. Lay’s, which is a unit ‘The Best Jazz Room of PepsiCo Inc.’s Frito-Lay snack business, has in the City’ held similar contests in other countries.

—Tony Bennett Frito-Lay first tried such a contest in the United Kingdom for its Walkers brand in 2008.

Fans came up with Walkers Chilli & Chocolate R E S E R VAT I O N S and Walkers Cajun Squirrel. Builder’s 212-258-9595 / 9795 JALC.ORG / DIZZYS Breakfast, which tasted like a full bacon, sausage and eggs breakfast, won. But the flavor has since been discontinued.

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.com STRAUS MEDIA  MANHATTAN PRESIDENT Jeanne Straus EDITOR Megan Bungeroth editor.otdt@strausnews.com CITYARTS EDITOR Armond White editor.cityarts@strausnews.com STAFF REPORTER Joanna Fantozzi PHOTO EDITOR Aaron Adler FEATURED CONTRIBUTORS Alan S. Chartock, Bette Dewing, Jeanne Martinet, Malachy McCourt, Angela Barbuti, Casey Ward PUBLISHER Gerry Gavin advertising@strausnews.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS Seth L. Miller, Ceil Ainsworth, Kate Walsh ADVERTISING MANAGER Marty Strongin SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Verne Vergara DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Joe Bendik OUR TOWN DOWNTOWN is published weekly Copyright © 2013 Straus Media - Manhattan, LLC 212-868-0190 Straus Media - Manhattan publishes Our Town The West Side Spirit Our Town Downtown Chelsea Clinton News The Westsider To subscribe for 1 year, please send $75 to OUR TOWN DOWNTOWN, c/o Straus News 20 West Ave., Chester, NY 10918 PREVIOUS OWNERS HAVE INCLUDED: Tom Allon, Isis Ventures, Ed Kayatt, Russ Smith, Bob Trentlion, Jerry Finkelstein

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Listening to Families and Drivers How we should be hearing reality during a needless bus strike

By Helen Rosenthal

A

s we now know, New York City spends more than twice as much busing our kids to school compared to any other city. The mayor’s plan to bid the contracts to lowest-bidder bus companies who keep their costs down by hiring the newest, lowest-salaried employees is not likely to have much of an impact on the $1.1 billion the city spends annually—nor is it structurally sound. Eventually workers’ salaries will increase again with longevity.

Real budget savings will happen when the routes are managed more efficiently.

Parent coordinators on the Upper West Side say that it’s not unusual to have two kids who live on the same block come in two separate buses with fewer than six kids on each bus—buses that are meant for 20 kids. The reason that New York City spends so much money on buses is because they are used inefficiently.

It’s not about the union drivers and matrons asking for job protections—and frankly it is in our best interest to have drivers

and matrons with experience, especially when they are helping our special needs kids get to school.

We count on city government to spend our tax dollars wisely and efficiently. How efficient are the 7,700 bus routes that are devised by the Department of Education? According to the DOE, nearly 400 routes have fewer than 6 children, and 27 routes have just one child. How many routes are filled to 90 percent capacity?

What incentive does the DOE have to maintain efficient routes?

Meanwhile the strike, going into its fourth week, is having a real impact on kids, their families, and the workers.

One Upper West Side family struggles daily to get their son to his special needs school in Brewster, 23 miles away, along with their two other children who attend local public school. After a harrowing year identifying the right school, he finally settled into a routine with a bus driver and matron who are extremely kind and attentive. Needless to say, all of that is turned upside down again.

Maria, a bus driver who lives in the Bronx, is striking because she has seven years of experience, makes $34,000 annually and is mother to three young children—asking her to give up her “seniority” would have too great an impact on her family.

As a taxpayer and parent, I appreciate her seniority—her commitment—to the kids she safely brings to schools.

Our children deserve experienced drivers, matrons, and

mechanics—we count on them every day.

At issue is the RFP (Request for Proposals) that the mayor plans to issue this week so bus companies can bid for these contracts.

Unlike the previous contract, the RFP does not include the employee protections that give workers with seniority first dibs on available jobs.

ATU 1181, the union representing the striking bus workers, recently asked Mayor Bloomberg for a “cooling off ” period which allows them to go back to work with the understanding that the mayor would hold off on putting their contracts out to bid. This would give time for the two sides to come to an understanding about employee protections; it would also give the DOE more time to properly analyze how many bus routes are needed.

Most importantly, a “cooling off ” period would end the disruption in the lives of the 150,000 children and their families who count on the bus each day. It would allow parents, drivers, matrons, and mechanics to get back to work. Our New York City economy needs this to happen.

Helen Rosenthal is a former Chair of Community Board 7 and is currently a candidate for City Council, in District 6 of the Upper West Side.

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