cityArts
DINING SINCE 1970 PAGE 9
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NYPRESS.COM • THE LARGEST PAPER ON THE EAST SIDE • AUGUST 1, 2013
East Side No Longer Quietest Neighborhood Maloney to MTA: Have a Plan to Complete Subway Second Avenue subway construction increases noise on East Side By Katya Johns
W
ith the New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Park season now behind us, it could seem like an interminable wait before the next season of free concerts, but fear not, because there is a public program that will continue to provide surround-sound music all year round: it’s the New York Cacophonic, brought to you by people like you. From the 2 AM pub crawlers or jackhammering construction crew, to the steamrolling garbage trucks, shell-shocking sirens, rumbling subways, and jingling food carts, everyone, including the dog, is faithfully playing their part in the orchestra to maintain our world-class reputation as the “City that never sleeps,” a.k.a., the “City that never shuts up.” Noise, especially when it’s coming from all directions, might seem like an impossible thing to calculate and control. But for the past few years the City of New York has attempted to do just that – preparing and publicizing records of the annual noise complaints waged, organized by location and type. The 20 megabyte excel file would have gone virtually unnoticed, however, were it not for a freelance graphic designer who specializes in mapping data. Karl Sluis, who is based in Brooklyn, has taken the government’s information and mapped it onto a plan of the city, producing both a visually stunning cartogram
and a tangible piece of evidence for uptowners to use against their Polar opposites. Thankfully, Sluis had more irenic intentions than creating a civil war in Manhattan. “I had no agenda,” he said. “Having lived in New York for only three years, it was an opportunity to take a close look at the city’s different patterns and to make connections.” The map shows that, while the noise in New York might seem as ubiquitous and constant as air (or rather, pollution), there are certain seasons and areas, where it swells the most. Summer, with its euphonious combination of “Mister Softee” trucks, whirring air conditioners, street fairs, outdoor dining, and tourist mobs, wins the cake for loudest season. The months from May to July consistently receive nearly double the number of noise complaints than the rest of the year. It seems noise is the only thing that doesn’t slow down in the summer. However, it does travel to popular destinations. Downtown, with the possible exception of Hamilton Heights, a neighborhood near West 145th Street, has the noisiest spots in the city (wow, nobody saw that coming). More interestingly, thanks to the city’s detailed categorization of the noises and to Sluis’ expert visual encoding work, it is possible to see how Downtown’s noise compares to other regions: The Village is second to only Harlem in loud partying – a major complaint - but loud people and loud talking (a hazy distinction) are not as problematic if still most prominent there, especially near Wall Street and the Smith Houses, a public housing development on the Lower East Side. Surprisingly, construction, even with the Continued on page 15
Construction impact on neighborhood still an issue By Daniel Fitzsimmons “Moses was in the desert for 40 years because he didn’t have a plan,” said Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-12) at a press conference she called to address the Second Avenue subway project. “We want to make sure that the MTA has a plan to complete this project and they deserve credit for managing to keep both the budget and the completion dates steady over the last four years, that is an improvement.” Maloney, a former grade-school teacher, called the press
Continued on page 5
ALSO INSIDE ‘HOOD HAPPENINGS P. 7 YORK AVENUE ONE WAY? P. 4
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY DETAILS P.16
CRIME WATCH
By Jerry Danzig
Lotto Looters A man was robbed after buying lottery tickets. At 2 PM on Tuesday, July 23, a 77-year-old man had just bought lottery tickets at a kiosk on the northeast corner of Second Avenue and 94th Street when he felt someone reach into his pants pocket from behind. The man lost his balance and fell to the ground. One of two robbers tried to help the old man up, while the other continued to go through his pockets. Both thieves then took off in an unknown direction. Their haul: eight Lotto tickets worth $11, plus $30 cash. The senior citizen said he could not identify the thieves.
Illustration by John S. Winkleman
THIEVERY THWARTED A woman wearing a ponytail attempted to steal another woman’s cell phone. At 8 PM on Tuesday, July 23, a 36-year-old woman was walking on the northeast corner of Third Avenue and 95th Street when another woman with long brown hair in a ponytail came up from behind and grabbed the first woman’s arm where she was holding her cell phone. The two women had a brief struggle. The ponytailed perpetrator failed to wrest away the cell phone and gave up, fleeing north on Third Avenue. The victim was unhurt but unable to identify the thwarted thief.
THIEVERY THWARTED PART TWO Possibly the same thief tried to steal another woman’s cell phone the same evening. At 7:24 PM on Tuesday, July 23, a 60-year-old woman was walking on East 93rd Street texting on her phone when an unknown 20-year-old woman with long brown hair grabbed the older woman’s hands and pulled at her black iPhone 4S. The would-be cell snatcher was unable to take the older woman’s phone and fled toward Third Avenue on East 93rd Street.
Credit Card Carnage A 35-year-old woman living on East 74th Street became the victim of multiple credit card frauds. At 6 PM on Sunday, July 21, the woman returned to her home and checked her mail to find that she had received Best Buy, Home Depot, and Macy’s cards. Upon calling these companies, she heard that unknown persons had opened accounts using her name and
address, charging $7,733.77 to the Best Buy account, $1,479.71 to the Macy’s account, and $8,263.41 to the Home Depot account. She then checked her credit report and discovered that unknown persons had also made charges on her existing Banana Republic account in the amount of $872.18, her Gap account in the amount of $746.33, and her J. Crew account in the amount of $670.13. She was still in possession of the Banana Republic, Gap, and J. Crew cards. The unauthorized charges totaled $19,765.
Newsstand News Two burglars stole cash and cigarettes from a newsstand on York Avenue. At 7:04 PM on Sunday, July 21, a 20-year-old man entered the store and displayed a firearm, while another 20-year-old man went behind the counter and took $1,000 plus two cartons of Marlboro cigarettes valued at $230. One of the robbers also asked the store clerk, a 54-year-old man, to hand over his wallet and took the cash from the wallet. The dastardly duo then fled northbound on York and eastbound on East 73rd street before entering a black van and speeding off eastbound towards the FDR Drive.
NATIONAL NIGHT OUT AGAINST CRIME TUESDAY, AUGUST 6th, 5PM-8PM CARL SCHURZ PARK: 86th STREET, AND EAST END AVENUE PRESENTED BY THE 19th PRECINCT COMMUNITY COUNCIL
CELEBRATING OUR 40TH ANNIVERSARY
MEET WITH POLICE OFFICERS TO DISCUSS CRIME PREVENTION AND NEIGHBORHOOD CRIMES.
FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY. Live music, refreshments, Face Painting, Clown and Caricature artist! Featuring French Cookin’ Blues Band Food donated by Maz Mescal, Manny’s on 2nd, Butterfield Market and Pintaile’s on York, WEATHER PERMITTING. NO RAIN DATE. For more information call: Community Affairs Office: 212-452-0613 Email address: info_19th_Pct@aol.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/19thpctcc PAGE 2
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TAPPED IN 67th Street Library Exhibits Seniors Work Twenty senior citizens participated at the 67th Branch of the New York Public Library Creative Aging program, a eightweek class during which they explored the world of color. A reception drew 40 area residents on Saturday, July 27. Some of the art work is on view through October. It will be open to the public when the 3rd floor is open, Tuesdays and Thursdays 5 PM to 7 PM Saturdays 11 AM to 3 PM. Through hand-painted paper collage and explorations with tempera paint and watercolor, seniors learned about the color wheel, primary, secondary and tertiary colors, and tints and shades. Through color mixing and color juxtapositions, the ways that colors change their appearance depending upon the impact one color has upon another, participants will explore the visual and emotional impact of color on the artist
and on the viewer. Creative Aging in the libraries is funded by LifetimeArts.org. The theme at the 67th Street Library is Captured by Color. In addition, shape, form, paint application, including brushstroke, gesture and different kinds of tools for applying paint and achieving expressive mark-making were explored. Subject matter includes shape abstractions, abstractions from nature, still life and the figure. Artists whose work is associated with powerful color impact including Matisse, Joseph Albers, Picasso, Paul Klee, Bonnard, Sonia Delauney and Georgia O’Keefe was presented for inspiration. Library staff encouraged visits to galleries and museums in the area. Participants’ work hangs on the walls of the library to highlight them as if in a gallery. Lifetime Arts’ Libraries Project is based on a vision for mobilizing the public space of the library to deliver arts education for and with older adults. The vision includes building effective collaborations between teaching artists and librarians.
Mervyn Rothstein and Susan Fagan show off some of the class’ work with cut hand-painted paper
Student Mercedes Batista points out her work from the first class: exploring black, white & gray
Student Marlene Varela with her painting of a bridge
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WHAT’S UP WITH THAT?
New York Presbyterian Medical College of Cornell University
Will York Avenue Ever Become One-Way? By Joanna Fantozzi
STRAUS MEDIA  MANHATTAN PRESIDENT Jeanne Straus ACTING EDITOR Harriet Edleson • editor.ot@strausnews.com CITYARTS EDITOR Armond White • editor.cityarts@strausnews.com STAFF REPORTER Joanna Fantozzi FEATURED CONTRIBUTORS Alan S. Chartock, Bette Dewing, Jeanne Martinet, Malachy McCourt, Angela Barbuti, Casey Ward, Laura Shanahan PUBLISHER Gerry Gavin • advertising@strausnews.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS Seth L. Miller, Ceil Ainsworth, Kate Walsh ADVERTISING MANAGERS Marty Strongin, Matt Dinerstein CLASSIFIED ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Stephanie Patsiner
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hat would happen if York Avenue were to become a one-way street? Six years ago, Community Board 8 and the Department of Transportation asked that very same question when they issued a traffic study along York Avenue. The study, done by Sam Schwartz PLLC, was meant to come to a conclusion about mitigating congestion from York from East 62nd Street to 72nd Street, the “hospital corridor,� where Rockefeller University, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York Presbyterian Weill Medical College of Cornell University and the Hospital for Special Surgery are located. One of the conclusions of the study was to make York Avenue a one-way street. According to former Community Board 8 member and
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neighborhood activist, Betty Wallenstein, people were wary of the idea when it first arose. Now, she said, the idea has surfaced again at a recent Transportation Committee meeting at Community Board 8. The committee, she said, voted in favor of requesting a new traffic study. In response to questioning about the one-way rumors a DOT spokesperson simply said: “We are reviewing Community Board 8’s request that DOT study the corridor,� and would not give any further information. The Department of Transportation will allegedly re-visit the issue in October. The original study from 2007 said that one of the options for mitigating traffic would be to make York Avenue a one-way for 9, 19 or 26 blocks, according to the press release posted on Rockefeller University’s website. At the time, the hospitals were opposed to the idea. Today, a representative from Rockefeller University claimed not to know about this new study. “The last we’ve heard of a proposal to make York one way was about five years ago; we were opposed to it then,� said Zack Veilleux, a representative from Rockefeller University. “I haven’t heard of anything since then, and I’m not sure what our stance on it would be now.� But Wallenstein said that creating the one-way corridor may even be worse today. “When I mention this idea to people, they say ‘that’s crazy and ridiculous.’ York is the only two-way street� besides Park Avenue,� said Wallenstein. York is so essential and it is highly residential. Plus, besides the hospitals, you have schools around here too. How are ambulances going to easily get to and from the hospital?� If York Avenue were made into a one-way, ambulances would have to travel down Second Avenue, which would take a lot longer to transport emergency victims. In addition, the decision would create less congestion, but more traffic flow, according to Wallenstein, which would disrupt the residential area of the neighborhood. Wallenstein has said that she has suggested getting rid of parking in the corridor instead, to create another lane of traffic. Community Board 8 did not respond in time with a comment about York Avenue, and the voting measure does not appear on the transportation committee’s agenda.
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NEWS Second Avenue Subway Continued from page 1
conference to issue her office’s report card on the project’s progress and to highlight the dismantling of the “muck house� - a site designated for construction debris on 72nd Street and Second Avenue. “Many people are afraid they will never complete it,� said Maloney. “I am here with a sharp pencil to make sure that they do complete it and to give grades, and to give oversight, and to make sure that this project is completed and the quality of life for the Second Avenue is returned to the residents that live there.� The latest report card graded the MTA on their progress in such areas as communication with public (A-), on-time record (B) and mitigation of construction impact (C-), among other measures. The MTA earned an overall B+, up from the B they received the last time the report card was issued in 2011. Of the $1.3 billion pledged by the federal government for the project, all but $16 million has been given and Maloney said the remainder is included in the federal budget which is still being worked out in Washington. Maloney said she’s confident the money will for the project will still be there when the budget is passed. “All of that money is in the ground right now, save $16 million and that is in the federal budget coming out hopefully this year,� said Maloney. “I’m convinced we will have the money on the federal level.� Maloney also said the MTA has furnished her office with a letter saying that a statefunded match to the $16 million is in place, but she doesn’t know the exact amount of money for the match. The federal and state funds will go to completing phase one of the project, which will travel on Second Avenue from 96th Street to 63rd Street where it will hook up with the Q Train. “This is the largest construction project, and mass-transit project, not only in my district, not only in the city of New York, not only in the state of New York, but the largest project in the country,� said Maloney. “The [Federal Transit Administration] has rated it the most important mass-transit project in our country, they predict on day one it will move over 200,000 of our residents and commuters.� Councilwoman Jessica Lappin, who represents the Upper East Side, was also on hand to offer comments on the project. She said the biggest complaints she hears from
THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2013
constituents are blasting from construction and the increase in rats due to the amount of trash along Second Avenue. She also praised Congresswoman Maloney for securing the funding to complete phase one of the project. “A project of this magnitude is going to have a lot of impact on the surrounding community,� said Lappin. “[Making sure] we are both commending them for what they’ve done well but holding their feet to the fire on things they could do better [is] our job as elected officials.� The MTA initially set a deadline of 2013 to complete the project, but pushed it back to December 2016 after design delays and bureaucratic issues arose. “We’re here to say you can’t push this back anymore,� said Maloney. “We feel this neighborhood has sacrificed for the economic development of the whole city. It’s been uncomfortable for people to live on Second Avenue, many of our businesses have had to close because people have not been able to get to their stores. � Maloney pointed out that the tunnelling was completed five months ahead of schedule, which she said was one of the hardest and most disruptive part of the process. The second phase of the project is still being hammered out and Maloney said she’ll be holding a forum with MTA officials in October to determine whether it will run uptown or downtown. The two areas where Maloney’s office gave the MTA poor grades were in mitigation of construction impact (C-) and progress on station entrances and ancillary facilities (C). “The construction impact continues to be the most negative aspect of the project. Residents in this neighborhood continue to complain about noise, and dust, [and] blasting,� said Maloney, who noted blasting will be completed this summer. Maloney also mentioned an incident in March where a construction worker was trapped in mud for four hours and a blast gone awry in August 2012 that sent debris eight stories high onto Second Avenue. Maloney said thankfully there were no injuries in either incident. Maloney said station access for the only currently-active contractor on the project is on 96th Street, which accounts for the C grade in the station entrances and ancillary facilities category. She said station access for other contractors set to work on later portions of the project should have been started already.
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‘Hood Happenings Do you have news of a civic or neighborhood organization, church or synagogue, little league team, or a philanthropic organization? Whatever is going on in the neighborhood, Our Town wants to know and share it with our readers. Send your news to hoodhappenings@ strausnews.com.
Israeli Folk Dancing
French Immersion Class Pick up and practice your French as if you were in Paris with FIAF’s popular languages courses taught by native French speakers. All levels available from beginner to expert. Classes review conversation, grammar, writing, and listening comprehension. Added workshops offered until Aug. 30 on acting, idiomatic expressions, phonetics, slang, and songs. Program dates Aug. 12-23 and Aug. 26Sept. 6. $560. 60th Street between Madison and Fifth avenues; Fiaf.org.
St. Stephen’s Greenmarket
NYC Century Bike Tour The NYC Century Bike Tour is still a month away but if you register before Aug. 19, you’ll receive a special discount and your rider bib and number will be mailed to you. That means you save money and time, which is always valuable in a race. See more at nyccentury.org. Come by for some sweet tunes and tasty food. Danny Carmelo brings the unique sounds of acoustic music to Yorkville Creperie for a multi-sensual feast of goodness. Don’t forget to ask about our special prix fixe menu! Every Friday night at 7 PM, $5 Glasses of Wine. 1586 York Ave. between 83rd and 84th St. yorkvillecreperienyc.com. Call 212-5705445 for reservations.
Save Time. Feel Better.
The Beekman School Merit Award
Every Saturday, a dedicated following of shoppers flock to the 82nd Street Greenmarket which wraps from a sidewalk into a church courtyard on the Upper East Side. A full range of products including fruits, vegetables, baked goods, cheese, locally caught fish, chicken, goat meat and grass fed beef fill regular shoppers’ bags week after week. Open year-round. 9 AM-2:30 PM 82nd Street between York and First avenues; grownyc.org
The Beekman School has launched a significant aware program that offers a select group of incoming 9th and 10th grade students the opportunity for 50 percent tuition remission for each year they are enrolled at the school. Application deadline extended to Aug. 5. Beekmanschool.org. Visit The Beekman School blog for more details.
Sunday Fun Day
Watch the NY Yankees smash the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium while also batting Alzheimer’s out of the park. A portion of the tickets sold through our website will be donated to the Alzheimer’s Association, NYC Chapter. For more information, please contact Sharon Lee at 646-744-2939 or SLee@alznyc. org. Aug. 20th at 7 PM. Tickets $35-$225. Visit alznyc.org
Stop by Barnes & Noble stores for a grabbag of stories, songs and crafts, led by a B & N bookseller. The readings and activities focus on a different theme each week. Recurring Event. 11 AM 150 E. 86th St. bn.com
Sweet Acoustics at Yorkville Creperie THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2013
Emergency care and General Health Care
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Cheer for the Yankees
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X- r ay and lab onsite - O p ens earl y till late
Folk dancing and fun with Ruth Goodman at the 92Y is the place to learn about the dance form’s varied ethnic styles, music, and cultural history with old and new friends. The evening includes open dancing with instruction for more advanced repertoire. Every Wednesday, 8 PM. - 12:45 AM., $14 at door. 92y.org. Call 212-415-5737 for schedule.
THE 7-DAY PLAN FRIDAY
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
BEST PICK
Summer Streets (August 3, 10, 17)
72nd & Park Ave. to Centre St, Nyc.gov/summerstreets, 7 a.m. – 1 p.m., free For the first of this three-Saturdays event, nearly seven miles of NYC turf (from the Brooklyn Bridge all the way to Central Park) will be cleared of vehicles, creating a pedestrian paradise complete with food and entertainment. This edition’s offerings are still being finalized, but previous years have included free bike rentals, a rock-climbing wall, a zip line and picnics along the route. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for outdoor art installations.
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◄
FREE Night at the Museum
Tribute to Les Blank
11 W. 53rd St., Moma.org, 4-8 p.m., free Turns out there is another reason to love UNIQLO: Its sponsorship of free Friday nights at the MoMA, which launched in May. See million-dollar artwork by paying nothing except the cost of congestion. Your UNIQLO Free Friday Night ticket permits you to see other Museum galleries, exhibitions, and films.
36-01 35th Ave, Museum of the Moving Image, movingimage.us, 7 p.m., $12 The great documentary filmmaker Les Blank (1935–2013) made poetic, vibrant films that captured the lives, culture, food, and music of people at the periphery of American society. This special tribute to Blank, who died this April, consists of three of his most beloved films (Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe, Dry Wood, and Garlic is as Good as Ten Mothers), shown in beautifully restored prints from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Closing Night Screening & Ceremony for Asian American Film Festival
Summer Fashion Shows August 2013
725 Park Ave, Asia Society, Aaiff.org, 7 p.m., $35-$40 The East Coast premier of Our Homeland (2012), a film based on director Yang Yonghi’s family story about a Japanese boy sent away to repatriate North Korea, will conclude the 36th Annual Asian American International Film Festival this weekend. Like all the movies in the festival, it will have English subtitles. The hour and a half screening will be followed by a special Q&A session with the director, an awards ceremony and a gala reception with tasting tables from local restaurant sponsors.
44 W. 63rd St., Empire Hotel Rooftop, 6 p.m., $125-$400 Looking for a way to curb your fashion cravings during the long wait to Fall Fashion Week? Come check out a fashion show in three segments including Glamour, Seasonal Collection, and Swimwear. Experience a rooftop night, featuring the best in fashion, top runway models, and all things summer, as well as complimentary champagne and cupcakes. For ticket information, please visit http://www.eventbrite.com/event/6213483697/zvents
TEDxUpperEastSide
Lincoln Center Out of Doors Presents Sacred Drums
321 E. 73rd St, Bohemian Benevolent Society, 10 a.m. – 7 p.m., $100 You don’t have to go to Silicon Valley to be surrounded by “ideas worth spreading.” Proving that the Upper East Side can also be a wellspring of creativity and innovation, Sara Beth Allen, one of the event coordinators, will speak about branding, followed by Richard Dedor (author of “Anything is Possible), Croix Sather (author of “BetterBody BetterLife), Davis Mallory (MTV’s the Real World), Dada Nabhanilananda (a.k.a. The Yoga Monk Dude), and many more.
West 62nd St. Btw Amsterdam and Columbus Ave, Damrosch Park, lcoutofdoors.org, 7 p.m., free Listen to the rhythms of the drum while rejoicing in the sacred rituals and popular music of other cultures. Each performance group — whether from Brazil, Japan, or downtown Manhattan — contributes to the beauty of the global sacred experience of the drumbeat, a pulse that connects our traditions with the heartbeat of nature.
MONDAY
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Claes Oldenburg Exhibition at MoMA: Last Day!
NYC Workers Unite and Unwind With Norma Rae (1979) at Bryant Park
Claes Oldenburg’s audacious, witty, and profound depictions of everyday objects have earned him a reputation as one of the most important artists of the 20th century. This exhibition examines the beginnings of Oldenburg’s extraordinary career with an in-depth look at his first two and last two major bodies of work: The Street and The Store (1960s) paired with Mouse Museum and Ray Gun Wing (1970s). Come enjoy what Holland Cotter has called a “two-meals-for-the-price-of-one feast” at the MoMA before it runs out.
41 East 40th St, bryantpark.org, 8 p.m., free Sally Field took home the Oscar for her starring role as a minimum-wage textile worker who takes on her capitalist factory bosses in this week’s selection for Bryant Park’s Monday Movie Summer Screenings. As usual, Bryant Park will open the lawn at 5 p.m. for picnics and blankets and start rolling the film at sundown, usually around 8 p.m.
Green Series: “The Billion Oyster Project”
◄ Pier 6, Brooklyn Bridge Parks, brooklynbridgepark.org, 7 p.m.
BalletX at The Joyce Theater
Discover the huge power of these tiny ecosystem engineers to clean and rebuild the East River Estuary. Join students and faculty of the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School to take a close look at the parks oyster gardens, and discuss their goal to put a billion oysters back in New York Harbor. RSVP online.
joyce.org, 7:30 p.m., $10 BalletX unites world-class choreographers and dancers to forge new works of athleticism, emotion, and grace according to visions of its award-winning founders and artistic directors, Christine Cox and Matthew Neenan. One of the company’s thirty world premieres, Tuesday night’s performance promises to “cultivate a collective appetite for bold new dance” among New Yorkers who will get to see choreography from internationally renowned artists spring to life.
Apollo’s Amateur Night
Food for Thought: Housing Works’ DISH Event
253 W. 125th St, Apollo Theater, 7:30 p.m., $20-32 Every Wednesday night until November 27, a line-up of contestants show off their talent for singing, dancing, rapping, spoken word and more, to compete for the ultimate prize: the title of Super Top Dog with a $10,000 cash prize. The audience also compete in cheering or jeering the loudest until their favorite performer is the only one left standing. Amateur Night at the Apollo is hosted by the comedian Capone. Each show begins with a festive pre-party featuring video and music by DJ Jess.
126 Crosby St, Housing Works, 7 p.m., $5 suggested donation DISH is a sumptuous 4-course feast of readings and stories, as told by New York’s hottest chefs, restauranteurs, mixologists, food authors, bloggers and critics. Each “course” -- Aperitif, Appetizer, Main and Dessert -- features an expert in their respective field, guaranteed to provide an evening of mind-watering entertainment. And for a nightcap, attendees are encouraged to bring their favorite recipe for the DISH recipe swap!
Syfy Movies With a View Harbor View Lawn, brooklynbridgepark.org, 6 p.m., free The theme for this 6th Annual film festival is “With Love From,” taking you through cities from around the globe with a lineup of fantastic films. This week do as the Romans do and enjoy a “Roman Holiday” screening, featuring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. The DJs hit the stage at 6 p.m. and the movie does not start until sundown but in the meantime, buy yourself a gelato and let your mind travel.
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Ulrich Schnauss 6 Delancey Street, The Bowery Ballroom, boweryballroom.com, 8 p.m., $20 This special performance celebrates the release of Strauss’s fourth record, A Long Way to Fall, about the German-born electronic artist’s labor of love. Blackbook wrote that this solo album six years in the making shows that “Ulrich is getting even more seductive with his sound.” Ladies will want to stand back.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2013
DINING
Best of Downtown Summer Specials Grab these seasonal specials while you still can this August By Helaina Hovitz 1. The newly opened Black Tree Sandwich Shop & Bar (131 Orchard Street), shares the same name as its restaurant in Crown Heights, which is equally slight in space. Signature woods, exposed brick, and brass-framed photographs line the narrow walls, and brown paper placemats protect the oak tabletops — order a sandwich, and you’ll see why. Full of fresh cut, hulking meat, many of the chefs’ creations are slathered with thick, homemade jams like Red Raspberry Chocolate mint or Spicy Cherry, some with potato chips wedged between the buns. Owners and executive chefs Sandy Hall and Mac Sillick only use locally sourced ingredients. All of their cheeses, fruits, and breads come from vendors in New York State. Ladies, look away, because this tidbit isn’t for the faint of heart: they also butcher whole animals in-house. So you’re getting really, really fresh meat. Their current summer promotion is the Sip & Slide-r Happy Hour, which features a chef ’s selection of 3 slider-size sandwiches for $9, unlimited $4 drafts of New York state craft beer, and unlimited $6 glasses of Channing Daughters wine on tap. Possible chef ’s selections include the Mushroom Sandwich with balsamic-roasted Portobello mushrooms, smoked goat cheese and strawberry balsamic jam, a Short Rib Sandwich with coffee-rubbed, stout-braised short rib with house blue cheese dressing and market greens, the Summer Lamb Sandwich with cucumber, yogurt, mint and local feta, or any others on the menu. Frankly, though, with prices this low, you can go ahead and splurge for a full sized sandwich, too, like the Lobster Claw & Tail Roll or the Summer Duck (you’d be crazy not to try this one if they have it). The menu tends to change frequently, so if you have your heart set on something, call ahead. Oh, and don’t go in expecting to order a Diet Coke, either — your choices include herb peach, sarsaparilla or spicy blueberry soda. 2. Put on your fancy pants (or shorts), because The Lion (62 West 9th Street) is first class all the way. Inhabiting a townhouse built in the 1800s, the restaurant features a fireplace, a
small slab of elevated balcony seating right in the center of the action, and a classic American menu from Chef John DeLucie. The black lacquered doors lead into a stylish, expansive dining room decorated with eclectic contemporary artwork and crowned by a giant dome skylight. Their fare is on the pricier side, but the sumptuous summer barbecue brunch menu is worth it. On Sundays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., guests can choose from a variety of entrees including the Pulled BBQ Pork Sandwich, the Lion Burger, Smoked Pork Butt and Crispy Fried Oyster Po’ Boys, Fried Chicken and Waffles, or the Lobster Roll. Each entree comes with Jalapeno Spiked Corn Bread, Coleslaw and Pickles as well as a pint of draft beer, all for $25. Personally, I’d go for the lobster roll every time, but any meat-eating man will flip over the slabs of smoky pork that come out on a wooden board. If nothing else, the ambiance and friendly wait staff make it worth the trip. 3. Every Monday night at Louro (142 West 10th Street), Chef Dave Santos’s “Nossa Mesa� closes its restaurant doors to the general public. By reservation only, around a dozen guests are seated at one long, communal table and served a seven-course dinner with a theme, which changes every week. The supper club series’ seafood dinners are a refreshing summer dining choice, and are a great way to get to know your neighbors. Coming up on August 5th is the “VIP Shellfish Dinner� Chef David Santos of Louro; ($75) featuring unique bites like Vanilla Lobster and truffle photo by Jose Moran Moya potato puree with parmesan foam, followed by the “Summer Truffle Explosion “($95) on August 19th and the “Portuguese POSH PETS & NORTH SHORE ANIMAL LEAGUE AMERICA Seafood Boil� ($55) on August 26. August 12th will be their “Breaking Bad� ($65) dinner, based on the series finale of the TV show, and will feature Test Tube Shooters, Fluke Crudo with Avocado Puree and Tortilla Foam, and Grilled Cactus Salad. “We want to surprise, excite and exhilarate our guests, maybe even challenge them a little,� Chef Santos says of these endeavors. He makes good in his promise. prom All dinners dinn are BYO wine win and beer and start at 7 p.m.
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SHOPPING AROUND
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FRANK T H E
Gracious Home Marks 50th Year A housewares and hardware store like few others By Laura Shanahan
G
oodness, Gracious Home! Were you really born in 1963? Indeed, you were, as a humble housewares and hardware store, but look at you now. Modest no longer, you’re a treasure trove of luxe and high-end, well, everything – from candy bars to candles, sheets to shampoos, pillows to plates and so much more. While the stalwart store at the corner of Broadway and 67th Street has three levels of madly crave-worthy merch, the Chelsea Design Center outpost at 45 W. 25th St. is limited to elegantly decorative hardware and plumbing. But back to our three levels of goodies. Where to start? How about with this question: Hot enough for you? (Ducking tossed tomatoes.) Here you can pick up a Coleman Cool Zephyr Mini Fan, a 4-inch high plastic hand-held personal cooler “perfect for camping, hiking, hunting, the beach and sporting events.” (“Hunting”? May I countersuggest waiting on subway platforms?) Anyway, this handy-dandy little item, with AA-battery-op propeller blades, is just $4.99, representative of the tiny treasures salted among the higher ticket goods. In need of a hands-free personal fan? Consider then the $10 Flexi Clip, which has a flexible neck and clips onto your desk’s edge (for example) – hence, its name. Also running on AA batteries, the Flexi has the softest foam blades, perhaps in acknowledgement that inevitably someone’s going to back a body part into them. Choose from raspberry, royal, lime and swimming-pool blue models. Hey, Brooklyn in the house! Here you will
also find – among the small serendipitous finds – Meyer lemon and green apple sucking candies by BrooklynHardCandy, which handcrafts its sweets in that borough. A slim cylindrical silvery-lidded glass jar of the treats is $8. You know what I like about domestic companies? They give you the size in ounces first (3.5 oz. in this case) – and grams second, if they give them at all (100). Ooh-la-la , Paris-made Mazet Noir or Lait Prasline chocolates. These come in a 100-gram bar, which we already know, class, is – all together now: 3.5 ounces! I can’t promise you will love the caramelized sugar-coated toasted almond confectionary (though it seems a safe bet); but you will want to buy as many as you can to, if nothing else, wallpaper your home with the stunningly – but discreetly – ornate French baroque wrapper. At $7.99 per bar, you might want to start with one of your smaller rooms. There are more such little luxuries, but let’s descend to the next level – the middle one – were the meat-and-potatoes of the store is (the lowest level has aesthetic hardware and plumbing, elegant lamps and shades plus some housewares – oh, and you can also get knives sharpened and keys made there). On this midlevel, there is all manner of luxurious living staples and accessories, including beautiful candles, skinny and squat, by such names as Rigaud, Tocca, Abahna and Seda France. The selection of throw pillows is standout, even among all the other riveting options vying for attention. For your delectation: a hand-decorated 18-by-12- inch pillow doubled-bordered all around with faceted diamond-shaped “mirrors,” which themselves are elaborately framed by rows of the tiniest bugle beads. “How much?” I asked. “374,” I was told. “Dollars?” I gulped. I was about $364 short, but if you can swing it, check it out: It’s – this column’s newest favorite description – swimming-pool blue.
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cityArts
Edited by Armond White
New York’s Review of Culture . CityArtsNYC.com
Key Krazy Notes from a piano extravaganza By Jay Nordlinger
J
erome Rose presides over the annual piano extravaganza at Mannes College. More formally, this extravaganza is the International Keyboard Institute & Festival, or IKIF. Rose is its founder and director. IKIF takes place in the second half of July. And, every year, Rose gives the opening recital. This year, he played four sonatas of Beethoven, all of them having nicknames: not “Moonlight,” “Pastoral,” “Tempest” and “Hammerklavier,” but “Pathétique,” “Waldstein,” “Les Adieux” and “Appassionata.” All 32 of Beethoven’s piano sonatas are special, really, but those with nicknames are thought to be extra-special. This is not entirely without reason. Rose plays with utter confidence, knowing what he wants to do, and going ahead and doing it. He also plays with due emotion. Recently, a musician friend of mine said to me, “My father says that music ought to be played with feeling. We don’t use the word ‘feeling’ much. We’re a little afraid of it, I think. Or we may look down on it. But my father’s right, you know.” Yes, he is. Moreover, Rose plays with a big, fat, virile sound. You may not get Mitsuko Uchida-like delicacy from him. But the bigger playing has its compensations. When this Jerome Rose pianist’s fingers stumble, he simply plows ahead, heedless, his Fantasy on Themes from Rossini’s Mosè. Mayer continued pursuing his musical purpose. Daniel Barenboim has this with a piece by a famous and great composer: Schumann. But quality as well. Rose is a big-picture man, and if some of the the piece was a relative rarity, Schumann’s Sonata in F-sharp details fall by the way, so be it. minor, Op. 11. On the stage at Mannes, he was especially good in In my judgment, we would never hear this piece at all if Beethoven’s slow movements. The one from the “Pathétique” it were not by a great composer. If it were by, say, a Robert was blessedly unlagging, a proper Beethoven song. And Schumacher, rather than Robert Schumann, it would be in the the one from the “Waldstein” was superbly lush and full. dustbin, and understandably so. The sonata ended with a charge, provoking a roar from the The second half of Mayer’s program was all-American— audience. beginning with Silver Spring, by William Mason, whose dates IKIF is celebrating its 15th year, a veritable institution here are 1829 to 1908. This is not an immortal piece (though it is in New York. It is appreciated, and attended, by pianists and still being played in 2013, isn’t it?). But I’m glad to have heard piano cognoscenti all over town, and from out of town. There it. And where else could you, besides IKIF? is nothing else like it. Students get taught. Professionals give Mayer then played two pieces of Louis Moreau Gottschalk, recitals. And the vast piano repertory is explored. True, Rose the first of them being his Pasquinade, a purely American played four canonical sonatas. But IKIF typically gives you piece, snappy and delightful. The second piece is much music from way off the beaten path. different: The Last Hope, ethereally beautiful. Mayer played it Take the recital by Steven Mayer, who, like Rose, is an just this way. Incidentally, someone made Gottschalk’s melody American. He began with a piece by Thalberg—Sigismond into a hymn: “Day by day the manna fell . . .” Thalberg, a piano virtuoso born near Geneva in 1812. This was
THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2013
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\Speaking of hymns, Mayer then played the third movement of Ives’s “Concord” Sonata, which incorporates a hymn we know as “Missionary Chant.” Mayer played this music with maturity. And he ended his printed program with “solos”—treatments, arrangements, versions, improvisations, call them what you will—by Art Tatum, the jazz great. The first of these was one of his most famous: Humoresque. What Tatum did with Dvorak’s ditty, Dvorak would love, I think. Did Mayer play the Tatum pieces with the limpidity and charm of the master himself? That is an unfair question. It’s enough that Mayer pays homage, and pays it well. He gave the audience an encore: It was, if I understand correctly, a Fats Waller treatment of “Ain’t Nobody’s Business,” otherwise known as “Tain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do.” The piano repertory is wide and wonderful, and Jerome Rose’s festival reminds a person of that fact.
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15 1 4 7
re-use
CITYARTS CLASSICAL
ways to Z for Excellence your newspaper old
Use it as wrapping paper, or fold & glue pages into reusable gift bags.
2
Add shredded newspaper to your compost pile when you need a carbon addition or to keep flies at bay.
5
Use newspaper strips, water, and a bit of glue for newspaper mâché.
8
10
Crumple newspaper to use as packaging material the next time you need to ship something fragile.
13
Tightly roll up sheets of newspaper and tie with string to use as fire logs.
After your garden plants sprout, place newspaper sheets around them, then water & cover with grass clippings and leaves. This newspaper will keep weeds from growing.
Make origami creatures
Use shredded newspaper as animal bedding in lieu of sawdust or hay.
11
Make your own cat litter by shredding newspaper, soaking it in dish detergent & baking soda, and letting it dry.
14
Wrap pieces of fruit in newspaper to speed up the ripening process.
3
Cut out letters & words to write anonymous letters to friends and family to let them know they are loved.
6
Roll a twice-folded newspaper sheet around a jar, remove the jar, & you have a biodegradable seed-starting pot that can be planted directly into the soil.
9
Make newspaper airplanes and have a contest in the backyard.
12 15
Zzyzx brings the joy of sax to Symphony Space By Judy Gelman Myers
L
ike the superb little restaurant no one knows about because it hasn’t yet been reviewed by the New York Times, classical music for saxophone lies beneath most New Yorkers’ radar. The Zzyzx Quartet revealed the folly of that obscurity with their July 12 concert at Symphony Space, in which they presented classical (as opposed to jazz or military) standards written for saxophone quartet, new commissions, and transcriptions of pieces written for other instruments. The saxophone’s lack of prominence in the classical repertoire is due not to a dearth of quality but to bad timing: the saxophone was invented late in the evolution of the symphony orchestra, so it was simply not included in many of the works that are routinely presented in great concert halls. Designed by Belgian Adolphe Sax to combine the power of brass with the subtle nuance of woodwinds and the facility of strings, the saxophone first made its appearance in 1841 and was patented five years later in two versions: one for the orchestra, the other for military bands. Many well-known orchestral composers who wrote after its creation—Berlioz, Prokofiev, Puccini— included it in their works, and
many contemporary composers are including it in their compositions. The Zzyzx Quartet, comprising soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone sax, exemplifies the happy development of the instrument in the excellence of their playing, the quality of their repertoire, and their synthesis as a quartet. Watching them is like watching a well-directed string section whose bows move in unison; the members of Zzyzx breathe simultaneously, their voices swelling together or seamlessly trading over an undulating sea of sound. Their Symphony Space program began with Thierry Escaich’s haunting saxophone quartet, “Tango Virtuoso,” followed by David Maslanka’s moving “Recitation Book,” based on a collection of madrigals, including Gesualdo’s “Ecco moriro unque.” Fuminori Tanada’s “Mysterious Morning II” incorporated fluttering, descending chromatic lines that sounded like unnatural sounds from nature: you’ve never heard them, but you can’t imagine where else they might be from. The concert accompanied the release of Zzyzx’s second CD, Intersections, which includes a transcription of Rachmaninoff ’s “O Gentle Light,” Florent Schmitt’s Quator, and the world premiere recording of John Mackey’s Unquiet Spirits, commissioned by Zzyzx and given its New York Premiere at Symphony Space. While spotlighting a little-known bistro might kill its charm, spotlighting this excellent music can only deservedly augment its reach. Zzyzx Quartet is the perfect guide through this unknown but magnificent territory.
Stuff newspapers in boots or handbags to help the items keep their shape. Dry out wet shoes by loosening laces & sticking balled newspaper pages inside.
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CITYARTS FILM
Smelling a Rat The Wolverine’s decomposition of a summer blockbuster By Armond White
A
s I sat down at the AMC Empire cinema in Times Square for that evening’s all-media screening, I could smell a dead rat--and then The Wolverine confirmed it. It wasn’t the first time that an all-media screening took place in that filthy, Crossroads-of-Consumerism flea pit (very recently a woman stood up at an AMC Empire screening and screamed about a rodent that jumped into the seat next to her). Such are the conditions forced upon reviewers as they’re herded into what the media enthusiastically refers to as “summer blockbusters” like The Wolverine. It has become standard to submit reviewers and nonprofessional bloggers to the same nighttime screening schedule as public consumers. Publicists originally justified this practice as establishing the proper atmosphere for enjoying audiencefriendly genres (comedies and action films) as if a critic could not laugh or be thrilled without a mob’s encouragement. Thanks to the Internet, the mob now includes the burgeoning ranks of media shills. That self-justified publicist’s rationale is disrespectful to professional reviewers yet the rationale has become self-fulfilling: One has to be intimidated into feeling thrilled at a movie as mediocre as The Wolverine, another Marvel Comics spin-off. The stench of rotting vermin, or an unwelcome visit by a scuttling critter is a new kind of 3D FX, more effective than anything that occurs in James Mangold’s uninspired staging. Mangold (Knight and Day, 3:10 to Yuma) has become a studio hack, guaranteed not to challenge or innovate any costly production and just bring it in on schedule and on budget. He approaches this comicbook franchise film like it was a James Bond assignment: The Wolverine’s story, bringing Logan/Wolverine, the immortal superhero with adamantium blade growing from his knuckles, out of self-imposed exile to the present day where he reunites with a man (Hiroyuki Sanada) whose life he saved in WWII, feels like the umpteenth entry in an indistinguishable chain. The series of violent set pieces in a northwest hunter’s bar, a
THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2013
Tokyo lair, a highway, in a futuristic lab with a venomous Viper Woman or with various yakuza and ninjas, is like a tourist’s checklist of the usual action-movie-blockbuster locales. (Oddest scene has Wolverine strung like a marionette to wires shot by ninja-archers.) Even yeoman Hugh Jackman does his mutton-chop fretting and body-builder calisthenics with a tour guide’s dutifulness. The Wolverine’s visions of his late wife (Famka Jenssen) suggests the death wish and existential anguish of a totally different kind of movie--as does his Oriental flirtations with two Japanese women (Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukushima). Mangold should have retitled this hodgepodge should Pacific Rimming. Summer blockbusters this formulaic--predictable and forgettable--offer a decomposition and deconstruction of film industry thinking. It’s why adults opt out of going to see more of the same and only kids and fanboys think these Marvel flicks have anything to do with myth, culture or pleasure. The whole situation (from unendurable theatrical venues to boring narratives) is a Hollywood disease--and it stinks.
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CITYARTS FILM
It’s a Nerd, Nerd, Nerd, Nerd World Computer Chess is Mumblecore’s first gear shift By Armond White
W
hatever else is going on in Andrew Bujalski’s Computer Chess, it is also-unmistakably--a satire on film culture’s extinction. The weird weekend gathering of chess and computer geeks at an early 80s conference (they’re testing whether a machine can outplay a human being) is deliberately antique-looking; it becomes a hermetic curio when the conference’s leader shows up, played by Gerald Peary, formerly a film reviewer for the now defunct Boston Pheonix who had tried his own hand at indie filmmaking with a little-known documentary on the critical profession. As chess master Pat Henderson, the professorial Peary is first seen chastising Bujalski’s cameramen: “Hey! Do not ever shoot at the sun! You’re gonna burn out the tube! You’re gonna shoot the rest of the weekend inside. We want to be only inside. That’s it.” And Bujalski stays only inside the insular world of nerds: pale, sweaty guys, all with bad shag, bowl, stringy haircuts or balding. (Yesterday’s high school audio-visual geeks today claim hipness like The Onion’s AV
Club.) Computer Chess’s mockumentary style gets almost surreally deadpan. The point of is to embrace the uncool, that’s the source of Bujalski’s affection and his humor. It’s also surreally sexless, contrasting the nerds’ arcana with a peculiar, aggressive human potential cult sharing the same hotel and ballroom space. (Their skirmishes recall the War Room fracases of Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove.) The mumbled dialogue is recorded in a muffle, a eunuchy euphony true to the anti-social fascination with technology that defines dweebness. Computer Chess uncannily replicates contemporary film culture types, especially the world of criticism. Bujalski exposes a world as insular and unappealing as eavesdropping on a confab of film critics (as Peary’s doc meant to do). Set prior to the Internet, Computer Chess preserves a fossilized world in old-fashioned (analog) amber. Who would want to see this thing besides other film nerds? Perhaps only Mumblecore cultists who naively mistake spartan video technique with cinema esthetics. This time Bujalski displays unusual stylistic self-consciousness--black & white video tape imagery, compositions that fake real-time realism plus out-of-focus shots, white & black reverse images, inserts that comment upon the banality of ancient TV style, including showing off old-time beta-cams, overhead projectors, bulky cathode ray tube monitors and computer fonts and crude chyrons. Mumblecore’s standard indifference to aesthetics
is explained by this look at primitive technology of the past; it becomes the basis for Mumblecore’s presumption that all aesthetics are arbitrary. “Innovation can be a rocky road” is one chess nerd’s warning—it’s Mumblecore’s creed. Since the Williamsburg hipness of the Mumblecore movement began in 2002, it has been usurped by the mainstream media--including privileged indie-boutique careerists like Noah Baumbach and Joss Whedon. Of necessity, Mumblecore originator Bujalski has found the wit to break out from its conspicuous routines and make the genre’s most stylistically varied, artistically adventurous film with Computer Chess. Bujalski actually employs montage and style-idiosyncratic style--that goes past simply being unHollywood and creates its own uniquely nerd vision. Cinema pioneer Jean Rouch’s chastised: “Video is the AIDS of cinema” (which Emilie de Brigard reminded mourners at Donald Richie’s recent memorial service). But the entirety of Computer Chess is an analog vs. digital gag, looking back to the roots of nerdism before the Pixar era made it feel cool. Bujalski’s embrace of video-tape avoids sensual esthetics and emotion just like the nerd character Dever (Brandon Thomas) avoids sex. As in contemporary criticism, this reflects a generation that doesn’t respect cinema’s spiritual and sensual qualities but constantly looks to undermine them with primitive rebukes of all the advances that cinema has made so far. And critics who promote Mumblecore don’t know any better. Computer Chess negates cinema as dis Soderbergh’s Schizpolis and Full Frontal experiments. Does Buljaksi know them? His Cassavetesstyle Dever seduction scene suggests he knows better than Soderbergh yet he stays stuck in Mumblecore’s nerd world, welcoming the end of cinephilia while satirizing it. His most entertaining character jolts all the nerds when he protests “You guys are just trying to eke out one little victory versus each other.” That could be Bujalski’s ultimate word before switching Mumblecore’s gears. He’s succeeded in making a movie different from the others, but it is barely even a movie. Follow Armond White on Twitter at 3xchair
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NEWS Block v. Block Continued from page 1
who could barely be heard above blasting music, said, “Technically we are not supposed to be playing without a permit. We had some trouble in the West Village, but that hasn’t stopped us…plus, we only do this once a month.” Of course, when all the major department stores downtown are doing it ‘only once a month,’ chaos quickly ensues. Sara Providence, 19, a Harvard student who lived in New York University housing last summer, said, “It is just as loud as people claim, and maybe worse. I had never experienced that much noise at 3 AM before. It felt like every night there were drunk people yelling right outside my window. At me.” She continued, “That said, I didn’t care, I loved living in Union Square, and I would do it again…for the convenience.” Ah, the typical New York tradeoff. Still, the upsides of living downtown—its centrality and affordability— will not last much longer. Just as young people rushed to the Village to seize on its local trendiness and prices, they may be moving out for the same reasons. For, Eric Grayson, 26, the price for living off East Houston Street (only to land right by an intersection) is too much to pay. Putting it bluntly, he said, “I live on the 15th floor in one of the nicer apartment buildings…and I sleep with a white noise machine. I knew it would be bad, but not this bad.” His ideal place to relocate? The Upper West Side. “I realize I want something more residential after that.” So, watch out Uptown, the party might be coming to you. If loudness is the effect of mere saturation of sounds, as the textbooks says, then consider stocking up on earplugs before Duane Reade runs out.
jackhammering, is not a huge source of complaint, perhaps because many New Yorkers assume it’s par for the course and inescapable wherever you go. However, the two major construction sites presently – the World Trade Center and the Second Avenue subway – do ruffle some feathers. Due to the latter penalty, the Upper East Side is no longer the chief oasis of peace and quiet, but a close second to the Upper West Side, whose only Achilles’ heel is Lincoln Center, not exactly an unpleasant sound-maker. Overall, the 311 operator fielded over 40,000 noise complaints last year (roughly 100 a day). Believe it or not, that is low compared to past years. An average of nearly 1,000 calls a day were made in 2004, the year before the city passed the first comprehensive noise reform in 30 years, with the assistance – and insistence – of Mayor Bloomberg, then NYC Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Chris Ward and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. Local Law 113, known as the Noise Control Code, requires that certain procedures be followed by construction (like muffling tools) and other industries to mitigate noise, and sets sound level standards for specific types of noise (For example, bar music may not exceed 42 decibels as measured from inside nearby residences). The law, commended by the national Centers for Disease Control, has become the global gold standard for noise control. Yet, noise continues to be the number one quality of life issue for New York residents, and the number one reason for calling the 311. Some claim the still-high Sound levels vary depending on one’s distance from the number of complaints is noise source. Below are some frequently heard sounds attributable to the ease and and their approximate decibel levels at common distances efficiency of using the 311 Citizen Service Center. from the noise source. When designated as “dB(A),” as seen Not only is it more userbelow, the measurement is weighted in the “A” scale to friendly, but it is also more simulate human hearing. responsive. Local Law 113 Whisper ............................................................................... 30 dB(A) stipulates that the NYPD Normal Conversation/Laughter ...................... 50 – 65 dB(A) may now be deployed to Vacuum Cleaner at 10 feet ................................... 70 dB(A) immediately inspect the Washing Machine/Dishwasher ................................ 78 dB(A) source of the noise and Midtown Manhattan Traffic Noise ...................... 70 – 85 dB(A) that the DEP is reserved Motorcycle ......................................................................... 88 dB(A) for more long-term Lawnmower ................................................................ 85 – 90 dB(A) investigations. Train ................................................................................... 100 dB(A) This suggests that Jackhammer/Power Saw ........................................... 110 dB(A) the city officials, not so Thunderclap .................................................................... 120 dB(A) much the noise culprits, Stereo/Boom Box ................................................ 110 – 120 dB(A) are more consciously Nearby Jet Takeoff ....................................................... 130 dB(A) adhering to the new standards. A downtown Source: nyc.gov DJ at American Apparel,
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The Original Teachings of
Theosophy
as recorded by H.P. Blavatsky & William Q. Judge
The Sacred Tribe of Heroes Yet you must not think that the gods are without employment, or that their descent to this earth is perpetual. For they descend according to orderly periods of time, for the purpose of imparting a beneficent impulse in the republics of mankind…For there is indeed in the terrestrial abode the sacred tribe of heroes who pay attention to mankind, and who are able to give them assistance even in the smallest concerns…this heroic tribe is, as it were, a colony from the gods established here in order that this terrene abode may not be left destitute of a better nature. - Synesius
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PAGE 15
DEWING THINGS BETTER
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Will Democratic Primary Be Like 2001 or 1977? The first round of voting for our next mayor could easily repeat history By Tom Allon
L
ike the old saying goes: “Those who do not understand history are destined to repeat it.” This is true in local politics as it is for broader social issues. And in this year’s mayoral campaign, it may be more instructive to rewind the tape not 12 years (to 2001) but rather 36 years (to 1977). In 2001 and 2005, like 1989, there were four leading Democratic Mayoral candidates in each primary. In each of these three cases, the supposed “frontrunner” a year before the primary did not actually emerge victorious when all the votes were counted. In each of these three campaigns, two candidates near the end of the race became embroiled in a battle for the top spot, while the two others badly sunk to the bottom. In 1989, Edward Koch, the three-term incumbent, was seen as a prohibitive favorite a year before the primary. His challengers -Manhattan Borough President David Dinkins, Comptroller Jay Goldin and former MTA Chairman Dick Ravitch -- all sensed that Koch had overstayed his welcome. Dinkins emerged as the racial healing alternative to Koch and he beat the beleaguered incumbent by a margin of 49 percent to 42 percent while the highly intelligent Ravitch and Goldin fought a race for the bottom, drawing 5 percent and 4 percent, respectively. In 2001, Alan Hevesi (who was recently released from prison after serving time for corruption charges) was the “frontrunner” a year before the primary, but his fortunes and those of popular City Council Speaker Peter Vallone both dropped precipitously as Latino candidate Freddy Ferrer and former Public Advocate Mark Green duked it out for the top spot. The final percentages in that campaign were: Green 31, Ferrer 35, Hevesi 12 percent and Vallone 19 percent. Green won a racially bruising run-off with Ferrer, but his pyrrhic victory then reaffirmed that old maxim: “Don’t win the battle but lose the war.” Green was narrowly defeated by political neophyte Mike Bloomberg in the general election. In 2005, when Bloomberg ran for reelection, the Democratic field included Freddy Ferrer again, popular City Council
PAGE 16
Tom Allon Speaker Gifford Miller, Manhattan Borough President Virginia Fields and a feisty Brooklyn Congressman named Anthony Weiner. The final result of that primary was similar to 1989 and 2001: two at the top, Ferrer at 40 percent and Weiner at 30 percent, and two near the bottom, Fields at 15 percent and Miller at 10 percent. So, we see a pattern emerge: in 4-way races, two candidates break out of the pack and then the other two, who fail to get traction, drop to the single digits. But in 2013, there are 7 contenders for the Democratic nomination, and to paraphrase the old song, it feels like 1977 all over again. That year, there was also a 7-person field, and the primary result had four finishers all below 20 percent and within 5 percentage points of each other. Here was that primary finish: Koch 19, Cuomo 18, Beame 18, Abzug 17, Sutton 14, Badillo 11, Harnett 2,... So, could this year’s Democratic primary have a similar result to 1977 where there was 5 people in double digits, or will it be more like 1989 and 2001, when only two candidates reached above the single digit mark? It would be too glib to say that frontrunner Christine Quinn is this year’s version of the 1977 frontrunner, Bella Abzug, but they do have a lot of issues and style in common besides both being brash women. Is Anthony Weiner this year’s Edward Koch, the glib and fast-on-his feet outsider who had some sexual ambiguities that made him a curiosity but did not impede his path? Is Bill de Blasio the Mario Cuomo of this race, the smooth-tongued progressive who ultimately fell short in a close race? And will Bill Thompson be like Percy Sutton, the likable and smart candidate who fell short because he failed to ignite passion for his candidacy? It’s hard to draw exact parallels between 2013 and 1977, but when it comes to mayoral politics, it sure feels a lot like the “Saturday Night Fever” days of the late 70s. Tom Allon, the president of City and State, NY, was the Liberal Party-backed mayoral candidate last year. He can be reached at tallon@cityandstateny.com
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National Conversations We Most Desperately Need To Have Sexaholics Anonymous aims to help people “stop lusting and become sexually sober” By Bette Dewing
W
hat a perfect summer night for the 4th annual simply wonderful “Steve Shaiman’s Swingtime Big Band” concert in Carl Schurz Park bordering the East River and made possible by the Carl Schurz Park Conservancy, 212-459-4455. The foottapping music made you smile and sing along. And the view of the big sky and East River with city lights softy shining here and there and outlining two bridges, was, just breath-takingly beautiful. And how commendable, that after the concert, people, including many Westsiders, stopped to admire the exquisite plantings bordering John Finley Walk and cared for by volunteer gardeners like Susan Schrenzel. Some local neighbors stopped to talk about how their friends, 92 yearold, Sylvia Slavin and her son, Ira, who had moved without leaving forwarding address. They also worried about being unable to learn about the condition of their neighbor, Bella Moser, severely injured when struck by a car which failed to yield as she crossed 82nd and East End on July 2. They longed to help but didn’t know how. Their caring concern added to that “all’s right with the world” feeling - until getting home, the impulse to turn on the TV was not resisted. And the big story was all about ugly and destructive impulses making the news. You know the story about how one mayoral candidate had lost his Congressional seat for sending inappropriate email photos to various women. And then later returns to run for mayor and new allegations now surface but he claims he’s rehabilitated and, at this writing, is still running for
mayor. His wife, who works for Hilary Clinton, supports him. And that was the big issue on TV talk shows like Pierce Morgan’s where the mostly female audience and panelists said what a bad example she was. Although a psychiatrist disagreed, many said it wasn’t an addiction, a sickness, like compulsive drinking. But almost nothing is said about environmental influences, especially of the entertainment world and Internet, ever more awash in R and even X-rated behaviors and themes. Denied or ignored is the research that finds that some people are unduly influenced, and that the whole society is affected. This is what “The National Conversation” should be about. They ought to be discussed in faith groups, too. Alcohol Anonymous groups often meet on their premises. And maybe in a Sexaholics Anonymous meeting, too, but unlike Alcoholics Anonymous. S.A. doesn’t give meeting information except to those seeking help. So said, S.A’s national headquarters representative is at 866-424-8777. A Sanon group exists for those who care about someone with this addiction. A brief Internet search also offered this Sexaholics Anonymous official statement: “Sexaholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover. The only requirement for membership is to stop lusting and become sexually sober.” There’s more, but it concludes with Sexaholics Anonymous being a recovery program based on the principles and 12 Steps and 12 Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous. So get out the word, and also about the intervention process so shamefully underused, mainly because society doesn’t want to get involved in other people’s problems. Let’s include that in “The National Conversation” we most desperately need to have. dewngbetter@aol.com
THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2013
CELEBRITY PROFILE
A Chef with a Lot on His Plate Jean-Georges dishes on breakfast, ginger, and his new venture, ABC Cocina
What is the relationship between ABC Home and ABC Kitchen? When they approached me for ABC Kitchen - there was a restaurant called Lucy there they decided to change it, because it wasn’t working very well. I came there and we talked about being farm-to-table since we were half a block away from Union Square. Only they wanted to call it Love. I said, “We are in the ABC building, let’s call it ABC Kitchen. You do the décor and I’ll do the food.” And it took off. We’re going to do ABC To Go or Home Grown. We’re not sure of the name yet.
By Angela Barbuti
T
he restaurant scene in New York City, or the world for that matter, would be very different without Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Forty years ago, a young Jean-Georges ate at his first 3-Star Michelin-rated restaurant and was immediately smitten. He started there as an apprentice and the rest is culinary history. With nine restaurants in New York alone, and 2,500 employees here, the 56-year-old only recently began taking weekends off to spend with his family. When he truly wants to get away, the chef travels to his restaurant in Bora Bora, which takes three planes and two boats. That’s how far people will travel to taste his creations.
You never took weekends off until recently? I worked six, sometimes seven days all the way up to when I was 50. So from age 16 to 50. When I turned 50, I said, “The problems are the same when I’m here or not here.” So I bought a house in the country, Wchester, an hour from here. I fish, hunt, canoe. I learned how to relax. It’s not easy. So I work five days full blast.
You don’t stay here at Jean-Georges until the kitchen closes, right? I travel a week a month, but when I’m in town, I’m here every day for lunch. At 8:30 or 9 p.m., I go to another restaurant. Last night I was at Cocina. Tonight I’m going to be at JoJo. I hit one other restaurant every night. Then I go home around 11:30 or 12. I sleep very well. It’s a long day.
At 16, you got your first restaurant job rather unexpectedly. For my 16th birthday, my parents took me to a 3-Star Michelin, Auberge de l’ill. At the time we never went to restaurants. It was a time when three generations were still living under one roof. We were too many people to go to restaurants. It was just the three of us. They took me because they felt bad about me being thrown out of school. I was sitting there and saw the ballet of the waiters, the whole choreography, the food. I didn’t know in ’73 you could make a living out of food. Food was at home - your mother, grandmother cooking. In ’73 it wasn’t glamorous to be a chef. It was like you were good for nothing. The chef came to the table and my father said, “Listen my
THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2013
similar to SouthE Asia. You have coriander, chili, coconut, and mango. The same kind of ingredients done in a different way, but it was very easy for me to absorb.
son is good for nothing. If you need some apprentice to peel…”
How did that job help your career? Starting at a 3-Star Michelin really helped me. I never wrote for a job, because from a phone call, I went to another 3-Star. I did four 3-Stars in France. It was like entering the Mafia.
Was your open kitchen at Lafayette in ’86 the first one in New York? One of the first ones. It was completely open like this. [Jean-Georges] Everybody requested a table on the kitchen because people wanted to see the action. It was new in New York.
How have you seen the restaurant business in New York change? Completely. I arrived in ’86. At that time, all the old-time restaurants - La Grenouille, Le Cirque - were around. The food alone has changed. You couldn’t find anything. All the vegetables were imported from a company called Flying Food. I remember going to Union Square when I arrived - there was nothing. Apples, potatoes, but no vegetables. I had to go Chinatown, because when I arrived here, I just came back from five years in Asia. So the only place I was comfortable in was Chinatown with all the vegetables. I came in when Daniel was starting, Thomas Keller, David Bouley, Tom Colicchio. We really pushed the farmer to grow things for us. I felt like people wanted to eat in a different way.
Your time in Asia really influenced the way you cook. What did people think? I used ginger and lemongrass. People were saying, “Who’s this guy and what is he doing?” Chilis everywhere, trying to make it hot and spicy. I got used to this flavor after five years over there. I made a name for myself using ginger basically.
If you had to take your wife out to OUR TOWN
dinner in the city, where would you go? Any place she’d like to go. But she likes to go to Koreatown for barbeque, that’s her background. I take her to Sushi Seki sometimes, Le Bernardin, Per Se. Once a year, I try to do one or two high-end restaurants. Otherwise I eat late and very casual. I don’t bother my colleagues late night, so I go to Marea and have a bowl of pasta at the bar and go home. Simple.
Your son followed in your footsteps and went into cooking. He is the chef at Perry St. I tried to push him away, but he really wants to do the business. I wanted him to be a doctor or a lawyer. It’s not a gift. You have to work every holiday, when other people are watching TV and having a good time. There’s not really much of a life. Your life is your customer.
What do you cook for your family? On the weekends, I may invite my brother over who has three kids the same age as my daughter. I have two grandkids now. I invite friends and family and just cook. At home, I never plate anything. I put a pot in the middle and they serve themselves. I plate every day, so I don’t want to plate on the weekend. I never cook at home in the city, only in the country. My wife cooks in the city for my daughter. I only cook Saturday and Sunday. On the weekend, I do everything. I peel, chop.
Explain the concept of your new restaurant, ABC Cocina. We created ABC Kitchen. Farm-to-table. It’s all simple food, but has an edge of some flavors. Next door there was a restaurant called Pipa, a Spanish restaurant with tapas. It was part of my lease to take it over. We shut it down New Year’s Eve of this year and opened four months after. It’s farm-to-table as well, but with some Spanish flavors, not only from Spain, but from South America. When I did research for that food, it very
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You even have a chicken concession in Madison Square Garden. We have a concept called Simply Chicken. We offer chicken salad, a chicken sandwich, a chicken hot dog. This year we are adding chicken soup and a chicken taco. Why not?
Why is breakfast your favorite meal? I love breakfast because I grew up in France and a slice of bread with butter and jam and a bowl of coffee is breakfast. French toast in France we eat for dessert. Three restaurants serve breakfast - The Mark Hotel, Jean Georges, and the Mercer in Soho.
You have three restaurants in hotels. What are the positives to that? I like it because you serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We do room service as well. For business, it’s great. People say you don’t make money with room service, which is totally wrong. That means they don’t know how to make it. It keeps the operation really going 24 hours. All three restaurants are open 24 hours because of room service.
Where’s one location you’ve opened a restaurant in that you would have never thought you would? Shanghai. We also have a place in Bora Bora. You have to take three planes and two boats to get there. It’s 60 seats. It’s on stilts. I try to go twice a year. [Laughs] I love diving and it’s a paradise for that. We have fishermen bringing fish right on the dock - it’s spectacular?
What’s one food you don’t like? Zoo food. Alligator, zebra, kangaroo. Any animal in the zoo, I don’t cook.
Is it true you fall asleep with chocolate in your mouth every night? Since I am 4 years old. I brush my teeth first. A piece of Lindt milk chocolate. And I have sweet dreams.
PAGE 17
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Accounting Citation File No. 2011-785/A CITATION SURROGATE'S COURT, ORANGE COUNTY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, By the Grace of God Free and Independent TO: the heirs at law, next of kin and distributees of GUS MICHAELS a/k/a GUS MICHAELIDES a/k/a MICHAEL GUS a/k/a GUS MICHAEL (d/d: 2/12/1987), father of MARY ANN MICHAELS a/k/a MARY A. MICHAELS a/k/a MARY MICHAELS(d/d: 11/24/2009), deceased, if living, and if any of them be dead, to their heirs at law,next of kin, distributees, legatees, executors, administrators, assignees and successors in interest whose names and places of residence are unknown and cannot be ascertained after due diligence A petition having been duly filed by Joel Kleiman, who is domiciled at 255 Main Street, Goshen, New York 10924, United States. YOU ARE HEREBY CITED TO SHOW CAUSE before the Surrogate's Court, Orange County, at 30 Park Place, Goshen, New York, on September 4, 2013, at 1 :30 o'clock in the afternoon of
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that day, why the account of Joel Kleiman, a copy of which has been served herewith, as Administrator of the estate of Mary Ann Michaels a/k/a MaryA. Michaels a/k/a Mary Michaels, should not be judicially settled. Further relief sought (if any): that a Guardian ad Litem be appointed to represent the interest of unknown heirs at law, next of kin and distributees of the decedent's paternal side; and that the balance of the moneys in the estate checking account, after payment of all administration expenses, attorneys fees and disbursements in the amount of $15,147.24 as adjusted upon bringing the account down to date; administrator's commissions in the amount of $5,434.04; and after payment of a contingent claim to Qualamar Corp. d/b/a Sycamore Gardens in the amount of $29,000.00, be paid as follows: one-half of the moneys in the estate checking account to be paid amongst Lydia Theurer; Erika Fischer; Werner Locher; Lore Grimm; Waltraud I'Estrade and Hannelore Clemens and the
remaining one-half of the moneys in the estate checking account to be paid to the New York State Office Of the State Comptroller to be held for any unknown heirs on the decedent's paternal side; and that the Administrator's Bond No. 61279438 be discharged and cancelled. Dated. Attested, and Sealed, JUL 0 8 2013 Hon. Robert A Onofry, Surrogate Chief Clerk-Jeanne M. Smith Robert J. Dickover Dickover, Donnelly, Donovan & Biagi, LLP (845) 294-9447 28 Bruen Place, PO Box 610, Goshen, New York 10924 NOTE: This citation is served upon you as required by law. You are not required to appear. If you fail to appear it will be assumed that you do not object to the relief requested. You have a right to have an attorney appear for you, and you or your attorney may request a copy of the full account from the petitioner or petitioner's attorney.
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Responsibly Green, Elegantly Glenwood
The finest Manhattan rentals in the neighborhood of your choice. Near the Best NYC Schools t Unparalleled Service t Fitness Center t Children’s Playroom & Swimming Pool t 24-Hour Doorman t Magnificent Lobbies t Landscaped Gardens t Exciting City Views t Spacious Layouts t Building-Wide Water Filtration Systems t On-Site Parking Garage UPPER EAST SIDE
1 Bedrooms from $2,895
2 Bedrooms from $5,395
3 Bedrooms from $7,695
MIDTOWN & UPPER WEST SIDE
1 Bedrooms from $3,250
2 Bedrooms 2 Baths from $4,495
Convertible 3 Bedrooms from $5,995
TRIBECA & FINANCIAL DISTRICT
1 Bedrooms from $3,595
2 Bedrooms 2 Bath from $5,795
Convertible 3 Bedrooms from $8,495
GLENWOOD BUILDER OWNER MANAGER
212-535-0500 DOWNTOWN LUXURY LEASING OFFICE 212-430-5900 UPTOWN LUXURY LEASING OFFICE
Open 7 days, 10AM-6PM t NO FEE Free parking while viewing apartments
glenwoodnyc.com PAGE 20
OUR TOWN
Equal Housing Opportunity
www.nypress.com
THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2013