WAG Magazine January 2018

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MAGAZINE

IN NEW YORK STATE 2014, 2015, 2016

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Feet on the ground, eyes on the stars

inspirational star turns

WESTCHESTER & FAIRFIELD LIFE

JANUARY 2018 | WAGMAG.COM

STARGAZING A primer on planetariums

MARIA MITCHELL

Trailblazing astronomer

SERENA & LILY Stellar home designs

‘HEAVENLY BODIES’

The Met’s next blockbuster

DREAMY DESTINATIONS Around the world

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CONTENTS JAN UARY 201 8

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Star qualities

Star-gazing

Commuting with constellations

The divine designer China’s Heavenly Eye

Starry souvenir of himself A star in her own right

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Fashion inspiration from above

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Stars shine at Hudson River Museum Planetarium

Nutmeg State nights

Stellar surroundings

Reading the present

Creating a softer – and better – world Illustrating the beauty in all of us

Covering Dylan

A Western Hemisphere star

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The friendly (private) skies

66

A starry past

76

Luminous blooms

68

COVER STORY

NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

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Around the world with food

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FEATURES H I G H LI G HTS

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WAY Starry nights in an English country home

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WARES Breakfast (and lunch and high tea) at Tiffany’s

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WARES Whose home is it anyway?

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WEAR Where fashion meets NASA

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WHAT’S COLLECTIBLE? Signs of the times

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WANDERS What’s in the stars for travelers

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WANDERS Hyatt Regency Maui: ‘Tour of the Stars’

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WANDERS ‘Come back to Jamaica’

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WONDERFUL DINING Food for the future at Pisticci

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WINE & DINE Why wine glasses matter

106

WEAR ‘More’ than a store

110

WEAR A star encounter

112

WEAR True colors

114

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? A special ‘Bronx Tale’

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WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Natural decadence for the skin

120

WELL Vegetarian stars for 2018

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PET OF THE MONTH A canine gentleman and a scholar

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WHEN & WHERE Upcoming events

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WATCH We’re out and about

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WIT Who do you think has star quality?

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MAGAZINE

IN NEW YORK STATE 2014, 2015, 2016

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Feet on the ground, eyes on the stars

inspirational star turns

WESTCHESTER & FAIRFIELD LIFE

JANUARY 2018 | WAGMAG.COM

STARGAZING A primer on planetariums

MARIA MITCHELL

Trailblazing astronomer

SERENA & LILY Stellar home designs

‘HEAVENLY BODIES’

The Met’s next blockbuster

DREAMY DESTINATIONS Around the world

COVER:

Neil deGrasse Tyson.

See story on page 68.

Photograph © AMNH/R. Mickens.

COVER STORY

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We certainly cover both. But mostly, a WAG is a wit and that’s how we think of ourselves, serving up piquant stories and photos to set your own tongues wagging.

HEADQUARTERS A division of Westfair Communications Inc., 3 Westchester Park Drive, White Plains, NY 10604 Telephone: 914-694-3600 | Facsimile: 914-694-3699 Website: wagmag.com | Email: ggouveia@westfairinc.com All news, comments, opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations in WAG are those of the authors and do not constitute opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations of the publication, its publisher and its editorial staff. No portion of WAG may be reproduced without permission.WAG is distributed at select locations, mailed directly and is available at $24 a year for home or office delivery. To subscribe, call 914-694-3600, ext. 3020. All advertising inquiries should be directed to Anne Jordan at 914694-3600, ext. 3032 or email anne@westfairinc.com. Advertisements are subject to review by the publisher and acceptance for WAG does not constitute an endorsement of the product or service. WAG (Issn: 1931-6364) is published monthly and is owned and published by Westfair Communications Inc. Dee DelBello, CEO, dee@westfairinc.com

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Oops!

One of the women featured in our November WAG Watch article on the New York Medical College Founder’s Dinner was misidentified. She is Pamela Duncan, who appears in photo number 13 on Page 149.

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EDITOR'S LETTER GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

A detail of Bil Donovan’s fashion portrait of me.

See story on Page 54.

here’s something special about the night sky in winter. As the days grow short, the dark stretches out like a vast, inky ocean studded with starlight.

Outside in the bracing cold, we gaze up at those fixed points of light, so far and yet always with us.

The stars have guided us since the dawn of humanity. They guide us still through our nautical and astrological charts. So January seemed like a fitting — no, tantalizingly irresistible — month for our “Star Turns” issue in this our year of Inspirations.

In the days of the studio system, MGM used to boast that it had “more stars than there are in the

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heavens.” So do we, though ours are of the celestial sort admired in planetariums. Ryan considers the Liberty Science Center’s Jennifer Chalsty Planetarium, the largest in the Western Hemisphere, while Laura takes in the popular, up-to-date Hudson River Museum Planetarium in Yonkers and Phil, our Mr. Science, roams over the state of Connecticut for a planetarium roundup. Debbi gazes at the stars from the rooftop of the Hyatt Regency Maui while Audrey weighs in with a report on China’s 500-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope, the largest of its kind. And Mary trains her eye on a sky of a most artistic kind in a story about the ceiling of Grand Central Terminal.

We also visit that sentimental favorite, the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of

Natural History’s Rose Center for Earth and Space, which has come a long way from the days when it served as a backdrop for Woody Allen’s “Manhattan.” And we profile its passionate director, cover guy Neil deGrasse Tyson, who’s become a crossover star with his provocative pronouncements that locate the pop culture in astronomy.

He’s one of many stars in various fields profiled here, from trailblazing 19th-century astronomer Maria Mitchell (Phil again); to Joan Osborne, coming to Tarrytown Music Hall (Gregg); to Chazz Palminteri, back in his beloved Bronx to announce a new venture with Steiner Sports (Danielle); to floral designer KC Creations, chocolate and tarot reader Raven and fashion illustrator Bil Donovan, who made a recent event at The Westchester magical.

But what makes someone a star? Brains and talent, of course. Charisma, too. But stars have a steadfastness that is also important “You often hear people say, ‘You’re my North Star. You’re my guiding light,’” Marc Taylor of the Hudson River Museum Planetarium tells Laura. It’s a metaphor I also refer to in my opening essay on star qualities — a moment of pure synchronicity, but it’s not the only one.

Our sub-theme on the Carribbean finds Jeremy making an impassioned plea for people to support the region’s islands in the wake of various hurricanes while Barbara visits one of its most enchanting spots, Jamaica, and Jena profiles a private plane company, Magellan Jets, that often flies to the area.

We’d like to say we planned the Caribbean subtheme, but it was pure serendipity. Or was it?

In such moments, we are reminded that we remain on course, following our star.

Georgette Gouveia is the author of the new “The Penalty for Holding” (Less Than Three Press and “Water Music” (Greenleaf Book Group). They’re part of her series of novels, “The Games Men Play,” also the name of the sports/ culture blog she writes at thegamesmenplay. com. Readers may find her novel “Seamless Sky” and weekly installments of her “Daimon: A Novel of Alexander the Great” on wattpad.com.

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STAR QUALITIES

BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

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THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF PRINCE HARRY’S ENGAGEMENT TO AMERICAN ACTRESS MEGHAN MARKLE BROUGHT THE EXPECTED “DELIGHTED” AND “THRILLED” FROM THE BRITISH ROYAL FAMILY WITH THE DUCHESS OF CORNWALL — WIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES, HARRY’S FATHER — PARTICULARLY GRACIOUS. “AMERICA’S LOSS IS OUR GAIN,” SHE SAID. “SHE’S A STAR.”

Prince Harry and his intended, Meghan Markle.

Courtesy Getty Images.

But what did Her Grace mean by that? Surely, Markle has been a star on TV, playing the ambitious legal eagle Rachel Zane on USA Network’s “Suits.” But we’re just as sure that the duchess was expressing something beyond that, something that may ultimately transcend words and analysis.

What does it mean to be a star in a family or a profession? Is it all about “the old razzle dazzle,” as sharpie lawyer Billy Flynn sings in “Chicago”?

Or is there something more substantive going on?

Here the actual stars offer an instructive metaphor. Just as they illuminate the night sky, people with star quality radiate — energy, warmth, charm, liveliness, inspiring leadership — what is generally thought of as charisma (from the Greek meaning “gift of grace.”) They walk into a room and the planets spin in a different direction, as Brad Pitt once said of “Interview With the Vampire” co-star Tom Cruise. It’s no surprise, then, that the fledgling motion picture industry began promoting their players as “stars” in the early 20th century, once they recognized the public’s insatiable appetite for the people behind the characters onscreen. There’s that wonderful moment in “Sunset Boulevard” — Billy Wilder’s brilliantly corrosive 1950 take on stardom — when former silent screen siren Norma Desmond (real-life silent screen siren Gloria Swanson) lashes out, “Have they forgotten what a star looks like? I’ll show them. I’ll be up there again, so help me,” her fine features and passion flooded with light from a projection booth as if she were a Byzantine icon. That’s star power, baby.

Because actual stars appear as fixed points of light, they’re also used to guide us as we chart our courses around the globe and map our destinies.

“I fell in love with Meghan so incredibly quickly,” Prince Harry said of his intended in the engagement interview with the BBC. “It was a confirmation to me that all the stars were aligned.”

But stars also align others. How often have you heard people say of someone they love that he or she is their North Star, their guiding light? Indeed,

Shakespeare cast love itself, in Sonnet 116, as “an ever-fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken. It is the star to every wand'ring bark, whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.”

Star quality, however, also has its price, for its very facets — radiance, guidance — rely on a remove.

“She shone for me like the Evening Star,” Winston Churchill once observed of his mother, the former Jennie Jerome of Brooklyn. “I loved her dearly — but at a distance.”

Perhaps it was just as well. Our closest star is the sun. And we all know what happened to Icarus when he flew too close to it. He singed his wings, crashing into the sea and drowning.

No, best sometimes to observe star quality from a just-right earthly distance, as it has a shelf life and shadow side. There are “dark stars” that give off little light and are visible only when they eclipse others and “shooting stars,” meteors that burn up when they enter the earth’s atmosphere — as anyone who has seen any of the three versions of “A Star Is Born” can attest. (Our favorite is the 1954 one with Judy Garland and James Mason, and dig that moment when Garland cuts loose with a jazz combo on “The Man That Got Away,” one of the finest five minutes in cinema history.

I FELL IN LOVE WITH MEGHAN SO INCREDIBLY QUICKLY,” PRINCE HARRY SAID OF HIS INTENDED IN THE ENGAGEMENT INTERVIEW WITH THE BBC. “IT WAS A CONFIRMATION TO ME THAT ALL THE STARS WERE ALIGNED. — Prince Harry

But so powerful is this love story of stars at crossed trajectories that it’s been made into a 2018 film with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper.)

How many times have we seen people blaze across the scene — with every possible grace and gift — only to burn out? How many dark stars command attention by eclipsing those around them? It’s interesting that The New York Times recently headlined the sexual harassment fall of Matt Lauer, Bill O’Reilly and Charlie Rose as “The Failure of the Network News Star System.” Indeed.

Not easy, then, to be a star — or in the presence of one. Harry Chapin captured this in his haunting ballad, “Shooting Star,” about an incandescent but unstable creative artist and the woman who steadies him: Oh, he was the sun burning bright and brittle and She was the moon shining back his light a little He was a shooting star She was softer and more slowly He could not make things possible But, she could make them holy…

Star quality needs that counterbalance to keep everything in its proper orbit.

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STAR-GAZING

BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

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The Frederick Phineas & Sandra Priest Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. All images © AMNH.

Alcatel-Lucent’s Bell Labs in New Jersey is home to the Horn Antenna, the radio telescope whose discovery of the cosmic microwave background some 50 years ago offered direct evidence of the universe’s hot, dense origin.

WE TWIST AND TURN, SOARING THROUGH PASTEL-COLORED STARBURSTS, THE UNIVERSE’S FIREWORKS. NO, IT’S NOT A SCENE FROM “STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI” BUT OUR EXPERIENCE OF “DARK UNIVERSE,” THE SPACE SHOW AT THE HAYDEN PLANETARIUM. Housed atop the 2,000-ton Hayden Sphere, the planetarium’s Star Theater seems like a spacecraft floating through the heavens. The Hayden Sphere sits like a supermoon in a glass box that is the American Museum of Natural History’s Frederick Phineas & Sandra Priest Rose Center for Earth and Space, named for the late Westchester-based philanthropists.

Opened in 2000, the lucent, seven-story building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side includes the Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth, the Dorothy and

Lewis B. Cullman Hall of the Universe, the Heilbrunn Cosmic Pathway and the Department of Astrophysics. But it is to the planetarium and its “Dark Universe” that we are drawn. Narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson, the Frederick P. Rose director of the planetarium (see cover story), the film explores the intricate relationship of time and space — perhaps physics’ central theme — as it plumbs the history of the universe, which stretches back 13.8 billion years. Then it was merely a searing, dense mass — hotter than our sun — that exploded in what

is known as the Big Bang. How do we know this?

Partly because the universe keeps expanding — a phenomenon that was discovered at California’s Mount Wilson Observatory in 1923 when astronomer Edwin Hubble used the Hooker Telescope to spy a particularly luminous star (called a Cepheid variable) in the constellation Andromeda and calculate its distance from Earth. Once he realized it was 2 million light-years away — or more than 20 times the diameter of our Milky Way galaxy — he knew that the universe was bigger than the Milky Way. Bigger and expanding at increasing speeds, thanks to a mysterious phenomenon called dark energy, working on normal matter (the stuff we’re made of) and dark matter — tendrils of material that emit and absorb no light but have a gravitational relationship with normal matter — kind of like negative space in art, which can’t be seen but nonetheless gives shape to a work.

By now, it’s not merely the Star Theater that seems to be spinning but our head as we realize how way over it we are, a humbling experience.

But the amateur historian in us is also intrigued by another phenomenon — that space holds the key not only to our future but to our past. Because light travels at a speed of 186,000 miles per hour but the stars are so distant, we see them not as they are but as they were — much as if we send a letter to a friend in America while on a European tour. By the time he reads about our adventures in France, we’ve already moved on to Italy.

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In 1995, NASA’s spacecraft Galileo sent a probe hurtling into Jupiter’s atmosphere.

Its experiments there confirmed the Big Bang theory of the universe’s origin.

We’re still mulling the philosophical and psychological implications of this as we make our way to a four-minute short on the Big Bang, narrated by actor Liam Neeson, in its eponymous theater. Exiting, we stroll down the Cosmic Pathway, observing how every few inches represent another momentous date in universal history and how our own appearance on this globe is but a speck of time.

Thoroughly overawed, we return to some of the interactive displays on the planets and the stars that we mulled when we first entered the center.

We pause before a discussion of New Horizons’ 2015 mission to former planet Pluto, out there by its heart-shaped lonesome. Pluto is described as “icy.”

(Well, you would be, too, if you were demoted from planetary status.)

An area on stars charts their evolution from birth to death. Red giants are stars on the way out.

Near their description you can place your feet in a footprint scale that determines your weight on a red giant — a popular feature, along with scales measuring your weight on other celestial spheres, a throwback to the original planetarium (1935-1997).

On the red giant star, we weigh only 45 pounds.

Woo-hoo. Carvel ice cream sundaes all around.

For more visit amnh.org.

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The signature celestial ceiling has been a part of Grand Central Terminal since its 1913 opening. All photographs courtesy Grand Central Terminal.

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The zodiac-themed painting filling the Grand Central Terminal ceiling was designed in consultation with a Columbia University professor of astronomy.

FOR MORE THAN A CENTURY, GENERATIONS OF COMMUTERS — AND COUNTLESS VISITORS — HAVE BEEN PASSING UNDER GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL’S MAJESTIC CELESTIAL CEILING. Ever since the transportation hub opened amid grand fanfare on Feb. 2, 1913, the sprawling painting has been inspiring more than just awe.

The cover of the holiday edition of Connections, “the magazine devoted to all things Grand Central,” for example, featured the ceiling’s imagery gracing a seasonal sky.

In 2013, when the National Historic Landmark officially marked its centennial, jewelry company Erwin Pearl famously interpreted elements of the ceiling in its bracelets, pendants and earrings, which are still sold today.

Also timed to commemorate its first hundred years, a companion book, “Grand Central Terminal: 100 Years of a New York Landmark” by the New York Transit Museum and Anthony W. Robins was published by Stewart, Tabori & Chang. The keepsake volume — which has been a part of WAG’s library ever since we covered the centennial for our March 2013 issue —offers a trip through the terminal’s storied history, filled with historic images of its iconic elements, including the Paul-César Helleu celestial ceiling on the Main Concourse.

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Commuters often rush through Grand Central Terminal, failing to appreciate the surrounding beauty and history.

Its grandeur is captured in a quote in The New York Times on Jan. 29, 1913, as featured in the book: “‘Fortunately there are no seats in the concourse,’ remarked one of the railway officials on the inspection tour, ‘or I would fear that some passengers might miss their trains while contemplating this starry picture.’”

The massive painting, an arching design featuring the zodiac, originally included some 60 electric bulbs to add twinkle to the project designed in consultation with a Columbia University professor of astronomy. Despite its pedigree, it’s noted as well for its “backward” orientation and as it’s considered a work of decoration has never been corrected.

Nevertheless, it remains, as it has for more than a century, a beacon to travelers, today watching over those below with energy-efficient LEDs, part of the terminal’s green initiatives.

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Looking for more of the inside scoop, WAG turned to an expert, with Aaron Donovan, the deputy communications director of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, taking the time to answer our questions about the beloved Grand Central Terminal feature: Do today’s visitors/commuters stop, do you think, and try to admire its beauty?

“Of course, New York City is known for its busy commuters and ‘hustle and bustle’ mindset, which Grand Central embraces. Each day sees swarms of people running to catch trains or families and commuters zigzagging across the Main Concourse. However, the ceiling tends to be a great distraction that does captivate a good majority of the crowds — not just tourists, but commuters who have a moment to kill before rushing off to the office or those waiting to meet someone by the clock. There is something about the ceil-

ing’s grandeur, the way it envelops the space, that gives Grand Central its unique beauty and adds a welcome calming effect to an otherwise bustling environment.”

Are there any special requirements for its upkeep — such as retouching, cleaning etc. — and if so, how/when are they completed?

“Over time, as with anything, dirt and grime can become an issue. When Grand Central was threatened to be demolished in the 1970s, there was a call for a restoration initiative that would save the landmark from destruction, so the terminal could hold on to its architectural grandeur. As part of an effort to raise funds for the restoration master plan in the 1990s, (the architectural firm) Beyer Blinder Belle cleaned a patch of the sky mural to reveal how beautiful the ceiling once was and could be again. Clearly, the ceiling had enough of an impact on the space that it was restored to its original glory with some simple cleaning procedures.”

Is the ceiling and its zodiac-themed work considered a gem of GCT? “Absolutely. Grand Central is so much more than just a terminal. It is a destination for all walks of life to enjoy and the ceiling really emphasizes that quality. Part of what makes Grand Central such an iconic landmark is its unique and beautiful architecture that has never been redesigned or destroyed, only restored to keep its originality and character. The ceiling is relevant in many ways, such as the GE women in STEM campaign earlier in September that featured groundbreaking female scientists in an installation titled ‘Unseen Stars,’ and is a definitive aspect of what makes Grand Central a place of exploration and awe. Its intricate zodiac-themed work still amazes crowds to this day and has been one of the many characteristics of Grand Central that establishes it as a place of culture, history, art and more for all to experience.”

Any “secrets” or behind-the-scenes tidbits you’d care to share about it?

“The starry ceiling was not originally in the plans for Grand Central, which called for a skylight. With time and money running out, architect Whitney Warren turned to a friend to create an affordable alternative. Hence, the zodiac-themed ceiling came to be.”

For more, visit grandcentralterminal.com or gcthistory.com.

THE DIVINE DESIGNER

BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

Michelangelo Buonarroti’s “Il Sogno (The Dream)” (1530s), red chalk drawing. Courtauld Gallery, London.

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THIS HAS BEEN A GREAT SEASON FOR THE RENAISSANCE MASTERS. IN NOVEMBER, LEONARDO’S “SALVATOR MUNDI” SOLD FOR A RECORD $450 MILLION AT CHRISTIE’S IN MANHATTAN AND THAT SAME MONTH UPTOWN, THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART OPENED ITS BLOCKBUSTER MICHELANGELO SHOW OF MORE THAN 200 WORKS (THROUGH FEB. 12).

It’s a tour de force and not just because the exhibit recreates the Sistine Chapel ceiling — a showstopper in any event. But what really makes it sing is its brilliant exploration of the artist as both creator and craftsman. Indeed, the accompanying text tells us that in 1568, biographer Giorgio Vasari hailed Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) — whose roots lay in the artistic mecca of Florence — for his command of disegno, which encompasses design as both drawing and concept.

The physical component of Michelangelo’s genius is everywhere in the show, mostly in rarefied, ravishing, rapturous drawings, many in the challenging medium of red chalk. There Michelangelo’s acute attention to anatomy is evident in every molded muscle. Though he succeeded as an architect (the dome of the Papal Basilica of St. Peter), a sculptor (“David,” the “Pietà,” “Risen Christ”) and a painter (the aforementioned Sistine ceiling), he saw himself as a sculptor and there is a sculptural quality to his works in other media, particularly the drawings.

As the subtitle of the show, “Divine Draftsman and Designer,” indicates, there is not merely a heavenly hand at work in these but a matchless mind and heart. One of the most haunting works comes fairly early. It’s Michelangelo’s “Study of Adam and Eve” after Masaccio’s “Expulsion From Paradise” fresco. Michelangelo captures the shame and despair of Masaccio’s first couple, all right, but something more. Unlike Masaccio’s Adam, who appears to be wiping his eyes, Michelangelo’s Adam really buries his face in his hands. It’s the gesture of one who understands finally that he has lost something precious in this world — perhaps the most precious thing — and will never get it back.

It’s no secret that men were Michelangelo’s forté; women, not so much. Oh yes, there is the sensual drawing of “Cleopatra in Bust Length," the fatal snake a sinuous, sensuous continuation of her textured tresses, coiling about one fine, high exposed breast. But most of Michelangelo’s women look like men with breasts superimposed. Consider his drawing of “Leda and the Swan” or the female figure on the left of his Tomb of Giuliano de’ Medici in Florence’s Basilica of San Lorenzo — both with a musculature that would defy a female Olympic athlete and breasts that appear to be stuck on or headed in opposite directions. Talk about a bad boob job.

This is partly because males, rather than females, served as artists’ models in those days. But it’s also about Michelangelo’s sexuality. The show plays straight with his gayness, noting his love for a succession of beautiful young men to whom he wrote passionate poems, some of which are included. (The artist, Vasari wrote, “abhorred making a resemblance true to life, unless the subject was of extraordinary beauty.”)

Among Michelangelo’s most exquisite men is the so-called “Persian Boy,” a red chalk drawing of a “Young Man in Bust Length in Exotic Costume,” seen from the back, his head turned and tilted down to reveal his stunning face in three quarters, crowned by a diadem-like headdress, a dangling earring accentuating the cut of his jaw.

There is something about the long lashes shading a pensive, almost sorrowful gaze; the straight slope of the nose, the full, curving mouth resting on the deep cleft of the chin. You can almost imagine Alexander kissing that mouth on a terrace in Babylon’s fabled gardens some half a million midnights ago. (And indeed, the drawing graced the first U.S. edition of the second novel in Mary Renault’s Alexander the Great series, “The Persian Boy.”) The male nude plays a prominent role in one of Michelangelo’s greatest achievements, the Sistine Chapel ceiling, which he created for Pope Julius II from 1508 to 1512 — a feat recounted in Irving Stone’s novel “The Agony and the Ecstasy” and the subsequent movie starring Charlton Heston as Michelangelo and Rex Harrison as Pope Julius. Contrary to the film’s portrayal, Michelangelo stood on scaffolds for much of the painting rather than lying down. You can imagine the arduousness of the work, neck craning, muscles straining upward as paint dripped down on you. Here prophets, sibyls and ignudi (athletic male nudes) punctuate scenes from the Book of Genesis, with the ignudi among the most arresting figures.

The inclusion of nudity in a religious work — the sublime marriage of the sacred and the profane, as

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it were — was controversial in Michelangelo’s day, as it has been in our own. When the ceiling frescoes were restored between 1980 and ’99, some cardinals suggested to Pope John Paul II that it was a good time to add a few judicious fig leafs. Fortunately, the pope’s artistic sensibility prevailed.

The Met has reproduced the ceiling in a onefourth scale model. In the same gallery, viewers will find drawings and color reproductions of the figures that they can then locate on the ceiling — piecing together not only a masterwork but Michelangelo’s creative process. The room is nothing short of a triumph.

But then, so is the whole show. Kudos to organizer and catalog author Carmen C. Bambach, the longtime curator in the Department of Drawings and Prints at The Met, who with her team spent eight years on the show.

It arrives at the right moment. These have not been the best of times for The Met. With the recent departure of director Thomas Campbell, the museum has undergone a painful, much-publicized financial transition. (It’s now on its way to financial solvency and finding a new director, who will report to President and CEO Daniel H. Weiss.)

With a divine salute to the divine Michelangelo, The Met reaffirms its inherent greatness.

For more, visit metmuseum.org.

Michelangelo Buonarroti’s “Archers Shooting at a Herm” (1530-33), red chalk drawing.

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CHINA’S HEAVENLY EYE

BY AUDREY RONNING TOPPING

i

In the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) in the universe. China has developed Earth’s biggest 500-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) – sometimes called Tianyan, or the Heavenly Eye – that may well empower China to become the first to experience a “close encounter” with aliens, if there are any out there.

The National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) has built the world’s most sensitive radio telescope with the largest reflector for collecting signals from space. FAST is almost twice the size and 2.25 times as sensitive as America’s 350-meter Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico. China’s FAST installation, with its ability to pick up the faintest signals from distant galaxies, is however, hardly China’s first encounter with the heavens.

For more than 2,100 years (221 B.C .to 1911), China was governed by emperors who believed in The Mandate of Heaven, or Tian Ming, a political and spiritual doctrine inspired by the stars to validate the imperial dynastic system in the “Middle Celestial Kingdom.” Tian Ming is no longer acknowledged as a galactic power conveying political strategies, though it would seem that President Xi Jinping would have such a mandate after consolidating power at home and looking to it abroad. Still, the supernatural mandate has been supplanted by science.

The NAOC observatory resembles a flying saucer with a diameter of approximately 30 football fields. It took five years to construct deep in the remote Dawadong depression in Guizhou Province, which was chosen because it is enclosed by the limestone Karst Mountains. These “Jade Hairpins” form a natural screen to help protect the telescope from extreme weather and radio signals generated here on Earth. So this scientific “eye,” probing dark matter and searching the cosmos for the origins of the universe, could also be termed a “Heavenly Ear” because it could just as easily pick up messages from alien civilizations as it can pick up signals from stars.

The Heavenly Eye, custom built for $180 million, uses a parabolic-like reflector composed of 4,450 metal triangular panels. They can be moved by electric motors and cables to focus on different parts of the universe, concentrate the radio waves reach-

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Tianyan, or The Heavenly Eye, China’s 500-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope, under construction in Guizhou Province in 2015.

ing the Earth and reflect those signals on receiving equipment suspended above. From there, the signals are channeled to other equipment that allows scientists to make sense of what’s being picked up.

Stargazing has intrigued mankind since the beginning of time but the philosophers and legislators of ancient China have perpetuated the longest continuous tradition of astronomy. About 3,500 years ago, the court astronomers carved pictograms of cosmic events onto tortoise shells and ox bones. One shell recorded a solar eclipse around 250 B.C. From these “oracle bones,” Chinese scholars invoked the enigmatic power of the cosmos to formulate “The Mandate of Heaven,” not only bestowing divinity on the emperors but equally defending revolution as the way to change dynasties if the “Heavenly Son” proved to be an unjust emperor. In the past 2,200 years, this mystic power of the omniscient stars rationalized the revolutions that toppled 11 major dynasties and numerous Periods of Disunity.

Today, China is experiencing a period of political and financial unity, and astronomy is just one of its signs. In August, The Heavenly Eye telescope, which was put into service in September 2016, detected two new pulsars – one that is 4,100 light-years from Earth and the other 16,000 light-years away. On Oct. 10, to the amazement of world astronomers, The

STARGAZING HAS INTRIGUED MANKIND SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME BUT THE PHILOSOPHERS AND LEGISLATORS OF ANCIENT CHINA HAVE PERPETUATED THE LONGEST CONTINUOUS TRADITION OF ASTRONOMY.

Eye detected several dozen more pulsars, which resemble twinkling stars. On Oct.16, it detected gravitational waves, which, according to scientists, were produced by the collision of two rapidly spinning neutron stars.

Remarkably, the discovery of gravitational waves produced by pulsars gave Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, developed a century ago, a spectacular endorsement. Astronomers claim the amazing atmospheric undulations generated by pulsars, the cosmic equivalent of ripples produced by tossing a pebble into a pond, stretch the fabric of space-time itself.

Astronomers also predict researchers on extraterrestrial life will be the philosophers of the future.

The search for intelligence life in the universe was often scoffed at as a kind of religious mysticism or science fiction. A quarter-century ago, Sen. Richard Bryan of Nevada advocated the defunding of America’s Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) program, saying he hoped it would “be the end of Martian hunting season at the taxpayer’s expense.”

This is probably one reason why China, not the United States, was the first to build the largest filled-aperture telescope on Earth, with SETI as a core scientific goal, bringing earthlings a clearer understanding of the infinite realm of the stars in the universe.

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STARRY SOUVENIR OF HIMSELF

BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

“I’VE WALKED THIS EARTH FOR 30 YEARS AND, OUT OF GRATITUDE, WANT TO LEAVE SOME SOUVENIR.” — VINCENT VAN GOGH, AUGUST, 1883

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Vincent van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” (1889), oil on canvas. The Museum of Modern Art.

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It’s a ritual as regular as the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. A group of admirers gathers before a painting that is the sole occupant of a partition on the fifth floor of The Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan. They stand in a makeshift semicircle a few feet away, under the watchful eye of a museum guard to their left, raise their cell phones and start recording a virtual experience. The guard looks at us, observing nearby, and rolls his eyes as if to say, “They could be looking at the painting instead.”

After a while, these fans drift away and a new group forms to take their place. Some turn around to try to take selfies with the picture, difficult given the throng. Occasionally, however, one breaks free from the pack to step back and merely stand still and silent, communing with the painting itself.

“It has a lot of flow to it,” Rebecca Chapin, a programmer from Washington, D.C., says, a “a kind of serenity. But then, I’ve always been someone who loved the night.”

Vincent van Gogh (1853-90) was also “in love with night,” as Shakespeare might’ve put it, but also with any time of day that cast a trajectory of shifting light across the landscape of his beloved nature. After the pre-Christmas breakdown that spurred the infamous self-mutilation of his left ear, the artist committed himself in the spring of 1889 to the asylum of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. It was there — where he would create some of his greatest works — that he captured a view of the village just before sunrise that he deemed a failure but that Chapin and its many other admirers worldwide know as “The Starry Night.”

The work is an idealized view from that room.

For one thing, Van Gogh wasn’t allowed to paint in his second-floor cell — only sketch in charcoal and ink. Asylum officials gave him another room on the ground floor that served as his studio. For another, artists are always conflating experiences to conform to their imaginations, so while the “Morning Star” (Venus), which appears to the right of the cypresses on the canvas, would indeed have been present in the Provençal sky at that time, the moon, on the far right, was actually a waning gibbous and not the waning crescent Van Gogh depicted. Nor could he see from his room the sleepy village he created of ultramarine and cobalt blue oils, dwarfed by those weirdly radiating stars of zinc and Indian yellow.

What to make of those orbs — shimmering in the mistral and changing light — that leave us starstruck? At the time, Van Gogh was torn between painting from nature, as he always did, and painting more from imagination as advocated by friends and colleagues Paul Gauguin and Émile Bernard.

The son of a minister and himself a failed minister who became disillusioned by organized religion, Van Gogh nonetheless saw something mystical in

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Vincent van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” has pride of place in a fifth floor gallery of The Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan. Says one museum guard of the painting: “It’s the crème de la crème.” Photograph by Martin Seck.

the stars, which for him carried a sense of hope and the promise of an afterlife.

Nevertheless, with “The Starry Night,” he felt he had overreached, as he wrote in one of his many impassioned letters to his brother Theo, an art dealer in Paris who served as his patron, soul mate and lifeline: “…once again I allowed myself to be led astray into reaching for stars that are too big — another failure — and I have had my fill of that.”

When it came time to send Theo a batch of new paintings, “The Starry Night” was not among them — at first. But in the fall of 1889, Van Gogh sent the painting to his brother. Within two years, they would both be dead and it passed — as did so many of the works and the letters — to Theo’s widow, Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, the mostly unsung heroine of the Van Gogh story. If her husband had, in a sense, made Van Gogh the artist possible, she would make Van Gogh a legend.

“The Starry Night” would pass back and forth from her to a number of acquaintances and the Oldenzeel Gallery in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, where it wound up in the 30-year stewardship of one of the city’s most prominent residents, Georgette Petronelle van Stolk. She sold it to Paul Rosenberg and through him it came in 1941 to MoMA, where it has been ever since — helping to illumine a city that is itself in thrall to the night.

And firing the imaginations of others. “The Starry Night” has figured in everything from “Doctor Who” to “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” “The Simpsons,” Akira Kurosawa’s “Dreams” and “The Great Debate: The Storytelling of Science,” in which astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson plumbs the

painting as a narrative of the night sky.

But two works inspired by “The Starry Night” have a strong connection to WAG Country. One is by Neil Waldman, the painter and illustrator who teaches watercolors at Westchester Community College’s Center for the Arts. His children’s book “The Starry Night” (Boyds Mills Press, 1999), based on a fantasy from his own Bronx childhood, tells the story of a little boy who meets Van Gogh painting in Central Park and then accompanies him around Manhattan, which he begins to see through the artist’s Impressionistic eyes. They wind up in front of “The Starry Night” at MoMA, where Van Gogh vanishes but not before inspiring the boy to paint. (The book’s final page and endpapers feature drawings of “The Starry Night” by children in the art class Waldman taught for the Southern Westchester Board of Cooperative Educational Services.)

The other work is the song “Vincent” by New Rochelle native Don McLean, each stanza of which begins with the words “Starry, starry night” and which uses the swirling textures of the artist’s canvases and the sadness of his brief life as poignant, poetic metaphors for the gulf between artist and audience and the ultimate inscrutability of art.

Back at the museum, the guard warns an admirer against getting too close to “The Starry Night.”

An alarm will sound. And perhaps that, too, is a metaphor. Stand back too far, clicking away, and you risk disconnecting from the actual moment.

But stand too close and you risk missing the big picture — the starry souvenir of the artist’s self.

For more, visit moma.org.

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A STAR IN HER OWN RIGHT

BY PHIL HALL

ver the past few years, a great deal of discussion has been focused on encouraging more young women to pursue careers in the STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Back in Maria Mitchell’s day, that was not an issue, if only because young women were not expected to pursue careers, let alone receive a higher education.

But throughout her life, Maria did not fall victim to the limits that society placed on women. She created opportunities where none previously existed and forcefully laid the groundwork for social, intellectual and economic equality. While her name is not widely known today, she was in her prime one of America’s most prominent astronomers and women’s rights advocates.

Maria was born on Nantucket on Aug. 1, 1818, one of William and Lydia Mitchell’s 10 children.

The Mitchells were Quakers who believed that boys and girls were deserving of the same quality of education. As a result, Maria attended local schools and received her father’s devoted attention when it came to scientific and mathematical tutoring.

William Mitchell was a bank cashier, but he was also an amateur astronomer and a colleague of William Cranch Bond, the first director of the Harvard College Observatory. Using her father’s 2-inch reflecting telescope, Maria focused on astronomical studies and gained a profound degree of expertise on the subject. But as there were no jobs for women in astronomy during her youth, she sought her own financial independence by working as a schoolteacher and then as a librarian at the Nantucket Atheneum. At night, when the weather permitted, Maria would take to the roof of her family’s house and scan the heavens through her father’s telescope.

On the evening of Oct. 1, 1847, Maria excused her-

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Maria Mitchell.

Photograph courtesy biography.com.

self from a party being held at her family’s home fessor of astronomy, the first American woman and took to the roof to continue her observations. to hold that title. True to her nature, Maria did Peering into the telescope, she spotted something not take her academic duties lightly. Using a 12out of the ordinary — a blurry streak that was not inch telescope (the diameter of its main optical visible to the naked eye but could be clearly viewed element), the second largest in the country (only through the telescopic lens. Believing that she came Harvard had a larger instrument), she encouraged upon a hitherto unknown comet, she informed her her female students to look beyond mere obserfather of her observation. The following night, she vations of the celestial wonders. She also started located the object again and recorded its position a trend in astronomy studies by actively encourin the sky. On Oct. 3, Maria’s father sent a letter to aging field studies. She traveled with seven of her the Harvard College Observatory informing them students to Burlington, Iowa, in 1869, to view a that his daughter identified a comet that was new total eclipse of the sun, and took five students to to science. the Indian territory near During this period, the Denver in 1878 to view anastronomy-loving King other eclipse. The students’ Frederick VI of Denmark findings were published had offered prizes for the in prestigious scientific discovery of new comets. journals and helped to exUNTIL WOMEN THROW OFF The comet that Maria locatpand academic knowledge REVERENCE FOR AUTHORITY ed had also been seen by of space. several European astrono- THEY WILL NOT DEVELOP. WHEN Throughout her teachmers, but the confirmation THEY DO THIS, WHEN THEY COME ing, Maria stressed that her of the sighting by Maria was TO TRUTH THROUGH THEIR OWN students should absorb the the first to be recorded. As a proverbial bigger picture. result, the king awarded a INVESTIGATIONS, WHEN DOUBTS “We especially need imagLEAD THEM TO DISCOVERY, THE ination in science,” she gold medal to Maria, which immediately elevated her TRUTH THEY GET WILL BE THEIRS stated. “It is not all matheto global celebrity as the matics, nor all logic, but it AND THEIR MINDS WILL GO ON is somewhat beauty and first American woman astronomer. The comet, while poetry.”

UNFETTERED. formally named C/1847 T1, While she worked to — Maria Mitchell became better known as achieve equality in the “Miss Mitchell’s Comet.” educational standards Maria’s prominence between men’s and womopened doors that were en’s colleges, she also exlong closed to women. In pected equal pay for male 1848, she became the first and female professors. She woman to be named to the American Academy of waged a multiyear struggle with the Vassar hierArts and Sciences. One year later, she was invited to archy to close the wage gap that separated promake computations for the American Ephemeris fessors by gender, even threatening to quit if the and Nautical Almanac. In 1850, she was elected to matter was not resolved amicably. (It was, in her the American Association for the Advancement of favor.) Believing in a wider view of social equality, Science. During this time, she kept her librarian job she was a founding member of the American Asat the Nantucket Atheneum, not leaving until 1856 sociation for the Advancement of Women in 1872 in order to embark on domestic and foreign travels and later served as the group’s president. to meet with other scientists. While in Rome, she “Until women throw off reverence for authority lobbied forcefully and successfully to break the they will not develop,” she exclaimed. “When they gender barrier that prevented women from enterdo this, when they come to truth through their ing the Vatican Observatory. own investigations, when doubts lead them to disDespite her pioneering achievements, Maria covery, the truth they get will be theirs and their never let fame corrupt her sensibilities. “It is really minds will go on unfettered.” amusing to find one's self lionized in a city where Maria Mitchell died in 1889 and was buried one has visited quietly for years; to see the doors next to her parents in Nantucket’s Prospect of fashionable mansions open wide to receive you, Hill Cemetery. Matthew Vassar, the founder of which never opened before,” she wrote in her diathe eponymous college, gave the finest tribute ry. “One does enjoy acting the part of greatness for to this amazing force of energy: “Let the forea while! I was tired after three days of it and glad to most woman of our land be among the most take the cars and run away.” advanced and honored pilots and guardians of In 1865, she was hired by Vassar College as procoming woman.”

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FASHION INSPIRATION FROM ABOVE

BY MARY SHUSTACK

Near left, Evening Dress, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli for Valentino, spring/summer 2014 haute couture; Courtesy of Valentino S.p.A. Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Digital Composite Scan by Katerina Jebb; near right, Ensemble, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana for Dolce & Gabbana, autumn/winter 2013–14; Courtesy of Dolce & Gabbana. Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Digital Composite Scan by Katerina Jebb. Inset, top, Detail of Bible and Book of Common Prayer, British, ca.

1607, silk and metal; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Irwin Untemeyer, 1964 (64.101.1291). Image © Metropolitan Museum of Art; and below, Fragment of a Floor Mosaic with a Personification of Ktisis, Byzantine, 500-550, with modern restoration, marble and glass; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund and Fletcher Fund, 1998; Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, Dodge Fund, and Rogers Fund, 1999 (1998.69; 1999.99) Image © Metropolitan Museum of Art. 38

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THERE WAS MORE THAN A HINT AS TO THE RECEPTION THE NEXT EXHIBITION AT THE COSTUME INSTITUTE AT THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART MIGHT RECEIVE WHEN ITS TOPIC – “HEAVENLY BODIES: FASHION AND THE CATHOLIC IMAGINATION” – WAS ANNOUNCED IN EARLY NOVEMBER. Vanessa Friedman’s in-depth piece in The New York Times carried the Nov. 8 online headline, “The Costume Institute Takes on Catholicism.”

The following day, Artnet News proclaimed that, “The Vatican and Rihanna Will Collide at the Metropolitan Museum’s Next Costume Institute Extravaganza.”

And the Nov. 13-26 edition of New York magazine placed the theme in the “Brilliant Lowbrow” section of “The Approval Matrix,” quipping, “That’ll be ten Hail Marys for that dress.”

Clearly, the worlds of fashion, art and pop culture are already taking note of the show that will open to the public May 10, a sweeping exhibition to be presented in the medieval galleries and the Anna Wintour Costume Center at The Met Fifth Avenue and continue in The Met Cloisters, both in Manhattan.

While the reactions to this high-profile show itself remain to be seen, eyes will train on The Met starting May 7. That’s the date of The Costume Institute Benefit, better known as The Met Gala. This year’s edition of the annual star-studded event – where fashions traditionally reflect the exhibition theme – will be co-chaired by Amal Clooney, Rihanna, Donatella Versace and Anna Wintour, with Christine and Stephen A. Schwarzman serving as honorary chairs.

Advance materials shy away from the provocative, instead depicting the exhibition’s scope as a thoughtful exploration.

“The thematic exhibition will feature a dialogue between fashion and masterworks of religious art in The Met collection to examine fashion’s ongoing engagement with the devotional practices and traditions of Catholicism,” the initial announcement detailed.

Daniel H. Weiss, president and CEO of The Met, added at the time, “The Catholic imagination is rooted in and sustained by artistic practice, and fashion’s embrace of sacred images, objects, and customs continues the ever-evolving relationship between art and religion. The Museum’s collection of religious art, in combination with the architecture of the medieval galleries and The Cloisters, provides the perfect context for these remarkable fashions.”

Added Andrew Bolton, curator in charge of The Costume Institute, “Fashion and religion have long been intertwined, mutually inspiring and informing one another. Although this relationship

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has been complex and sometimes contested, it has produced some of the most inventive and innovative creations in the history of fashion.”

The exhibition will feature some 50 ecclesiastical masterworks from the Sistine Chapel sacristy, many of which have never been seen outside the Vatican. Showcased in the Anna Wintour Costume Center galleries, the loaned items will include vestments and accessories representing more than 15 papacies. There will also be some 150 ensembles – primarily womenswear, dating from the early 20th century through contemporary designs – that will be shown in the medieval galleries and The Met Cloisters alongside religious art from The Met collection. It’s designed to provide, we’re told, an “interpretative context for fashion’s engagement with Catholicism.”

Designers in the exhibition will range from Azzedine Alaïa to Christian Lacroix, Jeanne Lanvin to Cristobal Balenciaga, Thierry Mugler to Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana to Elsa Schiaparelli, Vivienne Westwood to John Galliano for House of Dior and dozens more.

Mark your calendars for what promises to be one of New York’s most talked-about exhibitions in years, one that will continue through Oct. 8.

For more, visit metmuseum.org/heavenlybodies.

Evening Dress, Gianni Versace for House of Versace, autumn/winter 1997–98; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Donatella Versace, 1999 (1999.137.1). Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Digital Composite Scan by Katerina Jebb. Inset: Processional Cross, Byzantine, ca. 1000-1050, silver, silvergilt; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1993 (1993.163). Image ©The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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STARS SHINE AT HUDSON RIVER MUSEUM PLANETARIUM

BY LAURA JOSEPH MOGIL

v

isitors have been flocking to see the stars at the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers ever since the planetarium first opened its doors in 1957 inside the dining room of Glenview, the museum’s historic Victorian home.

As the museum grew and built a modern addition, a new, larger planetarium became part of the expansion project that was completed in 1969. While the 120-seat planetarium continued to evolve with the times, it was the $1.5 million renovation, completed in 2014, that truly brought it into the digital age and made it into the worldclass facility that it is today.

“From the first mechanical projector to the last incarnation in 1987 — an instrument known as the Zeiss M1015 — our star projectors were all very elaborate clockwork devices,” says Marc Taylor, the museum’s manager of planetarium and science programs. “Yes, they showered stars and planets onto the planetarium’s dome. However, before our latest upgrades, if you wanted to show how the sky looked 2,000 years ago, you’d have to wind the machine backwards — which could take a while.

“Now, instead of gears regulating the position of the projectors, everything is computer controlled,” says Taylor, who’s been with the planetarium since 1999. “You just type in the date of the night sky you want to see and it immediately appears. Visitors can view how the sky will look 10,000 or 100,000 years from now in an instant,” he says.

That’s all thanks to the Ohira-Tech Megastar II, which can cover the planetarium’s dome with up to 20 million stars. “I really think this has the most realistic sky of any star projector I’ve ever seen,” Taylor says. “In here, a quick look at the Milky Way and it appears like a grayish band, but if you examine it closely, there will be stars that just tease the edge of visibility and that’s what makes our ‘sky’ look extremely realistic.”

Twin digital video projectors were also added during the renovation, along with a state-of-theart sound system, allowing the planetarium to create narrated, 3D “flights” through the rest of 42

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the universe. In addition, the old planetarium dome was replaced with a smoother, truly hemispherical projection screen, measuring 40 feet in diameter.

Among those reaping the benefits of the updates are the 10,000 students who visit the planetarium each year. “These days kids are used to looking at things on a little screen. They come in here and that screen becomes the entire sky over their heads. They’re completely blown away by what they see — whether it’s a gigantic spinning Jupiter or the constellations coming to life in the night sky,” Taylor says.

While the planetarium is reserved for school and camp groups during the week, the public — 65,000 visitors a year — can get its share of the stars on the weekends, when the planetarium offers three shows on both Saturdays and Sundays.

January shows range from “Earth, Moon and Sun,” which explores the relationship between our home planet and its most familiar neighbors (for younger children ages 5 and above), to a live show called “The Sky Tonight,” where visitors (targeted at ages 8 and above) can get a preview on the planetarium’s dome of what the sky that very evening will actually look like.

Complementing the shows are family workshops, which often delve into themes covered inside the planetarium. “On the weekends and school-break weeks, there are science workshops that range from demonstrations to take-home projects and a scientist in residence comes in once a month,” Taylor says. “The topics include everything from discovering planets around other stars to mapping out the surface of a planet hidden by clouds.”

The planetarium isn’t just getting rave reviews from its younger visitors. High school students are also drawn in by its programming, which might focus on finding their zodiac constellation or discovering the history of how planets form. In the spring, there are usually several interns who volunteer at the museum as part of their community service projects at the end of their senior year.

While programming for students and fami-

Marc Taylor, the Hudson River Museum’s manager of planetarium and science programs.

Constellations seen in one of the Hudson River Museum’s planetarium shows. Images courtesy Hudson River Museum.

lies has been a huge success, the planetarium is always looking to attract new audiences. “We’ve been hearing for a while from our visitors that they’re very interested in having planetarium shows solely for adults,” Taylor adds.

One of the very first events that the museum is doing to attract this crowd is “HRM After Dark” on Jan. 19, from 7 to 10 p.m. The evening will cater to 25- to 39-year-old patrons with a dance party featuring a DJ, craft beer and cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, a journey through the night’s sky in a special planetarium show and tours of the exhibition galleries. “The real point of the program is to expose people to all the possibilities of the museum and for them to have a lot of fun,” Taylor says.

Also on the radar is a “Valentine’s Under the Stars” event on Feb. 14, with a reception starting at 6 p.m., followed by a romantic-themed planetari-

um show for couples. Adds Taylor: “It’s an unusual date night for you and your partner in the early evening. We’ll wrap up by 7:30 p.m., so it leaves lots of time to go out to dinner afterward.”

With many of the stars shining brightly in the winter sky, Taylor will be able to point out a number of the highlights to look out for. Those include the constellations Sirius, which will be visible in the southern sky, along with Leo the Lion, a symbol of faithfulness and strength.

“And of course there’s the North Star, which is something I feature on Valentine’s Day because it is considered to be very constant. You often hear people say, ‘You’re my North Star. You’re my guiding light,’” Taylor says. He also notes that he can point out how many light-years a star is away so a couple can match it to the number of years they’ve been together and call it their star.

Also on the horizon is the premier of the planetarium’s first original show, “The Victorian’s Guide to the Galaxy,” which premieres on Feb. 10 and looks at how 19th-century scientists understood their universe. In the adjacent gallery, visitors will see some of the instruments that scientists used to view the stars in Victorian times. In addition, they can visit the museum’s coinciding art exhibition, “The Neo-Victorians: Contemporary Artists Revive Gilded-Age Glamour” (Feb. 10 to May 13), which highlights a wide range of contemporary artists’ engagement with the aesthetics of the 19th century.

“In the time of the Victorians, the Milky Way Galaxy seemed to be the extent of the universe,” Taylor says. “Turns out that there as many galaxies out there as there are grains of sand on Earth — and we can take you for a walk on the beach.”

For more, visit hrm.org.

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NUTMEG STATE NIGHTS

c

BY PHIL HALL

onnecticut carries the nicknames of the Constitution State and the Nutmeg State, but it could also be known as the Planetarium State.

For a fairly small state, Connecticut has a surprisingly high number of planetariums ready to introduce residents to the vast wonders of the heavens.

For star-seekers looking into Connecticut’s celestial portal, here are the venues that can transport all ages into the astronomy realm.

Copernican Observatory and Planetarium Named in honor of the groundbreaking astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, this venue is on the campus of Central Connecticut Statue University (CCSU). Free shows are offered to the public at 8 p.m. on the first and third Saturdays of each month (except when they fall on the Christmas and New Year’s holidays), and the public is invited up to the roof to view the night sky through telescopes on weather-appropriate evenings.

GPS Address: between 245 and 175 Paul Manafort Drive, New Britain, 860-832-2950 web.ccsu.edu/astronomy/

Glastonbury Planetarium Located at the Glastonbury-East Hartford Elementary Magnet School, this planetarium seats 70 beneath a 40-foot dome. Matinee shows are tailored for the children ages 7 and under, while evening shows are best for ages 8 and up.

The venue also hosts the Cosmic Concert Music Series, which takes full advantage of the planetarium’s 5.1 surround sound system.

95 Oak St., Glastonbury, 860-652-7925 glastonburyplanetarium.org/home

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Henry B. duPont III Planetarium Bridgeport's innovative Discovery Museum is home to this planetarium, which presents a mix of four different shows offering digital and live presentations on the mysteries and beauty of space. Some shows are specifically suited to the very young, while others are ideal for older children and adults.

4450 Park Ave., Bridgeport, 203-372-3521 discoverymuseum.org/visit/henry-b-dupont-iii-planetarium/

Leitner Family Observatory and Planetarium Situated on the campus of Yale University, this facility is part of the school’s Department of Astronomy and offers shows for the public on Tuesday and Sunday nights. If the weather cooperates on Tuesday nights, the shows are followed by an invitation to use the observatory’s telescopes for a peek into the deepest corner of the night skies.

355 Prospect St., New Haven, 203-432-3000 onhsa.yale.edu/programs/leitner-family-observatory-and-planetarium-0

Robert K. Wickware Planetarium Based at Eastern Connecticut State University (ESCU), this planetarium is primarily used by the school’s astronomy students and only offers a limited number of shows for school and scout groups. However, public star shows are held three or four times per semester, with post-show telescope viewings after the presentations. The venue also offers offices and community groups the opportunity to book their own private shows for free, with an appreciative request for a “small donation” to the Eastern Science Club.

83 Windham St., Willimantic, 860-465-4317 easternct.edu/physicalscience/planetarium/

Stamford Observatory & Planetarium Based in the Stamford Museum and Nature Center, the observatory is used as a research facility by the Fairfield County Astronomical Society, and the public is invited on Friday nights to view the skies through their 22-inch research telescope. The planetarium is available for school programs, scout groups, special events and private parties, but it does not host shows designed for the general public.

39 Scofieldtown Road, Stamford 203-977-6521 stamfordmuseum.org/planet-ed.html

Travelers Science Dome at the Gengras Planetarium Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2018, this venue at the Children’s Museum of Connecticut seats up to 145 people and features a digital projector that places its stellar imagery on a 40-foot dome. The planetarium presents a diverse lineup of presentations ideal for children from first through eighth grades.

950 Trout Brook Drive, West Hartford, 860-2312824 thechildrensmuseumct.org/planetarium/

Treworgy Planetarium Based in Mystic Seaport, this planetarium celebrates the historic role that astronomy played in navigation and the golden eras of exploration and transoceanic travel. The planetarium also hosts special classes that enables today’s GPS-reliant crowd to master the art of celestial navigation.

75 Greenmanville Ave., Mystic, 860-572-0711 mysticseaport.org/explore/planetarium

Westside Observatory and Planetarium Located atop a 5-acre hill on the Westside campus of Western Connecticut State University (WCSU), the observatory’s telescope is used for astrophysical research by undergraduate and graduate students and faculty. The planetarium is a 40-seat venue that is primarily used for presenting science programs to school and scout groups, but the public is welcome to view the stars and planets at scheduled nights during the spring and fall terms.

43 Lake Ave. Extension, Danbury, 203-837-8672 wcsu.edu/graduate/eps/obsws.asp

The Gift of Caregiver Relief this Winter.

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anaging a loved one’s healthcare can be taxing and all-consuming, which is why it’s so important for caregivers to take the time to rest, relax and rejuvenate. Waveny’s caregiver relief solutions can help seniors and families receive the services they need to make the most of this winter, together.

During the week, take advantage of our vibrant Adult Day Program with free local transportation for daytime peace of mind. Or, plan a getaway knowing overnight respite guests with Alzheimer’s and dementia can stay with us for as short as a week at The Village, our award-winning Assisted Living community. Our trusted care can even come to you – whether personalized assistance or just a helping hand – through Waveny’s home-based services. Or, choose any combination of our services and programs to meet your unique needs and preferences.

Conveniently located in New Canaan, Waveny’s continuum of care flows fluidly within a single nonprofit organization, without any expensive buy-in fees or long-term commitments.

So if downsizing into a caring and compassionate independent or assisted living community is something you’re considering, winter is the perfect time to take advantage of a 3-month trial at either The Inn or The Village.

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STELLAR SURROUNDINGS

BY MARY SHUSTACK

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IT SEEMS MOST FITTING THAT A DISTINCTIVE DESTINATION — A LOVINGLY RESTORED QUEEN ANNE-STYLE MANSION — HOUSES SERENA & LILY. After all, the home and lifestyle brand is known for its unique approach.

Founded in 2003 by Serena Dugan and Lily Kanter and headquartered in Sausalito, California, Serena & Lily today continues to bring its “fresh, California point of view” to homeowners across the country through a growing force of design shops.

But it’s not all about beach houses and sunny days, as Allyson McGrath, vice president of design shops for Serena & Lily, shares with us on a recent visit to the Westport spot — on a decidedly un-California-like frigid, windy afternoon.

A strength of Serena & Lily, McGrath tells us, is “how this brand flexes.”

“You can live in a coastal bungalow. You can

The Serena & Lily design shop in Westport showcases the lifestyle brand’s products in a home setting, above, with vignettes spotlighting the company’s cool California vibe, above right.

A cozy seating area, right, invites customers to make themselves at home as they shop. All images courtesy Serena & Lily.

live in a New York City apartment — and a great white sectional is a great white sectional.”

It’s all about, she adds, “investing in these really great pieces. They really translate in everyone’s home.”

And home is the feeling you get when you visit Serena & Lily at the historic Kemper-Gunn House.

“This building is so special,” McGrath says.

You’ll walk onto the porch of the 1889 property — famously moved across the street from its longtime spot and then thoughtfully renovated — and enter the front door into a sitting room.

It’s only after a moment that you realize you’re not in someone’s home — a deliberate move to “let the customer ‘experience’ our brand,” McGrath says.

“We don’t want to have the traditional retail experience… We want people to feel at home, not that they’re necessarily shopping all the time.”

Instead of being affronted by shelf after shelf of product, here, it’s like visiting a friend — make that a friend with impressively good taste.

AT HOME WITH STYLE There’s nothing cavernous or impersonal about what McGrath notes is some 5,100 square feet of selling space spread out over four floors, complemented by a seasonal outdoor seating vignette.

The kitchen, for example, is filled with, McGrath notes, “fun, creative” options for seating.

The impression is cohesive, even though McGrath assures, “In this one space, we’re showing seven styles.”

And that’s how the rest of the tour of the sunfilled rooms proceeds.

All, McGrath notes, is designed to appeal to the varied needs of Serena & Lily’s customers. One might come in with a blank floor plan, another in search of ways to surround an antique dining table purchased in Stamford.

Then, she adds, “We have the customer who just redid their bathroom and wants new towels.”

“We could do your whole home for you or we can help you refresh for the season,” she says, with all team members consulting on design and in-home consultations also available.

“They’re all very strong in their craft, I would say,” McGrath notes of the design advisers.

A second-floor design shop is where it all comes together.

“What we would do is build you a story,” she says, with customers receiving not only swatches but prices and timetables.

“You really go home with a tool,” McGrath says.

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The design shop is housed in the historic Kemper-Gunn House.

It’s not only helpful but also necessary.

“Home purchases are very considered purchases,” McGrath says.

“I think people are really proud of where they live,” she adds.

“Because of social media, people see more, where you are all the time.”

Unlike fashion, she continues, where you can wear a different outfit every day, “You don’t get to ‘be someone else for one night’ with a sofa.”

ON VIEW, SUBTLY As customers travel the floors, which include a lower-level bedding area and a top-floor pseudo apartment, the Serena & Lily collection comes to life.

“We do show almost all of our upholstery silhouettes throughout the store,” she says.

Options, she says, help the customers visualize how different pieces and styles can work together, with Serena & Lily celebrating textures and a mixand-match approach.

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In a second-floor sitting room, for example, a Raffia-wrapped bookcase is unexpectedly complemented by porcelain and brass room accents.

“It’s really all about the mix,” she says.

The entire interior is changed over twice a year, with interim tweaks.

“There’s always newness injected throughout the season,” McGrath says. Her goal is always to offer something fresh: “What I really try to do is not replicate the catalog.”

Instead, all the settings serve as an ongoing showcase of how one can live with the brand.

This month, when the Spring/Summer 2018 collection arrives in Serena & Lily design shops — which now number six, with Summit, New Jersey, soon to join the mix — customers will be introduced to new jute rugs, the statement-making Woven Caledonia Bar Cabinet, a charmingly naturalistic Vineyard All Weather Side Table, the sleek Mercer Nightstand, textured Pescadero Pendant lighting and the inviting Palms Chair.

While the pieces are indeed introductions, all

remain consistent with the brand’s overall aesthetic.

“We’re not going to be the ‘brown-and-purple’ collection,” McGrath says.

Our tour ends on the top floor, which demonstrates how you can live stylishly in a 600-squarefoot “apartment.” The self-contained space encompasses a living room, dining space (complete with an 84-inch table), bedroom — and even a well-appointed powder room.

“I keep finding space in this store — and things to put in it,” McGrath says with a laugh.

The clever integration of beach-inspired décor and a few metallics, she notes, is all about “pushing it a little bit.”

At Serena & Lily, McGrath says customers are invited to explore options at a most relaxed pace.

“If you’re hungry, we’ll order you lunch,” she says. A glass of wine? “How do you take it — red, white, chilled?”

Serena & Lily is at 35 Elm St. in Westport. For more, visit serenaandlily.com.

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READING THE PRESENT

BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

Raven. Courtesy Larry Maples and Raven.

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or Raven, life is not merely like a box of chocolates. It is a box of chocolates, Godiva’s Assorted Chocolate Gold Gift Box, to be exact.

“I prefer Godiva’s, because there are many shapes, and the boxes are consistent,” she said. (With apologies to Forrest Gump’s mother, you really do know what you’re going to get.)

That makes them perfect for the chocolate readings she conducts, along with tarot card and palm readings, as part of Modern Divination, Oracles as Entertainment.

We first encountered the engaging, Titian-tressed reader for a story in December WAG on a curated afternoon of shopping and lunch at The Westchester in White Plains that was co-hosted by Harper’s Bazaar magazine and its executive fashion and beauty editor, Avril Graham. In a treasure-hunt format, we hopped from store to store — selecting flowers for a bouquet from KC Creations at Neiman Marcus and having our portrait sketched in watercolors by fashion illustrator Bil Donovan at Louis Vuitton. (See related stories on Pages 76 and 54).

At Tiffany & Co., we chose a milk chocolate open oyster from Raven’s Godiva box and she told us about ourselves. The straight lines and scalloped curves of the confectionary shell spoke of our dual nature (analytical and intuitive), she said. Further analysis after a bite of the heavenly creation — hey, someone had to take a bullet for the WAG team — revealed our independent personality, one that might find itself traveling to San Francisco or Dubai in the future.

But Raven isn’t really about the future or the past. She’s not going to tell you the story of your past life or future outcomes. And she won’t summon the dearly departed. She’s more concerned with present connections — hers with you and you with your inner self — as she travels the country doing playful readings at corporations and luxe shopping centers. (Past clients have included Donna Karan, Diane von Furstenberg and Barnes & Noble at Manhattan’s Union Square.)

“For me, I don’t tell people’s fortunes,” she said. “I’m interested in the person’s personality and what they’ve done over the years to create who they are. I’m a strong believer that we all have choices in life. It’s not crystal clear.”

The people who engage her “are not people looking for answers to their future. They want to learn more about themselves.”

To that end, the oracles are a big help — chocolates, tarot cards, the palm of the person’s dom-

inant hand. She has also created something she calls doodleology — a kind of handwriting analysis that features a doodle and your signature and wows the CEOs and artists alike, she said. (Raven staged one doodleology event at Mont Blanc at JFK International’s Terminal 8.)

Having attended a similar, flower reading some years back — you selected a flower instead of a chocolate — we asked her if oracles are merely the means to get you to relax so she has time to observe you.

“It’s possible, but it’s not really what I do,” she said. Indeed, for her it’s hard to say where observation leaves off and intuition begins. “As I sit, I get a sense of the person. Sometimes it’s not about talking but listening to them. It’s a feeling, more on an emotional level.”

One spurred by the will and honed by the mind. “I’ve spent my life studying the soft sciences and always had a desire to understand people and what makes them tick.”

The self-styled Jersey Girl had a maternal grandmother whom she never got to know but who would exert a powerful influence on her life. Her grandmother was a tarot reader, Raven said, something her own mother and older sister had no interest in. But when Raven was born,

IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE DARK AND EERIE. IT CAN BE INSIGHTFUL… AND THEN PEOPLE TAKE THAT INFORMATION AND APPLY IT…. I’M ALWAYS TOUCHED BY PEOPLE WHO COME BACK AND SAY I’VE HELPED THEM IN SOME WAY. — Raven

her grandmother said to her mother, “She’s the one. Look at her eyes.” This was something Raven’s mother would remember when her teenage daughter began delving into tarot cards. At first, Raven found the cards vague and frustrating. So she tracked down a retired naval intelligence officer who was an expert in tarot and palm reading.

“He had such a style,” she said. “He helped me change my way of seeing what I do. It doesn’t have to be dark and eerie. It can be insightful… and then people take that information and apply it…. I’m always touched by people who come back and say I’ve helped them in some way.”

The Bellport, New York, resident isn’t the only “reader” in her family now. At Becton Regional High School in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the teen Raven would do a tarot reading for a boy named Larry. He in turn would do magic tricks for her. The couple, now husband and wife, have been together for 29 years, playing colleges and appearing at corporations and on cruises as the mentalists Larry and Raven.

An ability to read each other’s minds must pose challenges at home, no?

Said Raven: “We have a very quiet house.”

For more, visit heyraven.com.

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CREATING A SOFTER — AND BETTER — WORLD

BY DANIELLE RENDA

t

he world would be a softer place if only more people used soap made with fresh goat’s milk.

This is the thought behind Nature by Canus, a Montreal-based, family-owned company — with a New Jersey office — that has been using the healing properties of fresh goat’s milk in its more than 70 skincare products for some 20 years.

“We’re very passionate about what we do,” says Andre Beauregard, president of Canus USA. “It’s our reason to be.”

The line, which serves all skin types, focuses on the restorative benefits of fresh goat’s milk, which helps to lock in the skin’s natural moisturizers, preventing dryness. Rich in proteins, vitamins, minerals and triglycerides, fresh goat’s milk also contains fatty acids, which counteract the alkalinity found in conventional skincare products.

The properties of soap, Beauregard explains, typically contain a high alkaline base, which while successfully removing dirt also irritates the skin. The formula he uses entails adding fresh goat’s milk — sourced from local dairy farms — directly to a vegetable soap’s base, which cleanses without causing irritation.

“We’re probably the only company in the world that’s doing it that way,” he says.

These are combined with other plant-based ingredients and natural essential oils, including lavender, olive oil and wheat protein. The resulting product, available in original and shea butter, is free of parabens, phosphates, gluten and artificial coloring.

Before launching the company, Beauregard consulted with a goat’s milk expert in Quebec about its healing properties. After two years of experimenting with different formulas, the product hit shelves in late 1998, even before the health fad.

In addition to a commitment to craeting thoughtful products, the company is strongly dedicated to the environment. The plants used 52

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Products from Nature by Canus, all of which are made using fresh goat’s milk, include soap, moisturizing lotion and body wash. Pictured above is the five-piece Nature Perfect Pack, $29.99. Courtesy Nature by Canus.

THE FORMULA HE USES ENTAILS ADDING FRESH GOAT’S MILK — SOURCED FROM LOCAL DAIRY FARMS — DIRECTLY TO A VEGETABLE SOAP’S BASE, WHICH CLEANSES WITHOUT CAUSING IRRITATION.

to create the soap’s vegetable base are grown on a farm in South America and nothing goes to waste. Palm tree oils are used for the soap, while the rest of the plant is dried to power the equipment. Butterflies and small spiders provide the pest control, eliminating the need for pesticides.

The company also manufactures its own bottles and caps to eliminate the carbon footprint.

And, in the office setting, the company uses smart lights — lights that turn off immediately when someone exits a room — to prevent energy waste; purchases cars that are hybrid or electric; and makes use of an intensive recycling program.

Nature by Canus is pursuing philanthropic initiatives as well. The company is a supporter of the Ronald McDonald House Charities, which provide resources and care to sick children and their families. So far, Nature by Canus has given free soap to 19 houses across Canada, as well as two in the United States, with plans to expand across all 50 states.

And to think it all started with a single bar of soap.

For more, visit naturebycanus.com.

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ILLUSTRATING THE BEAUTY IN ALL OF US

BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

Black Narcissus promotional illustration inspired by the Dior Archival Couture Collection.

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Bil Donovan’s painting of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Images courtesy Bil Donovan.

BIL DONOVAN HAS THE LADIES LINING UP. NO, HE’S NOT A ROCKER OR A CHIPPENDALES DANCER BUT A FASHION ILLUSTRATOR PAR EXCELLENCE, ONE WHO KNOWS HOW TO BRING OUT THE BEST IN THE MAKEUP, COUTURE AND WOMEN HE DEPICTS IN WATERCOLORS. We first encountered Donovan’s artistry during an afternoon of curated shopping sponsored by Harper’s Bazaar and The Westchester. Donovan — an artist in residence for Christian Dior Beauty — was sketching guests briskly at Louis Vuitton, which, like Dior, is part of luxury giant LVMH. He captured us, holding a pink Louis Vuitton handbag, in all our kohl-eyed, red-lipped, salt-andpepper joie de vivre — so much so that the image appeared in the December issue of WAG. Other subjects seemed equally enchanted with their portraits.

“One of the principles of fashion illustration is an acute awareness of anatomy and how to exaggerate it so it becomes about showing off clothing, the figure and beauty,” he says. “You’re editing out those areas that don’t nurture beauty. But you’re still capturing the essence of the person.” In this regard, negative space becomes critical in what you’re creating.

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Donovan works quickly. His sketch of us took no more than 10 minutes. That’s partly by training and partly by design. Some 70, 80 years ago, before fashion photography became popular, couture houses relied on fashion illustrations to convey their designs in the print media. Donovan adores the intimacy of the work and also because watercolors dry fast, the spontaneity they necessitate.

The reaction is equally immediate and mostly complimentary.

“I’ve had some people who, let’s say, didn’t appreciate the process,” he says. But he adds that professionalism trumps personal feelings. His goal is to make every woman look exceptional.

And every man, too. Donovan finds it easier to draw men, noting that you can exaggerate their character lines. On women, they might look like wrinkles.

It’s hard to imagine that there is a subject or medium that wouldn’t benefit from Donovan’s wizardry. His is a fusion of talent, training and technique with a passion for fashion discovered in his native South Philadelphia.

“I loved to conjure something up on a blank piece of paper with a crayon or pencil,” he remembers. “It was magical.”

More often than not, that “something” was fashionable, like Audrey Hepburn’s swanlike silhouette in “Sabrina.” (“She was a walking fashion illustration,” he says.)

But growing up Irish-Italian in a working-class neighborhood right out of “Rocky,” Donovan understood early that drawing fashions was not what boys were supposed to do.

“So I kept it to myself and played sports.” But a friend’s mother had a clothing store and the two began sketching fashion photographs by Richard Avedon and Francesco Scavullo. Donovan and his friend, Kenneth Bonavitacola, would go on to the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in Manhattan — Bonavitacola to study fashion and Donovan, fashion illustration.

At FIT, Donovan discovered tough love in the form of a teacher who didn’t think his work good enough. He committed to his craft “24/7,” studied with Jack Potter, who did the Coca-Cola campaigns of the 1940s and ’50s and at Parsons School of Design.

“The more you train your eye, the more you can finesse the work,” Donovan says.

All that training, along with six years of fashion

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Bil Donovan.

illustration in Milan, “changed my life,” he adds.

But in the ‘90s, the field of fashion illustration dried up. Donovan did storyboards for advertising firms, began teaching at FIT and studied fine art — which he had shied away from — at the School of Visual Arts.

“I fell in love with making the work of the soul,” he says of fine art painting.

Still, illustration was not done with him. He took an opportunity to write a textbook on it, did cocktail illustrations for the St. Regis New York and created illustrations for a book on Hollywood fashion designer Edith Head, fulfilling his childhood dream of drawing Audrey and other movie goddesses like Sophia Loren. And he exhibited with the Society of Illustrators, on whose board he now sits.

It was all the perfect prep for that day in December 2008 when Vogue sent him to the Christian Dior Boutique in Manhattan to draw the event.

“A young woman sat down and asked me to do a portrait of her. ‘Make me beautiful,’ she said. Be-

fore I knew it, there were 30 women in line.”

In April of the following year, he signed an exclusive contract with Dior “that pretty much changed my life.”

The work has kept him traveling to Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue stores, making “after” portraits of Dior makeovers for the company’s best clientele. There are work trips to Bal Harbour and Boca Raton in Florida, speaking engagements in Detroit, days when he teaches drawing and painting at FIT. When he’s not doing all that, he and his artist-husband share critiques in their East Village apartment. “It makes me mad that he’s often right.” (Donovan also has a Brooklyn studio.)

Having discovered fine art, he’s not about to give it up.

“My personal work is about love, loss and spirituality. I lost a lot of friends to the AIDS crisis.”

These days, however, Donovan is not defined by loss.

“Life is full,” he says. “And I love it.”

COVERING DYLAN

BY GREGG SHAPIRO

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GRAMMY AWARD-NOMINATED SINGER/ SONGWRITER JOAN OSBORNE HAS A FLAIR FOR SINGULAR INTERPRETATIONS OF OTHER PEOPLE’S SONGS AND FOR MAKING THEM HER OWN. Her 1995 breakout single “One of Us,” written by Eric Bazilian, is still in rotation to this day. On her new album, “Songs of Bob Dylan” (Womanly Hips), Osborne turns her attention to the music legend, now in his sixth decade as a recording artist. Osborne’s renditions of Dylan tunes, familiar (“Tangled Up In Blue” and “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go”) and lesser known (“You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” and “Dark Eyes”), are treated with the utmost reverence and worthy of repeated listens.

We talked with her about her Dylan tribute prior to her visit to the Tarrytown Music Hall: Do you remember how old you were when you heard your first Bob Dylan song and what that song was?

“Dylan is so pervasive, and in particular in the 1960s. I was born in the early ’60s (in Anchorage, Kentucky), so I probably heard a nun playing ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ at a guitar Mass or something. It’s one of those things where you just always knew about him. I’ve forgotten when I first learned about him or heard about his music.”

You covered Dylan’s “Man in the Long Black Coat” on your 1995 breakthrough album “Relish.” Was the concept for your new album “Songs of Bob Dylan” percolating since then?

“It’s actually been percolating since I got this collection, ‘The Songbook Series,’ that Ella Fitzgerald put out in the 1950s and early 1960s. I believe it’s eight or nine records and each record was devoted to a different songwriter or songwriting team. In her era, it was Duke Ellington or Cole Porter or Harold Arlen. I always thought that was such a great idea.

“I had it in the back of my mind that I would like to put my own twist on that idea. I’m not a torch singer, per se, so I’m not going to cover a bunch of Cole Porter songs. The writers I’m drawn to are the giants of the contemporary era.

I thought it was an interesting lens to look through by covering other people’s work. That idea has been percolating in my mind for quite a long time.

“Recently, we had the opportunity to do some residencies at the Café Carlyle in Manhattan. It seemed like the perfect place to test out this idea. The room itself has a long history of great cabaret singers. I’m not really a cabaret singer, but I thought maybe this would be the ideal opportunity to see if this songbook idea works. We tried it and people seemed to like it, to appreciate it and understand it.”

Joan Osborne.

Photograph by Jeff Fasano.

With so much material from which to choose, what was involved in the selection process of the 13 tunes on “Songs of Bob Dylan”?

“As you might imagine, that was one of the difficulties — to narrow down this massive amount of songs and body of work into just one record. I certainly could make another 10 records and still not run out of great Bob Dylan material. I did have a few criteria. First, I wanted to make sure that we picked material from throughout his career. As you mentioned, I put a song from the ‘Oh Mercy’ record on my first

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major-record release. ‘Oh Mercy,’ from the 1980s, is one of my favorite Dylan albums, but not one of his best-known ones.

“We also picked a song from 2001’s ‘Love and Theft’ to represent late-period Dylan. We wanted to include his classic ’60s and ’70s period as well as the ’80s, ’90s and ’00s, to mix it up in that way. I also wanted to have songs that people were familiar with, such as ‘Tangled Up In Blue’ or ‘Highway 61 Revisited,’ that even the most casual Dylan fan is likely to know, and then go for deeper cuts such as ‘Dark Eyes’ from ‘Empire Burlesque.’ I didn’t even know about that song until Patti Smith told me about it.”

Among other things, Dylan is revered for the lyrics to his songs. Are there songs of his with lyrics that have particular resonance to you?

“In the last couple of years, some of the songs that he wrote in the 1960s have become increasingly relevant as we’re facing a situation in the country that, in a way, mirrors that time. So much upheaval, so much violence, so much division in our society. I think the work he did in that time and, particularly the stuff that was more overtly political, is incredibly relevant to me and to everybody else who’s thinking about these things right now.”

You do a marvelous rendition of “Buckets of Rain,” which made me think about Bette Midler’s cover on her “Songs for the New Depres-

sion” album on which she was joined by Dylan.

If you could have performed a duet with Dylan on one of the songs on the album, which one would you choose?

“Wow, that’s a really good question. We actually did a duet years ago on his song ‘Chimes of Freedom.’

But I don’t think I would pick that. Maybe ‘Shooting Star,’ which is also from ‘Oh Mercy.’ A beautiful song, a wistful ballad looking back at a relationship in the past, expressing tender sentiments to that person.

You get the feeling that it wasn’t an easy relationship and that it might have broken up over conflict. But he’s looking back and telling that person how much he admired them. I think it’s such a generous and beautiful song.”

As a songwriter, you have a reputation for covering other people’s songs, including Gary Wright’s “Love Is Alive,” Stevie Wonder’s “Love’s in Need of Love Today” and Hall and Oates’ “Sara Smile” as examples. Have you ever heard a cover of one of your songs that you enjoyed, and if so, what was the song and who was singing it? “‘One of Us’ gets covered a lot. Every so often I’ll get an email or text message from one of my nieces saying that someone did the song on ‘America’s Got Talent’ or ‘The Voice’ or even some of the more farflung ones like ‘Indonesia’s Got Talent’ or ‘South Africa’s Got Talent.’ I’ve heard a lot of versions of the song

done in beautiful ways and that’s gratifying.

“Even though I didn’t write the song, I had the first version of it, and my version was fairly successful. So I feel like it’s a wonderful thing to see other people taking up the mantle and using that song for what they want to use it for. There’s a certain classic element to the song. It’s not telling anybody what they’re supposed to think. It’s asking them to search their own hearts and minds. There’s always room for that, in art or music, to allow people to search their own heart, to say, ‘What are you thinking or feeling about this?’ I think it’s unusual for a pop song to send you in that way.”

You are performing at Tarrytown Music Hall.

As someone who has spent a number of years in New York, do you have favorite spots that you frequent in Westchester County?

“Some of the river towns are beautiful. I love going up to Tarrytown. On the day of a show we’ll try to get there early and walk those steep roads and streets next to the river. It’s almost like going for a hike, but through a beautiful little town. I like those small towns which have, of course, become suburbs of New York City and the train lines have expanded.

Yet they still have this small-town, old-school feel that I really like.”

Joan Osborne performs Feb. 8 and 9 at the Tarrytown Music Hall. For more, visit tarrytownmusichall.org.

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The Liberty Science Center’s new Jennifer Chalsty Planetarium is the largest in the Western hemisphere. Photographs courtesy Liberty Science Center.

A WESTERN HEMISPHERE STAR

BY RYAN DEFFENBAUGH

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ersey City’s Liberty Science Center is now home to the largest and most technologically advanced planetarium in the Western Hemisphere, and that’s more than just a marketing boast.

“For planetariums, size really matters,” says Paul Hoffman, president and CEO of the Liberty Science Center.

A larger planetarium means an all-around better experience. More pixels create sharper views of stars and planets. Extra space offers more programming options.

“We can open a window on our screen the size of a flat-screen normal movie theater and video-conference in an astronomer, wherever she is, who has just made a major discovery, then open up another screen the size of a movie theater and show the images of what she found,” Hoffman says.

Furthermore, he adds, “we can open yet another screen the size of a movie theater and video in some other astronomers not involved in her work to comment on it.”

These possibilities are part of why Hoffman describes the new planetarium as such an incredible opportunity to teach astronomy to school groups and adult visitors alike. Each year, the 300,000-square-foot Liberty Science Center draws more than 650,000 visitors to its 12 museums, a live animal collection with 110 species, aquariums and other offerings in New Jersey’s Liberty State Park.

Its new planetarium, officially the Jennifer Chalsty Planetarium, opened Dec. 9. The project converted the science center’s IMAX dome theater to a planetarium. Chalsty, a New Jersey philanthropist and Liberty Science Center board member, donated $5 million to purchase the necessary hardware and software upgrades, replace the theater’s screen and refurbish its interior.

There are only three planetariums in the world larger than that of the Liberty Science Center, two in Japan and one in China. Indeed, any other planetarium in the Western Hemisphere would fit inside the Jennifer Chalsty planetarium, the Liberty Science Center notes in its announcement of the planetarium’s opening weekend.

The press materials on the new planetarium fea-

The 60-foot tall screen at the Liberty Science Center’s new planetarium is the height of four giraffes.

The Liberty Science Center utilized a $5 million donation to turn its IMAX theater into a planetarium.

ture all kinds of colorful comparisons to give a sense of the planetarium’s monstrous scale. The planetarium dome has a diameter of about 89 feet, or 1.5 times the length of a bowling alley lane. Its 60-foot tall screen is the height of four giraffes. The domed screen’s 12,345-square-foot surface area is a “nice size four-bedroom, two-bathroom home.”

The planetarium’s twice daily live programming will feature a look at the night sky, with the ability to travel to and explore various parts of our solar system.

“We can show you, of course with more resolution than you can actually experience if you were standing in Jersey City, exactly everything in its position, and actually visit some of these,” Hoffman says.

In mid-December, for example, the live planetarium shows focused on “flying to Saturn,” he adds, as the gas giant would soon go out of view for a couple months.

“We’ll show you incredible Cassini images of Saturn’s rays that we’re taken as recently as September,” Hoffman says of the NASA mission that spent 13 years exploring the planet before purposely disintegrating into its atmosphere.

The planetarium’s live shows will be interactive as well, Hoffman says.

“If someone says ‘Wow, these images of Saturn’s rings from Cassini are really beautiful, what are the best images that scientists had before,’ the planetarium presenter will be able to pull up those other images of Saturn.”

The planetarium’s 10 digital projectors are connected to super-powered servers that can instantly display the latest images from satellites and other sources, all displayed in 8K (88-million pixel) resolution.

As well as responsive to the audience, the planetarium programming will be reactive to new scientific developments. For its opening weekend, The Liberty Science Center teamed up with the Space Telescope Science Institute to premier its new visualization of the Orion Nebula, based on thousands of images of from the Hubble telescope.

Even though it’s about 1,400 light-years away, the Orion Nebula is the nearest region of star formation to Earth. “It’s just a cauldron of new stars being born,” as Hoffman describes.

“One of the things we want to do in our planetarium is break astronomy news,” he adds. “This will be the first place that you’ll see it, or certainly the first place on the East Coast. In this case, it is the first place people have ever seen this. ” The planetarium plans to make relationships with observatories around the world, NASA and other international space agencies and private industries going into space to ‘use our planetarium as a place to show off their work.’”

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THE FRIENDLY (PRIVATE) SKIES

BY JENA BUTTERFIELD

i

t’s cold outside. The new year initiates a barren stretch of winter when, to escape the monotonous gloom, our heads float to the clouds — or above them — soaring away in a jet to a beach somewhere warm. In luxury.

For the bona fide jetsetters, charter flight companies such as Boston-based Magellan Jets have made the plane-procuring process as easy as pie — in the sky. Still, there’s confusion among those looking to book a holiday in the sun and sand.

The steel drums of the Caribbean may be calling, but vacationers remain reticent to commit.

The majority of the (more than 7,000) islands that make up the Caribbean are ready for business and fighting the perception that the entire region has been affected by devastating hurricanes.

“This year, travel to the islands is down because of the severity of the damage,” says Magellan Jets’ vice president Greg Belezerian, who’s been with the company since its inception in 2008.

There can be little doubt, however, that making or keeping travel plans to any of the unaffected islands will have a beneficial economic effect on the region as a whole.

In 2016, travel and tourism added $56.4 billion to the Caribbean’s GDP, according to The World Travel and Tourism Council. That’s 14.9 percent.

But expected growth for 2017 doesn’t seem attainable as of now.

To help travelers pull the trigger, Magellan has published the top places their customers are booking for peak season 2018. They’ve listed Anguilla, the Bahamas, Bermuda, the Dominican Republic, St. Kitts, Turks and Caicos and the Cayman Islands as their top seven destinations.

Other safe bets for wary travelers include Jamaica, Curacao, St. Lucia, Barbados, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago and Aruba.

To target their customer base, Magellan’s top pick is the island of Canouan, located in St. Vincent and the Grenadines — and only accessible by private jet. Canouan is tiny (5 square miles in size) and located 20 minutes from Barbados. It’s an exclusive world of hidden coves, white sand 64

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Learjet 40XR005, above; interior of global 5000, inset. Courtesy Bombardier Inc.

MEMBERS IN MAGELLAN CAN CHOOSE THEIR EXPERIENCE BY THE HOURS THEY WANT TO FLY, THE TYPE AND SIZE OF PLANE THEY NEED AND CUSTOM ADDONS LIKE CAR SERVICE, WI-FI JET CARDS AND INFLIGHT BUSINESS CENTERS.

beaches, a barrier reef and all the things that lure us to the West Indies.

With Magellan — named after the Portuguese explorer who discovered the Pacific Ocean — getting there is half the fun. Founded by Joshua Hebert and Anthony Tivnan, the charter service offers customizable membership so that you and your curated cast of guests can walk straight off the tarmac and into a luxury cabin that beats first class. An aviation consultant can customize your flight with choices that include everything from movie screens to beds to pet- friendly options and even a personalized flight path.

As aviation brokers, Magellan has access to a global network of airports and a selection of aircraft that range from four-seat prop planes to large capacity airliners or multiple flying options on the same day.

The company has been recommended by “Shark Tank” star Robert Herjavec. While Herjavec has his own plane, he still sees value in membership with a charter company. Indeed, Magellan says its primary customer is someone who owns a plane or is part of a fractional program already.

“Everyone who owns an aircraft has that aircraft go down for maintenance,” Belezerian says.

“And a lot of owners have business partners, which means if both partners need the aircraft

01-18 - The Wag - February 14 Opening at the Neuberger Museum - crop marks.pdf 1 12/17/2017 3:36:09 PM

the same date, then they could use our help.

There are countless scenarios where having access to more than just one aircraft… is necessary to do business.”

In response to an uptick in business travel among customers, Magellan has launched a new Corporate Membership Program.

“Business travel has been great, because the economy is improving,” Belezerian says. “We have been on a steady growth pattern of about 35 to 40 percent per year for the past three years.”

Private jets are a preferred way to travel among pro-sports teams, entertainers, their entourages and businesses that don’t want to lose precious time or the competitive advantage in an economy that’s become so on-demand.

Members in Magellan can choose their experience by the hours they want to fly, the type and size of plane they need and custom add-ons like car service, Wi-Fi Jet Cards and inflight business centers.

“Technology has definitely changed the way we do business and opened the market to everyone,” Belezerian says.

“Everyone” may be a stretch. But when taking to the sky for business or pleasure, let’s face it, who wants to cram into coach?

For more, visit magellanjets.com.

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A STARRY PAST

BY JANE K. DOVE

t

he adjective unique is one that is often overworked but not when applied to Autumn Farms, a magnificent 25-acre horse farm with a five-bedroom Greek Revival residence built in 1838. In addition to what it has to offer today, including a stellar equestrian facility, the remarkable property also has a storied history.

Its original owner, George Fox Bailey, was one of the 19th century’s great American circus showmen, a hugely successful businessman and partner with P.T. Barnum in the “Greatest Show on Earth.”

CIRCUS TIES The current owners, former network news executive Paul Friedman and his wife, Gillian, asked North Salem historian Susan J. Thompson to tell them something of the history of their property and she complied.

“In the early 1700s, when the western two-thirds of North Salem was still part of Van Cortlandt Manor, Levi Bailey leased a large tract on the north side of Hardscrabble Road,” she wrote to the couple in 2012. “He subsequently purchased the land. The Bailey family spread all along Hardscrabble with several farms established.”

Over the years, the property changed ownership among Bailey family members and the piece now known as Autumn Farms was sold to George Fox Bailey in 1844. George Fox Bailey, son of Hachaliah Bailey of Somers circus fame, followed his father into the traveling circus and menagerie business. The Baileys built the Greek Revival house on Autumn Farms in the mid-19th century.

He was mentioned in historical society bulletins over the years as a great circus showman and successful businessman, a key member of the North Salem circus syndicate referred to as “Thee Flatfoots.” They held a virtual monopoly on circus performances throughout New York state and were a major influence on the menagerie circus business for several decades.

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The equestrian facilities and Greek Revival house at Autumn Farms in North Salem. Courtesy William Pitt/Julia B. Fee Sotheby’s International Realty.

Bailey became a manager for the Turner Circus, marrying the Turner daughter, inheriting the circus and renaming it The George F. Bailey Great American Show, which performed nationwide from 1863 to 1871. Then he became a partner in P.T. Barnum’s “Greatest Show on Earth.” Barnum and Bailey threw themselves wholeheartedly into their enterprise, traveling across America by train and going to Africa to acquire animals for the circus menageries. Barns were built in North Salem to house their collection of exotic animals.

After 50 frantic and fun-filled years, Bailey retired from the circus business in 1881 and died in 1903, leaving a rich legacy of circus lore behind.

The homes of several of the Flatfoots still stand and many of the group are buried in the June Road Cemetery in Salem Center. Bailey was the last of the Flatfoots to die.

AUTUMN FARMS TODAY The equestrian estate that is Autumn Farms boasts the original Georgian residence, now beautifully updated, with breathtaking views as far as the eye can see. A swimming pool, putting green and gardens and three immaculately maintained equestrian buildings are set against a backdrop of rolling fields and forested hills.

Carefully preserved original features throughout the home include wide plank, hand-pegged floors, original fireplaces and historic windows.

A seamless renovation in 2000 of the 5,300 square-foot home added a spacious great room/ family room and a Christopher Peacock farmhouse kitchen. The comfortable living space features 11-foot ceilings, a grand fireplace and a wall of French doors and windows opening onto a wide covered porch.

Crown moldings lend a sense of grandeur to the first-floor rooms, which include a sitting room, a library with built-ins and an elegant front parlor and separate dining room, both with wood burning fireplaces. There is also a guest room with updated en-suite bath, a powder room and, next to the kitchen, a convenient mudroom with a door out to the driveway.

On the second floor, the radiant-heated master suite features an exquisitely updated bathroom with a freestanding tub, a separate shower and more of those amazing distant views. Two additional bright and spacious second-floor bedrooms also enjoy commanding views and share an updated bathroom. The third floor has a large family room with an exposed brick wall and a large skylight, a fifth bedroom, an updated full bath and loads of storage.

HORSE LOVER’S PARADISE Approached from a separate driveway, the income-producing equestrian area is comprised of two barns with tack rooms and stalls for 35 horses and a pristine heated indoor riding ring with a viewing area as well as an outdoor ring. To gild the lily, there is also a fully equipped Grand Prix field for serious competitors to hone their skills.

The groom’s quarters are located above the garage next to the main house. The equestrian area of the estate is always vibrant and busy with equestrian enthusiasts coming from near and far to board, train and compete.

Current owner Friedman, who has had a long and successful news career spanning the three major broadcast networks, has said that he and his wife are only the fifth owners of the home. At any given time they have about 30 horses on the property.

Bailey would’ve loved it.

For more, email joanna.rizoulis@juliabfee.com.

STAR MAN

BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

WHEN THE SEATTLE SEAHAWKS UPSET THE PHILADELPHIA EAGLES RECENTLY WITH A GAME-CHANGING LATERAL THAT HAD EAGLES’ FANS CRYING “ILLEGAL PASS,” HAWKS COACH PETE CARROLL SOUGHT SOME HIGHER REINFORCEMENT.

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An astronomical selfie – Bill Nye, alias “The Science Guy,” President Barack Obama and Neil deGrasse Tyson at the White House in 2014.

No, he didn’t ask a referee or the NFL commissioner. He went to astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, the Frederick P. Rose director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan.

Tyson responded on Twitter, ruling that the pass was a legitimate “Galilean Transformation,” with the ball moving backward instead of forward, which would’ve been illegal.

Needless to say, the Twitterati had a lot of fun with that one.

They’re still not sure what a Galilean Transformation is — neither are we — but score it as a touchdown for Tyson, one of our planet’s go-to guys for all things time-space related.

Indeed, few have done more to popularize the esoteric subject of astrophysics than Tyson — host of the “StarTalk” podcast, featuring stars here on Earth as well as those in the heavens, and author of “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry” (W.W.Norton & Co., $18.95, 222 pages) — the most recent of his 13 books.

As director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Frederick Phineas and Sandra Priest Rose Center for Earth and Space since 1996, Tyson oversaw its $210 million renovation, completed in 2000, and founded its Department of Astrophysics.

Tyson coined the term “Manhattanhenge” for the phenomenon in which the setting sun aligns perfectly with Manhattan’s street grid (on Memorial Day and during baseball’s All-Star break). The popular astronomical bellwether is also not afraid to wade into controversy. Witness Pluto-gate, in which Tyson fought to have Pluto demoted from the formerly nine planets in a reclassification of these heavenly bodies by type. ''Pluto does not have a family except for the icy bodies in the outer solar system,'' Tyson told The New York Times in a 2001 article titled “Pluto’s Not a Planet? Only in New York. “So we simply group it with the Kuiper Belt.” It’s gone, he added, ''from puniest planet to king of the Kuiper Belt. And I think it's happier that way.”

Maybe, but the hate mail poured in — much of it from children, who saw in tiny Pluto a friend being picked on — and Tyson found himself defending the reclassification on “The Colbert Report” and “The Daily Show.” (Pluto-crats can immerse themselves in the saga in Tyson’s “The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet.”)

Last month, Tyson went off on the supermoon — a full moon that is at the portion of its orbit closest to Earth so it looks like the moon in “Moonstruck.”

“FYI: The very concept of a Super Moon is an embarrassment to everything else we call super: Supernova, Supercollider, Superman, Super Mario Bros,” he tweeted. “If (November’s) Full Moon were a 16.0 inch pizza, then (December’s) ‘Super’ Moon would be 16.1 inches. I’m just saying.”

So, in other words, if “the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie,” as in the Dean Martin hit (and “Moonstruck” motif ) “That’s Amore,” feel free to go “meh.”

Behind such amusing provocations is clearly a real passion for promoting the principles of astronomy. “…When I was a kid…there were scientists and educators on the staff of the Hayden Planetarium…who invested their time and energy in my enlightenment,” he wrote in his memoir “The Sky Is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist.” “I feel this deep sense of duty, that I serve in the same capacity for people who come through the facility today that others served for me.”

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Neil deGrasse Tyson promoting the “Cosmos” TV series.

It was at the Hayden Planetarium that this native New Yorker’s love of the stars was born. The son of a gerontologist of Puerto Rican descent and an African-American sociologist, Tyson remembers being enrapt by the night sky in the planetarium’s star theater. It was, he has said, the universe calling him.

Heeding that call, he attended The Bronx High School of Science, where he captained the wrestling team and edited the Physical Science Journal while attending astronomy courses at the planetarium. There director Mark Chartrand III — erudite and humorous — served as a role model. So did Carl Sagan, who helped popularize science with his 1980 PBS series “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage” and who sought to recruit Tyson for Cornell University, where he taught. Tyson would come full circle with Sagan, paying tribute to his generosity in his own “Cosmos” series, “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey” (2014).

Sagan notwithstanding, Tyson went off to Harvard University, where he crewed, lettered in wrestling and studied dance while earning his A.B. in physics. After receiving an M.A. in astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin — where he met wife Alice Young, with whom he has two children — and lecturing at the University of Maryland, Tyson came home to pursue a master of philosophy and a Ph.D. in astrophysics at Columbia University.

Engaged in research ranging from the formation and evolution of stars to bulges (a dense group of stars in a larger formation), Tyson soon found the White House and NASA calling.

President George W. Bush appointed him to serve on the President’s Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy, which would take us back to the moon and to Mars and beyond, while NASA awarded Tyson its highest civilian honor, the Distinguished Public Service Medal.

Earlier this year, Tyson announced that he would be willing to go to Mars with SpaceX, the colonizing company founded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, with a few caveats — like a guarantee of a return flight to his beloved Earth on a reusable rocket (oh, and Musk’s mother has to go first and come back alive).

''PLUTO DOES NOT HAVE A FAMILY EXCEPT FOR THE ICY BODIES IN THE OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM,'' TYSON TOLD THE NEW YORK TIMES IN A 2001 ARTICLE TITLED “PLUTO’S NOT A PLANET? ONLY IN NEW YORK." "Governments do these things first, allowing private enterprise to learn what to do and what not to do, then come next with a plan that involves us all,” he wrote during a Reddit “Ask Me Anything.” “So my read of history is that private companies will not be the first to send humans to Mars unless government actually pays for it."

But such caution belies a questing ardor. As he says in the planetarium’s space show “Dark Universe,” “Peering into the darkness, we stand on the threshold of great discoveries, and we always will as long as we keep exploring.”

For more, visit haydenplanetarium.org.

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WAY

STARRY NIGHTS IN AN ENGLISH COUNTRY HOME

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PRESENTED BY SOTHEBY’S WAGMAG.COM JANUARY 2018 INTERNATIONAL REALTY

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THE SPARE BEAUTY OF THE WINTER SKY ENVELOPS YOU IN THIS MID-COUNTRY GREENWICH COMPOUND. Built in 1930 and renovated by architect Laurent “Rink” DuPont, this 10,000-plus-square-foot English manor house, priced at $10,950,000, is filled with windows that let in more than five acres of grand specimen trees and, in the soft seasons sweeping lawns and spectacular gardens, not to mention the New England stone and wrought-iron work of two custom gated entries and an impressive circular courtyard.

Inside, you’ll find 18 rooms — including seven full and two partial bathrooms — characterized by beautiful proportions, high ceilings, magnificent architectural detail and extraordinary craftsmanship.

A fabulous 2,300-plus-square-foot guesthouse offering a three-room apartment and a pool cabana, has also been refurbished to offer the amenities of a contemporary lifestyle while retaining the original ambiance and timeless elegance of the estate. A detached three-car carriage house with a huge, unfinished space above provides additional garage space. And you can spend your days dreaming of summer by the lovely heated outdoor pool with spa or playing tennis on a court for all seasons.

For more, contact Brad Hvolbeck at 203940-0015 or 203-618-3110 or Marijane Bates Hvolbeck at 203-983-3832.

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EXPERTISE IN ALL PRICE RANGES

BREATHTAKING LAKEFRONT | $4,195,000 | 33BALDWINFARMSSOUTH.COM Breathtaking lake views from nearly every room. park-like property extends over 2.4 acres , less than 10 minutes to town. Exceptionally scaled 8,000 square foot interior.

Bill Andruss | 203.912.8990

46 BURYING HILL ROAD | $3,995,000 | 46BURYINGHILLRD.COM Custom built home on 4+ park-like acres, expansive terraces with outdoor bar and kitchen, sublime pool, an all-weather tennis court and a professional golf hole.

Leslie McElwreath | 917.539.3654

CASUAL CHIC | $2,995,000 | 19THUNDERMTNRD.COM Built in 2005 and renovated in 2017, gorgeous home on 2 gated cul-de-sac acres close to town amenities. Tall ceilings, 6 bedrooms, level lawn, possible pool site.

Patte Nusbaum | 203.249.0078

LAKE AVENUE | $2,850,000 | 591LAKEAVE.COM Classic 6 bedroom stone and shingle Colonial with handsome slate roof pool, on 1.92 level, midcountry acres with open lawns and wonderful privacy.

Tom Gorin | 203.969.424

SECRET GARDEN | $1,695,000 | 14STALLIONTRAIL.COM Privately sited in a gated cul-de-sac on 2.19 acres. 4 bedrooms, 3 and 2 half baths

5 OSEE PLACE | $1,185,000 | 5OSEEPL.COM On a quiet cul de sac in a desirable Cos Cob neighborhood, this 1920’s colonial has been updated to reflect today’s lifestyle while retaining the original charm.

Marje Vance Allocco | 203.912.8605

including grand master suite with corner office & custom 2-story dressing room.

Steve Archino | 203.618.3144

GREENWICH BROKERAGE | 203.869.4343 One Pickwick Plaza | Greenwich, CT 06830

sothebyshomes.com/greenwich

Sotheby’s International Realty and the Sotheby’s International Realty logo areregistered (or unregistered) service marks used with permission. Operated by Sotheby’s International Realty, Inc. Real estate agents affiliated with Sotheby’s International Realty, Inc. are independent contractor sales associates and are notemployees of Sotheby’s International Realty, Inc. Equal Housing Opportunity.

Kathi Cochran (standing) and Stefani Chisholm at their pop-up flower stand in Neiman Marcus Westchester for a recent event.

LUMINOUS BLOOMS

BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY KC CREATIONS

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alk with Kathi Cochran and Stefani Chisholm, and the phone line snaps, crackles and pops with laughter and one-liners as befits their longtime friendship and their shared passion for all things floral.

Such is that passion that the two are partners in a business Cochran founded 28 years ago, KC Creations LLC, which does event production and floral and garden design. Cochran and Chisholm are also among four partners who make up Creations Collective, which does weekly floral change-outs and maintenance — including special holiday designs — for the Global Brands Group on13 floors of the Empire State Building.

“We’re on call 24/7,” Cochran says. “We’ll get a last minute request, but we make it happen.”

And how. KC Creations got an 11th-hour call

from The Westchester to create an environment for a recent afternoon of lunch and curated shopping co-sponsored by Harper’s Bazaar.

“We had to come up with a proposal and we had very little time,” Chisholm says.

But, Cochran adds, “Stefani is the most talented artist. She makes watercolor presentations that are breathtaking.”

That same adjective could be used to describe the result — a trellis of autumnal roses in sherbet colors that provided the backdrop for Neiman Marcus models. (No mean feat: Carpenter Kevin Krause had to don a bathing suit to anchor it in one of the mall’s fountains, the women say.) The floral theme wound about a garden gate and then unspooled as a kind of runner across a banquet table. Meanwhile, KC Creations had set up a flower stand in Neiman Marcus that allowed the guests to create bouquets to take home. (Needless to say,

the individual arrangements that made up the table runner managed to disappear as soon as the luncheon was over — a gesture of appreciation that has Cochran and Chisholm dissolving into giggles at the memory.)

Attendees must be forgiven such thievery.

KC Creations’ work is just that irresistible. The company got The Westchester gig through word of mouth. (Operating out of a barn in Closter, New Jersey, where Cochran lives — Chisholm is in nearby Tappan — KC Creations has no storefront.) The company had provided the décor for an elaborate birthday party for Deborah Simon of the Simon Property Group, which owns The Westchester. The party took over Nougatine at Jean-Georges on Manhattan’s West Side, then spilled over to Lincoln Center, where Bette Midler provided the entertainment. The color scheme was lavender, a Deborah Simon favorite.

KC Creations designed a lounge setting for Midler’s performance and had less than three hours to do 21 complex tablescapes for Nougatine. Do you think Cochran and Chisholm made their deadline? What a silly question.

The pair relies on what Cochran calls “very specific sourcing” — strong relationships with vendors from the tri-state to Ecuador to The Netherlands, along with a core staff of veterans

Calla lilies, cool water roses and phalaenopsis orchids stand at attention at Nougatine at Jean-Georges in Manhattan for Deborah Simon’s birthday.

that can expand in a moment as the situation demands. But at its heart, KC Creations is about two women who seem to glide from one pressure cooker to another — a movie premiere like “The Wolf of Wall Street,” an event at Cipriani 42nd Street, a wedding.

“We love to do destinations,” Cochran says.

It’s been that way since the two worked as waitresses at the ’76 House in Tappan — the tavern, dubbed the oldest in New York state, where Maj. John André, the British spy who conspired with Benedict Arnold, was held before his execution.

“Back then, Kathi was just starting to grow her business and I helped her,” Chisholm recalls.

“Then Stefani decided to move to Nova Scotia and make a family,” Cochran adds with mock indignation.

But even in rugged Nova Scotia, where she spent six years, Chisholm was thinking vegetable gardens, perennial gardens, landscaping. Today, they do the spring planting for 60 to 70 clients.

How do they do it all?

“We have a small but hardworking staff,” Chisholm says. To which Cochran adds, “We’ve been working together for so many years.”

And with that, they’re off to plan two more events.

For more, contact info@kccreationsllc.com.

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AROUND THE WORLD WITH FOOD

BY DANIELLE RENDA

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hen it comes to Tour Catering, the name says it all.

The Suffern-based company, which is led by executive chef Kenneth Collins, offers clients an explosive culinary experience with a spread of ethnically inspired fare. His worldwide cornucopia of dishes may include anything from the likes of French-, Mexican- or Asian-inspired cuisine to traditional American bites that often evoke Texas roots.

“It’s about satisfying the palate, giving the personal service of letting a client choose anything they want and having the ability to produce it,” Collins says.

He and his team cater events in any setting, from parties of 700 in large venues to private dinners of 10, held in the comfort of the host’s home in the tristate area and, recently, Philadelphia.

“That’s one of the parts of the business that I love,” he says. “I’m hospitable and hospitality is one of the reasons why you get into this business.

“One of the other reasons that I cook is to have a satisfied client or to have a satisfied eater, and for someone to give you that ultimate compliment of, ‘I’ve never had anything like that,’ or ‘What is that?’ or ‘Can I have that recipe?’ Those kind of reactions really excite me.”

That excitement was born in Ennis, Texas, where he spent his childhood. When he was a teenager, Collins recalls, he disliked the clothes his grandmother bought for him.

“She said, ‘Well, if you don’t want what I buy you, get a job and buy your own clothes,’” he says.

That served as the impetus for Collins to get into the restaurant business. He began working as a bus boy, observed the chefs crafting their dishes and became intrigued.

When he entered high school, he enrolled in a culinary program and, as he says, “It just took off from there.”

Collins opened restaurants in Manhattan, starting with Ida Mae Kitchen n’ Lounge in midtown, which was inspired by his great-grand78

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Clockwise, from top, a triple-decker sandwich made with grilled lamb, roasted red peppers and arugula on focaccia bread, paired with a snow pea, coconut bisque and sweet potato ribbons; a roasted beet salad, topped with sherry vinaigrette and a goat cheese garnish; and seared tuna atop wonton crisps with micro greens. All photographs courtesy Tour Catering.

mother, Ida Mae Collins, who, along with his grandmother Lonnie Mae Collins, raised him and his brother.

“I would take the Southern kind of influences, taking black-eyed peas and mixing them with foie gras, and taking saffron and making aioli from it and things of that nature, which would always take from the Southern roots and add to the classical experience,” he says.

But Ida Mae Kitchen n’ Lounge was just the start. After closing the restaurant, he opened Tour, an after-hours eatery in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, which ultimately inspired

Tour Catering. The company has been in business for some eight years, with corporate clients including Kenneth Cole, Sephora, Donna Karan, Web MD, Calvin Klein, Puma and Scoop.

“One of my fortés is to take something simple and to create something divine from it,” he says.

“When I do that, it’s the ultimate satisfaction, not only for me as an artist and a chef, but for a client to be really be pleased and tell somebody else about me.”

Collins, who is also an artist, explains that his cooking is very much like painting.

“I’m inspired by Christ. I’m inspired by nature. I’m inspired by music. It’s layers of creativity, from that perspective,” he says. “When I start to cook…I might put on that texture or that color on that layer and then try to embellish and create something that’s unique and different.”

WAG recently had the opportunity to try a selection of Collins’ creations. The global food excursion began with a gourmet cheese and fruit board, accompanied by guacamole and tostones (twice-fried plantain slices), assorted crackers, flatbread and olives, for a flavorful flight through France and Mexico. Next was the roast beet salad, with sherry vinaigrette and goat cheese garnish, an ode to Greece and the Mediterra-

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nean. This proved particularly refreshing, with delightful contrasts in textures. Vietnamese salmon — which included smoked salmon, bitter greens, peanuts and sweet chili sauce wrapped in rice paper — was a lighter rendition of sushi with Thai influences.

The heartier tastes began with the “mac and three” bar. This decadent pasta exploded with flavor, an ode to his Southern heritage but with Italian influences. There was the option to top the mac and cheese with shrimp, pancetta or scallions (hence the “three”), though it was delectable all on its own. The grilled herb-spiced baby lamb chops with a ginger hoisin glaze saluted Chinese cuisine and was truly cooked to perfection in a medium rare, melt-in-yourmouth way.

The experience closed with assorted petit fours, with obvious French influences. I opted for a bit of lemon bar, which was a gooey, devilishly sweet way to end such an overall treat.

But given that Collins has sampled — and made —more unique dishes than most, I couldn’t help but ask his favorite.

“Duck,” he says. “Even foie gras or confit of duck or duck breast. It seems to always satisfy me. And I don’t eat it as often, so when I have it, it’s just like falling in love again.”

For more, visit worldculinarytour.com or call 201-248-6264.

Roasted monkfish paired with potatoes and asparagus in a tomato basil broth.

MODERN AMERICAN CUISINE

Innovative Menu | Rooftop Dining | Private Events THE

Perfect

PART Y ATMOSPHERE

130 East Main Street, Mount Kisco, NY 914.244.9780 | WWW.WINSTONRESTAURANT.COM

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Interventional Radiology

State-of-the-Art for the Highest Quality Exams

SERVICES OFFERED: Biopsies (liver, breast, thyroid, renal, lymph node) Venous Access (PICCs, Ports, Dialysis) Dialysis graft and Fistula Interventions

Patients are the focus of our department. We provide uniformly high quality examinations with courteous and compassionate service.

ColumbiaDoctors interventional radiologists perform thousands of IR procedures each year in specialized, angiography suites with dedicated scanners, and have a depth of experience with a range of procedures including treatment for cancer, fibroids, varicose veins, and kidney disease.

Transjugular Liver biopsies TIPS revisions Peripheral Angiography/Angioplasty/Stent placement IVC Filter placement and Retrievals Varicose vein diagnosis and treatments (US, EVLT, sclerotherapy, embolization) Biliary interventions (PTC, Drainages, catheter maintenance, stricture dilation, stent)

Our mission is to deliver top-quality medical care to our patients using state-of-the-art technology and techniques.

ColumbiaDoctors Radiology provides the finest Interventional Radiology services available in the Tri-State Area. Minimally invasive procedures are performed in a safe and comfortable environment using the latest equipment and technology. Procedures are performed by Board certified Interventional Radiologists, many of whom have been listed in the Castle Connolly “Best Doctors” report for New York.

Sidney Brejt, MD

David Mobley, MD

Stephen P. Reis, MD

Peter Schlossberg, MD

Renal interventions (nephrostomy, N-U, catheter maintenance) Varicocele and Pelvic Congestion Syndrome Embolizations Chemoembolization Uterine Fibroid Embolization To make an appointment or a referral at our Midtown or Tarrytown locations, please call 212-326-8874. www.columbiaradiology.org/services/interventional-radiology

Vladimir Sheynzon, MD

INTERVENTIONAL RADIOLOGY TARRYTOWN 155 White Plains Road • Suite W100 • Tarrytown, New York 10591

Sergei A. Sobolevsky, MD

Jonathan Susman, MD

David Sperling, MD

Joshua L. Weintraub, MD

INTERVENTIONAL RADIOLOGY MIDTOWN 51 West 51st Street • Suite 301 • New York, NY 10019

WARES

BREAKFAST (AND LUNCH AND HIGH TEA) AT TIFFANY’S

BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

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ell, they had us at the porcelain “paper” cups in Tiffany blue.

The folks at Tiffany & Co. have renovated the fourth floor of their Fifth Avenue flagship, which includes a new Home & Accessories Collection and the store’s first retail dining concept — The Blue Box Café. The result is a space and an experience that is open, intimate and just plain fun, “a window,” as chief artistic officer Reed Krakoff calls it, “into a new Tiffany.”

That Tiffany has an airy, modern feel with curated areas for a variety of clients. Parents to be won’t want to miss the baby boutique with such sweet offerings as a piggy bank in the new Tiffany blue and cream color block pattern that also turns up on dinnerware. Noses will scent the Tiffany Fragrance Laboratory, a bar-like space featuring the new Tiffany fragrance with its notes of iris, patchouli and musk. Bookworms can cuddle up in a lounge with some rare books whose presence represents a collaboration between Tiffany and Assouline. Fans of Elsa Peretti’s abstracted hearts and other works will be happy to know she has a dedicated space as well.

Elsewhere the floor mixes classic items with novelty gifts — a collar and leash in Tiffany blue for Fido, a silver sailboat, rocket and race car for sporty types, interoffice envelopes in Tiffany blue leather for the stylish worker. Of course, you’ll still find such classic items as the “Return to Tiffany” necklace and bracelet. On a recent visit, a woman purchases matching cufflinks for her fiancé. While she waits for her gift, a waiter serves her and her companion a complimentary glass of Champagne.

In a far corner, patrons delight in the new café, the quintessence of elegance in Tiffany blue, overlooking Central Park. The seasonal menu embraces lunch and high tea as well as morning offerings all day.

That way, you can always have “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”

For more, visit tiffany.com.

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Clockwise, from above, The Blue Box Café overlooking Central Park on the fourth floor of the flagship Tiffany & Co. in Manhattan; The Tiffany Fragrance Laboratory; personalization services are available; and the playful Baby Room. Courtesy Tiffany & Co.

WARES

WHOSE HOME IS IT ANYWAY?

BY JANE MORGAN

i

t’s just heaven. I am standing in the sitting room of The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel, my reflection softly shadowed in the gleaming black marble floors rimmed with gold and white borders. The dark, oversize oil paintings flanking the fireplace portray rich scenes of a lavish, Old World life. The gilt mirror above it reflects a sparkling Venetian glass chandelier, black lacquer accent tables and gold velvet club chairs exuding plush, restrained opulence. Symmetry is the axiom and smart glamour is rendered on an intimate scale. Every detail of this Art Deco treasure is transporting. During a recent trip to the Upper East Side, I took an unexpected detour, deciding to dash into the storied lobby for a moment of inspiration. I’m so glad I did.

The sitting room of The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel, in Manhattan.

A DESIGNER’S JOB IS TO CULTIVATE A CLIENT’S VOICE, NOT ERASE IT.

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The legendary decorator and style icon Dorothy Draper originally designed this luxurious environment in the 1930s in her signature “high style,” incorporating classical elements while showcasing bold choices in materials. Although she came from a moneyed background, she did not pander to the establishment in her work. One of my favorite quotes from her, “If it looks right, it is right,” is a testament to her confidence and belief in the strength of your personal view.

As a true original and a proponent of the philosophy that “your home should be an expression of your personality,” I can’t help but wonder what her take would be on today’s culture of “branding.” Sure there are many star interior designers today — Kelly Wearstler, Philippe Starck and Jonathan Adler, to name a few. They each have namesake product lines available for purchase on their websites — and platforms that also show you exactly how to put it all together for a flawless look. Whose look? Is your home the backdrop of Adler’s life or yours? Interior Designers in the age of Instagram have become formulaic in their zeal to monetize their brands. Mid-Century + Global Glamour + Provocative Pottery = Jonathan Adler. Or Something Weird + Something Crazy + Metallic Accents = Kelly Wearstler.

What place does branding have in interior design anyway? Where is the sense of individual revelation? A designer’s job is to cultivate a client’s voice, not erase it. If I see one more coquettish photo of Wearstler luxuriating in her dressing room wearing her branded clothing, surrounded by her branded accessories and sitting on her branded furniture, so help me. Even in the lower echelons of more moderately priced design stores, the visual uniformity is deadening.

Draper went on to design grand and eye-popping resort spaces catering to a high-end and escapist clientele. However, her residential projects brought out a deeply personal side of her. She believed that decorating had a direct effect on your mood and outlook and that taking charge of your environment was tantamount to taking charge of your life. Although her clients’ tastes were frequently more timid than her own, she exhorted them “not to be a slave to tradition or to your mother-in-law's taste. Fill the space with what you love.” Her first rule of home decorating was “courage,” followed by color and comfort. While Draper certainly had a look all her own, her branding statement would most certainly have conveyed the importance of thinking for yourself. She believed in the power of optimism and promoted it.

That philosophy was itself infectious.

If she were posting a message herself on Twitter today, Draper might have said, “Be yourself and let everyone else catch up.” As others continue her iconic firm’s legacy today, her spirit of wonder and discovery endures, inspiring us all.

For more, visit janemorganinteriordesign.com.

Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery

A Patient Success Story

Kyle is a delightful young boy. Unfortunately, when he was only 6 months old, he was admitted to the Children’s Hospital of New York at Columbia University with bacterial meningitis. His worried parents brought him into the Emergency Room with a very high fever, nausea, and vomiting. After a spinal tap was performed, Kyle was diagnosed with meningitis and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit for antibiotics and further management.

While in the hospital, Kyle alarmed his family and physicians when he unexpectedly had a big seizure. Concerned about his status, the ICU team and the Neurologists ordered scans of his brain. To their surprise, they discovered a congenital encephalocele. On one scan (above, left), the white circle in the center represents a fluid-filled sack hanging down from the bottom of his brain into the back of his nasal cavity. On the other scan (above, right), the doctors discovered that the bottom of Kyle’s skull had not properly formed. The bone of his skull base did not fuse properly during his development, and there was a gap in the bone that ordinarily separates the back of the nasal cavity from the bottom of the brain. As a result, Kyle’s meninges (or dura – the lining around the brain), had been pushed down into the back of his nose and was filled with cerebrospinal fluid. This abnormality predisposed Kyle to developing meningitis with something as simple as a common cold.

The Neurosurgery team at Columbia University contacted Dr. David A. Gudis, an otolaryngologist (Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor), with advanced training in complex sinus and skull base surgery. Together in the operating room, they used cutting-edge technology and advanced minimally invasive techniques to go through Kyle’s tiny nose and his mouth endoscopically. They reconstructed the bottom of his skull and repaired the abnormality by rotating Kyle’s own nasal tissue.

Now one year old, Kyle is doing great. He is walking, talking, breathing better than ever, and keeping his parents busy!

SERVICES OFFERED: Audiology and Hearing Balance Disorders Cochlear Implantation and Rehabilitation Facial, Plastic, and Reconstructive Surgery General ENT Head and Neck Surgical Oncology Otology and Neurotology Pediatric Otolaryngology Salivary Gland Disorders Sinus and Nasal Disorders Skull Base Surgery Snoring and Sleep Medicine Thyroid and Parathyroid Disorders Voice and Swallowing Disorders

To make an appointment please call (212) 305-8555. www.columbiadoctors.org/ear-nose-throat CUMC/HARKNESS PAVILION 180 Fort Washington Avenue New York, NY 10032 COLUMBIADOCTORS RIVERDALE 3050 Corlear Ave, Suite 202 Bronx, NY 10463 David A. Gudis, M.D. Assistant Professor Rhinology, Skull Base Surgery, and Pediatric Otolaryngology

Justin S. Golub, MD, MS Assistant Professor Otology, Neurotology, and Skull Base Surgery

WEAR

WHERE FASHION MEETS NASA

BY DANIELLE RENDA

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hen Hemlata Nambiar finished her first marathon, she found a silver lining.

Or, rather, it found her.

After completing the More Marathon in 2009 — a race held in Central Park by the former More Magazine — the Larchmont resident was wrapped in a heatsheet, a thermal blanket used to regulate the body temperature of runners gradually, post finish.

For some, the shiny material offers relief, but for Nambiar, it would eventually signify opportunity.

Years later, she’d question why this material, which NASA uses to insulate its spacesuits and the military uses to conduct rescue operations, hadn’t yet been used in day-to-day outerwear.

In 2016, she created the answer. Inspired by her passion for running Nambiar launched 13-One, a company that uses NASA-developed heatsheet technology to create lifestyle products. Thus far, her first collection, which has been on the market for six months, boasts silver-lined, unisex jackets, all of which weigh less than one pound, are water resistant and retain 90 percent of body heat to suit the lifestyle of athletes, outdoorsmen, jetsetters and on-the-go moms, much like her.

“It’s kind of an old technology that I kicked up a notch,” Nambiar says. Wearing a pale pink sweater that complements her skin tone, she explains the ins and outs of the heatsheet, her eyes aglow with enthusiasm.

When a marathon takes place in cold weather, she says, runners are at risk for hypothermia, since their body temperatures can drop drastically, postrace. The heat sheet, which was created by NASA in the 1960s to insulate its spacecraft and spacesuits, is a thin, plastic, sheet coated with a silver or gold reflecting agent, designed to retain heat. In the 1970s, it became customary to comfort runners with these sheets, post marathon, until they changed clothes.

“How the technology works is that when you start walking or moving, your body heats up, so (the material) collects that energy and sustains it,” she says. “Depending on your body temperature — some people are always hot, some people are always cold — it regulates to you, in terms of

what you’re producing.”

There was only one problem: The heatsheets at marathons are for one-time use. Determined to find a solution, Nambiar contacted Heatsheets, the flagship brand of Advanced Flexible Materials, which manufactures reflective insulation fabrics, to discuss the possibility of a fabric form of the material. This call led to the creation of a patent-pending fabric, which Nambiar now uses to design her jackets.

“They’re packable, making them perfect for frequent travelers, outdoors lovers and even college kids — because college kids do not like to take umbrellas,” says the mother of three — ages 20, 17 and 16 — with a smile.

Prior to launching 13-One — its name comes from 13.1, the number of miles in a half-marathon — Nambiar began handcrafting accessories, such as ponchos and necklaces. Looking to grow her business, she applied to Goldman Sachs’s 10,000 Small Businesses program, which is a $500 million initiative created in partnership with the Tory Burch Foundation to help prepare the nation’s early stage, small businesses for success. Nambiar was accepted and participated in a course held at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, from October 2016 to February 2017.

It was here that her initial business idea was transformed.

“I completely pivoted from the ponchos and the necklaces and the scarves, because every assignment in the class was asking who I was and what I did. I was always outdoors at my kids’ baseball and soccer games. And I didn’t like traveling with big coats,” she says. “I always think that if you solve for yourself, you’ll know the ins and outs of what works and what doesn’t.”

While brainstorming, Nambiar was immediately brought back to that moment of crossing the finish line in 2009. Not only because of the heart-thumping adrenaline, but also because of the milestone it represented in her life. This was Nambiar’s first race after undergoing two massive surgeries due to a ruptured diaphragm and a collapsed lung, followed by three years of physiotherapy.

“I was young, and I thought for those years, ‘What if I can’t play with my kids? What if I can’t be athletic again?'” Nambiar says. “Crossing that finish line was just this moment of sheer happiness and being wrapped in this silver, glittery blanket made it even more special, and seeing 5,000-plus other women running with you and inspiring you with every mile, it’s an incredible thing.”

This past October, 13-One was featured on MSNBC’s “Elevator Pitch,” a short TV segment that gives upcoming businesses the opportunity to discuss their products. She has also since become a member of Alley to the Valley, a network of powerful

One sells three styles of unisex jackets that are lined with a heatsheet fabric, intended to retain 90 percent of the wearer’s body heat. Courtesy 13-One.

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businesswomen across the country.

“These women have helped me along the way,” she says, speaking of the women she’s met, both inside and outside of the network. “When you take your business in that way, it’s not about competition. It’s that if you open one door for someone, they’ll open it for you. I feel, right now, that women working together is like a big family.”

For the summer months, Nambiar hopes to create baseball caps and beach hats that do the opposite of her jackets — help keep the wearers cool. She explains that when the silver lining is placed on the exterior of a garment, it deflects sunrays, reflecting heat, rather than retaining it.

And it seems like nothing will inhibit her determination. Nambiar’s roots, after all, stem from Gujarat, an Indian state known for its culture of dedicated workmanship.

“I feel like being Indian gives me my work ethic,” says Nambiar, who was born and raised in Canada.

“Working hard and never taking shortcuts. Being an American is about the idea that whatever you dream and aspire to, you can do it here. The Canadian aspect keeps me humble. I am so thankful for every door that’s opened and I’ll never forget who’s opened those doors for me.”

13-One products are available online or at Parkers at 43 Purchase St. in Rye. For more, visit 13-one.com.

13-One’s jackets are lightweight, weighing less than one pound each, as well as water resistant. Courtesy 13-One.

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WHAT'S COLLECTIBLE

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

BY JENNY PITMAN

TODAY, THE BEST WAY TO LOCATE YOUR STAR-SIGN JEWELRY IS AT AUCTION OR THROUGH A DEALER.

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rowing up in the 1970s, I was fascinated by my mood ring’s ability to reflect my emotions, I looked to my horoscope to predict the day’s fate and I believed fervently in the talismanic power of my Scorpio medallion. So the resurgence in popularity of astrology-related jewelry is all the more exciting for me.

Now I get to re-experience what the “grownups” got to wear back then — jewelry that was both fashionable and personal. And, with some zodiac-related pieces commanding thousands of dollars at auction, it’s certainly worth taking a closer look at these pieces — and a look inside your own jewelry box.

The market for astrology-related jewelry has grown enormously in the last five to 10 years, according to Gus Davis of Camilla Dietz Bergeron in Manhattan. Davis has a waiting list of customers and when a zodiac piece comes in, it’s sold straight away. The heyday for this material was the late ’60s and early ’70s. Van Cleef & Arpels, Cartier, Buccellati, Tiffany & Co. and David Webb all produced zodiac-inspired material. Today, the best way to locate your star-sign jewelry is at auction or through a dealer.

Topping the list in terms of desirability are the iconic zodiac pendants of Van Cleef & Arpels.

The venerable French firm produced circular gold medallions to be worn as a pendant necklace or as a charm on a bracelet. They were fashioned in the form of ancient coins, right down to the splits and millgraining. Each medallion featured a zodiac symbol on the obverse, with the sign and dates on the reverse. Van Cleef & Arpel’s larger pendants made a much bolder and more colorful statement. Intended to be worn with a heavy gold chain, the symbol was gem-set, with hardstone backings of malachite and lapis lazuli.

The jewelry of David Webb (1925-75) is instantly recognizable, characterized by its bold scale and use of yellow gold and color, and his zodiac-inspired brooches, bracelets, belt buckles, rings and pendants are all true to form. Webb moved from Asheville, North Carolina, to New York as a teenager and by the time he was 30 had established such a presence that his jewelry appeared on four Vogue covers in one year alone.

Webb designed incessantly until his early death at age 50 from pancreatic cancer. While his subject matter varied widely — from African animals to astrology to pre-Columbian artifacts — he always remained true to his taste for bold colors and large scale. Webb’s zodiac brooches are his most dramatic. First made circa 1968, they are still in production today at David Webb. The brooches feature sculpted, textured and chased gold, some set with diamond accents.

The inventive zodiac jewelry of designer Aldo Cipullo is also highly sought after today. The Italian-born Cipullo immigrated to the United States in 1961 and designed for David Webb, Tiffany & Co. and Cartier before opening his own studio in 1974. Like Webb’s, Cippulo’s career was cut short.

He died of a heart attack in 1984 when in his early 40s. Cipullo is best known for designing Cartier’s iconic bracelets — the Love Bracelet, made of gold with tiny screws and a screwdriver to secure the two halves; and Juste un Clou, a bracelet of a single bent nail surrounding the wrist. Cipullos’ line of zodiac jewelry for Cartier and, later on his own, features hardstones such as rock crystal or lapis lazuli into which the zodiac sign is carved and then set into a gold frame.

Among boutique jewelers, works from the firm of Jean Mahie are highly coveted because they are considered wearable art. Mahie’s handcrafted, one-of-a-kind pieces are always made in high karat yellow gold. Jacline Mazard, a painter, and her father-in-law, Jean Mazard, a retired businessman, began producing gold jewelry in the late ’60s, despite the fact that neither was a trained goldsmith. Their unusual partnership and a savvy marketing campaign brought early success to the firm, and Van Cleef & Arpels and Cartier promoted Mahie’s work. Soon after, Neiman Marcus became and remains the sole distributor of Mahie’s jewelry in the United States.

Examples of Mahie’s zodiac work from the early ’70s feature hammered gold pendants with riveted zodiac symbols.

With the resurgence of interest in astrology-related jewelry, is there any chance we’ll bring back “What's your sign?” as the go-to cocktail party icebreaker?

For more, contact Jenny Pitman at jenny@ ragoarts.com or 917-745-2730.

1. Cartier’s Aries pendant in lapis lazuli and 18-karat gold. Courtesy FD GALLERY. 2. Jean Mahie’s Pisces pendant in 22-karat gold. Courtesy DK Farnum Estate Jewelry.

3. David Webb’s Virgo brooch in diamonds, 18-karat gold and platinum.

Courtesy David Webb.

4. Van Cleef & Arpels’ Gemini pendant in diamonds, malachite and 18-karat gold.

Courtesy Camilla Dietz Bergeron.

5. Van Cleef & Arpels’ Capricorn pendant in 18-karat gold. Courtesy Rago Arts and Auction.

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WANDERS

WHAT’S IN THE STARS FOR TRAVELERS

BY JEREMY WAYNE f you’re not on vacation in January, all I can say is you should be. A tropical locale, perhaps, where the cocktails are cool and a jazz quartet plays mellow sounds at sunset on a dreamy terrace, lights twinkling along the curve of a bay.

The next best thing to being on vacation is booking one, and January is the month to do so with an eye to what’s new. While sustainability, responsibility and low (or no) carbon footprint are still buzzwords, these key concepts don’t preclude luxury. In fact they go with it, hand in glove.

National Geographic Travel’s tailor-made tours cover 80 destinations on seven continents.

The company excels at small-ship ocean trips, river cruises and domestic and overseas summer trips for middle and high school students while also running 58 lodges in stunning locations around the world. If you’ve got the time and the cash, an $80,000 around-the-world-in-24 days trip by private jet might be just the thing. “Sustainable tourism practices and the natural language of the location” are National Geographic’s primary aims and, what’s more, 27 percent of the proceeds of everything it does — including the cost of your vacation — goes back into its work in the field. nationalgeographic.com Getting there, though, is only half the fun.

The other half is staying there. The Washington, D.C.-headquartered Preferred Hotels will add no fewer than 13 new-build properties to its collection in 2018, including the scrumptious Hotel Bennett in Charleston, South Carolina, Montage in Los Cabos, Mexico (joining Montage's California hotels in Beverly Hills and Laguna Beach) and the Bobby — upping the luxury quotient in Nashville, Tennessee.

Another gorgeous new hotel, Pestana Amsterdam Riverside, located in a former Town Hall, may be reason alone for a visit to the city of canals, bicycles and more-or-less legal pot — along with great art, of course. preferredhotels.com Coming soon, too, from a hotel group whose ethos is wellness, are five new luxury Six Senses lodges across distant, exotic Bhutan. Yes, the emphasis may be on health and well-being, but,

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Page Capella Ubud, Indonesia – view from across the valley at dawn. Courtesy C

as the Six Senses people put it, you’re perfectly welcome to eat a cheeseburger with extra fries if that’s what you fancy. Another Six Senses property will open shortly in a magnificent setting — Shaharut, in Israel’s Negev desert — while stressedout, world-weary New Yorkers can look forward to Six Senses Manhattan, slated for 2019, which promises to be a unique urban spa in our own backyard. sixsenses.com Meanwhile, on the hip Spanish isle of Ibiza and right where you want to be, on Talamanca bay — which is to say close to the yachts but away from the masses — the new Nobu Ibiza Bay is the last word in chilled and laidback cool, but not so cool it doesn’t have an amazing kids club. nobuhotels.com Also in the Balearic islands, Meliá — the 60-year-old hotel chain with 375 hotels in 43 countries — will be updating all its properties there this year, as well as opening what promises to be a stunner of a hotel in the Modernista (and predominantly gay in summer) resort town of Sitges, just south of Barcelona. The hotel group also has a cracker of a new hotel in the historic

Capella Hotel Group.

heart of Madrid, the Gran Meliá Palacio de los Duques, located in a palace that was the former home of the dukes of Granada de Ega and Villahermosa. melia.com In other news from Madrid, Mandarin Oriental has taken over the legendary Ritz but promises a sensitive refurbishment respecting the hotel’s remarkable history.

We move on to Italy’s Tuscan countryside near Siena, where Claus and Jeanette Thottrup’s Borgo Santo Pietro is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Bought as a ruin, this 100-acre, 20-room property (including two suites with their own swimming pools), is paradise, with glorious public spaces and gardens, not to mention painting classes, a cooking school, a free-range farm, a dairy (featuring seven kinds of Pecorino made in house), beehives for honey and a skin care lab. There’s even a church onsite dating from the 13th century, San Galgano, so you can get married there.

And if all of this isn’t enough, or indeed is too much, Santo Pietro has just launched a yacht, the

xxx Spa Botanico treatment at Dorado Beach, Puerto Rico. Courtesy of Dorado Beach – A Ritz-Carlton Reserve.

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t

SUPPORTING – AND REDISCOVERING – THE CARIBBEAN

ourism is the lifeblood of the Caribbean region and, by visiting its stunning islands, we can make a difference.

Despite the shocking lack of help from the federal government, Puerto Ricans are doing an incredible job rebuilding their hurricane-devastated island. Please go and spend your money at the gorgeous Dorado Beach, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, or the Ritz-Carlton San Juan, both reopening Oct. 1. Indeed, go and spend your money anywhere in Puerto Rico. (Other hotels and resorts are already back in operation.)

Elsewhere, the island of St. Barts was decimated by Hurricane Irma, but hoteliers have been working hard to recover.

Le Toiny (letoiny.com), Eden Rock (oetkercollection.com) and Cheval Blanc Isle de France St. Barth (chevalblanc. com), the island’s most upper-crust hotels, expect to reopen for business when the season starts in October with a new property, Le Carl Gustaf, from the distinguished French group, Barrière (lucienbarriere.com), also slated to open around the same time. Dedicated and talented hoteliers like these show the world that the hospitality industry does not take adversity lying down. Sure, luxury has its price, but I would rather three nights at a hotel run with passion and savoir faire than a week somewhere cookie-cutter and mediocre.

– Jeremy Wayne Entrance to Cheval Blanc Isle de France St. Barth. Courtesy Cheval Blanc.

Satori. With a crew of eight or nine and accommodating up to 10 people in five cabins, the Satori sails the Mediterranean Sea from the Italian Riviera all the way around the heel of Italy to Croatia, and boasts a 300-bin wine cellar among its many other luxuries.

“If you don’t need to bring along the full complement of guests,” Jeanette Thottrup suggests, “let us equip one of the cabins as a spa, so you and your guests can have daily treatments.” Well, why not? borgosantopietro.com Wellness, too, is a thing at Capella Hotels, where signature Auriga Spa treatments are based on the phases of the moon. The theme will continue at the new Capella in Ubud on the Indonesian island

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of Bali. The Capella there will be an ultra-luxurious tented camp designed as a fully immersive rainforest experience, entered through its very own rice paddy with activities, including mud Pilates and jungle boot camp. Capella is inaugurating new properties, too, in Shanghai and Bangkok, where collaborations with chefs Pierre Gagnaire and Mauro Colagreco respectively will make these hotels seriously upscale dining destinations in their own right. capellahotels.com Niccolo — a hotel collection within the Marco Polo group — is another name that should be on your radar. These futuristic hotels are springing up in prime locations all over China, with Chengdu and Chongqing already open and Changsha

and Suzhou coming shortly. And, opening this month, Niccolo’s Norman Foster-designed Murray Hotel in Hong Kong will up the ante for splendor in the former British colony, already home to some of the world’s most luxurious and iconic hostelries. marcopolohotels.com Finally, prepare for The Chatwal, arriving in 2019. Already established in Times Square, this Indian-American company will offer activities as diverse as Ayurvedic massage and fly fishing, with a restaurant by Alain Ducasse, no less, in the new Chatwal Lodge in Bethel, New York. True luxury on the doorstep and with no carbon footprint — surely a win-win situation in the luxury travel stakes. chatwalny.com

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WANDERS

HYATT REGENCY MAUI:

‘TOUR OF THE STARS’

d

BY DEBBI K. KICKHAM aytime on Maui, the beaches, palm trees and clear blue skies stun, their beauty reflected in the turquoise waters.

But the nighttime is perhaps when the Hawaiian island really struts its stuff.

What gives? Well, for the past 20 years, the Hyatt Regency Maui resort has offered a special rooftop “Tour of the Stars” to hotel guests and the public, and it’s a stellar experience.

In the evening, you walk outside to the upper reaches of the hotel, where you will glean fascinating insights into the Big Dipper and the Southern Cross, while seeing a wealth of stars, planets and nebulae with a handful of people and astronomy director Eddie Mahoney as your guide.

He’s assisted by two Celestron telescopes, 11- and 14-inch models, and a pair of binoculars. The 11-inch reflector can gather as much as 1,000 times the light your naked eye can, while the 14-inch can gath96

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er 2,000 times the light. “You can see things that could never see with your unaided eye,” he says of the telescopic aids for the 45-minute show.

“I’ve often heard that it was the high point of their trip to Hawaii,” adds Mahoney, who has master’s degrees in science and education. “A lot of people say they haven’t seen stars like this since their childhood.”

Mahoney’s presentation is also a delight. My husband, Bill, and I have taken this tour numerous times, and it’s never been the same sky twice. Every time we go, we “ooh” and “aah.”

“Because of our location in Hawaii, we are 20 degrees north of the equator, so we see 80 of the 88 constellations — a lot you would not see on the mainland, like the Southern Cross and the Alpha Centuri that is the closest star system to us from the planet Earth,” Mahoney says. “We have clear, dark skies — and so many people come from cities where they don’t have dark skies anymore. A lot of Americans even don’t get to see the Milky Way anymore, because of light pollution in the big cities.

“We talk about how the Polynesians used the stars to navigate, because different stars go to very different places on the earth. The Seven Sisters (a star cluster in Taurus the Bull) — goes right over the Hawaiian Islands as the earth passes underneath the stars.

“This is my 17th year here at this Hyatt, and I started with the Hyatt on the Big Island (Hawaii) 20 years ago. I started stargazing back in 1957 when I was 7 years old, when Sputnik was launched. That’s when my treehouse became an observatory.

“We have a portable telescope if someone can’t

Eddie Mahoney, astronomy director at the Hyatt Regency Maui.

make it to the rooftop, or if there’s a party on the lawn, so we are ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act)-compliant.”

On Jan. 31 most the of the Western Hemisphere will experience a total lunar eclipse, so the resort will host an all-night Blood Moon party — when the moon will turn red.

“I have seen four since I’ve been here in Hawaii,” Mahoney says. The hotel will serve complimentary hot cocoa and cookies until dawn. And don’t forget about the “constellation prizes” — special maps of the stars handed out to everyone.

The eclipse itself will last about four hours. “It’s a free party for all guests,” he says.

For more, visit maui.regency.hyatt.com or call 808-667-4727. And for more on Debbi, visit gorgeousglobetrotter.com and marketingauthor.com.

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WANDERS

COME BACK TO JAMAICA

BY BARBARA BARTON SLOANE

he Amazonian giant centipede, the 6-foot yellow Jamaican boa, the hutia — a small, squat rodent once popular as a food source for the Taino people — all are indigenous to Jamaica.

But put that out of your mind right now. When you visit Jamaica, chances are you won’t cross paths with any of these lovelies. Instead, you’ll be surrounded by an azure sea, lush tropical scenery and some of the nicest people you can ever hope to meet.

Jamaica, the third largest island in the Caribbean, was once a Spanish possession known as Santiago.

In 1655, it came under the rule of England and was named Jamaica. The country achieved full independence from the United Kingdom in 1962, thus commemorating its 50th anniversary in 2012. That year, a British secret agent we all know and love was also celebrating a 50th anniversary — his debut in the long-running 007 film series. James Bond’s creator, Ian Fleming, lived in Jamaica and repeatedly used the island as a setting for his Bond novels, including “Live and Let Die,” “Doctor No” and “For Your Eyes Only” as well as the short story “Octopussy.” Two Bond films were made in Jamaica, and “The Man with the Golden Gun,” his 1965 novel, is centered in its resort town of Negril.

Located in Westmoreland, the westernmost parish in Jamaica, Negril is small and intimate, with a population of just over 3,000. It’s thought that the name comes from the black eels found along the coast. Spaniards called the area Negro Eels, shortened to Negrillo and finally to Negril. The coastline, commonly referred to as Seven Mile Beach, is actually just slightly more than four miles in length — but who’s counting? Here you’ll find the island’s finest beaches, rated among the top 10 in the world and ideal for diving and snorkeling, thanks to their protected reefs. Nightlife in Negril is full of possibilities — lots of restaurants and live reggae shows on the beach. And, of course, visiting both Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville and Rick’s Café (with its fearless cliff divers) is a must.

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Yachts lined up in Jamaica’s Montego Bay.

leading to the sea. The hotel’s setting, in the northwest corner of Jamaica, offers picturesque views with a benefit. Hurricanes typically hit the eastern coast, not this region of the country. Located about an hour and a half from the Montego Bay airport, the resort offers a pickup service as well as a yummy rum punch the moment you arrive.

I was given a tour of the sprawling property and then handed a cell phone. “Press this button,” I was instructed, “and 24-hours a day you can reach your personal butler. He’ll take care of everything.” The Cliff’s staff is friendly, attentive — and a lot of fun.

Each morning my waiters, Hassan, Omite and Johnny Walker, made what might have been a merely routine breakfast a really cool happening. They spun all my reggae requests and engaged in good conversation with charming Jamaican patois. The “Let’s Get Together and Feel Alright” ambience of Marley’s hit “One Love” was infectious.

Street performers playing outside the port of Falmouth in Jamaica ahead of the national labor day celebrations.

CAPITAL OF CASUAL The town is quaint — no traffic lights, only one roundabout. The road leading into the center has two narrow, winding lanes crowded with traffic.

As my taxi zipped along, confidently maneuvering the treacherous blind curves, the driver noticed my white knuckles clutching the back of his seat. In that wonderful Jamaican lilt, he reassured me, “No problem, mon, we’re used to it.”

The road was lined with goats, dogs, chickens, brightly colored dwellings and small stores with vibrant, rainbow-hued clothing — dresses, pareos (sarongs), T-shirts and skirts, all flapping in the breeze. I had to get a photo so I hopped out of the cab and began snapping. A young gal peered out from between the garments, asking if she could help me. Saying I just wanted a picture, she said, “OK, but if you want, I can braid your hair.” Sensing that my beach-blown coif needed help, yet unable to channel a Bo Derek moment, I declined. Smiling warmly, she wished me a nice day and I was on my

way. No pressure, no hard sell. I was quickly getting the sense that Negril, known as “The Capital of Casual,” lives up to its name.

RASTA MAN I found my way to a small, rural village tucked high in the mountains of St. Ann Parish where reggae singer Bob Marley, one of Jamaica’s most esteemed citizens, was born in 1945 and laid to rest in 1981. The community is owned and operated by the singer’s family, and my tour started with a walk through the house he lived in as a boy. My Rastafarian guide shared with our group many little-known insights about Marley’s childhood and career. We visited Mt. Zion Rock, which he used as a meditation spot, and, finally, we toured the mausoleum, his final resting place.

ON THE ROCKS While in Negril I visited one of its finest luxury resorts, The Cliff Hotel, perched on a rocky precipice

LOVE THE LIFE YOU LIVE The Cliff is famous for the myriad destination weddings it hosts. All decisions can be coordinated with its wedding planner beforehand so when the bride and groom arrive, they’re free to kick back and simply enjoy the resort with family and friends. A wedding was planned while I was there. I observed the wedding couple frolicking in the pool, dining with their guests, catching some rays, all without the slightest frisson of stress. Everything had been handled in advance.

I had the chance to experience the couple’s rehearsal dinner, which the resort took great delight in planning. It was a traditional meal with tasty offerings from each of Jamaica’s parishes. For example, from St. Elizabeth Parish there was fried bammy (cassava) and, from Portland Parish, curried goat. I saw many guests lined up at the buffet for this particular delight. Me? I made a beeline for the dessert table.

LIVE THE LIFE YOU LOVE I awoke next day to the solitude of a sweet Jamaican morning — a warm breeze rustling tall palms, the shimmer of a glass-like Caribbean Sea. A significant factor for this cherished calm is that Negril is still fairly underdeveloped. However, this may not last for long as there is now a new highway from Montego Bay and an improved infrastructure that will ultimately bring many more tourists, hotels and tour operators. It's a most compelling reason to visit Negril, Jamaica — now.

For more, visit negril.com, thecliffjamaica.com and visitjamaica.com.

WONDERFUL DINING

FOOD FOR THE FUTURE AT PISTICCI STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS

BY ALEESIA FORNI

f you’re not looking for Pisticci, you might miss it.

Actually, you might miss the Italian eatery in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan even if you are looking for it.

Situated at 125 La Salle St. between Broadway and Claremont avenues on the Harlem border, the restaurant sits below street level, with a handful of steep stairs leading down to the dining area.

Once inside, though, you’re greeted by smiling employees and laughing patrons and you’ll realize you’ve stumbled upon an eclectic-if-hidden gem.

“My wife and I…built the restaurant as a place we would like going to ourselves,” said Michael Forte, who co-owns the eatery with wife Vivian. “That’s what drove us, and that’s still what drives us.”

Forte’s family hails from the restaurant’s namesake, Pisticci, a town in the southern Italian region of Basilicata, where his grandfather spent his days farming the land and raising crops.

“We would go to Italy, and I was always so impressed with how you were able to get such great food there,” he said. “There, farm-to-table isn’t anything new, it’s just a way of life,” Though neither Forte had any experience in the restaurant business, they did have a simple, singular goal — to create a welcoming, community-focused restaurant.

“We’re the kind of place people come two or three nights a week, and they’ve been doing that for years,” the Irvington resident said.

Opened in 2002, Pisticci was one of the first restaurants to take up residence in Morningside

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Irvington’s Michael and Vivian Forte own and operate Pisticci, a cozy Italian eatery in the Morningside Heights section of Manhattan. Brunch selections there include, from left, Penne Pisticci; the restaurant’s twist on the ubiquitous avocado toast; and Pisticci fiorentino.

Heights. As the eatery’s popularity grew, so did its footprint. Pisticci has expanded twice in the past decade and now includes three bars and three separate dining rooms.

“Each room looks different, but they’re all obviously connected,” he said.

The result is a fun, comfortable, 150-seat eatery that somehow manages to make each section feel like its own unique space, while maintaining a cohesiveness and flow throughout.

There’s the chic wine cellar room that boasts original stone walls and oversize wooden candle fixtures, the main dining room with exposed brick, exposed pipes and floor-to-ceiling windows and a den area with its trompe l’oeil effect of bookshelves lining the walls.

A recent weekend visit found the restaurant bustling with diners, some seated near the floorto-ceiling windows to gaze at the recently fallen snow, some taking up residence in the cozy, dimly lit rear dining room.

We arrived just in time to grab brunch and started with an order of Pisticci fiorentino, which offers crumbled prosciutto, soft poached eggs and a creamy white sauce atop wilted spinach and tomato medallions. A side of potatoes were perfectly crisp and paired with fresh greens.

Penne Pisticci, one of the restaurant’s staples, features noodles cooked to al dente perfection, with a light yellow and red vine tomato sauce, finished with warm homemade mozzarella and slivers of fresh basil.

A twist on the über-trendy avocado toast include a mix of avocados and chickpeas spread atop multigrain toast, with thin slices of tomato and an accompanying mix of greens.

For the Fortes, Pisticci is about more than just a welcoming restaurant that serves delicious food.

It’s about the environment.

“It’s a personal decision. It’s a passion of my wife and mine,” Forte said. “When we opened this restaurant, we asked ourselves, “Is it possible for a small business to be an environmental steward and be successful?'”

The answer, they found, was a resounding “yes.”

The eatery is one of only five 4-star green restaurants in New York state, a rating given to restaurants that meet strict environmental-friendly criteria. The restaurant is also carbon neutral and even switched from using conventional energy sources (“We don’t use any gas-powered equip-

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Pisticci, which features a cozy, welcoming décor, is named after the Italian town of owner Michael Forte’s grandfather.

ment,” Forte said) to renewable energy. Recently, Pisticci added an on-site composting area behind its restaurant.

“I’d love to see if it’s possible to do zero waste,” he said. “I don’t know if it is, but I’m going to try.”

The company also implemented profit sharing with its employees, along with setting up flex time to allow them to control their own hours. That flexible schedule is especially important because the restaurant is in New York, where much of the staff is made up of aspiring artists, singers, dancers and actors.

It’s not difficult to tell that the steps Forte has taken with his employees have paid off. Each person we encountered on our visit was friendly and quick to laugh or joke. Many of the cooks and sous chefs at Pisticci have been with the restaurant for more than a decade, Forte said.

“There are managers that have been with me from the beginning,” he added. “I’ve got a really good base of people.”

Another significant step Pisticci has taken in re-

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THE EATERY IS ONE OF ONLY FIVE 4-STAR GREEN RESTAURANTS IN NEW YORK STATE, A RATING GIVEN TO RESTAURANTS THAT MEET STRICT ENVIRONMENTALFRIENDLY CRITERIA.

cent years is the inclusion of fresh produce grown by the Fortes themselves.

Inspired by four years spent living with his family in Australia and working on an urban farm, Forte began growing his own organic crops near his home in Westchester. Crops are grown both on a plot of land at Kitchawan Farm in Yorktown and within a pair of greenhouses in Croton-on-Hudson.

The farm uses the compost from its restaurant to cultivate those vegetables, which are then incorporated in a variety of dishes at the restaurant.

That cyclical relationship lends to the operation’s name, Pisticci Full Circle Farm.

“My goal is to grow enough where it pays for itself in the long run,” he said.

Still, Forte already has eyes on the future and hopes to double or triple the size of his farming operation in the coming year.

“I’m still learning, it’s a big learning curve,” he said, his enthusiasm contagious. “These are just the beginning phases.”

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WINE & DINE

A variety of Doug Paulding's stemware, including Riedel’s Malbec glass (center) and the angular Sophienwald glass, to its right.

WHY WINE GLASSES MATTER STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH

BY DOUG PAULDING

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o, you’ve chosen the wine for the evening. You have brought it to proper serving temperature. You have opened it and taken a quick sniff into the bottle. All good. Except your grandmother’s etched glassware that you inherited, which looks festive and pretty with its small bowls and vertical walls, will nonetheless not allow your wine to express itself properly and achieve self-actualization. Proper stemware matters. Riedel makes a specific glass for many of the noteworthy grapes of the world. I was invited to participate on a panel several years ago with several of New York’s “wine influentials” to taste Malbec from a variety of shaped glasses, prototypes Riedel had created to let the Malbec sing. As a group we swirled, sniffed, tasted and eliminated a glass or two in each flight. Ultimately, there was one large egg-shaped, large-bowl, smallmouth glass that was deemed the best shape for Malbec. And similar panels in Miami and Las Vegas came to the same conclusion, although admittedly, Georg Riedel and his son, Maximilian, did their best to influence the outcome.

And how was this shape chosen? Malbec, especially when young, can be tight and contained. A large bowl allows for generous swirling, spinning and aerating the wine. This is almost equivalent to decanting for the same benefit. I really do not see the need for different shapes for every different grape.

I look for an open bowl and smaller mouth to discourage spillage. I look for lead-free stemware. Studies have shown that lead can leach from the crystal into the liquid over time. I look for dishwasher safe.

I look for thin walls and a graceful shape. I look for a pleasing tone when I flick the edge of the glass or I clink to seal the deal and complete a toast. And I look for affordability. Glasses will inevitably get broken and it’s not as painful when they were acquired at a good price.

Sparkling wines used to be served in short, open shrimp cocktail type glassware that was clumsy and impossible to walk around with without dripping. Then vertical and narrow flute glasses became the trend, because the playful bubbles dance more visibly in them. This type of glass does prevent a hearty swirl, which will keep the wine tight and contained. Again, I prefer an open bowl. I have been to the Champagne region in France and the Franciacorta sparkling wine region in Italy and they have moved to serving their sparklers in more open bowls. The bubble stream tends to be a bit more subdued and sedate but if a tiny, etched mark is made in the bottom of the glass, the bubbles will be focused into a narrow and ascending stream in the middle of the glass. This will give you the properly aerated wine aromas and tastes and the visible celebratory bubbles.

Many of the top producers of wine glasses are now making a stemless version of their vessels.

These come in multiple shapes and definitely have their place. Obviously, they are essential for proper wine appreciation on a boat. But they are also helpful for mobile buffet-type parties and events where there is a lot of movement. Stemware is significantly easier to tip and more likely to get toppled. And clean up is quick as the stemless glassware will fit in any dishwasher. The purpose of the stem is to keep your fingers off the bowl itself, which will change the temperature of the wine. So it’s good to put the stemless glass down between sips.

Many years ago a wine friend of mine told me, “Proper wine glass selection can add three Parker points to a wine.” Robert Parker is the famous wine critic, quite possibly the most influential critic in any field in the world. He has been responsible for changing the tastes we are likely to encounter in a wine and changing the industry itself as producers yearn for good ratings. If proper glass selection can add points and improve your wine experience, it can be the best use of your money.

Many stores and outlets now contain a variety of wine and spirits glassware. I have bought more than decent glassware at Costco for $20 for eight glasses. At another very different price point, Sophienwald makes just a few shapes for all wines.

These glasses are stylishly elegant, lightweight and do everything to amplify the wine properly. If you happen to find Sophienwald anywhere pick up a few or a set. Your wine, beer or spirit will taste better and make you happy. Cheers!

Write me at doug@dougpaulding.com.

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WEAR

‘MORE’ THAN A STORE

g

BY DANIELLE RENDA

uests entering I Am More Scarsdale are struck by the store’s logo.

But what appears to be a dazzling design, adorned with captivating calligraphy, actually represents a deeper message, with words of encouragement like “strong,” “fierce,” “capable,” “sexy,” “smart” and “loved.”

The women’s retail boutique, which is dedicated to providing exclusive merchandise and an even “more” exclusive experience, is all about women’s empowerment.

“The concept behind the store is basically the mantra, ‘I am more,’” says Abbey Solomon, who coowns the store with Marcy Berman-Goldstein.

The idea, she explains, began with the letters A and M, which represent Abbey and Marcy. But they quickly evolved into something greater.

“Take a word from our mantra,” she says, pointing to the logo. “Whatever you want to be. Whatever you need. It’s women empowering women. We want everyone to feel good when they leave here.”

At first glance (and second, and third), it’s clear the store has everything, with merchandise ranging from jeans and blouses in leather, suede and fur materials, to boots and shoes, accessories and housewarming gifts, at all price points.

Nearly every item has a story, some with inspirational messages.

The store features fine jewelry from Eden Presley, a brand that embellishes its bracelets and necklaces with quotes such as “Count your blessings, “To thine own self be true,” and “Take me as I am,” with the option to customize. Select items from Tambonita, a collection of handwoven purses in an array of sparkling colors, are available from up-and-coming designer Tamara Aida Diaz while the artwork on the walls showcases the talents of Harrison-based mixed media artist Jenn Lewis.

Each item that enters the store is only available for a set period of time.

“We try to keep it unique and we don’t want everyone to have the same thing,” Solomon says. “So once we’re done with it, we’re done with it. We like 106

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to keep it constantly changing.”

The products and service go hand in hand. Solomon and Berman-Goldstein make it a point to provide excellent customer service to every potential patron who walks through their door. It’s all about treating others the way they’d like to be treated, say the owners.

“We’ve been to the stores where you walk in, and it’s like ‘Pretty Woman,’ and you just think to yourself, ‘Nobody’s helping me,’” Berman-Goldstein says. “We acknowledge every single person that walks through the door.”

For these ladies, it was fundamental to create an atmosphere that radiates optimism and inspiration, akin to the store’s message. More often than not, shoppers will drop in to chitchat and hang out, sometimes for hours, talking with the bubbly owners. (As long as they’re not busy, of course.)

“Some days, people just come in and chat,” Berman-Goldstein says. “And people we don’t even

Picturedabove are Abbey Solomon and Marcy BermanGoldstein, the storeowners. I Am More Scarsdale features a curated selection of clothes, shoes and accessories, as well as small gifts. Courtesy I Am More Scarsdale.

know come in, and they’ll start feeling so comfortable that they’ll tell us their life stories. And they’ll say, ‘I can’t believe I just shared that.’ And we say, ‘It’s OK. It’s not leaving here.’ People just have that sense of security when they come in here.”

“I mean, everyone has a story,” Solomon adds. “Everyone needs an outlet and a place. We always say, ‘What happens in I Am More, stays in I Am More.’”

The owners reflect their store name. Berman-Goldstein, a mother of three, is a board-certified radiologist, specializing in women’s imaging, and has been an active member since 2010 of the Junior League of Central Westchester, an organization of women from Scarsdale, White Plains, Greenburgh and Eastchester that is dedicated to bettering the community. Solomon, also a mother of three, holds a master’s degree in early education and has dedicated years to working in the retail industry, along with helping her father manage the family-owned business, Posman Books.

The women are also using their talents to host events dedicated to women’s issues. Shortly after the store’s opening, they held a breast cancer talk — featuring Dr. Stephanie Sims and Dr. Pam Weber, both of White Plains Hospital Imaging Center at New Rochelle — with 100 percent of the evening’s proceeds going to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, along with 10 percent of the evening’s sales.

“I think that’s what brought us to create the store and come up with the bigger concept,” Berman-Goldstein says. “It was the idea of what we can bring here that’s missing and not just another brickand-mortar store, but a concept.”

This month, the women are hosting an event dedicated to fostering positive body images. The evening, which will benefit the Westchester County Food Bank, is slated to take place Jan. 10 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. It will feature Jennie J. Kramer, the founder and executive director of Metro Behavioral Health Associates Eating Disorders Center and co-author of “Overcoming Binge Eating for Dummies,” and Ilyse Schapiro, a dietician and nutritionist and the co-author of “Should I Scoop Out My Bagel?”

At I Am More Scarsdale, patrons can find a a blouse, enjoy great conversation with two entrepreneurial spirits and leave feeling good about themselves — along with an invite to an upcoming educational, women-focused event.

Because, according to Solomon and Berman-Goldstein, there’s no reason that a store can’t sell great products while standing for something even greater.

I Am More Scarsdale is at 6 Spencer Place in Scarsdale. For more, visit iammorescarsdale. com or call 914-723-6673.

Some of the store’s most popular jewelry includes the gold-beaded bracelets pictured above. Courtesy I Am More Scarsdale.

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WEAR

A STAR ENCOUNTER

BY BRIAN TOOHEY

hen I think of stars my mind goes right to the golden age of Hollywood. I love watching Turner Classic Movies and, as I was considering this column, I decided to write about Lauren Bacall because of my encounter with her in the mid‘80s and my joy in watching her on film.

She was onscreen as she was in life — strong, glamourous, self-reliant yet vulnerable. She married Humphrey Bogart after filming, “To Have and Have Not” with him. She was 19 and he was 44. She said, “No one has ever written a romance better than the one we lived.” She explained that even though she was in the world of moviemaking, her marriage came first. She was a woman that you couldn’t help but admire and respect deeply.

She was honest and open and not afraid to show herself. My encounter with her, I have come to learn, might have had an effect on her life. I certainly hope I did. So, here it is:

Lauren Bacall and future husband Humphrey Bogart in her film debut, “To Have and Have Not” (1944). Her swooping hairstyle, oblique gaze and throaty voice would all become part of the Bacall mystique.

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It was an average day at the Kenneth Salon, a five-story townhouse on 54th Street and Madison Avenue. There were always several celebrities ascending or descending the formal staircase. It seemed everyone fell under the spell of elegant luxury and glamour. There was a back staircase where stylists would gather and peer out into the reception area as we waited for our next clients.

It was at one of these moments when the hostess, Miss Parnell, called out to me in her wonderful Latvian accent. “Brian, Kenneth wants you to talk with Lauren Bacall.” I was quite young and already accustomed to seeing and working with celebrities — but this was special.

Kenneth’s styling station was in the center of a large room filled with natural light and, as I approached, I could see Bacall in the mirror’s reflection. As our eyes connected we shared a look of happy expectation. “Brian,” Kenneth said, “This is Miss Bacall.” And then, in her distinctively smoky voice, she addressed me. “Brian, Kenneth was telling me that you have been successful at quitting smoking.

Would you please tell me how you were able to do that? I have tried unsuccessfully, so please would you let me in on your secret?” I remember the moment with delight. This was a woman with such a depth of heart and warmth and openness.

I paused to answer the question as Miss Bacall and Kenneth held a rapt attention. I went on to explain. “Well I have tried for two years and was not successful until I finally came to the realization that my failure was due to a moment when after dinner with my girlfriend or in a more intimate moment, the thought would come to mind that I could have a drag or two. After all, I could be kind to myself after enduring several days without smoking. “ They both smiled as if they identified with the experience. Bacall asked, “So, Brian, how did you stop?”

It became obvious, I explained, that those few drags always led me back to smoking. I decided to make a contract with myself. If I ever took another drag from a cigarette, I would by means of this contract, go out and buy a carton and never again attempt to quit. Now that drag represented a lifetime of smoking. Bacall recognized this as a unique approach and appeared to be quite taken with my suggestion. She thanked me, and I responded, “It was my pleasure. I hope it was helpful.”

I didn’t realize until writing this piece and doing some research that in 1986, after our conversation, she was finally able to quit. She lived until she was 89.

What a gift to me to think that maybe our talk had the effect I hoped it would. We just don’t know how the small moments that we share with each other can often lead to a course change for the better in someone’s life. Cherish those moments.

Visit Brian at Warren Tricomi Salon, 1 E. Putnam Ave., Greenwich. To book an appointment with him, call 212-262-8899.

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WEAR

TRUE COLORS STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS

BY DANIELLE RENDA

eil Bieff has always believed that clothes should be secondary to the woman.

When we caught up with the Ossining-based designer, whom we wrote about in May 2015, we were pleased to see that he maintains the same philosophy — that a woman should wear the garment, rather than the garment wear the woman.

“What I like about my clothes is that what people see first is you,” he says. “And then they’ll notice what you’re wearing. I think it kind of brings you out, which is what I like about it.”

Bieff was visiting Mary Jane Denzer in White Plains, where he unveiled his newest collection, one defined by richness in color and beadwork.

The garments — which include gowns, short dresses, jumpsuits, skirts and blouses — are characteristic of Bieff’s signature style, sexy and feminine but not girly. Using iridescent chiffon fabric, he layers the material as an artist would layer paints, a skill drawn from his painting studies at Syracuse University in upstate New York. The results are free-flowing designs that complement the female figure. For this reason, his clothes are not what he calls “hanger clothes,” as they do not contain preformed shapes but rather mold themselves to the woman underneath.

In this collection, which Bieff calls one of his best yet, the designer takes his passion for color and turns it upside down, placing the tinted layers underneath a sheer top layer for a subtle pop that draws the eye.

“This is a collection that’s really about what’s underneath the dress,” Bieff says. “It’s really a surprise.”

Bieff takes WAG through a walkthrough of his

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The garments in Neil Bieff’s current collection were created using layers of colored or patterned chiffon, which were arranged underneath a sheer top layer, enabling the underlying fabric to peek through delicately.

garments in the store, noting his personal favorites.

“I like these a lot,” he says, pointing to a nearby rack. “But I like them all a lot.”

One of his standout pieces is a black gown adorned with hand-stitched beads in a pattern that appears to mimic the polka dot fabric layer, which sits underneath a layer of lilac.

What initially appear as hints of polka dots and lilacs is exposed by a sexy slit.

“It’s very subtle — and then you notice it,” Bieff says, “the miniscule details. It’s beautiful on the woman.”

Bieff points to another dress, which is all-over black with peek-a-boo layers of green.

“The top is sheer,” he says, “so it puts in a whole third color — you.”

He points to yet another number, which is a short-hemmed dress that includes brighter shades of pink and orange.

“These are authentic brass ornaments from India,” Bieff says, pointing to the beads that are handstitched on the garment.

And he notes yet another — a true showstopper — crafted using some seven or eight layers of color.

“They’ve evolved, but they’re drastically different,” Bieff says of his dresses.

As a master colorist, Bieff has always been drawn to the art of layering shades, tints and

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT MY CLOTHES IS THAT WHAT PEOPLE SEE FIRST IS YOU. AND THEN THEY’LL NOTICE WHAT YOU’RE WEARING. I THINK IT KIND OF BRINGS YOU OUT, WHICH IS WHAT I LIKE ABOUT IT. — Neil Bieff

tones. But for this collection, he adds a touch of delicacy, softening the color underneath without compromising its presence.

“I used to do bicolor clothes years and years and years ago and people just wouldn’t go for it,” he says. “So, I thought, wouldn’t it be wonderful if you put it underneath and you’ll get the same effect, but it’s much more subtle? And then, I went a little crazy with it.”

In Bieff’s case, a little crazy brings a lot of good.

Neil Bieff’s collection is available at Mary Jane Denzer at 7 Renaissance Square in White Plains.

For more, visit Neil Bieff at neilbieff.com or mjdenzer.com or call 914-328-0330.

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WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

A SPECIAL ‘BRONX TALE’ STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS

BY DANIELLE RENDA

hazz Palminteri owes a lot to The Bronx, he says.

After all, it was his Italian-American upbringing in the Belmont section that inspired the 1993 film “A Bronx Tale.” Though some time has since passed, the coming-of-age film reentered the spotlight as a hit Broadway musical just two years ago.

In addition to captivating audiences for 25 years, Palminteri — whose full name is Calogero Lorenzo Palminteri — wanted to create a tangible memento for film fanatics and New Yorkers alike. So he partnered with Steiner Sports in New Rochelle to create A Bronx Tale Collection, a line of sports collectibles featuring motifs from the movie.

“I’ve got tremendous pride that I come from this neighborhood,” says Palminteri, who lives in Bedford. “Too many people want to forget where they came from. I want to remind people of where I came from, because The Bronx is part of who I am.

The Bronx is why I’m here.”

The collection is an ode to Palminteri’s love for baseball, the Boogie Down (a nod to the borough as the birthplace of hip-hop) and “A Bronx Tale,” and a real testament to his New York pride. The merchandise includes framed subway signs, spotlighting popular movie quotes; framed, vintage Belmont Avenue street signs; and display cases with the option of a signed baseball and an autographed photo of Palminteri taken from the film.

According to Palminteri, these are the first items to feature quotes from the movie, along with his personal signature.

“I’ve been signing baseballs for a long time,” he says. “But the difference here, with Steiner Sports, is that I’ve never put a saying on a baseball — not once. These are all one of a kind, all signed by me.”

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Chazz Palminteri describes the inspiration behind this framed, autographed photograph, which is evocative of the Belmont Avenue street sign. The quote along the bottom – “The saddest thing in life is wasted talent” – was originally written by Palminteri’s father to help motivate his son. Available in various sizes, $29.99 to $139.99.

All of the collectibles in A Bronx Tale Collection are signed by Chazz Palminteri and feature a quote from his film “A Bronx Tale.”

turned to his old stomping grounds to unveil the memorabilia at Gino’s Pastry Shop on Arthur Avenue, just steps away from where he grew up.

And when he arrived, it was like he’d never left.

He reunited with the shop’s owner, Jerome Gino Raguso, whom he’s known for years, while old neighborhood friends came pouring through the door, wanting to say hello.

“I owe some dedication to this neighborhood and to the people who are here,” Palminteri says.

Palminteri even has a personal coffee cup that he keeps at Gino’s Pastry Shop for his visits. It features a Yankee theme, in honor of Palminteri’s favorite baseball team, which helped inspire this collection.

“I’m a real Yankee fan. I breathe pinstripes,” says Palminteri, while sipping a freshly brewed cappuccino, paired with a homemade cannoli. “Baseball was always a part of my life.”

But one of the collection’s most unique attributes is, undoubtedly, the quotes chosen from the movie. Part of the continuous appreciation for “A Bronx Tale” is due to its wealth of life lessons, delivered with New York-style flair, from understanding the importance of family to staying close to what matters most in life.

Some of the quotes written on the memorabilia include: “The working man is the tough guy. Your father’s the tough guy;” and “See if your father can’t pay the rent. Go ask Mickey Mantle and see what he tells you.”

Still sipping cappuccino, Palminteri explains the quotes.

“In 1960, when the (Pittsburgh) Pirates beat the Yankees, I was devastated,” he says. “I cried. I was upset. Then, I met a ‘wise guy,’ who looked at me and said, ‘Nobody cares. Mickey Mantle isn’t going to pay your rent. What are you worried about Mickey Mantle for?’ I’ll never forget that.”

And, of course, perhaps best known of all, “The saddest thing in life is wasted talent,” from Palminteri’s father.

“My dad wrote this on an index card and he put it in my room when I was a little boy,” he says. “That was one of the things that really motivated me not to waste my life.”

It paid off, as Palminteri’s success was built on persistence.

After writing “A Bronx Tale” over the course of a year, he began performing a one-man show, “A Bronx Play,” which caught the attention of several film studios. Despite only having a few hun-

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dred dollars to his name, Palminteri rejected offers for $250,000, $500,000 and even $1 million to surrender the rights to his story. It was only two weeks after the largest offer that Palminteri met Robert De Niro in a dressing room and the pair agreed that De Niro would direct the film, while Palminteri would write the screenplay and play the character of Sonny, a mobster. They solidified the deal with a handshake.

“It’s funny,” Palminteri says. “I did 60 movies and they still talk about ‘A Bronx Tale.’ People go, ‘I love that movie,’ and I always want to say, ‘Which one?’ But it seems like they’re always talking about ‘A Bronx Tale.’”

There’s also a taste of the seminal film at Gino’s Pastry Shop, with The Chazz, a delectable dessert topped with a layer of rich cannoli cream and a layer of decadent French chocolate, and “A Bronx Tale” special — a cappuccino/cannoli combo.

You can enjoy these confections there. Or, to borrow from another film, “The Godfather,” you can “take the cannoli.”

Gino’s Pastry Shop is at 580 E. 187 St. in the Belmont section of The Bronx. For more about Chazz Palminteri, visit chazzpalminteri. net. For more about the sports collection, visit steinersports.com. For more about “A Bronx Tale: The Musical,” visit broadway.com/shows/ bronx-tale/.

This is the first collection, according to Chazz Palminteri, that includes autographed items and a quote from his film “A Bronx Tale.” Pictured above, A Bronx Tale Glass Single Baseball Case with Chazz Palminteri Signed Baseball, $129.99.

Westtch hestter Philharmonic The Friends & Family Concert

February 11 at 3 pm Ted Sperling, conducting Kelly Hall-Tompkins, violin

(Fiddler On the Roof soloist)

Works of Beethoven, Saint-Saëns & Mendelssohn

Kids FREE

with adult admission.

Pre-concert Instrument Petting Zoo.

Tickets start at $36.

Tickets: (914) 251-6200

or westchesterphil.org

Concerts are presented at: Performing Arts Center, Purchase College 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, NY. Programs, artists, dates and times subject to change. ©2017 Westchester Philharmonic, Inc.

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PRINCE WILLIAM HAS PRINCE HARRY, SNOOPY HAS SPIKE – YOU KNOW, THE BAD-BOY BABY BRO WHO’S A CHUNK OF CHARM AND A TON OF TROUBLE. That’s what WAG Weekly is to WAG. In our e-newsletter, we let down our hair (and occasionally, our grammar) to take you behind behind-the-scenes of the hottest parties and events, offer our thoughts on the most controversial issues of the day, share what couldn’t be contained in our glossy pages and tell you what to do and where to go this weekend – all while whetting your appetite for the next issue.

If you can’t get enough of WAG — or you just want to get WAG unplugged — then you won’t want to miss WAG Weekly, coming to your tablet.

June Farm Tasteful restorations including a spectacular kitchen addition. 6 Bedrooms, 4.1 baths. 4 fireplaces. Lower level gym, playroom, wine room & laundry. Patio off the terrace sports a new stone fireplace. Ponds, streams and bridges lace the enchanting 13 park-like acres. Magnificent heated pool set in totally private oasis including a waterfall spa, dramatic landscaping. 2 Bedroom Pool House with a separate Studio. One bedroom Guest House. 2 car garage. Special country home to be cherished for generations. Quick 10 minutes to the train& highway 1 hr. + to NYC. MLS#4733647 Price: $2,950,000

The Red Barn Circa 1860 4 level sophisticated converted barn on 6.5 open rolling acres. Soaring ceilings and expansive views from a wall of windows of the adjacent Titicus Reservoir. Featured in a NYT article on “Barn Houses”. Great Room combines living room, dining & den areas & kitchen. Four bedrooms, 5.2 baths divided into private spaces. 3 Woodstoves. Glass Doors to deck allow views of fields & Reservoir.

Heated pool & hot Tub. 2 Bedroom Apartment with woodstove and deck over a 2 Car Garage. Minutes to train and highway yet heavenly private & quiet. One of a kind. MLS# 4750536 Price:$ 2,500,000

Grant Farm Harmony at Grants Farm awaits on this private lane. As the water hits gently on the pond you are transported to your own little paradise. This meticulously maintained turnkey 4 BR 3 ½ Bth center hall colonial w/great flow. Set on 5.1 acres w/breathtaking views you will enjoy the comforts of home w/a kitchen made for the serious cook. Prof. kitchen, tumbled tile backsplash, granite tops, mahogany cabinets, wine refrigerator on the island & plenty of storage, formal DR, hard wood floors throughout, Crown molding, French doors, 2 fireplaces, cathedral ceiling w/beams in the MB w/a large walk in closet, decks throughout,full house generator, new above ground oil tank, new roof, new gravel driveway. Full finished walk out basement that could be used as a separate suite for your guest.

MLS#4728841 Price: $925,000

Robin Hill Romantic Arts & Crafts inspired home by renowned architect Teo Siguenza. Totally secluded on long private drive adjacent to Land Trust. Incredible details on 3 levels. Front to back foyer w/coffered ceilings includes formal living & dining rms, masterful kitchen w/ breakfast alcove opens to cherry paneled library/family Rm w/ FP. 1st Fl. Master suite includes bath w/ marble & mosaic details plus adjoining mahogany study. 3 ensuite bedrms. Theater, rec rm w/Sauna/full bth, Gym, billiard rm. & wine rm. complete Low/Lev. Perennial gardens surround heated salt water pool & spa. Terrace w/ outdoor grill & shower enhance entertaining space. 3 Car Gar./ with unfinished loft above. MLS#4752425 Price: $2,350,000

Joe’s Hill Located off a country road at the end of a private cul-de-sac, this bright & sunny front porch Colonial on 3.5 landscaped acres w/distant views has 4 bedrooms & 3.5 baths. This finely detailed home includes an open floorplan concept w/an updated gourmet kitchen, handcrafted fieldstone fireplace, polished hardwood floors, large oversized windows & a first floor master suite w/beautiful French doors leading to the rear patio. The strategically placed first floor guest suite allows for comfortable visits for both guests & their hosts. Minutes to major highways, shopping, & trains! MLS#4748339 Price: $890,000

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

NATURAL DECADENCE FOR THE SKIN

BY DANIELLE RENDA

ndulging in exquisite recipes shouldn’t be limited to diet.

May Lindstrom believes that the hardworking epidermis deserves some TLC, too.

She created her line, May Lindstrom Skin — which is available at Organachs Farm to Skin in Westport — using a blend of natural ingredients sourced directly from Mother Earth.

And she didn’t take any shortcuts in blending the organic, cruelty-free and sustainable ingredients in her California home.

“In the conventional beauty world, luxury has been affiliated with a lot of brands that are filled with synthetics and chemicals,” says Siobhan McKinley, owner of Organachs Farm to Skin. “In this case, it’s the opposite “It’s a simple, yet decadent skincare line,” McKinley adds. “She really talks about how it’s important for her to create blissful bookends in the day, whether it’s in the morning or in the evening, just creating a time for self-care.”

As a teenager and adult with problem skin, Lindstrom initially created the formulas to address her own challenges. She experimented with a host of products, none of which seemed to help. As she grew older, her sensitivity to chemicals in conventional skincare only seemed to worsen. So she quit searching and concocted her own solution.

Lindstrom’s products include the Pendulum Potion, a complete cleansing oil, $80; the Honey Mud, a gentle enzyme cleanse and masque, $90; the Clean Dirt, a brightening exfoliate treatment,

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May Lindstrom Skin includes the Youth Dew, a balancing facial serum that hydrates the skin using a blend of 20 plants and botanical oils, $140. To help with the application process of her masques, she offers a Masque Treatment Bowl, $40, and a Facial Treatment Brush, $30. Courtesy Organachs Farm to Skin.

$70; the Problem Solver, a warming correcting masque, $100; the Youth Dew, a balancing facial serum, $140; the Blue Cocoon, a beauty balm concentrate, $180; the Jasmine Garden, a botanical face mist, $70; and the Good Stuff, a body and hair radiance oil, $120. For application, Lindstrom sells a Masque Treatment Bowl, $40, and a Facial Treatment Brush, $30. All of the products, with the exception of the Honey Mud — which contains raw wildflower honey from unsprayed fields — are vegan and wheat- and gluten-free.

To ensure their ultimate freshness, Lindstrom handcrafts and bottles her products in small batches.

“She created a product line out of her own needs,” McKinley says. “She really believes that our skin can heal itself if you let it, and these are the ingredients that are going to aid in doing that for you.”

Organachs Farm to Skin is at 15 Post Road in Westport. For more, visit organachsfarmtoskin. com, maylindstrom.com or call 203-221-0435.

PROVOCATIVE READS FOR THE NEW YEAR The Games Men Play A book series by local author and WAG editor Georgette Gouveia

ORDER TODAY FROM AMAZON OR BARNES & NOBLE

Rival relationships rock the impassioned worlds of swimming and tennis.

A quarterback's search for identity amid the brutal beauty of the NFL

"Water Music" and "The Penalty for Holding" are the first two novels in Georgette Gouveia's book series "The Games Men Play." It's also the name of her blog exploring sports, culture and sex.

thegamesmenplay.com

WELL grain that’s the reigning champion when it comes to overall protein content is the super-grain known as quinoa. Besides quinoa, other grains that serve as a solid source of vital protein include barley and brown rice.

ARTICHOKES Vegetarians who want to feel full while getting their protein should turn their attention to artichokes. The vegetable is high in both protein and fiber and it tastes great either boiled and enjoyed by itself or added to pizza, bread or with goat cheese crumbles.

SEEDS, NUT BUTTERS AND NUTS One surprising source of protein is nuts like peanuts and walnuts, along with sunflower and sesame seeds. There are also nut butters like peanut butter. One thing to bear in mind with nuts and seeds, though, is that they can have a high fat content, which means they’re best not used as a main source of protein.

A selection of beans and lentils.

VEGETARIAN STARS FOR 2018

BY GIOVANNI ROSELLI hile becoming a vegetarian can undoubtedly prove to be a great way to live a healthier lifestyle, those who don’t eat meat have to make sure they take in the proper nutrients and supplements to help their bodies function at their best, and that’s especially true when it comes to protein. The good news is that there are plenty of ways for vegetarians to ensure they get enough protein without going to drastic lengths.

LEGUMES Some of the best sources of protein can be grouped together as legumes like beans, lentils, chickpeas and peas. Because there are so many different types of beans, vegetarians are bound to find more than a few different kinds they like.

And even better is the fact that beans are so inexpensive, which makes it more affordable to get enough protein.

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SPINACH Take Popeye’s advice. Many might not realize just how healthy spinach is. Not only is it a great source of protein, but the vegetable is also packed with several vitamins, antioxidants and folate, which is good for the heart. Vegetarians, carnivores, pescatarians and everyone in between are much better off steaming spinach before eating it.

That way, the body can better absorb all the nutrients and vitamins. Much like beans, there’s a lot of variety involved with spinach, meaning it can be quickly and easily added to a number of dishes.

GUAVA Vegetables aren’t the only food that contains protein. Guava is a fruit dense with protein as well as fiber. It’s also touted for its low-calorie count and vitamin C content.

WHOLE GRAINS Grains are a classic source of protein, but one

EGGS A classic source of protein, eggs deserve a spot on the list. Much like beans, eggs are versatile and inexpensive. They also serve as a great way to get the body’s daily requirement of antioxidants, amino acids and iron. Even though egg whites are commonly praised for being healthier, egg yolks can help a person lose weight. It’s best to opt for organic eggs that are free of hormones, antibiotics and vaccines that can offset the eggs’ overall healthy content.

GRUYÈRE CHEESE Vegetarians who can’t bring themselves to give up cheese and other foods that contain dairy to make the transition to being vegan can rejoice at the fact that some cheeses are a great source of protein.

For instance, Gruyère cheese actually has more protein than eggs, and when combined they’re great for getting vital nutrients.

GREEK YOGURT Greek yogurt serves double duty as a good source of protein as well as a great way to lose weight. Not only that, but Greek yogurt contains good gut bacteria, which helps promote overall better gastrointestinal health as well as a strengthened immune system. To get the most out of yogurt without any negative health effects, vegetarians should be sure to check and see that the yogurts they choose don’t contain a lot of sugar.

There are plenty of nonmeat sources of protein everyone should know about no matter their diet. Not only are these foods healthy, they’re tasty as well.

Reach Giovanni on Twitter @GiovanniRoselli and at his website, GiovanniRoselli.com.

. e e. s c ti r n e rie p . x e s E xp ult E es R

World-class orthopedic and spine care for your best performance

Orthopaedic Neurosurgery Specialists GREENWICH

HARRISON

O N S M D. CO M

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800.999.9ONS

Now open in Harrison In network with major insurances

PET OF THE MONTH

A CANINE GENTLEMAN AND A SCHOLAR

o

PHOTOGRAPH BY SEBASTIÁN FLORES

ur New Year’s pet is Crosby, a 4- to 5-year-old American Staffordshire Terrier mix.

Crosby is the canine version of a gentleman and a scholar — calm, well-trained and smart as a whip. Recently, he went on a field trip to a local school and earned high marks for his good behavior and sweet disposition. Plus, his soft brown eyes will melt your heart.

Crosby would love a forever family that includes someone who is home more often then not as he gets sad when he is by himself all day.

Sounds like the perfect New Year’s wish.

To meet Crosby, visit the SPCA of Westchester at 590 N. State Road in Briarcliff Manor.

Founded in 1883, the SPCA is a no-kill shelter and is not affiliated with the ASPCA. The SPCA is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays. To learn more, call 914-941-2896 or visit spca914.org.

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I FEEL SO POWERLESS. WE HAVE TO WATCH HER EVERY MINUTE. FAMILY AND FRIENDS STOPPED COMING AROUND. HE KEEPS SAYING: “THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH ME.” IT’S DESTROYING OUR FAMILY. I FEEL SO GUILTY WE HAVE TO MOVE HER INTO A HOME. IT’S SO HARD TO CARE FOR SOMEONE WHO’S MEAN TO YOU. HE HIDES THINGS ALL THE TIME. I’M GRIEVING THE LOSS OF SOMEONE WHO’S STILL ALIVE. WE DON’T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO START.

LIVING WITH FTD IS HARD. LIVING WITHOUT HELP IS HARDER. THERE’S COMFORT IN FINDING OTHERS WHO UNDERSTAND. WE FINALLY FOUND A DOCTOR WHO GETS IT. I GOT SO MUCH ADVICE FROM OTHER CAREGIVERS. UNDERSTANDING MORE HELPS ME DEAL WITH HER SYMPTOMS. SEEING THAT OTHERS MADE IT THROUGH, I KNEW I COULD TOO. WE HONOR HIM BY ADVOCATING FOR A CURE. NOW I’M BETTER AT ASKING FOR HELP. NO MATTER HOW BAD IT GETS, WE KNOW WE’RE NOT ALONE. It can feel so isolating and confusing from the start: Just getting a diagnosis of FTD takes 3.6 years on average. But no family facing FTD should ever have to face it alone, and with your help, we’re working to make sure that no one does.

The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration (AFTD) is dedicated to a world without FTD, and to providing help and support for those living with this disease today. Choose to bring hope to our families: www.theAFTD.org/learnmore

WHEN & WHERE

Through Feb.2 “Elements: Fire & Ice,” a photography exhibition featuring Heidi Fuhrman’s and Michael Washburn’s contrasting works, including abstract aerial images of Namibian dunes and close-up images of layered ice.

Times vary, Harrison Public Library, 2 Bruce Ave.; 914835-0324, harrisonpl.org

Jan. 4 through Feb. 18 Nina Buxenbaum speaks about her lush, Impressionistic paintings at the opening reception for “Topsy-Turvy,” in which she challenges viewers to question the desire for definition, particularly in connection to our society’s depiction of women of color. The Jan. 4 talk starts at 6 p.m. The exhibit runs through Feb. 18, times vary, New Canaan Library, 151 Main St.; 203-594-5000, newcanaanlibrary.org

"Woody Sez: The Life and Music of Woody Guthrie" opens Jan.9 in Westport.

Jan. 5 “Turn Back the Cap: 1980s” — Featuring Jessie’s Girl, a 1980s tribute band that will perform favorite tunes by such artists as Bon Jovi, Prince and Journey. 8 p.m., The Capitol Theatre, 149 Westchester Ave., Port Chester; 914-937-4126, thecapitoltheatre.com

Jan. 6 Becca Lowry, Lauren Mabry, and Alyse Rosner talk about their art exhibit, “Venus Fly,” a show of new, abstract large-scale paintings, mixed-media wood carvings and ceramics. 2 p.m., The Flinn Gallery, Greenwich Library, second floor, 101 W. Putnam Ave.; 203-6227947, flinngallery.com

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Families can enjoy an afternoon of fun at The Rye Arts Center’s “Free Arts Day” with activities that include an improv workshop, drum circle, ceramics, 3-D printing and more. Noon to 3 p.m., 51 Milton Road, Rye; 914-9670700, ryeartscenter.org

New Canaan’s Carriage Barn Arts Center celebrates the opening of its 38th annual Photography Show, this year curated by The Brant Foundation’s Allison Brant and Carl Fuldner, the Marcia Brady Tucker Fellow in the Department of Photography at the Yale University Art Gallery. 4 p.m., 681 South Ave., New Canaan; 203-9721895, carriagebarn.org

Jan. 14 The PJS Jazz Society presents an evening with acclaimed trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, who performs his hard-swinging, straight-ahead style of jazz. 5:15 p.m.,199 N. Columbus Ave., Mount Vernon; 914-6670823, pjsjazz.org

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“Impromptu! Classical Music Recital” features Stamford-born composer David Bruce’s “Gumboots,” a homage to the slaves of South Africa’s goldmines; South African pianist Megan-Geoffrey Prins playing Frederic Rzewski’s “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues”; and a celebration of Russian Christmas works by Liadov, Lyapunov and Drozdoff. 3 p.m., First Presbyterian Church of Stamford, 1101 Bedford St.; 203-324-9522, fishchurch.org

Downtown Music at Grace Church presents a trio of musicians from the Westchester Philharmonic — percussionists William Trigg and Barry Centanni and vocalist Mary Wilkinson Trigg — who will perform the music of Bach, Cage, Gershwin and Trigg in a free afternoon concert. Noon to 1:15 p.m., 33 Church St., White Plains; 914-949-0384, dtmusic.org

Jan. 9 through 20 “Woody Sez: The Life and Music of Woody Guthrie” offers a portrait of the folk icon. 7 p.m. Tuesdays, 8 p.m., Wednesdays through Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays, Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court.; 203-2274177, westportplayhouse.org

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The Westport Arts Center presents the Juilliard String Quartet performing a program of music by Beethoven, Haydn and MacMillan. 8 p.m., 51 Riverside Ave., Westport, 203-222-7070, westportartscenter.org

Jan. 18 ArtsWestchester offers a freestyle poetry workshop with hip-hop poet Toni Blackman as a companion to its “Give Us The Vote” exhibition, which examines the state of voting rights in America today. All-day voter registration will be made possible through Rock the Vote, 5 to 7 p.m., 31 Mamaroneck Ave., White Plains; 914-428-4220, artswestchester.org

Juilliard String Quartet appears Jan 20 in Westport.

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Jan.Feb.2018 Kronos Quartet The world’s most famous string quartet January 20, 8pm

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Brahms & Dvorˇák January 27, 5pm GlobalFEST on the Road The New Golden Age of Latin Music featuring Las Cafeteras & Orkesta Mendoza February 2, 8pm wild Up — future folk Music from Ancient India, modern California, post-war New York February 10, 8pm

Westchester Philharmonic Friends & Family Concert Kelly Hall-Tompkins, violin February 11, 3pm Velvet Caravan Gypsy swing, dinner, drinks, and dancing February 17, 8pm

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Vienna to Hollywood February 24, 5pm

American Rhapsody The Gershwin Songbook February 25, 3pm

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Pictured: Kronos Quartet © Erik Kabik

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Thank You

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914.251.6200 www.artscenter.org

LUCILLE WERLINICH,

Chair of Purchase College Foundation

12/15/2017 12:18:20 PM

Wine at The Klein, a wine-tasting to benefit The Klein Auditorium and Klein Theatre Arts. Sample more than 30 distinctive wines from local distributors. The evening includes an exclusive backstage tour of The Klein Auditorium and its rich history. 7 p.m., 910 Fairfield Ave., Bridgeport; 800-424-0160, theklein.org

Jan. 26 The Paul Taylor Dance Company returns to Fairfield with a program that features a roster of classic works and audience favorites by an icon of America’s indigenous art form of modern dance. 8 p.m., Quick Center for the Arts, 1073 N. Benson Road, Fairfield; 203-254-4010, quickcenter.fairfield.edu

Jan. 27 Smart Arts presents a full-length musical on ice, “SkateTacular: Dreams on Ice,” bringing professional skaters to a wintry wonderland that fuses theater and figure skating. 8 p.m., Westchester Community College Academic Arts Theatre, 75 Grasslands Road, Valhalla; 914606-6262, sunywcc.edu/about/smartarts

In conjunction with the exhibit “Patriotic Persuasion: American Posters of the First World War,” the Bruce Museum will host a World War I Digitization Day. It’s organized by the Connecticut State Library as part of “Remembering World War One: Sharing History/Preserving Memory,” a collaborative project to create an archive of stories related to the Great War. Connecticut residents can bring their photos, letters and other keepsakes from World War I for digitization and they will be added to the State Library’s online archive. (Original materials will be returned.) Noon to 4 p.m., The Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Drive, Greenwich; 203-869-0376, brucemuseum.org

"SkateTacular: Dreams on Ice" will be presented Jan. 27 in Valhalla.

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Jan. 25

New Haven Symphony Orchestra pianist William Braun plays Francis Poulenc’s whimsical “L’Histoire de Babar,” while Really Inventive Stuff’s vaudeville actor, Michael Boudewyns narrates the tale of the “King of the Elephants.” 2 p.m., Shelton Intermediate School, 675 Constitution Blvd. N.; 203-865-0831, newhavensymphony.org

One of Nashville’s best-kept secrets is coming to Ridgefield — six-time Grammy Award nominee Brandy Clark, best known for her hit “Stripes” and her first album, “12 Stories.” 8 p.m., The Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 E. Ridge Road; 203-438-5795, ridgefieldplayhouse.org

World War I Digitization Day Jan 27 at the Bruce Museum.

Strangefolk — jam-oriented rock band, or rock-oriented jam band? You decide at this concert featuring clean guitar hooks, tight, earnest harmonies and contemplative lyrics, which are Strangefolk’s stock-in-trade. 8 p.m., The Warehouse at FTC, 70 Sanford St., Fairfield; 203-259-1036, fairfieldtheatre.org

RiverArts presents En-Garde Arts’ “Wilderness,” a multimedia stage production about troubled teens and their parents. A panel discussion with the creator, cast members and others will follow. 3 p.m., Irvington Town Hall Theater, 85 Main St.; 914-412-5120, riverarts.org

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Jan. 27 through March 4 The Clay Arts Center presents an opening reception for “Me, Myself and I,” a national juried exhibition featuring vessel-based work that explores issues of identity and how people see themselves within the context of society, family and relationships. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, 40 Beech St., Port Chester; 914-937-2047, clayartcenter.org

Brandy Clark has a Jan. 25 concert in Ridgefield.

Presented by ArtsWestchester and Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County.

THE RIDGEFIELD PLAYHOUSE Great entertainment all year long!

january

february

11 Colin Quinn “One In Every Crowd”

2 Arrival from Sweden: The Music of ABBA

12 Jim Messina

3 Debbie Gravitte’s Big Band Broadway

18 PORTRAITS featuring Billy Squier & GE Smith 19 Charles Esten

From CMT’s Nashville With Charlie Scopoletti

20 The Lords of 52nd Street:

The Legends of the Billy Joel Band

25 An Evening with Brandy Clark With hits “Stripes,” “Sugar Daddy” & more!

26 Terrapin – The Ultimate Grateful Dead Experience

ft. former Rolling Stones sax player Crispin Cioe

27 Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great 27 Judy Gold and Bruce Vilanch “Big and Tall”

7 Willie Nile & Trace Bundy 9 Rich Vos, Ron Bennington & Jim Florentine: A Night of Comedy Headliners 10 The Machine Performs Pink Floyd 13 Masters of Illusion: Believe the Impossible 14 First Ladies of Disco: Valentine’s Day Gala 16 Fleetwood Macked & The McCartney Years 17 Billy Gardell 24/25 Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

203.438.5795 • RIDGEFIELDPLAYHOUSE.ORG

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HOLIDAY HOSPITALITY To paraphrase the words of Westchester’s own Washington Irving, “Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality.” No doubt he would’ve enjoyed the recent holiday soirée held at the Rockefeller estate’s Playhouse in Pocantico Hills, hosted

by Westchester public relations firm Thompson & Bender. Under a blanket of bright winter stars, visitors were whisked across the estate to the door of the exclusive retreat, which was designed in the Norman English style as a private entertainment and recreation center for the Rockefeller family.

Guests included members of Westchester’s business and social scenes, clients and colleagues of the firm. All were welcomed by firm partners Geoff Thompson, Dean Bender and Liz Bracken-Thompson into a reception room resembling an English baronial hall. Looking down upon the holiday revelers were several impressive portraits of the Rockefeller family members (four generations) who once called this beautiful estate home.

Holiday spirits soared higher than the top of the two-story Christmas tree, which served as the room’s majestic centerpiece. Signature libations and treats were served on silver trays as laughter wafted through the air. Partygoers were invited to sneak away from the merriment to tour the elegantly decorated family recreation center, which includes an indoor swimming pool and tennis court, fully equipped basketball gym, squash court, billiard room and a full-size bowling alley.

As a special holiday treat, guests were presented with Thompson’s own fresh milled apple cider, perfect for cozying up at home and reminiscing such a lovely evening. — Robin Costello. Photographs by John Vecchiolla.

1. Hope Salley and Alex Malecki 2. Al Donnellan and Daniel Lansen 3. Rica Kelly, Alissa Kosowsky, Ellen Bloom and Peter X. Kelly 4. Jim Surdoval and Irene and Martin Ginsburg 5. Christine LaPorta, Kathy O’Connor and Joseph Stout 6. Janet Langsam and Elizabeth Bracken-Thompson 7. Patricia Simone and Geoffrey Thompson 8. Alana Sweeny and Cynthia Rubino 9. James Stewart, Lenore Carpinelli, Dean Bender and Kevin Cavanagh 10. Jaime Martinez, Michael D. Zarin and Andrew Tung 11. Thompson & Bender partners and staff 12. Natasha Caputo and Courtney Walker 13. George F. Gumina, Clare M. Pierson and Lisa Manuele 14. James Cavanaugh, Wilson Kimball, Marsha Gordon and William M. Mooney III

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THE CHILDREN’S HOUR The Lerner Children’s Pavilion at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) celebrated its fifth anniversary with a benefit to support the pavilion. Hosted by actor Jason Biggs, the event included a cocktail hour and dinner at the Rainbow Room as well as a special performance from the Chris Norton Band. The evening raised nearly $1.3 million for pediatric care and research. Photographs by Don Pollard.

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Yvonne and John Blanco David Diehl and Tina Powers Michelle Yu and Larry Johnson Kate Doerge and Lisa Errico Kendrick R. Wilson III, Ann Jackson, Lara Lerner and Miriam and Roger Widmann 6. Jason Biggs 7. The Chris Norton Band

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SALUTING LEGAL EAGLES The Legal Services of the Hudson Valley (LSHV), as well as several members of its dedicated staff, were recognized for excellence at several events held recently in our area. The United Way of the Dutchess-Orange Region recognized LSHV as a Nonprofit Community Partner at its 80th anniversary Community Breakfast. Christopher Oldi was named LOFT Ally by The LOFT LGBT Community. Loretta Spence was selected as the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Mid-Hudson Valley Chapter's 2017 Outstanding Fundraising Professional. Rachel Saunders was named a 2017 ATHENA International Honoree by the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce. LSHV is the only provider of comprehensive civil legal services to those who cannot afford an attorney in the seven counties of the lower and Mid-Hudson Valley.

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Jeannie Montano and Rachel Simons Melinda Bellus, Christopher Oldi and Neelu Pathiyil Loretta Spence and Tom Gabriel Justin Haines, Nancy Koch and Rachel Saunders

TO LIFE

Hospice of Westchester (HOW) recently hosted its 16th annual “Tree of Life” reception at the Hilton Westchester in Rye Brook. Over a few months, community members were invited to make a donation to HOW through the purchase of a gold star in memory or in honor of a loved one. During the event, guests and sponsors shared in the celebration of life by placing the personalized gold stars on the tree. All proceeds from the event benefitted HOW’s mission of striving to provide extraordinary and dignified comfort, care and compassion to individuals and families facing a serious or life-limiting illness.

5. Michael Ciaramella, William F. Flooks Jr., Charles Trainor, Mary K. Spengler, Joe Ippolito, Stacey Cohen and George Whitehead 6. Manhattanville College’s elite pop group, The Quintessentials

MAKING WISHES COME TRUE The Hudson Gateway REALTOR® Foundation, a division of the Hudson Gateway Association of REALTORS® (HGAR), recently presented a $28,000 donation check to Make-A-Wish® Hudson Valley at the Wish House in Tarrytown. The monies were raised at the Foundation’s “Black & White Masquerade Ball” held at the Falkirk Estate and Country Club in Central Valley. The event marked the 20th Anniversary of the association’s support of the nonprofit group that grants the wishes of Hudson Valley children with life-threatening medical conditions.

7. Nikolas Stanovic, Layla Rose Boyles, Erica Trautmann-Sallahian, Elsa Seguinot, Shirley Van Dam, Tom Conklin, Kerri Stretch, Mary Prenon, Michelle Gilliard and John Dolgetta

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CATHOLIC CARE

Gotham Hall in New York was the setting for the recent 2017 ArchCare Gala. The event raised more than $1.5 million to care for those in need throughout Westchester and the Hudson Valley, New York City and Long Island. ArchCare is the Continuing Care Community of the Archdiocese of New York and one of the nation’s largest healthcare systems. ArchCare at Home (formerly the Dominican Sisters Family Health Service) offers comprehensive visiting nurse services and home health care to people at all stages of life in the comfort and privacy of home.

1. Lauren and Anthony Enea, Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, and Joanne Enea

FRIENDS INDEED

Recently, more than 100 women heard from Chappaqua resident and author Amy Silverstein about the power of friendship and the resilience of the human spirit at a UJA-Federation of New York event at Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester in Chappaqua. Her memoir, “My Glory Was I Had Such Friends,” recounts how friendship sustained her through a heart transplant. Nine women put demanding jobs and pressing family obligations on hold to fly across the country to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where they sat by Amy’s bedside as she spent months battling for her life.

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2. Mindy Bass, Amy Silverstein, Tracy Stein and Laurie Brecher

REMEMBERING CATHERINE

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The Catherine Violet Hubbard Animal Sanctuary and Foundation — created to honor a 6-year-old victim of the Sandy Hook massacre — was the focal point of the inaugural gala "Creating Kindness Together.” The black-tie event, held at the new, picturesque RCG Farm in Newtown, was hosted by Gretchen Carlson, who welcomed more than 360 guests. They raised more than $700,000 in memory of Catherine. The funds will be used for the new animal sanctuary, located on 34 acres of pristine farm land, gifted to Catherine’s family from the state of Connecticut.

3. Memorial photo of Catherine Violet Hubbard 4. Gretchen Carlson 5. Catherine’s parents, Matthew and Jennifer Hubbard

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THE WRITE STUFF Recently, the Hudson Valley Writers’ Center (HVWC) hosted its annual gala at Tappan Hill Mansion. The evening supported the many valued community outreach programs, classes and readings that the center offers. The gala featured a live and silent auction for many items, including memberships from local businesses. There was also live music from the group Bear 54. All of the profits will go to supporting the center’s mission of bringing literary enrichment to the Hudson Valley.

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1. Donald Stever, Sister Susan Gardella, James Tilley and Nick Flynn

STAYING IN THE GAME A record 900 people packed the Hilton Westchester in Rye Brook recently to hear former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speak at The Business Council of Westchester’s annual Fall Dinner.

Marsha Gordon, president and CEO of The Business of Council of Westchester, presented Clinton with the Westchester Global Leadership Laureate Award. Clinton, whose new book, “What Happened,” about her failed 2016 bid for the presidency, said that despite her loss, she thinks it’s important for her to remain involved. She spoke about her support for quality candidates, especially women who remain underrepresented in Washington, D.C., and said she would continue to advocate for women, working families and small businesses.

2. Marsha Gordon, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Anthony Justic

MARCHING ON March of Dimes Greater New York Market held its 30th anniversary Westchester Real Estate Awards Breakfast at the Hilton Westchester in Rye Brook recently. More than 650 representatives of the commercial real estate industry were in attendance, raising more than $550,0000 for the March of Dimes.

Two members of Westchester’s commercial real estate community, Robert F. Weinberg and James J. Houlihan, received awards. Brian Conybeare, CBS2 Westchester Bureau chief, was the event’s emcee.

The breakfast is the largest gathering of real estate professionals in Westchester County each year. Photographs by John Vecchiolla.

3. Greg Berger and Robert F. Weinberg 4. James J Houlihan, Patti Valenti and Joseph Simone 5. Lisa Weingarten, Patricia Simone, Joanna Simone and Joseph Kelleher

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WE WONDER:

WIT

WHO DO YOU THINK HAS STAR QUALIT Y? *

Nicauiy Colon mother, Nyack resident

Kyle Crowder

medical student, Dutchess County resident

Jennifer Cunney

Farrah Fils-Aime′

Julius Fostanes

“I would say my daughter.

Every day, she inspires me to live a life that I’m proud of.”

“My mom definitely has star quality. She’s the most patient, determined person I know. Somehow she also manages to keep a sense of humor in the midst of all that responsibility.”

“In my self-defense class, I learned that the first step in dealing with pressure is to breathe. I try to apply that to all kinds of situations.”

“My kids truly inspire me.

Watching them grow and learn in their lives shows me how important it is to live with an open heart.”

“Honestly, I think I have star quality. As an actor, it’s important to pursue your dreams with confidence. If you don’t believe in yourself, who will?”

Donna Hashbrouck

Lance Ianuci phone repairman, Mahopac resident

corrections officer, Bronx resident

financing rep for Primerica, Harrison resident

Elfred Nova

Denise Signorile

“That’s easy. The person in my life with the most star quality is Jesus. He leads and guides me every day.”

“My dad has star quality. He works hard every day and still makes the time to listen and engage with us as a family. I think that’s pretty amazing.”

“My wife is a star to me.

She’s beautiful, smart and considerate. It’s hard to find all those qualities in one person.”

“Arthur L. Williams, the founder of the company Primerica. After his family was denied a payout from his father’s death in WWII, he was inspired to make sure struggling families received the money that they were entitled to. I think that’s a great attitude to have behind running your own company.”

“To me, Hi-Tor animal shelter is a star. Every animal we have there gets the special treatment it deserves. We love all animals without exception.”

American Cancer Society activist, Port Chester resident

Salvation Army volunteer, Rye resident

Terry Lane

nurse, Spring Valley resident

*Asked throughout central and northern Westchester County at various businesses.

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teacher, Peekskill resident

Hi-Tor volunteer, Tarrytown resident