Gotham Gal

David Smith at the Guggenheim

I wasn't familiar with David Smith's work.  But his daughter, Becca happens to be a parent at our kids school.  She's lovely and an artist herself.  She told me about her father's exhibit at the Guggenheim.  That was the aha moment.  Her father was obviously a big deal.  What did I know.  Supposedly David Smith is widely considered to be one of the greatest sculptors of his generation.  Then the reviews came out in the NY Times and New York Magazine. Wow.  OK, I have to get up to the Guggenheim.

First of all, I have always liked the Guggenheim.  The flow is cool.  You walk up to the circular interior.  Most exhibits start at the bottom, the early years, to the top, the late years.  It is great to see the change as you walk up.  When you stand in the middle of the structure you get a glimpse of all the work.  It is pretty cool.

Smiths work is incredibly modern from as early as 1934.  It could easily be 2005.  Each piece is really intense.  Layers of metal.  Different structures.  Comparable to abstract paintings.  I'm sorry that I didn't take out the time to listen to the exhibit with the tape that is made available.  I think I would have gotten a lot more out of understanding his work.

Unfortunately Smith died in a tragic car accident in 1965.  The breadth of his work is pretty impressive.  So sad for us and his family that he wasn't able to continue his pursuit of sculpture.  Sculpture was obviously David Smith's passion.

Accupunture?

I have had lower back problems since I was pregnant with Jessica.  That would be 15 years ago.  I was huge and walked like a weeble wobble.  I fell and hurt my sciatic nerve, something common with women.  Not the falling part but the nerve part. 

I have learned to live with it.  My tolerance of pain is pretty high. Six years of yoga really helped the problem but I have moved out of my yoga phase and into my boot camp phase.  Boot camp is not exactly soothing so I have found the pain to be flaring up.  Someone recommended acupuncture.

It is something that I have considering before, with other injuries.  What can I say, I'm a mess.  Yesterday I went for the first time.  Mitchell Wolf is located in Soho.  He does acupuncture, shiatsu, yoga etc.  Really nice guy.  The whole process and concept of Eastern medicine is pretty cool.  I plan on continuing to see if this is the trick.  I'll keep you posted.

Oy Vey!

Josh needs a suit.  I had done the Brooks Brothers routine a few years back.  It wasn't him.  I thought about Hickey Freeman but the suits seem ridiculously overpriced.  I have been to Syms where I bought Josh a tuxedo for $40 to wear on New Years.  Not bad but the fabric was 100% polyester and the poor kid was sweating like a pig.  I was stumped on where to go. 
I asked Emily's friend where he got his suit for his Bar Mitzvah.  He told me about a place in Brooklyn and his mother was nice enough to send me an email and give me the lowdown. Thank you because now I'm hooked.
Jessica, Josh and me drove over to Williamsburg this morning in search of Boys Italian Suits.  The majority of their business is supposedly done on line.  We found the address.  It was a store front that looked like an old fashioned Mom and Pop girls clothing store.  We walked in and went to the back of the store where there is an unmarked door which we went through.  In the alleyway, where we were now standing, is another door.  Hmmm, we opened and low and behold, inside is Boys Italian Suits.  What a place.  This place is like a secret that has existed for years.  It is reminiscent of the Lower East Side in the 50's. 
A small group of Jewish men are the owners.  They know their inventory. They also know their customers size with a quick look up and down.  The customers are basically Hasidim woman shopping for their boys, very Conservative Jewish men with their families or the Soprano family.  What a combo.  It was one of the best New York experiences.  The Sopranos were shouting at their young kid, Anthony, about trying on a suit.  The Jewish woman were negotiating prices (hey, I'm jewish so I'm allowed ). Jess and Josh loved it. 
We got Josh a fantastic suit.  Italian fabrics that are almost as nice as Zegnas ( they dropped that name a few times which I thought was hilarious ).  2 shirts and 1 tie and a belt.  Total cost was half of what I had spent at Brooks Brothers.  It was 100% Italian wool vs. 100% polyester.  The kid won't be sweating like a fountain.
If you are looking for a boys suit, this is the place.  The sizes go all the way through the late teens.  Believe me, we will be back.  They also have dress pants. The best part is the whole experience.  It is one that you just have to have.

Rogue Wave and Nada Surf

Rogue Wave and Nada Surf played last night at Webster Hall.  What an incredible evening.  They are both on the road together with another performer who I can't recall the name of.  She wasn't that great. 
I am so glad that we got tickets to see this show.

Jessica and I went for a date night.  She might have been the youngest person there and maybe I was the oldest. 

The first act came out at 9 and played until about 9:45.  Rogue Wave came on at 10pm.  The lead singer rocks.  He has an incredible voice.  The drum player is multi-talented.  He plays drums, key boards and guitar.  They were having a blast together on stage.  Really good. This is a picture of Rogue Wave on the left. 

Nada Surf came on about 11:15.  Wow.  I have always liked these guys and now I like them more.  Some bands are just great live.  They know how to perform to the audience.  This group all grew in NYC.  They told some great stories about Webster Hall previously The Ritz in its other life.  The drummer said he lost his virginity to someone he met at the Ritz in 1982.  The lead singer, who is Matthew Caws, just rocks.  His voice is great and he commands the audience. 

One of the highlights was one they sang "Inside of Love".  Matthew asked the audience to do a dance step while they sang this song.  It was fun to watch the audience move back and forth in step to this song.  We sat up overlooking the audience.  The other highlight was when they sang"Blankest Year" all of Rogue Wave and the first band came up on stage and danced around them, having their own party and also sang with them too.  It was fantastic.  They all looked like they were having a fantastic time up there. 

We stayed until 12:30.  It was late.  I would have stayed until closing time but unfortunately it was a school night and that was not happening.  I am still walking on air today.  What an awesome concert. 

My Space

When the New York Times writes about My Space in the Thursday Styles, it has become mainstream.  The article, like media in general, creates fear and spin.  Parents are scared.  Your children are potential victims.  This is bad.  FBI agents are advising parents to examine this situation. 

I have 2 kids that use My Space.  It is their generations space to represent themselves.  Did parents freak when Elvis came on the scene?  Did they freak when the Rolling Stones came on the scene?  Did they freak when they grew their hair long and rebelled?  Answers to all of the above and more is yes, yes  yes.  Think about what you did growing up that your parents were scared of.  They were scared because they didn't understand the space and weren't sure how to teach you the tools to navigate the situation.

What I take from the article is to be intimately involved in what is happening with your kid.  There are tons of users of My Space.  It is impossible for a predator to pin point a kid who is not interested in finding the predator too.  If someone lets an unknown person in to their space and begins conversations with someone they don't know, yes, there could be consequences. The key here is talking to your kid.  Knowing what they are doing on the Internet.  Going to their site and checking it out.  Making sure that they are blocking people who they don't know to become "friends" on their site.  Kids who are looking for something will find it regardless of My Space.

Perhaps I sound naive and too trusting of our kids but we believe in making our kids feel like confident in their decisions by giving them our respect for their intellectual decision making.  It is a give and take relationship. Giving them our trust instills confidence and tools to navigate the world.  Yet, do we know what is going on with their use on the web?  Sure.  Do we discuss not talking to invisible strangers?  Sure.  Do we talk about what is appropriate to post and what is not when it comes to pictures?  Sure.  We have a continual open conversation about My Space, email and anything related to the web and their life in general.  Life in general covers school work, friends, music they are  into, their take on politics, sports, books, movies, their thoughts and how they feel.  Just liked we'd talk with our friends.  We are interested in their thoughts.

David Brooks also wrote an editorial in the Times today called Both Sides of Inequality.  Annette Lareau is a well known sociologist who has spent the last 20 years literally in American families living rooms watching them interact with their kids.  Her findings are quite interesting.  Working class child rearing is very different from upper middle class homes.  She writes that upper middle class homes spent a lot of time talking, involving themselves in their kids lives, allowing their kids to pass judgment in situations which in turn helps them to become better navigators of the world once they leave the nest.  Working class child rearing tends to have a starker difference between adults and children. Less talking, less decision making, less explanations for their choices.  These kids end up have a more difficult time navigating the world.  This is obviously generalized but she has spent the last 20 years researching this topic. 

I bring up this article with My Space because the disconnect in our society between the upper middle class and working families gets larger every day.  My Space is an area where kids can lose themselves, find new communities if they aren't happy with the one they live in, also enhance the community they love. We are now completely entrenched in this new world.  Perhaps we  should give some thought about our social differences and how we can help all kids navigate this world we live in with a clear picture of the downsides and upsides of the world wide web. 

Whether you like it or not, they are going to use My Space or other aspects of the web.  It is up to us as a community and parents to help our kids understand how to use all aspects of the web intelligently.  Telling them no only works until they understand how to do it without your knowledge. 

Jack's Bistro

I admit, I was forewarned.  I got an email this past Saturday morning telling me not to eat at Jack's.  Jack's had just opened on Friday so I was ambivalent.  The restaurant is such a great addition to the neighborhood.  Regardless, of our heads up, we went hoping for something good.  Unfortunately, the email warning was correct.  This place will never make it.

I figured since the owners of Jack's supposedly own another restaurant in the city that this one, being their second restaurant, would work.  Wrong.  Disorganization would be the key word here.  It is actually comical.

First of all, they are short staffed.  The woman who seats you is also doing the job of a waiter/waitress.  That's tough.  The kitchen appears to be clueless.  We got our main courses before we got out appetizers...whoops.  Quick change.  Well, actually not that quick.  The people next to us had been waiting for over 30 minutes for their food and when it came out, it was wrong.  They said the tastes were OK not even good.  Yikes. 

I will say that they pour a stiff drink.  Always a bonus.  The menu is standard bistro style.  Unfortunately, at least for me and my family, each entree is loaded with garlic.  Makes you suspicious when each entree actually uses the word garlic when describing the dish.  Garlic is an accent not the meal.

We started with a mixed green salad and mussels with the fennel cream sauce.  There are 3 different sauces you can get with the mussels.   Fennel cream, garlic wine and chorizo broth.  If they had washed the mussels before they were made it would have been a start.  The broth wasn't bad but the grit in the mussels was sort of hard to work around.  The salad, not a tough one, was bland.  Was there a dressing in the salad?  I didn't even bother to finish.

We both ordered the same main course because everything else was so laden in garlic.  We had the hanger steak with fries, no marinade because the waitress told us it was heavy garlic.  The steak was ok but my guess is that they put our main courses back under a heat lamp when they realized their mistake of serving them before our appetizers and just brought them out when we were ready.  The fries were good, crispy and not that flavorful.  The plate was beyond boring.  There is no presentation whatsoever.  Just a piece of made with fries on the side.  I do a better looking service at home.

They gave us a dessert for our woes.  We chose the creme brulle.  Nice crisp on top with a sliced strawberry over it.  The custard was really thick and heavy, not light and delicate.  Tapioca was what I thought of when I took a bite.  Rich with some type of thickener.  Not good.

Such a huge bummer.  Unless they do some really quick thinking like actually getting a chef who is interested in making a gem into this neighborhood restaurant and some more help, they won't last. In this city there is not excuse for bad food and bad service.  I'd walk over to Cafe Loup  any day for a solid neighborhood bistro that has managed to serve good food for over 20 years. 

Entertaining Mr. Sloane

Why do theater companies or movie companies for that matter like to reproduce stuff?  Isn't there enough new content out there?  I would think finding a young brilliant new playwright would be much more interesting...perhaps it is just too risky.  People are always afraid to be the first.  Confirmation that something has already been purchased or successful is safe.  Personally, I'm not about safe.

Entertaining Mr. Sloane is one of the two productions now being shown through the Roundabout Theater Organization.  Both are actually remakes.  I have only seen one, Entertaining Mr. Sloane.  I have tickets to see Pajama Game in a few weeks. 

Entertaining Mr. Sloane was first performed in 1965.  Perhaps it was risky, cutting edge and hauntingly entertaining then but it isn't now.  The story is set in London.  A middle age woman takes in a tenant, who is a bit mischievous.  Her father also lives in her home.  The father recognizes the young man from a crime.  The brother, who does not live in the house, is also taken with the new boarder.  The woman is interested in him sexually, and for the matter so is the brother.  Things escalate.  I am sure in 1965 that the whole premise was quite out there but today, who cares.

I will say that the acting is excellent.  If it wasn't for the fine performances of Alex Baldwin, Chris Carmack and Jan Maxwell, I would have walked out.  Alex Baldwin was really quite good.  Too bad that the Roundabout didn't have enough interest in using this fine cast of actors to put out something new and different.  The Roundabout has once again disappointed me this season. 

A Sommelier?

I am going through a time in my life when I am just trying new things.  Maybe I'll do something with it, maybe I won't but I'm branching out.  It started with boot camp.  A huge hit for me.  Then I considered taking a writing class but instead opted for a 20 week class on becoming a Sommelier.  I had my first class today.

I love wine, always have.  The aroma, the taste, the industry, the matching of wines to food.  Maybe it is the foodie in me.  We have always enjoyed visiting vineyards.  Part of me has secretly had a desire to own a vineyard in Napa, live and work.  Hmmm, maybe not.  Instead, I opted to really learn more about wines, particularly the regions.

I am taking the class, one day a week, at the Sommelier Society of America.  When the course ends, you take a test and if you pass, you become a certified Sommelier.  The key here is keeping up the tastings and the interest.  This is where I am positive that I will be ready, willing and able.  I sincerely doubt that you will find me working in one of the finer restaurants about town but you never know.  I think this is more of a hobby.

There are 40 people in the class.  The majority of them are probably connected to the business of wine through food, retail, wholesale, etc.  Each week there are different speakers who teach on a different subject.  The subject could be regions, components, etc. 

This week we began with the introduction to wines. Darrin Siegfried spoke.  He was pretty good.  He has been a restaurant manager, former executive chef, is a sommelier, currently owns a wine store and also consults for restaurants so he has been involved with wine from all angles.  He was good. 

I'll keep you posted.

A New York Story

Everyone in this town has an opinion which is something I absolutely love about New York.

We were walking home on Saturday night through the village.  We were discussing the girls final basketball games happening on Sunday morning.  Jessica has been playing in GVYC for 5 years, Emily for 3.  GVYC is a fantastic downtown girls basketball league.  This is Jessica's last year.  She plans on being an assistant coach next fall.

I was pretending to interview her on the way home.  So, tell me about your experience.  How do you feel about  ending your career at GVYC, etc.  It was great.  She was talking about the start and the end.

All of sudden, behind us, is a local bum.  He starts yelling at us.  "What about the middle"?  "What about the middle?  It is just as important as the beginning and the end"!

It was hilarious.  But, you know what, he is absolutely right.  In many ways, it's all about the middle.

Black Hound

One of my favorite East Village bakeries is the Black Hound. 

We lived in the East Village, from 1987-1991.  The area was blossoming.  Actually, it still is.  The Black Hound opened in 1988, near the corner of 11th and 1st avenue.  In some ways, it was just a storefront.  The hours were strange.  You could make an appointment.  Although there was nothing like peeking in the window at all hours and oohing over the delicious looking desserts.

Times have changed.  The Black Hound now has a great little retail shop on 2nd Avenue and 11th Street.  They have been open everytime I have been in the neighborhood, during the day, later in the evening, etc. Tastes are always available and hanging out on the counter for the choosing. 

We stopped in last Saturday night for a treat.  Couldn't make up our mind about which dessert to choose from.  So, we bought a handful.  Good move. 

Here's a big bonus.  If you don't live in NYC, they ship!