88 - 3rd Avenue Street Festival

3rd Avenue Street Festival
Bay Ridge
28 September 2008

I have been to a handful of street fairs this summer and I know what you are thinking... It is New York in the summer, everyone has been to a handful of street fairs and festivals. Bay Ridge's 3rd Ave Street Festival wasn't any ordinary street fair though. Between 69th street and 94th street, the streets were taken over by shops, bars, restaurants, dance troupes, street vendors, tarot readers, cocktail-mixing zodiac specialists, massage tables, at least six bands, a raw bar, an FDNY roving training center, every politician in the neighborhood, the New York Blood Center's mobile collection truck, rides and ponies for the kiddies, clowns, a semi-pro wrestling demonstration, prayer stations and everyone's favorite borough President, Marty Markowitz. So, while I was strolling the 25 blocks of street festival bliss I watched at least four bands, ate fried zucchini flowers, donated a pint of blood, bought an ugly necklace, toured a gallery, got a little too close to the wrestling demonstration, observed a cocktail-mixing zodiac specialist give someone a reading, salivated at the FDNY, discovered a new gourmet market, almost stepped in pony poop, learned about the potential development of the Bay Ridge food co-op, joined a prayer circle, and found out about the Bay Ridge Historical Society and the Narrows Botanical Garden.

100 in 6 incidentals budget: $553 + one pint of blood

87 - Lucky 13 Saloon's All Male Revue

Lucky 13 Saloon's All Male Revue
Lucky 13 Saloon
26 September 2008, 0200

On any given weekend, you can walk into Lucky 13 Saloon and be greeted by barely-clad, barely-legal go-go dancers gracing the bar's stripper pole. If you are into the pale, tattoo-sporting sort then Lucky 13's dancers are perfect for you. On this particular evening though, Lucky's was featuring a different sort of go-go dancing. Taking volunteers from the audience, Lucky 13 Saloon's All Male Revue was on! Six brave souls took turns trying to impress the judges and their peers by taking it off...taking it ALL off in a few cases with some help from the grabby judges in the front row. There were stunts, theatrics, acrobatics, and costuming. After many rounds of applause (and laughter), the semi-finalists were chosen. A dance-off ensued, a judge was tackled to the ground, and finally, at long last, a winner was chosen. Congratulations, El Sucio.

86 - Taste For Hope

Taste For Hope
Westside Loft
25 September 2008, 1900

Taste For Hope is a fundraiser that supports the New York City Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. For a very reasonable donation of $100, patrons were invited to ascend to the 6th floor of the Westside Loft, a lovely open space on West 37th Street that can be rented for fundraising events, trade shows and holiday parties, and enjoy an evening of sampling delicacies from New York's finest. Taste For Hope benefits everyone involved. The MS society invites restaurants and beverage producers and distributors to set up tables in the loft and hand out samples of their wares. For those showcasing, the evening is a great means of publicity and the donation of their time and treats is for a great cause. For the attendees, nibbling and sipping the evening away makes the $100 donation worth every penny and, if I didn't already mention, it is for a great cause.

I attended Taste For Hope as a volunteer for Stout's sister-restaurant, F.A.T.S. (my homes away from home). Lucky for me when traffic around the table was slow, I was able to wander the loft and sample some wonderful goodies myself provided by Penn Brewery, Tommy Bahama Rum, Zipang Sparkling Sake, Becco, Stand, The Indian Bread Company, Hard Rock Cafe, and Terra Medi, to name a few. Definitely a delicious, wonderful, and inspiring evening.

85 - Unscene

Unscene
Spoon Theatre
23 September 2008, 1900

Unscene is a play in five scenes. Each scene takes place in a different apartment within the same apartment building and allows the audience to peer into the lives of everyday New Yorkers. The first scene involves an awkwardly adorable man professing his love for a clearly uninterested woman while an apartment party goes on in the adjacent room. The second scene shows us two brothers, one of which has just confessed to killing his girlfriend and who is having mixed feelings of anger and remorse over his actions. In a complete 180 degree turn, the next act portrays a set of very comical female roommates, one a functional alcoholic and the other a compulsive eater, discussing their lives and pitfalls with men. The fourth and fifth scenes involve two couples. The first, a couple breaking up and each blaming the other for forcing a strain on the relationship. The second, a married couple who get into a discussion about sex and insecurities after an innocent analogy goes awry. So basically, Unscene was like watching five mini-plays! I would say to go and see it, but tonight was the last night that it was showing. I found out about the play from my cousin. He did a smashing job portraying the brother in the second act who killed his girlfriend. Way to go, cousin, and good luck with the next endeavor!

100 in 6 budget: $1154

84 - The New York Burlesque Festival

The New York Burlesque Festival
Le Poisson Rouge
20 September 2008, 1900

Wow!
Beautiful.
Gorgeous.
Sexy.
Provocative.
Too many beautiful women...I have lost my ability to think.

83 - The Architecture of Flavour: A Whisky Blending Experience

Whisky Blending Class
Astor Center
18 September 2008, 1830

"Anyone can bottle a single cask, the real skill in Scotch whisky is demonstrated by the blender." - Peat

Astor Center is a foodie haven. From cooking classes to wine tastings, green market tours to sake pairing classes, Astor Center has it all including the ultimate course for Highland and Speyside lovers alike, a scotch whisky blending class. The class was presented by John Glaser a former employee of Johnnie Walker. Glaser separated from Johnnie Walker after spending years honing his tasting and blending skills in Scotland and England. He took his knowledge from Johnnie Walker and founded his own whisky company, Compass Box.

The Architecture of Flavour: A Whisky Blending Experience was held in The Study at Astor Center. The Study was set up more like a laboratory for mad whisky-blending scientists than a classroom. Two rows of 'desks' were equipped with graduated cylinders, tasting glasses filled with various scotch whiskies, bread, cheese and a carafe of filtered water. We started by going through some misconceptions about whiskies such as the most common that a single malt whisky is made only from a single cask. Wrong! A single malt just means that it is a pure malt whisky from a single distillery, but comes from multiple casks within that distillery. Since every cask is different, each cask will flavor the whisky differently. In order for the distilleries to keep a consistent flavor for their single malts, they blend together several malt whiskies of various ages from different casks in the distillery. Another misconception is that the age on a bottle of single malt is the number of years that it has been sitting inside the cask. Wrong! The age on the bottle is the age of the youngest scotch whisky that was involved in making the blend. Enough with the definitions though...on to the blending!

The eager students were instructed on how to smell and dissect the flavours in the whisky. After tasting several scotches with different base notes and top notes, we were given a lesson in how to blend. And blend we did! Each student left with a flask of his/her own scotch whisky, a bit of a buzz, and a better appreciation for scotch. I love you, scotch whisky. I love you.

100 in 6 budget: $1119

82 - Rockin' Blue

Rockin' Blue
Elevated Acre
17 September 2008

What is better than partying with your mom? Partying with your mom and her rockin' coworkers while the boss is jamming 60s and 70s rock ballads on the Elevated Acre in the Financial District! Read that last bit again... and yes, I am serious. My mom works for a rock star, well, a rock star of the construction maintenance world who happens to be involved with a fun cover band called Rockin' Blue. If you enjoy classic rock as much as I do then you will enjoy Rockin' Blue. The boys put on quite a show too despite some technical difficulties from a faulty amplifier. Now I know what you are thinking, so put it out of your head. Just because the band is composed of contractors and construction bigwigs from Jersey does not mean that their equipment fell off the back of a truck. Seriously though, Rockin' Blue helped usher in the first really crisp evening of the upcoming fall season at a fantastic venue, which I think is one of the Financial Districts best kept secrets. The Elevated Acre at 55 Water Street is hidden from the hustle and bustle of Wall Street behind the HIP building, two stories up from the street via escalators that appear to lead to nowhere and sandwiched between the Police Museum and the skyscraper that is 55 Water Street. Once you follow the escalators to nowhere, you enter a one acre enclave that includes trees, shrubs and a large patch of grass that allows for a perfect spot to watch a concert. The Elevated Acre looks out over the FDR drive and is a stones throw from the East River, so the views of the county of Kings are spectacular. Thank you Rockin' Blue!






The Boss:

81 - Pickle Festival

Pickle Festival
Orchard Street
14 September 2008

This Sunday was the 8th annual NYC Pickle Festival celebrated on Orchard Street between Grand and Broome. I don't think you can go wrong with a festival which starts out by giving away giant, delicious, spicy pickles directly upon entering the officially sanctioned Pickle Festival area. The Pickle Guys greeted fans with whole pickle samples right at the corners of Grand and Orchard. From gherkins to dills to half sours, the Pickle Guys have been keeping it Kosher for years, and are the last remaining pickle shop on Essex Street in the Lower East Side. The NYC Pickle Festival started in 2001 by Nancy Ralph, director of the New York Food Museum. She approached Alan Kaufman, owner of Pickle Guys, and asked if he would be interested in helping to celebrate the pickling history of New York. And just like that, a delicious event was born! Other stars of the Pickle Festival include Rick's Picks, McClure's Pickles and Wheelhouse Pickles, which offer everything from pickled beets to okra to green beans in a wasabi brine. Enjoy!

80 - NY Brewfest

NY Brewfest
Pier 17 - South Street Seaport
12 September 2008

This event was held last night outside at Pier 17...in the rain. Despite the weather though, Pier 17 at South Street Seaport was packed! I think it is safe to say that rain or shine people want BEER. For any beer aficionado, a beer festival is a must attend event. NY Brewfest was hosted by Heartland Brewery and featured dozens of breweries from the tri-state area and New England showing off their finest wares. Ever since I worked at John Harvard's Brew House in Mass a few years ago, I have loved and appreciated wonderfully crafted beers. They are delicious and meant to be savored. I am not talking about Budweiser, Corona or any other mass produced beers. I am talking about beers produced by microbreweries (a microbrewery is defined as a brewery that can only distribute a certain number of barrels of beer a year - approximately 15,000 barrels, I believe). These beers are delicately brewed, seasoned, and hopped to perfection...well, not all of them are perfect.

My favorite pours at the NY Brewfest were Otter Creek's Sphinx, a honey and chamomile infused beer, Southern Tier's Creme Brulee Stout, which was as delicious as it sounds with undertones of maple and chocolate, and Cape Ann's Pumpkin Stout, which screamed of Autumn. The Allagash Brewery representatives were definitely having the most fun as far as I could tell pouring beers while puffing on cigs and drinking more than they were actually serving.

On a side note, I am happy that I decided to post about this event today rather than last night. If I had, I am quite certain the post would have read like this, "Brewssh Feshtshshsh wuuuuz schloooper...hiccup". You know 'they' say you should never drink alone. I find that I have come to agree with the saying that "If you drink enough, you will never be alone." This was abundantly clear last night because after a few pours, I was surrounded by friends!



100 in 6 budget: $1044

79 - Tuesday at 8

Tuesday at 8
Pipin's Pub
11 September 2008

Okay, okay...so it was actually Thursday at ten, but Tuesday at 8 had Pipin's Pub rocking! Not much to say about them other than they play a great set of 60s and 70s covers and they had the joint jumping. Good, clean, Bay Ridge fun.

78 - Manifesto!

Manifesto!
The Brick Theatre
09 September 2008, 2100

Happenstance Theater presented this piece as part of the NY Clown Theatre Festival. This performance was titillatingly surreal and perfectly artistic. I came away from it having to give my head a shake and ask myself, "what just happened?"

A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions. They are usually political, but not always. A perfect example is the Communist Manifesto, written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1948. The Communist Manifesto was published to relate the Communist League's principles and is widely considered one of the most important and influential political manuscripts. They aren't all political though. There are several written about Dada for example. Dadaism was a cultural movement which started in Switzerland during World War I. It was a movement that protested the bourgeois and involved art, poetry, theater and other types of demonstrations. It used the absurd to make a point (for example, Man Ray created a flat iron with nails embedded in it). It helped to spawn other styles and movements like surrealism, avant-garde and pop art. Back to the show though...

Manifesto! took segments from various manifestos written in the 19th and 20th centuries and created a show around them. The only lines that were spoken during this performance were direct quotes from these manifestos such as, "Then with my face covered in good factory mud, covered with metal scratches, useless sweat and celestial grime, amidst the complaint of staid fishermen and angry naturalists, we dictated our first will and testament to all the living men on earth." from The Futurist Manifesto written in 1909 by F.T. Marinetti. They took excerpts from several Futurist manifestos, manifestos written about Dadaism, The Communist Manifesto and the Capitalist Manifesto and combined them into a fantastic performance. One of the highlights of the show was the Communist/Capitalist manifesto tango. This scene featured two performers dancing the tango while reciting lines from each manifesto back and forth to each other as if having an argument about which was better. Another popular scene was the "what does Dada do" conga line that had members from the audience parading around the stage with the clowns trying to figure Dadaism out.

Yeah...I don't know what to say either. I can bet that you just shook your head and said to yourself "what just happened?" though, right?

1oo in 6 budget: $990

77 - Big & Little and El Magnifico

Big & Little and El Magnifico
The Brick Theatre
09 September 2008, 1900

Send in the clowns!

The NY Clown Theatre Festival is being held at The Brick Theatre in Williamsburg from September 5th until September 28th. Put your reservations aside because this isn't your red-nosed, big wig wearing, giant red shoe sporting, pie in the face sort of clowning. I'm not saying that the festival won't include some of the aforementioned shenanigans, but the skits I saw were far from it.

Big & Little, played by Noah Bremer (Big) and Galen Treuer (Little) both with Live Action Set based out of Minnesota, was absolutely adorable. According to the program, Big & Little is "a study in simplicity." The skit had no speaking parts but was a choreographed set of scenes about a stolen shoe and the friendship that unfolds during the search for it. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, imagine portraying basic emotions and intentions without speaking. It isn't as easy as it sounds. A skit without words must use music, facial expressions, choreography and gestures to get the point and the story across. Big & Little have it down.

El Magnifico - The World's Worst Magician - was the second part of this clown doubleheader. El Magnifico, played by David Engel, and his wife, played by Hilary Chaplain, had me giggling the evening away. These two have found the perfect balance between subtle comedy and big theatrics. This skit also did not have a lot of speaking parts. Whenever a one-liner was thrown in to emphasize or make a point though, Engel and Chaplain both had the perfect tones and expressions to make it work and get the laughs. Other parts were not so subtle. For instance, the scene involving the stuffed animal attacking the duo was definitely not subtle, but was just the right amount of theatrics to get everybody laughing without being over the top.

I absolutely enjoyed watching both of these performances and was even hoping that the skits would go on a bit longer then they did.

100 in 6 budget: $979

76 - Battery Park walking tour

Battery Park walking tour
08 September 2008

I never realized how many memorials were in Battery Park. Walking around the Battery, which is the southernmost point in Manhattan and one of the oldest continuous public spaces in New York, sort of reminds me of being in Washington, DC, except on a vastly smaller scale. In DC there may be a couple miles between monuments, in Battery Park, there is a couple feet between them. Nonetheless, Battery Park is filled with history... and since it is a tourist hot-spot, also caricature artists, fake Gucci bag dealers, and trinket vendors in abundance. The New York Parks Department website reports that, "The area’s strategic location was recognized by Native Americans and Dutch settlers, who called it Capske Hook (from Kapsee, an Indian term for rocky ledge)." Modestly speaking, the area certainly does have some history. Before Ellis Island started welcoming immigrants to the United States, Battery Park served as the welcoming ground, specifically Castle Garden (aka Clinton Castle), ushering in thousands of people. According to its preservation website, the Castle served as an immigrant welcome center from 1855 until 1890. Now Castle Clinton hosts theatre and concert events throughout the summer months and is located directly adjacent to the Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty ticket sales booths. I strolled passed The Immigrants, which is, "dedicated to the people of all nations who entered America through Castle Garden" (sculptor: Luis Sanguino), the Korean War Memorial, the American Merchant Mariners Memorial designed by Marisol Escobar and dedicated in 1991, which is, "based on an actual historical event; during World War II, a Nazi U-boat attacked a merchant marine vessel, and while the marines clung to their sinking vessel, the Germans photographed their victims", the World War II memorial, and of course, the Sphere, described as "a monument fostering world peace" which once stood in the fountain of the World Trade Center plaza and was originally designed by artist Fritz Koenig. There are several other monuments in the park; however I decided to cut my tour short in order to take a trip on the Staten Island Ferry!

The ferry is operated by the Department of Transportation, offers beautiful views of Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty and the southern tip of Manhattan, provides commuters from Richmond County a relatively quick trip into lower Manhattan, and is completely free. The particular ferry I was on, the Guy V. Molinari, and others in the fleet are gigantic; holding approximately 4400 people at maximum capacity (which they do reach during weekday rush hours). The Hurricane Deck is the top most level and definitely sports exceptional photo opportunities for hungry visitors, the Main Deck is by far the windiest, and the Saloon Deck holds a snack bar which serves adult beverages and other edibles. The trip is approximately 25 minutes and runs 24 hours a day.

75 - Daylight Blues Band

Daylight Blues Band
Battery Gardens
08 September 2008

This show happened on accident. I was just getting to Battery Park to take a walking tour (event #76) when I heard a delightful sound emanating from the waterfront. The bluesy vocals of Bobby Day and the Daylight Blues Band was just getting started at Battery Gardens, a restaurant just west of the Staten Island Ferry terminal. Battery Gardens restaurant has a delicious view of the waterfront and hosts Blue Mondays all summer long with the Daylight Blues Band. This was a perfect way to start my walking tour because the band put a groove in my head and gave me a nice leisurely beat to stroll along to. The Daylight Blues Band is: Bobby Day - Bass/Vocals, Mark Shields - Guitar/Vocals, David Bennett Cohen - Piano/Vocals, and Glen Bob Allen - Drums/ Vocals.

74 - Slavoj Žižek vs. Steven Lukes

Slavoj Žižek vs. Steven Lukes
Barnes and Noble
03 September 2008, 1900

Both of the authors at the book reading event tonight have written multiple, critically acclaimed books, have worked in various universities as professors of sociology and philosophy, have lectured all over the world, and seem to have completely different opinions on almost everything.

Slavoj Žižek spoke about his book Violence. Violence examines different perceptions of violence and the different forms it can take depending on the source. He questions whether or not actions should be taken in the form of demonstrations or rallies, or if it would be better to take no action and instead contemplate the situations. If you want to get the Slovenia-born sociologist and philosopher going, just ask for his views on Capitalism. Using his acerbic wit and years of study, his books reflect his strong opinions on just about every social group.

Steven Lukes spoke about his book Moral Relativism. Moral Relativism asks if people can share viewpoints and standards even if from different social strata. Do different groups have the same opinion on what constitutes good and evil or virtue and vice? Can we find common ground? Lukes is a much more soft spoken speaker as compared to the very animated Žižek, but he makes his points clear. He is in favor of demonstrating and shared his experience as a part of the anti-Iraq war demonstration, much to the chagrin of Žižek. Steven Lukes is currently a professor of sociology at NYU.