Hey, No Place Cooler -- Brooklyn Public Library

Back in the day, as a Brooklyn kid during the sweltering summer months, before I was shackled to this life of endless, if (arguably) ennobling, workitude, I would love to visit the Brooklyn Public Libraries as a way of simultaneously escaping the heat and enriching the mind. I would visit the various branches in walking distance from my family's Windsor Terrace  home, especially the phenomenal Central Branch, and check out all of the great stuff to read, or just browse the stacks, even from a young age. As a matter of fact, one of my first jobs was as a part-timer in the Grand Army Plaza branch's Audio Visual Department under the funny and wise Mr. Kenneth Axthelm and Mr. Joseph Scherer, and some of the other wonderful staff there. What started as a fun summer job, being around books and films, later morphed into part-time work in high school and early college. I fondly remember those BPL days and the BPL remains an important source of learning, enrichment, and enjoyment for me.

Today, BPL reminds Brooklyn residents that its branches are open and available, and provide a great way to escape the heat and enjoy the many educational, multi-media and cultural benefits that the Library has to offer.  Music, art, film, and an amazing assortment of reading material are available for in-branch use, or borrowing (with a library card). 

For Brooklyn Public Library branch hours link here.

Or call 718-230-2100 for more information.

For Brooklyn Public Library events calendar link here.

Branch schedules vary so be sure to check the schedule for the branch you are  visiting before stepping out!

Coney Island: Blue Vistas of a Summer Day

photos by Brooklyn Beat/TN

Visiting Coney Island for a stroll early in the spring, it was still hard to tell where the "old" Coney Island ended and the "new"Coney Island began. I had apparently beat the hype machine to the punch, and my post was followed by a number of emails reassuring that despite the  construction, gates, and  lack of info, Coney Island would be back in business this summer.

Flaneurs and peripatetic urban wanderers that we are, My Better Half and I took a stroll through Brighton Beach yesterday, stopping for a leisurely salad and vareniki lunch at Cafe Glechik. We made our way to the Boardwalk, starting at Little Odessa and made our way down to Coney Island. Well, despite all of the hype, the Coney Island Boardwalk, as far as  I can tell, remains its good old self. There is the addition of the new amusement park section with newer kiddie rides which supplements, not supplants, the old standbys: Deno's, Shoot the Freak, Ruby's...there are some new smaller concessions on the Boardwalk, and sections are still under construction. But happily, Coney Island, crowded on a sweltering Saturday remains Coney Island. We took a walk out onto the pier (which still haunts in the memory in its super-real portrayal in Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for A Dream)  and there were the fisherman and tourists, locals and visitors. Kitschy tzatzches, hot dogs and french fries, beautiful, oil- free water, and the blue vistas of a summer day. Environmental activitists. The occasional drunk and druggy, kids with melting ice cream, teenagers in love, seniors with zinc'd noses and  skin already tanned like leather.

Still not sure where the hype begins and ends, or what the future holds, but for now Coney Island remains  a delight. Despite the sagging economy, it's a place for an inexpensive outing, a little respite from the summer sun, some fresh ocean breezes, and a place to mingle with other New Yorkers.

Andy Warhol: The Last Decade @ The Brooklyn Museum

Self-Portrait, 1986

I saw Andy Warhol one time. I was a student at NYU in the 1970s, killing time between classes. Walking down University Place near 8th street, I looked up, and in a small jewelry shop, there he was, as iconic in life as his work had become iconic in the art world in the 1960s and 1970s.

Andy was blessed with well more than his 15 minutes of fame, escaping an assasination attempt by Valerie Solanas in 1968, that awful time of sporadic political violence and assasination, seeming like it could brim over into anarchy at times, at home in the US and war in Asia. Andy survived and lived on until February 22, 1987, when headlines announced  that  complications following an emergency gall bladder  operation led to his death from a coronary arrhythmia.  Andy Warhol:  The Last Decade, which opens to the public today at the Brooklyn Museum focuses on the the artist's return to painting and large, ambitious new works, both solo and in collaboration with other artists, as he explored new artistic media and themes in his final years of intensive work and continued growth.

Warhol's "Oxidized" ("piss") paintings, which involved the artist and his assistants urinating on  copper sheets, and his "Last Supper" which included numerous works on religious themes, some of them the largest on religious themes done in the US, give a sense of the artist as he attempted to return to new and different idea and techniques. Although not widely known, Warhol's Eastern rite Catholicism remained very strong throughout his life; he volunterred in homeless shelters and took great pride in his support of a nephew who entered the priesthood.

"The Last Supper (Christ 112 times)"

In 1984 and 1985, gallery owners Tony Shafrazi and Bruno Bischofberger brought Warhol together with Jean Michel Basquiat and Francesco Clemente in a number of collaborative works. 

The Origin of Cotton, Andy Warhol and Jean Michel Basquiat 1985

In this corner: Andy and Jean Michel

The Last Decade, which opens today and continues through September 12, 2010, includes some of his film and TV work, including Warhol's MTV pilot "15 Minutes of Fame" and other films by him of that era.  In his later years, his work explored religious themes, and he continued to work with new techniques and imagery,  for awhile influenced by Basquiat and Francesco Clemente and the work of younger artists. The inclusion of Brooklyn-born Basquiat in the Brooklyn-based show is just so right and a wonderful touch. We fondly remember the enormous Basquiat retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum a few years back, and last year, we saw the wonderful To Repel Ghosts ('Fantasme da scacciare') by Basquiat at The Memmo Foundation in Palazzo Ruspoli on Via Del Corso in Rome. That previous post here.   Although apparently extremely meaningul to both artists, this proved short lived . The two, one a grafitti artist who helped transform and became part of the "bull market in art in the 1980s, the other a commercial artist who mingled fine and commercial art to create the Pop Art of the 1960s and 1970s and who transformed art and helped to give New York its emerging identity as a world contemporary art capital, both appear to have influenced and shadowed each other. They both died within about a year and a half of each other, both in NYC.

While not a retrospective, it manages to cover many of the important milestones in Warhol's art and career, as the artist re-explored his use of certain images (commercial logos and images) in his later work. The exhibit offers a nice pastiche of the "Interview" magazine years and his curious flirtation with celebrity, glamour, and urban nightlife. Somewhere between the Hall and Oates and Diana Vreeland videos and the religious iconography, we see the dynamic expressed between the public and private Warhol.  Still, this look at the final chapter of Warhol's work shows a restless, sublimely creative man, who continued to take new risks and new roads throughout his life, as he evidently attempted to understand his art and himself.

The Brooklyn Museum link here

--Brooklyn Beat

That Was the Week That Was (or at least 5 days of it)

This has been a crazy week. Started with a quick turn at Jury Duty in the not luxe but definitely improved criminal/family court at 320 Jay Street. I was prepared for anything, but a light court calendar that day had most of us cut loose and on our way after a few hours of hanging out.

It did give me an opportunity to plough through a good portion of Spies of Warsaw by Alan Furst. Termed “Historical espionage,” it is a great read with interesting characters and a wonderful sense of Warsaw and Paris before World War II. Not quite done, but can’t wait to see how it ends and looking forward to his The Foreign Correspondent next. Can't wait to get back to Europe.

The working life continues to be intense and extremely busy. Family life, this year we will be married 25 years, with 4 kids at home in their early 20s and teens, is great and challenging and full of awe and mystery. Looking forward to the chance to take a few days off over the summer..amazing how 2010 is flying.

The brouhaha surrounding the Brooklyn Blogfest seems to have abated, with even one of the prosecutorial blogs who first stirred the pot, appearing to back off in a comment at OTBKB.com. It was interesting to throw my two cents into the fray. My only involvement with the Blogfest is as part of the audience, but LC has always been very generous-spirited and encouraging in her support of my own writing and forays into blogdom…hard to overlook.

Did manage to see Agora,  a 2009 Spanish historical drama film directed by Alejandro Amenábar and written by Amenábar and Mateo Gil. The biopic stars Rachel Weisz as Hypatia, a female mathematician, philosopher and astronomer in 4th century CE Roman Egypt who investigates the flaws of the geocentric Ptolemaic system and the heliocentric model that challenges it. Surrounded by religious turmoil and social unrest, Hypatia struggles to save the knowledge of classical antiquity from destruction. Max Minghella co-stars as Davus, Hypatia's slave, and Oscar Isaac as Hypatia's student Orestes,who becomes prefect of Alexandria.

The story uses historical fiction to highlight the relationship between religion and science amidst the decline of Greco-Roman polytheism and the Christianization of the Roman empire. The title of the film takes its name from the agora, a gathering place in ancient Greece, similar to the Roman forum. The film was produced by Fernando Bovaira and shot on the island of Malta from March to June of 2008. Justin Pollard, co-author of The Rise and Fall of Alexandria (2007), was the historical advisor for the film

I guess one can understand the fury of the early Christians (A.D. 400) having been persecuted and martyred for many years. They are definitely portrayed in a Never Again mode. At the same time, the film portrays the classical scholarship of Alexandria under Roman rule, just before Christianity became the State religion, while glossing over the persecutions by the Roman pagans of the Christians. But the film adds a certain contemporary resonance by adapting this story to mirror current day conflicts of fundamentalist dogmas against enlightenment, science, and learning.

Rachel Weisz is wonderful in this thoughtful film with enough action to keep things moving. Since I am a fan of epics set in the ancient world, I thoroughly enjoyed the story, well supported by some lovely acting, photography and special effects.

Ciao, baby...

Tempest in a Gimlet Glass: Brooklyn Blogfest 5 - Aftermath

The sh*tstorm over Brooklyn Blogfest 5's inclusion of a brand name alcoholic beverage maker and a famous film director who is shilling for it rages on.

The issue now appears to focus on Atlantic Yards Report and the Brownstoner's "revelations" on some additional behind-the-blogs marketing hustling that the liquor company was engaging in, offering what are ostensibly trinkets ($129 flip cameras) and invites-to-yet-other-"VIP"-marketing events, for some cross-promotional posts on "Stoop" life.  As Jerry Seinfeld might sardonically say, "Really?"  When I heard the brand name booze producer was involved, I imagined that Louise Crawford, after years of  hard work building the Blogfest from the ground up largely out of her own pocket, had finally hit a pay day with a major sponsor. Good for her. But in a couple of wrenching posts at Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, Louise makes it clear that, if in fact Brooklyn Blogfest had "Sold out," it clearly "sold out" for very little: Mostly some (not all) ot the refreshments, the booze, and some (not all) of the operating expenses. There was no golden ticket here, more like a co-sponsorship, which, due to the high profile of Mr. Lee, did seem to muddy the focus of this year's event. Face it, Spike Lee is a big draw. Even the "chachkas" offered to some of the bloggers involved in the event, or for cross promotional posts on the Absolut website, sounded like little more than higher-end gift bag items. Kidstuff.

I think Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn has said enough, made enough mea culpas, for not really doing anything wrong as far as I can see. And stop knocking your sponsor -- you don't have to make these declarations about not liking the product or not being partial to that form of beverage. You really don't have to prove anything. Blogfest 5, in all of its occasionally interesting moments and imperfektions is proof enough. You gave a party and we came. And we didnt even have to pay admission this year. That was a pretty cool arrangement. (En passant, I feel like mentioning, although I don't have to, that I had a "value meal" at The Gate before I arrived, so, regrettably I wasn't in tune with vodka but I might try it at some point.) So, not that there wasn't a story in this, but it sounded more like something from the NY Times business page or the WSJ, not an actual succes de scandale. If you are largely a Mom and Pop not-for-profit event, and you decide to make a corporate arrangement, you have stepped across a threshhold. No doubt there were additional deals. But the Blogfest is just an informal get together, a gathering of the tribes and wannabes. Who cares if there was a little (apparently very little) sponsorship behind it. But you have to wonder-- was Atlantic Yards' action in breaking the story the way it did more of a McCarthy-esque litmus test --"Have you now or have you ever accepted a proclamation from a Borough President who has supported a controversial and unpopular-with-the-local-community development project in downtown Brooklyn?"  Who planted that story with Atlantic Yards? It was unfairly portrayed as malfesance, when, in fact, Brownstoner and Atlantic Yards appeared to be stirring the pot for their own reasons. A reaction to OTBKB and the Brooklyn Blogfest daring to stick its toe in the corporate waters?  To quote from the Army-McCarthy hearings -- "Have you no shame, sir?" And Brownstoner --not that I really care, but does that blog wish to share its fiscal spreadsheets with the public? Will this peculiar contretemps result in a new focus on full disclosure of the financials of all "monetized" blogs? We pretty much have an idea from Ms Crawford's posts that OTBKB and Brooklyn Blogfest are amateurs and relatively inexperienced when it comes to "selling out." But malfeasant? C'mon. Let the monetized blog that is without sin, etc...

I am sure Brooklyn Blogfest has been suitably chastened by this brouhaha and next year it will be back to donated sixpacks and local Asian fusion food only with a $50 admission charge. Too bad, but I wouldn't blame Louise at all...
--Brooklyn Beat

Absolutely Brooklyn: Blogfest 5

The scene from the floor of Brooklyn Blogfest 5 at the Brooklyn Lyceum

Poet Lemon Andersen toasting stoops and the Borough of Kings in all of its urban glory

Spike Lee makes the pitch for Absolut Brooklyn, sponsor of Blogfest 5

(Absolut V with Red Apple and Ginger flavo-flav)

Wrap up of the Blogfest symposium, with workshops and refreshments to follow

At first, it was hard to tell if Brooklyn Blogfest 5 had, as one wag texted me, already jumped the shark. After all, with Absolut Vodka as a major league sponsor, and filmmaking legend Spike Lee shilling for his new flavor Absolut Brooklyn (ginger and red apple), clearly, Brooklyn blogging had arrived.  But, in truth, as a product placement, the brand and its high profile spokesman at first appeared to simultaneously overwhelm and boost the "Brooklyn Blogger" brand.  Ironically, the presence of Marty Markowitz, minus his ubiquitous light saber, and presenting yet another proclamation on behalf of the "Republic of Brooklyn" (be careful, Marty, sounds like sedition), which was greeted with a few muted hoots, catcalls and boos, brought a tinge of reality and a reminder of what makes the blogging thing so unique. A few years ago, doubtless Marty didn't know or care about blogging. Now the blogosphere has become something to contend with. (A thought - can there be more than one proclamation from the "Republic of Brooklyn" per day? Like Leo Bloom says in The Producers, "Max,  you can only sell 100% of anything.")

Lemon Andersen's Ode to Brooklyn was a down and dirty toast to the borough, as he named names and places and things that make it such a great place, both for newcomers and for natives of the town of Brooklyn born.  It is always great to see Spike Lee before an audience. Although his main focus was the vodka, he was generous in answering audience questions.

Andrea Bernstein is a wonderful interviewer. The value of the panel, it seemed to this listener, less so.  I guess I am not that interested in the ready availability of creme fraiche. Likewise, the ramblings about gentrification, Brooklyn real estate and bloggers-as-bohemians unconcerned about money seemed to clash with the overarching semiotic-reality of this year's blogfest: Blogging is a big tent that welcomes all comers, and that is finally achieving a modicum of respect from the likes of the powerful in the worlds of politics, leisure, entertainment and the arts. As Brooklyn's established, brick-and-mortar cultural institutions well understand in this time of recession, money changes everything.

Nevertheless, Louise Crawford, her family and her production team are all to be congratulated for once again bringing together this disparate group of bloggers, wannabees, fans and spectators and also for continuing to raise the profile of blogging as a serious medium worthy of respect. Her comments on the responsibility of bloggers to take what they write seriously added a refreshing bit of brio to the proceedings.  But even more importantly, by welcoming all comers, corporate and political, Brooklyn Blogfest 5, intentionally or not, took a risk, and in doing so, has moved the Brooklyn blogosphere out of its comfort zone and into new territory, compelling it to reflect on who and what it is, where it's going, and what is its real meaning and purpose in a complex and changing borough.

--Brooklyn Beat

Brooklyn Blogfest Tonight

Like the swallows returning to Capistrano, if it is spring it must be time for Louise Crawford's annual Brooklyn Blogfest. Once again, LC and Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, (which, by the Italian-American heritage invested in me,  I have informally designated "di bloggo di tutti bloggi of Brownstone Brooklyn blogs" ©  DITHOB 2010)  promises another amazing event, filled with old fashioned social networking, creative thinking and feedback on this expanding new medium and the Brooklyn Blogosphere. Pre-registration is closed but some overflow seating still available.

More details on the 2010 Brooklyn Blogfest here

Interestingly, Steve Jobs blamed the recent temporary failure of a new iPhone demo on the proliferation of wifi-using bloggers in the room at the tech conference who were clogging the wireless network. 

Well, if Steve Jobs considers the Bloggers in San Francisco to be troublemakers, what would he make of the Brooklyn Blog crowd?  While he is busy tweaking the iPhone 4 on the Left Coast, you can see the Brooklyn blog crowd  for yourself  tonight at the Brooklyn Lyceum. As always, Brooklyn Blogfest promises -- and, no doubt, delivers.

LC -- you go, girl....

--Brooklyn Beat

Art Sprouts on Third Avenue in Bay Ridge: The Art Room

Leigh Jewel Holliday welcomes

young artists at the Art Room

Marty Markowitz's office

proclaims Brooklyn Art Room

Day. 

    Justin Brannan, Leigh Holliday

     with City Councilman Vincent

    Gentile who welcomed The Art

     Room to Third Avenue

The economic news generally continues to disappoint but America is built on dreams and hopes, not fear.
A new business opened Saturday on 87th Street and Third Avenue, in Bay Ridge: The Art Room, a fine arts school opened by  artist Leigh Jewel Holliday, with the assistance of Mary Brannan, a veteran Bay Ridge early childhood teacher, and Justin Brannan, business manager. A fresh and charming space  with a warm, creative and attentive instructor, The Art Room offers classes for kids 3 and up, as well as serving as base of operations for birthday parties and other art-centric activities.

Borough Prez Marty Markowitz's office welcomed the new venture to the Brooklyn business community, as did City Councilman Vincent Gentile, whose district-office is a neighbor on 3rd avenue. A crowd of kids and well-wishers filled the exciting space, spilling out onto the avenue. A ribbon cutting by eager kids was cheered by the crowd of on-lookers.

As one long-time resident observed, Bay Ridge is a wonderful neighborhood with great shops and restaurants, but it remains hungry for more art and cultural  activities. Classes  at the Art Room begin Monday, and birthday parties have already been booked.  Check out the Art Room website for more information .

"I'm Smart!" - John Cazale's Brief Career and Legendary Performances in 5 Films that Helped Define the 1970s

John Cazale as Sal in "Dog Day Afternoon"

 

John Cazale and Meryl Streep                                                                                           Cazale and Streep in Measure for Measure

I Knew It Was You: Remembering John Cazale by Richard Shepard

I was a student at NYU in the mid-70s when a film crew took over 9th avenue (aka Prospect Park West) around the corner from my home on 17th Street in Windsor Terrace.  Some old storefronts were reconfigured into a bank and the great Al Pacino, fresh from his Godfather 2 triumph, explored a new character in Sidney Lumet's classic Dog Day Afternoon.  Sharing the screen was another remarkable actor, John Cazale, probably best known as Fredo in the Godfather series. Cazale appeared in only 5 films before he succumbed to cancer at the age of 42 but they were all critical, box office and Oscar favorites. A mainstay of the New York off-Broadway theater scene, Cazale was an enormous talent, and director Richard Shepard (Scotland, PA and The Matador) has created a touching and fascinating film portrait of his too brief career.

HBO is running this documentary in June and it also is available on HBO on Demand. Shepard was taken by the impact of Cazale -- ironically, at once familiar yet little known to film audiences who recognize him from his key roles in some of the pivotal films of the 1970s, yet his name was not widely recognizable. Shepard's documentary will clearly change all that, as he interviews Cazale's friends, acting colleagues, family, and others to learn more about the late actor's life, talent and work.   Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert DeNiro, Sidney Lumet, Gene Hackman, Playwright Israel Horovitz and others talk about working with Cazale and how his gifted acting style and unique personality helped to open up and expand their own performances and added so much to every film and play in which he appeared. Steve Buscemi, Brett Ratner, and film historian Mark Harris discuss Cazale's impact. Wonderfully, everyone interviewed -- some of the greatest American actors -- talk about Cazale with great love, affection and admiration, about his generosity as a performer and his impact on their own work and lives.

Sidney Lumet:  "When Al asked him during a scene, 'Is there any country you want to go to?' Cazale improvised his answer by saying, after long thought, 'Wyoming.' To me that was the funniest, saddest line in the movie, and my favorite, because in the script he wasn’t supposed to say anything. I almost ruined the take because I started to laugh so hard... but it was a brilliant, brilliant, ad lib."


Al Pacino: "It's great working with John because he has a way of getting involved - in the whole thing, in the characters. He asks so many questions - he was just brilliant. It was tough to sell Johnny, but once Sidney got to see him read, and work with me, it turned out great."

In his final screen role, and despite being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, Cazale continued work with fiancée Meryl Streep in The Deer Hunter. "I've hardly ever seen a person so devoted to someone who is falling away like John was," said Pacino. "To see her in that act of love for this man was overwhelming.

Director Michael Cimino "rearranged the shooting schedule," wrote author Andy Dougan, "with Cazale and Streep's consent, so that he could film all his scenes first." He completed all his scenes in this legendary film that gave a dramatically new perspective to the human toll on the lives and families of the US soldiers weho fought in that conflict, but died soon after, on March 12, 1978, before the film was finished. He was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Malden, Massachusetts.

I Knew It Was You is a fascinating, touching and wonderful exploration of  the life of a major American actor whose too-brief life and career during the turbulent 1970s has left an indelible mark on American films that helped to define a generation.

I Knew It Was You trailer here.

Coda: Louise Bourgeois, Visionary and Influential Artist, Dies in Manhattan at 98

Louise Bourgeois in her Brooklyn studio on Dean Street

Louise Bourgeois, the French-born American artist who gained fame only late in a long career, when her psychologically charged abstract sculptures, drawings and prints had a galvanizing effect on the work of younger artists, particularly women, died on Monday in Manhattan, where she lived. She was 98.


The cause was a heart attack, said Wendy Williams, managing director of the Louise Bourgeois Studio.

Ms. Bourgeois’s sculptures in wood, steel, stone and cast rubber, often organic in form and sexually explicit, emotionally aggressive yet witty, covered many stylistic bases. But from first to last they shared a set of repeated themes centered on the human body and its need for nurture and protection in a frightening world.

More from the NY Times obituary here.

2008 Posting here at Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn about Ms. Bourgeois's show at hte Guggenheim and former studio on Dean Street here.

The Stickey Wicket on East 16th Street

The objective of each team is to score more runs than the other team and to completely dismiss the other team. In one form of cricket, winning the game is achieved by scoring the most runs, even if the opposition has not been completely dismissed. In another form, it is necessary to score the most runs and dismiss the opposition in order to win the match, which would otherwise be drawn.  A cricket match is played between two teams (or sides) of eleven players each on a field of variable size and shape. The ground is grassy and is prepared by groundsmen whose jobs include fertilising, mowing, rolling and levelling the surface. Field diameters of 137–150 metres (150–160 yd) are usual.The perimeter of the field is known as the boundary and this is sometimes painted and sometimes marked by a rope that encircles the outer edge of the field. The Laws of Cricket do not specify the size or shape of the field but it is often oval – one of cricket's most famous venues is called The Oval.

On East 16th Street in Flatbush, a few young boys are playing cricket in the street, watched over by a dad. Pure Brooklyn, the kids, West Indian, South Asian and white, take turns wielding the cricket bat with great seriousness, laughing with glee as they get the occasional hit. No doubt the asphalt streets provide a stickier  wicket than a wet and drying pitch, which makes the ball'spin and bounce sharp and unpredictable. But it is a school day afternoon and the Flatbush street is far from the weekend cricket games played at Prospect Park, or Staten Island's New Dorp near Miller Field (which was a keystone to Joseph O'Neill's wonderful novel, Netherland). Here you can imagine the game that may have been played  in British 18th century New York. Now, played again widely in the city, taught by immigrant kids to their friends,not just a weekend team sport with crisp and gleaming white uniforms on the fields of Prospect Park, but now, also a street game and urban sport, evolving on the streets of Brooklyn.

Coda: Reflection on "The Lindsay Era" in NYC (aka "Fun City")

 --Lindsay Campaign Sticker

It was a return to another era in NYC politics at the Museum of City of New York Tuesday night when politicians, journalists and historians gathered to assess the meaning, the impact and the successes and failures of the administration of John Vliet Lindsay, 103rd Mayor of the City of New York from 1966-1973.  Mayor Lindsay (or “Lindslee” as he was chided by many disaffected New Yorkers) came in brimming with ideas, energy and enthusiasm, and cadres of young activists seeking to revitalize the political scene and New York City under his leadership.   The event was moderated by Sam Roberts of the New York Times (and editor of the companion volume to the new exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York, “America’s Mayor: John V. Lindsay and the Reinvention of New York.”)  Roberts opened the symposium by asking to identify audience members who had worked in the Lindsay administration: a forest of hands filled the air.  This lent a certain clubby quality to the event.  In addition, the panel included former Congressman Major Owens, former Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, who held positions in the administration and Jay Kriegel, Mr. Lindsay’s Chief of Staff.   They were all vocally supportive of the energy and vision of Mr. Lindsay’s mayoralty, acknowledging that the strikes and widespread political unrest were circumstances beyond his control that may have played a role in derailing many of the administration’s efforts at implementing new ideas.  Jerry Kretchmer, former Manhattan Assemblyman, campaign aide to Robert F. Kennedy and environmental commissioner for the Mayor, in the audience, took umbrage with suggestions that it was a failed administration. They took risks, made many advances, but were hobbled by the political climate, the unions, and other issues beyond their control. But at least they were willing to try new things.
 
Lest it devolve into a hagiography, journalists Gabe Pressman, Pete Hamill and Jeff Greenfield, and especially author and U. Massachusetts professor Vincent Cannato, added some much needed brio to the discussion, taking a more balanced view on the Lindsay administration, pointing out the unique strengths of the activist, media-genic Mayor and his progressive administration but also its weaknesses, failures and shortcomings, including the operational (failure to plow  out Queens following the blizzard, the attempts to dislocate Queens homeowners at the behest of developers), the political (failure to intervene in the Ocean-Brownsville community control situation that led to teacher strikes and political unrest) and the simply tone deaf (failure to recognize the identity and political clout of the working class and unionized white ethnic voters, which resonated with suggestions of elitism.)  Mention was only made en passant of the Knapp Commission’s police corruption investigations which in fact, according to news reports at the time, back In the day,  brought a panelist and mayoral aide to the brink of an indictment for allegedly changing his testimony regarding the handling of the early reports of corruption.  (When Officers Serpico and Durk reported corruption to Mayoral Aide Kriegel, did he or didn’t he tell the Mayor?-- Sources indicate that the administration, fearing possible summer unrest in minority communities, chose not to challenge the NYPD establishment at the time.)
 
After  the symposium, the opening reception at the Museum gave a much more nuanced, heavily documented, and fascinating overview of all facets of the Lindsay years. At the same time, it provides a wonderful flavor of that era in New York City. An incredible amount of political activity, cultural events, and rampant creativity.   Political and cultural memorabilia and tzatzches,  newspaper headlines and magazine covers, movie posters, layoff letters to teachers in Ocean Hill-Brownsville dispute, photos, books, municipal government handbooks and documents – the exhibit does a fabulous job of exploring the nooks and crannies of the era. I loved the recording of the Mayor’s Inner Circle dinner song, I believe with Florence Henderson, that went something to the effect of “I go to bed every night/wondering what the hell we did right!/will there be another strike? ”
 
I was not aware that his administration was responsible for formalizing the creation of “SoHo” as a mixed residential commercial district, or the creation of Westbeth Housing. And the efforts that the administration made for popularizing art and culture, with “Arts and Crafts Mobiles” and movies and theater in the parks, and the expansion of NYC as a filmmaking center, helped to transform the city. The panelists addressed with conflicting views the complexities of the Mayor’s support for the expansion of welfare and social services which showed him as an activist with a heart, but at the same time, helped to create deficits that led to a fiscal crisis. “America’s Mayor” gives a colorful and intriguing view of New York City during a tumultuous and exciting era, of a rara avis today -- a Liberal Republican (who later became a Democrat.). The exhibit, from this perspective, doesn’t attempt to answer questions about “success” or “failure” but it does help to fill out, with broad historical and cultural brushstrokes, a more defined portrait of the man, John V. Lindsay, whose bio had begun to fade a bit into obscurity.  
 
I was in my young teens in those years, but in looking back through the lens of “America’s Mayor,” you can’t help but to love New York City more and more, where we are, where we have come from, and hopefully still where we may be headed.

 
America’s Mayor: John V. Lindsay and the Reinvention of New York City at the Museum of the City of New York, May 5 through October 3
 
http://www.mcny.org/exhibitions/current/Mayor-John-Lindsay.html

Tomorrow, Thursday, on WNET 8 PM--Fun City Revisited--The Lindsay Years

--Brooklyn Beat

America's Mayor: John V. Lindsay and the Reinvention of New York

America’s Mayor: John V. Lindsay and the Reinvention of New York examines the controversial tenure (1966-1973) and dramatic times of New York’s 103rd mayor. The exhibition presents John V. Lindsay’s efforts to lead a city that was undergoing radical changes and that was at the center of the upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s; it highlights Mayor Lindsay’s ambitious initiatives to redefine New York City’s government, economy, culture, and urban design. Through his outspoken championship of city life, commitment to civil rights, and opposition to the Vietnam War, Lindsay emerged as a national figure in a troubled and exhilarating era. The exhibition also explores the costs of his approach, including growing criticism from disaffected voters and an increasingly out of control city budget.

Lindsay was born in New York City on West End Avenue to George Nelson Lindsay and the former Florence Eleanor Vliet. Contrary to popular assumptions, John Lindsay was neither a blue-blood nor very wealthy by birth, although he did grow up in an upper middle class family of English and Dutch extraction. Lindsay's paternal grandfather migrated to the United States in the 1880s from the Isle of Wight,and his mother was from an upper-middle class family that had been in New York since the 1660s. John's father was a successful lawyer and investment banker, and was able to send his son to the prestigious Buckley School, St. Paul's School and Yale, where he was admitted to the class of 1944 and joined Scroll and Key.

With the outbreak of World War II, Lindsay completed his studies early and in 1943 joined the United States Navy as a gunnery officer. He obtained the rank of lieutenant, earning five battle stars through action in the invasion of Sicily and a series of landings in the Pacific theater.After the war, he spent a few months as a ski bum and a couple of months training as a bank clerk before returning to Yale, where he received his law degree in 1948, ahead of schedule.


Back in New York, Lindsay met his future wife, Mary Anne Harrison, at the wedding of Nancy Bush (daughter of Connecticut's Senator Prescott Bush and sister of future President George H.W. Bush), where he was an usher and Harrison a bridesmaid. A resident of Greenwich, Connecticut and a graduate of Vassar College, Harrison was a distant relative of William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison. They married in 1949. That same year Lindsay was admitted to the bar, and rose to became a partner in his law firm four years later.

When he came into office, Mayor John V. Lindsay had a dream to reinvent the city—to bridge the income and affordability gap, bring racial minorities into government, integrate neighborhoods, empower communities through decentralization, impose strategic urban planning to spare the environment, and make cities more livable. Which of these dreams became a reality and how do those changes affect us today?

The exhibition, which opens to the public on May 5, is presented in cooperation with the Municipal Archives, is accompanied by a book of the same title edited by Sam Roberts of The New York Times and co-published by Columbia University Press and the Museum of the City of New York (May 2010), as well as a public television documentary presented by WNET.ORG.

Tonight at the Museum of the City of New York, DITHOB will be attending a symposium (sorry, sold out) moderated by Sam Roberts, and a panel of NY authors, journalists and political figures (Pete Hamill, Major Owen, Vincent Cannato, Jeff Greenfield, Jay Kriegel, and Gabe Pressman.)


More on the exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York

The City of Two Peaces: Jordi Savall Performs "Jerusalem" at Lincoln Center & WQXR-FM

Jordi Savall performs "Jerusalem: City of Heavenly and Earthly Peace" tonight at 7 PM at Lincoln Center in a performance that wil be broadcast live on WQXR-FM, 105.9 FM in NYC, and on the web. Savall has been one of the major figures in the field of early music since the 1970s, largely responsible for bringing the viol (viola da gamba) back to life on the stage. His repertory ranges from Medieval to Renaissance and Baroque music. His co-performer and spouse, Montserrat Figueras, has a voice that, in a word, transports. Jerusalem, City of Heavenly and Earthly Peace, from Catalan early music director and performer Jordi Savall, is a performance of religious songs, texts, chants and instrumental arrangements used to explore the way cultural traditions of the three major religions have shaped the history of Jerusalem, from biblical times to the present day.

A youtube sample from Cancion Sefardi.

Jordi Savall

WQXR-FM website here

From WQXR website: "Joined by his wife and collaborator, soprano Montserrat Figueras, as well as the musicians of his own ensembles, Hesperion XXI and La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Savall charts Jerusalem's history from 1200 BC to the present day..The performance comes at a time when Israelis and Palestinians are at deep odds over political borders and settlement activities in East Jerusalem. But as the liner notes to the lavish 2008 recording of Jerusalem explain, etymologists have translated the Hebrew name Jerusalem as "the city of the two peaces," a reference to both "heavenly peace" and "earthly peace." The former was proclaimed by the prophets who lived in or visited the city, while the latter was sought by the political leaders who have governed the city throughout its five thousand years of documented existence."

More from wikipedia on Jordi Savall

Jordi Savall's official site

Never, Too Late

Dreaming of the power to understand

Before it is too late

That which can be done

And that which can’t be undone

First taking soft steps across the forest carpet

After ducking the river tumble
Until the night comes

And the day that is finally done

Itself no longer may be undone

But we gaze at the willows and imagine

Something

Before it slips from our grasp

Text and painting by Anthony M. Napoli