NY Mysteries Dec. 27, 2019

 

The Stone Soup tradition at Judson. 

I was in a baa humbug mood. Not Stone Soup I whined to myself. Thanks to a hard working and well organized  team Judson’s 2019 Stone Soup was fun. Three enormous cauldrons  filled with vegetarian, chili or chicken soup were offered. In addition there were various breads, crackers, drinks. I helped dish out the food and had a ball watching people light up at the thought of a good, hot bowl of soup.

There was another tradition: a table with craft materials:  bits and pieces of yarn, ribbon etc. for children to make holiday cards and a section for people to write a Christmas card to a Judson parishioner who lives in a bed in a westside nursing home. That’s Judson! 

Lots of parties and going hither and yon. Christmas eve and Christmas day celebrations were spent with dear friends.

 I met friends in Harlem at RDV (Rendezvous). A delightful French restaurant with charming decor, lovely wine, great service and delicious food. friends had bronzino, duck and mussels. I had foes gras (Please don’t tell Elizabeth Warren.) It was superb and is about to be outlawed in the U. S. A.  

Happy New Year to all foodies and non-foodies!

Graphic Lessons: What do a thirty-four-year old, a nine-year-old and an eighteen-year-old have in common? Murder. 

Millie Fitzgerald applies for a Windsor School teaching job, faints on a  dying man in the school kitchen, deals with a troubled nine-year-old and with the eighteen-year-old niece of the murdered man.

Graphic Lessons: Nine-year-old Dana is the only witness who overhears a person fighting with George Lopez, the soon to be stabbed Windsor School kitchen worker. Who can she tell? Her mother who  accuses her of lying? Her father who’s fled to Singapore? She tells Millie. 

Graphic Lessons: NYPD Detective Steve Kulchek is assigned the murder case at the prestigious Windsor School. What’s bugging him? His partner was stabbed. He feels remorse over screwing up an important case. His corrupt boss is a trustee of the Windsor School. His girlfriend married his boss. And his daughter quit college. 

NY Mysteries Dec. 20, 2019

 

 

 

On December 15 we went to the Frick. Hyeyoon Park the violinist and Benjamin Grosvenor the pianist played to a packed and enthusiastic house. Ravel  and Beethoven were the better known composers. The evening begin with a rousing rendition of Karol Szymanowski’s Mythes. The Frick Music Room has a dated and tired grandeur. Its frayed wallpaper is a harbinger of the renovation of the Frick. What will happen to the Music Room?

I’m posting 25 Organizations that Take Care of Caregivers | American Society on Aging

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hanan Ashrawi is on the right. She has long been one of my heroes. This distinguished Palestinian woman has fought for the rights of her people since 1947.

And for fun: The gadgets that defined the 2010s. The Verge’s top five gadgets are: The Apple iPhone 4; the Amazon Echo; the Apple MacBook Air; the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Tesla. The Selfie Stick takes the 58 spot and everyone’s favorite, the Juicero Press, checks in at 98. (The Verge)

A very happy holiday and splendid 2020 to all! 

Graphic Lessons: What do a thirty-four-year old, a nine-year-old and an eighteen-year-old have in common? Murder. 

Millie Fitzgerald applies for a Windsor School teaching job, faints on a  dying man in the school kitchen, deals with a troubled nine-year-old and with the eighteen-year-old niece of the murdered man.

Graphic Lessons: Nine-year-old Dana is the only witness who overhears a person fighting with George Lopez, the soon to be stabbed Windsor School kitchen worker. Who can she tell? Her mother who  accuses her of lying? Her father who’s fled to Singapore? She tells Millie. 

Graphic Lessons: NYPD Detective Steve Kulchek is assigned the murder case at the prestigious Windsor School. What’s bugging him? His partner was stabbed. He feels remorse over screwing up an important case. His corrupt boss is a trustee of the Windsor School. His girlfriend married his boss. And his daughter quit college. 

NY Mysteries Dec. 14, 2019

Christmas Rappings

Last week I saw the two performances of Al Carmine’s Christmas Rappings. The Judson music director and conductor, Henco Espag, led the chorus and soloists through a thrilling and evocative performance, celebrating the fifty year anniversary of the four gospels musical.  The performers and chorus were in the moment and they were happy to be there. Their passion filled Judson.  I’m going to fill this week’s blog with photos of the event

Judson Memorial Church

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Mark Joseph Perry
Christopher Michael McLamb
Alexandra de Suze
Sarah Nelson Craft
Ryan S. Lowe and Chorus
The Chorus
The Chorus and the Director
Sarah Blaze
Lulu Fogarty
Al Carmines

 

Al Carmine’s I Became a Composer
Music director and conductor, Henco Espag
Lee Guilliatt, Craig Kuehl and members of the chorus
Essie Borden

NY Mysteries Dec. 7, 2019

 

Saturday evening a friend and I attended Maria Irene Fornes’ Fefu and her Friends at Theatre for a New Audience. Positive points: very cooperative theater staff, comfortable seats, actors (eight women) wore delicious wardrobe, great sets. Bad points: the endless, meaningless, fake profound script/ plot. I had been sucked in to going because I’d had a memory of having seen the play in the seventies. The audience became part of the play in Act 2. What was innovative back then was uncomfortable in 2019. We were divided into groups designated by color. We were Purple. At the beginning of the second act we thirty or so Purples trouped to the stage and  gathered around an enclosed glass cell in which a woman was being tortured. The Yellows were in the kitchen, The Greens in the garden. You get the picture. It reminded me of the seven train at rush hour. Very crowded. If you sat on the floor, you made sure you didn’t fall off the stage. That sort of stuff. After twenty minutes of suffering the Purples proceeded to the kitchen, then the garden. The other colors were doing a round robin of their own. Finally, back in my comfy seat for the third act which was long and boring. 

Fefu  and her Friends resolves my decision to avoid the theater.

William Kentridge in Conversation was presented at the Morgan.  The vast Gilder Lehrman Hall had a sizeable audience. The South African artist and director is mounting Berg’s Wozzeck  at the Met. He explained staging and the background of the opera.  

William Kentridge in Conversation

 

Henco Espag, Music Director Extraordinaire

 

 

We went to Film Forum to see an old favorite: Kind Hearts and Coronets. It’s still delicious. Murder has never looked more amusing.

 

Last night I saw the first of two performances of Al Carmine’s Christmas Rappings. The Judson Music director, Henco Espag, led the chorus and soloists through a thrilling and evocative performance, celebrating the fifty year anniversary of the four gospels musical.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Graphic Lessons: What do a thirty-four-year old, a nine-year-old and an eighteen-year-old have in common? Murder. 

Millie Fitzgerald applies for a Windsor School teaching job, faints on a  dying man in the school kitchen, deals with a troubled nine-year-old and with the eighteen-year-old niece of the murdered man.

Graphic Lessons: Nine-year-old Dana is the only witness who overhears a person fighting with George Lopez, the soon to be stabbed Windsor School kitchen worker. Who can she tell? Her mother who  accuses her of lying? Her father who’s fled to Singapore? She tells Millie. 

Graphic Lessons: NYPD Detective Steve Kulchek is assigned the murder case at the prestigious Windsor School. What’s bugging him? His partner was stabbed. He feels remorse over screwing up an important case. His corrupt boss is a trustee of the Windsor School. His girlfriend married his boss. And his daughter quit college.