Tag Archives: New York City
General Grant National Memorial
Today I visited the General Grant National Memorial, also known as “Grant’s Tomb.” It’s a grand mausoleum, where Grant and his wife are laid to rest. It’s located on the Upper West Side between Riverside Church and Riverside Park, at 122nd street. It’s operated by the National Park Service. Although it’s right on the bicycle route I took dozens of times over the years, today was only the second time I visited.
Coincidentally, my visit today corresponded with the 102nd birthday of the National Park Service, and in honor of the occasion there were bagpipers and an outdoor performance of Civil War tunes by Linda Russell. There’s a visitors center across the street and down the stairs, with exhibits, an excellent 20-minute film, a gift shop and restrooms. The park rangers are friendly and knowledgeable.
I was especially moved by my visit today, having recently completed a biography of Grant.
Here are some pictures from my visit — click to make them bigger:
Carousel on Broadway
This was just fantastic. Renee Fleming of opera fame is in it. Joshua Henry was spectacular as Billy. So was Lindsay Mendez as Carrie. My favorite was Amar Ramasar as Jigger. (He was oh-my-god hot!) This was really well done. Great singing, great dancing. My favorite number was Blow High Blow Low a Whaling We Will Go.
The reason I live in NYC is to experience evenings like this.
The Will Rogers Follies
The first Broadway show I ever saw was “The Will Rogers Follies.” To this day the show remains one of my favorites, and I still play the original cast recording from time to time. It starred Keith Carradine in the title role. It also featured Cady Huffman, who would later go on to star as Ulla in “The Producers,” and the late great Dick Latessa, as Clement P. Rogers. The music was by Cy Coleman and the lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. This big, fun show also had cowboys and Indians, a bunch of cute dogs — and it featured the “special participation” of Gregory Peck as the legendary showman Florenz Zeigfeld, which was akin to the “voice of God.”
This would have been the fall of 1991, if I remember correctly. I was working as an editor at the Hudson Valley News in Newburgh, N.Y., at the time, and I had just completed a big project and my boss wanted to reward me by a trip to the big city to see a Broadway show. I stayed at the Milford Plaza, and I almost got mugged. A year later I had moved to my apartment in Manhattan, I had a new job working at National Jeweler, with offices in Times Square, right across the street from the Palace Theater. When my dad came to visit we went to see “Will Rogers Follies” together. It was still running, with Mac Davis in the lead role.
‘Hello Dolly!’ with Bernadette Peters
Thanks to the Seat Geek app, I got an orchestra seat to see Bernadette Peters and Victor Garber in “Hello Dolly!” tonight! She was amazing. So was everyone else in the show. Last May, I saw this same production with Bette Midler and David Hyde Pierce. And in the 1990s I saw Carole Channing in a special 25th anniversary production. This is one of the best shows ever, and I am so very glad to have been able to see it so many times with such great talent.
Some new plants for the kitchen window
A few new plants for the kitchen window, along with some others that have been there for many years:
Cacti and succulents do well with the southern exposure.
January 11
It’s always sad to see the discarded trees piled up on the sidewalks.
This is a common sight every year, as early as the day after Christmas!
The Rolling Stones Exhibitionism
I went to the Rolling Stones “Exhibitionism” on opening day (Nov. 12) and again today (Feb 19) with my friend Steve. This is awesome. There are replicas of the lads’ messy apartment in London from the early 60s, a “backstage area” and even a reproduction of a recording studio. There’s a section on album artwork, another with scale models of their elaborate stage sets from the Steel Wheels, Bridges to Babylon and Voodoo Lounge tours. A whole room of Andy Warhol artwork, another featuring stage costumes spanning their entire career. Lots of video and audio displays and a 3-D movie at the end of “Satisfaction.” You can also see their guitars, a drum kit and notebooks with Mick’s hand-written lyrics to “Miss You,” “Lies,” “Some Girls” and many other songs. My favorite part was a mixing board where you can put on headphones and turn each band member’s instrument playing track up or down on about 10 different audio tracks, including “Start Me Up,” “Angie,” “Rocks Off” and “Sympathy for the Devil.”
Click the pictures to see them bigger:
I met Obergefell!
This is James Obergefell. He’s the plaintiff in Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality.
He was at the LGBT Center for a book signing. We have the same number of syllables in our last names!
‘Explore New York’ article for Dental Tribune
For this year’s “today” show daily, published by Dental Tribune on-site at the Greater New York Dental Meeting, I wrote an article for out-of-towners about what they can do for fun during their visit to the big city.
The meeting, which is an annual event in the dental industry, started just after Thanksgiving. I was the designated exhibit hall photographer for Dental Tribune, taking pictures at many of the company booths during the event. On one of the days I also covered a breakfast hosted by Henry Schein Dental, a company that is making a big push into digital technology.
My articles are directly below. If you click they will open bigger:
