Thanks to a flexible work schedule, I managed to catch a show mid-week which I rarely do.  A few friends took me to see solo performer extraordinaire, Keller Williams. 

First, my friends too me to a great sushi place in Northwestern NJ called Sushi Cafe.  The chef/owner, Paul is a sushi visionary who doesn't do the normal sushi platter but instead creates rolls that are personal and fantastic.  Using ingredients from other cuisines like Thai chili sauce and jalapeno pepper sauce, the flavors and tastes are truly fantastic. I was so impressed by his creativity that I had to take a picture of the plate that was put before me...before I devoured it.

After dinner it was onto the show.  If you don't know who Keller Williams is, you are missing out.  He's a very talented musician that can play guitar like no ones business.  The icing on the cake is his facility with looping recorders that enable him to tap, bump, chant, and musicialize all of his accompaniment and create a full band sound on his own.  Think Les Paul and John Hartford with a dash of the Mad Professor thrown in.

I was in awe of his talent. Usually you watch a musician and see and hear just the music but Keller had so much talent and joy doing his thing that it ws hard not to watch and smile.  He can play just about any style of music and has a growing following thanks to a gruelling tour schedule where he plays 200 shows a year.

Here he is playing a popular tune called Freeker by the Speaker.  You can see what I'm talking about....

All in all a great mid-week treat of great music and food. I just wish I could have some more of that sushi!

I've said this before, I'm a fan of the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia. There is always a great feel when you're in that city. Much like New York but not so nasty or frenetic. The people you see on the street are a healthy mix of urban hard edged or clean cut suburban preps and debs. If you enjoy people watching as I do, Philly is more interesting nowadays. This is especially true since the artist/creatives have been priced out of Manhattan proper. Where are they now? Williamsburg or something?

Here are my pics of the weekend. Enjoy...

I had a day off so I thought I'd head over to my old neighborhood at the northern tip of Manhattan. I used to live next door to a lovely park called Fort Tryon Park and within that park is a special place called the Cloisters. The Cloisters were built by John D. Rockefeller in the early 1930's to house a sizable collection of medieval antiquities. It has since been taken over by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and if you ever have the opportunity to go there, do it.

It's one of those quiet places.  The architecture and landscaping all work together to give a feeling of tranquility and reverence.  The artwork and relics are all laid out in strikingly beautiful and historically accurate settings.  There are rooms for praying, grieving, and being touched by the beauty of the craftsmanship that was perfected in 1500's Europe.

Here are my pics from the day...enjoy.

On a rainy Sunday morning, I figured I'd head out to Duke Farms which has been on my  list of places to explore for a long time.  Sadly, I got there too late. The gardens for which the Duke Farms are famous were shut down a year ago.  The system of formal and grand gardens were comparable to the New York Botanical Gardens and designed by heiress Doris Duke herself as a tribute to her father who passed when she was 12 years old.

You can see one of the main grand garden buildings from the visitor center but sadly it's slowly decaying.  The visitor center rep explained that the gardens were shut down by the trustees as they had such a huge carbon footprint and and Ms Duke's estate was left to environmental causes. They could not see their way around maintaining such an un-environmentally friendly structure so they shut it down.

I was disappointed to say the least. I really had my heart and camera set on taking some great pics of flora but it was not meant to be.  There is more information at the tribute site to the gardens at http://savedukegardens.org  There are also a lot of pictures taken by the community before the gardens were shut down here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/savedukegardens/

I managed to get a few pictures of the grounds during the nature walk I took.  They still offer that, thank goodness.

Set "Duke Farms" by sean808080 (sean 808080)

Doris Duke Estate. Gardens were retired from service last year. More info at savedukegardens.org

       

Click here to download:

This_Is_England_-_a_mini_revie.zip (1809 KB)

The film, This is England takes an unblemished look at race, homophobia, and class in the UK during the '80s. The film follows the story of a young lad who lost his father in the Falklands war and is bullied by kids in school. He meets up with a rag tag group of young skin heads who provide him with a family and protection and confidence. His mother notices the care they give her son and gives her blessing for him to be looked after by them.

Unfortunately, an old member of the group is released from prison and changes the dynamics of the group. He's filled with rage against the brown skinned as well as ultraviolent. He slowly alienates the members of the group but the young lad sees something in him and decides to stay by his side.

The film goes through the gradual deterioration of the social support of the group and the increase in racist attacks by the group. It culminates in a very upsetting and irrational attack that ends very badly. The ending is left a bit vague in that one is not clear on whether a murder has taken place or not. According to a summary posted on the film at wikipedia, a murder has taken place. Yet at the end of the film, the boys mother says the victim will be OK.

Either way, the attack is upsetting to watch and both the boy and the viewers are left feeling changed.

Personally, as the brown skinned kid in a group of mostly white people growing up, the film resonated with me. It reminded me of why I developed a very keen awareness of peoples read of me. Growing up, I often wondered whether 'friends' could tell that I was gay in addition to obviously being of color. I also had to consider whether there would be any negativity resulting from these realizations. Basically, any exchange with friends growing up had me wonder if I was going to wind up as Matthew Shepherd did. Sad but true. Fortunately, I never had any very bad experiences but needless to say I was hyper cautious about who I associated with.

The film shows my worst fears played to their end. I highly recommend the film as it shows the complexity of race, class, and politics intermingling to create our reality every day.

Here's a trailer:

If you get a chance, do check the film out. You'll be rewarded with a story that doesn't insult your intelligence and leaves you thinking.

One of the challenging things about being a dilletante is the lack of time to pursue everything that interests me. One of the things I've been neglecting is my mandolin. I'm feeling very guilty about it as I look at it hanging on the wall. Ever since I stopped taking lessons at a local music school, my practice regime has really fallen by the way side.

Sure, I pick it up now and again to strum along with some music but I am certainly not going to progress doing that. This week, I'll be giving a local mandolin teacher a call and hopefully I'll be setting something up. I need to move it along kids!

After having a terrific Rosh Hashannah dinner with friends on Saturday, Sunday was the day to work it all off. I met up with two friends and like Japanese tourists, the three of us took our cameras on a photo walk.  We started on Riverside Drive at 79th street to see the new addition to the Riverside Park.  This stretch between 79th and 57th street is very nicely done and faces mostly Trump properties on the land side so you know no expense was spared.  The best parts were where they preserved the old ship yard details and commemorated the work that was done previously on that shore.

Next we went over to the new Highline Park which is a public park built on top of old elevated train lines.  The park itself is kind of like a highway but instead of road for cars, it's a walk way for pedestrians with wild flowers and grasses on both sides.  There was lots to see as it stretches from the Chelsea to the Meat packing district.  It was also very popular as the narrow walk way was filled with lots of people enjoying the sun and sights.  We spotted a few celebrities [actually I did] and were very glad that the park was not closed as it does get so full that they no longer allow people up the stairs onto the walk.

All in all a great weekend.  Here are the pictures from the Hudson river and Highline Park walk. Enjoy.
[note: if you don't see a wall of photos below, then be sad and click here to see the set page at flickr.]