Music: PFFR Night: Members of PFFR, creators of Wonder Showzen and Xavier: Renegade Angel, will present a selection of their video work, from music videos to clips from shows.
Above you can see a Google map we are working on that highlights restaurants, coffee shops, validated parking, and other places of interest in the area when you visit 92Y. Whether you’ve come to see a concert, lecture, dance, or more, we would like your visit to be easy and enjoyable when looking for parking, or dinner and coffee before or after your event.
The map features some restaurants and coffee shops, as well a marker for a parking garage on 92nd Street that we offer validated parking for. The restaurants and coffee shops are noted because either we ourselves or our patrons have enjoyed them. The few featured above is by no means a complete list, and the map will be continually updated and maintained. We also know there are many other establishments in the neighborhood that deserve to be noted. On that note, we would like to encourage you to please feel free to offer your own recommendations for eating establishments, bakeries, hotels, or other amenities in the neighborhood. Leave them in the comments here, and we will add them to the map!
Upcoming events at 92Y:
Bill Gates in Conversation with Matthew Bishop: The Business of Giving: Nov 11
We Didn’t Quite Hear You, Can You Repeat That Please?
“Researchers found that exposure to subway noise levels for two hours or, at one 102.1-decibel-loud station, as little as two minutes a day could damage hearing."–L Magazine: Subway Noise is Making You Deaf.
“Noise is the number one complaint to the City’s 311 citizen service hotline, currently averaging nearly 1,000 calls a day."–CityMayors.com: New York Mayor in fight against noise pollution
The Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Noise Abatement and Control was defunded in 1982. The Noise Control Act of 1972 and the Quiet Communities Act of 197: “...remain in effect today, although essentially unfunded."–EPA.gov
Living in New York City is a privilege people all over the world fantasize about. It can also be challenging and stressful, particularly when dealing with the noise. Noise is not only a nuisance, as the information noted above shows. Studies have also shown it is a hazard to our physical and mental health.
To learn more about these issues, and new strategies to preserve and improve hearing for life, join audiologist Craig A. Kasper on Nov 17 for Healthy Hearing, Healthy Life. Explore the link between healthy hearing and overall well-being. May Center Members will receive more than %50 off ticket prices when calling 212.415.5500 to purchase tickets.
In 1815, Paris had 3,000 restaurants; New York had none. (In fact, the word itself wouldn’t enter the American lexicon until the middle of the 19th century.) Those forced to eat out could choose between “a slab of beef or mutton with potatoes and gravy” at a boardinghouse or chophouse, reports William Grimes, a New York Times domestic correspondent and formerly the newspaper’s restaurant critic, whose latest book is a chronicle of New York’s transformation from a Dutch village at the edge of the wilderness to what he sees as the most diverse restaurant city in the world.
In the 1820s, Grimes reminds us, time spent eating was time taken away “from the serious business of making money,” and Manhattanites were distinctly lacking in culinary sophistication. Even at the best hotels, the notion of courses didn’t exist: everything was set out at once, squab compote jostling with cream puffs. At the sound of a gong, the American guests stampeded the dining room where, to the surprise of their European counterparts, they set about “gobbling down” their meals “in silence.” So it was quietly revolutionary when, in 1827, two Swiss brothers named Delmonico brought “a whiff of Paris” onto William Street with their “little French confectionery and café.” Delmonico’s, Grimes writes, “established the tone for fine dining in New York almost overnight, and it would remain pre-eminent until the 1890s.”
This has been quite a week for former New York Times restaurant critics. Frank Bruni, their most recent critic, was here earlier in the week to talk about his career at the Times, as well as his own book, Born Round. Only days later, we learned yesterday from New York‘s Grub Street that he recently signed a deal to turn the book into a movie.
This is causing us to have a future case of Déjà vu, as William Grimes is coming to 92YTribeca on Dec 8 for a discussion on his book, “an extended historical tour of the city’s hash houses, oyster cellars and four-star restaurants, from the days of the Delmonico’s to the era of Per Se and the superstar TV chef.” And if you find yourself hungry, our Cafe makes wonderful foods!
So now the question is, who will be the first to report on his book to movie deal, should it materialize?
Upcoming talks at 92YTribeca:
How to Break In: Culinary Careers with Dorothy Hamilton and David Bouley Nov 11
Feasting with Edith Wharton: Foods of the Gilded Age: Nov 12
Ted Sorensen, John F. Kennedy’s special counsel, speechwriter and close advisor, appeared at 92Y on May 6, 2008 to speak with foreign affairs expert Ralph Buultjens about his memoir, Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History and Kennedy’s legacy.You can listen to the full program above.
Related:On Dec 10 at 92Y, Katie Couric will moderate a Special Celebration of the Life of Senator Edward M. Kennedy with Vicki Reggie Kennedy and Ted Kennedy Jr.
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100 Heartbeats is the next premiere in MSNBC’s landmark Future Earth series. This 2-hour special, reported by famed naturalist and biologist Jeff Corwin, tells the story of the “Sixth Extinction” — an extinction of our planet’s wild species caused by people and which can only be stopped by people. The show is the basis for a book of the same name, 100 Heartbeats: A Journey to Meet Our Planet’s Endangered Animals and the Heroes Working to Save Themsoon to be released.
To hear more from Corwin in person, you can visit 92Y this Sunday, Nov 8, where Corwin will talk about the effect humans have had on our planet’s inhabitants, many which are on the brink of extinction, and conservation efforts made for endangered species and ecosystems around the globe. Use discount code “COR” at checkout to purchase a ticket for only $10, and tell your friends who share concern in these matters. Jeff will be available for a book signing after the event.
As part of our series of Food Talks, last Sunday the New York Times‘ Frank Bruni—their recently departed restaurant critic—joined Mike Colameco, host and producer of Public Television’s Colameco’s Food Show, for a candid discussion about Bruni’s life and career thus far. We’ve recapped some highlights in the video above with a few bullet points:
On calorie counting, Colameco asks Bruni, whose new book Born Round, documents his life-long battle with weight and unhealthy eating:
“Do you keep track of calories? ...Especially as a critic, you’re obliged to eat...you’re supposed to eat food. And a lot of food. And taste everybody else’s food. And swallow. Well, calories.” Bruni playfully replied, “That almost sounded dirty.”
About the expense of maintaining a food critic at a paper like the New York Times, Bruni explained: “I never had them reduce my dining out budget. I know they haven’t reduced it for my successor Sam Sifton. It’s one of the most expensive beats to maintain.” Maintaining this is important he argues, so the readers know they are getting: “...a considered opinion based on at least three restaurants visits, based on a thorough canvassing of the menu, and based on money spent by the paper.” According to Bruni, that might not always be the case with restaurant criticism elsewhere, particularly online, where arrangements might be clouding the reviews:
“A lot of the stuff you see online, a lot of it’s lively, a lot of it’s great, some of it has a lot of integrity, “ he said, “but some of it, you have no idea. You’re reading it because that’s a restaurant in which the person writing it dines for free, frequently.
...You know at least when you read the Times, there’s utter economic independence of the critic.”
On restaurateur Jeffrey Chodorow, who placed a full page ad in the New York Times attacking Bruni after receiving zero stars from the critic, both men verbally jabbed him: “I don’t know how you can write many flattering reviews of any of his restaurants,” Colameco opined. Bruni chuckled, and continued: “You might have to look long and hard in the archives to find a flattering review of a Jeffrey Chodorow restaurant.
On anonymity and how important it is, or isn’t, to the job. Bruni related stories he heard about the lengths some restaurants went to neutralize a surprise visit from a critic, including sentries posted on the street corners nearby, employees whose sole job is to stand in the restaurants lobby keeping an eye out, or chefs who will make two dishes of everything for a critics table, picking the best one to serve. So it is more important to make sure they don’t know you are coming, as opposed to staying anonymous once there, he argued. What they can’t do without a lengthy advance notice, is to rework the menu, change the staff, or make a new run to the market for fresher food. “You will still get a...fundamentally honest experience at the restaurant.”
The evening ended with Bruni and Colameco offering recommendations for various restaurants and bakeries, or more accurately, where they have been spending their money as of late. Peasant on Elizabeth Street in Manhattan was mentioned, Bruni said he was a “big fan.” Vinegar Hill House in Brooklyn was mentioned as a “nice experience for the money,” and Veloce Pizzeria in the East Village was called: “a very pleasant place.” Levain Bakery on 74th Street was held up as a place that does very limited things, but what they do, they do “really, really well.” Bouchon Bakery, the bakery at Petrossian, and any place Karen Demasco or Kate Zuckerman hang their hat at were also given mention as places and people deserving praise for their pastries.
We’ve done an extensive numbers crunch for you. Counting number of shows, most frequents guests, and more—including esoteric stats, such as the number of Foursquare Check-ins (203 as of 11/3/09) most requested beer (PBR) and the number of hits on our New York Timesparody video on YouTube (110,337 as of 11/3/09).
CEO Eric Schmidt told you that Google is poised to become the first $100 billion media company. So it’s official: Google now defines itself as a “media company”?
Auletta: Yes, and the media companies that wail about Google’s power attest to this as well.
Won’t such a definition offend Google’s content partners in traditional media?
Auletta: Yes, that’s the delicate balancing act most companies must make in the new world. The word “frenemy” was invented to describe companies that are both collaborators and competitors.
Google is a media company in terms of generating advertising revenues, not producing content. Is there any indication that Google could enter content production?
Auletta: Google co-founder Larry Page and CEO Eric Schmidt told me that they had discussed buying the New York Times, but in the end decided that if they succeeded it would sabotage their identity as a neutral search engine. The reason they are interested in preserving the New York Times is that Google’s search engine depends on good information, and the Times is the world’s best newspaper.
On the other hand, Google already produces content. It has made production deals to create content for YouTube. It established Knol, its effort to compete with Wikipedia. The tensions between remaining the Switzerland of search and pushing its own content will only grow.
Higher still, a helicopter executed a dipping turn over the Hudson—a curtsy to the fact that the summer day was going to be cloudy and cool anyway—and the rotors beat a rhythm over the warehouses of the West Side. At first the helicopter looked lopsided in its advance and a small side window was slid open as if the machine were looking for air. A lens appeared in the open window. It caught a brief flash of light. After a moment the helicopter corrected beautifully and spun across the expanse.
Some cops on the West Side Highway switched on their misery lights and swerved fast off the exit ramps, making the morning all the more magnetic.
A charge entered the air all around the watchers and—now that the day had been made official by sirens—there was a chatter among them, their balance set on edge, their calm fading, and they turned to each other and began to speculate: would he jump, would he fall, would he tiptoe along the ledge, did he work there, was he solitary, was he a decoy, was he wearing a uniform, did anyone have binoculars? Perfect strangers touched one another on the elbows. Swear words went between them, and whispers that there’d been a botched robbery, that he was some sort of cat burglar, that he’d taken hostages, he was an Arab, a Jew, a Cypriot, an IRA man, that he was really just a publicity stunt, a corporate scam: DRINK MORE COCA-COLA, EAT MORE FRITOS, SMOKE MORE PARLIAMENTS, SPRAY MORE LYSOL, LOVE MORE JESUS.
McCann and fellow novelist John Banville (The Sea, The Infinities) will be here for a reading on Feb 24. You may purchase tickets here. For those 35 and under, tickets are $10.
As part of our Funny People series, actress and comedian Susie Essman (Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Joy Behar, a cohost of ABC’s The View, sat down to talk about careers, family, husbands, and lesbianism, among other topics. In the highlights above, hear why Susie used to pray for lesbianism to strike her, the relationship between Susie and her father, Joy Behar being parodied on SNL, and what Susie would tell Dick Cheney if given the chance.
This month’s Metalsmith magazine, not yet online, features one of Jonathan Wahl’s drawings (above) in an article called: Objects of Remembrance: Contemporary Mourning Jewelry.
Jonathon, a New York Foundation for the Arts grant recipient this year, is the Director of the Jewelry Center at 92Y. As it happens, the article was written by Marjorie Simon, a regular contributor to Metalsmith and former Jewelry Center student. And if you didn’t catch it when it aired on television, here is PBS’ Craft in America segment featuring Jonathan!
Priority registration for classes and workshops at the Jewelry Center begin Nov 19.
With the elections taking place tomorrow in New York City and around the country, we have a timely update to the Share Your Story™ series. In the video above, 27-year-old Matt Bishop, resident of Astoria, Queens, stepped in front of the camera at the Share Your Story™ booth during the 92Y Street Fest. Bishop told us he spends most of his time doing what he really believes in, public service. Being involved in local politics and policy, being involved in your community, Bishop argues, is the most effective way to change things:
I hope that people will realize that they’re part of a community, and they’re part of something that is much bigger than themselves. And I hope people get involved in politics, whatever your politics are...because when we step out of this democratic process, you have all sorts all of special interests that step in.
This summer, the First Lady Michelle Obama and the White House celebrated Jazz music with a Jazz Studio session/ The concert was one of a series of student workshops the First Lady has been hosting. Next week another workshop will be held in the East Room, this one a classical music session.
The New York Times’ Caucus blog reports the session will: “...feature Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell, Grammy-award winning guitarist Sharon Isbin, along with the cellist Alisa Weilerstein and the pianist Awadagin Pratt. The concert will also include child protégés Sujari Britt and Jason Yoder, who will accompany Ms. Weilerstein in duets.
Fans of our concert programming at 92Y have most likely seen some of these artists here on our stage.
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In 1815, Paris had 3,000 restaurants; New York had none. (In fact, the word itself wouldn’t enter the American lexicon until the middle of the 19th century.) Those forced to eat out could choose between “a slab of beef or mutton with potatoes and gravy” at a boardinghouse or chophouse, reports William Grimes, a New York Times domestic correspondent and formerly the newspaper’s restaurant critic, whose latest book is a chronicle of New York’s transformation from a Dutch village at the edge of the wilderness to what he sees as the most diverse restaurant city in the world.
I Want Media.com’s Patrick Phillips 
