Film: Gotta Dance. Post-screening discussion with veteran Broadway producer and director Dori Berinstein and columnist Steve Ramos as well as a performance by the stars of the film, the NETSational Seniors. Read more on the 92Y Blog.
The New World of New York City Rentals with Curbed.com with Dottie Herman, the CEO of major New York City brokerage Prudential Douglas Elliman, and real estate market savant Jonathan Miller, and moderated by Curbed founder, Lockhart Steele.
Film: Je, Tu, Il, Elle: Part of the series Queer/Art/Film. Presented by writer Sarah Schulman.
The Unterberg’s Poetry Center released the sixth issue of Podium, an online literary journal featuring selected works from the writing program’s fiction, poetry, nonfiction, playwriting, literary seminar and advanced level creative writing workshops.
Shaul Bakhash, a leading expert on Iran and frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books moderated a panel including New York Times columnist Roger Cohen— who has recently returned to the U.S. from covering the elections —and Iran analysts Haleh Esfandiari (Director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson international Center for Scholars, who was imprisoned in Iran in 2007) and Karim Sadjadpour (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington D.C.). We posted the full talk on video.
If that’s not enough, you can always find us online here:
Do you have a pre-show ritual to get pumped up?
It’s funny. I usually am pumped up enough! I have a pre-show ritual to calm the hell down actually. Adrenaline will always get you going. I breathe and sing and breathe more and laugh, laugh with my band. And then do more breathing.
What are you working on next?
I am writing for my next record, which is always delightful and horrifying concurrently. Creating songs means going deeply inwards and moving way, way out at the same time. So I am preparing to feel the psychic stretch. It hurts but ultimately feels like heaven. I am so thankful to be alive right now. I am so inspired by this second. I don’t envy any other time or place. I love how everything moves so fast and the faster it moves, the slower other things become. People complain about NYC and how it’s changed. I cannot relate. I am honestly so inspired by it. I love it all.
What You Missed: Grasshopper and Women of NY Cinema
Grasshopper (above) performed at 92YTribeca on July 11 as part of the part of the Women of NY Cinema event of the NY Eye and Ear Record Fair. Sarah Lipstate, Liz Wendelbo and Rachel Blackwell all presented original works on video. Photos via The Bakery Floor / Credit: Andreas Brandal.
92YTribeca has a host of great events coming up, here are some highlights: Tonight it’s Cartoon from Hell, next week on Wednesday it’s Noisemakers with Peter Rosenberg Featuring Raekwon, and the following week The Iron Mule Short Comedy Film Festival on August 1.
You can browse all the locations in New York City and elsewhere around the globe by visiting the map here.
Also, 92YTribeca and 92Y both are listed in Flavorpill’s newly launched Flavorpill 50: “50 of the most respected event creators in every one of its major markets.” We are definitely blushing now.
Tony Bennett Surprises Jazz in July Crowd Last Night at 92Y
Tony Bennett surprises the crowd by taking the stage last night at Jazz in July / Photo Credit: Cory Weaver
Last night, Bill Charlap pulled off one of the biggest surprises in Jazz in July history – a totally unannounced and unexpected appearance by the legendary Tony Bennett who sang the concert’s two closing numbers in his first-ever appearance at the 92nd Street Y.
The concert was the second night of the Jazz in July summer festival, and it was a sold-out presentation of A Helluva Town: New York Jazz.
The show opened with A Helluva Town from On The Town by Bernstein and Comden and Green, featuring Bill Charlap, trumpet Byron Stripling, guitar Bucky Pizzarelli, bass Jay Leonhart and drums Lewis Nash. The second half featured Gershwin – as Charlap said, “You can’t have a concert about New York without some Gershwin – and the band played I got Rhythm. Charlap also pointed out that it wasn’t “I’ve got Rhythm,” but “I got Rhythm.” Ah, New Yawk-speak.
And then for the finale, all the musicians came out on stage for Broadway by Billy Bird, Teddy McRae, and Henri Woode. The instrumentalists were passing the tune around, when suddenly, totally without warning, out from the wings strode Tony Bennett. It took several seconds for the audience to recognize him, and even then the ovation was restrained. Bennett began to sing and everyone definitely believed what they were hearing. The air instantly electrified.
Singer and band jammed back and forth, from player to vocalist to player, bringing this jubilant musical salute to the Great White Way – and the evening’s musical love song to New York City—to a bigger and bigger climax. When they finally finished with a flourish, the audience let out a roar and rose to their feet.
But Bill and Tony weren’t done with them yet. With Bill accompanying him, Tony immediately launched into the familiar opening lines of I Happen to Like New York. He was just teasing the audience, though, and smoothly segued into Rodgers & Hart’s I’ll Take Manhattan. It was a perfect rendition, as only Tony Bennett can give. Bill Charlap joined him on piano, and they were accompanied by bass Jay Leonhart and drums Lewis Nash. Then as Tony came to the end, the rest of the band joined in for a glorious, New York finish, and the entire cast came out for a bow in front of a cheering standing ovation.
Only in New York Kids. Only at the 92nd Street Y. And we have one more photo after the jump!
Havaya International, now in it’s second year, is a five week long life-changing opportunity to travel like a local in both Israel and across the United States. The Jewish Week spoke to students from last year’s program about their experience in the program. Belle Yoeli, 17, of the Upper West Side said it best: “I felt like I was really immersed in the culture. They made us feel like we really belonged.”
“Havaya,” The Jewish Week wrote, “may well be unique in offering a combination of touring, community-service work and leadership skills to a small, select group of Israeli and American teens.”
This year’s program has already started, and runs from July 11 to August 16. However, enrollment in Havaya International is limited to 36 individuals, 18 from the United States, and 18 from Israel. If you’d like to attend, you can start planning for next year now.
Bill Charlap and Jazz in July Leave New York Times “Breathless”
Photo Credit / Erin Baiano for The New York Times
“When he was a teenager, the jazz pianist Bill Charlap recalled at the 92nd Street Y on Tuesday evening, he met the composer Jule Styne and asked him for the secret to writing a good popular song. Mr. Styne, choosing his words carefully, replied that it had to be “melodically simple and harmonically attractive.
The concert’s most magnificent moment belonged to Mr. Charlap, who delivered an astonishing “Some People,” from “Gypsy.” After a “Flight of the Bumblebee”-like introduction, the song took off with a slingshot propulsion that carried it through furious, turbulent changes covering the entire keyboard; it left me breathless.”
Upcoming Jazz in July concerts include: Piano Jam: With Respect to Oscar on Jul 23, The Gerry Mulligan Songbook on Jul 27, It’s Jazz, Charlie Brown: The Music of Vince Guaraldi on Jul 28 and the Saxophone Summit on Jul 28.
92Y Video: Iran: A Conversation About the Elections, Protest and the Future
Last week, one month following the start of Iran’s civilian uprising, PEN American Center joined forces with The New York Review of Books and 92nd Street Y Unterberg Poetry Center for New York City’s first public discussion about the recent events in this pivotal Middle Eastern country.
Shaul Bakhash, a leading expert on Iran and frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books moderated a panel including New York Times columnist Roger Cohen— who has recently returned to the U.S. from covering the elections —and Iran analysts Haleh Esfandiari (Director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson international Center for Scholars, who was imprisoned in Iran in 2007) and Karim Sadjadpour (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington D.C.).
The sixth issue of Podium, an online literary journal from the 92nd Street Y Unterberg Poetry Center is now available. Included in this issue are twelve amazing pieces selected from the writing program’s fiction, poetry, nonfiction, playwriting, literary seminar and advanced level creative writing workshops taught by well-known authors and poets who come to 92Y to teach and mentor these writers.
Following is an excerpt from Urban Cowboy by Lindsey Anthony:
When I was in high school, my father would blast country music on the way to our school while my brother and I groaned in our beat–up caravan. Being the oldest, I always rode in the front seat and would move the radio dial every time the light turned green. This action would often escalate into radio wars for the entire duration of the trip.
“All the songs are about some guy whining about how he lost his woman and his truck and his dog and now all he has is his booze and his guitar. Cry me a river!” I would complain to my father.
“It sounds like someone is kicking a dog!” he would quip back whenever we were on my rock-n-roll station.
Before we entered the school grounds, we would beg him to change the station for fear that some Garth Brooks crooning might escape through the windows and my brother and I would be held at the mercy of bullies in the senior parking lot. Most times he would turn it off, but every once in a while, he would blast it just as one of us opened the door.
John-Mario Sevilla, Director of Dance Education Laboratory at the 92nd Street Y has written a piece for Career Transitions (PDF). He reflects on making the transition from dance to arts administration and then returning to dance while pursuing a a career in education:
When I received a Career Transition For Dancers grant a dozen years ago, I had recently left Pilobolus. I had been the Dance Captain, but had entered that stage when the one-night gigs and transportation hassles, the physical demands, and my own waning passion coalesced into an inevitable, however fraught, decision to move on. A dancer from birth to earth, however, I was determined to stay in the field. I adored the wise, gracious teachers who had moved me in unexpected directions, so I ventured to become one of them.
The Dance Education Laboratory at 92Y is a professional development program for all educators and artists interested in developing their dance education curricula.
We will be having a DEL Open House on Nov 1, from 1:30 to 5 PM. Visit our facilities, meet our faculty and other members of the DEL community, and preview the courses for 2009-2010. You can call 212.415.5551 or email for more information.
92Y Video: Frank McCourt at Unterberg Poetry Center Schools Project “Letters to a Young Writer”
On March 17, 2008, the 92nd Street Y Poetry Center Schools Project celebrated its 20th anniversary with “Letters to a Young Writer,” an evening of readings and remarks by writers who have participated in the program: Frank McCourt, Jessica Hagedorn, Donald Antrim, Nicole Krauss and Rebecca Pawel.
As the New York Times once wrote: “Long before Mr. McCourt became a literary figure, he was somebody’s high school English teacher.” And it was in this capacity that he addressed the crowd at 92Y that evening.
And who knew he was such a great impersonator? At the least, we implore you to watch above—at the 4:00 minute mark and again at the 5:00 minute mark—as Frank imitates a conversation between himself and a student, and then goes on to reenact the home life of a senior in his first hour awake. Both clips are nothing short of hysterical.
As well, we have some short transcripts featuring his more notable words and pieces of wisdom:
Commenting on the value of teachers, he opined: “Teachers are not looked up to in this society. Basketball players, even if they’re the Knicks who don’t win anything, they’re looked up to...and we want to know what Brad Pitt is doing, and who he is gonna run away with next and how many children he’s gonna adopt from Mongolia.”
Speaking directly to the students in the audience, he told them: “You’re always up to something! Passing notes and falling in love and being hungry and eating your lunch under the desk. ‘Jonathon will you sit up?’
‘Wuh?’
That’s a word that’s not in the dictionary.” He went on to continue that thought, further lampooning the students.
He ended by offering his best piece of advice, if he were to give one to writers: “The notebook. The Pen. The scribbling, scribbles, scribble. Become a Peeping Tom, look in people’s windows, listen to people on park benches.
...The material is everywhere. You’re a kind of reporter. You’re a Peeping Tom and your ear is cocked to every key hole.”
92YTribeca Video: Nellie McKay Sings “If I Had You” at 92YTribeca
Former Manhattan School of Music student and infamous storyteller Nellie McKay played a beautiful set of songs at 92YTribeca last week. Above is video of her performing a soft acoustic version of If I Had You, a 1928 song by “Irving King” (James Campbell and Reginald Connelly).
Also appearing that evening was Jesus H. Christ & The Four Hornsmen of The Apocalypse (video) and Life in a Blender (video).
And for an added bonus, here is an mp3 of Nellie McKay’s Manhattan Avenue.
Frank McCourt, a New York City school teacher for almost three decades, is best remembered as author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir, Angela’s Ashes. His knack for storytelling might have been exceeded only by his passion for teaching. From an extensive obituary in today's New York Times:
Francis McCourt was born Aug. 19, 1930, on Classon Avenue on the edge of the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, where his Irish immigrant parents had hoped to make a better life. It was not to be, largely because his father, Malachy, usually spent his scant laborer’s earnings at the local bar. Beaten, the family returned to Limerick when Frank was 4, and the pattern repeated itself.
Three of Mr. McCourt’s six siblings died in early childhood. The family’s circumstances were so dire, he later told a student audience, that he often dreamed of becoming a prison inmate so that he would be guaranteed three meals a day and a warm bed.
...In 1949, Mr. McCourt, at 19, gathered his savings and boarded a ship for New York and a new life, which began unpromisingly.
Despite his lack of formal schooling, Mr. McCourt won admission to New York University, where he earned a degree in English education in 1957. A year later he began teaching at McKee Vocational High School on Staten Island, an eye-opening experience that he recalled, in often hilarious detail, in his third volume of memoirs, “Teacher Man.”
In his first week, an unruly student threw a homemade sandwich on the floor, an act that astonished Mr. McCourt not so much for its brazenness as for the waste of good food. After appraising the sandwich with a connoisseur’s eye, he picked it up and ate it.
Of course, you can read more on McCourt's life in the New York Times, Newsweek, Time Magazine, NPR, and elsewhere. Listen above to Frank McCourt reading from Teacher Man at the 92nd Street Y on December 15, 2005. He is introduced by his brothers, Alphie and Malachy.
You can also download the MP3. [34 MB]
[Right-click and select "Save Target As:" or equivalent to download.]
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And then for the finale, all the musicians came out on stage for Broadway by Billy Bird, Teddy McRae, and Henri Woode. The instrumentalists were passing the tune around, when suddenly, totally without warning, out from the wings strode Tony Bennett. It took several seconds for the audience to recognize him, and even then the ovation was restrained. Bennett began to sing and everyone definitely believed what they were hearing. The air instantly electrified.
