Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaugn, Billie Holiday. And Paula West….
Who’s the only jazz singer alive today that ranks up there with Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Billie Holiday? That would be Paula West, according to Time Out New York. See her at 92nd Street Y on November 19.
Known for a distinctive repertoire that includes such diverse material as Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” and standards like “Fly Me to the Moon,” West adds her own depth and drama to whichever song she chooses. “In the end,” she explains, “it’s just getting the story across. To me, the words are the most important thing.” As the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times critic Margo Jefferson writes in her liner notes to West’s 2001 album Come What May: “Ms. West never forces anything. She is rhythmically fluid and she knows just where to alter a melody, but there are none of the embellishments that show off the voice, bury the song and leave the heart untouched.”
Join Us Live For Tomorrow’s 92Y Wonderplay™ Conference
Reminder that tomorrow’s sold out 92Y Wonderplay™ Conference will be available to watch on a free, live webcast. Watch here, staring at 8:30 am.
The 92Y Wonderplay™ Conference, now in its fifth year, brings together early learning professionals with prominent leaders in education, child & family development and researchers from the national and international community. Learn how the brain develops during the first five years of a child’s life; why this is a critical time for language, sensory motor and emotional growth; and what you can do to support this in your classroom and school community.
Presenters include faculty from NYU, Bank Street College, CCNY, Early Childhood Direction Center at New York-Presbyterian and other leading researchers and teachers. Watch here: 92Y.org/WPWebcast
92Y Video: From the Poetry Center Archive: Jennifer Egan and Jeffrey Eugenides
“I feel like I’ve made it to Carnegie Hall.” So said Jennifer Egan from our stage on Monday night, her first time reading at the 92nd Street Y Unterberg Poetry Center. She read the first chapter of A Visit from the Goon Squad, which won this year’s Pulitzer Prize. Joining her was another Pulitzer winner, Jeffrey Eugenides, who read from The Marriage Plot. Today’s video features excerpts from both of their readings, as well as a few moments from the Q-and-A that followed.
In the video above (recorded at 92nd Street Y from November of last year), Harvard Law School professor Noah Feldman is asked if he believes the Supreme Court will uphold the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. A nice to clip review in light of Monday’s announcement that the Supreme Court will hear that case. NPR has a nice summary of the issues.
Related: Paul O’Neill, Kenneth G. Langone, Robert I. Grossman, Donald Berwick and Lesley Stahl were here last month for a panel discussion: A Rational Approach for Improving Health Care. Watch that discussion in full.
Daytime: Cookie Decorating 101 with Rachel Schifter Thebault: Just in time for the holidays, join Tribeca Treats founder and confectioner extraordinaire Rachel Schifter Thebault for a hands-on cookie decorating workshop.
Film: Report Back from Reel Food Residency: Reel Food is a unique convening that brings together nonfiction media-makers telling powerful stories about food and agriculture with non-profit organizations and foundations working for healthy, just and sustainable communities.
Film: Meet The Lady: Miscast!: For this special screening party, host Tom Blunt has invited an enormous rotating panel of past “Meet The Lady” guest stars to participate in a merry evening of inconsolable griping.
Music: Etienne Charles: A night of Afro-Trinidadian infused jazz by an acclaimed young trumpeter
Jennifer Egan ‘Had Exuberant Debates’ With Steve Jobs About His “Zen Credo”
“Ever since Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs hit the mediasphere with hurricane-level force,” wrote Jennifer Schuessler in The New York Times, “blogs have been buzzing about the revelation that the one book the tech visionary kept on his iPad 2 was Autobiography of a Yogi.”
“But far less has been made of another startling literary revelation: that Jobs once had a relationship with the future Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jennifer Egan.
According to Isaacson (who lands at No. 1 this week), Jobs met a pretty blond Penn undergraduate identified simply as “Jennifer Egan” at a dinner party in Silicon Valley in 1983, and fell madly in love. A yearlong bicoastal affair ensued, though weekends at the Carlyle in New York are nothing next to the night, sure to cause deep envy in the hearts of nerd-positive girls everywhere, that Jobs appeared at Egan’s door with the spanking-new Macintosh and proceeded to set it up in her bedroom himself. Ditto for the late-night phone conversations, in which Egan (who confirmed via e-mail that she was the same Jennifer Egan) challenged Jobs to square his Zen credo of nonattachment with his life’s work making highly covetable electronics. “He was irritated by the dichotomy, and we had exuberant debates about it,” she recalled to Isaacson. Sigh.”
Dinner with King Arthur: Fanciful Foods of the Middle Ages. Using medieval paintings and other images, this lecture re-creates the splendor of medieval feasts! Includes a tasting of an authentic, delicious medieval recipe.
Hollywood’s Greatest Dances: Session 6 with Howard Oboler, MA
What is Translastional Medicine? Translational medicine involves the transformation of laboratory findings into new ways to diagnose and treat patients.
Better Than Wine: Beer and Cheese Pairings: Explore a variety of beer styles, including lagers, pale ales, porters or stouts and lambics, and learn what sort of cheeses match them best and why.
World Politics with Ralph Buultjens: China: New Leaders and New Policies. China’s leaders will soon change. Who are they? How will this affect domestic and foreign affairs—especially relations with America?
We’ve had some big names answer our Culture Klatsch questionnaire, but for the latest installment, we may have gotten the biggest name conceivable: God Himself. God is doing the rounds to promote his new book, The Last Testament: A Memoir, co-authored with David Javerbaum (former head writer and exec producer of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart")
God’s co-author David Javerbaum will be at 92YTribeca on November 17 to discuss this new “telleth-all” tome with This American Life’s Ira Glass. Here are God’s answers to the Culture Klatsch:
Where do you go for news when you start your day?
I wake up knowing the location and activity of every sentient being and atom in the universe. But I do like Hoda and Kathie Lee. They’re a hoot!
What are your favorite websites?
Easily my favorite is menwholooklikekennyrogers.com. I could be anybody on that site.
How much do you use Twitter and Facebook (or other social networking services)?
Facebook, never; I have grave privacy concerns. But I tweet (@TheTweetOfGod) all the time. It is My new favorite way to communicate with human beings. My Son, on the other hand, still prefers showing up on pancakes.
What book are you currently reading (or the last one you read)? Print or digital?
I read all three of the Stieg Larsson novels. They are horribly-written nonsensical tripe. Yet I could put them down not.
Connecting To The Weekly Torah Portion With Rabbi David Kalb - Eyes Of The World: Vayera
Rabbi David Kalb, Director of Jewish Education for the Bronfman Center for Jewish Life at 92nd Street Y, continues his series of guest blogs below, with another post on the weekly Torah portion.
Eyes Of The World: Vayera
This week’s Parsha (Torah Portion) teaches through narrative the mitzvah of Hachnasat Orchim, the commandment of welcoming guests. At the beginning of the Parsha, Avraham (Abraham) is found sitting in his Ohel (tent), which according to the Midrash, Yalkut Shmoni on Parhsat Veyera was designed in such a way that he could see visitors coming from all directions. In essence it was open on all four sides, enabling Avraham to not only to see any travelers who might be coming, but to indicate that those travelers would be welcome to food, drink or shelter.
Avraham was so committed to being open to welcoming guests that according to the Talmud in Bava Metzia 86b, he sat out in the hot sun despite the fact that this was the third day after his Brit Milah (A Jewish religious circumcision, to bring a Jewish male into the covenant of the Jewish people and God). According to Bereshit/Genesis 17:24, he was 99 years old at the time; imagine the painful state he was in, recovering from his circumcision at such an old age, without the benefit of the anesthesia we have today. The Parsha goes on to describe in detail how Avraham takes care of three travelers, (who according to Rashi, Bereshit/Genesis 18:2 were melachim, angels sent by God). He welcomes them and serves them a meal.
Obviously, this story is about Avraham’s willingness to open himself to guests. However, there is a deeper meaning as well. It is a powerful, symbolic idea that Avraham’s tent is opened up on all four sides. Perhaps we are supposed to learn something through this imagery, and through Avraham himself, a lesson about what it means to be “open.”
92Y Video: From The Poetry Center Archive: Jeffrey Eugenides Reads Middlesex
From the Poetry Center Archive: Jeffrey Eugenides reads Middlesex at 92nd Street Y in 2002.
Jeffrey Eugenides returns to 92nd Street Y on November 14, to read from The Marriage Plot—a novel that “reminds us with uncommon understanding what it is to be young and idealistic, in pursuit of true love and in love with books and ideas,” wrote The New York Times. He’ll be reading with Jennifer Egan, whose A Visit from the Goon Squad won this year’s Pulitzer Prize.
The event is sold out, but, starting at 8pm on the evening of the event, we’ll be offering a FREE live webcast of the readings. You can watch that here.
To tide you over till then, the video above features an excerpt from Eugenides’ 2002 appearance at the Poetry Center, when he read from Middlesex. The excerpt features his reading of the beginning of the novel, as well as a much later section in which Calliope visits the Obscure Object’s house for the first time.
In an ongoing effort to share with our readers some of the great literary moments which the Unterberg Poetry Center has presented across the decades, this blog has begun to feature regular postings of archival recordings. For access to other recordings, please click here.
Unterberg Poetry Center webcasts and access to our archive are made possible in part by the generous support of the Sidney E. Frank Foundation.
92Y Video: From the Poetry Center Archive: Amos Oz
Israeli writer Amos Oz returned to 92nd Street Y on October 26th to read from his new collection of stories, Scenes From Village Life. After the reading, he was interviewed by critic Ruth Franklin, author of A Thousand Darknesses: Lies and Truth in Holocaust Fiction. Today’s featured video is an excerpt from their conversation.
Read Ruth’s post-event thoughts, Should Novels and Politics Mix?, on The New Republic.
In an ongoing effort to share with our readers some of the great literary moments which the Unterberg Poetry Center has presented across the decades, this blog has begun to feature regular postings of archival recordings. For access to other recordings, please click here.
Unterberg Poetry Center webcasts and access to our archive are made possible in part by the generous support of the Sidney E. Frank Foundation.
92Y Seniors Can’t Stop Knitting – For Cancer Patients At Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Phyllis Greenwald had an idea. She knew that some members of 92Y’s Himan Brown Senior Program loved to knit. She also knew that cancer patients at Memorial Sloan-Kettering needed scarves and hats as they faced the heart-wrenching side effect of hair loss during treatments.
So, Greenwald, President of 92Y’s Seniors program, swung into action. She put a call out to her members, asking for all knitting hands on deck. The result? An outpouring of care and support in the form of 249 much-needed wool hats and over 50 scarves for child and adult patients at MSKCC; and a newly formed knitting circle at 92Y – one that has no end in sight.
“We’re doing something for people who really need it,” said Sally Werbe, the 92Y group’s de facto knitting teacher. Some of Werbe’s students include Renee Babenzien, who had never knitted before. Babenzien decided to join the circle because two of her children were afflicted with cancer. Beverly Camhi last knitted for her son some fifty years ago (and had to re-learn how to knit). Said Camhi: “For my son, if what I made him didn’t fit, I could always go out and buy something. But this is more satisfying, to do it for kids who need it now.”
Ruth Schoenwald is another 92Y senior who responded to the call. “I hadn’t knitted anything in a very long time, but this gave me the impetus to do some knitting for a good cause.”
The materials used to create the hats and scarves were donated by former 92Y Board President Joseph Leff. And based on 92Y knitting circle’s output, and a letter from MKSCC to 92Y’s Seniors, Mr. Leff might be getting a call soon – for more materials. Wrote Jill Ackerman of MSKCC’s Dept. of Pediatrics: “It was so thoughtful and considerate of you to take the time to make these beautiful hats. They are sure to keep many heads warm during the winter months!”
The second #BrandsConf is currently underway at 92nd Street Y today. The event is being broadcast live on Ustream. You should definitely tune in if your interested in social media or brands. See the schedule of events here, and follow the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #brandsconf.
“To say that Warren Wolf’s Mack Avenue [Records] debut is auspicious would be an understatement,” wrote the The Daily News. “No doubt,” they continued, “this is one of the best of the year in jazz.” Listen for yourself on Amazon.
Warren Wolf plays The Checkout: Live From 92YTribecaon November 16. And today he’s our next Culture Klatsch subject. Spoiler alert: Where does he go get away? “Sit on Federal Hill in Downtown Baltimore overlooking the city skyline.”
Read the full Q&A below:
Where do you go for news when you start your day?
Usually I’ll try to look at my local news stations. But the majority of the time you’ll see me watching CNN.
Here’s the Tokyo String Quartet and Hanna Arie-Gaifman, Director of Music and Literary Programming, in the green room of 92nd Street Y with a well-deserved glass of champagne after Saturday night’s concert. Cheers!
The Tokyo String Quartet will next appear at 92nd Street Y on March 12, 2012.
“Ever since Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs hit the mediasphere with hurricane-level force,” 
“To say that Warren Wolf’s Mack Avenue [Records] debut is auspicious would be an understatement,” 
