We’ve gotten some feedback from readers, friends, and co-workers, and have updated our map featuring places of interest when you visit 92Y. Whether you’ve come to see a concert, lecture, dance, or more, we hope the map will serve your interests while you are in the neighborhood. Click through the image to see the establishments listed so far. It now includes hotels for those who want to stay overnight in the area, and a few more eating establishments; including our own Cafesol. Did you know you can get great gluten free pizza there, from New York City’s famous Still Riding Pizza? Because you can.
We are looking to fill out the map with more cafes, historic or architectural landmarks, and any other little neighborhood secrets you enjoy. If you have any places to share, let us know in the comments of this post, and we will update the map. And thanks for your help so far!
Last night at Cipriani Wall Street, Colum McCann was awarded the National Book Award for fiction for his novel Let the Great World Spin. A novel, “featuring a sprawling cast of characters in 1970s New York City whose lives,” the New York Times wrote, “are ineluctably touched by the mysterious tightrope walker who traverses a wire suspended between the Twin Towers one morning.”
On stage accepting the award, McCann said: “As fiction writers and people who believe in the word, we have to enter the anonymous corners of human experience to make that little corner right.”
NPR’s All Things Considered did a segment on Johnny Mercer yesterday, and the piece led off with mention of his appearance here in 1971:
In May 1971, songwriter Johnny Mercer appeared at New York’s 92nd Street Y to sing and talk about his remarkable career. He told the audience what he tried to listen for when a composer first played the music for a new song.
“You get a little glimmer and you say, ‘Ahhh!’ “ he told the crowd. “You don’t even know if it’s a word. And then it begins to ... you know, it’s like you’re tuning in to a musical instrument that’s miles away. And you say, ‘Oh, yeah, there’s something there. If I just dig hard enough, I know it’ll come.’ ”
You can listen to the segment in full. As well, NPR is offering four audio tracks from Mercer you can stream here, including this incredible audio from his appearance here in 1971. NPR offers the following description:
This is an extraordinary recording: He sings a medley of his hits at the end of the evening that goes on and on and on. But he also performed the very first professional song he ever wrote, which gives you a sense of how accomplished he was as a lyricist, even at 21.
92Y Podcast: From the Poetry Center Archive: Philip Levine: The Language of the Place
Tonight the Poetry Center is pleased to welcome back Philip Levine, whose new collection is News of the World. He’ll be reading with Rita Dove. In an interview with The Atlantic, Mr. Levine once remarked on the difference between performing poetry and writing it:
“The process of writing poetry depends on being alone in a room, and being comfortable being alone for long periods of time—almost reveling in solitude and slow time. I’ve had friends tell me, younger poets, that when they came back from their early reading tours they’d get very depressed. I guess they were waiting for applause as they picked up pen and pencil. But there is no applause.”
There was plenty of applause at Mr. Levine’s last appearance at the Poetry Center in November of 2001. Today’s featured recording is the entirety of that reading, which included “On the Meeting of Garcia Lorca and Hart Crane,” “My Father With Cigarette Twelve Years Before the Nazis Could Break His Heart” and “Two Voices.”
In an ongoing effort to share with our readers some of the great literary moments which the Poetry Center has presented across the decades, this blog has begun to feature regular postings of archival recordings by some of the best writers of our time—many of whom, like Philip Levine, are returning this season. To purchase tickets to tonight’s readings by Mr. Levine and Ms. Dove, please click here. For more information about the rest of the upcoming season, please click here. And for access to other recordings from the Poetry Center archive, 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.
You can also download the MP3. [15 MB]
[Right-click and select "Save Target As:" or equivalent to download.]
Subscribe with iTunes or add our podcast feed to your RSS news reader and have future 92nd Street Y podcasts delivered automatically.
During chamber music concerts, even if the whole performance is first-rate, there is sometimes one riveting moment in which the ensemble seems particularly cohesive. When the excellent Keller Quartet made its debut at the 92nd Street Y on Sunday afternoon, that moment came in the slow movement of Beethoven’s String Quartet in F (Op. 135).
Ms. DeYoung is a powerful singer with a warm, seductive tone that she used to consistently fine effect. Her rendering of Brahms’s “Geistliches Wiegenlied” had a meltingly gentle core, and she brought subtle changes in coloration to the seven songs in Dvorak’s “Zigeunermelodien.” But she was at her most highly charged in the closing Strauss group, which included a steamy performance of “Heimliche Aufforderung” and an impassioned account of “Cäcilie.”
Chamber Music, Nov-Dec 2009, A Labor of Love; Ellen Taaffe Zwilich discusses her new Septet: (PDF)
Sharon Robinson and artist manager Frank Salomon assembled a consortium of 12 presenters to share costs and stage performances over two seasons, starting with the work’s April 28, 2009 premiere at New York City’s 92nd Street Y. The repeated performances not only give the work a wider airing than it would get from a single commissioner; they allow the interpretation itself to mature and deepen.
Keep abreast of 92Y Concert events and happenings by becoming a fan of 92Y Concerts on Facebook, and sign up for their eNews alerts to be first to learn about added events, late-breaking news and exclusive offers. For those aged 35 and under, we have a selection of concerts with special discounted pricing, see all of those here.
Cathy Erway’s blog, Not Eating Out In New York, started in July of 2006, has developed a following befitting its own book.
A recent post last week was titled: Reason For Not Eating Out #37: Going Back to School. She wrote about the plethora of cooking classes, tutorials, workshops, and more that have been springing up all over the five boroughs. “For the more studious pupils,” she noted, “the 92nd Street Y hosts great food talks and tastings.She continued: “And compared to courses at “real” culinary institutes like the FCI or ICE, they cost a heck of a lot less; under $100 for a one-night class is to be expected.”
92Y Podcast: From the Poetry Center Archive: Rita Dove: Living History
In May of 1999, the 92Y Poetry Center celebrated its 60th anniversary with a gala reading. Appearing that night were Stanley Kunitz, Grace Paley, Edward Albee, Reynolds Price, Tony Kushner and Rita Dove, who read poems from her latest collection, On the Bus with Rosa Parks. In a note at the back of the book, Ms. Dove shared the origin of its title:
“In 1995, during a convention in Williamsburg, Virginia, as the conferees were boarding buses to be driven to another site, my daughter leaned over and whispered, ‘Hey, we’re on the bus with Rosa Parks!’ Although the precipitating incident did not make it into a poem, the phrase haunted me—and so this meditation on history and the individual, image and essence was born. (By the way, Mrs. Parks took a seat in the front of the bus.)”
Today’s featured recording is Rita Dove’s reading from the Poetry Center’s 60th anniversary celebration in 1999.
In an ongoing effort to share with our readers some of the great literary moments which the Poetry Center has presented across the decades, this blog has begun to feature regular postings of archival recordings by some of the best writers of our time—many of whom, like Rita Dove, are returning this season. To purchase tickets to this Thursday’s readings by Ms. Dove and Mr. Levine, please click here. For more information about the rest of the upcoming season, please click here. And for access to other recordings from the Poetry Center archive, 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.
You can also download the MP3. [8 MB]
[Right-click and select "Save Target As:" or equivalent to download.]
Subscribe with iTunes or add our podcast feed to your RSS news reader and have future 92nd Street Y podcasts delivered automatically.
Who would you like to see at the 92nd Street Y? Mark Zuckerberg or Oprah as others have suggested? Join the discussion on our Facebook page and let us know: Who would you like to see at 92Y?
Because Every Joke is a Tiny Revolution: Hammer & Tickle
Trailer for Ben Lewis’ Hammer & Tickle
Director Ben Lewis’ Hammer & Tickle is a documentary feature demonstrating how in the former Soviet bloc, jokes enabled people to dissent during a time when overt opposition to the state was forbidden. Ben displays how jokes were the people’s means of dissent in the absence of free speech, affirming what George Orwell wrote in his 1945 essay, Funny but not Vulgar: “A thing is funny when it upsets the established order. Every joke is a tiny revolution.”
“...no one knows the story of the German cabaret troupe who were imprisoned by the Stasi in 1961 for telling bad jokes (bad in both senses). No one knows about the Romanian public transport worker who collected overheard jokes and then analysed his material statistically so he could calculate the speed of the average Romanian communist joke.”
And don’t miss our series on Jewish Comedians with Columbia Professor Jeremy Dauber, as he examines Jewish comedy’s classic voices. Next up on Thu Nov 19: Jewish Comedians: On Woody Allen. Following that is Jewish Comedians: On Mel Brooks, Feb 16.
Attaining and maintaining beauty is an increasingly challenging task, particularly as our changing environment wreaks havoc on our skin. “This is not your ancestors’ environment,” says Dr. Dennis Gross,
board-certified dermatologist and author of Your Future Face. “In today’s world, the reality is that our skin is bombarded daily with external environmental pollutants and impurities. We must combat these aggressors to achieve our healthiest, most vibrant skin.”
Dr. Gross cites tap water as a leading environmental aggressor. Impurities such as iron, calcium and heavy metals are not filtered out of our bathing water, leaving collagen-destroying, cancer-causing free radicals on our skin after we shower. High levels of chlorine, used as a germicide, are also harmful. In addition to heavy metals, we inadvertently come into contact with a wide range of airborne and water pollutants, often made more damaging when they interact with the sun. According to Dr. Gross, carbon monoxide can cause skin redness and rashes, ozone in the air from pollutants depletes antioxidants in our bodies and causes free radicals, and nitrous oxide depletes sebum, the naturally occurring layer that protects our skin.
So, besides wading through the myriad of skin care products available everywhere from drugstores to dermatologists’ offices, what can people do to maintain healthy skin? Not surprisingly, exercise and good nutrition play a crucial role in maintaining healthy skin. “There is no better combination than that of a healthy diet and exercise,” says Dr. Gross. “The combination of the two can help reduce the appearance of uneven skin tone.” He recommends reducing high-impact exercise or alternating routines to incorporate both high- and low-impact exercise in order to reduce the amount of pounding that can cause collagen breakdown. Also, simple yoga moves increase circulation and get blood to the head and face.
As for nutrition, Dr. Gross says, “What’s good for the heart is good for the skin.” Foods high in fatty acids, such as avocado, salmon, eggs, cheese and other dairy products can be beneficial. The astaxanthin in salmon improves skin elasticity and reduces the propensity for wrinkles. Protein helps repair cells that have suffered free radical damage. Eggs, a complete source of protein, also contain biotin, an essential vitamin that protects against dry skin. “Eat vegetables that have a lot of color, like red cabbage, green lettuce, and carrots,” says Dr. Gross. “Nature colorcodes vegetables for us. The more colors you eat, the better.”
When it comes to supplements, Dr. Gross believes that applying vitaminstopically is the most effective means of preventing aging and treating existing skin conditions. “Applying ingredients to our skin early on can make a significant difference in preventing premature aging,” he says. Sleep is also a powerful skincare remedy. “The most important thing we can do to change our skin for the better is to get more sleep,” says Dr. Gross. “This is number one. Sleep helps our skin with immunity and regeneration.” And, he adds, use a satin pillowcase to reduce friction on the face while sleeping.
Junot Díaz and Jamaica Kincaid read from their novels at the 92nd Street Y on Jan 26, 2009. Junot leads off the reading with a humorous and sometimes cringe worthy story about a couple’s fractious trip to Santo Domingo. Kincaid begins at the 2:52 mark, reading a personal excerpt from a book about her brother, who is no longer with us.
Kincaid will be here again on Feb 1 for The Immigrant Experience: Becoming Americans with Jamaica Kincaid, Norman Manea and others.
Browse all upcoming readings in the Main Reading Series. And for those of you 35 and under, a limited number of tickets are available to each Reading Series event for just $10.
Unterberg Poetry Center webcasts and access to our archive are made possible in part by the generous support of the Sidney E. Frank Foundation.
Maasai: A Warrior’s Rite Of Passage (2007). See inside one of the last indigenous tribes still practicing ancient rituals before they are lost forever.
Find Your Perfect Colors: Dress to impress by enhancing your skin tone with the perfect clothing colors, and discover the secrets of professional stylists.
Thanks to everyone who came out to the Street Festival in October, and helped make it such a fantastic event! And a special thank you to all who stopped by the Share Your Story™ booth and related your personal stories. We had a blast, and are looking forward to seeing you all again next year. As Twitter user creativemf says: “@92Y is so hot right now.”
From the Poetry Center Archive: Vladimir Nabokov: Aesthetic Bliss
In March of 1964, Vladimir Nabokov returned to New York for the publication of his translation of Eugene Onegin. On April 5th, he read at the Poetry Center for the first (and last) time. Though his Eugene Onegin was forthcoming, he did not read Pushkin. Instead, he read a poem called “A Lecture on Russian Poetry” and verse by Humbert Humbert and John Shade. There is also a prose selection from Pale Fire, which he introduces like this:
“For those who committed the grave mistake of not reading my novel, I should add that both my poet and my speaker are invented characters.”
Before taking the stage, Nabokov himself was introduced by Susan Sontag, who praised his work as a “literature in which ideas have been completely transformed into stylistic beauty, into elegance, into sensuousness.”
Today’s recording is an excerpt from Vladimir Nabokov’s reading here at the Poetry Center on April 5, 1964. It was the second-to-last public reading he would ever give.
When he died in 1977, Nabokov left behind the fragments of an unfinished novel on 138 hand-written note-cards—The Original of Laura. In an interview with The New York Times from October of 1976, he spoke of how Laura had kept him company during a recent illness, how he would read it aloud to “a small dream audience in a walled garden. My audience consisted of peacocks, pigeons, my long-dead parents, two cypresses, several young nurses crouching around, and a family doctor so old as to be almost invisible.”
After decades of deliberation, his son Dmitri has now decided to have the note-cards compiled as a book under Nabokov's original title. And on Monday night, upon Laura’s publication, the Poetry Center will host A Celebration of Nabokov, with appearances by Martin Amis, Nabokov biographer Brian Boyd and Chip Kidd, the book’s designer. To purchase tickets, please click here. For more information about the rest of the upcoming season, please click here.
(Please note: a dozen of Nabokov’s note-cards will be on public display for the first time at the Celebration, courtesy of Christie's auction house, and only ticket-holders will gain access to this special one-night-only exhibit, which will open at 6:30pm.)
In an ongoing effort to share with our readers some of the great literary moments which the Poetry Center has presented across the decades, this blog has begun to feature regular postings of recordings from our archive. For access to other recordings from the Poetry Center archive, 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.
L-R Matthew Bishop and Bill Gates. Photo by Joyce Culver
Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft and Co-Chair and Trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, sat down with The Economist‘s Matthew Bishop last night. Adam Ostrow from Mashable was there and offers a recap. He writes:
Bishop asked Gates about comments that the Microsoft founder had previously made about the relative stinginess of some of those in a position to give major amounts of money (i.e. – the Forbes 400), as well as the role that the financial crisis has played on philanthropy. Gates jokingly said that last he checked, the people on that list are still in a good position to give, but it’s not his interest to go recruit people into philanthropy.
Looking around the globe, Gates is optimistic that emerging markets like China and India, where vast amounts of wealth are being created amongst the super rich, will eventually become #2 and #3 in the world in philanthropy, behind the US.
As for those of us without billions of dollars to spare, Gates believes the best way to get involved is with a similar approach to his, albeit on a micro scale. His theme can be summarized as ridding the world of inequality – which for regular people, means finding an inequality that you care about and doing what you can to help, first locally, and then if you can, on a wider scale.
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in 1970s New York City whose lives,” the 
She wrote about the plethora of cooking classes, tutorials, workshops, and more that have been springing up all over the five boroughs. “For the more studious pupils,” she noted, “the 92nd Street Y hosts great 
Dr. Gross cites tap water as a leading environmental aggressor. Impurities such as iron, calcium and heavy metals are not filtered out of our bathing water, leaving collagen-destroying, cancer-causing free radicals on our skin after we shower. High levels of chlorine, used as a germicide, are also harmful. In addition to heavy metals, we inadvertently come into contact with a wide range of airborne and water pollutants, often made more damaging when they interact with the sun. According to Dr. Gross, carbon monoxide can cause skin redness and rashes, ozone in the air from pollutants depletes antioxidants in our bodies and causes free radicals, and nitrous oxide depletes sebum, the naturally occurring layer that protects our skin.
