Vacation is over and we are getting ready for the new season of arts in New York City; art exhibits, concerts, films, theatre, readings and other events. Shortly, I will be updating interesting and/or unique listings that might be easily overlooked among all of the events happening in New York City. Please send me information about an event you would like me to list.

The New York Philharmonic has it’s opening night concert tomorrow and tickets are still available. Also, there is a FREE open dress rehearsal in the morning.

Andy StatmanTrio (Andy on clarinet and mandolin, Jim Whitney on bass and Larry Eagle on drums and percussion) are back at the Charles Street Shul (Congregation Derech Amuno)  on Charles St at West 4th most Mondays and Thursdays at 8:30 PM. They play klezmer, of course, and very wicked bluegrass.

The MoMA will have a new exhibit of Vincent Van Gogh titled: Van Gogh and the Colors of Night opening September 21. Hmmmmmm. Paintings of in New York at night need  that soft red sky of summer…or the deep blue sky of October.

The new Museum of Art and Design will September 27 to the public.  Att NYERS: This is the new museum in the former “lollipop” building on Columbus Circle that has had the very beautiful extreme makeover.  I can’t wait to go inside and see this museum and the new interior. Their old museum on 53rd is closed, and they will soon open with 3 new exhibits: Remixing the Old, a Jewelry exhibit and their permanent collection.

An indescribable friend sent me this note: “Hope you’re feeling and doing as close to optimally well (according to your self-definitions) as humanly possible. I expect that this event will be particularly enjoyable if you’re into this type of thing; and even if you’re not. I hope to see you there. ” Havdalah Kirtan this Saturday: Themes of Forgiveness and the High Holy Days with Rabbis Andrew Hahn and David Ingber combines yoga, chanting and Havdalah, which is the Jewish end of Shabbat.
Actually, it is not my cup of tea but I think that I will go once.  Sounds like fun.

High Holidays check list: make appologies, pay up debts, study something worthwhile, decide on which shul you will attend, get tickets, invite friends and family, reply to invitations, give some Tzedakah (Charity)….. try to think about something in addition to the presidential race and the financial markets.

That’s all for now.

The Actor’s Temple (339 West 47th Street in New York) is in an 90 year old, long narrow building on West 47th St in the Theatre District. This congregation was founded in 1917 by local business owners in what was then a very tough area of Hell’s Kitchen. The Rabbi and Cantor of that time, reached out to others working in the area-the theatre community of actors, comedians, writers working on Broadway,  in vaudeville, cabaret, nightclubs etc.  The membership also included singers, dancers etc.

These individuals made an enormous contribution to show business and the  shul was truly an “Actor’s Temple” at that time. The stained glass windows in the little shulare dedicated in memory of many famous performers, such as Sophie Tucker, and signed photos of the former members who were stars line the walls in the synagogue building. Just imagine spending the High Holidays with the Three Stooges, Edward G. Robinson, Red Buttons, and Sandy Koufax.

Now, the front of the shul has the traditional ark holding the Torahs,  and the eternal light, and stained glass dedication windows, but the shul also has a stage light scaffolding for performances held by the congregation as part of their programming. There is also a  long wall of mirrors for the dancers who rent the space for rehearsals during the week. These mirrors are covered by curtains during services.

The shul was full this past Friday with over 100 people for an eclectic evening.  First an excellent  Shabbat buffet dinner open to all which also drew some local residents who were happy to have a meal offered. This was held in the worn social hall below the sanctuary level and was sponsored by friends celebrating their anniversary.  

These friends can celebrate anywhere they choose but selected this community and this authentic old space which does not have one true right angle, has that awful old time faux “wood paneling,” an ¨improvement¨of the 1950´s and the autographed photos of the stars. In a few more years these odd historic spaces of New York City will have been eliminated and all replaced by modern condos. We have to relish them while they are still here.

After dinner, we went to the sanctuary for the Shabbat service led by a Rabbi-Cantor with a longer resume in opera and voice than in Rabbinics and a personal warmth con molto dramatic flare.

After the service, the aisle was suddenly transformed into a long, very narrow stage and two modern dancers performed Luxxury Suite by Heidi Latsky,  with Meredith Fages. Surprising and nice.

An extended family donated a baby grand piano to the shul and were thanked and celebrated. Very warm and really nice.

A cantata, The Seven Golden Buttons, written by the Rabbi Ira and Judith Eisenstein, and based on a Hasidic story attributed to the Baal Shem Tov, conducted by Jeanne Krausman, was performed with excellent spirit and fun by about a dozen singers and the newly dedicated piano was used for this performance, as well. This is one of six cantata´s that the Eisensteins wrote. Judith Eisenstein was a musical prodigy and the daughter of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan the founder of the Reconstructionist movement. In 1923, she was the first woman to be Bat Mitzvah in America.

The Seven Golden Buttons is a story about true love and real value. Very nice and especially fitting for the anniversary celebrants.

This was not yet enough of an evening…after the cantata,  we all had kiddush (and more food) at the back of the sanctuary and some more time for schmoozing. Perfect.

The formal name of the congregation is Ezrath Israel, which means Helper of Israel.

We spent primary night at Lincoln Center enjoying the NY Philharmonic. No matter how many times I have the great pleasure of attending a NY Phil concert, I am first always so moved by the beauty and variety of the hand-made string instruments, the glistening brass, the warm woodwinds and the amount of different objects the percussionist has at hand ready to play.

It reminds me of an animation I saw as a child about the history of the orchestra which claimed that violins ultimately derive from bows and arrows. Something like ..”swords into plowshares.”

The NY Philharmonic has tried it’s hand at making a bridge for diplomacy and cultural sharing in the past with it’s historic visit to China, and this week the orchestra will make another historic  trip and perform in North Korea. The concert in North Korea will be on February 26 and be broadcast on PBS. The program is (Brooklyn born) George Gershwin’s, An American in Paris, and Dvorak’s, From the New World, which was written mostly in New York.

We have friends and relatives who love High End sound equipment and tell us how much like a “real orchestra” their system sounds. Their systems are wildly expensive, and sound great. But with my subscription seat which is a teeny fraction of the cost of their systems, I sit up in the third tier of Avery Fisher Hall,  all the way to the front of the house, and I can hear and see everything so gloriously. Even the conductor’s score, and the musicians faces. Just my cup of tea.

The program that night was: Rossini Overture to La Scala Seta( The Silken Ladder), Mendelssohn’s Symphony No 4 (Italian), and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 6 the Pathetique, conducted by Lorin Maazal. Buy yourself a ticket and enjoy this great orchestra. The program notes for each concert and about the musicians are fascinating and available online.

The Blind Boys of Alabama, the four- time Grammy-winning Gospel group, stopped by the Upper West Side this week and sang for a packed house in a book store’s performance space. It was jam-packed and all possible standing room was filled.

Jimmy Carter, the lead singer, said that they were up since 4 am and exhausted but they had plenty of energy and electricity.  He apologized for not being  “in uniform”, that is, in matching outfits.

Many in the crowd were clearly listening to the spritual message of the music, others just seemed to like the rhythm and danced as they sang.

They were promoting their new album, “Down In New Orleans,” which combines Gospel and New Orleans style. On the album they are accompanied by music giants: Allen Toussaint, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, the Hot 8 Brass Band, and pianist David Torkanowsky, bassist Roland Guerin and drummer Shannon Powell. The links have sound clips too.

I love Gospel, New Orleans Jazz, Preservation Hall Jazz Band etc, etc, so I happily own this new CD and I plan to walk around town with them singing in my ears.

Brilliant Klezmer musician Andy Statman, along with other musicians, play regularly at the Charles Street Shul, aka Derech Emunah (Path of Faith) in the Village. Last night we experienced concert number 431 at the shul. The shul has been hosting Andy’s concerts since 1998.

This is truly an experience, it is not just a simple matter of attending a concert.

Concert time was 8:30, we arrived at 8:30, so of course we were 45 minutes early and we helped set up the chairs in the long, narrow library/meeting room a flight below the sanctuary.  We were also treated like family: greeted by Director, Herman Lowenharr and his  3 year old grand-daughter– so cute, so smart, so sweet, she showed us the lovely party dress that was being hand-sewn for her, and let us play silly games with her, and home-made brownies were pulled from the oven before burning and offered to us.  Nice. 

The concert had a full house, and the music was glorious. Andy Statman on clarinet with a drummer played Chasidic niggunim in Andy’s unique style. Andy takes you on an emotional trek through each piece. Then after a short break, Andy switched instruments and genres, and played his mandolin in Bluegrass style along with a visiting Singer/Guitarist, and the drummer. It was excellent music and pure fun. He has a long history in a Bluegrass style.

Check out their schedule and go. There are Jazz nights as well. All too good to miss.

This link will take you to Jon Kalish’s excellent interview with Andy Statman which includes his trio playing at the shul, and Andy on mandolin.  

http://youtube.com/profile_videos?user=DerechAmuno&p=r

The photo of the shul was taken by Hubert J Steed.

Last night’s appearance of Twisted Sister at the FillmoreNY was a fantastic party for their fans and for the band. Twisted heavy metal waves of love went from the band to the audience and the audience did the same back. The audience was a spectrum of ages and types. The moshers moshed to Twisted’s Christmas songs like their heavy metal Come All Ye Faithful. Really hilarious and wonderful!

They were called back for more, of course and gave their fans several more songs, the most fun was My Heavy Metal Christmas to the melody of the Twelve days of Christmas. They held up hand-made signs with the new heavy metal lyrics and the fans sang along in complete enjoyment. It was really fun.

Dee said at the beginning of the set, that unlike certain bands that only complain about life they were into having a  a good time and enjoying life. They completely proved that. They played their Christmas  songs and also did many old favorites like, The Price , We’re Not Gonna Take It, and You can’t Stop Rock and Roll. They wished everyone Merry Christmas, Happy Hanuka and even a Happy Kwanza…and ended O Come Let Us with the line “Jesus was a Jew”. Outside of NYC that can be controvertial. It was a sick MF Christmas show.

We have decided to stay in town for the holiday week and go many places, I will write about each event afterwards. So to begin our week:

Tonight we will be at The Fillmore NY for Twisted Sister’s “holiday concert”.  I need to buy better ear plugs so that I can emerge without  my head banging on its own. I’ve done this before, I am a fan. You can still hear everything perfectly well with the plugs in, just no ringing ears for days afterwards.

And Saturday afternoon we will visit one of those precious  jewels of NYC, The Big Apple Circus which is located in a tent on a plaza in Lincoln Center. We will go in a large group of 18 family and friends including 6 children under 10 years old.