New York Noise

And so the season ends with a fan favorite, the famous opera Tosca. A modern suspense thriller, it is the story of a turbulent love affair between the opera diva Tosca and the painter Cavaradossi who got into trouble with the police, etc.

Torture, murder and a firing squad, sounds a bit like a modern-day CSI? If that's not enough, it ends with Tosca fleeing inside a tower and in a fleeting image, a body is suspended in free fall. How did they do that? Was that a double? It sure looked real to me.

Another superb production but then again I expected no less from the Metropolitan Opera.

We are New Yorkers, try and stop us from making noise or producing good music especially underground. Here we see the Elianto String Quintet, exceptionally talented Juilliard grads delivering Music Under NY down below the busy Times Square station.

All you need is a Metro Card and a good pair of listening ears! Even our subways make music. Remember West Side Story? There is a ballad from the show entitled Somewhere. Listen closely as one of the newer trains pull out of a station, you'll hear it whine a three-note tone resembling the beginning of the song!

My neighbor Jeff, a professor of electrical engineering at Cooper Union has an explanation for this phenomenon. He said: "The sound is a fluke. Newer trains run on alternating current, but the third rail delivers direct current; inverters chop it into frequencies that can be used by alternating motors. The frequencies excite the steel, which in the case of the R142 cars respond by singing Somewhere. Inverters on other trains run at different frequencies and thus are not gifted with such a recognizable song."

Yeah, yeah. Gotcha or at least I think I did. Whatever it is Jeff, the subways, and I don't mean the British rock group, serenade me with Somewhere. There's a place for us.....

Demons and Devotion

When I found out that The Morgan Library is opening its doors for The Hours of Catherine Cleves, I knew the manuscript sounded familiar so I shuffled to my less than veritable home library to check out my collection. There it was lying on the shelf, a small book which I purchased in the early '80's and provides as close a glance into the original hand painted illuminated manuscript. You can't imagine how ecstatic I was, as I now would have the opportunity to view the original "greatest Dutch illuminated manuscript in the world" in person.

The Morgan Library and Museum elegantly displayed the pages of the stunning medieval book of Hours created in the 15th century for Catherine of Cleves, duchess of Guelders, a wealthy but politically ambitious woman of serious marital problems. The Hours was commissioned for Catherine as a wedding gift from her husband Arnold, duke of Guelders, and was painted by an artist known as the Master of Catherine of Cleves.

Illumination is an art of important tradition. The Book of Hours was a devotional book popular in the Middle Ages. Each manuscript is unique in one form or another, but most contain a collection of prayers, psalms, and text often with appropriate decorations for Christian devotion. Those made for the wealthy patrons may be extremely lavish, richly decorated and painted in gold.

These devotional miniatures are a gem. The detailed borders in The Hours of Catherine of Cleves are charming. Among them are stylized leaves, flowers, peas, birdcages, animals, garlands of mussels and crabs and each closely relate to the subject of the page. It is such a unique creation. Nothing quite like it that I've seen before.

The demons are frightening as they depict visions of the gates of Hell. Saint Cecilia was pictured in her aristocratic sport of falconry a symbolism luring the faithful with music and using hawks and falcons for the borders. She is the patron saint of music. Saint Bartholomew represents secular baking, the gilded plates are bordered with biscuits and pretzels. Who would know they already had pretzels in those days.

Saint Lawrence is shown with the grill of his martyrdom, and the alms purse attribute as patron saint of the poor. The delightful border shows fresh fish, which are ready for grilling, and the big fish eating the little fish, representing the rich devouring the poor.

The Master of Cleves conveyed irony and humor in the detailing of each of more than 160 plates. It's as if they were painted to enact pious dramas of the lives of saints and in a playful way. The trove of the workings of the great Dutch masters are not only in their paintings and tapestries but are also in these gilded illuminated manuscripts. It goes way beyond basics. It is marvelous.

There was a lot of silence in the gallery, except for an occasional question from a grade school kid to his art teacher. I enjoyed getting lost in the collection.

The J P Morgan private study is equally deserving of admiration. The room housed Mr Morgan's personal library and art collection. The Museum boasts a collection of first editions of Copernicus and Galileo, three well-preserved copies of the Gutenberg bible, the first substantial book printed from movable type in the West. More than 14,000 books are in his library. The walls of the study are covered with red silk fabric, the rooms filled with Flemish art tapestry, paintings and sculptures of the great masters and thousands of precious manuscripts. One set currently on exhibit are the Letters of J D Salinger, letters to his friend Michael Mitchell who designed the jacket for Catcher In The Rye.

In the same private office, Mr Morgan conducted business, and history as our guide one important event took place in October 1907. A financial panic occurred as a result of unregulated business, a quick reminder of current day affairs. He gathered his Wall Street cronies in this room and put together a bailout package to try to stabilize the economy. The crisis was resolved and he was considered the savior of the Panic of 1907!

Thank you, Mr Morgan. Your exhibition does what the Morgan Library and Museum does best and that is increase my admiration for the arts, particularly that of illumination. The Hours of Catherine of Cleves is now on top of my list. A book to keep in the night stand, skim a page each night and enjoy the arts as I recite my prayers.

Don't jump, naked man!

With public art displayed all over the City, there is no need to set foot in a museum. New Yorkers love their public art most especially on a lovely Spring day.

Stop, stare and gaze. Look up in the sky.
There are 31 naked men all over Madison Square Park in Lower Manhattan and 27 of them are perched on the ledge of rooftops! A conversation piece, to say the least, they compliment the architectural treasures found only in the Flatiron District. However, these men spark concern among many but the police have reassured viewers that the life-sized figures are not people contemplating suicide.

Nudity in the arts has never been a problem with most New Yorkers. No fig leaves are necessary. These pieces currently on display are not there for leisurely contemplation but as busy as the locals are rushing to work, some will pause in their tracks to take in these sculptures. Some will want to reach out for that no-longer-so-private part such as what happened to Botero's Adam and Eve on display at the Time Warner Center.

Some will want to tweak the discs on the chest and butt, the knobs that seem like electrodes ready for some connection in order to make the sculpture come alive. It's all part of an installation entitled Event Horizon the works of artist Antony Gormley. The exhibition first went on display in London in 2007 where a series of emergency calls where made to the police by concerned on-lookers. The life-sized pieces of iron and fiberglass are said to be body casts of Gormley.

He succeeded when he said he wants "to play with people's perception".

I saw it myself. A startled passer-by stopped and checked one of the sculptures up and down. I pointed out the rest of the naked men who looked like jumpers from the rooftops. He was in awe , started snapping photos and exclaimed, "Only in New York!"

Click on the images to enlarge and try to find those nude men on the rooftops. How many did you see?

The Flatiron Building is an artwork as it is but add to it a sculpture atop its roof and so close to edge, that is some work worth craning your neck for.

People gawked, some smiled and others shook their heads.

Some are creeped out, many are impressed, others are amused but hopefully most will understand that these are just sculptures.

Don't trip over that naked man. Don't call the cops on that stuntman or the guy attempting to take his own life. They are just a provocative work of art, you look at them and they look at you.

Die Zauberflote

This afternoon's performance of Die Zauberflote at the Met was remarkable. It was an elaborate and whimsical production by the renowned Julie Taymor of the famed Lion King staging on Broadway. In an untraditional way, she made Mozart's opera come to life using spectacular puppetry and visual effects.

The kite-like fabric puppets were manipulated with poles by people dressed in black reminiscent of Bunraku puppetry I first saw in Anthony Mingela's production of Madama Butterfly.

A gigantic bird carried figures representing the three boys, called the "Spirits", high above the stage. Perhaps the most enjoyable were the huge silk fabric figures of the dancing bears. Taymor's designs were attractive, best of which was Papageno's green tight-fitting costume which reminds me of a parrot. They were so effective that they are almost a distraction from the music Mozart has written for this opera.

This mystical fairy tale with an ensemble cast featuring Nathan Gunn as the bird-catcher Papageno was presented in its full-length German version. All that sophisticated stage machinery, geometric designs in triangles and circles and the colorful silk fabrics dominate the stage. It was simply magical - The Magic Flute.

Amaze me, Mets

I don't get it, they earned their scores thru a series of walks. With full bases on three innings, they let the chance of a win over the Marlins slip by. The pitcher allowed 13 hits, need I say more? The Marlins put on a good show and the Mets could've done better. Maybe not. They didn't have to work hard since they already make big bucks regardless.

It was a perfect evening for a game and our first excursion to the new CitiField stadium. Now that's pretty amazing. It's a baseball fan's paradise. The wrap-around vast concourses leave plenty of space for standing room viewing at the field level which I'm surprised was even allowed. The climb to the bleachers did not seem as steep for us limp-legged seniors. I was very impressed at the courtesy and friendliness of the CitiField staff which I hope never wears off. The unknown Pinman had a big smile for me as we climbed the escalators, he was so thrilled that I took his picture front and back!

However, I must admit that there is no glamor in sitting at the last row on the promenade. Clearly enough reason for us to abandon our ticketed seats scooting down lower where our noses will not bleed. We even tried going further down, but with security staff on guard we figured the hoi poloi must not be allowed in that section. So don't even try it.

A few minutes before the first pitch we were joined by Mao and George, by this time we already have stolen our own and mind you, even reserved seats for them. Chong had the jitters when people would come up looking for their section and she prayed hard it better not be in Row 2 where we were. I wouldn't exactly endorse our (actually it's just mine) tactic but hey this is done and by the paying public too. Guess what, nobody ever claimed the seats. So there you have it.

We wondered about it, the orange thing - it's the foul pole!

My attention was glued to the grounds staff as they prepped the diamond for the game. All that raking, replenishing with fresh dirt, watering - it all looked so well- orchestrated. It was a show in itself. And the concessions stands, you name it they have it. There is even a Shake Shack place and as usual the line serpentined and all for a taste of their famous ballpark burger and Shackmeister ale. And what's a ball game without your skinny pricey ($5.00) hot dog? Or a veggie dog, pastrami dog, shwarma, falafel or knish. And yes, you can get it kosher too! And that fellow in front of us, he must be so thirsty. He gulped down 7 cups of beer at $7.50 a piece. Now there's either a Mets' devotee or a foolish drunkard.

As for the game, let me go easy on the Mets. They performed after the 7th-inning stretch (Ho-hum I could've brought my knitting stuff), tied the game on the 9th at which point we decided to split. It was past my bedtime and who knows how much longer this scrambling would go on. At home, I caught up with the scores on the news.

Let's see how they'll fare with the Yankees during next month's subway series. That'll be interesting but in the meantime I'll just sit around and pray for that home run, Mr. David Wright.