Tango meets jazz

The evening was an event. It didn't matter that it was done at a little theatre at La Guardia Community College, Avantango did a terrific performance. Founded by the Argentinian bassist Pablo Aslan, this sextet composed of top flight musicians delivered the most incredible music from the base to the tenor-sax, to the trumpet, accordion and the piano. And then this was fused with the most seductive choreography of the classic tango and milonga.

The music from the tenor-sax hit the spot! Romantic and sweet, at times fierce and vibrant, the two dancers couldn't have done a better job of demonstrating all that. I was very impressed with the choreography and the costume change.

And who could provide a rich chronology on the history of tango and the music native to Argentina but the very talented Pablo Aslan. The group performed a few of the pieces by legendary Argentinian composers.

I couldn't pass up this opportunity. It was an invitation from my neighbor Regina and on short notice. This was part of the Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concert series, ticketed and yet free. An hour of full blown entertainment, upclose view of passionate and intricate dance moves and a mix of electrifying romantic jazz sounds!

Too short, but awesome!

So you want milk

Proper or not, tell me who would have the nerve to shush a kid as she expressed her boredom during the last segment of the Balanchine-Tchaikovsky Spectacular. Two rows diagonally across from our seats was a little girl sitting on her mom’s lap. As Theme and Variations opened onstage she vehemently declared “No. I want milk!" I just had to giggle at this innocence. I didn't hear anybody complain as Mom quietly walked her daughter out of the theatre although I didn’t notice if they ever came back.

Little girls were not in short supply at the ballet, perhaps because it’s the Memorial Day long weekend and it’s also the matinee show and of course it's the American Ballet Company performing. Except for Paloma Herrera, none of the names from the roster of principal dancers rung a bell. It's been a while since I came to the ballet all because with my budget it's not easy on the pocket to keep another subscription. Sometimes I wonder how these dance companies can survive this bad economy.

It even gets better from one part of this Balanchine program to the next. As usual, the dancers were all glitter and the music of Tchaikovsky unsurpassed, although dancers like the most celebrated Mikhail Baryshnikov and Natalia Makarova, whom I have not seen the likes of, still are prominent in my mind.

Jan joined us for the first time and she seemed to have enjoyed herself. I just hope that she got home alright since she was complaining about her aching feet. She said she didn't have any "padding", which she tried to explain but I couldn't understand what she meant and I didn't want to poke deeper. I sure don't want to be in her shoes (pun intended). Celine sort of entertained Jan (so like her) and got the whole story. This whole pointless thing is all about patience which I must slowly and thoughfully exercise since I myself could no longer hide those grey hairs, pull them or paint them. Whatever.

I wonder if the little girl ever got her milk and if so, problem solved! Maybe it was just an excuse, but excuse or not she's entitled to it. She was bored and impatient. In Z generation years, I could be a dinosaur and like this kid boredom and impatience sometimes set in but unlike her I feel obligated to "keep my cool".

Hey, Judy, thanks. You got us the best orchestra seats for a small price and that's "cool".

Maya Lin at Storm King

It has been dubbed as the "King of Sculpture Parks", that's Storm King Art Center. Up in Hudson Valley 500 acres of landscape, hills, lush trees and grass, about one and a half hours from the City, lies this totally awesome museum and park.

Works of prominent artists such as Richard Serra, Alexander Calder, Mark di Suvero, Isamu Noguchi, Roy Lichtenstein and many more make up the permanent collection of this sculpture park. It is arts galore without the constraints of the walls of a building.

Such a magnificent collection everyone including kids can appreciate. On this Memorial Day weekend the place was crowded, the trams were packed and what a perfect way to enjoy the outdoors. One can get an overview by taking a self-guided tour on the tram but the best way is to traverse the fields and walk among the monumental works. In the early '90's when I first came to visit here, there was no tram and our first thought was this was a golf course transformed into a sculpture garden. But we were wrong. And yet today, Chong and Judy still insisted on referring to the wild flower and tall grass areas as the fifth cut or rough and the long walks between the art pieces as the fairway of 250 yards. Their distant dreams of unbroken days of golf, I tell you.

Recently opened is the work by Maya Lin, who some of us will remember then as the 21-year old graduate student of architecture at Yale who won the contest to design the Vietnam Veterans Memorial for the Mall in Washington. Her work is entitled Storm King Wavefield, a living artwork of undulating mounds of soil or litttle valleys. Words are not enough to describe what this brilliant artist/architect/environmentalist has created.

These are some of my favorite sculptures at Storm King. Click on images to get a perspective.

Five Swords by Alexander Calder


Adam by Alexander Liberman

Suspended by Menashe Kadishman

Beethoven's Quartet by Mark di Suvero

Butterfly Chair (welded half-dollar coins)

by Johnny Sing

Storm King Wavefield
by Maya Lin

Read more about the installation of Storm KingWavefield in the art review : Where the Ocean Meets the Mountains

Flow from the museum indoor exhibition Bodies of Water

by Maya Lin

Go-fer Tiger & Phil

Knowledge of golf helpful but not required.

Golfer? I'm not and my best shot of getting in a real golf course is only as a spectator. On occasion and possibly out of desperation, my friends would tap me as the fourth in their foursome but only in a Par-3 course such as Robert Moses on Long Island. I'd do well sometimes but distractions are aplenty. With the beautiful Atlantic Ocean next to the course and the unruly nature genes in me going wild, I'd often wander away from the game and just watch that deer or the red robin or even pull out some snapdragons while searching for my ball in the rough. This can be irritating to the serious golfers and that's why invitations from my well-meaning friends come few and far in between.

Since I do much better as a spectator, we'll just stick to that. Through our friends Ruth and Judy, we learned about the volunteer openings for the 2009 US Open at Bethpage Black next month. This will give us the chance to help out the Long Beach Reach organization with $35 going to their charity funds for every shift we sign up for. And so we did.

There were openings for all sorts of volunteer tasks, and certainly I'll never be able to do the job of updating leader board scores, reading score cards or anything closely pertaining to the game itself; not in my lifetime. So the verdict is, just be a gofer at the concessions tent. And even that stresses me out already.

Last night during our orientation, an army of volunteers showed up in Farmingdale all attentive to the 1 1/2 hour training session, but many eager to get home in time for the season finale (or is it?) of American Idol. A 10-page manual of policies and procedures, do's and don'ts and job descriptions were enough to scare me. I can't be a beer pourer since I'm clueless as to how much head is enough, definitely not a cashier either even if the registers are equipped with templates to make life easier for the mathematically challenged. Go figure, for a chemist I can't decant and I also can't count. Hopefully I'll be assigned as a runner or product re-stocker where I don't have to use my pea brains anymore. This delightful age when organs start to fail!

Some very important rules to remember:

• Wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands...
• Be at least 18 yrs old to serve beer, and 21 to drink
• No cell phones & they mean it!
• No cameras (Ouch!)
• No ladders (?)

And the list goes on. Sounds tighter than airport security check, doesn't it?

It was intimidating, the crowd I mean; they all looked and sounded like professional golfers to me. Almost in unison they corrected the trainer when she said that we should be ready, for a huge crowd will be following Tiger and Phil and to that they all exclaimed, "Phil is not coming!" I didn't dare ask what that was all about. I had no clue until today. It turned out that the favorite Phil Mickelson suspended all his PGA tour schedule indefinitely because his wife Amy was diagnosed with breast cancer. I'm saddened to hear of that.

Lacking the glitz and glamour of other tents, and not exactly your kind of grillroom with a well-stocked bar, it will be fun to help out sell beverages and food at the PROM concessions tent for this spectacular event. Bethpage is the only public course to host a US Open. And Tiger will be there!

To be there at the 18th or 9th hole and get to see all the players and support a cause, that'll make me feel good.

It's not over until the Fat Lady stops singing

I would not have known what I'd be missing were it not for Jeremiah Moss' Vanishing New York and for our friend Judy. Located in the charming East Village a couple of doors from the previous site of the music club CBGB which also shut down in 2006, the Amato Opera will be closing its doors after 61 years this month.

Owned and operated by the 88-year old Anthony Amato and his wife Sally, who passed away in 2000, it is probably the smallest opera venue in the world. The building is a narrow structure, a former warehouse on the Bowery and from the looks of it requires a lot of work and updating in order to comply with current building codes.

It's a tiny theatre that sits probably 100 plus. For the performance of The Marriage of Figaro we sat in the last and highest row EE of the theatre (others where ushered to their seats by a girl no more than 12 years old), where we could even hear footsteps from the people on the upper level of the building. Overhead is a moderately-sized ceiling fan, and to the left of us tacked on the wall is the note Please do not change the speed of the fan.

Walk down less than twelve steps to the main floor and you'll find yourself at the main entrance door and out on the Bowery close to East 2nd (Bond St.). Across the street is Bouwerie Lane Theatre a historic landmark and a rare example of fine architecture. Built in 1874, this cast iron building was designed in French Second Empire style. And a whole row of buildings probably also built centuries ago next to it along the Bowery.

At intermission, homemade cookies, tea and coffee were offered for sale at the snack bar at the orchestra level which is also the basement. The tiny restrooms were appropriately identified with caricatures sketched by the great American caricaturist Al Hirschfeld.

Modest in its appearance but I read that this opera company has presented some of the best homemade opera productions comparable to the Met and the NYC Opera. It's cozy and intimate setting offers a closer view of the stage. The orchestra consists of a piano plus a few winds but that did not take away anything from the phenomenal performance by the artists.

Shown here is the energetic Tony Amato joining the cast at last night's final curtain of The Marriage of Figaro. The stage is small, the sets with full scenery, the costumes, makeup and lighting are, as one reviewer commented, "as far from the Metropolitan Opera as high school hoops are from the NBA". It's opera on a smaller scale but certainly at affordable ticket prices. What a charming place for an evening of entertainment.

It is a shame that New York City will be losing another favorite venue, many for sure will be mourning the closing. I heard that the building was sold for 3.7 million dollars to one of the worst landlord in the City. For that price I think that's a steal, in the East Village?

Unique shops and eateries of all sorts dot the East Village. I fell in love with one of the bookshops, the bistros along Bowery and the tree-lined streets and the elegant brownstones along East 2nd.

Our early pre-show dinner was at Cremcaffe and was nothing more than a Bailout Package cucina Italiana style. Charming little cafe with outdoor tables, service was good, food was ordinary, the round mirror in the restroom I think was designed for giants. Pat and I had to jump up a foot to view our faces. Judy was the only one who's able to see herself on that mirror without exerting any effort (she's over 6 feet tall - or so it seems from a short person's perspective).

God bless Tony and Sally Amato for dedicating their lives to the arts. Talk about passion and inspiration. Goodbye Amato Opera House.

You say Wistaria, I say Wisteria

3 years from today

Today

Someone once said if you need a friend, get a dog. Not in my book. All I have to do is show up in the garden with my trowel and dirty hands and I attract fellow gardeners or even strangers. On a lucky day, I get dog walkers, joggers, bikers, neighbors waiting for the bus, the postman, the paper boy and some curious Georges. A few of them become my friends.

Although, I’m feeling a little less well-liked these days since my good friend Bobby from Victorville stood me up this week. Sob, sob. Imagine, he said he’d see me when he comes to NY in May and what do I get on Monday but a hurried, nervous call from him while he's on his way to Newark Airport heading back to California (without showing his goofy face to me!). A thousand excuses, nice job Bob, but you’re still on my list – the blacklist! I would still choose you for a friend over a dog. Good boy. Now sit!

Last year, my neighbor and friend Joe, an avid gardener, gave me a small plant which he started growing from a vine he cut from a wisteria that’s climbing on a tree by the ravine near his house. You’re giving me a wisteria plant? That was akin to summoning a mouse to a cheese factory. I won’t say no to that. The only problem was that it was too late then to transplant the little vine and had to wait until this Spring. But I have a plan.

First off I had to find a good place for it to grow, then mark it. Wisteria grows rapidly and can be intrusive. Once it grows you can’t get rid of it, just like bamboo. It can twist and turn, pull away your roof, deck or fence and before you know it you have your roof, or even your neighbor's, on Mars or the moon but with gazillions of purple blossoms on it. On a good starry night that could be a pretty sight.

As a matter of fact the largest living and blooming wisteria in the world is more than an acre in size, over 100 years old and is in Sierra Madre, California. But I’m not looking to grow my plant to reach such a mammoth size.

This morning I found a perfect spot for it – I dug a hole next to a big tree to serve as its host. The challenge is how to train this little vine to climb the tree and make that its home, but that’ll come in time. It’ll take about three years for it to bloom for the first time, but let’s get past the growing part first. Let's also hope that this plant will be safe from those squirrels and our nemesis, the green-fingered plant pilferer Yosef . Maybe I should install a webcam next to my precious wisteria, you never know when these animals will pull their antics. I can always chase one of them away, but the other - I'll definitely put him behind bars! Riker's Island or the Bronx Zoo, I don't care.

Three years from now, I hope to see a ceiling of purple wisteria blossoms, as shown in picture #1, near the children's playground. That should make all my friends happy. Luis, our handyman, said he'd be gone and retired by then but just the same, "You may still come and visit me and my wisteria, my dear friend."

Whichever, wistaria, wisteria....

"Will you ...."

I feel like I'm ogling at what should be a beautiful moment between Amber and Marc, but I'll go ahead and ogle away anyway. Since majority of my readers are family, I'm sure they'll appreciate my fun (?) way of spreading the news.

And so, my grandnephew Marc popped the question. Cliche, but still romantic and Amber said "Yes". Ready for what life might be like together? I bet you are.

So it is N'awlins 2010!
Marc and Amber are humbled but excited about their engagement and so are we. This is epic, and I don't mean in a grand-wedding sense but in a way that made the family proud of the two of them. This is the first wedding in the immediate family we will be having outside the Philippines and we really are excited!

I don't know much about her, but it is neither a mistake nor an accident that Marc found her. When I first met her during the 2007 Revlon Run/Walk for Women which we as a family participated in, (The Pacesetters, remember?), Amber showed the simplicity and the unpretentious ways which you don't see in many people of the younger generation. In today's hurry hurry lifestyle this is a breath of fresh air.

Thanks for the blurry picture Marc, you rock!

And the planning begins. Welcome to the family, Amber.