TWILIGHT_Lower Manhattan

“Hell of a Town”…New York; still true. It is a town still very much alive, alarmingly vibrant and growing. Two of my grandkids and I enjoyed a phenomenal visit to “The Big Apple” (I’m not sure if it’s still called that) just this weekend past. Our focus was One World Trade Center. What had been a subject of heady, heated and heartfelt discussion for years following Nine-Eleven was now open to the public. It opened a few months ago and I could hardly wait to visit. At present it is essential two memorial sites, the 9/11 Museum and the beautiful and massive David Child’s architectural achievement Freedom Tower. There is limited access to the building and I say that only in a relative perspective. The observation tower is almost without peer especially in the western hemisphere. It is the tallest building in said hemisphere and third world wide. The tower is a symbolic 1,776 feet (the year marking American independence) an easily remembered number.

 We would begin our most recent adventure (day one) at what had once been called “Ground Zero.” Elevators rise to this “top of the world” in a staggering 60 seconds while the occupants are treated to the formation and visual history of Manhattan starting below ground in a state of the art video. Three of the elevator’s walls display the remarkable simulated time-lapse sequentially from pre-history to the Native Americans, the Dutch, and  20^th Century New York through to the present as the city grew literally into this new ziggurat of a structure. The ride is so fast that there is little time to adjust and for the record if you haven’t visited before stand with your back to the doors for the best view of this presentation. Another video follows after exiting the elevator to an IMAX size wall with a multi-medium experience that is spectacle for the eye and ear. The screen then rises to reveal the visual splendor of lower Manhattan in the present moment with an uninhibited almost reverential applause. It is a magnificent achievement and honor to behold. The best America has to offer.

Walking around the 360 degree observatory is a student of architecture’s dream. The view is that of a height only seen before through flight but with the luxury now of a stationary floor. The details, the distance and the sense of discovery are exhilarating. Buildings ranging from Gothic to Modern to Art Deco and Post Modern all in close proximity for view in both study and pleasure.  The entirety of the Lower portions of the city; ferries, tugs, sails on the East River and the Hudson…exciting stuff!

We left the World Trade Center for Battery Park; it’s performers, artists and tourists. The festival consisted of break dancers, ballerinas, snake handlers, portrait sketch artists and human Statues of Liberty on stilts. One thousand and one things to see and participate in; all there within the park.  We took a short walk on Wall Street where a crowd surrounded the Merrill Lynch Bull with kids lifted on it’s back posing happily and thrillingly for spectators as vendors sold bull replicas of all sizes and materials. We walked around the massive National Museum of the American Indian. The kids had their portraits done; ate ice cream and pretzels and drank plenty of water. This was while we waited for our twilight sea faring tour of Lower Manhattan by clipper ship.   

Our first travel by sail was everything and possible a hundred times more than hoped for. We had the wonderful vantage of seeing the harbor from three distinct vantage points of lighting; daylight, twilight (sunset) and night. These multiple views of the city, The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island were breath taking as we cruised in and around other vessels at multiple vantage points. The radiant sky stretched on for miles as the breeze gently propelled us forward. We talked with our fellow travelers and the sailors. We; within a very short time, fell in love with this civilized form of travel. The wind, the air, the sounds and rhythm of graceful motion won us over. The moment could have endured without end but tomorrow (day two) was for bicycles, Central Park, Park Ave. and possibly Time Square.   

WONDER WOMAN & the Endurance of the Modern Myth

Visit Comi-Con in San Diego; New York or any city of your choice. You will bump into; stroll by and see ladies, little girls, women of a certain age and teens all sharing a common vision. These women of every stripe, body type and national origin dressed in the stars (bad pun warning!) and bras of Wonder Woman. 

William Moulton Marston’s idea was to create a powerful super heroine that represented all the best characteristics of woman hood; a character that could hold her on with any male; hero or villain. Under the pen name Charles Moulton he based his Wonder Woman on and steeped her in Greek mythology, especially the legend of the amazons. She would be graced with strength, beauty and wisdom. Her dedication to honor, right over wrong and truth would be unparalleled. Marston achieved his goal many times over. Wonder Woman is the symbol for Women’s liberation, rights and an entertaining action queen across media and medium.

Among a select number of super people Wonder has the distinction of being in print of some form and interpretation since her nineteen forties inception. The distinct star pattern short skirt or pants, red strapless top and tiara, accessorized with bracelets and golden lasso have rarely changed over time.  The lasso by the way is used to extract the truth from anyone caught in it’s noose and often in a fetish like way has found Wonder Woman herself restrained in bondage. 

Currently in print the first female of comics is written and illustrated by wife and husband team Meredith and David Finch; another first.  To date six regular issues and an annual created by the Finches show their run promising to be among the amazon’s most memorable.  

The enduring allure of Wonder Woman is a source of pleasure and inspiration for all who admire great tales of hope and adventure. Wonder Woman will remain as long we cherish the ideals of perfection and grace she is.

Jerry Seinfeld's

How does the idea of driving around town with Jerry Seinfeld and one of his celebrity friends sound? You’re in a high end car a Ferrari, a Rolls Royce or say a Classic 57 Chevy Belair. The car could be as simple and unassuming as a VW Beatle or a Ford LTD family station wagon. Now say the town is LA, Vegas or Upper West Side Manhattan. With all this said; the Seinfeld friend is maybe Larry David, Sarah Jessica Parker, Chris Rock or Jim Carrey; at this point would you be interested. But just think it gets better…coffee…the nectar of the gods awaits at the end of the drive. The bill by the way picked up by Jerry; himself.  

Seinfeld’s hit internet show is very much like spending a morning or afternoon with the comedian behind the wheel and sharing jokes, philosophy, ideas and a certain intimacy of the type you would find on a private road trip.  The show is very much a joy to watch and if you’re the type to retell a good joke the show provides a lot of material. The laughs are plentiful but there are also touching stories told as well. Louis C.K. has an amazing reminiscence of a boat trip with his young daughters that is full of surprises, twists and eventually a wonderful tale of awakening and bonding.  

 Jim Carrey is at his insane best as he keeps Jerry in stitches and shows an unexpected creative out let in his surprisingly fascinating and skilled paintings. Jerry’s old friend and colleague George Wallace is equally hilarious as we are privy to his Vegas act and we see a long lasting respect and unmistakable comradery between the two comedians. Sarah Jessica Parker is priceless and very unaffected by her success and fame as she connects to her own unpretentious child hood. The show delivers a welcome tie-in with the theme of cars, family and the passage of time.

Popularity and success are no strangers to Jerry Seinfeld. He has with “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” the perfect marriage of his greatest interests. His talk show on wheels is considered by many the best T.V. show online and he is enjoying every minute of it. Seinfeld is showing a glimpse of life that is like no other Reality Show. There is a real honesty here. We get to tag along for the ride.

Comedians; Cars, Coffee…What’s not to Like???!!!

Prima Ballerina Misty Copeland

It really is all about the legs. Forget about the talent, the artistry, the work ethic. Dedication to the Art of Ballet and commitment to excellence are evident; but we’ll forget them too. The grace of her every move; moves that are angelic and elegantly personified. Misty Copeland’s mystic is within her ability to entrance her audience through the command of the power of her body using the sinew and muscle of her magnificently structured and developed legs. She is a beautiful wonder.

  

Niki de Saint Phalle

It was on a bright, beautiful, balmy Saturday morning down town in the North Carolina City of Charlotte that my daughter; Gail and I chanced upon something incredible and very interesting. We were just outside the newly opened Bechtler Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art.  A large (fifty three foot) flat- bed trailer truck was being unloading by workers and museum staff members. They were in the process of installing a mammoth sculpture. As my daughter and I witnessed the piece was being stacked to a magnificent height right there in the museum’s plaza. The structure was an extravagant, mosaic-like work with a reflective silver surface. What was becoming a fantastic creature of gigantic scale (granted slowly and methodically) was the Niki de Saint Phalle original; “Firebird.” Just how fortunate were my daughter and I to be privy to this amazing and fantastical event?

Miss de Saint Phalle came to the world’s notice first as a model for Vogue and Harpers in the late fifties. Her intelligence, beauty and sophistication radiated with undeniable elegance and style. Her artistic and creative skills would develop after a nervous break-down.

Painting was therapy and a way of coping with the troubles of her early life. Niki would take her pain, resilience, imagination along with every part of her being and use them in the creation of pieces that continue to resonate and thrill. The paintings evolved into mixed-medium expressions that would lead her into the “Shooting Paintings.” These paintings were literally created by Niki attaching polythene bags of paint to a designed surface and bursting them by firing a loaded shotgun. The making of the paintings would become performance pieces and through them Niki became the only female member of the elusive and respected “Nouveau Realists.”

The works that were most identified with Niki de Saint Phalle; her signatures, her alter egos, her “Nanas.” The sculptural statements of the “Nanas” were representations of robust colorful women; the “every-woman.”   As magnificent in their glory as they were playful in style and execution. Her crowning and most celebrated Nana was a work entitled: “Hon-en- Katedral.”  It was a large scale dwelling like work that visitors entered through what Gustav Courbet would have refer to as “The Origin of the World.” It was credited with a jump in Sweden’s birth rate the year it was exhibited. It seemed the work was enjoyed on a truly unpresented, inspirational level by the many.   

“Life … is never the way one imagis it. It surprises you, it amazes you, and it makes you laugh or cry when you don’t expect it” 

                                                       Niki de Saint Phalle

“The Tarot Garden” in Tuscany, the “Miles Davis” sculpture outside the Hotel Le Negresco in Nice and on a smaller scale (but no less monumental) her impressively unique Niki de Saint Phalle” perfume bottle were among the great and truly wonderful achievements of Niki’s vastly creative life. Her career and out-put continually expanded especially during her marriage to sculptor Jean Tinguely who she also collaborated with on multiple projects including film and video.  The personal price of Niki’s creativity was ultimately the highest. The polyester fibers in her favorite medium would cost her life. Her lungs were scare by breathing in the destructive, fine particles of the material.  Within her time and continuously through our own Niki de Saint Phalle towers and sustains. We are left with the brightness, the beauty, the spirit of adventure that was Niki de Saint Phalle.