EASTER

Easter at Marble Collegiate

Music before the service.

SPRING - FINALLY!

Today was the first day I wore a fleece and not a quilted coat.  The temperature approached 50 degrees.  People everywhere were trying to get outdoors and enjoy the weather.

Here're the blossoms at Greeley Park today.  Things are coming along.

We took the Godici Girls to Central Park.  First, we wanted to let them run and play.  Second, I wanted to find and see Umpire Rock.

"Central Park has an unusually rich endowment of exposed, ancient bedrock – rocks that are not only highly decorative, but also contain visible evidence of epochal events dating back hundreds of millions of years. 

One of the best examples of this phenomenon can be found in the mass of bedrock, known as Umpire Rock. Lying between Heckcher Playground and Heckscher Ballfields, it likely gets its name for the commanding view visitors get of the baseball diamonds from atop the mound of rock. It’s composed almost entirely of Manhattan schist, an extremely durable, mica-flecked stone that comprises 90 percent of the bedrock under Manhattan and underlies nearly all of Central Park. The schist was formed from sedimentary shale by intense subterranean heat and pressure some 450 million years ago in the Paleozoic Era.

While the schist of Umpire Rock was being formed, it was twisted and folded by upheavals in the earth’s depths. Minerals scattered in the former shale were fused into crystals of quartz, mica, feldspar and garnet within the schist. Lighter-colored veins of granite and coarser granite pegmatite are visible across the grain. These inlays were actually once liquefied rock from the earth’s interior before they were injected into fissures in the schist and cooled into bands of solid rock."

We found Umpire Rock and the thousands of New Yorkers coming back outside after a long, cold Winter.

A typical ride home.

MUSEUM

Morgan Library & Museum



Greeley Plaza is beginning to bloom.

The Morgan Library & Museum is one of the "little" jewels in New York.  We've walked past it many times since our arrival but never entered and visited.

A life mask of George Washington

One of the Morgan's THREE Gutenberg Bibles.

A manuscript by Beethoven.  Looks a little messy?!

A manuscript by Mozart.  Looks flawlessly perfect.

The most amazing things I saw, though, were the cylindrical seals from 4,000 years ago used to roll in soft clay or wax and "seal" a letter or an item.  They were amazing works of "reverse" art.

The Morgan is well worth a visit.

LINCOLN CENTER

Metropolitan Opera

La Traviata
Giuseppe Verdi

Tonight was an adventure is a different way.  The singers were all simply spectacular.  This is, after all, The Met.

The adventure for us tonight centered around Placido Domingo.  Carolyn and I agree that he is our favorite singer.  Of The Three Tenors, he always seemed like the best to us.  His voice was prettier, more pleasantly textured, on pitch, more lyrical, and he seemed like a nice man.

In 1970 Placido sang the tenor role of Alfredo in La Traviata at The Met.  Now, 43 years and 47 Met roles later, he made his second Traviata debut by singing the baritone role of Germont, for the first time ever!  For additional information, he has conducted La Traviata 14 times with The Met.

Germont has a great aria in the second act that is one of my very favorites.  The question tonight was, "Is Placido pushing this too far and trying something that will not meet his standards?"

Well, Placido was wonderful.  It was a special evening hearing him sing and hearing his first baritone effort as Germont.  He truly is a great artist and we got to see and hear it.

GRAND CENTRAL STATION

Alvin Ailey Dancers
Galloping Horses

A friend from NYC who is currently working now in San Antonio as a physician suggested we attend this public performance in the Vanderbilt Hall at Grand Central Station.

http://creativetime.org/projects/heard-ny/

On the way we passed the flowers in Greeley Plaza as they begin blossoming for Spring.  I'll keep you posted as to the flowers in Greeley Plaza.  That's our building in the background.

We walked to Grand Central Station and found Vanderbilt Hall.

We found the performance space and noticed the horse costumes on saw horses.

Then the dancers came into the room...

And the horses came to life!

SPRING (ALMOST)

Today we walked from Greeley Plaza down to Washington Park and back.  We went down on 6th and returned up 5th.

The weather is in the low 40s and breezy.  Tomorrow has a chance for light snow.  At the same time, Greeley Plaza is prepared with plants that will be in full bloom in a few weeks.  The Parks Department of the City of New York thinks Spring is on the way.

Looking up 6th & Broadway.

The glass building is where we live.

Horace Greeley.

You just have to see Washington Park yourself.  I cannot explain it to you.

SACRED MUSIC IN SACRED PLACES


St. Thomas Church
5th Avenue and 53rd Street

Bach
St. Matthew Passion
The St. Thomas Choir of Men and Boys with Concert Royal

Today is Bach's 328th Birthday.  We heard a beautiful three hours of wonderful music.  That sounds like a long time and it is a long time to stay seated.  But, our minds never got tired of hearing the music. It was a memorable evening.

Below is a practice of the Men & Boys choirs of St. Thomas. We recognize several of the singers in the picture as those who performed this evening.

St. Thomas Boys Choir is the only residential boys choir in the USA.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLHyZuSLmqc

The following are not from Bach's St. Matthew's Passion, but they display two of the singers.

The Tenor...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNjiYj0wAxU

The Baritone...

http://soundcloud.com/douglas-williams-bass-bar/the-trumpet-shall-sound

EMPIRE STATE BUILDING

Today we visited the observatories of the Empire State Building as tourist.  The guides would ask where we're from and we'd point, "Right down there."

We went to the 86th and the 102nd floors.  It was great.

Looking south toward the Financial District.  The tallest building is the new Liberty Tower.

The dark, blue, glass building with the white top is where we live.  This is looking down from the Empire State Building.  We live just over 1/2 way up the building.

CIVIC

United Way Luncheon

Plaza Hotel

Several "firsts" happened today.  We went to a New York civic event and I wore a suit and tie for the first time since moving here.

Our dear friends included us at their table and we had a great time.  This was an opportunity to meet new friends from people who are longstanding New Yorkers our age.

The Plaza Hotel is a great place and meeting new people was a treat.

ST. PATRICK'S DAY PARADE

While St. Patrick's Day is tomorrow, the parade in New York City is today.

I'm reading a book the Kriers gave us in which it says there are more Irish in New York City than in Dublin.  I recently met an Irishman who told me there are more Irish in NYC than in Ireland!

Within one block in all directions from our apartment there are Irish Pubs everywhere.  Just one short block away there are THREE Irish Pubs side by side.  All three are busy.  Lots of Irish drinking beer.

I left the building this morning around 10:00 AM and there were groups of young people dressed in green milling the streets.  The parade starts at 11:00 AM on 44th and goes north on 5th Avenue past St. Patrick's Cathedral.

We live on 32nd and are taking a guest to lunch today at noon.  We will go south!

As we left our apartment around 11:30 AM, we passed groups of young Irish men surrounding several of their group.  They joined together in what must be an old Irish chant of, "Chug, chug, chug."

As we left lunch we noticed about the only thing that could break up these ritualistic ceremonies... Snow!

As an aside, we saw the Puerto Rican Day Parade several years ago.  It was amazing.

The evening ended with a great view of the Empire State building from our window and a video from the building's terrace.

CABARET

Laurie Beechman Theater

"On 4 magical nights, 30 incredible women will pay tribute to 1 great songwriter in The Amanda McBroom Project, directed by Eric Michael Gillett, with musical direction by Jeff Cubeta. The Laurie Beechman Theatre will host a rotating cast of phenomenal theatrical and cabaret talent as they join together to sing the songs of Amanda McBroom in four unique evenings celebrating the career and music of one of the country's best-loved artists. Don't miss it!"

This is a performance space below a restaurant. It will include dinner, cocktails, and a show.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurie_Beechman_Theatre

We stumbled into a great evening.  We have a San Antonio friend who has a New York City friend who was appearing as one of the singers in a cabaret show featuring Amanda McBroom songs.

The show we saw had 30 wonderful women singers who presented a really good show.  The singers were all performers on and off Broadway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW7gy42n-k0

The small group at our table included a former Tony Award winner and her husband who is a playwright and actor.  We had cabaret and theater talents at our table watching their friends, other cabaret and theater talents performing.  Again, it was a New York evening.  Tourist up at street level had no idea what was going on under the West Bank Cafe.