Tag Archives: New York City happenings

Roaring 20s Returns With Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island

Jazz Age Lawn Party regulars Heidi Rosenau and Joe McGlynn dance to the 1920s music of Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra, at the event on Governors Island. © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra are hosting its 14th annual Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island this summer – as Arenella notes, just one year shy of 100 years since the Roaring 20’s got underway. His homage to the Jazz Age era brings out the best of New York, with ladies donning their flappers dresses, feathers, sequins and pearls, and the fellows their straw hats, suspenders, bow ties and white linen suits. And each year, it seems, there are more and more kids.

Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra present the 14th Annual Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, NYC © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Michael Arenella, an aficionado of the Jazz Age, has compiled a song book. He transcribes by hand the music from period recordings, and introduces them with quaint tidbits.

“For Michael, the Jazz Age never really ended, it just fell asleep.”

Looking every bit Gatsby-esque in a 1920s Rolls Royce, Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra present the 14th Annual Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, NYC © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

He really gets into character, and everyone thoroughly enjoys the trip back in time, even looking every bit Gatsby-esque when he marches his orchestra out among the picnickers and into a vintage Rolls Royce on display.

Roddy Caravella gives a lesson in dancing the Charleston at the 14th Annual Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, NYC © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

This year features a return of his popular entertainers: Robert Ross as Emcee; Roddy Caravella and the incomparable Canarsie Wobblers putting on different dance routines; the Gelber & Manning Band; Peter Mintun on the piano; Queen Esther and her jazz trio; Gretchen Fenston; Julie Reiner.

Charleston Dance contest at the 14th Annual Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, NYC © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
9 1/2 year old Aidan Hazirovic is congratulated by Roddy Caravella after being declared the winner of the Charleston dance contest at the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, NYC © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The event typically starts off with a dance lesson instructed by Roddy Caravella – on the Saturday, it was the Charleston, and in the afternoon a Charleston contest which was won by by 9 ½-year old Aidan Hazirovic.

The romantic mood really takes over on the dance floor as Max Singer surprised his sweetheart, Bryanna Doe, with a proposal of marriage.

She said Yes! Max Singer surprises Bryanna Doe with his proposal of marriage on the dance floor during the Jazz Age Lawn Party, which seems to bring out the romance © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

If you missed out on this rollicking good time, you have another chance: Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra bring another Jazz Age Lawn Party to Governors Island on August 24 & 25, noon to 6 pm. Purchase tickets in advance www.jazzagelawnparty.com.

A dance routine by the Carnarsie Wobblers at the Jazz Age Lawn Party © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Pianist extraordinaire Peter Mintun entertains at the Jazz Age Lawn Party © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Queen Esther and her jazz trio entertain at the Jazz Age Lawn Party © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Canarsie Wobblers entertain at the Jazz Age Lawn Party © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Andrew Hall’s Newark Yacht Club Band perform on the Aperol Spritz stage at the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, NYC © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Canarsie Wobblers do one of their dance routines at the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, NYC © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra present the 14th Annual Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, NYC © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra present the 14th Annual Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, NYC © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra present the 14th Annual Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, NYC © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Here are more special moments:

Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra present the 14th Annual Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, NYC © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra present the 14th Annual Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, NYC © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra present the 14th Annual Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, NYC © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra present the 14th Annual Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, NYC © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra present the 14th Annual Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, NYC © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Jazz Age Lawn Party regulars Heidi Rosenau and Joe McGlynn dance to the 1920s music of Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra at the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, NYC © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Dancing the Charleston at the 14th Annual Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, NYC © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra present the 14th Annual Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, NYC © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra present the 14th Annual Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, NYC © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra present the 14th Annual Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, NYC © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Dancing to Andrew Hall’s Newark Yacht Club Band at the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, NYC © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
14th Annual Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, NYC © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Dancing to Queen Esther and her jazz trio at the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, NYC © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra present the 14th Annual Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, NYC © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

_____________________________

© 2019 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com, www.huffingtonpost.com/author/karen-rubin, and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Send comments or questions to [email protected]. Tweet @TravelFeatures. ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures

New York City’s 45th Annual Village Halloween Parade Dazzles with “I AM a Robot” Theme

The 45th annual, iconic New York City Village Halloween Parade brought out thousands of costumed participants around the theme, “I AM a Robot!” © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Karen Rubin

Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

 

The 45th annual, iconic New York City Village Halloween Parade brought out thousands of costumed participants around the theme, “I AM a Robot!”

“With artificial intelligences learning, adapting, interpreting and reacting as humans do, the times we live in can be overwhelming,” said  Jeanne Fleming, Artistic/Producing Director of New York’s Village Halloween Parade. “This traditional and beloved event aspires to bring folks into their creative imagination—celebrating that quality that differentiates us from robots—and by extension make the world a better place. We as New Yorkers and those visiting the Big Apple can come together, affirm our identity, block out the distractions, focus on joy and inhabit the streets of New York LIVE.”

“This traditional and beloved event aspires to bring folks into their creative imagination—celebrating that quality that differentiates us from robots—and by extension make the world a better place,” said Jeanne Fleming, Artistic/Producing Director of the Village Halloween Parade © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

“The 2018 Village Halloween Parade celebrates what makes us human by exploring how we remake ourselves. For our part, we will deploy a floating phalanx of cybernetic figures, each tethered by glowing wires to its human controller to evoke the increasingly complex strands of identity that entangle man with machine. We invite all of our Halloween makers and marchers to join our positronic collective, expressing your inner cyborgs for an evening of robotic revelry as we employ our most uniquely human qualities–dreaming, fantasizing, creating–to do our best robot impersonations.”

The theme is timely, considering 2018 is also the 200th anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley’s publication of “Frankenstein”.

Grand Marshal Machine Dazzle led the VIP Robot Section.

Grand Marshal Machine Dazzle led the VIP Robot Section of the 45th annual New York City Village Halloween Parade © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The Village Halloween Parade is:

The nation’s largest public Halloween celebration

Named as The Greatest Event on Earth by Festivals International for October 31

Attended by over 2 million people, seen by over 1 million on TV.

The nation’s only major night Parade.

Listed as one of the 100 Things to do Before You Die.

Picked by Events International as The Greatest Event on Earth on October 31, and ranked 3rd by Citysearch as the best event in New York City.

Ranked by Biz Bash as one of the top 10 events in NYC.

Recipient of the Municipal Arts Society of New York’s Award for making a major contribution to the cultural life of New York City.

Recipient of a major grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in recognition of Longtime Artistic Achievement.

Recipient of the Mayor’s Tourism Grant in recognition of the Parade’s major impact on the economic life of New York City and grants from the Manhattan Borough President’s Tourism Initiative.

The 45th annual, iconic New York City Village Halloween Parade brought out thousands of costumed participants around the theme, “I AM a Robot!” © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Started by Greenwich Village mask maker and puppeteer in 1974, the Parade began as a walk from house to house in his neighborhood for his children and their friends.

After the second year of this local promenade, Theater for the New City stepped in and produced the event on a larger scale as part of their City in the Streets program. That year the Parade went through many more streets in Greenwich Village and attracted larger participation because of the involvement of the Theater.

After the third year, the Parade formed itself into a not-for-profit organization, discontinued its association with Theater for the New City and produced the Parade on its own.

The Village Halloween Parade has been a significant factor in the revitalization of the city and its spirit.

It also affords an opportunity for political expression.

One of the more political demonstrations during the 45th annual New York City Village Halloween Parade © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

One of the more political demonstrations during the 45th annual New York City Village Halloween Parade © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

For more information on the Parade, visit https://www.halloween-nyc.com/.

Here are more highlights:

The 45th annual New York City Village Halloween Parade brought out thousands of participants © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The 45th annual New York City Village Halloween Parade brought out thousands of participants © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The 45th annual New York City Village Halloween Parade brought out thousands of participants © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The 45th annual, iconic New York City Village Halloween Parade brought out thousands of costumed participants around the theme, “I AM a Robot!” © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The 45th annual New York City Village Halloween Parade brought out thousands of participants © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The 45th annual New York City Village Halloween Parade brought out thousands of participants © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The 45th annual New York City Village Halloween Parade brought out thousands of participants © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The 45th annual New York City Village Halloween Parade brought out thousands of participants © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The 45th annual New York City Village Halloween Parade brought out thousands of participants © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The 45th annual New York City Village Halloween Parade brought out thousands of participants © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The 45th annual New York City Village Halloween Parade brought out thousands of participants © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The Village Halloween Parade is New York City’s answer to New Orleans’ Carnival © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The Village Halloween Parade is a family affair © Karen Rubin/ goingplacesfarandnear.com

The 45th annual New York City Village Halloween Parade brought out thousands of participants © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The 45th annual New York City Village Halloween Parade brought out thousands of participants © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The 45th annual New York City Village Halloween Parade brought out thousands of participants © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The 45th annual New York City Village Halloween Parade brought out thousands of participants © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

One of the more political demonstrations during the 45th annual New York City Village Halloween Parade © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Many marchers used the Village Halloween Parade for political expression © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The Notorious RBG made an appearance at the 45th Annual Village Halloween Parade in New York City © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The New York City Village Halloween Parade is an opportunity for artistic expression © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Making a political point to #Vote at the New York City Village Halloween Parade © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

___________________

© 2018 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com,  www.huffingtonpost.com/author/karen-rubin , and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Send comments or questions to [email protected]. Tweet @TravelFeatures. ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures

New York Philharmonic Orchestra Brings ‘Priceless’ Music to Free Summer Concert in Prospect Park

New York Philharmonic brought its priceless music, absolutely free to Brooklyn’s Prospect Park as part of the Summer Concerts in the Parks Series Presented by Didi and Oscar Schafer © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Karen Rubin, Dave E. Leiberman, Laini Miranda
Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

The New York Philharmonic’s 2018 Concerts in the Parks, Presented by Didi and Oscar Schafer, provided a stunning introduction to conductor James Gaffigan, a New York native and Brooklynite, leading the orchestra in a program celebrating Laureate Conductor Leonard Bernstein’s centennial, evocative works highlighting the Orchestra’s virtuosity, and compositions by fifth-grade students in the Philharmonic’s Very Young Composers (VYC) program — the first time that VYC works have been performed in the parks concerts.

 

James Gaffigan conducts the New York Philharmonic in Saint-Saens’ Bacchanale from “Samson et Dalila” in Prospect Park, Brooklyn © Karen Rubin/ goingplacesfarandnear.com

The delightful program, perfect for a summer-concert-in-the-parks, featured Saint-Saëns’s Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah; Bernstein’s Three Dance Episodes from On the Town, a love letter to New York City;and Rimsky-Korsakov’s storybook in symphony, Scheherazade. 

James Gaffigan conducts the New York Philharmonic in Prospect Park, Brooklyn © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The concert in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park June 15 featured truly remarkable performances of 2018 works by 11-year-old Very Young Composer Jordan Millar’s Boogie Down Uptown; and 10-year-old Very Young Composer Camryn Cowan’s Harlem Shake. 

New York Philharmonic conductor James Gaffigan with young composers Jordan Millar and Camryn Cowan © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

James Gaffigan, a proud New Yorker who introduced the concert by asking for applause for public school teachers, showed himself to be the very antithesis of the arrogant orchestra conductor, but rather,  generous of praise, encouragement and exuberant emotion.

James Gaffigan conducts the New York Philharmonic in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade in Prospect Park, Brooklyn © Karen Rubin/ goingplacesfarandnear.com

He did not use a baton for the Scheherazade. He waved his hands and arms in grand gestures, not so much conducting as dancing, performing, acting the music, bringing his whole body into it more like an opera singer than the orchestra conductor, giving the piece a staccato-like crisp precision. He conveyed an infectious joy of music. After, he congratulated Frank Huang, the brilliant concertmaster for his angelic violin solo, and then walked into the orchestra to congratulate all the solo performers, before taking the collective bow.

James Gaffigan conducts the New York Philharmonic in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade in Prospect Park, Brooklyn © Karen Rubin/ goingplacesfarandnear.com

Conductor James Gaffigan joins applause for New York Philharmonic’s concertmaster Frank Huang © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The summer concert series also featured performances at Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx (June 12); the Great Lawn in Central Park, Manhattan (June 13); and Cunningham Park, Queens (June 14). Musicians from the New York Philharmonic also performed Beethoven’s Wind Sextet, Op. 71; Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence; and the World Premieres of wind sextets by Very Young Composers of New York City — 14-year-old Chi-Chi Ezekwenna’s It’s Almost Summer! and 13-year-old Nicolas Lipman’s Sriracha! — in the Free Indoor Concert in Staten Island at the Music Hall at Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden (June 17).

The performances in the Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, and Brooklyn concluded with dazzling fireworks.

The New York Philharmonic concert in Prospect Park concludes with dazzling fireworks © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The summer series is an amazing opportunity to bring “priceless music” to new audiences absolutely free. Since 1965, the summer series has brought joy to more than 15 million New Yorkers and Big Apple visitors.

“We want all New Yorkers to love the Philharmonic as much as we do and the concerts in the Parks are a glorious way to share the Philharmonic’s virtuosity and power,” said New York Philharmonic chairman Oscar S. Schafer, who with his wife, Didi, has underwritten the series.

Here are more highlights from the concert in Prospect Park:

James Gaffigan conducts the New York Philharmonic in Prospect Park, Brooklyn © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

James Gaffigan conducts the New York Philharmonic in Prospect Park, Brooklyn © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Conductor James Gaffigan and Very Young Composer of New York City Jordan Millar (b 2006), “Boogie Down Uptown” (2018) © Karen Rubin/ goingplacesfarandnear.com

Conductor James Gaffigan and Very Young Composer of New York City Camryn Cowan (2007), “Harlem Shake” (2018) © Karen Rubin/ goingplacesfarandnear.com

James Gaffigan conducts the New York Philharmonic in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade in Prospect Park, Brooklyn © Karen Rubin/ goingplacesfarandnear.com

James Gaffigan conducts the New York Philharmonic in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade in Prospect Park, Brooklyn © Karen Rubin/ goingplacesfarandnear.com

James Gaffigan conducts the New York Philharmonic in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade in Prospect Park, Brooklyn © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

James Gaffigan conducts the New York Philharmonic in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade in Prospect Park, Brooklyn © Karen Rubin/ goingplacesfarandnear.com

James Gaffigan conducts the New York Philharmonic in Prospect Park, Brooklyn © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

James Gaffigan conducts the New York Philharmonic in Prospect Park, Brooklyn © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

James Gaffigan conducts the New York Philharmonic in Prospect Park, Brooklyn © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

James Gaffigan conducts the New York Philharmonic in Prospect Park, Brooklyn © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

James Gaffigan conducts the New York Philharmonic in Prospect Park, Brooklyn © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Founded in 1842, the New York Philharmonic is the oldest symphony orchestra in the United States.

At the New York Philharmonic’s website (www.nyphil.org) you can peruse online archives and exhibits, see the concert calendar, get background on the musicians, and purchase tickets.

The summer concerts also inspire visits to see the orchestra at home at Lincoln Center (David Geffen Hall, 10 Lincoln Center Plaza, 212-875-5656). There are various subscription offers – the Philharmonic was offering an opportunity to choose four or more 2018-19 subscription concerts to get one free (promo code CHOOSE4, by June 22).

_____________________________

© 2018 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com,  www.huffingtonpost.com/author/karen-rubin , and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Send comments or questions to [email protected]. Tweet @TravelFeatures. ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures

 

 

Fifth Avenue Museum Mile Festival Showcases Exhibits Not to Be Missed This Summer in NYC

The Metropolitan Museum of Art at night © 2017 Karen Rubin/ goingplacesfarandnear.com

 

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

 

Even if you were unable to get to the once-a-year Museum Mile Festival along Fifth Avenue on June 13, when six museums (some of them with pricey admissions) throw their doors open to one and all for free, it provided a marvelous preview of some spectacular exhibits that are on through the summer or fall.

At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, at the southern “border” of Museum Mile, I visited the Irving Penn Centennial, a marvelous survey of this brilliant photographer’s career and an opportunity to see the museum quality prints that would have been seen in the pages of important magazines like Vogue; the exhibit is on through July 30, 2017.

Met Museum-goers viewing the “Irving Penn Centennial” exhibit © 2017 Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

I went from Irving Penn Centennial to the “Age of Empires” exhibit of breathtaking sculpture and artifacts from the Qin and Han dynasties, spanning 221 BC to 220 AD, including near life-size but extraordinarily realistic statues of terracotta warriors from Xian (so life-like they appear to breathe) that I had seen for the first time when I visited what was at the time newly uncovered site in 1978 in China. This important exhibit is on view through July 16, 2017.

One of the terracotta warriors on view in the “Age of Empires” exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art © 2017 Karen Rubin/ goingplacesfarandnear.com

Then, I couldn’t resist, I luxuriated in the galleries devoted to Impressionists and Post-Impressionists.

Outside, the Met Museum hosted performance art – a troupe of dancers whose movements formed artistic poses. (My favorite time to visit is on a Friday or Saturday evening when the Met is open late, has music on the mezzanine; favorite place to eat is in the American Café in the sculpture garden; also, take a docent-led “Highlights” tour, which brings you all around the museum.)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue (at 82nd Street), New York, NY 10028, (212) 535-7710 http://www.metmuseum.org/. 

Performance of Sidra Bell Dance New York outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art during the Museum Mile Festival © 2017 Karen Rubin/ goingplacesfarandnear.com

(My clever strategy was to start at the Met at 5 pm, giving me an extra hour of the Museum Mile Festival in order to cover more territory.)

I next visit the Neue Galerie New York and get my annual “fix” of the breathtaking “Woman in Gold” and other Gustav Klint paintings (Klint has become one of my favorite artists).  The Austrian Masterworks exhibit is a celebration of the 15th anniversary of the museum’s founding, highlighting Gustav Klint, Oskar Kokoschka, Alfred Kubin and Egon Schiele.

Neue Galerie New York, 1048 Fifth Avenue (at 86th Street), New York, NY 10028, (212) 628-6200, http://www.neuegalerie.org/. 

The Solomon R.Guggenheim Museum, which always gets an enormous crowd for the Museum Mile festival, is featuring “Visionaries: Creating a Modern Guggenheim,” “Hugo Boss Prize 2016: Anicka Yi, Life is Cheap” Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue (at 88th Street) New York, NY 10128, (212) 423-3500, https://www.guggenheim.org/

You get to try your hand at design, at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum housed in an exquisite Fifth Avenue mansion © 2017 Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, which is part of the Smithsonian Institutions, a collection established by Sarah and Eleanor Hewitt as the Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration in 1897, housed in an exquisite mansion, is presenting a marvelous exhibit, “The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s” – bringing together the design elements of the era through a range of furnishings, architecture, clothing, paintings and music, and what made the designs so distinctive and reflective of cultural trends of the time. For example, “Bending the Rules,” the cross-pollination of American and European artists (“A Smaller World”), the infatuation with technology and machines. One of the special delights of the Cooper Hewitt is their interactive opportunities to create designs.

Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian National Design Museum, 2 East 91st Street (off Fifth Avenue) New York, NY 10128, 212-849-8400, http://www.cooperhewitt.org/ 

Painting of the Stettheimer sisters and mother by Jazz Age, avant-garde artist and poet Florine Stettheimer, on view at the Jewish Museum © 2017 Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The Jewish Museum’s special exhibit this season also focuses on the 1920s, featuring the painter and poet and exemplar of the avant-garde, Florine Stettheimer. This was all new to me – I had never heard of her, or her incredible sisters, before (their independence, feminism and stunning range of creativity reminded me of the Bronte sisters, except these ladies did not keep their creative output a secret).

The Jewish Museum, 1109 Fifth Avenue, (between 92nd & 93rd Streets), New York, NY 10128, (212) 423-3200, www.thejewishmuseum.org.

The two exhibits – at the Cooper Hewitt and the Jewish Museum – are that much more inspiring to see contiguously, to have this extraordinary in-depth insight into the Jazz Age, a time of tumultuous change in culture, social mores and political currents on a scale that only recurred 40 years later, in the 1960s, and now.  I became intrigued when I heard of the Jewish Museum’s exhibit at the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island in June (you have another opportunity to enjoy this fantastic festival August 26 & 27, jazzagelawnparty.com; see story)

From there I walked further north, to just about the top of the Museum Mile with only about an hour to go of the festival.

Dancing in the street, outside the Museum of the City of New York, during the Museum Mile Festival © 2017 Karen Rubin/ goingplacesfarandnear.com

The Museum of the City of New York always has smart, clever exhibits. The not-to-be missed exhibit, “New York at its Core,” that is on now is in three parts, in three different galleries. It explores the essential question, “What makes New York New York?” (Answer: Money, Diversity, Density, Creativity) and takes the city from its very beginnings (room-sized images of neighborhoods morph from centuries ago into today), to its development as a melting pot for cultures, and then lets viewers imagine what the city of the future should look like (“Future City Lab”) and how it should solve the challenges of affordable housing, greenspace, environment, transit, and so forth. One of the most interesting parts is a computer-generated animation that puts you into the scene.

Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue (at 104th Street), New York, NY 10029 (212) 534-1672, http://www.mcny.org/  

See yourself in the city of the future and have a crack at solving urban challenges, at the Museum of the City of New York © 2017 Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Then, at the end of the Museum Mile, El Museo Del Barrio is featuring “Belkis Ayon: Nkame” and “A Retrospective of Cuban Printmaker Belkis Ayon” El Museo del Barrio, 1230 Fifth Avenue (at 104th Street), New York, NY 10029, (212) 831-7272 (http://www.elmuseo.org/)

____________________

 

© 2017 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com,  www.huffingtonpost.com/author/karen-rubin , and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Send comments or questions to [email protected]. Tweet @TravelFeatures. ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures

 

 

 

Gatsby-esque Jazz Age Lawn Party is Joyful Escape on Governors Island

 

Heidi Rosenau & Joe McGlynn, regulars at the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, dance to Michael Arenella and His Dreamland Orchestra © 2017 Karen Rubin/ goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

 

New Yorkers love to dress up – any excuse to don a costume will do, but in the case of the Jazz Age Lawn Party, now in its 12th year on Governors Island, it is a chance to push back the clock and create your own community, a Gatsby-esque Brigadoon of sorts. It is the best of New York and brings out the best of New Yorkers. The music and atmosphere brings out pure joy.

For an entire afternoon on Saturday and Sunday of the weekend of June 10 and 11, and again on August  26 and 27, you are transported – quite literally by ferry – to the 1920s era of hot jazz. People of all ages, dressed to the nine’s as flappers and gents, bearing wicker picnic baskets, stream onto the island, with its forts and structures from the Civil War and World War II. A stone’s throw from Manhattan and Brooklyn, and yet a world and an era away.

Flappers at the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island © 2017 Karen Rubin/ goingplacesfarandnear.com

Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra create this literal dream, with his meticulously recreated music of the 1920s.

There is impeccable faithful reproduction – even the cocktails are Speakeasy worthy and if you didn’t have appropriate attire, you could rent or buy vintage, take a tintype photo or a photo sitting on a blue moon with a vintage camera. Little boys are there with their caps and suspenders, little girls with hair bows. Interlude music is provided on vinyl recordings over antique gramophones.

Michael Arenella leads his Dreamland Orchestra, faithfully re-creating the Roaring ‘20s sound and spirit © 2017 Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

At one point, Michael Arenella, who throughout the afternoon gives these wonderful asides about the music, says his trombone “is so old I have to use a string to keep the slide on- that’s how authentic we are, folks.”

The only thing marring the illusion are the ubiquitous cell phones.

Conductor, composer, musician and crooner Michael Arenella presents a personally transcribed, one-of-a-kind songbook for your listening and dancing pleasure by his Dreamland Orchestra, playing the Hot Jazz of the 1920s.

The Dreamland Follies at the Jazz Age Lawn Party © 2017 Karen Rubin/ goingplacesfarandnear.com

The entertainment abounds on two stages (and two dance floors): The Dreamland Follies evoke Ziegfeld-esque grand dance routines; Roddy Caravella and the Canarsie Wobblers is a fun-loving dance troupe that conjures the rebellious and exuberant spirit of Roaring ‘20s; Queen Esther pays tribute to jazz royalty of yore and Peter Mintun takes the moniker of “world’s greatest piano man”; Drew Nugent and the Midnight Society have come from Philadelphia, presents wry, spry, and certifiably Hot Jazz and the Gelber & Manning Band, feuding vaudevillian lovebirds quarrel, coo and make beautiful music together.

Nick Pankuch of Astoria demonstrates the exuberance that won him the Charleston contest at the Jazz Age Lawn Party © 2017 Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

There are fun activities as well which you can join: Charleston Dance Contest to determine who is the Bee’s Knees; Bathing Beauties and Beaus Promenade, wearing vintage swimming outfits of the age (for entry email: [email protected]), The High Court of Pie Contest (categories include “Mom’s Best” “Best Savory ”, “Most Original” and “Hobo’s Choice”; for entry email: [email protected]).

Glenn Hanna and Jared McNabb have come to the Jazz Age Lawn Party from Boston for the third year © 2017 Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The afternoon starts off with dance lessons in the hottest dance steps of the time, like the Charleston. You can immortalize the day in your own Vintage Portraits-You Ought To Be In Pictures, perched on a Paper Moons or in tintypes using the same techniques and chemicals (a mixture of gunpowder and ether) as were used more than a century ago; the ultimate family-friendly event also features Kidland carnival games and prizes for junior Gents and Flapperettes. There’s also a 1920s MotorCar Exhibition, where you can get up close and personal with flivvers and Tin Lizzies, and Antique Gramophones that reanimate original recordings from the 1920s.

Bride-to-be Melissa Colabraro brought her Bachelorette party to the Jazz Age Lawn Party from Boston © 2017 Karen Rubin/ goingplacesfarandnear.com

 

Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island creates a Gatsby-esque Brigadoon © 2017 Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Barbara Tito and daughter Kim Tito from Connecticut celebrate Barbara’s 75th birthday at the Jazz Age Lawn Party © 2017 Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

And what would a Prohibition-era, speakeasy event be without booze? VieVité, Côtes de Provence Rosé is the official wine sponsor of the Jazz Age Lawn Party. In addition, refreshing summer cocktails feature Lejay, the official liqueur sponsor which created crème de cassis in 1841, and Bootlegger 21 NY Distilleries, crafted in Roscoe, NY, which is this year’s the official gin and vodka of Jazz Age Lawn Party,. Libations available also include ice cold beer, lemonade and soft drinks. (Take note: you can’t bring in your own alcoholic beverages.)

The Jazz Age Lawn Party draws many families © 2017 Karen Rubin/ goingplacesfarandnear.com

New for 2017, Dreamland Gourmet Picnic Totes, featuring freshly prepared, custom ordered lunches that you receive when you enter, complete with a chilled bottle of VieVité Rosé, and other treats! (included in all “Bee’s Knees and “Bonnie & Clyde” ticket packages).

Jim & Yoko from Japan join in the dance © 2017 Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

People also took advantage of the Gourmet Picnic Market’s fancy picnicking fare, treats and snacks including ice cream, cotton candy, hot popped corn; the Dreamland General Store, offering picnic blankets, parasols, hand fans and assorted sundries; vintage clothing vendors and artisans who create a veritable village of timeless treasures.

Roddy Caravella & the Canarsie Wobblers at the Jazz Age Lawn Party © 2017 Karen Rubin/ goingplacesfarandnear.com

This event sells out and this year, for the first time, tickets are only available for purchase in advance. For tickets and information, visit, http://jazzagelawnparty.com/. Purchase tickets at http://jazzagelawnparty.ticketfly.com/.

Queen Esther pays tribute to the jazz greats © 2017 Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

____________________

© 2017 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com,  www.huffingtonpost.com/author/karen-rubin , and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Send comments or questions to [email protected]. Tweet @TravelFeatures. ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures