I am often asked what events I choose to attend and why. Since I use a walking stick (neuropathy & arthritis) I rarely attend walk-around events. I need to have a chair available when I want to sit down. Below is a brief summary of this past week’s events that I attended.
I was invited to the first showing of Heading Home, the tale of Team Israel at the Quad Cinema at 13thstreet between 5th& 6thAvenues. The movie was the brainchild of MLB.com reporter Jonathan Mayo, partnered with childhood friends Daniel A. Miller, Jeremy Newberger & Seth Kramer. They wanted to combine their love for baseball and their Jewish background into a movie about Jewish major leaguers traveling to discover their roots. Team Israel (ranked 41stin the world) won at the World Baseball Classic qualifying round in Brooklyn in September, 2016 and went to the WBC in South Korea and Japan. There they beat Korea, Netherlands, and Cuba, eventually finishing in 6thplace. Told largely through the eyes of a handful of the players, including former major leaguers Ike Davis, Ryan Lavarnway, Sam Fuld, Josh Zeid and Cody Decker, the movie chronicles the team’s incredible journey, seeing sites like the Western Wall, the Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Center and Masada as well being part of the groundbreaking ceremony for the new baseball complex in Bet Shemesh. Released on the 70th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel. You don’t have to be a baseball fan or be Jewish to enjoy the movie. https://www.menemshafilms.com/heading-home
I am not a ski person but I knew who Bode Miller was. I was invited to the Bomber (ski brand) penthouse at 54th & Fifth Ave (what a view) to meet him and hear about his new affiliation with Lone Mountain Land Company in Montana. The 41-year-old, six-medal Olympic champion (the most successful male American alpine ski racer of all time) and his wife, Morgan, are headed to the Montana mountains with four children (his 19-month old daughter Emeline died in a tragic drowning accident at a neighbor’s pool) to settle into a new home at Big Sky Resort north of Yellowstone National Park. There, he plans to give his California-raised children a modernized taste of his childhood in northern New Hampshire, where he and his hippie parents lived in a home without running water or electricity. www.bigskyresort.com
I rode the NYC Transit bus M104 a few blocks along with New York State Assembly person Linda B. Rosenthal (I volunteer at her office) who had invited New York City Transit President Andy Byford to ride on the route with her and residents to discuss the chronic issues plaguing local riders. After a series of service cuts were implemented by the MTA, the M104 and many other bus lines in her district and around the city suffered serious declines in ridership. That morning dozens of straphangers, gathered at the southbound West 92nd Street M104 stop, to ride the bus with President Byford. Upon his arrival, he immediately began fielding questions about a range of issues, including delayed bus arrivals and bunching, reinstating the M104 East Side transfer, countdown clocks, Transit Signal Priority, all-door boarding and accessibility.
https://nyassembly.gov/mem/Linda-B-Rosenthal
In late August I began my 25thyear teaching the wine class at ISHTM (International School of Hospitality & Tourism Management at FDU, Fairleigh Dickinson University) in Hackensack, New Jersey. I am the co-author of the on-line wine course written for the New York Times Knowledge Network (now defunct) & FDU. I may be plus 84 years young but my students make me feel like I was 40.
What to do on a lazy Sunday afternoon? I went to the ½ price theater ticket window (TKTS) at 47thstreet & Broadway and scored an aisle seat (12th-row center) for Chicago, the musical. The original production choreographed by Bob Fosse opened in 1975 and ran for 936 performances until 1977. Chicago was revived on Broadway in 1996. This production holds the record as the longest-running musical revival and the longest-running American musical in Broadway history. The 2002 film version of the musical won the Academy Award for best picture. Gwen Verdon, Ann Reinking, Chita Rivera, Bebe Neuwirth, Jerry Orbach, and Joel Grey are just some of the cast from the original and the revised Broadway show. Go see it. I loved it. www.newyorktheatertickets.center/
David Froelke is semi-retired to Florida. He had been an adjunct at FDU & runs the Time Warner Center for the Related Corporation (Hudson Yards). He comes back to NYC every month and still hires many of my former students at the information desk at Time Warner. We met for breakfast at The Smith Restaurant at Lincoln Center. https://thesmithrestaurant.com
Acker Merrall & Condit has been the world’s leading and largest wine auction house for more than a decade. They are also the oldest wine shop in America, established in 1820. Acker concluded its 2018 auction season with $105 million in total auction sales, representing an increase of 31% compared to 2017’s revenue. Acker set a remarkable 2,150+ new world records during 2018, while crossing the milestone of $1B of revenue in total auction sales in its June Hong Kong sale this same year. My nephew John Kapon is President of Acker. He invited me to Marea on Central Park South for his wine auction and lunch. https://www.ackerwines.com
I have not attended a Community Board 7 meeting (covers much of the Upper West Side) for about 10 years. I found them too long and often rambling. I made an exception this month because Congressman Jerold Nadler and Assembly Member Linda B. Rosenthal were scheduled to speak. I left after their talks. https://www1.nyc.gov/site/manhattancb7
The above is just this past week’s events. Not bad for an 84-year youngster.
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