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 New York in a rush
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| The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2:00 PM. |
September 20, 2010. Warm and sunny weekend in New York. Two days until the autumn equinox on Wednesday at 11:09 pm, when the moon is full.
After all that “fashion” partying last week, it was quiet in New York over the weekend. It was also Yom Kippur so lots of New Yorkers were worshipping and attending the breakfast.
On Saturday I went down to Archivia to see what new books they had to tempt my compulsion. I picked up a copy of “The Queen’s Necklace” by Antal Szerb. It’s a famous book for those of us who like the French history of the ancien regime.
I’d never read it but I was drawn to the physical book itself. Like the Chanel memoir, “The Allure of Chanel” by Paul Morand, “The Queen’s Necklace” was beautifully published in paperback by Pushkin Press.
I am one of those book fiends who will buy a book and not get around to reading it sometimes for years. However, when I got home, I cracked it just to see what might be inside. There was preface by Mr. Szerb, the Hungarian historian/ author, in 1942. His style is intimate: you feel he is talking to you personally.
He writes (in 1942): ... there are two particular periods, the Italian Renaissance and the French Revolution, which are so universally important and seminal that they can be thought of as part of the common inheritance of the entire European race. The mood of our times has much more in common with the earthquake years in France than with the cosmic spring of Florence, and since the social class I personally belong to, the bourgeoisie, began life under the same fatal stars as the French Revolution, I am not perhaps entirely unqualified to write about it.
And write about it, he does, weaving a complex and textured tale that you can’t put down. His introduction could have been written last week, for the thrust of his tale is so timely in many ways. I couldn’t resist. I’m now halfway through.
Those years just preceding the French Revolution are still enlightening to those of us searching for its roots. The political situation of the French monarchy (and thus the French people) is not unfamiliar to a contemporary reader, even if the players are unknown. Yes, the world is quite a different place, but its inhabitants, their habits and the error of their ways remains unchanged.
Well, now that Fashion Week is behind and Lincoln Center can return to the business of being a destination for the arts, New Yorkers now have UN Week to look forward to (or dread, depending). It’s a week long traffic gridlock (especially if you live on the same side of town as the UN).
All week long will be black official limousines and big black official SUVs with their darkly tinted windows traveling in caravan, filled with men in dark suits and wires connected to their ears. They move swiftly through the streets and up and down the avenues, often with the red and blue twirling lights on their roofs or in their rear windows.
Important these people are, oh yes oh yes which is long for “oy.” So important that it seems as if the armies of the world aren’t enough to protect them from ... from us, I guess, the hoi-polloi who must move out of the way for their Esteemed Highnesses moving by in a hurry on a mission, perhaps to a good meal at some snazzy restaurant, or a cocktail party at some snazzy embassy or ambassador’s apartment.
If I sound annoyed in advance, well, you would be too. Especially considering how well the leaders of the world have made living easier for its citizens. Ahem. “Security” as it is known is the theatre of the absurd. Security from what? It’s us poor slobs who are in need of security. |
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| From last year's UN week. |
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I see a lot of these vehicles in my neighborhood since there are ambassadorial residences nearby. They sometimes close off entire blocks when someone’s having a cocktail party at home or a dinner at some very trendy restaurant.
On top of that we have what the cabbies call the Bloomberg streets where in midtown Manhattan you can’t turn left or right for blocks and blocks and blocks; where many lanes have been closed off for use by cyclists and joggers, or relaxing citizens (taking in the carbon monoxide fumes that are emitted by the cars going by). Millions of cars, a handful of cyclists and joggers; do the math.
Another Clinton, DeWitt, had the visionary idea of creating the grid in Manhattan and it worked well for approximately 200 years until someone had a better idea. That does not work as well.
Meanwhile back to the rant: they’ll all be here. Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Ahmadinejad, Obama, Mrs. Obama, Prince Albert of Monaco, Ashton Kutcher (??!!!) and even Carla Bruni. The beautiful and sexy Mme. Sarkozy and her husband, the President of France, were lunching alone (without security, zut alors!) Saturday at Amaranth on East 62nd Street between Madison and Fifth. No closing down the blocks. In fact, no attention from even the lunch crowd. Amaranth is a favorite of the Sarkozys; they’ve been several times before. You can see what the attraction is in the picture. The Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden evidently likes it too: he has been seen lunching there more than once recently. |
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Meanwhile, back on a quiet Sunday/yesterday afternoon where the avenues were very quiet, with hardly any traffic. I went down to the Algonquin where Barbara Carroll (accompanied by the great Jay Leonhart on bass) was opening her annual Sunday brunch concert season at the Oak Room. The place was packed with fans and well-wishers.
This is a sweet way to cap off your weekend. A cozy brunch with the virtuoso Ms. Carroll’s interpretations and renditions of the American songbook. She opened with Sondheim’s “Hey Old Friend,” and soon moved into “Autumn in New York,” woven into “Early Autumn.” |
| Barbara Carroll welcoming yesterday's guests at the Oak Room brunch/concert at the Algonqin. |
Tony Bennett was in the audience with his wife Susan. Barbara told us that they have known each other since their early days in New York – 1947! Those two have been entertaining the troops longer than most of us have been on the planet, and they’re still at it and better than ever. The great wines of life.
Toward the end of the set, Barbara told us about a talented young man she’d met whom she’d invited to join her for a couple of songs. This was a first for both of them for up to that moment, they’d never played together. His name is Aaron Weinstein, he hails from Chicago, looks younger than his 24 years, and looks like he could have been cast as a club musician in the new HBO series “Atlantic City.” |
| Barbara accompanies the talented newcomer to the New York music scene, Aaron Weinstein. |
In her introduction, Barbara didn’t say what instrument Mr. Weinstein played, so it was interesting when the man came up to the piano with a violin. They opened with Cole Porter’s “Just One Of Those Things,” and then went on to Johnny Green’s “Body and Soul.” Beautiful. Mr. Weinstein and Ms. Carroll made something old new again, and again. Sweet.
The perfect finale for a Sunday brunch at the Oak Room at the Algonquin. And a good deal too: Brunch plus Barbara Carroll and Jay Leonhart reminding you it’s “Autumn in New York,” for only seventy bucks per. Except for the month of January, you can catch them at the Algonquin on Sunday brunchtime until June 2011. |
| Weinstein playing Cole Porter's "Just One of Those Things." |
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