JeremyKotin @ November 26, 2008 # 2 Comments
-Not quite just another meal in the big city
It started as a standard meal in the West Village. As the appetizer was being served, I turned and saw we had been seated next to Lisa the “evil lesbian” from Top Chef: Chicago. I wasn’t sure if this meant I was at a good restaurant, I [...]
JeremyKotin @ November 24, 2008 # No Comment Yet
1. THEATER Farragut North
The NY Times said this play was predictable but enjoyable. I agree with the latter, the former is a bunch of crap. While it didn’t exactly have me on the edge of my seat, thanks to a fantastic set of performances, this play about a presidential campaign went from good to fantastic. [...]
JeremyKotin @ November 21, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Let me start off this rant/review by saying that I love Stephen Sondheim. I have followed him to the ends of the earth, or rather through many S/states, both literally and artistically. Each time I go to the theater for one of his shows it’s basically a pilgrimage to the savior of modern musical theater. [...]
JeremyKotin @ November 10, 2008 # 2 Comments
1. EVENT Chanel Mobile Art Pavilion in Central Park
This exhibition transformed me over the course of a 45-minute guided tour. Equipped with an MP3 player telling me exactly how to move through Zaha Hadid’s fantastic sculpture of a structure, I experienced modern art in a way I wish more museums would adopt. Each piece, given [...]
JeremyKotin @ November 3, 2008 # No Comment Yet
1. EVENT Halloween in NYC
Halloween has always been my favorite holiday, mostly due to the gruesome nature of the proceedings in which I can freely enjoy my inner freak. But New York adds an extra layer of sumptuous crazy. I couldn’t help but smile riding the F Train to the LES with a couple Joe [...]
JeremyKotin @ October 31, 2008 # 5 Comments
Now being performed at the Metropolitan Opera through November 13th
Modern opera isn’t for everyone. That has been made abundantly clear to me time and time again when I seem to be one of the few left standing after three and a half hours of confused, atonal yelling in English. The older and predominant opera audience [...]
JeremyKotin @ October 20, 2008 # One Comment
1. ALBUM Gossip in the Grain Ray LaMontagne
Another stunner from LaMontagne, this time he returns to his folkier,‘60s horn-tinged sound that he explored back in 2004 on Trouble. It doesn’t reach the levels of lyricism of 2006’s Till the Sun Turns Black, but this is a worthy entry into what is shaping up to be [...]
JeremyKotin @ October 15, 2008 # No Comment Yet
-PB&J verbal attack at Whole Foods
So I’m in line at Whole Foods waiting for my number to be called to check out and this normal looking, dressed well, decently attractive guy next to me turns, shines a big toothy grin and starts yelling. He says, “Oh man! Peanut butter and jelly sandwich, seriously is there [...]
JeremyKotin @ October 10, 2008 # No Comment Yet
- Overheard conversation at a construction site
En route to my apartment from the subway, I watched as two attractive women walked past a construction site, the workers customarily pausing in their labor to ogle the ladies. As I neared the construction site myself, the still entranced construction workers began a short conversation in which one [...]
JeremyKotin @ October 6, 2008 # No Comment Yet
1. MOVIE The Earrings of Madame De… (1953)
This stunner of a film from director Max Ophuls has always been one of my absolute favorites ever since Andrew Sarris mumbled an incoherent introduction to the classic in a film course of mine. But once the screen went dark and Danielle Darrieux appeared, I was transfixed watching [...]
JeremyKotin @ September 22, 2008 # No Comment Yet
1. ALBUM Johnny Flynn “A Larum”
The sound is something like The Decemberists if Josh Ritter were the lead vocalist, with a bit of a country bent. Here’s a sample lyric from “Tickle Me Pink,” one of my favorite tracks: “Pray for the people inside your head/for they won’t be there when you’re dead/muffled out and [...]
JeremyKotin @ September 15, 2008 # 3 Comments
1. ALBUM Philip Glass “The Book of Longing”
I absolutely love Philip Glass. I also find his work can be redundant (rolling chords can only change so much over forty years). This recent collaboration with Leonard Cohen, however, captures some of the original fire. Cohen’s boom-y bass pops up for narration, four singers transform Glass’ music [...]
JeremyKotin @ September 8, 2008 # 3 Comments
1. MUSEUM “Polaroids: Mapplethorpe” at the Whitney, NYC
Nestled in the mezzanine of the Whitney, there is a single room filled with the most beautiful polaroids by Robert Mapplethorpe. Dating from the 70s, this work demonstrates the very early signs of what would soon become his shocking seminal works of the 80s. Never have I seen [...]