NYC loves the lad from Liverpool

It's no secret that New York has a special place in its heart for John Lennon.  On December 8th, 1980 the music legend was shot and killed in front of his residence, The Dakota on West 72nd Street on the Upper West Side.

For the next five years afterwards, Lennon's widow, Japanese-born artist and musician Yoko Ono, worked with local landscape architects to designate a quiet zone across the street in Central Park, and the infamous Strawberry Fields site was dedicated on 9 October 1985.  But Lennon's memorial doesn't just belong to New Yorkers.  In fact, 121 countries around the world have declared Strawberry Fields in Central Park, with its "Imagine" plaque, to be an official Garden of Peace.

Image credit here

Peace activism was certainly a very prominent part of Lennon's life with Yoko Ono.  Indeed its a very strong theme that British-Australian artist John Waters explores in his wonderful production of Lennon: Through A Glass Onion, showing at the Union Square Theater on East 17th Street (until 22 February 2015).

Now I grew up watching John Waters on Australian TV, and he seriously hasn't changed a bit.  I'd probably watch him read the phone book though, so I'm a biased reviewer.  It is therefore quite reassuring to me that the critics at the New York Times felt as positively as I did about this production.

Waters does not impersonate Lennon during this show, but he does tell his story in a first-person narrative.  And Waters has been performing Glass Onion since 1992, across Australia and in London's West End, so he's had plenty of time to polish it up.  While Waters belts out excerpts from some 34 tunes on guitar and maintains his strong vocals throughout, piano accompaniment and harmony is provided by the excellent Stewart D'Arrietta, whose theatre pedigree includes a recent stint as musical director for The White Album Concert at the Sydney Opera House.

The show plays without an intermission, but if you're a fan of the Beatles, or the magic combination of Lennon & McCartney, you'll love this play.  I came away thinking it's just the kind of retrospective production that I could imagine Lennon doing, had his life not been so dramatically cut short.  The tale Waters spins is frank, and at times rather humorous - but always very self-effacing.  The songs complement the plot and as such, their lyrics take on a poignancy you might not have previously attributed to them (such as in the case of "Julia"about Lennon's mother, and "Beautiful Boy", about Sean Lennon - the son that John wasn't sure he and Yoko would ever have).

The show revealed Lennon to be a talented, complex, thoughtful man who loved his wife and his family, and had great times making music.  But it's clear that John Lennon always knew there was more to life than being a rock star.  Indeed, the Lennon/McCartney song "Glass Onion" pokes fun at those people who were inclined to look too deeply for meaning in Beatles lyrics.  In Lennon's mind, there were much more serious issues to be concerned about in life.

Throughout the show, I remember thinking how much I wanted to buy John Waters and Stewart D'Arrietta a beer afterwards.  But I think what I really wanted to do was to pull up a barstool alongside John Lennon.  It will forever be a shame that on that cold December evening 14 years ago, we were all robbed of the chance to ever do that.

The intimacy of the holidays

"City Crowd, Cop and Ear" by A. Robert Bermelin (1980)
Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Thanks to holiday tourism, Manhattan's population increases by anything up to five times during the November to January period.  Great for the economy, but a nightmare for your nerves!

Having said that, I've started my holiday season in a very positive state of mind.  After all, November is my favourite month of the year in New York.  The weather is cooler, the clothes are more snuggly, and there's holiday anticipation in the air.

I spent the weekend pulling my winter clothes out of storage and donating whatever summer clothes no longer fit, or which had otherwise seen better days.  I'm no fashionista, but it's great to be back in opaque tights and knee-high boots again.

My first batch of home-made pumpkin soup is now in my fridge, ready to heat and serve after a busy day at work.  Such domesticity has a shelf-life about as long as the soup itself, but let's ignore that.

Central Park is at its most colourful right now, and the Fall Foliage map is a great reference point to see all the trees at their best.

It seems that every day I get emails reminding me to order my Thanksgiving turkey - and every side-dish I could possibly imagine!  I worked out that this year will be my 7th Thanksgiving celebration, which sounds terribly lucky.  While I'd usually prefer savoury dishes over sweet, I can never refuse roasted sweet potatoes topped with toasted marshmallows and brown sugar.  Don't knock 'em till you've tried 'em, honestly!

Equally irresistible are the ticket offers for The Nutcracker and the Radio City Musical Hall Christmas Spectacular, both of which I absolutely love and would see multiple times over.

And I was also a bit excited that the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree has been selected on a farm in Pennsylvania, and the 85-foot monster will be felled tomorrow.  The tree-lighting ceremony will be held in New York on 3 December, bringing traffic to a standstill and driving all the locals crazy.  I usually avoid Rockefeller Plaza like the plague, but there is something magical about the ice skating rink and the Christmas tree - even just the promise of them is exciting.

For me, even though there are five times the number of people pushing and shoving for spots on the subway and space on the sidewalk, November in New York will always be an affair to remember.

Once upon a time in Central Park

In the early 1950s, the Danish-American Women’s Association of New York was looking for a special way to commemorate the 150^th anniversary of the birth of Hans Christian Andersen.  Each week, the Association would read the author’s fairy tales on NYC radio, and children across the city tuned in faithfully.  So the Association launched an early 'kickstarter' campaign and invited all the school children in New York to donate one penny each to help them fund a statue of the beloved author to be placed in Central Park. 

Pennies poured in from across the five boroughs (and some kids in Denmark even pitched in).  The Women’s Association and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation donated the extra funds, and Danish-American sculptor George Lober completed his bronze masterpiece.  The statue of Hans Christian Andersen was unveiled in Central Park in 1956, as a gift to the world from New York’s schoolchildren. 

The crowd gathers for storytime

The unveiling also launched the non-profit Hans Christian Andersen Storytelling Center, which still hosts free weekly readings of folk and fairy tales at the statue every Saturday morning at 11am, between June and September.  Storytelling is held rain or shine, and kids of all ages convene to hear the stories - and not just the Hans Christian Andersen classics, but tales from all over the world.  All the Directors and officers of the Center are unpaid volunteers, but the professional storytellers and the monitors are compensated for their work.  It is a wonderful organisation that has been going strong for 58 years.

In fact, the storytelling hour is one of my favourite things about the New York summer.   If I'm out of bed early enough on a Saturday, I'll take the subway to Central Park, grab a take-away coffee from The Boathouse and head over to the statue, just in time for the stories to begin. 

I usually sit off to the side on one of the Park benches, but last weekend I actually introduced myself to Laura Simms, the Artistic Director of the Center (pictured on the right here).  Laura has been on staff for over 40 years, which is a very impressive commitment.  I also said hello to Donna Jacobs Sife, one of their guest storytellers, who had flown over from Sydney to participate.  It was probably a little early in the day for me to be so congenial but perhaps I'm mellowing in my old age.

Over the course of the hour, we were treated to a very vivid interpretation of "The Emperor's New Clothes" (a Hans Christian Anderson classic); a Native American story similar to "Cinderella"; and finally two short stories that covered the themes of honesty and death.

 

At all times, the storytellers engaged the kids in the audience - through song, sounds, and repetition.  We were all encouraged to participate (and you know my stance on audience participation), but when you see the concentration on the faces of the kids, and the joy they derive from being so capably entertained, you know your weekend is off to a good start.

When the storytelling was over for another week, the spell had been broken and the kids descended once more upon the Hans Christian Andersen statue - climbing all over him and patting the Ugly Duckling on the head.  And as chaotic as that always gets, it gives me confidence that our collective love affair with one of the world's greatest storytellers will live on, happily ever after.

Strawberry Fields, Shakespeare, and Story Time

I took full advantage of the beautiful summer weather this weekend and spent a fair bit of time in Central Park.

I first came to love this Park when I was training for the 2012 NYC Half-Marathon.  Twice a week, we'd meet for training at the beautiful Bethesda fountain, and we'd run along the roads and running tracks on the east and west sides of the Park.  It was really good practice for the race too, because the first six miles of the Half-Marathon are spent in Central Park and by then, we were all-terrain experts!

While I definitely finished the half-marathon (and came in well-ahead of the ambulances, which was always my goal), I suspect my race-running days are probably behind me.  Even still, I will never get sick of coming to Central Park for a look around.  In good weather and bad, there is always something to see and do here, and this weekend was no exception.

Please check out my photo album below.  I've even updated the descriptions on each image, so you'll have a bit of an idea what you're looking at, and why the Park means so much to me and millions of others.

Post by The ABCs of NYC.

Some time with me, myself and I

You'd think that in a city as densely-populated as New York it would be hard to find space to be on your own.  People are always rushing to get somewhere, jostling you and getting in your face.  But you don't have to hide out in your apartment to get some peace and quiet.  There are places in New York - public places - where you can be alone, and take some time to just soak up the City and relax.

The Great Lawn, Central Park
In the middle of Central Park, from 79th Street to 85th Street, you'll find the Great Lawn.  They have concerts here during the year, but on sunny days the lush lawn becomes a haven for picnickers and sunbathers of all shapes and sizes.  Bring a rug or beach towel, a good book, and spend a few hours just soaking up the rays.  A good trick if you're coming in from the Upper West Side is to call into Zabars first and grab some lunch to enjoy when you finally find your Park spot.

Madison Square Park
Similar to the Great Lawn, but this green oasis is just closer to my house so it's my go-to hangout in summer.  This location has the added advantage of being opposite Eataly, so if you need the bathroom or a coffee or gelato, you're on a winner.  Don't bother lining up at Shake Shack, unless you want to be reminded of all the reasons you wanted to be alone in the first place.

Theatre/Cinema
It seems weird to think you could be alone in a crowded theatre or cinema, but nobody pays any attention to you when the lights go down and the show starts.  And buying a single ticket to a Broadway show is often an easy way to get the greatest seats, even at the last minute ticket booths.  But a warning - Sunday matinees are usually full of old, fairy-floss haired women who try and engage you in conversation during intermission.  Use this time to busily sort through your purse, or study the Playbill intently.

Battery Park
I love coming down here in sunny weather.  There are wooden benches overlooking New York Harbour and you can see the Statue of Liberty.  From that safe distance away, I like watching the tourists pushing and shoving each other to get on and off the cruise boats to Liberty and Ellis Islands.  Euphoric kids, exhausted parents.  And I like this location because there are always food trucks down there, usually selling churros.  Never a bad thing.

This is just a random selection of my favourite New York spots to go solo.   Getting out of town is also a great tonic, but not always possible, so I think it's important to find the places you can be alone here. The noise and the crowds and the craziness can do your head in otherwise.  And when you're in the right headspace, you feel calmer and you can appreciate the city, and the people who occupy it, a little better.

Ariel Sabar wrote a great book called "Heart of the City", a collection of "nine stories of love and serendipity on the streets of New York".  The people in these true stories aren't all from here, but the City certainly brought them together in a variety of ways.  In telling their stories, Sabar takes you on a tour of New York, from the city's iconic sites to the residential neighbourhoods of Brooklyn and the grimy back streets of Chinatown.  It's a wonderful book to make you look differently at New York, and remind you that while alone time is good, it is sometimes a good thing to actually engage with people, even in this crazy town.

That haunting feeling

People have reported seeing ghosts in New York City for hundreds of years.

The cemetery of Old St. Patrick's Cathedral on Mulberry Street is said to be haunted by Pierre Toussaint, a former slave from Haiti who became an in-demand hairdresser to NYC's socialites in the 19th Century, not to mention a generous philanthropist.    Toussaint was actually the first non-religious person to be buried beneath the crypt in the Cathedral, a site normally reserved for members of the clergy.

On opening nights, Radio City Music Hall's builder (and Rockettes founder), Roxy Rothafel, has been spotted parading through the Radio City lobby with a glamorous woman on his arm.  

At the historic New Amsterdam Theatre just off Times Square, the ghost of silent film and stage star Olive Thomas has been seen in the dressing room, in full Follies chorus girl regalia.  It is said that in her hands she still clutches her husband's bottle of syphilis medication that she drank to kill herself.  

Just under the Brooklyn Bridge is the Bridge Café, a former brothel turned dining establishment where patrons have reported seeing the ghosts of burly pirates who frequented the bar when it first opened in 1847. 

The ghost of John Lennon is said to lurk around the gates of The Dakota apartment building off Central Park, where he was murdered in 1980 (and where "Rosemary's Baby" was also filmed - double the dose of eerie!).  

But the prize for the creepiest ghostly site must go to the dramatically-named "House of Death" inGreenwich Village.  This beautiful brownstone was constructed in the early 19th Century and over the years, twenty-two people (including Mark Twain) have died there, in all manner of circumstances.  By all accounts, none of their souls have ever left.  Bwahahaha!

Fitting "write" in

Before sprawling on the grass of the Great Lawn in Central Park, you should first wander The Literary Walk that is located under the giant elm trees at the southern tip of The Mall. 

Stretching for six blocks, the Literary Walk boasts five of the Park’s 29 bronze statues.  In addition to Shakespeare, you’ll find Scottish icons Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott, as well as Christopher Columbus (who seems an odd choice for such company). 

But the fifth statue is of the lesser-known Fitz-Greene Halleck, a Connecticut poet and satirist whose provocative work and personal life led to his being considered America’s answer to Lord Byron. 

In 1877, ten years after Halleck died, he became the first American to be honoured with a statue in Central Park.  And while he and his poetry are relatively unknown today, Halleck was so beloved at the time that his statue’s unveiling ceremony was hosted US President Hayes, and was attended by more than thirty thousand people.

A little bit of Egypt in the Park

In July 1880, an Ancient Egyptian obelisk arrived in New York from Egypt, ready for installation in Central Park.  The Khedive of Egypt had reportedly gifted the obelisk to New York in return for increased trade with his country. 

The task of relocating the 69-foot, 240-tonne obelisk fell to Director of NY Public Parks, Henry Stebbins, and was financed by railroad magnate William Vanderbilt. 

Central Park's obelisk is actually one of three that originally stood at the Temple of Ra in Heliopolis and had been commissioned by Pharaoh Thutmose III in 1450 BC.  Two hundred years later, the obelisks were inscribed with hieroglyphs glorifying the military victories of Rameses II.  During the reign of Augustus Caesar, when Egypt was under Roman occupation, the obelisks were moved to Alexandria and placed at the Caesarium, a temple originally built by Cleopatra VII of Egypt in honour of Marc Antony.  The three obelisks henceforth became known as "Cleopatra's Needles".  One obelisk was given to France in 1826 and seven years later, was installed at the Place de la Concorde in Paris.  The second had been presented to the UK in 1819 but wasn't relocated to London's Victoria Embankment until 1877, the same year that New York secured its obelisk. 

It took thirty-two horses hitched in sixteen pairs to pull the obelisk from the Hudson River docks into position in Central Park. 

When the obelisk had stood in the clear dry Egyptian desert air for nearly 3,000 years Cleopatra's Needle had suffered only minor weathering.   In a little more than 130 years in the climate of New York City, pollution and acid rain have heavily pitted its surfaces. 

The Central Park Conservancy and the Mayor of New York City are dedicated to raising funds to improve conservation and maintenance efforts.

That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet

On the western side of Central Park, tucked away behind the 79^th Street transverse, you will find the Shakespeare Garden. 

Formerly known as Garden of the Heart, this four-acre oasis was renamed in 1916, to mark the 300^th anniversary of The Bard’s death. 

Central Park’s Shakespeare Garden is full of plants and flowers mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays, as well as those found in his private garden in Stratford-upon-Avon, themselves all mentioned in classical medical texts or medieval herbal manuals. 

The Central Park Garden also used to feature a mulberry tree, rumoured to have been grafted from one planted by Shakespeare himself in 1602.  Sadly a summer storm in 2006 huffed, puffed and blew the mulberry tree down and it had to be removed. 

In keeping with similar Shakespeare Gardens around the world, Central Park’s site is dotted with bronze plaques featuring quotations from the playwright’s famous works, and wooden benches to encourage visitors to rest and soak up the atmosphere. 

Not far from the Garden in Central Park is the open-air Delacorte Theatre, which seats 1,800 people and has showcased the free New York Shakespeare Festival since 1962.