Five New Yorkers

NYC ARTS Acquires a Hyphen--and More!

2011-12-14T10:53:00.000-05:00

Websites, Social Media and Mobile Will Soon Have a New Friend

Fun stuff coming at NYC ARTS. In February. If I'm working a lot between now and then, you'll soon know why.

Life Lessons That Read Like a Horoscope

2011-12-13T19:16:00.000-05:00

My dear friend, Andrea (Italian male name, not American female name), sent me a handy-dandy URL to a blog post entitled, "30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself". Darn good advice in there, which is why it now sits above my desk. Like so:

While posting these self-help gems, I decide to take on the challenge of oration by reciting a few for my colleagues. They were as follows:

Stop spending time with the wrong people. (May I have a list of these "wrong" people, please?)
Stop running from your problems. (Can I walk quickly from them? I'm a very fast walker, and I promise it doesn't look like I'm running.)
Stop lying to yourself. (How would I know? If you see me lying to myself, please tell me. Seriously. Jed, you know who you are.)
Stop putting your own needs on the back burner. (As if this is a problem. But I'm flattered, I really am.)
Stop trying to be someone you're not. (But who am I? Is this part of the problem? So confused.)
Stop trying to hold on to the past. (So true. Seriously. It's not even like I'm successfully holding on to the past. I'm just "trying" to hold on to the past. Pathetic, really.)
Stop being scared to make a mistake. (I wonder if Mary Poppins would have been more effective with this advice. That whole "Practically perfect in every way" act must have gotten in the way, at times.)
Stop berating yourself for old mistakes. (Okay. What qualifies a mistake as "old"?)
Stop trying to buy happiness. (How much do I wish I'd heard this before I spent my savings on a University Place apartment with a terrace. And I was only renting happiness; I couldn't even afford to buy it.)
Stop exclusively looking to others for happiness. (Intriguing, right? So I read on...)

"If you’re not happy with who you are on the inside, you won’t be happy in a long-term relationship with anyone else either. You have to create stability in your own life first before you can share it with someone else. "

Thank you, Andrea. As snarky as this post sounds, I do think it's all good advice. Advice we've all heard, I hope, but good advice nevertheless. In the day-to-day craziness of trying to be happy in today's world, we often forget the basics. All 30 of them. And I'm told that's okay. (See above.)

Happy Holidays from...my desk

2011-12-12T13:54:00.000-05:00

Love,

Joe

Procrastination Destroyed

2011-07-31T08:46:00.000-04:00

Maybe this will help.

I frequently read Brain Pickings, and often come across things I want to share with people. Half the time, I actually share them. This "done manifesto" was started by a developer/hacker guy. I often marvel at uber-productive code writers who contribute hour upon hour to open-source software projects or hacking. They clearly love their work and must find in it what the Czech philosopher, Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, calls Flow.

I pulled these images from Bre Pettis. Thank you to the people who took the time to post this to the Web for the rest of the world's benefit.

A Five New Yorkers Alum Needs Your Help!

2011-07-27T08:39:00.001-04:00

Remember this post?

a bowl of fall / corn chowder
5 minutes into a bike ride to the first open house, and the realization smacks me harder than the wind... "argh, first day of the year when a jacket is required and my ass is freezing." I'm thirty behind so there is no turning back.

No? Well, our very own Jason Saft wrote that in October of 2008. You can read the rest of that deliciousness here:

http://fivenewyorkers.blogspot.com/2008/10/bowl-of-fall-corn-chowder.html.

BUT FIRST, Mr. Saft needs our help. And NOW. In fewer than 24 hours, with our help, Saft will be the winner of Apartment Therapy's National Small Cool Kitchen's 2011 contest. Sound big? It's HUGE. :)

All you have to do is this:

Step by step instructions (if you haven't already voted and need to register)

1. Cut and paste into your web browser: http://community.apartmenttherapy.com/contests/smallcoolkitchens/2011

2. Click Sign in on the top right hand corner

3. Scroll down to Register to comment, vote & enter giveaways

4. Create a user name, they don't send emails/spam so don't worry.

5. Confirmation sent to your email.

6. Click sign in to vote - in the right hand corner.

7. Enter your log in (email) and password

8. Click on the circle above "Jason's $250.00 renovated kitchen" (Here's the bit about his kitchen: http://community.apartmenttherapy.com/contests/smallcoolkitchens/2011/entries/3020?utm_source=facebook

9. Click the Green vote button directly to the right of it.

Step by step instructions (if you ALREADY voted and DON'T need to create a registration ID)

1. Cut paste in browser window: http://community.apartmenttherapy.com/contests/smallcoolkitchens/2011

2. Click sign in to vote - in the right hand corner.

3. Enter your log in (email) and password

4. Click on the circle above "Jason's $250.00 renovated kitchen"

5. Click the Green vote button directly to the right of it.

That's it! Do it now, and share this post on Facebook, Twitter and anywhere else you can guilt friends into helping a friend. It costs nada, after all--just a couple minutes of your time.

What is this Zeke business?

2011-07-17T14:02:00.001-04:00

Joey! What is this Zeke business? Looks cool!
--Buje

Funny that some of my best and closest friends don’t even know that I’ve started Zeke Digital Group. So I’m posting the answer to the question Buje submitted on ZekeDigitalGroup.Tumblr.com.

After finding myself giving advice to a number of friends who needed help with his or her personal online presence (i.e., establishing their personal brand online as an artist or public figure) or small business, I decided to formalize the work under a consulting firm. Enter Zeke Digital Group this year (spring 2011), an agency setup to provide individuals and businesses of every size with simplifying the ever-growing and increasingly powerful digital marketing space.

In his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey talks about the power of a paradigm shift. Whether it’s branding, direct marketing, business-to-business, direct-to-consumer, customer relationship management, pricing, competitive assessment or product positioning, disruptive technology (e.g., new software, the Web, mobile) has changed every single aspect of marketing. Those who understand this have experienced an equally dramatic paradigm shift. With this, a split within the marketing community has occurred between those who get it and those who don’t.

For those who do not understand this new world of marketing, technology is seen as a responsibility or an obstacle—at the very best, a new channel or tool. For those who get it, marketing just got fun; where developing a marketing plan used to be piecing together an assortment of tactics and benchmarks, based on lessons learned from the case studies taught in MBA programs, the enlightened marketer now sees a dynamic world of possibilities waiting to be adopted—in most cases, for free—by people and businesses poised to become integral and valuable parts of other people’s day-to-day lives and identities.

That’s what this Zeke business is about, to answer Buje’s original question: showing people, in the clearest and simplest way possible, how the connection they want to make with their consumers is at their fingertips and they don’t even know it. In short, helping them make the paradigm shift.

Last-Minute Notice: Chelsea Art Crawl Tonight

2011-07-14T13:12:00.001-04:00

Discounted $20 ticket to Chelsea Art Crawl and Party in NYC, hosted by ArtLog, with the discount code “NYC ARTS”.

Screen shot of Chelsea Art Museum's site. Info about the Art Crawl and
Chelsea Art Museum events is always available on NYC-ART.org

For people in New York, I thought this was worth promoting. For people not in New York, this gives you an idea of the type of amazing things we never find the time to do.

What Have We Lost?

2011-07-13T16:27:00.005-04:00

Good art, in my opinion, doesn't give answers or serve as a vehicle through which an individual can spout his message to the rest of the world. Good art asks questions. It begins conversations where they may have stalled or never even existed. And it allows you to see something in an entirely different way--showing the nuances within the gray that the binary, or black and white, assessment didn't allow. Classic Stage Company's production of Unnatural Acts: Harvards Secret Court of 1920 did just that for me; it made me ask a question that has haunted me ever since: what have we lost at the hands of fear, intolerance and discrimination?

Poster for Unnatural Acts:
Harvard's Secret Court of 1920 Info available on NYC-ARTs.org

As we wrote on NYC ARTS, "Unnatural Acts is a new play inspired by true events that occurred at Harvard University in the spring of 1920, when a student's suicide sparked a campus-wide investigation by a secret court of administrators aimed at purging the university of a group of homosexual students." Many things happen throughout the play, many of them hilarious, all of them ultimately tragic. I found it all very affecting. While sitting there after the lights came up, I was hit very hard with that question: What have we lost? It's a question which first came to mind after hearing Rent in college, knowing the show's author, Jonathan Larson, had passed away before its opening. Rent is important and productive in so many ways which I can't begin to do justice here. But I will be so bold as to say that it's true art, and its author left behind a powerful gift. If only he had lived longer to give us more gifts, more tools for change. What would he have created? How would his work have made the world a better place, a more peaceful place where people are more tolerant and differences are embraced? We will never know. In much the same way, we will never know the true consequences--the enormity of the loss and magnitude of the tragedy as a result--of what happened at Harvard in 1920.

Unnatural Acts: Harvard's Secret Court of 1920 has been extended through July 24, 2011, at Classic Stage Company.

The New World Order has Arrived, and its Name is Google +

2011-07-10T13:16:00.008-04:00

I'm a Google evangelist. Speaking as a marketing strategist, if I may be so bold as to call myself that without sounding arrogant, this is a huge accomplishment for a company that size. In my experience, the bigger a company gets, the further away from the customer it gets--something my friends at Creative Good recognize very clearly and around which they have developed an entire business.

Compare Google to another company ubiquitous in the lives of the digitally connected: Apple. Apple is a great company. Nobody will argue that. But in what ways are they great, and how sustainable is that greatness?

Design is at the forefront of everything Apple does, and that separates them from the pack in many, many ways. Design is so important in our lives, and it's a powerful tool when given the respect it deserves in brand strategy and product development. As many have heard before, PCs make you feel productive, Macs make you feel creative. Productivity is satisfying. Creativity can be euphoric. And it doesn't hurt that those clever marketing folks at Apple have managed to convince us that, by spending a thousand dollars on a device with less functionality than a laptop and on which we can barely type an email, we're a little bit cooler and generally more in touch with digital world of tomorrow. Said in another way, by overspending on technology and immersing our lives in Mac products, many of us feel--whether we are willing to admit it or not--that we are part of an elite class--the Creative Class, as Richard Florida puts it--of people who are driving the evolution of American culture in a direction that's a little sleeker, a little more artistic (in all the good, socially acceptable and profitable ways, without being a complete conformist, of course), a little more capable, a lot more digitally connected, and MUCH cooler than the American culture in which the masses live today. Apple people = better than everyone else.

The thing is, though, I'm not an Apple advocate. It's because I recognize all too clearly that their product development strategy (road map, in biz terms) is designed with a very prominent objective of making as much money as possible off of the individual whom they already consider the Apple convert. In particular, those customers whom Apple considers early adopters spend through the nose in order to keep up their sleek, artistic, capable, digitally connected image. Case in point (one of many, but don't worry, I won't bore you with all of them out of fear that I might come across as a bitter lover, wronged by his universally adored paramour) (too late): when I spontaneously bought my iPad, I not only had to pay $800+ to ensure that I could use it for all the things which made it worth having, such as storing video and reading Huffington Post while standing in line at the coffee shop, but I also had to upgrade my entire operating system. Apple had planned for this of course, and I hardly think it was a coincidence. They were so aware of this that they even packaged this new OS software in a $100+ kit which included Mac Life and Mac Work (or something like that). So in convincing me (with their beautiful commercial set to Temper Trap's "Sweet Disposition" and sleek design) that I needed to have that iPad in order to maintain my new identity as a member of this elite class, they lured me into the store, giddy at the thought of acquiring my new toy. So when it came time to check out and run home to begin playing, of course I wasn't going to change my mind and balk at the extra $150+ (don't forget the cover, since the warranty doesn't cover a crack in the fragile screen if you drop this "mobile" device). Long story short, the maintenance of my identity cost me over $1k, and that didn't even include apps or monthly data charges.

I have another beef with Apple with regard to their lack of willingness to help nonprofits, such as the Alliance and NYC ARTS, which of course is reinforcing Apple's business and improving the economic conditions and customer demographics in the neighborhoods in which they have stores, by producing the NYC ARTS iPhone App. But, again, out of fear of coming across as bitter and jaded (too late)(again), I won't go into that.

Forgetting Apple for a minute (as if that's possible, considering I'm typing this on a MacBook Pro), the real question on the minds of current and future Google+ users is whether it will affect Facebook's dominance. Maybe I'll have an opinion--and maybe even a new cause, since I am, after all, a Google advocate--on/in the matter, after using it for a couple weeks. For now, it's fun to explore and attempt to understand how Google is using its products to make me FEEL more connected, efficient and effective, while maintaining its enviable stock price.

In summary, there she sits on the hilltop, basking in the sun: the new Google+. Brought into this world to make our lives better. You see, now, I don't have to open up another browser or App and login to Facebook. I can simply look to the right or left of my Gmail, where I'll likely see that best friend number 1,345 wrote on my wall that he misses me. (Said with a wink, of course. I don't have 1,345 best friends. At present, I only have 382 best friends. The rest of you are "acquaintances" or "Friends tier 2", as I've labeled you with my new Google+ circles.)

My 30-Day Challenge

2011-07-08T11:41:00.000-04:00

We love TED, right? Nancy's off to the next one, which is very exciting. In my mind, Nancy and TED just go together. If TED we're a person, I'd say they should date. But then her man might have an issue with that, so I probably wouldn't actually say--or even believe--it. But I'd think it for a second or two. Or three.

Anyway, this TED talk inspired me.

How can you watch that and not start your own 30-day challenge? I dare you.

My 30-day challenge? To post something--anything--to this blog every day and see what comes of it. It seems so easy, but, with so many competing priorities in our lives, sharing something on a blog naturally falls to the bottom of the list--usually ten or so tasks under "Get fifth iced coffee of the day". (Clearly, I'm a very busy and important man.)

Here's to personal challenges--to stretching ourselves. Because we all know it just feels good, especially if you do it without attachment (in Buddhist terms) to the result. Would love for people to join me with their own 30-day challenges. If you do, let me know in the comments box below.

How Annoying is it That It's the Joe Show!?

2011-06-21T18:49:00.000-04:00

I swear it's not my fault. Know any of the other Five New Yorkers? Tell them you want to hear from them!

Love,
Joe

Zeke's New York: Union Square

2011-06-13T09:23:00.001-04:00

A Little (More!) Robert Libetti

2011-06-12T16:19:00.001-04:00

Mandy Coon Fall 2011 EDFF Winner from Robert Libetti on Vimeo.

Helium Kills! (And Other Things That Happen to New Yorkers in Michigan.)

2011-06-12T16:04:00.000-04:00

Helium kills brain cells. Or so they say. Which is exactly why I would never let little kids--especially my nieces and nephews--suck the helium from balloons in an effort to change the tenor of their voices. That's just child's play. Besides, in order to do that, you would require access to a helium tank and balloons.

My niece graduated from high school. (I know, right? Wow.) This was the weekend we celebrated with lots of balloons and food and a big tent. I even left my bubble (balloon?) on the upper west side of Manhattan and flew home for the occasion. It was worth it, as always. I'm a sap so I can't even write about it too much without getting too emotional. (It's true, thinking about my nieces and nephews--especially their entry into adulthood--hits an emotional chord in me like nothing else does. I was the embarrassing uncle sitting in the bleachers during the holiday concert pretending to yawn and/or rub his irritated eyes.)

At least I'm not letting them suck the helium out of balloons. That would be dangerous.

Friday Afternoon

2011-06-04T14:11:00.001-04:00

W 87th Street

I get the funniest mix of reactions when I tell people I've moved to the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

"87th? That's not so bad."
"I'm sorry."

and my favorite...

"Why?"

Granted, I'm probably talking to people who want their addresses to help define them. I don't think I do. But what I do want is the feeling I get when I step out of the subway on a Friday afternoon and look down 87th street at the relatively empty sidewalks and the sun shining through the trees on the brownstones' steps. I often pause and breathe a sigh of relief. I'm home, and the weekend has begun. I can (hopefully) stop rushing, walk slowly, breath a little more deeply, and maybe even stop off for an iced coffee or pick up some over-priced flowers--something I never used to do but now appreciate quite a bit.

This Friday, I chose the flowers:

Friday Flowers

When it comes down to it, the things insinuated in those sloppy-yet-entertaining questions and comments are exactly what I like about living on the Upper West Side: it's quiet, it's boring and it's relatively remote. Not to mention the fact that I can (in theory) roll out of bed and find myself running in Central Park within five minutes, passing people on the street who, with a few exceptions, actually live in the area. In short, it's a neighborhood, and I'm here to stay for a while.

This Friday afternoon and the accompanying sigh of relief upon looking down W87th when I got off the subway (I exit the 86th Street stop on 87th, when I have time, because the block is so much nicer than 86th Street) were particularly affecting because of the intense week of little sleep and lots of work. By the time I reached my apartment door, the exhaustion had completely set in, and my shoes had nearly taken themselves off my feet. What I realized, however, was that the top lock was locked, and I--as was the case the last time this happened--didn't have the key for this lock which had only been used a couple of times over the past six months. Frustration and self-pity set in as I texted Abby:

Can you believe she puts up with me?? I eventually got in a cab to meet her at her rehearsal for that evening's Wise Girl gig (she's in a rock band. It's amazing.), picked up the keys, saw her warm and beautiful smile, gave her a kiss on the cheek and turned to walk down the sidewalk.

Slowly.

It was (yet again) Friday afternoon, and the weekend had begun.

Four New Yorkers + A Missing One = Five Finally

2011-05-31T11:14:00.007-04:00

Is it possible to get fired from a blog? Joe --did I come close? I have to admit that I thought about firing myself, but I’m not one for abandoning things I start… even if I should or want to (i.e., writing an 80 page thesis, exercising again after a three year hiatus, insert any bad habit, and so on). So for a little inspiration, I did three things:

One. I read my first blog post ever about excusing the can-only-seem-to-focus-on-one-thing-at-a-time disappearing phases and tendencies we all have, share in and are often regular victims of.

Two. I re-acknowledged the mysterious universal vacuum, on full power in New York’s case, which we get sucked into and eventually come out on the other side of, blinking, rubbing our eyes, and a bit bewildered ourselves as to what has been consuming enough of our time to warrant a friends and family APB.

Three. I figured out something that is obvious to those of us who don’t try to make excuses for ourselves –those of us, not being me.

To some these disappearing acts are called “I was busy”. To others it is an artful and vital safeguard against being too busy. I think it’s a little bit of both, mixed in with a healthy dose of not knowing what to stop = how not to make room for just any one thing. Or not knowing where to start = how to make room for one more important thing.

In conclusion of today’s brief posting and to avoid getting fired (or firing myself for that matter), I’ve decided to “resign” myself to just starting somewhere. So on that note, here I am. With much to tell as the summer’s arts and creative adventures in New York, and/or as far away from it as possible, begin.

Thank you to the four, Five New Yorkers for your patience. I am glad we are whole again.

--Jade

A Little Robert Libetti, Ladies and Gentleman

2011-05-26T04:27:00.002-04:00

Ted and Amy Supper Club

New Season? A Little Momentum? Part 2 (Or Just. Post. Something.)

2011-05-24T06:49:00.002-04:00

It's amazing how easily paralysis sets in. I think we all live in fear of the bad post, which is why we aren't writing more regularly. But you know what they say: an object at rest stays at rest...

There's a Ted Talk (I think) in which the speaker claims that successful people don't talk about what they're going to do before they do it, because talking about it gives them a false sense of accomplishment. For example, if I keep talking about training for my triathlon, I think I've actually started training. But I haven't. So I'm not talk about the NYC Tri I'm training for this summer until I actually really start training. (Oy.)

I couldn't find that exact talk, but I did find this cool one about the factors that lead to success. My favorite part is that, in order to be successful, we need to deal with a lot of CRAP: Criticism, Rejection, A&*holes and Pressure. So true.

The good news is that there is momentum. But I don't want to ruin that momentum until there's a big announcement. And one pretty cool one is just around the corner (fingers crossed!).

In the meantime, I started a Tumblr account in order to figure out what the heck is so great about Tumblr. I discovered that it is actually pretty great. But I don't want to spoil the fun; experience Tumblr's greatness for yourself by checking out "Zeke's New York: Gramercy Park", a photo journal of neighborhoods of New York, starting with Gramercy.

Zeke's New York: Gramercy Park

Oh, and a message to the other four New Yorkers from my sister: she has a crush on you and wishes you would write more.

Abby: Wholehearted in the City

2011-04-25T13:58:00.008-04:00

I am an actress, a singer, a director, a writer and a producer. Because all these various endeavors take time to develop, and each on their own time line, I also work at a restaurant part-time. I suppose I am a living cliche: an actress in New York City working at a restaurant. But, I don’t feel like a cliché! Every day of this life is unique and holds both challenges and miracles. Literally, every day.

To live in this zoo of a city is to embrace the idea that we are all animals constantly surrounded by each other: we sniff, we play, we growl, we bite, we engage, we ignore, and we roar. AND to top it all off we are, each one of us, on our own journey, telling our own tail (sorry, had to). And each of these tales is utterly significant and intertwined with the rest.

AHHHHH!!!!!

One day in the city can reveal the beauty of humanity and conversely, the utter despair at how this beast of a life can ravage us to bits.

This last year I have had, what can be called, a spiritual awakening. It took a lot of ravaging to bring me to my knees so that I could open my eyes and really see. It’s a difficult thing to crystalize the effects of such an experience, but happily I was passed on a link to a TED Talk, by my friend Kate. The talk was given by Brene Brown and I am so grateful that someone else could put into words, so succinctly, what I had come to find to be the truth of existence.

Here are the CliffsNotes if you’d rather not watch the link:

We must have the courage to tell the story of who we are with our whole heart.
We must have the courage to be imperfect.
We must have the compassion to be kind to ourselves first, and then to others.
We must have a willingness to let go of who we think we should be as opposed to who we actually are, for only then can we have connection as a result of authenticity.
We must fully embrace vulnerability because that’s what makes us beautiful.
We CANNOT selectively numb ourselves from feelings of anxiety and fear, because then we numb joy, gratitude and happiness. When you are feeling fearful, be grateful that you are alive.
Nothing is certain. The only thing that is certain, is uncertainty. Lean into the vulnerability.

Be seen.

Love without guarantee.

Practice gratitude and joy, especially when terrified.

To believe that you are enough.

So, this is me. This is my perspective. Where I’m coming from and what I’m laying down.

Who I am.

More to come!

New Season? A Little Momentum? Part 1

2011-04-23T20:10:00.001-04:00

In Starbucks on 8th Avenue in Chelsea. Walking down 8th, a number of thoughts came to mind. One, Chelsea is GAY (all caps required, please). There's all this talk about the heteroization of Chelsea, as it becomes yet another Gay enclave facing prospect of being passe. But fear not, fellow gays, we are well-represented in these parts.

My second (cleeeearly profound) thought was that, finally, there are signs that spring is here to stay. Sure, most gents on the mean (and I do mean mean) streets of this urban jungle are still dressed for cooler seasons:

Including me and my fetching new shoes:

There was, of course, the odd dude wearing shorts:

and dudes wearing tank tops that show off the ridiculous number of hours spent at the gym (sort of doesn't look real, right?):

Spring is here. Trees are blooming. Temperatures are rising. Pulses are racing. And it feels like a time of change for me, and I think for many of us here. I'm hoping it's a time of momentum.

(More to come following dinner and this eve's birthday parties.)

Check out music from Galia Arad

2011-04-19T13:36:00.002-04:00

Galia is a member of this killer site, Reverbnation.com, which provides a bunch of online marketing tools for musicians, such as these two widgets below. Galia is hilarious and talented, and her music is great to listen to. She also just happens to be playing at the Living Room April 30.

AMERICAN IDIOT is Amazing

2011-04-07T08:53:00.010-04:00

My niece, her friend and I saw AMERICAN IDIOT last night. We loved it. Which is why I was so bummed when I went to write this post just now and saw that it's set to close April 24, as per this NY Times article.

In his review of American Idiot, Christopher Isherwood writes "But while 'American Idiot' is nominally a portrait of youthful malaise of a particular era — the album dates from 2004, the midpoint of the Bush years, and the show is set in 'the recent past' — its depiction of the crisis of post-adolescence is essentially timeless. Teenagers eager for their lives to begin, desperate to slough off their old selves and escape boredom through pure sensation, will probably always be making the same kinds of mistakes, taking the same wrong turns on the road to self-discovery."

Sure, maybe teenagers will always want to "slough off their old selves," but there's so much more value to what Billy Joe Armstrong created with these songs and Michael Mayer created with this musical. The way the characters reacted to the world around them and the paths they took to cope with or escape from it were unique products of the society of the past ten years. Even more than that, it's about the thoughts that led them to their actions. Society was telling them that they were living in a world where "Everything wasn't meant to be okay" and that they're singing along to "the age of paranoia." So you've got to take action, right? But since they were optimistic minds who hadn't yet been jaded enough to believe that the only way to live was in opposition to every country and person who was different from them, they weren't going to follow the narrative laid out for them. So they ran in their own directions, based on what little they knew of the world and of what would make them happy in the long-run.

However, there is a universal theme to the show which struck me over and over again: we made these kids. Whether we want to accept as one of our own the drug addict on the street caught in a vicious cycle of searching for a high in an attempt to stay alive, we need to. Because the society in which we live--and most of us (myself included) accept with very little effort to improve--produced that drug addict. The messages of fear and hate and instability are a major part of the psychology that leads a person to choose drugs and other means of escape as her life's path. It's the only way to cope without going insane. Think about it. We are a medicated society. What would happen if so many of the people with mental health support in the form of talk therapy or medication didn't have those resources? What would we do? Considering many of us probably couldn't function without those things--at least for the crucial period in which we needed that support--we either would have just stopped living or found some other way to cope, maybe in form of non-prescription self-medication (i.e., the homeless drug addict's survival tactic).

So the show spoke to me, clearly. Beyond that, I was so psyched to see a new musical on Broadway that didn't make people cringe, and one that didn't allow the majority of pop culture consumers to say "that's not my thing." Maybe LA CAGE AU FOLLES is so foreign to most people that they feel like an outsider when watching it. And who wants to continue to engage in something that makes them feel like an outsider? AMERICAN IDIOT and Greenday's music in general is part of the fabric of popular American culture. The fact that it can have a broad sppeal and still force people to question the world in which they live and the messages they're being sent on a daily basis is pretty damn powerful. It's reason alone to fight to keep musical theatre, a dying art form in many ways, alive.

So buy tickets and go see it before it closes on April 24. You'll be glad you did.

Here's a link to a NY Times article about the show.

Squirrel Eating Cheeto

2011-04-06T18:40:00.005-04:00

Taken today by my dear friend Stephanie who's visiting from Atlanta with her delightful husband Patrick and their two energetic boys Drew and Fitz.

Location: Clinton Castle, Battery Park

Context: As they were pointing, laughing and taking photos, another tourist shushed them so she could take her own photo. Look out for more Squirrel Eating Cheeto photos on Flickr.

My question: Will Bloomberg ban this squirrel diet next?

Oh, the People You'll Meet

2011-02-26T17:02:00.013-05:00

One of the amazing gifts of living in New York is that you can't swing a cat (I would NEVER swing a cat, but it's illustrative nevertheless) without hitting someone with loads of talent--whether he or she is living here, visiting here, or visiting here with the hopes of living here. I like to think John (J.P.) Poliquin fits in the third category. Despite being just a weee twenty-something, he's ridiculously talented and accomplished. His work has a depth and breadth of colors, emotions and sentiments that could only be the product of an empathetic and exceptionally intelligent artist.

The thing about J.P. is that he's Canadian, and if you know me well, you know I've for some reason always been drawn to Canadians. Perhaps it's because I'm from Michigan, and Canadians from the middle of the country grow up under similar circumstances (geographically speaking), which maybe has an effect on demeanor and values. (It's a bit of a stretch, but I tried.) Maybe it's because my Aunt Mary who passed away from Cancer when I was quite young was always such a warm and supporting figure in my life. She was my Godmother, and I still get the feeling that she took that role very seriously. Godparents, at least as my family considered the role, were the ones who, in addition to being a spiritual guide within the Catholic faith, would take you into their home(s) if your parents ever died. I have no doubt my Aunt Mary and Uncle Mike were very prepared to do that for me, and that's a special something that lives with you for the rest of your life--one of the many reason I'm fortunate to come from a large family of people who understand how lucky we are to have each other. Plus, I know my Aunt Mary bragged about me to her friends, something a couple of her friend confirmed at her funeral.

Whatever the reason, whether it's Nancy, Mark (one of my best and oldest friends), Aunt Mary or J.P., I'm drawn to Canadians and feel as if we're somehow cut from the same cloth, sharing perspectives and values that are fundamental to how we live our lives.

J.P. and I met last summer, while dancing our booties off outside on Governors' Island, watching the sun set on Manhattan. If I'm lucky, he'll be in my life for a very long time, not only because I can't wait to see how quickly he continues to soar in his career.

By the way, he's interested in doing more commercial work, so any creative directors looking for a partner to help bring your idea to life and make it even better, J.P. is your man. He's represented by The Field or you can write him here.

The Five New Yorkers (well, some of us at least) Are Back

2011-01-17T10:32:00.009-05:00

Barrett's out, unfortunately, but it's understandable. Since we all last wrote in December 2008 (I can't believe it was that long ago) Barrett started NCIS: Los Angeles. I can't tell you what a dream it is to see one of your oldest friends and classmates living his dream, doing the work he's always wanted to do. I won't say too much about him, because I have no doubt that Buje's reality is one in which he feels his every move and gesture will be magnified for all to see and characterize. What must that do to your self-image? Are you now really how other people see you? Is the difference between that and how you see yourself hard to distinguish and remember? Luckily, Barrett is as solid as they come, with a good family and group of friends who would never let him lose himself.

Jed, the theatre talent agent, who I'm convinced is going to someday have his own talent management company and represent every noteworthy New York celeb in theatre (and tv and film, for that matter), is putting his precious time into other pursuits. Jason is out, but I'm not sure why. Having dinner with him week after next and will report back then. Something tells me he'll have some funny response like, "Girl, blogging is so L.Y. (that's ""last year" in retail terms, referring to last year's clothing line, which the coolest of Gap employees at Twelve Oaks mall when I worked there in 1993 wouldn't be caught dead wearing.)

I'm still holding out for our dear, gorgeous Jade. (I have always thought she was stunning and gorgeous, but she's also very humble and quite private, so the chances of seeing her picture on this blog are slim to null, I'm afraid.) Saw something she wrote last week that made me realize even more certainly how beautiful of a mind this friend of mine has. Let this be my public plea to her to continue writing here and share her unique perspective that only an artist like she could provide.

Over delicious-and-yet-healthy chili last week, while discussing a social media strategy for John's play Never Always, I showed John and Nancy this blog, and Nancy jumped on it. She confirmed what I suspected when we started this in 2008 that it's a setup that will interest people. Plus, she like I has been wanting a creative outlet of her own. Nancy was my boss at Time Warner for years, and I've been fascinated by her and have enjoyed her from the first day we met when she took the team to a lunch in the beautiful sun outside near Rockefeller Center. We've since stayed in touch and now know far more about each other and are better friends than we ever would have been if we'd stayed colleagues. I'm grateful to have her in my life, and I'm grateful she got me excited about this idea again and accepted my offer to be a part of it.

I of course am in and hopefully will be prolific as ever, since I'm craving something like this to organize my thoughts, and the daily journal entries have long fallen by the wayside. I'm knee deep in work, promoting the NYC-ARTS.org Emerging Voices of 2011: Seven Groups to Watch and preparing for the Friends of the Arts party next Monday, January 24, at which we will celebrate those groups and hopefully raise a little money to keep my colleagues and me employed as we give the nonprofit cultural sector a collective voice and drive New Yorkers and tourists through the doors of NYC cultural institutions.

So stay tuned for the insignificant-yet-hopefully-mildly-entertaining stories and perspectives drawn from the lives of five people living in New York City in 2011 and beyond.

-Joe