therealtamara

Here’s what’s going on

With me, at any rate….

It is probably obvious to you and to my besties by now that, if we go out somewhere, I am likely to report on it.

Or find something interesting in the outing. At least interesting to me.

For instance, guys, last night we tried Tacombi, a place usually very accessible, and it was full. Packed. I know, maybe it’s Taco Tuesday, and that 6:30 is not an early bird hour. The happy diners here were young and loud.

M. and I moved on to the Beach Cafe, at her suggestion. This is more her nabe than mine, while I do live close by.

The happy diners at the Beach were older and settled in, but we got a booth made for a bigger party than we two. By 7:45, or so, the restaurant had pretty much emptied out.

What happened to the City That Never Sleeps?

The Beach has a neon ad over the bar that says Burgers til 1am.

We were pretty dubious and even snickered on our way out.

BTW, Tuesday is for tacos here as well although they are co-opting the cuisine.

Less vibrato?

Thanks to my (jazz) flautist buddy Carol Sudhalter, I went to the New York Flute Club’s October program.

Robert Langevin, flute, and Min Young Kang, piano, presented a program in honor of Maurice Ravel’s 150th birthday. It was all so very beautiful.

Shout out to a young composer, C.R.R. Klevin, whose Sonata (2024) was wonderful.

Inspired by this evening I googed my way to this fun overview:

I encourage you to seek out more music videos featured on YouTube, or wherever you watch and listen.

Coming soon

More to-do

What could you do more of?

It’s a long list. A comic, like Jon Stewart, would attribute that to my being Jewish.

We Jews are guilt-builders so there’s always more. In fact, just interpreting the question is guilt inducing….

What could I do more of? Every positive thing I ever did, I need to do more of that.

10 year Gala

If you live on the UES, come support our community at the 10th Anniversary Gala of PS109 El Barrio Artspace. This milestone Gala brings together the artists, neighbors, and supporters who helped shape El Barrio’s Artspace into a vibrant hub of artistic expression. Like every milestone, 10 years down, is the beginning of the next […]
10 years in support

This evening, which just occurred on Saturday, was wonderful. For me, my friends at the table made it even more gala.

Unbeknownst to any of us, my friends had a past connection.

D. never forgets a face and she recognized C. from a workplace they shared 15 years ago. Talk about 6 degrees– no separation!

Follow PS 109 El Barrio Artspace on Instagram. There is a whole of a lot going on up there. All year round.

Been there, done that

Along the way

Speaks

Having recently had a speakeasy experience, I am alert to hidden bars.

You could easily pass this door without a thought about its late night program.

Having your name over the door technically disqualifies you or rather your joint as a speakeasy!

I include little known places like the Roreich Museum in this picture book look.

All of these are technically not secret enough to be speaks, but they harbor a mystery.

Back alleys, belowstairs steps and small doors are also mysterious. Enough for me.

We need h-i-s-t-o-r-y

We need calm, accurate, factual history to survive this moment. That history, American history, relies on the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, 250 years of democracy.

Most of us, by a margin so large that we should not despair, ⅔ of we, the people support that long ingrained democracy. Yes, there are more Americans who stand on the pro-democracy side.

Our national pro-democracy historian is the calm, sane voice of Heather Cox Richardson.

Heather Cox Richardson is a national treasure: share her words and efforts as widely as you can.

Those are just two samples of the exemplary HCR offering her wisdom. Spread it. Far and wide.

Men of a certain age

The heartthrobs of my generation included Cary Grant in old films from the distant past.

More contemporaneously I count Paul Newman, who was a grown man while I was still a girl. The movies keeps their beauty alive, of course.

Newman shared the screen with Robert Redford, a man just 11 years my senior.

Redford passed away at 89 last week. His filmography would be the curriculum for a degree in cinema. Redford was brilliantly handsome.

Redford was never handsomer than he’d been in The Way We Were. It’s always been one of my favorite pictures; Burt and I saw it any time it was on television.

As he aged, Redford kept his good looks, gorgeously craggy in films like The Horse Whisperer. He had been in front of and behind the camera on that project. One of many movies in his long movie star career.