Master Tapper Jared Grimes in 'Cotton Club Parade'

‘Cotton Club Parade’ brings back musical history 

By Valerie Gladstone

Cotton Club Parade opens with the robust Jazz at Lincoln Center All Stars, directed by Daryl Waters, swinging into “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love,” “I’ve Got the World on a String” and “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea,” offering a tantalizing taste of what’s to come.

Composed by Duke Ellington, Harold Arlen and Jimmy McHugh, the music sets the scene for a rollicking, sexy, funny and joyful recreation in song, dance and novelty acts of the legendary Harlem club where Ellington perfected his style in the ’20s and ’30s. Conceived by City Center’s Encores! artistic director Jack Viertel and Wynton Marsalis, artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, and directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle, whose numerous credits include Chaplin, the 90-minute show returns to  City Center from Nov. 14 to 18, after a hugely successful debut last winter.

When Viertel and Marsalis began working on the inaugural collaboration of Jazz at Lincoln Center and Encores! in the spring of 2011, Marsalis liked the idea of starting off with Ellington. “Wynton calls him the font of everything that he’s done,” Viertel said recently. And what better way to celebrate him than at the Cotton Club, they agreed, where he perfected his array of styles between 1927 and 1931.

“There was entertainment at the club of an elegance no one had seen before,” Viertel says. Line-ups would feature greats like Bessie Smith, the Nicholas Brothers and Lena Horne. Hitting its zenith during the height of the Harlem Renaissance, it thrived in a neighborhood bursting with writers, artists, musicians, playwrights and fiery politicians; a period when Langston Hughes celebrated blacks’ history and gifts in his poetry.

But neither he nor Marsalis would ignore the Cotton Club’s racist policy of headlining blacks, yet not allowing them entry. That is at least until Ellington made such a fuss about it that the rules were eased. “We didn’t want to be overtly political,” says Viertel. “We felt in the very beauty and artistry of the performers, in their self-respect, that we would convey the atmosphere of the time. You can be sure that Wynton wouldn’t have allowed anything patronizing.”

They created a link between past and present through their choice of performers. Viertel gives Carlyle and Marsalis credit for choosing 25 singers and dancers of incomparable individuality and talent. Master tapper Jared Grimes, singers Adriane Lenox, Carmen Ruby Floyd, Amber Riley and all the others each have their moments in the spotlight. No one will forget Floyd’s crooning Ellington’s “Creole Love Call.” “When I talked over my interpretation with Daryl and Wynton,” Floyd says, “I said I thought I should sound like an angel. They thought I should sound like a sexy angel. There are no words, so I just make musical sounds. I do it differently every night – sometimes sad, sometimes fun and flirty. But Ellington’s music is so classic, no matter what you do, everyone relates to it.”

That’s what Carlyle likes about working with Floyd and other members of the cast. “We selected people who are innately musical,” he says, “who can translate music through their bodies. I’m using them like instruments. They have to get what the Cotton Club was all about, how very special it really was. Its time is lost to us now. We’ve all done our period research and checked out performers from the club on YouTube. But we weren’t going to do something old and dusty. For 90 fleeting minutes, we want the audience to experience what the Cotton Club was all about as if it were today.”

From CityArts

Dancers Warm Up Photo by Amy Eley

Lower Manhattan’s Dance New Amsterdam in danger of closing

The DOT reached out to CB1 regarding delivery bike safety. Photo by New York Press file photo

By Paul Bisceglio

Following the City Council’s approval of new safety regulations for commercial bicyclists earlier this month, a Department of Transportation representative met with Community Board 1’s Quality of Life Committee last Thursday to detail the expected changes.

“This is not about hammering down on small businesses that are already feeling pressure from the Health Department,” said Suchitra Sanagavarapu, the representative. “This is to educate them.”

Restaurants throughout the city are notorious for hiring reckless delivery cyclists, who bike against traffic or on sidewalks en route to customers’ homes. The new legislation will require commercial cyclists to wear reflective vests that display their business’s name and a three-digit identification number unique to each rider. The bikes, too, will be required to have front and rear lights, a bell and a rear sign with the business’s name and the bicycle’s own unique ID number.

In addition to new equipment, the legislation also will make the completion of bicycle safety courses mandatory for all commercial cyclists, to ensure that all riders have no excuses not to be riding with care. This particular bill is named after Stuart C. Gruskin, a man struck and killed by a bicyclist in Midtown three years ago.

Sanagavarapu explained that these new rules aim to increase delivery bikers’ knowledge and visibility, as well as to hold businesses accountable for their unlawful riders. To this latter end, the legislation includes a final bill that will grant DOT power to enforce the laws, allowing the department to issue summonses to businesses whose riders fail to comply. Sanagavarapu said that the New York City Police Department will continue to penalize individual cyclists for traffic violations, but DOT enforcement will push businesses themselves to encourage safe riding, because they are the ones held accountable.

The Quality of Life Committee expressed mixed feelings about the legislation. Though all committee members agreed that unruly cyclists pose a danger to pedestrians—“Soon we’re going to need to wear helmets on the sidewalk,” one member remarked—some were pessimistic that the laws would actually be enforced.

“Nothing is going to happen,” argued one committee member after Sanagavarapu mentioned that the DOT’s summonses would be complaint-driven; i.e. issued when citizens called 311 to report a commercial cyclist breaking the law. The member speculated that complaints would likely get lost in bureaucratic tangles and fail to result in penalties. He agreed with Sanagavarapu that at least attempting regulation is a good step, but emphasized that enforcement should be strict. “I think you should really go after [violators] and tell them that this is serious,” he said.

The committee did not go into any detailed discussion of the legislation’s effects on small businesses, though the bills’ opponents argue that the laws unjustly target lower-income residents to garner easy revenue for the city. “I guess Chinese food prices are going to go up now that all the restaurants are going to be ticketed,” quipped one attendee.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is expected to sign the legislation within the next two weeks. DOT has said that they will begin to enforce the new laws in January, and will work to educate all businesses owners about the rules before then. The department will hold two information sessions downtown for businesses owners at Pace University on Nov. 5 and 16.

Public Hearing on Proposed Soho BID
According to a release from the SoHo Alliance, councilmember Margaret Chin has called a public hearing on Wednesday, Oct. 31, at 10 a.m. at City Hall on the proposed Soho Business Improvement District (BID). The hearing will be conducted by the City Council’s Finance Committee Chair Dominic Recchia, and both proponents and opponents of the BID are expected to present their positions, a process expected to last for several hours.

DA Announces Sentencing for 1998 Crimes on LES
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., recently announced the sentencing of Lerio Guerrero, 33, to 15 years in state prison for a rape and burglary on the Lower East Side in 1998, according to a release from the DA’s office.

“Without the state’s DNA data bank, this defendant might never have been apprehended,” Vance said. “But because New Yorkers live in a state that recognizes the power of DNA to convict the guilty and exonerate the innocent, this crime victim is able to finally see justice be served nearly 14 years later. The fact that we were able to file an indictment in this case before the statute of limitations expired serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of the recently passed All Crimes DNA law and the continued expansion of the DNA data bank.”

According to the defendant’s guilty plea and documents filed in court, on Nov. 8, 1998, Guerrero followed the victim to her apartment building on the Lower East Side. She was 28 years old at the time. He pushed open the building door behind her, and threatened her with a piece of broken glass. While holding the glass to the victim’s throat, the defendant cut his own hand, bleeding on the victim’s coat. Guerrero then forced her to the rear of her apartment building, where he sexually assaulted her and stole her wallet. The defendant then forced his victim to follow him to an ATM to withdraw cash. When Guerrero tried to make the victim go to an ATM at a different location to withdraw more cash, she broke away and ran into a deli.

FiDi’s Transformation and Impact on Foreign Buyers
Real estate brokers and community leaders recently filled the rooftop of 75 Wall Street, a new luxury condominium atop the Andaz Wall Street hotel, for “Becoming FiDi,” a discussion of the Financial District’s residential transformation. The event brought together industry experts for a panel on foreign capital, which has been especially impactful in the Financial District.

“There is definitely an appetite for prime Manhattan real estate, particularly in Asia, and the Financial District has become one of the most sought-after areas in the entire city,” said panel participant Alistair Auty of JMA Property Services, a U.S.-based real estate corporation that works closely with foreign brokers and investors, in a release.
Hosted by The Hakimian Organization, developer of the 75 Wall Street Residences, the event began with a tour of the neighborhood led by historian Joyce Gold and continued in the building’s stunning rooftop lounge with a panel discussion moderated by Matthew Fenton, editor of The Broadsheet and seasoned FiDi reporter. The panel included Auty, Elizabeth Berger, president of the Downtown Alliance, and Amina O’Kane, director of Upper School admissions for Léman Manhattan Preparatory School.

City Council Members Will Recruit Volunteers to Escort Women to Abortion Clinics
Last Friday, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and other council members, along with representatives from Planned Parenthood, the New York Civil Liberties Union and other pro-choice organizations, gathered at City Hall to announce their upcoming “Clinic Protection Project.”

Under this program, council members will recruit and coordinate volunteers to accompany women to abortion clinics. Planned Parenthood and other reproductive health clinics already have volunteer escorts for their patients, but they say they need more. Thus Speaker Quinn and others are stepping in.

“Protesters have a right to speak their minds, but the exercise of the First Amendment should never intimidate anyone from accessing medical care,” Speaker Quinn said.
The need for a supplementary service has increased in the last few years, according to pro-choice officials, because there are more protesters outside clinics, many of whom reportedly harass women attempting to use the facilities.
“In the last three years … we’ve gone from two or three protesters on a given Saturday morning, to 50 or 60,” said Joan Malin, CEO and president of Planned Parenthood New York.
The President and CEO of Choices, Merle Hoffman, said in a phone interview that protesters outside her clinic wear vests printed with the words “Unborn Baby Protector” and also videotape the patients who enter, shaming them. Hoffman said one woman who came for an abortion arrived in a panic, because the picketers outside had said that the anesthesia would kill her.

Hoffman attributes the increase in protesters to the “rise of the radical right,” while Assemblywoman Deborah Glick said that having a pro-choice president in office has ignited the pro-life movement.

Although the details of the program are still being mapped out, Speaker Quinn said that her team will work on the recruitment and management side, and Planned Parenthood will actually train the escorts.

You’ve dreamt this day would come—only this time you’re wide-awake. Whether you got punched in the face, fell down the stairs or just bit an exceptionally hard pita chip, it’s time to grin and bear it. On second thought, scratch the grin.

1)   Stop! Whatever you do, don’t swallow.
2)   Spit it out—be it blood, gravel, chewed-up-pita-chip-goo—just spit it all out.
3)   No tooth? (Gasp! Are you sure?! How do you SWALLOW AN ENTIRE FRONT TOO—) No, no. It’s totally fine. We can do this. It’s what, 2 a.m.? Friday—no, Saturday. The dentist should be open again on… Monday.
4) Okay, now… cry.
5) Cry for every unfair thing that’s ever happened in your entire life.
6) Just when the sobs begin to subside, let your mouth close enough to feel that hollow, creepy, phantom pain-y gap. Throw up a little in your mouth, and then cry some more.
7) Alright, alright. Pull yourself together! And seriously, would you put down the titanium pita chip already?
8) Speaking of which, do you think the tooth fairy covers drunk-eating-related-tooth losses?
9) What’s that? You’re still hungry? Well, I hope you have a fridge full of pudding because for the next 48 hours you’re chewing with an overexposed, nerve-filled minefield. And let’s face it— you were already brushing with Sensodyne on a good day.
10) Now, think of the next two days as an opportunity. Read a book! Clean your apartment! Act out the first installment of your homeless-vampire-fan-fiction in the bathroom mirror!
11) What’s that? You may need to leave the apartment?
12) Okay, so here are some simple tricks to avoid the “Hey, how are y-[horrified gasp!]”
13) Buy some Chiclets. Get crafty.
14) No luck? Try Tic Tacs. Hey, no offense —I haven’t seen your teeth—they just, you know, could work for some people.
15) Mashed potatoes. Fill your mouth with mashed potatoes. It worked for Jasmine in Aladdin. Who knows, you may even get a magic carpet ride! Plus, you’re probably pretty hungry by now.
16)   Hiding under a giant hat or sunglasses may seem like a good idea, but they won’t hide your mouth. In fact, they’ll only incite more conversations. Just imagine explaining where you got that “vintage treasure” without showing any teeth, or lack thereof.
17)   If—god knows why—you feel inspired to go to the gym, today would be the day to REMEMBER YOUR FREAKING ID CARD. Idiot. Try saying your name with your lips together. Seriously, just try it. And for those of you named Meg, Ali or Jo — don’t get cocky. It’s even less attractive than your gap-toothed-vampire-shard.
18) I should mention that there is another tactic, which, especially given the bleak options above, may seem more appealing than ever in its beautiful simplicity: Own it.
19) I know, you want to sit in your pajamas, not shower and eat pudding all weekend, but dressing up your jagged-gap snaggletooth is the only way to fool people into thinking it’s not only intentional, but enviably chic.
20) Soon enough, you’ll start to feel more comfortable—confident, even. After all, you always liked Lara Stone. This is kinda like that. Kinda.
21) Whatever you choose, consider your current suffering an investment in future excuses, and don’t forget to take pictures. If you’re discreet enough now, the next time you’re invited to that friend of a friend’s birthday brunch, BAM. Now who’s smiling?

“Tutti a tavola a mangiare,” chef Lidia Bastianich repeats at the end of every episode of her televised cooking show. The message welcomes everyone to the table to eat, and Bastianich has taken that saying to the next level.

Bastianich can now add Dean of La Scuola di Eataly to her résumé. For the past two years, people have signed up for individual and group classes to get educated in the Italian cooking arena at La Scuola di Eataly, located in Eataly at 200 Fifth Ave.

“Our school expanded in April,” stated Brooke Adams, director of communications at Eataly. There are now two classrooms: La Scuola Piccola holds 20 students, and La Scuola Grande holds 34.

People wanting to broaden their knowledge of Italian cuisine can register for classes and see demonstrations of cooking a wide variety of foods. To complement the meal selections, there will also be a wine pairing when students get to taste what has been cooked.

“We have guest chefs and in-house wine experts,” Adams said.

To ensure that the students remember what has been prepared, La Scuola di Eataly gives everyone who registers a folder filled with all the recipes from the class, wine notes and the opportunity to walk around Eataly to become familiar with the different ingredients.

The classes are divided into different categories, including Chef’s Kitchen, Food and Language, Spotlight on Artisanal Products and more.

If you are looking to immerse yourself completely into the Italian culture, La Scuola di Eataly offers a Food and Language course, which teaches basic Italian, and how to prepare a selection of dishes. Another course is Parlare, Mangiare e Viaggiare All’Italiana, a four-class series that takes you throughout Italy teaching you the language and different foods, without leaving the classroom (the fall session is already full, however).

The Chef’s Kitchen series brings in guest chefs to cook some of their signature dishes with wine pairings. One of the latest classes in the Chef’s Kitchen is Getting to Know Gnocchi, which discusses the history of gnocchi going back to the 16th century and will include them in prepared dishes.

Some of the past chefs who have been part of Chef’s Kitchen have included Mario Batali, Joe Bastianich and Lidia Bastianich.

Walking through Eataly, the 58,000-square-foot Italian market, may seem intimidating, and visitors may be unaware of what is offered. The Spotlight on Artisanal Products class educates people about the unique items that can be found throughout Eataly. Some of the classes involved within the series include fresh fall pasta, cheese and wine, beer and Italian chocolate.

Registration for the fall classes is currently open. Classes for the coming year will be posted in the next few weeks. The price of each class varies but normally is $60 to $125 per person.

Teachers vie for ‘roof time’ to diversify teaching

By Naomi Cohen

On a windy afternoon, 13-year-old Hannah Quirk is on her school’s roof, a tray of biodegradable cups of tender green mustard salad in hand. Her peers pace the garden aisles of the two-block deck—one boasting the flavor of the freshly picked Asian kale salad, another discussing solar panels with Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, a third watering the leeks. Under their feet, over 1,000 students of the Earth School, PS 64, and Tompkins Square Middle School in the East Village are tuning in to the press conference happening upstairs through a livestream.

Michael Arad, architect of the Sept. 11 Memorial and designer of the farm, first conceived of the idea for the garden when he toyed with inflating 70 kiddie pools for rooftop irrigation. Four years and a million dollars later, the Fifth Street Farm was unveiled Oct. 12 by two handfuls of community organizations, politicians, teachers and parent visionaries who collaborated in its completion. After the ribbon-cutting and planting ceremony, a fair in the recess yard introduced students to garden history, foods and nutrition.

“It’s like a blackboard,” Arad said of the farm, which teachers can use to teach anything from the most complicated formula to the alphabet. Each of the three schools submitted 10 ideas of how to utilize the space, from a star observatory to a weather station and windmills to beehives. Even arts and humanities teachers are vying for roof time—Quirk said she is especially excited about drawing plants, flowers and the skyline in real life rather than pictures.

Stringer praised the initiative for offering a kind of education beyond multiple choice. Earth School science teacher and Green Committee founder Abbe Futterman said she was inspired by the school’s philosophy to “de-school the school.” Though other city schools have green roofs, the FSF was built as a new model in environmental and nutritional education, with its own composting, academic curriculum and Garden to Café food program all run by an independent nonprofit.

Though the cold months are approaching, the herbs, flowers and vegetables—all chosen and planted by students—were green and abundant. Composting expert Maxwell Lard, 10, said he looks forward to growing melons, squash and other large crops because watching them develop reminds him he’s not the only one.

“We go to school and we learn and we grow—as do plants,” he said.

Though the School Construction Authority prolonged the farm’s completion, it gave the project special attention for its small scale. With support from Stringer, state Sen. Daniel Squadron and City Council Member Rosie Méndez, the farm found all of its funding amid a season of budget cuts. The students, unfazed, are already thinking about solar panels, which Stringer said is the next step.

“I’ve sharpened my teeth on this,” said FSF Board of Directors member Douglas Fountain. He started the “labor of love” with his children, who recently graduated from TSMS, but is looking to help on similar projects at PS 6, PS 41 and other neighborhood schools.

City Approves East Village Landmark District
Neighborhood preservation groups secured a victory on Tuesday, Oct. 9, when the New York City Landmarks Preservation Society voted to approve the Lower East Side/East Village Historic District. The district includes 330 buildings and covers parts of the 15 blocks between Avenue A and the Bowery, and between St. Mark’s Place and Second Street in the southwest corner of the East Village. Local groups have been clamoring for such protections for years now, under mounting pressure from developers. The president of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, Andrew Berman, lauded the approval, saying, “This neighborhood has been a mecca for artists, immigrants and innovators for the past two centuries. That proud and dynamic history not only shaped New York, but our nation and the world. Too much has been lost of late in the East Village to new high-rise dorms, hotels and luxury condos.”

Wall Street Collectors Bourse
The Wall Street Collectors Bourse returns for its second year at the Museum of American Finance from Thursday, Oct. 18, through Saturday, Oct. 20. The show, this year titled “Memorabilia of Finance,” includes items such as stock and bond certificates, autographs, medals, bank notes and coins, connecting them to historic events. In addition, there will be the “Inaugural Anniversary Celebration of Important Global Companies.” Some leading companies celebrating their anniversaries this year will offer objects or services connecting themselves with the news of the day—reminding the audience that their anniversaries are important on a larger historical scale.

Stuyvesant High School is scheduled to open the show with a ribbon-cutting on Thursday morning, and on Friday two important numismatic organizations will hold special events for their members at the Bourse. The featured speaker for Friday’s dinner at historic India House will be the prominent Belgian auctioneer and dealer Mario Boone. The auction, by Archives International Auctions, will be on Saturday, Oct. 20, in the gallery of the Museum of American Finance.
The Museum is free during the Bourse events. For more information, visit www.wallstreetbourse.com.

Léman Prep School Hosts Compost Sale to Benefit Feeding Children Everywhere
On Oct. 3, Léman Prep hosted a fundraiser for “Feeding Children Everywhere,” a charity devoted to getting healthy meals to hungry children across the world. The school raised money through selling handmade compost, comprised of food scraps and other cafeteria leftovers, which the students have been storing in containers on Léman’s roof since September. The bundles of nutrient-rich compost cost from $5 to $15. Each parcel came with a packet of seeds, promoting sustainability and giving the compost a purpose even for those not used to gardening. Léman Prep is part of the Meritas family of institutions, which has sister schools throughout Latin America, Asia and Europe. Accordingly, Léman strives to make its students “see beyond the Manhattan harbor and engage in a conversation with others around the world.”

Mayor Announces Huge Gun Bust in Manhattan
One hundred firearms were seized and 16 gun traffickers indicted in what amounted to one of Manhattan’s biggest gun busts in the last five years, Mayor Bloomberg, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly announced last Friday.

The confiscations came after two ongoing undercover police investigations in East Harlem. In both cases, undercover detectives purchased dozens of weapons from illegal sources. At least 10 of the sold guns were reportedly bought in South Carolina and smuggled up to New York.

“This investigation illustrates both the problem of illegal guns being purchased in other states and brought here illegally, and the skill and dedication of the NYPD officers who take the guns off the street, often at great risk to themselves,” Bloomberg said at a press conference.

“There have been 127 shooting incidents this year in Manhattan, with 152 victims,” District Attorney Vance added in a statement. “Gun traffickers are bringing violence to our neighborhoods by selling illegal firearms—they are at the root of the problem of gun violence in this city.”

City Council Approves Seward Park Project
The Seward Park Redevelopment Project (SPURA) was approved last Thursday in a unanimous decision, to the delight of Community Board members, council members and many residents of the Lower East Side. The project will convert 1.65 million square feet of vacant city land into a space with commercial and community facilities, and 1,000 housing units, many of which will be permanent, affordable housing.

Councilwoman Margaret Chin, who spearheaded the modification of the City Planning Commission’s original proposal, said, “Today’s vote to approve development of the SPURA site is truly history in the making.”

The project has many provisions that would benefit local and low-income families.

Ed Asner is still acting in his eighties. But his quick wit and unique outlook on life make him able to transcend the age gap. An entertainer for all generations, he has played endearing roles for the younger set such as Santa Claus in Elf and Carl in Up. But others will always remember him for his seven-year stint as journalist Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Now he has returned to Broadway to star in Grace with Paul Rudd, which is playing until Jan. 6.

You have seven Emmy Awards. Where do you keep them?
They’re scattered throughout the house. There are none in the outhouse.

You’ve come back to Broadway after 23 years. How has it changed?
It’s less grandiose. Penny-pinching has gone on everywhere—film, TV, life. And it certainly affects Broadway as well as every other element of showbiz.

Is Paul Rudd as funny as he is in movies?
No. I haven’t laughed at him yet.

Any funny set stories?
No. We’re so serious and dedicated. We’re growling most of the time about directors or writers, you name it. We really don’t have time. I could have said the same thing for the seven years at Mary Tyler Moore. It was not the laugh-and-scratch type atmosphere that you would expect from such a delightful show.

You came from LA to do this play. What do you like about living in New York?
I’m still searching.

You tweet very frequently. Do you write your own tweets?
No. My son does.

You whacked Barbara Walters’ tush on The View. Why did you do that?
To get a reaction from Barbara Walters like that. She reacted properly.

In your Facebook picture, you are holding up a “Vote Now” sign.
People should not surrender their right to vote. They should exercise it even though they can’t stand anybody. Even if they write in “none of the above.”

What is your advice to voters this November?
Hold your nose.

You do a lot of work with autism. Why do you think this is such a worthy cause?
Because I have a son who has autism. And I have a grandson who has autism. And I know the world’s attention must be focused on it and come to understand these people and to work for their betterment and greater ability to enter and function in society.

You played Santa Claus in Elf. Did Will Ferrell at least make you laugh?
Oh yeah. He’s an unbelievably dedicated actor. He made me the Santa Claus I am today.

What memories stay with you from your work on The Mary Tyler Moore Show?
Nothing but bliss.

You voiced the main character in Up. Did you think the movie would get so many accolades?
No I didn’t. I don’t know whether it was nerves or what. Its largeness and its prominence really didn’t gel on me until I saw it for about the third time.

When do you plan to retire?
Death must come before retirement.

What do you still want to do that you haven’t yet?
I want to see my kids ripen into old age. I want to see my grandkids mature and develop and become acceptable.