By Helaina Hovitz

April was a big month for downtown, especially in the green department—which also happens to be the color of money, which is usually heavily involved.

At the Bowery Hotel on April 23rd, the African Rainforest Conservancy hosted its 22nd Annual Artists for Africa Benefit.

The first man I saw, wearing a pink sarong as a skirt, was Carter Coleman, President of the Conservancy’s Board of Directors. He offered sage advice for those of us who want to go green.

“If New Yorkers are concerned about climate change, they should plant a tree in the rainforest, donate to us so we can plant one, or plant one themselves in New York City,” he said.

Executive Director Whitney Larkin, donning a nude dress and an African headpiece she “wrapped herself,” gave similarly unique advice.

“Poachers, cutting trees, and killing animals are the biggest dangers in the rainforest today, so we’re re-training people to be beekeepers and butterfly famers.”

Nearby was Nicole Miller, who said that though she didn’t plan the party, she was asked to emcee.

“Lauren Hutton is hosting, but I guess it was too much talking for one person,” she reasoned.

Her gold and brown dress was stunning, and, of course, of her own making. “I was trying to look a little rainforesty,” she said.

If that’s the predominant color of the rainforest these days, then this event didn’t come a moment too soon.

Renowned artist Spencer Turic’s framed photograph stood out most, depicting nearly thirty women, naked, seated on top of boulders and embracing with legs intertwined.

“My wife always poses for me. She’s my first choice and my last resort,” Turic explained.

Turic wore a choker necklace made of tiny black skulls, which he said was made from “people who have posed for me.”

Now that’s what I call recycling.

Before bidding him adieu, I asked where he lived.

“Rockland County!” He said enthusiastically, punching the air.

“And proud of it, apparently!” I mused.

“Not really,” he said, his face falling.

No doubt he’d rather be downtown.

I started to feel a little disappointed—there I was with my snake bracelet and ridiculously large butterfly ring, and only a few other people seemed to take note of the “Out of Africa” theme.

Then actress Maria Bello walked in, and though the outfit wasn’t exactly ethnic, it was, quite literally, Out of Africa.

“We designed this coat in Kenya in a camp with the Messiah. When you get hot (which it undoubtedly does, in Kenya) you can take it off and hang it here—” she said, tossing it off of her shoulders where it then hung from suspenders. “The women in the camps, in traditional dress, were asking us how big we like a man’s ‘organ’ in our country, so we were passing around a napkins shaped like a man’s ‘organ’ to figure out how big we liked it.”

I figured that statement couldn’t be topped, and made my exit.

Similarly themed was Boss Models 25 Year Anniversary Party at the DL Rooftop (95 Delancey Street). The space was pretty sweet, featuring a glass sun roof, colorfully lit pink and blue leafy palm trees, and a fountain trickling in the center of the room by the DJ booth. Though I’m not sure why, one corner of the room was inexplicably filled with colorful, pastel portraits of Bob Marley and others. From there, things got a bit more confusing when staff began laying a ten-foot-long yellow brick road runway down, caddy-cornered by the art. Shortly thereafter, eight models depicting various characters from the Wizard of Oz (a shirtless tin man, some random powder blue suit wearing heavyset girl with a gold face mask), strutted back and forth…and back…and forth…for over thirty minutes. For all we know, they’re still following the yellow brick road (and may not have even been at the right party). Those poor models—I hope they found their way home.

By Helaina Hovitz

My dad always liked to feel special at a steakhouse. He had the (perhaps slightly unrealistic) expectation that everyone would begin to fuss as soon as we arrived, shouting, “Oh, my god, they’re here!”

To be fair, I think that anyone dropping over $100 on a meal wants to be treated like they’re important, and service is, after all, what you’re really paying for when all good steakhouses tend to bleed together. There are a million of them in the city, and a million upscale lunch places in the financial district. So why do I like this one? Because they’re doing something good, of course.

Through the end of next week, a special “Artist’s Series” wine will be offered to diners, with $25 of the $75 price going to Share Our Strength, an organization dedicated to feeding hungry children. The art on the bottles of 2009 Arrowood Cabernet Sauvignon is based on a painting called “Golden Moments” by North Carolina artist Sherry McAdams – the winner of a contest Capital Grille held to find the design for the bottles. The painting itself made a six-city tour, where diners at other Capital Grille locations had the opportunity to place bids on it. Last year, the painting auction and wine sales raised $22,000 for charity.

3 NYC Locations:
155 E 42nd Street – (212) 953-2000
120 W 51st Street – (212) 246-0154
120 Broadway – (212) 374-1811
Serving lunch and dinner.

Throughout the rest of the year, Capital Grille gives all of their leftover food to City Harvest every day, cooking it up, freezing it, and handing it over. Thanks to them, there are hungry homeless people eating $50 steaks all over town, which makes them a ten in my book. Here’s what else I loved.

As an ex-drinker, I appreciated the fact that the waitress brought over the bottle of Pellegrino like it was a fine merlot, cradling it in her arm and hugging it close to her body.

The décor created the feeling of a cozy, upstate getaway with its dark woods and colors, mood lighting, soft jazzy music playing, and a fire-burning tableside lamp (ok, it was a candle). Save for the creepy portraits of old people with weird eyes staring back at me as I ate my sirloin, it was rather romantic.

It’s a great date place for someone like me because they pre-sliced my steak, which spared me the humiliation of a potential deal-breaking mess (yep, it can get that bad). As an added bonus, they gave us black napkins for our black pants (white napkins leave lint on ‘em).

Most importantly, loudmouth brokers and banker bimbos aren’t spilling their drinks everywhere and shouting over each other — they’re all on Stone Street where they belong. The mixed drinks are the same price, anyway, so why not keep it classy? I would if I could partake in their homemade pineapple vodka.

Here’s what we ate: a coffee-rubbed steak (Bone-In Kona Crusted Dry Aged Sirloin with Shallot Butter), mozzarella wrapped in a gratuitous amount of prosciutto, a steak topped with jumbo lump crabmeat (Filet Oscar) that my date proclaimed “was the best meal I’ve ever had in my life,” lobster mac and cheese, and a slice of chocolate hazelnut cake the size of a football (yes, we forced ourselves).

If I were big on fish, I would’ve ordered their Chilean Seabass, which, like all of their fish, is sustainably caught. Their beef is sustainable, too.

On the way out, I was told that a special committee meets every few months to talk about recycling, environmental safety, and new ways for the restaurant to go green.

I’d say that the Capital Grille’s do-good efforts are yielding a rather juicy payoff, and I was left with the image of a cow and a bull happily mating in a field somewhere, sustainably.

When the ball drops in Times Square and the humans are all out celebrating, your pets are at home reflecting on the previous year and making their own New Year’s resolutions. Here are their top 10 submissions from past years. They are relying on you to help them achieve their goals!

1. I need a checkup! Please remember to schedule yearly health exams with my favorite veterinarian. Both dogs and cats will benefit from a good physical, wellness screening, vaccines and preventative medicine. Many diseases can go undetected, and we want to be sure that I am healthy inside and out. I know that in this economy vet visits can be expensive, but skipping them is usually more costly. Now may be a good time to investigate pet insurance.
2. My breath stinks! If you want my kisses to be enjoyable, learn how to brush my teeth.
3. My human and I are both out of shape! While I love lying next to you watching Family Guy, we need to start exercising. For dogs, this means getting outside and walking. This way I get to expend some energy, socialize with my neighbors and maybe meet that special someone (humans are “mate magnets”). For cats, playing fetch with a catnip toy or feather pole can burn some calories and get that heart pumping.
4. I could improve my manners. Find a dog trainer and teach me some obedience, so I can behave better at the dog park.
5. Lifetime security wanted. What happens to me when you can no longer care for me? Make provisions for my care in your will or establish a Pet Trust. I don’t want to end up in a shelter because you weren’t thinking ahead.
6. When was the last time you gave me a bath? ’Nuff said.
7. Watch my weight. Check nutrition and calorie content in my food and make sure you are feeding me appropriately. Pet obesity has reached an all-time high. I don’t want to be a statistic.
8. Volunteer. Maybe we would make a good pet-therapy team? If not, you should go out and volunteer at a shelter. I am willing to share a little bit of the love you give me with a homeless pet.
9. Donate. I really don’t need another squeaky toy or a sweater. Please donate it to a shelter.
10. Adopt. There are thousands of homeless animals in New York. If we can’t expand our family, maybe we can help get the word out.

Dr. Robin Brennen is chief of veterinary services and program operations at Bideawee.

The theme of the annual Village Halloween parade this year was to have been a 2012 Mayan countdown. With the streets of downtown Manhattan already dark and apocalyptic in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy, the parade was cancelled for the first time in its venerated 39-year history.

But on Wednesday night, more than a hundred determined revelers whooped and danced through the Village anyway, brightening the darkened streets with costumes fashioned out of blinking lights and glowsticks. More people joined as the parade wound a zigzagging route up from Prince Street, past 14^th and toward the brightly lit buildings uptown.

Photo by Emily Johnson

“Well apparently [the parade] is rescheduled, but the only time to come out for Halloween is Halloween night,” said Christopher Hardwick, whose white coattails and top hat were decked out with blue lights.

“You can’t come out the Saturday before or the night before, its always Halloween where it’s rocking,” Hardwick said. “And there were a lot of people in the neighborhood without power with cabin fever. I walked here from the East Village, which has absolutely no power, down fourteen flights of stairs.”

Hardwick, who belongs to a group of costume enthusiasts known as Kostume Kult, was one of the organizers of the informal event. He regularly emcees the group’s float in the annual parade.

Police accompanied the parade through the streets, and for much of the way, the flashing lights on the NYPD vehicles were the main source of visibility. On Christopher Street, the crowd spilled into the middle of the road and officers had to hem them in with megaphones. Some of the marchers pitched in to restore order.

“Onto the sidewalk, darlings, everybody onto the sidewalk,” trilled an imposing figure dressed as Eleanor Roosevelt.

Some people on the event’s Facebook page had expressed worry that even a small, unofficial parade would be an unnecessary distraction for the beleaguered city. Jim Glazer, another organizer dressed as a red dragon, acknowledged these concerns.

“We had a mixed reaction,” said Glazer, more commonly known as Costume Jim. “Some people didn’t like the idea because they thought it would take away resources. But the people who really get art, I think, understand that helping people’s morale is a very important aspect of aid for downtown.”

It seemed to be working. Smiling faces appeared at windows lit by candlelight, peering down at the street and beckoning more people to come and look. Motorists stopped their cars on the street to take pictures. “Halloween is not dead!” one man yelled from a passing cab, eliciting cheers from the marchers. And occasionally the parade came upon unsuspecting, delighted costume-wearing people who joined in, swelling the size of the crowd as it marched on.

A small band featuring a large tuba-like instrument, akin to something out of a Dr. Suess story, provided the soundtrack for the parade. Cyclists rode alongside, speakers blasting Lady Gaga songs and the theme from “Ghostbusters.”

For fashion designer Megan Bielli, 24, the mob of light and noise was a welcome relief after days of quiet darkness in her East Village apartment, where she and her boyfriend had been steadily working their way through all of their perishable food.

“It’s been really dark and dreary going outside, walking around my neighborhood,” she said, a pair of glowstick ears perched on top of her head. “It was nice to go to work today where there’s electricity and charge my phone, check the internet. That’s where I found out about this. Otherwise I wouldn’t have known about it.”

She said she intended to join the others in walking up to where the power was back on.

“The whole point is not to be a nuisance,” she said. “It’s Just to shine a little light on a dark time.”

While New Yorkers are famously loyal to their own boroughs– Brooklynites could never imagine living in the chaos of Manhattan, Manhattanites could never imagine not living in the chaos of Manhattan–it seems that a less mainstream region of the city is filled with its most optimistic campers: Queens.

A new study by the Muncipal Art Society of New York surveyed New Yorkers in each borough on how they rated their satisfaction with their city, and how optimistic they are about its future.

According to the New York Times, Staten Island’s residents were most satisfied with their neighborhoods, with a whopping 91 percent saying they were “satisfied” or “very satisfied”.  Meanwhile 85 percent of those polled in Manhattan and Brooklyn expressed satisfaction, with 84 percent in Queens and 77 percent for the Bronx.

On the other hand, those living in Queens felt most positively about where the city is headed, with a 14% increase in optimism from last year. All in all, the poll’s findings suggest that the vast majority of New Yorkers seem to be content in their environment. But that doesn’t mean we’ll stop griping!

Image courtesy of Wiki Commons.

Nika Dearing

By Nika Dearing
When we think of training, we might envision world-class athletes dedicating hours to perfecting their craft. We could look at it as a form of learning and re-learning until every aspect is understood and mastered. This is very much like the mind-body training we do during self-reflection and development. We must know who we were in order to understand who we are, and even who we want to become. When we know our triggers, strengths, and weaknesses, we know which areas need more support and which to call upon for assistance. This mental exploration extends to the body through our health, our work environment, how we interact, and how we view the world.

We live based on the beliefs that we learn as we grow. If our childhood is filled with negative experiences, and we never explore or attempt to heal them, then we cannot grow beyond them. So, how do we move beyond our negative existence? We must realize that negative thinking is a learned response, not an inherent one. It is learned and reinforced until it becomes a core belief. An example would be the woman who always picks the wrong guy and believes she is destined to be alone forever. We experience enough bad relationships in our life that eventually we resign ourselves to the belief that there nothing good out there for us. This is, of course, a false belief, but unless we can overcome it and maintain hope, then it will always be the outcome. We bring about what we think about. Our belief systems determine how we view the world, and how we view the world is how we will receive it as well.

So, how do we overcome these negative beliefs? We re-train our minds to be more positive. We break down the negative belief systems one by one by using a four-step approach.
Open the Door to Hope. Hope is the light that breaks the darkness within. With hope there is possibility, and with possibility anything can happen.

Stay Determined. Hope gives possibility, but determination keeps us moving forward. It takes conscious effort, and we must keep getting back up every time we fall back into old ways of thinking. It is about never giving up hope, no matter what.

Believe in the Impossible. It sounds silly, but when we can believe that anything is possible, we become stronger and more empowered in mind, body and spirit.  The action of believing sets off a chain reaction of positive possibilities that keeps building and reinforcing over time.

Know With All Your Being. This is a natural process of the third step. There just comes this day when you stop believing and start knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt. In that moment, we transform into a positive being. We become enlightened by a higher knowledge of life, and no longer choose to dwell in the negative thinking that held us back for so long.

The mind-body training required to become more positive is a daily requirement. It takes a conscious effort, but just as in training the physical body, it does get easier over time. We become stronger and more positive with every conscious movement, and over time we find mastery. You will always remember the way you were. Negative thoughts will pop us just as memories come up, but it is in how we react and respond to them that makes the difference. They become an old friend that we nod to in recognition, and let go of as a passing thought in our day.

Veronica “Nika” Dearing, D.Hlc., founder of ND Holistic Wellness & Healing in Houston, is a holistic life coach specializing in self-development and holistic wellness. She is author of the highly acclaimed book, “Inspire Me! 150 Meditations and Affirmations Guaranteed to Inspire, Motive, and Empower You into More Positive Thinking.” You can find out more about Nika at her website: www.nikadearing.com.

Christies

A wealth of graphic and decorative art awaits New Yorkers in the coming weeks. Refer to the websites for details, and take advantage of all this bounty during the preview exhibitions.

To read the full article at City Arts click here.

To read the full article click here.

To read the full article at AVENUE Insider click here.

"Happy Family of 3"

Happy Family of 3, life-size sculptures composed of woven newspapers. Unsigned. From Bridges Over Time Antiques of Newburgh, NY

Visit the September 21-24 AVENUE Antiques, Art & Design Show at the Park Avenue Amory to see this and many more amazing items.  Also follow us on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter.