CAMERA SNATCHER

A young woman’s camera was stolen from the subway on Dec. 2. The 21-year-old West 103rd Street resident was riding on the C line at 12:30 p.m., seated next to the train’s doors. She had a camera bag with her, which she placed on the floor. At the 72nd Street Station, a man in a white hooded jacket snatched her bag and jumped off the train right as the doors closed. He then ran out of the station. Unable to pursue the man, the woman got off at the next stop then returned to her neighborhood to report the crime. The camera that was stolen, a Nikon D90, was worth around $1,200. Along with the lens, bag and other accessories, the woman lost roughly $1,500 in valuables.

CRUEL INTERRUPTION
A woman’s cellphone was snatched in mid-conversation on Dec. 2 by an unknown thief. According to the 34-year-old victim, she was walking along West 61st Street at about 7 p.m. and talking on her iPhone, when all of a sudden a man came up behind her and grabbed her left arm. He twisted the phone out of her grasp, then took off down the block away from the woman. The thief remains at large.

GROUP MUGGING
A deliveryman was robbed by four thugs on Dec. 1 in the West 79th Street Boat Basin. The 25-year-old Upper West Side resident was dropping off a routine food delivery around 5:30 p.m. in the boat basin when four men approached him. One perp flashed a knife and told the deliveryman to hand over all his money. As the victim surrendered $250 in cash, another perp took his bike, then the four muggers fled to Riverside Park. The victim was uninjured, but police have been unable to identify the criminals.

TEEN TOUGH GUYS
A teenage boy was mugged by two other teens on West End Avenue on Nov. 29. The 15-year-old victim was walking down the street at 5 p.m. when he was approached by the two perps. One asked the victim for his phone. The victim refused, so the perp pushed him to the ground. “Should I shoot him?” asked the second thug, and the wounded victim handed over his Galaxy phone and Monster Beats headphones. The perps fled the scene, and remain at large.

STOLEN CHECK FAIL
A man was arrested after he attempted to cash a stolen check on Nov. 30. The 32-year-old walked into a bank on Broadway with the check at noon and handed it over the counter, hoping for an easy $2,500. The tellers inspected the check, however, and realized that it was not his and that he had no permission to cash it. Police were notified, and the man was arrested for attempted larceny.

GREEN GROCER

Matthew Solomon and Susan Oyama pack produce for the West Side Senior Supported Food Bag program at Goddard Riverside Center.

BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS RACE IN RIVERSIDE PARK
On Saturday, Sept. 29, the eighth annual Big Brothers Big Sisters RBC Race for the Kids will take place in Riverside Park at 72nd Street. This event is part of Nickelodeon’s Worldwide Day of Play. The goal of the 4K run/walk is to bring awareness to the importance of mentoring that the Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City does for the youth in the community. After the race is over, the day continues with a picnic and other activities to promote healthy lifestyles for both children and adults.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of NYC is hoping to raise $1 million from the RBC Race for the Kids. The money raised will go toward providing one-to-one mentoring relationships for the youths of the five boroughs. The average cost of one Big-Little match is $2,000 a year. Since the beginning of the race, it has raised over $4 million for the organization.

The New York City chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters is one of the largest youth service organizations in the city, and helps more than 3,500 youths.

If you are interested in taking part in the race, registration is open for individuals and teams. The race starts at 10 a.m., rain or shine. Get more information about registration at RaceForTheKids.org.

DOT LOOKS TO PREVENT ‘DOORING’ CRASHES
The bike-heavy Upper West Side is home to safety features like protected bike lanes, but cyclists are still in constant danger of slamming into a suddenly opened car door. According to Department of Transportation statistics, seven bike riders have been killed this way in the last five years, and now the agency is making prevention of these incidents a priority.

The DOT and the Taxi and Limousine Commission announced this week a joint campaign called “LOOK! for Cyclists,” aimed at educating car passengers. The program places 26,000 orange and white stickers in the city’s yellow-taxi fleet. An ad aired on all the Taxi TV videos will also implore taxi riders to look before they leap out of the car. Hopefully the brightly colored messages will register.

OBAMA CAMPAIGN OFFICE OPENS ON UWS
Last Sunday, local Democrats and elected officials celebrated the grand opening of the Obama 2012 campaign headquarters on the Upper West Side, at 410 Columbus Ave. U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal were on hand to cut the ribbon and kick off the event. The headquarters will serve as a volunteer hub for workers who will focus not only on getting the president re-elected but also on turning crucial Senate and House races—such as Mark Murphy’s campaign against incumbent Republican Rep. Michael Grimm in Brooklyn and Staten Island—to Democratic wins in order to win back a majority.

The campaign office is a joint effort of the Community Free Democrats and the Ansonia Independent Democrats. The groups are hoping to triple the number of volunteers they garnered in 2008.

“Re-electing President Obama is even more important than it was in 2008, because the stakes are even higher,” said CFD president Timothy Foley. “The key location of our campaign headquarters will be a great asset in this effort.”

For more information on volunteering, visit cfdnyc.org. The Community Free Democrats are hosting a presidential debate watch party Oct. 3 at Blondies, at 212 W. 79th St., at 8:30 p.m. RSVP to David at 646-303-4406.

SERIAL BURGLAR SLAPPED WITH LONG SENTENCE
Residents throughout Manhattan can rest a little easier knowing that Shawn McAleese has been sentenced to at least 28 years in state prison. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance announced that the serial burglar would be serving 28 to 56 years for his crimes.

McAleese pleaded guilty Aug. 27 to eight counts of burglary in the third degree, for tunneling through the walls of residential apartments to steal money, computers and food from neighboring businesses.

Between May 3 and June 30 of this year, McAleese broke into eight residential buildings located throughout Manhattan, including the Upper East Side, the Flatiron District, Hell’s Kitchen, Murray Hill and Central Harlem. He entered apartments to gain access to nearby businesses, digging through walls and entering through alleys not easily seen from the street. He repeatedly stole money from registers, and took food and liquor when cash wasn’t available.

“[McAleese] not only violated the sanctity of private homes by breaking into residences, but also used those apartments as launch pads to steal from nearby businesses,” said Vance in a statement. “Theft from a business doesn’t end at emptying the cash register—it jeopardizes the job security of those who work there because it affects the bottom line.”

NYPD PUSHES PUBLIC TO I.D. ELECTRONICS
The NYPD offers a free program, called “Operation ID,” to engrave unique serial numbers onto portable electronics and register the owner’s information with the Police Department. The service is intended to deter thefts of items like laptops, MP3 players, tablets and smartphones by making the identification clear to would-be thieves. Items with these police-issued numbers can be more difficult to sell in illegal markets, making them less desirable targets. It could also potentially reunite a victim with stolen property if it’s ever recovered. If you’d like to participate in the program, call the 20th or 24th precinct’s crime prevention officer or contact the NYPD Community Affairs Bureau directly at 646-610-5323.

Neufeld Playground

“This playground was originally built in 1937,” Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said at the ceremony. “By the 1990s it had fallen into disrepair, and [Henry Neufeld] stepped forward, and as one of his last acts of philanthropy, he funded the reconstruction and provided the endowment. That was 20 years ago; it’s amazing what can happen to a playground that gets heavy use in 20 years, and it needed another fix-up.”

The biggest change to the playground was the installation of new play equipment, which has already proven popular with local kids. There are separate sections, designed for toddlers and for older children, as well as a space in the middle with benches that surround the park’s iconic elephant statues that spray water from their trunks, allowing parents and nannies to keep an eye on both areas of “Elephant Playground.” The department added a ledge surrounding the giant sandbox so kids and parents can sit on it, as well as a handicap-accessible sand table so that disabled children can get into the sand too. There is also an ADA-accessible swing on the new swing set, new safety surfacing, and new plantings in the gardens surrounding the equipment.

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, whose office allocated $500,000 in capital funds for the renovation, praised Benepe and the Riverside Park Fund for pushing for the revitalization of the park and getting it done.

“I went this past weekend to P.S. 199 to the playground with my wife and my little guy, 8-month-old Max, and for the first time put Max on the swing in the park, and it was this overwhelming experience,” said Stringer. “It really is an amazing experience when you realize that this really matters to kids and parents, because, let’s face it, we live in this big urban center.”

Council Member Gale Brewer, who channeled $400,000 of funding to the renovation, hailed the project’s landscape architect, Margaret Bracken, for designing such a beautiful new play area.

“Every dollar of your money … that we can allocate to Riverside Park is well spent, because it is thoughtful, it has soul and commitment and it’s something that we can be proud of for generations to come,” Brewer said.

Bracken said that when she was redesigning the playground, she wanted to preserve some original elements like the giant leafy trees that shade the toddler area, and pay homage to long-lost parts of the original design.

“In the early designs from the 1930s and 1940s, those Moses-era playgrounds, they actually had little playhouses in them,” Bracken said, explaining why she decided to include a modern playhouse in the toddler section.

For the older kids, parent feedback drove her to create a more inventive structure.

“The unit that was there before wasn’t really challenging enough,” Bracken said. “Parents now become very involved in the selection of the units, and they wanted something that had a lot more climbing, swinging, upper body components, as well as, of course, good slides and all the traditional elements.”

Benepe, who paused frequently during speaking to joke with the kids at the playground, is leaving his post as commissioner to become the Urban Programs Director at the Trust for Public Land. He acknowledged this was most likely his last ribbon cutting as parks commissioner and said he’ll miss events such as this.

“What I do love about this job is that I have a great excuse to go hang out in playgrounds,” Benepe said.

Grocery Store Grab
A local man was shopping for food at a supermarket on Broadway last Thursday at 8:15 p.m. He had his $3,000 Sony laptop and official financial documents from the Royal Bank of Canada in his bag, which he placed in his shopping cart. He told police that he stepped away for a brief moment, and when he turned back, his bag and its contents were gone. The police are reviewing security camera footage from the store.

Home Health Swindle
A man reported a theft to police after Chase Bank called to alert him of suspicious activity on his checking account. The 92-year-old Upper West Side resident discovered someone had stolen four blank checks from him and two of them had been cashed. They were both made out to the man’s home health aide, who works for a visiting nurse service and did not have permission to take or write the checks. Police are looking for the 30-year-old suspect, who has already gotten $2,000 from the forged checks.

Missing Motorcycle
A local woman parked her 2001 black Vespa scooter on the corner of Central Park West and West 83rd Street at around 11 p.m. last Sunday night. When she returned on Tuesday morning to move it for alternate side street cleaning, the $4,000 scooter had vanished. There are no witnesses or security footage of the area.

Subway Chase
Police apprehended two 36-year-old men last Friday night after an elaborate chase. The men had forcefully grabbed the pocketbook of a 26-year-old woman as she was exiting the 1 station at West 79th Street. Witnesses saw the men flee, then hide in Riverside Park. When police approached them, they fled again, leaving the purse behind—which was worth about $100—but they were both arrested shortly afterward.

Homecoming Surprise
A 24-year-old woman and her roommate were shocked to find their apartment burglarized after they had both been away for the weekend. The woman told police that she had been gone from Friday to Sunday, and when she came home to her West 81st Street second-floor apartment, she saw that someone had entered through the kitchen window, which had been closed but not locked. The perp made off with her $350 TV, a DVD player and a suitcase, as well as her roommate’s entire stash of jewelry.

I’ve never been one for backyard fireworks.

I remember all those Independence Days as a kid where my friends would whip out some sparklers, a lighter, and a twinkle in their eye, only for us to act out that scene from Hot Rod and stare at a flickering dud until we lost interest (Language rules restrict me from linking to it on YouTube, where I searched “Hot Rod fireworks” and clicked the third one down). But it didn’t take many major disappointments for me to realize the iridescent box of colors in which the sparklers were contained was an empty promise. I quickly gave up the practice.

“Oh, you bought $400 of Roman Candles? Good idea.”

Macy's Fireworks 2010 - photo by Barry Yanowitz

I guess I was spoiled as a kid, though. Instead of wasting our money on some overpriced birthday candles, my family decided to invest in the Disney Vacation Club– a timeshare, similarly overpriced, that pretty much locks up your vacation destination for the next four decades. Since I was five months old, I’ve not gone on a family vacation outside of Orlando. I used to be like this, now I feel like Charlie bit me. Not until I rebelled and went to college all the way in Tampa did I explore other parts of Florida.

(Now we have a house in Celebration, FL, about 30 seconds from Disney World, and I’ve fallen back into that funky Floridian pattern. Help.)

The reason I have no interest in those sparklers, though, is because Disney does do one thing right, and that thing is fireworks. Music synchronization, laser shows and spherical TV screens fashioned to look like a globe accompany the wonderfully choreographed fireworks, and I make sure to catch at least one show every time I go. Heck, I was just there two weeks ago, staring up at the sky with twinkles in my eyes (literally) and getting my ears blasted by incessant explosions.

Perhaps the only fireworks show that I’ve seen that rivals Disney’s expertise, though, is Macy’s Ignite the Night Independence Day fireworks. And fortunately for us, they’re in two days.

Assuming you aren’t blind –not really sure what you’re doing here if you are– the only flaw to a great fireworks show is an obstructed view. So, fortunately for you, fair reader, I have compiled a list of optimum viewing areas (anywhere with a clear view of the Hudson) for this year’s 36th annual Ignite the Night in hopes of sparing you from a strictly-audible fireworks show on Wednesday, which is not nearly as fun.

The barges that set off the fireworks float along the Hudson, between 18th and43rd St, and this means that any of the following spots are a good spots:

-        The West Side Highway, of course – anywhere on the water along the highway is probably the best place to be. There will be plenty of fellow viewers, and everyone will be watching together

-        Riverside Park – host of Hudson Warehouse’s wonderful Shakespearean plays, the park has plenty of great seats and views of the skies. Some of the walls get pretty high off the ground, though, so I wouldn’t recommend making them impromptu seating

-       Hoboken- Except for some really cool, shape-specific versions, fireworks are, for the most part, enjoyable from all angles, so Hoboken is just as good a spot as any

-        Pier 84

-        You can purchase access to the U.S.S. Intrepid for an Independence Day party and a perfect spot to see the show

-        A friend’s place. Obviously the best, least hectic, and most comfortable. If you don’t have one in the neighborhood, it might be worth making one, even if only to use them for their view.

Bad spots:

According to the Macy’s website, East River Park, Battery Park, Battery Park City, and all piers except 84 are not viewing spots for the fireworks show, so, of course, avoid those.

I recommend checking out the official website, as Macy’s provides a ton of information regarding the event. They’ve even gone as far as creating a Macy’s Fireworks App, which purports to make your viewing as seamless as possible.

I’m thinking I’ll be at Riverside Park.

–Nick Gallinelli

Music:

Catalpa Festival

Kicking off its first year, the Catalpa Festival offers yet another chance to see top-tier musical acts playing outdoors within city limits. The fest will feature more than 40 performers, including blues rock superstars The Black Keys and Snoop Dogg rocking his seminal album Doggystyle in its entirety. Other highlights include NYC faves TV on the Radio, Girl Talk and hip-hop instrumental wizard AraabMUZIK. There will also be a reggae stage sponsored by High Times magazine, a “sculpture” that belches fireballs in the air and various other novelties (inflatable “sham marriage” church?) included to distract from the fact that music lineup is mostly weak, aside from the headliners.

July 28-29; $140–$180 for the weekend. Randall’s Island Park, www.catalpanyc.com.

Electric Zoo

This is for those who dance. A lot. It’s three days; an all-night(s) blitz of modern dance music from the likes of David Guetta, A-Trak and more. If you appreciate the contemporary offshoots of what we used to call techno, this fest will be something of great joy. A zoo—of dancing people. 

Aug. 31-Sept. 2; $299 for all three days. Randall’s Island Park, electriczoofestival.com.

Washington Square Music Festival

Consisting of four Friday night concerts in July, the Washington Square Music Festival is now in its 54th year of entertaining New Yorkers in one of our most beautiful parks. This year, the festival will include a night of music and poetry, a night of Viennese chamber music, a night of music for strings and wings and one of the West African sounds of the Deep Sahara Band. Seating is first-come, first-served, so get there early to enjoy a night of music beneath the stars—and the park’s famous arch—or at St. Joseph’s Church, where the first two concerts will take place.

July 10, 17, 24 & 31, 8 p.m.; free. St. Joseph’s Church, 371 6th Ave. at Waverly Place and Washington Square Park, 5th Ave at Waverly Place, washingtonsquaremusicfestival.org.

Theatre:

Shakespeare in the Parking Lot

Tired of waiting in the stifling heat for Shakespeare in the Park to no avail? Fear not; there’s another free outdoor option to view the Bard’s work. The Drilling Company’s LES staple, taking place in the municipal parking lot at the corner of Broome and Ludlow streets, will present The Merry Wives of Windsor in July, followed by Coriolanus in August. Keep in mind that these productions are prone to interruption; the action occurs around parked cars whose drivers sometimes return and drive away mid-performance. Now that’s something performers never needed to concern themselves with during the Elizabethan era!

Thursdays-Saturdays, July 12-28 & Aug. 2-18, 8 p.m.; free. Broome St. at Ludlow St., shakespeareintheparkinglot.com.

Fringe Fest

Even at 16 years old, this annual marathon of offbeat, cutting-edge theater—which birthed Rent, among other memorable shows—is devoted to the new and the strange. This year’s performances will include From Busk Till Dawn: The Life of an NYC Street Performer, Love Death Brains (A Zombie Musical), Occupy the Constellations: A Collaborative Revolutionary Puppet Tale and, all the way from California, a show called What I Learned From Porn. Not everything you’ll see at the Fringe is great, but it’s always done with humor and spirit, making it more interesting—if not quite as professional—than most other festivals.

Aug. 10-26. fringenyc.org.

New York Musical Theatre Festival

Featuring live music, workshops and full productions of brand-new musicals, the NYMTF has been giving New York audiences a chance to experience exciting musical theater without Broadway price tags (or tourists) since 1994. This year’s lineup is particularly strong, with 30 musicals including A Letter To Harvey Milk, about a butcher sending a letter to Milk; Baby Case, Michael Ogborn’s take on the Lindbergh baby’s disappearance; and Prison Dancer, a show based on the Filipino prisoners who became a worldwide sensation thanks to their YouTube performances.

July 9-29. Various locations, nymf.org.

Movies start at dusk around 8 or 8:30 p.m. (unless otherwise noted), though coming early is a good idea considering how quickly spots fill up. Check out these locations for movies and showtimes.

NYC Parks Summer Movie Series
Free, July 19, 21 and August 22

At a variety of locations in the area, the NYC Parks Summer Movie Series plays. See Happy Feet 2 at Grover Cleveland Park Thursday, July 19 and The Smurfs at Bayswater Park Saturday, July 21. Winnie The Pooh plays at Pomonok Playground on Wednesday, August 22.

Upper West Side

Movies Under the Stars, Pier I in Riverside Park, 70th Street at the Hudson River
Free, Wednesdays, July 11-August 15

Many films being screened this summer are great for adults and a select few are foreign films. The best options for kids are Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (Wednesday, August 8) and Triplets of Belleville (Wednesday, August 15).

Summer Movie Night, Swindler Cove Park
Free, Tuesday, July 3

The Muppet Movie will be playing on the eve of Independence Day. The light-hearted film will take parents back to earlier times, while the kids might enjoy it as something brand new.

To read the full article at New York Family Magazine click here.

The Town of Ephesus is Possessed in Comedy of Errors - photo courtesy of Hudson Warehouse

It’s that time of year again, where people are filled with joy, the trees are covered in a shine of green, bottles (and people) are covered in sweat, and Riverside Park is filled with tragedy.

This tragedy, though, is the re-arrival of The Bard on the Upper West Side. For the 9th-consecutive year since its founding in 2004, Hudson Warehouse and its collection of passionate artists is performing Shakespeare at the beautiful north patio of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument in Riverside Park.

This year the Hudson Warehouse, which dubs itself “the other free Shakespeare in the Park”, is performing Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors, Richard III, and the lesser-known The Rover by Aphra Behn throughout the summer.

“When you see the audience leave with the big smiles on their faces, I don’t know what is more satisfying or more thrilling”, said Susane Lee, Hudson Warehouse’s Assistant Artistic Director. “I really think art should be for everybody… and it should be accessible.”

A typical Hudson Warehouse performance is in about as casual as it gets — in front of of an audience seated on the monument’s steps and fashioned with cushions.

“We want anyone to stop by, sit down on the steps, and watch theater. And we want to be as high-caliber as possible. We’re out there and are free theater, but we want to knock peoples’ socks off.”

This past Sunday’s show, directed by Lee herself, was a rendition of Comedy of Errors. Under skies that were cloudless and pink at showtime, Lee and her clan of actors, ranging from ages 20s to 40s, performed an updated, nuanced, and idiosyncratic version of the slapstick comedy. These idiosyncrasies are what make their version stand out.

“This space makes me feel very creative”, Lee said at the end of the performance and in the midst of disrobing and dressing actors. “I feel like this space inspires us to be more creative and think outside the box, and I love that.”

It is in this setting that makes Hudson Warehouse flourish. With actors jumping around the audience and milking the monument’s patio for all it’s worth, along with a 1 hour 35 minute run-time, the theater company keeps the audience engaged and laughing throughout the entire performance.

Hudson Warehouse performs at 6:30 p.m. Thursday through Sundays through August. Comedy of Errors is the featured play this month, followed by Behn’s The Rover in July, and Richard III in August.

“There is no angst-ing about tickets… if you come we take you in. We invite everyone… you’ll see great theater,” Lee said.

–Nick Gallinelli

You can follow Hudson Warehouse on Twitter for heads-ups about their performances and events– @HudsonWarehouse

Lamps inside Riverside Park are on 24/7. Photo by Amanda Woods.

By Amanda Woods

Sidewalk lamps in Riverside Park are turned on all day long, burning in broad daylight, and local residents are frustrated.

“My taxpayer money pays for it, and it’s a waste of energy,” said Sharon Walker, an Upper West Side dog walker who often passes through the park.

Upper West Side Council Member Gale Brewer said her office has fielded several complaints about the lamps over the past two or three years. Leon Sutton, whose apartment between 91st and 92nd streets faces the park, voiced his concerns to Brewer earlier this year.

Brewer, in turn, wrote letters on behalf of Sutton—as well as other residents—to the departments of Parks and Recreation and Transportation about the lamps. When the two departments responded, they gave different reasons explaining why the lights have remained on for so long.

Margaret Forgione, the Manhattan borough commissioner of the Department of Transportation, which has jurisdiction over the lights in Riverside Park, told Sutton in a February letter that the lights are left on because of ongoing construction work at the location.

“Please be advised that during construction work within the parks as well as on the highways, lights are frequently left on during the daytime hours for the purpose of troubleshooting, accessing electrical power and identifying other operational problems or needs,” Forgione wrote.

But Sutton and Walker both said they have not noticed significant construction work in the area.
John Herrold, the Riverside Park administrator for the Parks Department, offered a different explanation in his late March response to Sutton.

“The reason this particular section of lights has been on continuously is that the decades-old lighting infrastructure has begun to fail and the controls no longer turn the lights on and off properly, necessitating a temporary override to ensure there is lighting in the park at night for security while the system is overhauled,” Herrold wrote. “Unfortunately, this manual override also meant that the lights have stayed on during the day.”

Sutton doesn’t think the process should take this long, though.

“I’m a real estate developer,” he said. “If this was any private owner’s property, he would have found the answer to this a long time ago. Controls to lights can be located or fixed. This is not rocket science.”

Brewer and Olive Freud, the vice president of the Committee for Environmentally Sound Development, believe there is an alternative to the electric lights in the park that would solve the day-burning problem. When they attended a tour of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which is entirely powered by solar lights, they realized that solar power would be a good fit for Riverside Park as well.

“If they do solar, it seems to me that it would be less complicated,” Brewer said. They don’t have to plug into anything. There is a little solar apparatus in the lamp itself, and it looks great.”

Brewer submitted her most recent complaint letter about the day-burning lights to Herrold on Friday, in which she requested that he consider powering the park with solar lights.

Freud said she would like to place a demonstration model of a solar-powered lamp in the park so that passersby could learn more about the alternative power source. She is adamant that the electric street lights in the park have to go.
“It seems to me like a no-brainer,” Freud said. “It’s a terrible waste of electricity, and there is a substitute.”

Michael Bacon on a musical life and playing in the band with his movie star brother

When Michael Bacon isn’t rollerblading in Riverside Park, he can be found in his studio on West End Avenue making music with his brother Kevin. Their band, The Bacon Brothers, is playing a show at City Winery April 25 and 26.

Besides playing music, Michael Bacon writes the scores for documentaries, including an upcoming HBO project on Richard Nixon. He also wrote the music for the feature film Downtown Express, which is coming to New York in mid-April.

You grew up in Philadelphia?
My parents were urban pioneer types. They wanted to raise their kids in the city rather than the suburbs, which most people didn’t really approve of. My dad’s family has a long historical connection to Philly. We actually grew up right in the middle of the city. My mother is from New York City.

When did you know you wanted to be a musician?
I didn’t think, until I went to college, that it was possible—it wasn’t a profession most people went into. Then the late ’60s came and the philosophy was “do your own thing.” I just said, “This is what I like to do, so I’m going to try it.”

Which musicians inspire you?
It’s hard to answer that question because I’m not just a rock ‘n’ roll musician; I’m also classically trained and I love folk music. My favorite musicians might not even be rock bands. I was brought up with The Beatles and The Stones, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Pete Seeger—but also Stravinsky and Bach. We had a very eclectic upbringing. My parents just loved the arts and they loved music. They never played, but they certainly encouraged any kind of creative expression in the kids.

How did you start working with Kevin?
He played percussion in my band when he was about 14. I was out of college by then and in a group that played around Philadelphia. That group broke up and I was playing by myself with a backup band, and he was in that band. My brother and I used to write a lot together, but since Kevin’s skill level has gone up, he doesn’t really need me. He has his own studio. But the band is a good excuse for us to hang out. We spend a lot more time together than if we didn’t have the band; we’re busy and we have families.

Who are the other members of The Bacon Brothers and how did you find them?
When I first came to New York in the early ’80s and started to score films, I met a group of musicians who did sessions for me. They worked for the folk singer Tom Rush. When I opened for Rush in Philly, I saw them perform and was impressed with the way they backed up an acoustic singer. When Kevin and I decided to put the band together, I immediately thought of them.

What is your educational background?
I never took formal music classes until 13 years ago—I just had lessons and studied privately. Around ’92, I went back to Lehman College in the Bronx. One of the teachers there is John Corigliano, an amazing Academy Award-winning composer. I really went there to study with him and got my degree finally after all those years.

What projects are you involved with currently?
I’m writing the music for an HBO program about Richard Nixon called Nixon: In His Own Words. It’s extremely challenging. They only have interviews, so the music becomes very important in telling the story. It’s all put together with pre-existing footage. They release a certain amount of Nixon tapes every once in a while and there was a just a new batch let out. This is the third one I’ve done. The first one was Teddy Kennedy, then Gloria Steinem. I also have a feature film that I was composer and music director for which is coming to New York City on April 20 called Downtown Express; it tells the love story of a concert violinist at Juilliard and a street musician.

You work with your wife and your brother. What is the key to successfully working with family?
Whatever negatives are outweighed by trust. My brother and I have a business together and my wife is a partner in it as well. You begin with a level of trust and you’re at a much better starting point. My wife Betsy and I have worked together for 18 years. She does all the day-today management of the film scoring and the band, and is also the prime critic of my work. When I’m in a jam, I rely on her ears.

When did you know Kevin was going to be famous?
He was in Animal House first and then had to go back and work in a restaurant. Then he got the part in Diner. It really was a very successful alternative, indie
kind of movie. That’s when he really started taking off.

How did you end up on the Upper West Side?
When we first came to New York in the ’80s, it was almost impossible to even get an apartment. My brother was living on 88th Street and an apartment came open above him. Once you settle in a certain neighborhood, you connect with it and really don’t want to leave. I love the Upper West Side; it’s just gotten better and better.

What are your favorite places in your neighborhood?
The Riverside Park jogging trail. I rollerblade, so going up and down there is an amazing gift. We live on West End Avenue so we feel like we live on the beach, especially in the summer. And of course we are right between that and Central Park, and 10 minutes from Lincoln Center.

For more on Michael Bacon’s work, visit
www.michaelbaconmusic.com or www.baconbros.com.