June Adventures (part 1)

First of all, happy birthday to my little sister!!

So, I've done a lot of running around so far. The month started out with a (very wet) trip to Coney Island to see Mumford and Sons with our friends, S and G. The concert was great, but the weather was miserable. Coney Island is on my to-do list, but this was NOT the day to do it.

If you happen to be in town on a sunny day between now and "winter", swing by Madison Square Park and check out Teresita Fernandez's Fata Morgana. I think it's gorgeous.

For Ed's birthday, we went out to Brooklyn to see Theatre for a New Audience/Fiasco Theatre's Two Gentlemen of Verona. It has been extended through tomorrow, so if you read this between now and then (June 20th), go. It's not produced very often--it was Ed's (and of course my) first time seeing it. The ensemble was terrific, and Zachary Fine makes both a wonderful male lead and hilariously funny dog.

Tuesday, it was off to the Museum of the Biblical Art (MoBiA) to see an exhibit of sculpture and architecture from the Duomo in Florence which featured Donatello, Ghiberti, and Brunelleschi, among others. No pictures were allowed, but if you'd like to see what I saw, click here.

A week later, S and I went to Flatbush for another soggy Tuesday concert. This time, though, the venue was indoors. The Kings Theatre is a gorgeous French Baroque building, though it takes forever to reach from Chelsea. We saw Spoon, who gave a great performance. I was going to upload a video, but it's apparently too big. (NB: learn more about technology...)

Wednesday afternoon, I trekked out to City Island. One fun thing about City Island - the way to get there is by way of Pelham Bay Park, childhood home of the Crusher! It was supposed to be 79 and sunny. Not so much. (What is with this spring?? It's cloudy all the time!) It's a quaint little fishing village, only about a mile and a half long. Not much is open mid-week, other than a few bars and restaurants, and the Church of St. Mary by the Sea, so I'll have to come back to check out the Nautical Museum. (I really need to invest in a better camera. The first picture is of the Stepping Stones lighthouse; the second shows the Manhattan skyline in the distance. Not that you can really tell...)

Last night, Hudson River Park had the Hudson River Dance Festival on Pier 63, which is a stone's throw from us. I stopped by on my way home from the High Line, and got to see some terrific dancing. The first numbers were performed to flamenco music (I think), but the next troupe was accompanied by recordings of the Andrews Sisters. The Pennsylvania Polka had me flashing back to being a kid.

That's all for now. I'm headed to the Guggenheim to see their latest exhibition, and maybe to stop by the Neue Gallerie to visit with Adele Bloch Bauer, whose portrait was the subject of a terrific movie I saw a month or so ago, Woman in Gold...