Thursday==>Well, I seriously apologize to all of my loyal and faithful readers and followers for failing to post yesterday, but, your favorite blogger here in The Big Apple, The Greatest City In The World, had such a terrific day yesterday that he just couldn’t find the time to write a post ... so ... my bad ... I’m sorry ... please forgive me.
Assuming the apology is accepted ... Billi Pod will now bring all of you up-to-date with ...
Yesterday, at 8:00am I met up with my friend Marie Taylor and we subwayed down to South Ferry to begin a special tour of Governor’s Island with members of The New York Landmarks Conservancy. Marie is a member of that organization.
We rode a ferry over to Governor’s Island. It took only 5-minutes. The weather was terrific, although just a bit humid. There were about 25 people in our group. The purpose of the tour was to show us the 30 acres of new park land on the Island. The Island is not yet open to the general public.
Interestingly ... "on June 18, 1637 the leader of the New Netherlands, Wouter Van Twiller, makes a deal with the Canarsee Indians for the island now known as Governor's Island. He is believed to have obtained the land for his personal use, in exchange for two axe heads, a string of beads, and some iron nails."
"Defensive works were raised on the island in 1776 by Continental Army troops during the American Revolutionary War, and fired upon British ships before they were taken. From 1783 to 1966, the island was a United States Army post. From 1966 to 1996 the island served as a major United States Coast Guard installation."
We headed out about 9:15am, with a very personable and knowledgeable tour-guide.
We were shown the new and old parts of the island. The most impressive, to me, was the new park areas designed for children and families. There are totally awesome views of lower Manhattan and that foreign county known as New Jersey.
The whole event was pretty amazing and I learned a lot and I am so glad I had this opportunity.
The tour ended around 10:20am and Marie and I headed back to catch the 10:30am ferry back to Manhattan, where we split. She took a bus back to The Upper Westside and I subwayed back to 42nd Street.
So, Marie==>Thank you so very much for the invitation. It was a great time.
When I got back to the apartment I just didn’t feel like sitting in front of this ‘puter and writing, plus, I still had things to do on my errands and chores list.
My entertainment event for the evening was a classical music concert ...
NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC @ Avery Fisher Hall==>outstanding, as usual.
The program was Beethoven's Piano Concertos 2 & 3, performed by Yefim Bronfman and the World Premiere of a work called “Songs” by Sean Shepard.
The two Beethoven works were sublimely beautiful as performed to perfection by Bronfman, who is the Artist-in-Residence at the Philharmonic. When the evening ended with Concerto No 3 he received a roaring standing ovation.
OK, what about the other work? Well it was sandwiched between the two Beethoven numbers and it was 15-minutes of the puke-inducing atonal dreck that your favorite blogger hates. When it was finally over (I was counting the lights and fixtures etc. during most of it) it received a very tepid response from the audience, and “tepid” is giving it the benefit of the doubt. Shepard came on stage before and after the performance and that was kinda awkward.
I was seated next to my friends Alan and Irene Warshauer, who are both attorneys, and that made the concert even more enjoyable. Oh, they also shared my feelings about the Shepard piece of crap.
When the concert was over I walked back to PHC while listening to the final innings of the YANKEES/TORONTO game, details below.
This mileage made Wednesday’s mileage totally awesome==>6.53 miles.
IMHO ... not bad for an 80-year old guy, not bad at all.
I have to admit, in the name of fair and unbiased reporting, that I was pretty tired when I finally crashed at the usual time of 2:00am.
Anyway ... moving on ...
Tonight’s entertainment event is an Off Broadway show ...
8:00==>IRVING BERLIN’S AMERICA - “Irving Berlin (1888-1989) rose to become the most popular, and highest-paid, songwriter in the world. This two-character musical traces the rags-to-riches story of one of America's greatest songwriters.” (Off Broadway - $9.00 TDF ticket)
The two-person cast is Broadway veteran Michael Townsend Wright and Giuseppe Bausilio.
Interestingly, Bausilio may be the only actor in New York simultaneously featured in two shows. He performs eight shows a week in "Newsies" and on his "off nights" he is in this show. WOW!
This showcase production is playing at one of my least favorite Off Broadway venues, the 13th Street Repertory Co. on West 13th Street and runs on only Thursday and Sunday through July 10th. I have been unable to dredge up the running time.
Moving on ...
It is now sports time for my friend Marty ...
On Tuesday night I was happy to be at Yankee Stadium, The House That Greed and Ego Built, as The Yankees beat Toronto 3-1 behind another stellar outing from our ace Masahiro Tanaka (11-1).
Last night The Yankees (37-33) won their second game against the division leading Blue Jays (41-32) 7-3 on Brian McCann’s bat. He drove in 5 runs with a homer and a base-clearing triple.
Tonight at 7:05pm will be the final game of the 3-game series. On the mound for The Yankees will be David Phelps (2-4) vs. Drew Hutchison (5-4).
OK, my loyal and faithful readers and followers, you are now up-to-date.
Yesterday’s Pedometer mileage==>6.53 miles (or, 14,283 steps)
Total mileage for 2014==>647.51 miles (average 3.83 miles per day)
GO YANKEES!!
Billi Pod
“Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.”
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