Serving Tribeca, Battery Park City, the Seaport and the Financial District VOLUME 31, NUMBER 10
MAY 31 – JUNE 13, 2018
High flyers Brookfield brings extreme acrobatics show to BPC waterfront Photo by Milo Hess
Brookfield shopping center in Battery Park City hosted a high-fl ying tumbling act that combined music with death defying acrobatic stunts for three days of free performances last week. For more, see page 12.
New plan for Peck Slip Park Page 2
Also in this issue: Street murals at 2 WTC Page 9
1 M E T R O T E C H • N YC 112 0 1 • C O P Y R I G H T © 2 0 18 N YC C O M M U N I T Y M E D I A , L L C
Pier 26 eco-park designs unveiled Page 4
Shipping out Locals laud city’s new Peck Slip Park plan nixing ugly ‘shipwreck’ sculpture BY COLIN MIXSON The city did something right! Downtown residents living around Peck Slip Park offered rare praise to Parks Department officials at a meeting at South Bridge Towers on May 15, after the agency presented new plans that preserved the park’s open space and axed the installation of a muchloathed sculpture resembling the ribs of a burned-out shipwreck. “Taking away one of the last few open spaces in Lower Manhattan really didn’t make sense to anyone, so from that point we appreciate you listening, and the work to go back to the design of it,� Neil Mossberg, chairman of the Old Seaport Alliance, said at the meeting of Community Board 1’s Waterfront, Parks and Resiliency Committee. The so-called “ghost ship� sculpture had been a part of the city’s plans for the plaza-style park — which also included planters, benches, trees, and other beautifying elements — since 2007, which
the board had actually approved in a prior vote. But that reluctant sign-off came only after city officials convinced board members that the State Historic Preservation Office (SHIPO) wouldn’t fund any project that didn’t include some elements highlighting the Seaport’s nautical past, according to one board honcho, who said that local civic gurus didn’t want to risk loosing the $4.2 million earmarked for beautifying what was then just a glorified parking lot. “You need to realize that a good deal of that design was forced on us by SHIPO,� said Paul Hovitz, vicechairman of CB1. “We were informed they wouldn’t allow funding to come through if we didn’t do the design in a fashion in which they could support it historically.� But board members quickly recanted their support for the project, telling Parks officials they really didn’t want to lose so much of the neighborhood’s open play
NYC Parks Department
The Parks Department unveiled the new plans for Peck Slip Park on May 15, to high praise from locals. Residents liked the plan for open space — and the distinct absence of the reviled “shipwreck� sculpture that dominated earlier designs.
space — especially to the hated ghost ship. The agency, in turn, told locals it expected contractors to return with bids that put the project over cost — a loophole which would give the city an excuse to drop the sculpture that SHIPO would have to accept, Hovitz said. That was in 2009, and — while the city repaved the plaza and installed
GET LOW
DINNER FOR TWO
MAY 29 - AUGUST 28
EVERY TUESDAY
boulders along its boundaries between 2011 and 2014 — funds for the project remained in limbo until 2017, when board members revived the issue with a resolution imploring the Parks Department to go ahead the project, but not the statue. PECK SLIP PARK Continued on page 10
20% OFF
#DownIsWhatsUp
2
#GetLow2018
May 31 - June 13, 2018
SOMEWHERE NEW
DowntownExpress.com
“Your Neighborhood Grocer Since 1888”
General Mills Cheerios Cereal
Hunt’s Squeeze Ketchup
Regular 8.9 oz. or Honey Nut 12.25 oz.
$ 99
3
24 oz. Bottle
$ 69
315 South End Avenue • 71 South End Avenue With Card
With $75 or more purchase
SAVE BIG WITH YOUR BONUS SAVINGS CARD!
GRISTEDES REWARDS
Langers Cranberry Juice Cocktail
Earn 1 Point For Every Dollar Spent and Bonus Points on Selected Items Weekly
FREE DELIVERY
Assorted Varieties 64 oz.
$ 49
3
With Card
$ 99
1
With Card
lb.
5
10 oz. Assorted Var.
$ 99
3
Wish-Bone Salad Dressing Assorted Varieties 8 oz.
With Card
1
With Card
Simply Orange OrangeJuice Assorted Varieties 59 oz.
$ 99
4
Evian Natural Spring Water
DowntownExpress.com
1
PopChips Potato Chips Assorted Varieties 3-5 oz.
3
$
99
12
lb.
Noosa Yogurt Regular or Mates 5.5-8 oz.
Assorted Varieties 14 oz.
Häagen Dazs Ice Cream
With Card
$ 99
Sale Starts Friday, June 1 thru Thursday, June 7, 2018 With Card
$ 79
$ 49
Raw Shrimp
Assorted Varieties 59 oz.
With Card
Great for Grilling Extra Jumbo, 16-20 ct. Peeled & Deveined
Tropicana Punches or Lemonade
$ 99
2
1 Liter
2/$
1
Wonder Hamburger or Hot Dog Rolls
$ 49
Organic Tomatoes on the Vine
Assorted Varieties 15.25 oz.
$ 99
With Card
8 ct., 12 oz.
Duncan Hines Classic Cake Mix
for
1
FRI
1
SAT
2
SUN
3
MON
4
TUES
5
WED
6
4
THURS
7
Ellio’s Pizza Assorted Varieties 6 to 9 Slice 15.3-19.64 oz.
2/$ for
5
$ 99
3
May 31 - June 13, 2018
3
Natural wonder Pier 26 to showcase Hudson’s ecology BY SYDNEY PEREIRA Pier 26 is getting a makeover. After years of planning, Hudson River Park designers have managed to squeeze just about all of the community’s demands into one 97,000-square-foot space. The pier at North Moore Street in Tribeca, where construction is expected to begin in late summer, will feature extensive deck space and seating, as well as playing fields and educational facilities. The design emphasizes ecological education. A building on its south side will host two K-through-8thgrade classrooms, three college classrooms, and a technology exhibit. The goal is to create a museum-quality facility with an estuarium — like an aquarium but featuring wildlife native to the brackish waters of estuaries such as the mouth of the Hudson River, where fresh water mixes with the sea — and a space for the community to connect with the mighty river’s marine habitat. “This is New York City,” said Madelyn Wils, the president and CEO of
Olin Studio
(Above) The 97,000-square-foot ecology-themed Pier 26 park will include a marsh, a forest, and an “estuarium” to showcase the Hudson River’s wildlife, in addition to more conventional amenities such as soccer fields. (Right) A “science playground” next to the estuarium building will feature giant, interactive sculptures of two varieties of sturgeon.
the Hudson River Park Trust. “There’s a lot of need and little space to fulfill the need. So we put the designers to work and tried to fit as many of those requests onto one pier.” Next to the estuarium building, the park plans to construct a kids’ science playground, featuring giant interactive sculptures of two varieties of sturgeon — an Atlantic and a short-nosed —
two endangered fish species native to New York. On the pier, a pathway will cut through a forested area and lawn before leading to two kid-sized playing fields with a lounge area on the south side. The soccer fields will feature a shockabsorbing plastic grid system. A second lounge deck with tiered seating will lead into a walkway surrounded by a con-
structed marsh area. The idea of the pier’s design is to attract wildlife that once frequented the city’s marshy shores — herons, ducks, geese, cormorants, the occasional egret, oysters, mussels, and some 70 types of fish native to the river. The pier’s forested section will feature PIER 26 Continued on page 12
Elder Law, Estate Planning, Guardianships, Trusts & Estates
Estate Planning Documents 101 June 26 at 2:00 pm
Estate Administration and Probate June 28 at 6:30 pm
AFA Education and Resource Center 322 8th Avenue, Suite 800
NYC Conference & Seminar Center 71 W. 23rd Street, #515 Seminar Room A
Please RSVP at (212) 867-3520 or email info@burnerlaw.com 4
May 31 - June 13, 2018
DowntownExpress.com
Rain or shine, Taste of Tribeca shines BY TEQUIL A MINSK Y Rain soaked the food feast, but that didn’t keep the hardy denizens of Tribeca away from the 24th edition of Taste of Tribeca on May 19. The raincoats and umbrellas came out as well as babies in rain-proofed covered strollers. The cold, wet rain may just have increased everyone’s appetite — or as one parent was overheard commenting, “This is a testament on how many tickets they sold in advance.� Taste of Tribeca of an annual tradition for the neighborhood and the families of PS 150 and PS 234, which benefit from the money raised. One robust visiting grandmother attends every year along with her Tribeca-living daughter’s family and enjoys the sampling of neighborhood restaurants. Lauren Horowitz has lived in the area for seven years. Her older daughter has just started PS 234 and she is a counselor at PS 150. This is the first year Horowitz and her family have actually partaken, deciding it was time for them to support the schools through this event. “We ran into at least five people we know,� she said, noting the emphasis on community and family.
Photos by Tequila Minsky
(Top right) Rain or shine, Taste of Tribeca goes on. At its start at 11:30am, umbrella-laden neighbors perused the booths of eats. (Above) The flames at the grill of CUT by Wolfgang Puck provided some warmth against the cold rain. They offered grilled bone-In-sirloin. (Bottom right) The “Ghostbuster� firemen of Hook & Ladder 8 love to cook. They served up steak pizzaiola.
Horowitz, husband David, and daughters ducked into The Hideaway to dry out. The Hideaway was one of the seven bars that was part of the beer and cider tour — the beverage part of Taste of Tribeca. Every so often, David would brave the elements to bring back another restaurant sampling for the girls. He was impressed by how many elements it took to pull off an event on
this scale. “The number of volunteers (over 200) and restaurants (almost 90), it’s remarkable!� he said. Highly visible were the many student volunteers from Stuyvesant High School assisting vendors or in charge of the recycling receptacles. At Booth #40, the booth farthest east, on the north fork of Duane near Hudson, guys from Hook & Ladder 8
— the iconic “Ghostbustersâ€? fire house — are temporarily relocated to nearby Lafayette Street while their house gets rehabilitated, and did their part for the event by serving steak pizzaiola — with a little help from a local restaurateur. “They got their bread from us,â€? said Monica Von Thun CalderĂłn of Grand Daisy Bakery, an early supporter of the food fest.
DON’T KNOW WHERE TO TURN?
WE’RE HERE TO
HELP
& " ! " $! ! %!&' " !& "! !! " ! ! !!" " # (
TALK 1-888-692-9355 TEXT WELL to 65173 CHAT nyc.gov/nycwell
• • • DowntownExpress.com
May 31 - June 13, 2018
5
SHARP DRESSER
AFTER 30 YEARS
Cops are hunting a man suspected of robbing two Downtown businesses in the past month. On May 5, the suspect allegedly nabbed $150 worth of clean laundry from a Fulton Street dry cleaner between Front and Water streets at 2:50 pm, and then drew a knife on a worker who tried to stop him. A couple weeks later on May 17, the suspect allegedly raided a Broadway retailer located between John Street and Maiden Lane for $100 worth of clothing at 12:10 pm, and again pulled a knife on an employee who tried stop him. Anyone with information on above robbery can share their tips via the NYPD’s anonymous Crime Stopper’s hotline by calling (800) 577-8477, going online to www.nypdcrimestoppers.com, or by texting 274637, and then entering tip577.
JUICE JACKED
Smart Savings for Your Home LOOK FOR OUR CIRCULAR IN TODAY’S PAPER!
A burglar carried off a cash register from inside a Prince Street juice shop on May 25. A witness told police she saw the thief slinking off with a parcel from inside the lobby of her residential building between Thompson Street and West Broadway at 4 am, and, upon further investigation, detectives realized the package was in fact the cash register — along with the $500 it contained — from an adjoining juice spot.
Cops busted three teens for allegedly beating a man and stealing his sweatshirt on Watts Street on May 26. The victim told police the suspects jumped him between Sixth Avenue and Thompson Street at 4:28 pm, repeatedly kicking and punching him in the face, and all to nab his $85 sweatshirt. Police cuffed the three teens later that day after the victim identified them as his attackers, cops said.
BAG HAG
WHEEL EASY
6
May 31 - June 13, 2018
TAXI CAD Cops arrested a Port Authority worker accused of billing taxpayers for $5,562 worth of cab rides since May last year. Investigators claim that the suspect, a 29-year-year old man who worked out of 4 World Trade Center, used his position at Port Authority to contract 96 trips through a private car service on a government account. Detectives busted the civil servant on May 18, charging him with grand larceny, cops said.
CASH BAGGED A thief made off with $10,000 from an employee of a Fulton Street fast-food joint on May 18. The victim told police he left the huge sum in a bag in the back of the eatery between Nassau and William streets at 3 pm, and returned to check on it an hour and half later to find that a thief had made off with his cash.
BIKE BANDIT NO SWEAT
Police are hunting a shoplifter who made off with a $2,900 handbag from a Wooster Street boutique on May 23. An employee told police the crook sauntered into bogie retailer between Broome and Spring streets at around noon, before stuffing the indulgent Celine Nano purse into her tote bag and fleeing.
VISIT PCRICHARD.COM FOR A STORE NEAREST YOU
sedan from a Spruce Street garage on May 22, while a parking lot attendant did nothing but watch. The worker told police he watched as the thief let himself into the 2014 Audi A3 and drive off from the garage between Nassau and William streets at 6 pm, saying he thought the crook was a mechanic taking the car to be serviced.
A thief drove off with a man’s Audi
A thief made off with a man’s motorcycle he parked on River Terrace on May 14. Surveillance footage obtained by police shows a man pull up beside the bike in a minivan between Murray Street and North End Avenue at 4:45 am, load the import $8,500 motorbike into the back, and drive off.
GIVEAWAY CAR Some crook drove off with a man’s van he parked on South Street on may 21. A security feed showed the thief entering through the back of the van near Whitehall Street at 5:30 pm, before driving off with the victim’s $7,500 ride. The caper wouldn’t have been too difficult for the crook, according to the victim, who told police he left the back door of his van unlocked, and a set of spare keys stowed in the glove box. — Colin Mixson DowntownExpress.com
WAGE WAR DA: Construction company stole $1.7M in workers’ pay through fraud scheme
BY SYDNEY PEREIRA Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance has announced charges against a construction company for stealing $1.7 million in wages and defrauding the state’s insurance fund by millions of dollars. More than 500 construction workers building some of the most notable new high-rises in Manhattan — including two Downtown Marriott hotels — were scammed out of millions in wages, according to the indictment. “Plain and simple — it’s stealing,” said James Rogers, Deputy Commissioner of the state’s Department of Labor, at a press conference on May 16. “It’s stealing just like any other kind of stealing, and people that do it ought to face the consequences.” Parkside Construction worked with Michigan-based payroll processing company Affinity Human Resources to alter timesheets so drastically that one construction worker lost more than $50,000 over three years. The construction company used face-recognition technology to track workers’ hours, but lied on timesheets later submitted to Affinity. Workers were even paid under “expense reimbursement” in some cases — rather than a typical paycheck — in order to evade taxes and unemployment insurance contributions. “These timesheets weren’t just a here-and-there kind of thing,” Vance said atthe press conference. “This was the business model for these defendants. These alterations were purposeful, calculated, and consistent. And by
doctoring their employees timesheets, the defendants were able to steal more than $1.7 million from more than 500 workers — workers who are principally immigrants, often undocumented.” The lengthy investigation began with a tip from a carpenters’ union, according to Diana Florence, assistant district attorney and lead attorney of the Construction Fraud Task Force. The non-union workers were often making $25-per-hour doing some of the most dangerous construction work in the city, according to authorities. Most were from Ecuador or Mexico. “The Building Trades thanks Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance for fighting against the egregious actions committed by these irresponsible contractors and looking out for hardworking New Yorkers,” said Gary LaBarbera, President of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, in a statement. “Unfortunately, wage theft and insurance fraud are all too common — especially among nonunion contractors. Worker exploitation and abuse should never be tolerated and we applaud the District Attorney’s commitment to ending wage theft and keeping unscrupulous employers accountable.” The DA’s investigation also alleges that Parkside hid more than $42 million in payroll from the New York State Insurance Fund. The insurance premium for workers’ compensation insurance is determined by the payroll and type of work employees do. By allegedly hiding tens of millions from
Photo by Sydney Pereira
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance announced fraud and wage-theft charges on May 16 against a construction company working on several highprofile building projects.
NYSIF, Parkside’s employees’ insurance premiums were fraudulently low. The fraud scheme totalled $7.8 million for Parkside and Affinity, according to Vance LaBarbera said these charges should be a wake-up call to other exploitative contractors. “The charges are a warning to all construction contractors that unscrupulous employers will face consequences,”
he said, but added the culpability could extend beyond contractors. “Developers should be aware of what’s happening on their sites and accept responsibility for everything that happens on them. Ultimately, we hope to see greater accountability and support all efforts to combat wage theft in the construction industry.” FRAUD Continued on page 11
My Child Protective Specialist pushed me to get the parenting skills I needed to look after my kids. Shelley, Bronx
NOTICE OF A JOINT PUBLIC HEARING of the Franchise and Concession Review Committee and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation to be held on Monday, June 11, 2018 at 2 Lafayette Street, 14th Floor Auditorium, Borough of Manhattan, commencing at 2:30 p.m. relative to: INTENT TO AWARD as a concession for the development, operation and maintenance of a snack bar at the John Street Service Building on the East River Waterfront Esplanade, Manhattan for a ten (10) year term, to South Street Seaport Limited Partnership. Compensation will be as follows: for each operating year of the license, South Street Seaport Limited Partnership shall pay a fee consisting of the higher of a minimum annual fee (Year 1: $100,000; Year 2: $105,000; Year 3: $110,250; Year 4: $115,763; Year 5: $121,551; Year 6: $127,628; Year 7: $134,010; Year 8: $140,710; Year 9: $147,746; Year 10: $155,133) vs. 10% of Gross Receipts. A draft copy of the agreement may be reviewed or obtained at no cost, commencing Monday, June 4, 2018 through Monday, June 11, 2018, between the hours of 9 am and 5 pm, excluding weekends and holidays, at the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, located at 830 Fifth Avenue, Room 313, New York, NY 10065. Individuals requesting Sign Language Interpreters should contact the Mayors Office of Contract Services, Public Hearings Unit, 253 Broadway, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10007, (212) 788-0010, no later than SEVEN (7) BUSINESS DAYS PRIOR TO THE PUBLIC HEARING.
ACS CHILD PROTECTIVE SPECIALISTS — Protecting kids, supporting families.
LEARN MORE
at
NYC.GOV/CPS
TELECOMMUNICATION DEVICE FOR THE DEAF (TDD) 212-504-4115
DowntownExpress.com
May 31 - June 13, 2018
7
E D ITO R IAL
He planted the seeds of New York PUBLISHER
Jennifer Goodstein EDITOR
Bill Egbert REPORTERS
Colin Mixon Sydney Pereira ARTS EDITOR ARTS EDITOR Scott Stiffler
Scott Stiffler EXECUTIVE VP OF ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE VPTarley Amanda OF ADVERTISING
(P) 718 260Tarley Amanda 8340 (E) atarley@cnglocal.com (P) 718 260 8340 (E) atarley@cnglocal.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES ACCOUNT Jim Steele EXECUTIVES
JulioSteele Tumbaco Jim Julio Tumbaco ART DIRECTOR ART DIRECTOR Marcos Ramos
Marcos Mark Ramos Ramos PHOTOGRAPHERS Milo Hess PHOTOGRAPHERS
Tequila Minsky Milo Hess Tequila Minsky PUBLISHER EMERITUS PUBLISHER John W. EMERITUS Sutter
John W. Sutter
PUBLISHED BY
NYC COMMUNITY MEDIA, LLC ONE METROTECH CENTER NEW YORK, NY 11201 PHONE: (212) 229-1890 FAX: (212) 229-2790 WWW.DOWNTOWNEXPRESS.COM NEWS@DOWNTOWNEXPRESS.COM Downtown Express is published every week by NYC Community Media LLC, One Metrotech Center North, 10th Floor, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11201 (212) 229-1890. The entire contents of the newspaper, including advertising, are copyrighted and no part may be reproduced without the express permission of the publisher - © 2017 2018 Community Media LLC. PUBLISHER’S LIABILITY FOR ERROR The Publisher shall not be liable for slight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value of an advertisement. The publisher’s liability for other errors or omissions in connection with an advertisement is strictly limited to publication of the advertisement in any subsequent issue.
Member of the New York Press Association Member of the National Newspaper Association
© 2017 2018 Community Media, LLC
8
May 31 - June 13, 2018
BY LENORE SKENAZY Not too long ago, a guard scolded Victoria Johnson for poking around in the planters in front of Rockefeller Center. But the historian wasn’t doing anything wrong. She had simply come to pay her respects to the man whose name is on a plaque tucked away there — the man perhaps most responsible for making New York City the world capital it is today. David Hosack. Um… who? David Hosack — the botanist, doctor, friend of the famous, friend of the poor, born just before the American Revolution — whose love of plants and people made him one of the most trusted, beloved dynamos of his day. How trusted? At a duel, each man is allowed to chose a doctor to accompany him. At the most famous duel in American history — Alexander Hamilton vs. Aaron Burr in 1804 — both men chose Hosack. Though most of us have never heard of the guy, Johnson is giving him his due. The Hunter College Professor of Urban Policy and Planning spent eight years researching, “American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic.” It opens with a scene of despair: “September 1797. The boy would be dead before dawn.” We’re in the death chamber of a good-looking 15-yearold New York kid dying of fever. But instead of treating him with cold cloths, as most doctors did back then, Hosack, age 28 and newly returned from a European education in the power of plants, did the opposite. He placed the boy in a steaming hot bath and mixed in a powder made from Peruvian tree bark. Years later this bark would be discovered to contain quinine, the cure for malaria. Into the bath Hosack also poured
several bottles of alcohol to “stimulate the circulation.” And, seemingly for good measure, he added smelling salts. All through the night, he steeped the boy in bath after botanical bath. It worked. The boy was Philip Hamilton, Alexander’s son. That’s when Alexander became a lifelong friend and fan of Hosack. It’s also when Hosack decided it was time to start trying to discover more cures from more plants. And so he proposed creating a giant garden filled with specimens from the four corners of the earth: banana and tamarind and ginko trees, flowers from Tahiti, grains from near and far, and plants whose medicinal qualities were already known, including chamomile, ginseng, and poppies. Of course he’d need a greenhouse, and gardeners, and explorers to collect plants. And money! His plans were mocked by many, but eventually Hosack made his dream come true. His garden stretched from what is now 47th Street to 51st Street, from Fifth Avenue to Sixth — the footprint of today’s Rockefeller Center, though back then it was basically wilderness. He called it the Elgin Botanic Garden, after the Scottish town his father came from. For our young country to succeed, Hosack understood, our people had to be healthy. And yet, all around him they were dying of smallpox, typhus, and yellow fever. “If the United States didn’t begin to grow and test plants from around the world, American medicine was doomed to chronic chaos,” Johnson writes. And
so Hosack’s garden was less a park than the equivalent of today’s National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and cutting edge gene-editing labs, combined. Even Thomas Jefferson sent him seeds. Here, an entire generation of scientists learned how to study plants and conduct experiments, thanks to Hosack. One of the med students he mentored was the grandfather of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. But it wasn’t enough to simply further science. Hosack had a vision for the future like almost no other. And so he founded or helped found many of the institutions that would make New York America’s premier city — a distinction, believe it or not, that Philadelphia held at that time! These included our first museum of natural history, our first art museum, and our first public schools — even one for the deaf. He was a founder of Bellevue Hospital and a pharmacy for the poor. He served as a president of the New York Historical Society. He started a hospital of obstetrics. When Alexis de Tocqueville came calling, Hosack shared his research on the nation’s prison system. And in between, he held a lot of parties. In his day, the man was a stone-cold celebrity. Why is he nearly forgotten? “I think we really like our heroes to stand alone — to discover the cure for cancer, or invent the steam locomotive,” says Johnson. “Hosack was something else, an institution builder, building the civic institutions that make a city and a nation great.” Clearly the man deserves more than a hard-to-find plaque. But at least he’s got one in the heart of a city he made great, atop the garden he made grow. Lenore Skenazy president of Let Grow, and founder of Free-Range Kids.
Posted To ONCE UPON A MORAL PANIC… (MAY 25) Remarkable that Lenore Skenazy has not been hauled off by the Thought Police for reprogramming. Imagine to suggest, as Skenazy constantly does, that people should be allowed to access information on their own and respond as they choose – without the benevolent dictate of a self appointed wiser and more sensi-
tive few. Actually we are not living in “1984” where dissidents quietly disappear and their existence denied. Today’s crowd is more likely to burn you at the stake as a public lesson to the next free thinker. Michael Burke
ALL BOOKED UP: CB1 WORRIES ZONING CHANGE WILL
PUSH MORE HOTELS INTO CROWDED DOWNTOWN (MAY 24) Why fight this? Hotels are good for Downtown–they provide light, additional security in the doorman and concierge, increased pedestrian traffic, jobs, added dining experiences, and bring money into the neighborhood. Joe DowntownExpress.com
STREET ART
Murals commissioned around 2 WTC site BY SYDNEY PEREIRA Downtown’s historically corporate streetscape is getting a welcome splash of color. A spread of murals dozens of feet high are in the works at 2 World Trade Center — where Silverstein Properties plans to build another soaring skyscraper as part of its nearly two-decade-long redevelopment of the WTC campus. But for now, the building is built out only to the ground floor, with plenty of blank, street-level wall space, so the developer is trying to put that to good use by commissioning some colorful public art. After the success Silverstein Properties had transforming the 69th floor of 4 WTC to a street-art-style office space which enticed music-streaming company Spotify to move its headquarters there, the developer decided to take the concept to the streets. The recently completed 3 WTC is expected to open June 11, and the murals are a part of an effort to draw in more foot traffic and make the WTC campus more colorful ahead of the opening. The six artists Silverstein commissioned — many of whom worked on the 4 WTC project — are glad that this will be a more public showcase than an office tucked away 600 feet in the sky. “I don’t like my work being hidden,” Hektad said. “When I paint in the street, it’s for the people. It’s not for me. It’s for the joy — to take pictures and photos.” Six artists and their teams transformed the World Trade Center streetscape ahead of Memorial Day Weekend. In addition to Hektad, street artists including Riiisa Boogie, Chinòn Maria, Stickymonger, Brolga, and Todd Gray spent days painting their signature colorful designs across from the white, spiky Oculus transit hub. Their murals ranged from Maria’s flowered street sign for Vesey Street to Hektad’s optical illusion of splattered hearts. The artists had teams — mostly their friends and families — assisting them, but the work still took several days, some longer than others. Hektad’s was one of the biggest murals he had ever done. The Silverstein’s original venture into street art at 4 WTC sparked criticism after reports that artists who contributed were not compensated. And for some artists, the news that their DowntownExpress.com
work on the 69th floor became a selling point to woo Spotify to the office space was counter to how the exhibition was pitched to them, according to an article in the online arts magazine Hyperallergic back in March 2017. The original works were supposed to be a
part of a 9/11 anniversary memorial ceremony in 2016, but that event never occurred, according to Hyperallergic. For the 2 WTC project, however, the artists’ were each paid $2,000, plus expenses for supplies, according to Dara McQuillan, the chief marketing officer of Silverstein Properties. And down at 2 WTC, the work was much more what the artists were accustomed to — on the street where the public can see it, with passers by stopping to comment, take selfies, or just watch the process. The mural walls were corrugated, which means that the artists were using more supplies than they expected because of the greater surface area. Stickymonger, also known as Joohee Park, said the murals were going to take two to three times more supplies than he originally planned for. Another artist welcomed the challenge of this space in particular. “There’s no perfect walls, really,” said Brolga, an Australian artist whose
work is featured in various locations around Brooklyn. The 2 WTC site was “a really nice challenge, scaling up and working with that.” Brolga’s fame took off after he painted a Muhammad Ali mural in Brooklyn coincidentally just months before Ali’s death, he said. Since then, he’s been commissioned for work around the world, including China and Australia. He said high-profile gigs like 2 WTC give street artists a chance to shine. “It’s a unique opportunity for us artists,” he said. The murals are expected to remain for six months to a year, depending on when the developer is able to secure anchor tenants and finally begin construction of the last major piece of Silverstein’s WTC redevelopment plan. However long their art sticks around, the artists hope their work can brighten the mood of a place with some grim associations. “The place is Ground Zero. It’s known for being a sad place,” said
Photos by Sydney Pereira
Hektad, whose work typically features vividly colored hearts, adding that he hopes people can leave the space more uplifted, filled with a message of peace and love from his work. May 31 - June 13, 2018
9
Dates: Thurs., May 31–Wed., June 6
ALTERNATE SIDE PARKING RULES IN EFFECT ALL WEEK Brooklyn Bridge Alert! Downtown’s Foley Square has Jericho Walks this Thursday and Friday related to immigrant advocates’ outrage over two different issues regarding children, and an anti-gun march Saturday. Friday’s rush hour rally from 5 to 6:30 p.m. is part of a national demonstration and looks to be the largest protest. Marchers will walk around Federal Plaza, affecting traffic on Broadway, Worth, Centre and Lafayette Sts. as well as the nearby approaches to the Brooklyn Bridge. The New Sanctuary Coalition’s Thursday walk around Federal Plaza 11 a.m. to noon is likely to be larger than usual with recent news about children being separated from parents at the border. Then from 5 to 6 p.m., the coalition will be joined by cyclists at Varick and Houston Sts. Saturday, anti-gun protesters will march over the Brooklyn Bridge to Foley Square from noon to 4 p.m. Lots of Lower Manhattan subway changes this weekend. The F train is not running in Downtown Manhattan or Brooklyn starting 9:30 p.m. Friday, the same time the D will stop running south of 59th St. At 9:45 p.m., the A and C will start bypassing Lower Manhattan, switching to the F track between W. Fourth and Jay Sts. The 2 and 3 skip their Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn stops Saturday and Sunday.
# !'(+ /#," $#'!' #.# - %+ (* + * ",- 1
))*(. % , 0)#* ,#(' ,
#+#,+ ' (&) '+ ,#('
%#&" ) (' $!$ *!(!) %#&" ) '%$ %(%&+
%'%' $ %'#)!%$%$))) &')# $) % $ )! !!$ ) !""%'$ "" !!$ (' 13*# 12 &3)& 2 (* & (*' %% -
PECK SLIP PARK Continued from page 2
A subsequent townhall-style meeting gave locals a chance to pitch ideas to the agency before officials went back to the drawing board and came up with the new designs. And wouldn’t you know it, the city did a great job, according to one local mom. “This design is beautiful, it accommodates things for children, for seniors, for so many of the people that live, work, and play at the Seaport, so thank you,� said Emily Helstrom, president of the PTA at Peck Slip School, at the South Bridge meeting. In addition to eliminating the ghost
Sing for Hope will bring 51 pianos to the 28 Liberty (formerly Chase) plaza 9 a.m. Monday, affecting Liberty, Nassau and other nearby streets. The performances are noon to 5 p.m. A Sunday walk against cystic fibrosis will close Fulton St. between South and Water Sts. 5 a.m. to 1 p.m., and includes Water, State and Whitehall St. sidewalks. The “5K Schlep�, an anti-cancer run 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, starts by Wagner Park at Battery Park City’s southern tip, follows the river esplanade to the bikeway at Chambers up just past Tribeca’s Pier 25 before turning around back to Wagner. Mailbag: Dear Transit Sam, The beginnings of bus stops are clearly marked with signposts, but how are drivers supposed to know where they end? Is there a standard length of a bus stop? A. Dear A., Bus stops usually run 80 to 100 feet but could be longer depending if the block serves multiple routes and/or if there’s high frequency of bus service. The bus stop ends at the next parking sign (unless it is also a bus stop sign). If the stop is right after an intersection, the stop’s end is the corner. A warning: if the next sign(s) is missing, traffic agents have been known to write a bus stop ticket for cars parked hundreds of feet from the initial bus stop sign. Transit Sam
ship, the new plans also axe the boulders currently lining Peck Slip Park, which will be used to line new planters that will be installed at the plaza, while being replaced with bollards and granite benches to protect the space from surrounding traffic. The park will be repaved with the same type of granite blocks that can be found along roads throughout the Seaport historic district, and new trees will be planted along the plaza’s northern edge. Following the plan’s announcement at the May 15 committee meeting, the full board met on May 22, where it resoundingly endorsed the new design.
&&'%* '%)%%"
10
May 31 - June 13, 2018
DowntownExpress.com
FRAUD Continued from page 7
The wage theft and insurance fraud charges are a part of a much larger, more widespread pattern of a rapidly changing skyline in Manhattan. Rogers of the DOL said it is difficult to quantify just how widespread wage theft could be, but the department opens 8,000 wagetheft cases each year. “Nowadays,” Vance said, “you look up, and everywhere there are buildings going up and coming down, and our famous skyline continues to shapeshift with great speed.” Manhattan’s shapeshifting skyline can have grave consequences for workers, he added. Along with New York’s historic building boom Vance said, “wage theft unfortunately remains one of the most pervasive and insidious issues facing tens of thousands of everyday New Yorkers.” Parkside’s co-owner Francesco Pugliese was charged with insurance fraud, grand larceny, penalties for fraudulent practices, scheme to defraud, and offering a false instrument for filing. Salvatore Pugliese, the other co-owner, was charged with insurance fraud, penalties for fraudulent practices and offering a false instrument for filing. James Lyon, supervising foreman, Yenny Duarte, payroll manager, Michael DiMaggio, an outside accountant, and Jerry Hamling, Affinity’s owner, were also charged. “We have known about this investigation for over a year and look forward to showing
the DA’s office and investigators why they are wrong in filing these charges against Parkside and the other individuals that were indicted,” said Parkside’s attorney Scott E. Leemon in a written statement. The company denies all wage or other kinds of theft. The alleged multi-million-dollar fraud schemes involved construction ongoing at LAM Group’s Marriott Hotels at 215 Pearl St. and Hidrock Properties’ Courtyard New York Downtown Marriott at 133 Greenwich St. The hotel at 215 Pearl St. is currently under construction and expected to be 39 stories. Parkside Construction had more than $100 million in contracts with builders and developers for concrete and masonry work at the two Marriott sites and six other buildings, including Steinway Tower (111 W. 57th St.); American Copper Building (626 First Avenue); Hilton Garden Inn New York Times Square South (326 W. 37th St.); DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel (350 W. 40th St.); Public Hotel (215 Chrystie St.); and Jarmulowsky Bank Hotel (9 Orchard St.). Developers for the buildings are not mentioned in the current indictment, but when asked at the press conference, Vance said the charges against the construction and payroll companies were just the beginning. “What I can say is that this investigation is the beginning of a larger one, and I won’t predict where we’re going to go, because that would be inappropriate,” Vance said. “But we are looking at all players in the business.”
S t epping s t one Photo by Tequila Minsky
Borough of Manhattan Community College alumnus Jim St. Germain, author of the memoir “A Stone of Hope,” spoke at the BMCC Foundation gala on May 15, recalling his rise from a childhood of poverty in Haiti to a professional career in New York, crediting BMCC with a transformative role in his life.
Go ahead, give your savings a raise. 60-month CD
% 3.00APY1 For a limited time only
Upgrade and lock in your rate today. Open your account: PopularBank.com/savings or visit your closest branch.
1. Promotion begins on 05/21/18 and expires on 07/21/18. Annual Percentage Yield (APY) is effective as of May 21, 2018. Popular, in its sole discretion, reserves the right to change or terminate this offer at any time. This offer is available in all Popular branches and via our website www.PopularBank.com. To qualify for the promotional APY, new or existing customers must open a 60-month CD with a required minimum balance and opening deposit of $1,000 in new money. New money is defined as deposits not previously held with Popular. APY assumes principal and interest remain on deposit until maturity. A penalty will be imposed for early withdrawal. Fees may reduce earnings on the account. Promotional APY is valid on the initial 60-month term. Automatically renews with the same term and rate applicable at the time of renewal. Copyright © 2018 Popular Bank. Member FDIC.
DowntownExpress.com
May 31 - June 13, 2018
11
PIER 26 Continued from page 4
plants and trees native to the region. “This whole forest-walk idea was to have trees that were indigenous to this area and to give people a sense that they were walking through something otherworldly that wasn’t Manhattan,� Wils said. “I think this design captures that.� The renovations will cost $30 million, funded equally between New York City, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and CitiGroup. For the estuarium, to be sited on shore at the foot of the pier, the park has raised $10 million and plans to raise more money prior to its construction. Marine work on the pier is expected to start this summer. Landscaping will begin in the fall, with construction slated to finish by 2020. “We’re very, very excited about breaking ground — or breaking water — in late summer on Pier 26,� Wils said. “I think it’s not only going to be a really beautiful and interesting pier, but I think it will be extraordinarily popular.�
Extreme acrobatics at BrookďŹ eld
Photo by Milo Hess
BY COLIN MIXSON Talk about a free fall! The Brookfield shopping center in Battery Park City hosted a high-flying tumbling act last week that combined music with death defying acrobatic stunts. Three days of free performances beginning May 24 were held on the waterfront by the marina. Choreographer Elizabeth Streb’s Singular Extreme Actions show, which blends circus high wire stunts with dance and pop music, kick off the Downtown mall’s summer event schedule. On the final day of performances on May 26, the show’s “action heroes� led an Action Class for kids where they guided their pintsized admirers ages five-12 through a series of stunts and obstacles courses. HOUSE HOUSE CALLS CALLS
IT’S MORE THAN JUST A JOB—
SERVING MANHATTAN AND THE ENTIRE TRI-STATE AREA
SAME DAY SERVICE AVAILABLE
TOP $ PAID FOR JUDAICA COLLECTIBLES
ANTIQUES & ESTATE BUYERS We Pay $CASH$ For
IT’S YOUR CAREER.
Paintings, Clocks, Watches, Estate Jewelry & Fine China, From Single Items to Entire Estates!
Begin your journey by pre-registering for the NYPD Police Officer exam at #+ $* ( The pre-registration period opens on + and closes on )"+ Pre-registration is ' &)!' before taking the exam. For more information, visit #+ $*#+%
Military Collections Wanted Swords, Knives, Helmets, etc.
Top $ Paid for Antique Sterling!
s Coin & Stamp Collections s Costume Jewelry s Antique Furniture s Lamps s Bronzes s Paintings s Prints MOVING s Chinese & Japanese DOWNSIZINor G CALL ? Artwork & Porcelain U S! s Sports Collectibles s Comic Books s Old Toys s Records s Cameras s Sterling Flatware Sets
HUMMELS & LLADROS SEE OUR AD IN THE SUNDAY POST
516-974-6528 ASK FOR CHRISTOPHER
12
Facebook:
Twitter:
Instagram:
Linkedin:
NYPD Recruit
@nypdrecruit
@nypdrecruit
NYPD
May 31 - June 13, 2018
ANTIQUE & ESTATE BUYERS EOE
WILL TRAVEL ENTIRE TRI-STATE!
We We buy buy anything anything old. old. One One piece piece or or house house full. full. WILL HOUSE CALLS. WILL TRAVEL. TRAVEL. HOUSE CALLS. WILL TRAVEL. WE MAKE HOUSE CALLS.
1029 WEST JERICHO TURNPIKE, SMITHTOWN L.I.
FREE Estimates!
DowntownExpress.com
‘End’ Time: Memory, Aging, and Chekhov at Mabou Mines Visuals and veteran cast reconstruct ‘Uncle Vanya’
Photo by Brian Rogers
L to R: “This Was The End” cast members James Himelsbach and Rae C. Wright, with G. Lucas Crane (live sound score and video manipulation).
BY TRAV S.D. Seven and a half years. That’s how long Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) thought people would still be interested in reading his writing after he died. Chekhov never dreamt that 114 years after he passed, millions would still be savoring his work. As a case in point, his play “Uncle Vanya” has been in circulation for nearly 120 years — and not only is the play still being produced, it has become enough of a well-known classic that fairly radical interpretations and deconstructions have been undertaken over the years. Such is Restless NYC’s “This Was The End,” being presented at the Mabou Mines Theater, June 7 to 16. Created and directed by Restless DowntownExpress.com
NYC’s Mallory Catlett, “This Was The End” features live sound score and video manipulation by G. Lucas Crane, and an all-star Downtown cast that includes the Ridiculous Theatrical Company’s Black-Eyed Susan, Paul Zimet (Open Theater and Talking Band), Rae C. Wright, and James Himelsbach. It is part of the inaugural season of Mabou Mines’ space in the newly renovated 122 Community Center (formerly known as PS122). Technically, the production is a remounting. It was originally developed from 2009 through 2011 as part of Mabou Mines’ Resident Artists Program, then presented at The Chocolate Factory in Long Island City in 2014. The original set, the long
classroom wall with sliding chalkboards from the old Mabou Mines space, was salvaged prior to the 2013 renovation. In this multimedia presentation, the cast interacts with video and audio elements. Analog audiotape containing lines from Chekhov’s text is mixed live, allowing the performers to improvise with earlier incarnations of their own characters. A video image of the set is projected onto the set itself, creating a visual blur of past and present. According to Catlett, the roots of the project go back to the late 1990s, when she was a graduate student at the School for Contemporary Arts of Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. “The germ of it came to me when I was
saw my own father have a late-midlife crisis and enter a sort of massive depression,” she said. Not knowing any age-appropriate actors at the time, she shelved the project, and then picked it up nearly a decade later when she was working on a production called “Red Fly/Blue Bottle” with Black-Eyed Susan, and realized that she would be right for the part of Sonya in “Uncle Vanya.” (Susan, like her three fellow cast members, is over 60). Sonya is the niece and helpmeet of the title character (Zimet), the caretaker of a country estate. Himelsbach plays their neighbor, Dr. Astrov; Wright plays Yelena, wife of the THE END continued on p. 18 May 31 - June 13, 2018
13
The Good, the Bad and the Groovy Rediscovering the music of Hugo Montenegro BY JIM MELLOAN It was sometime in 1966 when Hugo Montenegro went into an RCA studio with some session musicians on a Saturday to do a cover of the theme from “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” Italian director Sergio Leone’s third installment of his “Dollars Trilogy” of spaghetti westerns. All three of the fi lms had been scored by the prolific Italian composer Ennio Morricone. The opening theme for this third fi lm was particularly haunting — a two-note melody sounding like a whistled call across a desert landscape, followed by a variety of instruments evoking tumbleweeds, desolation, and violence. Montenegro added a stronger beat with strummed guitar chords to give the tune a poppier feel, with the opening melody played on an ocarina, and the response on a harmonica, with hand movements producing the wah-wah sound. Montenegro’s own voice supplied the grunting Indian sounds, and famous whistler Muzzy Marcellino did his thing. The recording was released in 1968, and after a slow build, and much to Montenegro’s surprise, it became a pop hit, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 on June 1, 1968 — 50 years ago this weekend. It is a joy today to bathe in the music Montenegro created. He was born in New York City in 1925, and served in the Navy for two years, mostly as an arranger for the Naval Station Newport (a base in Rhode Island). After the war, he studied music at Manhattan College. His fi rst recording was with the Glen-Spice Orchestra, arranging and conducting Dion’s fi rst recording, “Out in Colorado” and “The Chosen Few,” pre-Belmonts, with backing by a group called The Timberlanes. The entire record had been recorded before Dion was chosen as the lead singer. In 1960, Montenegro recorded several albums for Time Records (no relation to Time Inc., the magazine publisher). The fi rst was a blast of energy heralding the new decade, called “Bongos + Brass.” This and many albums like it from that era were designed to show off new stereo recording technologies (in Time Records’ case, something called Process 70), and boost sales of hi-fi
14
May 31 - June 13, 2018
Via discogs.com
The synthesizer-infused “Moog Power” includes a killer version of the fast middle part of “MacArthur Park.”
equipment. It was clearly meant to be played in plush living rooms with ultra-modern décor and furnishings, as background to cocktail parties where the martinis flowed freely and the people were beautiful and sexy. This one starts off with a killer version of Edvard Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King.” The Who, Rick Wakeman, and many others before and after would adapt this number, but this one puts them all to shame. There are also stellar versions of “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue,” “Take the A Train,” and “Laura.” This one was followed in short order with a trio of albums: “Cha Chas for Dancing” (whose tracks include “Tea for Two” and “Mack the Knife”), “Boogie Woogie + Bongos” (“Peter Gunn,” “Begin the Beguine”), and “Arriba!” (which shows Montenegro getting into the Hispanic/Western style later reflected in his Morricone covers). In 1961 Time released “Montenegro in Italy,” featuring classic Italian songs suffused with sounds purportedly from the streets and canals of Italy. Montenegro arranged Harry Belafonte’s orchestra in the early ’60s. His work can be heard on
“Belafonte at the Greek Theater” (1963), and “In My Quiet Room” (1966). By 1965 he was well-known enough that “Bongos + Brass” was re-released as “Montenegro and Mayhem.” At that time it was clear that Montenegro was destined for the business of spy music. Though he had no hand in the composition of the music for “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” (those duties were performed by Jerry Goldsmith and others, including Lalo Schifrin, who would later write the famous “Mission Impossible” theme), RCA released two successful albums Montenegro arranged and conducted with music from that show. The music on the albums was much more high fidelity and punchier than anything people were going to hear on their televisions at the time. He also came out with an album of music from spy movies and TV shows called “Come Spy With Me.” Around this time he wrote the new, sprightly theme for “I Dream of Jeannie,” used in seasons 2 through 5, a welcome replacement for the tired waltz that was used in the fi rst season. (That theme also has lyrics, written by Buddy Kaye, although they
were never used.) His fi rst real fi lm scoring job was for “Hurry Sundown,” a 1967 Southern racial drama set after World War II, produced and directed by Otto Preminger, a critical flop. But after that Montenegro was back in his wheelhouse. There’s James Bond, there’s Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuryakin, there’s Maxwell Smart, there’s Derek Flint — but for some of us, the ne plus ultra of secret agents is Dean Martin’s Matt Helm, the boozing, babe-loving, hedonic hero of four fi lms. Montenegro scored the last two, “The Ambushers” and “The Wrecking Crew.” In my recollection both really got my adolescent juices flowing when I saw them in the theater in London, doubtless due in part to the soundtrack. (The theme song for “The Ambushers” was written by famed Monkees songwriters Boyce and Hart.) Montenegro went on to score “Lady in Cement,” a 1968 thriller starring Frank Sinatra and Raquel Welch, “Charro!,” a 1969 western starring Elvis Presley, “The Undefeated,” a 1969 John Wayne western, and “Viva Max,” a 1969 comedy western starring Peter Ustinov. He also continued to churn out albums, notably 1969’s “Moog Power,” featuring the synthesizer. The album cover of that one shows his bearded, mephistophelean face with a patch board in his forehead, and Day-Glo electric rays zapping from his visage. It includes a killer version of the fast middle part of “MacArthur Park.” In the ’70s, Montenegro scored several TV shows, notably “The Partridge Family.” His last score, for a 1977 thriller called “The Farmer,” is apparently lost. It is said to be chilling electronic music. The fi lm was given an X rating until the director succeeded in screening it before the ratings board again, without the score, and it was re-assigned an R and distributed by Columbia for 17 years. But it was never released on DVD because the music rights could not be found. Montenegro suffered from severe emphysema in his later years, and died in 1981 at age 55. An Australian label called The Omni Recording Corporation released a compilation album of Montenegro’s works in 2008 called “Mr. Groovy.” Good title. DowntownExpress.com
Shakespeare’s Last is Another First for EPIC Players ‘Tempest’ is the neuro-inclusive troupe’s latest BY SCOTT STIFFLER Having put their stamp on cabaret, musical theater and modern drama, the latest project from EPIC Players is a fi rst-class case of postage due, as the neuro-inclusive company (EPIC stands for “empower, perform, include and create”) adds that mandatory Shakespeare credit to their body of work. Founded in 2016, the young but prolific group is currently an “Anchor Partner” at Tribeca’s Flea Theater. Their 40+ members take part in theatrical productions, workshops and showcases, while also sharpening necessary skills such as on-camera acting and auditioning. Many are on the autism spectrum, working alongside those with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and vision or mobility impairment. Determined to present adaptations of stand-alone artistic merit, but also dedicated to creating work that draws upon their unique life experiences, Shakespeare’s final play is a fitting choice for their first excursion into his challenging realm. “There’s an ‘otherness’ about it that we wanted to explore,” noted artistic director Aubrie Therrien, of “The Tempest.” Therrien, who shares directing credit on this production with Travis Burbee and Meggan Dodd, explained why the work resonates with EPIC. “Our Prospero is played by a fellow living on the spectrum,” she said, of lead actor Anton Spivack, “and I think he really encompasses the character’s struggle. Prospero was excommunicated from his social hierarchy by his brother and his peers, and banished to this island where he created his own world, his own magic. Now his relatives are coming onto shore, and he has to decide if he wants to forgive them or not.” “I relate to his feeling of isolation and alienation, and his desire for vengeance,” said Spivack of Prospero. “There have been times in my life where I felt excluded, particularly when I was younger and had a hard time getting along with my classmates… There have been times when others made me want to get back at them,” he noted, but also cited Act 4, Scene 1 as his personal favorite — a telling nod to how the play’s notions of revenge and forgiveness intersect. “In the scene,” Spivack explained, DowntownExpress.com
Photo by Ric Sechrest
Anton Spivack as Prospero in EPIC Players’ neuro-inclusive adaptation of “The Tempest.”
L to R: Melissa Jennifer Gonzalez (Sebastian), Yasha Kaminer (Gonzalo) and Dante Jayce (Antonio).
“Prospero blesses the union of Miranda and Ferdinand and makes the pageant appear, only to have it end. It’s a strong emotional shift, going from joyous to deep and contemplative, with one of Shakespeare’s all-time best monologues.” With its tongue-twisting language and layers of emotional complexity, Shakespeare has proven a daunting task to actors of every level of experience — but Therrien noted that in raising their bar to embrace the Bard, the adaptation created by her directing team is comprised largely of “cuts for time/length… and we shifted some minor dialogue around to accommodate the speech needs of our actors.” Audiences familiar with EPIC’s recent work (the Peanuts-themed musical “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” and play, “Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead”) will see a much different cast, Therrien said, noting that in addition to Spivack, those who play “Miranda, Ferdinand, Ariel and Caliban have not had lead roles with us in the past.” This production, she said, has EPIC’s largest cast so far: 20. Somewhat more modest numbers, and new faces, await their upcoming productions, with adaptations of “The Little Prince” and “Little Shop of Horrors” on the horizon. “We are a teaching company,” Therrien said, “so we want to teach actors they might not get the lead in every play.” As for what Spivack would like us to learn from observing the events on Prospero’s newly populated island, he told us, “I hope the audience sees what people with neurological disorders are capable of doing, that we can bring Shakespeare to life and get the audiences to identify with us — and our characters.” May 31–June 10. Thurs.–Sat. at 7pm and Sun. at 2pm. At The Flea Theater (20 Thomas St., btw. Broadway & Church). Runtime: 1 hour, 40 minutes w/10-minute intermission. For tickets, visit theflea.org ($25 general, $55 for reserved). Opening night tickets ($55) include admission to the reception, with food and open bar. More info about EPIC at epicplayersnyc.org. Social Media: facebook. com/epicplayersnyc, instagram.com/ epicplayersnyc, and twitter.com/epicplayersnyc. May 31 - June 13, 2018
15
Bringing Home the Humanity — and Inhumanity — of War Gallery exhibition further expands the Larry Burrows legacy
Image courtesy of Laurence Miller Gallery & The Larry Burrows Collection
An injured Marine tries to help a fellow soldier in “Reaching Out” (Mutter Ridge, Nui Cay Tri, October 5, 1966).
Image courtesy of Laurence Miller Gallery & The Larry Burrows Collection
“Operation Prairie” (Hill 484, October 1966), the cover photo of the book by Horst Faas, “Requiem: By the Photographers Who Died in Vietnam and Indochina.”
16
May 31 - June 13, 2018
BY NORMAN BORDEN In the pantheon of outstanding war photographers, Larry Burrows easily ranks as one of its bravest. A native Londoner, he dropped out of school at age 16 and got a job in the darkroom of LIFE Magazine’s London bureau. After becoming a staff photographer for LIFE (covering confl icts in the Middle East and Africa, among other assignments), Burrows went to Vietnam in 1962 — and the rest is literally history. For the next nine years, until his death when the helicopter he was in with three fellow photojournalists was shot down over Laos in 1971, Burrows produced a series of searing, memorable longform photo essays. His work brought home the humanity and inhumanity of the Vietnam War and, for that matter, all wars, as no other photographer ever did. By pioneering the use of color fi lm in war photography, his pictures had more impact and mood. He stayed with GIs on the front lines during fi refights, hitched rides on helicopters going into combat, and could spend days trying to capture a single image as part of a photo essay. Rather than depending on a chance incident, he was willing to wait until the right moment. This wasn’t typical wartime photojournalism — but it brought him enormous respect from his peers and many honors, including two Robert Capa Gold Medal awards from the Overseas Press Club. Just last year, many of his photographs were used in Ken Burns’ documentary, “Vietnam.” The new exhibition at Laurence Miller Gallery, “Larry Burrows Revisited,” is the gallery’s fi fth solo show of his work since 1985, and includes more than 50 color and black and white images that bookend his career. Among them are iconic Vietnam pictures such as “Reaching Out,” and nine images from his bestknown series, “One Ride With Yankee Papa 13,” that LIFE published as a 14-page spread in 1965. Work from the 1950s includes news coverage and candid portraits of Brigitte Bardot, Louis Armstrong, C.P. Snow, and T.S. Eliot, along with a memorable image of Winston Churchill from a different point of view. In an interview at the gallery, Russell Burrows, the photographer’s son and Director of The Larry
Burrows Collection, explained that the new show features 11 digital color prints that were made from the original transparencies. “We printed some before in other formats,” he noted. “We used to do everything as dye transfers since the color in the original dyes had an intrinsic richness. But this is the fi rst time we seriously did these as digital prints from the original transparencies — and the color holds up in the new prints.” Recalling how the dye transfers were made for the fi rst Laurence Miller Gallery show in 1985 (10 years after the war ended), Burrows said, “The people who worked on these in the lab were very committed to getting the colors right. But while we were struggling to explain to them how red the mud should be, a couple of sales people from the lab — Vietnam veterans — walked by and said they could smell it. So we called them in and from the beginning, we had a set of prints we could go back to.” Burrows related how, in 1985, he didn’t want to take it upon himself to decide what the color should look like. “The whole idea was to try and match the original picture,” he said. “You fi nd people who see a picture reproduced somewhere else and they say, ‘Why isn’t the picture like that?’ Well, it’s the reproduction that’s wrong.” He explained that his father’s photos have very much of a “Vietnam look,” with colors that are recognizable. Some pictures were shot with Kodachrome, but most were taken with extra High Speed Ektachrome. The other photographers working at the time only shot with black and white fi lm. In one of the new digital prints, “Relief of the Khe Sanh” (1968), the impact of color and Burrows’ wellregarded compositional abilities are very evident. The red flag becomes a framing device, separating soldiers on the left with the artillery piece and helicopter in the background. An army jeep in the lower right completes the picture, with a cloud of yellow dust adding another element to the spectacle. Burrows’ talents raised confl ict pictures to the level of fi ne art. In fact, he was the only photographer allowed to take the doors off a fighter-bomber so he could lean out and take pictures. DowntownExpress.com
Image courtesy of Laurence Miller Gallery & The Larry Burrows Collection
“Ammunition airlift into besieged Khe Sanh” (April 1968) is a stunning tableau of men in war.
When other photojournalists asked why they didn’t get the same privilege, the Vietnamese authorities replied, “Mr. Burrows request was granted not because he is a photographer, but because he is an artist.” His editors and colleagues all agreed. Russell Burrows feels many pictures have a cinematic quality, as in a frame from a movie, noting, “There are people coming and going in them.” Perhaps the best example is Burrows’ iconic image entitled “Reaching Out” (1966). It shows an injured Marine, a bloody bandage around his head and supported by fellow Marines, gesturing as if trying to comfort his wounded comrade, who is lying in the mud, his hand grasping the remains of a tree. Other soldiers seem oblivious; it’s just another day of war, and the photographer fi lls the frame, edge to edge, with the story. However, when it was later discovered that friendly fi re had caused the casualties, “Reaching Out” helped fuel anti-war sentiment. “This tableau,” Burrows’ son observed, “has been described as representing the American war in Vietnam.” In his heartfelt introduction to thebook “Larry Burrows: Vietnam,” David Halberstam’s wrote, “From the start, the DowntownExpress.com
best photos from Vietnam were his. He had a feel for the war and the people fighting it, for the special texture of it, and he understood as well that if you were going to be a photographer for a great photo magazine, this was the ultimate assignment, demanding the ultimate risk, for the two could not be separated, opportunity and risk.” As this exhibition demonstrates so vividly, Larry Burrows made the most of the opportunities and took enormous risks. With images including “Puff the Magic Dragon” (a machine gunner aboard a C-47 over the Mekong Delta), ARVN soldiers loading captured guerillas onto a boat, and Secretary of Defense McNamara at rallies in Saigon, his work is truly monumental, and a poignant reminder of a divisive time in US history. Today, when cable news and the Internet have become the main source of news for millions of people, this show can give a new generation a better appreciation of the permanency and power of a single news photograph. Through June 29 at Laurence Miller Gallery (521 W. 26th St., btw. 10th & 11th Aves.). Hours: Tues.–Fri., 10am–6pm and Sat., 11am–6pm. Visit laurencemillergallery. com or call 212-397-3930.
Image courtesy of Laurence Miller Gallery & The Larry Burrows Collection
In “Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Biggin Hill RAF Station, 1954,” Churchill waits for Mendes-France, Prime Minister of France, to deplane. May 31 - June 13, 2018
17
Photo by Brian Rogers
A video image of the set is projected onto the set itself, creating a visual blur of past and present. THE END continued from p. 13
estate’s owner, whose taste for luxury means disaster for Vanya. “It’s about time, memory, and aging,” Catlett said. “Vanya is stuck in the past. He thinks he’s still 45. He’s locked in a loop.” In addition to Chekhov’s original text, Catlett noted that the production was heavily influenced by Marcel Proust, whose masterwork “In Search of Lost Time” plays with shifting memory — or, as she put it, “the convergence between now and remembering. Proust said that if you can’t transform your griefs, they can kill you. Memory gives people, gives characters, an opportunity to reclaim and revisit the past. The video and audio elements we’re using allow us to explore that.” “This Was The End” is performed Thurs.–Sat, June 7–9 and June 14–16 at 8pm, and Sun., June 10 at 3pm. Runtime: 65 minutes, At the Mabou Mines Theater, at 122CC (150 First Ave., corner of E. Ninth St.). For tickets ($25, $15 for students with ID), visit maboumines.org or call 866-8114111. Also visit restlessproductionsnyc.org.
18
May 31 - June 13, 2018
Photo by Mick Bello
After shelving the project for nearly a decade, “This Was The End” creator/director Mallory Catlett found her age-appropriate Sonya in Black-Eyed Susan (seen here on swing). DowntownExpress.com
DowntownExpress.com
May 31 - June 13, 2018
19
ADVERTORIAL
TOP DRIVER DISTRACTIONS Using mobile phones Leading the list of the top distractions behind the wheel are mobile phones. Phones now do more than just place calls, and drivers often cannot pull away from their phones, even when driving. According to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, studies have shown that driving performance is lowered and the level of distraction is higher for drivers who are heavily engaged in cell
20
May 31 - June 13, 2018
phone conversations. The use of a hands-free device does not lower distraction levels. The percentage of vehicle crashes and nearcrashes attributed to dialing is nearly identical to the number associated with talking or listening.
Daydreaming Many people will admit to daydreaming behind the wheel or looking at a person or object outside of the car for too long. Per-
haps they’re checking out a house in a new neighborhood or thought they saw someone they knew on the street corner. It can be easy to veer into the direction your eyes are focused, causing an accident. In addition to trying to stay focused on the road, some drivers prefer the help of lane departure warning systems.
Eating Those who haven’t quite mastered walking and
chewing gum at the same time may want to avoid eating while driving. The majority of foods require a person’s hands to be taken off of the wheel and their eyes to be diverted from the road. Reaching in the back seat to share some French fries with the kids is also distracting. Try to eat meals before getting in the car. For those who must snack while en route, take a moment to pull over at
a rest area and spend 10 minutes snacking there before resuming the trip.
Reading Glancing at an advertisement, updating a Facebook status or reading a book are all activities that should be avoided when driving. Even pouring over a traffic map or consulting the digital display of a GPS system can be distracting.
DowntownExpress.com
