(1:35pm Nov 20, 2009)

(via kennedys)

Just noticed this Kennedys Tumblr with great pics. (Points for not going the F*** Yeah Kennedys route.) For those who might be interested, Katie Couric is moderating “A Special Celebration of the Life of Senator Edward M. Kennedy” with Vicki Reggie Kennedy and Ted Kennedy Jr. at 92Y in December.

(1:23pm Nov 20, 2009)

New York City - 1970's

outerworldly:

Last night I finally caught up with my friend Ben, who I’d met in Boston some years back.  He suggested that we attend 92YTribeca’s free screening of four films that captured New York City in the 1970’s. They were delightful!

Descriptions were stolen from the Y’s website.

Bowery Men’s Shelter (10 min)
Bowery Men’s Shelter is the portrait of the many alcoholics, drug addicts and ex-mental patients at a men’s shelter on East 3rd St in the early ’70s.
Directors: Tony Ganz and Rhody Streeter. 1972.

Crosby Street (18 min)
Crosby Street is a short that reveals the various social and economic degrees on the streets of New York City. The film includes interviews with the various residents, merchants and homeless.
Director: Jody Saslow. 1975.

Huberts (7 min)
A nostalgic look at Hubert’s Flea Circus and Museum on West 42nd St in the early ’70s, Huberts shows us a world on the brink of extinction.
Directors: Vicki Polon, Rhody Streeter and Tony Ganz. 1972.

Coney Island (8 min)
“Made by two teen filmmakers in the early 1970s, Coney Island is an ode to Coney Island’s appeal and history as an urban summer refuge begins onboard a crowded F subway train. The fishing pier, the beach and Astroland arcade and amusement park rides, including the famous Cyclone rollercoaster, are explored to the accompaniment of a lively jazz soundtrack, sounds of summer and insights from locals and lovers of Coney Island. Historical photographs are used to illustrate remembrances of Coney Island’s exuberant past.”—NYPL
Directors: Steve Siegel and Phil Buehler. 1973.

The now-adult filmmakers that shot Coney Island were in attendance and talked about how they were able to borrow equipment and get free film from a young filmmakers organization on the LES.  They also discussed the landscape on Coney Island and how, until recently, it was much the same as they shot it almost 40 years ago.

Apparently all of these films are available through the New York Public Library film archive.  92YTribeca are showing different selections every month (3rd Wed. at 6:30.)  You can check their calendar to see what’s coming up.

(5:37pm Nov 19, 2009)

(via Gawker)

Congratulations to Colum McCann who won the National Book Award for fiction on Wednesday night for Let the Great World Spin, a novel featuring a sprawling cast of characters in 1970s New York City whose lives are ineluctably touched by the mysterious tightrope walker who traverses a wire suspended between the Twin Towers one morning.

He’s coming to 92Y in February for a reading with John Banville and to lead a fiction master class.

(4:10pm Nov 19, 2009)

portraitasazoo:

 The 92nd St. Y. Now that I am not longer obligated to go there has become one of my favorite places in the city. Though I miss being paid to see many of the amazing cultural, literary, and political figures, it is nice to be able to go there on my own accord.

Would you (or anyone else) like to attend an event for free? We’re looking for people (bloggers, writers, however you want to identify yourself) to write event recaps for our blog. Doesn’t have to be super-extensive, 300 words or less is fine. Unfortunately we can’t pay but we can definitely hook you up with two tix to an event you’re interested in and possibly a quick interview with the featured person(s), if available. Browse our talks, readings, concerts, dance performances and downtown programs and let us know!

(3:33pm Nov 19, 2009)

Audio: Philip Levine at the 92Y Poetry Center in November 2001 reading “On the Meeting of Garcia Lorca and Hart Crane,” “My Father With Cigarette Twelve Years Before the Nazis Could Break His Heart” and “Two Voices.”

In an interview with The Atlantic, Levine once remarked on the difference between performing poetry and writing it:

“The process of writing poetry depends on being alone in a room, and being comfortable being alone for long periods of time—almost reveling in solitude and slow time. I’ve had friends tell me, younger poets, that when they came back from their early reading tours they’d get very depressed. I guess they were waiting for applause as they picked up pen and pencil. But there is no applause.”

He returns tonight to perform with Rita Dove. Clap for them!

92Y Poetry Center webcasts and access to our archive are made possible in part by the generous support of the Sidney E. Frank Foundation.

(2:02pm Nov 18, 2009)

Kathy Bloomgarden, CEO of Ruder Finn, on the segments her PR firm groups bloggers into. On the fourth group, the “ignore” group:

This is the vendetta types, who are out to kill. And they’re very happy to spread all kinds of rumors of one sort or another. And misinformation that gets out into the blogosphere is absolutely impossible to shut down…There’s some group you just don’t want to give any information to. You just want to keep them, you know, you’re not going to engage at all with them. There’s nothing you can to some bloggers that is actually going to have a positive interaction.

Coming up Dec 3 at 92YTribeca: Travel Gets Social: The New World of Travel Media with Bowen Payson, Matt Gross, Adam Wallace and Mark G. Johnson.

(11:18am Nov 18, 2009)

Just a reminder about tonight’s free screening at 92YTribeca (6:30pm) of four short films about and from 1970’s NYC. The films are being provided by the New York Public Library, on 16mm print.

(6:00pm Nov 17, 2009)

In May of 1999, the 92Y Poetry Center celebrated its 60th anniversary with a gala reading. Appearing that night were Stanley Kunitz, Grace Paley, Edward Albee, Reynolds Price, Tony Kushner and Rita Dove, who read poems from her latest collection, On the Bus with Rosa Parks. In a note at the back of the book, Ms. Dove shared the origin of its title:

“In 1995, during a convention in Williamsburg, Virginia, as the conferees were boarding buses to be driven to another site, my daughter leaned over and whispered, ‘Hey, we’re on the bus with Rosa Parks!’ Although the precipitating incident did not make it into a poem, the phrase haunted me—and so this meditation on history and the individual, image and essence was born. (By the way, Mrs. Parks took a seat in the front of the bus.)”

This recording is Rita Dove’s reading from that evening.

Ms. Dove returns to the Poetry Center this Thursday to read from her latest meditation on history and the individual, Sonata Mullatica, a book which reimagines the life and times of George Polgreen Bridgetower, a 19th-century violin virtuoso. She will be reading with Philip Levine, whose new collection is News of the World.

Unterberg Poetry Center webcasts and access to our archive are made possible in part by the generous support of the Sidney E. Frank Foundation.

(2:48pm Nov 17, 2009)

Bill Gates with The Economist‘s Matthew Bishop at 92Y last week talking about philanthropy, salaries on Wall St, global health and vaccines, and more.

Bishop will be at 92YTribeca tonight to discuss The Future of Philanthropy with Charles Bronfman and Jeffrey R. Solomon.

(11:09am Nov 16, 2009)

Annette Insdorf, the director of undergraduate film studies at Columbia University, continues the Reel Pieces Series of screenings and onstage interviews with major film artists with tomorrow’s Reel Pieces—Keanu Reeves.

Previously long sold out, we have just released some tickets to tomorrow’s event with Keanu. Joining Keenu will be special guest Rebecca Miller, with a preview of her film, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009).

You can purchase tickets here.