Visual Arts Center

Tonight we headed to VAC and were fortunate to see the senior graduating  Art Student projects and the MFA design projects.  Whenever we attend an event at VAC I am always impressed by the creativity of the artists and the shoes of the visitors to the exhibits.  Art students and their crew and their viewers are some of the most beautifully dressed young people in Austin.  So different from film and liberal art students who definitely look more like hippie/hipsters.  So while I love viewing the art, instillations, designs, I must admit I adore looking at the audience as well.  Liz joined us, a young woman took our photographs, we ate at MELLOW MUSHROOM and drove Liz back to her home on the East Side. I finally got to meet "Calamity" her roommate's pooch who kissed me passionately while barking at Abe and refusing to allow him in the house.  They've met before.  Some dogs just don't like guys.  I'm so happy she liked me 'cause she loves my kid.

Vincas and Mulch

What could be so interesting about weeding, planting vincas and spreading mulch?  I'll tell you.  I came home from yoga and cycling at Gold's Gym to do some serious back bending gardening  on a big plot of mounded garden not seen from the street.  And while I dug, raked, pulled, fed and watered by hand I realized the enormous gratitude I felt toward our garden.  It's a place that is not politicized; doesn't deny me or anyone else their rights; responds beautifully and graciously to loving kindness; reminds me I loved watching my children grow; only questions my intelligence when I plant the wrong thing and rewards me for planting the right thing; and makes me feel proud that I could have a hand in the eco system of Austin.  I watch butterflies and bees feed and plop down on my flowers.  People walk, run, drive,and bike by and tell me how happy they are to see my garden.  And when anyone compliments the garden to Abe he always says, "it's all my wife's doing."  And he runs outside to tell dog walkers not to let their pooches trample my flowers.  He is so protective.  That is what my garden does for me and I am forever grateful.

Tour of Austin Studios

How lucky were we!  Today we got to tour the Austin Studios, SOUNDTRACK; LYING GAME set, all in the presence of a very talented education AFS person (Katy) who was instructing a group of nine  5th graders from the AFS After School program.  Abe and I learned as much as the 5th graders about film and TV production. Chale Nafus invited us on the tour and I got a chance to meet Darla Berry who has handled all of our AFS membership needs with such grace.  Thank-you Chale, thank-you AFS.

CARMEL/Austin Film Society

Tonight's Essential Cinema from the CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM/IBRAHIM series was a film by Amos Gitai, a well known Israeli filmmaker.  This is an autobiographical  complex and lyrical film that mixes the difficulty inherent to Israeli life with the personal intimacy and beauty that Gitai had within his own family.  He is the son of educated parents who came to Israel before it was a state.  He traveled between the U.S., Europe and Israel for his education, to make films, to live comfortably.  There is no doubt that this filmmaker loves his homeland while openly declaring what he sees as  wrong and hurtful and dangerous.  He tells his son "it is hard to be a father in Israel."  He shows his viewers how hard it is to be an Israeli.  Thanks again to Chale Nafus for providing us with 4+ pages of program notes, history, and insight.  Best of all was his introductory advice "sit back and enjoy this film, don't try to figure out which war was which and if the little red haired boy is Amos.  He is."

LIGHT/THE HOLOCAUST AND HUMANITY PROJECT

When  we engage in any cultural or artistic performance about the Holocaust I am prepared to be emotionally riveted.  Abe was born in Berlin to two holocaust survivors and when he and his twin sister were 10 weeks old their Dad was taken to Siberia.  His parents never met again.  And so Stephen Mills, Ballet Austin's Choreographer  has brought us one woman's experience as a survivor of the Holocaust and both Abe and I were moved, absorbed, engaged and appreciative  that this story is shared by a creative artist to a broader audience.  The Q&A was enlightening and Stephen Mills is a mensch in his description of taking on this project.  What was really up close and personal was the lead ballerina sharing that since her first performance of this piece in 2005 she has become the mother of two deaf sons, ages 2 and 4.  This is life.  And dancing this piece has helped her to understand better her enormous responsibility to these two young boys.  I did not have a dry eye this afternoon.

SQUATCH

Went to Arkie's Grille this a.m. for a shoot of an indie film SQUATCH.  A terrific diner scene, many extras and actors and as always learned so much from watching crew, A.D.s and producer, sound and camera.  While you wait a lot you also meet some of the most interesting people imaginable.

Met up with Liz on S. Congress where we bought props for her photo booth for "Tiny Tails To You" petting zoo and then on to 2nd Street for shoes at URBAN OUTFITTERS.  She shopped while I chilled with a glass of wine.  Tonight we all 3 finally used my coupon at Hyde Park Grill.  

I was able to get  45 minutes of cycling at the gym this afternoon while I watched THE HELP.   What could be better?

Farewell Party at Trudy's

Tonight we wished Lucrece Pierre-Carr the very best as she moves on from Foundation Communities to a new residential program where she will be program manager.  Lucrece is a social worker who worked with both Liz and Abe at Foundation Communities Skyline Residence.  I can't say enough good things about this intelligent, beautiful, hard working social worker who is always like a ray of sunshine.  I know Abe will miss her.

Never been to Trudy's before.  Good drinks and nachos.

THEY CALL IT MYANMAR/Austin Film Society

Once again AFS brings to the Alamo S. Lamar a documentary that opens our eyes to a country that is one of the most isolated in the world (second to North Korea).  Robert Lieberman, a physics professor, documentary filmmaker, world wide traveler, and based on the Skype Q&A a really nice guy, has traveled to Myanmar numerous times and brought us a view of a culturally rich yet impoverished country with resilient and smiling people, glorious temples,  religious monks, devout Buddhists, and a military regime that rules it's country with a clenched fist.  I remember so well that after a devastating storm with typhoon winds that killed 100,000 and left thousands of kids orphaned the military refused to allow aid into the country.  But there is a possibility of some loosening of the reins more recently.  And a visit by Hillary Clinton last year is encouraging.

The house was packed, there were numerous questions (all intelligent) and the producer, Deborah Hoard was present to answer and pitch this film.  We walked out better informed, and hopeful that in the face of such hardship there is some hope that an improved life providing education, healthcare, and basic human services is a possibility.  Once again a thank-you to AFS and it's Program Director, Chale Nafus for bringing this film to Austin.

QARANTINA/Austin Film Society

Back to Essential Cinemas and tonight I don't know what's better: this beautifully shot complex story about contemporary Iraq (depressing) or Chale's notes which provide the best socio-political-cultural view of life in modern day Iraq (complex and depressing). The film is about an assassin who lives with a blended family: husband and wife, pregnant step-daughter and a young son who yearns to be in school but spends his day shining shoes. The family has stresses and strains, there are illicit affairs and incest and the assassin functions as a hit man for an Iraqi mafia type boss.  And then goes on to kill whomever.  While confusing at times I've learned to sit back and watch and ask questions when it's over.  Now I'm comfortable to turn to the young man sitting next to Abe at the end of the film and ask him what I didn't quite get.  And in the hallway the discussion continues with other AFS attendees.  Happy to be back to the Alamo and Chale's notes.

Class with CK McFarland today.  God she is a great acting teacher!  Lucky me!

Trustafarians

Whit Stillman has written a new screenplay about the upper class urban bourgeoisie.  DAMSELS IN DISTRESS is being shot in Staten Island New York (the most working class borough in New York City) where these damsels would not step foot in.  The filmmaker of METROPOLITAN, BARCELONA, and THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO is once again bringing us the voice of preppies, urban bourgeoisie, angsting college age girls.  His characters are the polar opposite of young people that come to Austin.  While in the past I have always referred to this group as trust fund kids he nailed it for me when he described them as "trustafarians."  I like that "trustafarians"....perfect!

BIG FOOT

Received a call today from a filmmaker I met at Austin Film Meet.  Asked me if I was available to be in a shoot on Saturday at ARKIE'S on East Ceasar Chavez.  A waitress with no lines.  I'll be there and thank-you Anthony Caruso for thinking of me for this role.  Brooklyn's in the house.

TRASH DANCE/SXSW

Final night of SXSW for films and Abe and I were fortunate to see Andrew Garrison's documentary TRASH DANCE.  Some time last year Abe and I were sold out of the Trash Dance Project performance of city sanitation workers in a choreographed dance by Allison Orr.  It poured the day of the performance so I did not feel so badly.  This movie brought it all to us: the choreographer's process, the personal tributes told by the sanitation workers, the evolution of a dance and most importantly the building of relationships.  This film could be renamed DIGNITY.  Allison Orr brings to us her dignified presentation of the men and women who pick up trash in the city of Austin.  Her pure interest in these workers is evident throughout the film. We learn of their lives, their hard work, their talents and other interests, and how they feel about their work.  All of this is done by her riding their trucks with them, learning how to haul trash, pick up dead animals, on and on.  And then she gains their trust and has them collaborate on a dance performance with the best original music created by Graham Reynolds.  Is there anything in Austin Graham doesn't create music for?  He is so talented and generous in sharing his musical wisdom.

After the film a Q&A with the filmmaker, choreographer and some of the sanitation workers.  The audience couldn't clap long enough and hard enough to show how much we LOVED this film.  The most telling feature of this film was watching the hundreds of Austinites who came to this performance in the pouring rain and applauded these workers, their trucks and the creative artists who brought us this ray of sunshine.  If you can see this film don't miss it.  It is inspirational.

FRIENDS WITH KIDS

I rarely post a negative review but can't do otherwise with this one.  This is an annoying, irritating film about immature 30 year olds who want to hang out and socialize just as they did prior to children.  The couple that seems so on top of it are the two that make the baby but don't marry or have a romantic relationship.  Everyone else is presented as unhappy, chaotic, and clueless about what happens when you're not the center of the universe.  Having spent 25 years in Park Slope, coined the "mamageddon" of the universe where I complained bitterly about the ridiculousness of child rearing practices I found the dialogue unreal, uninspiring and staged.  Maya Rudolph was a major disappointment.  The opening scene where parents with kids in a high end fancy restaurant are observed was poorly acted. The couple returning to the table after having sex in the bathroom was a parody and silly.  What's the hype about this film?  Because the director and producer have been together 14 years and have not had kids? This is an unimportant issue.  They should have written a memoir.  My major response to this film was: "who cares?"

KUT/Springsteen and Ray Wylie Hubbard/ What a Welcome Home

Flew back into Austin just before midnight, 4 hours of sleep, hyper, bluesy, spacey, getting back into this very different town and it's own vibe.  HEB, Gold's Gym, laundry and some gardening all by noon.  People smiling wherever you go; my regular check-out women all friendly, interested in my trip; ABC pest control guy so courteous and helpful but I'm still in NYC withdrawal mode.  UNTIL, UNTIL, I click on KUT when I finally sit down and there's Bruce Springsteen talking to musicians at the Convention Center, live stream.  He's talking about his own musical journey and the song that changed everything for him.  The ANIMALS singing "We Gotta Get Out of This Place", the first song that addressed class consciousness for him, that told his story, that inspired him to write, write, write about his world.  He talked about the great contribution of Motown artists and swears that James Brown jamming with Mick Jagger is the best musical performance in the entire experience of music.  And as I write Jay Trachtenberg is replaying Ray Wylie Hubbard at the 4 SEASONS this morning.  Everytime I hear Ray Wylie sing that talkin' blues autobiographical song (THE GRIFTER'S HYMNAL) about his stripper girlfriend when he was a young guitar player in a tough bar and how proud he is of his son who has become a guitar player I just know I'm in the right place for me.  Thank-you KUT for reminding me what I love about Austin.  I'm not at SXSW this a.m. so you brought it to me.  I'm home.

Bagels,Bagels,Bagels/Live From New York

Can't return to Austin without bagels: multigrain, everything, poppy, and thin bagels for the weight conscious.  Headed out this a.m. to La Bagel Delight and had no problem waiting for the thin ones to come out of the oven while I devoured the scenery of people walking to work, the subway, Methodist Hospital and bringing their kids to school.  Weather is beautiful and I'm reminded how it's difficult to leave my friends. We'll head off to Regal Heights to see Abe's Mom and say good-bye,then I'll subway to Manhattan to meet Lenny for lunch.  So once again it's a tri-borough day with my slip of a good for a week  metro card.  Mixed blessing to have lived in two special cities.  Friends are left behind in one you know so well, while your new life awaits you in the one you now call home.   We're off to the F train.

BOY@ The Angelika/Live From New York

Back to NYC Fridays with Pammy.  Lunch at DOS CAMINOS (delicious up scale Mexican) and then a film at The Angelika.  BOY is a gorgeous film shot in New Zealand with an indigenous cast (mostly children) directed by Taiki Waititi Paladin.  The terrain is beautiful and the  cinematography captures the richness of environment while the kids are obviously living a close to basic life very rich in culture.  A young boy is left at home to care for his younger relatives (5 in all) while Grandma goes off to a funeral.  He takes his tasks seriously and happily and all appears well until Pop escapes from jail and comes home with his crew made up of two seriously stupid jailbird friends.  Boy is faced with an identity challenge: become like Dad or maintain his own true self.  The imagery in this film is quite creative and fantastic.  All violence is substituted by Michael Jackson's impromptu THRILLER  dance sequences and illustrations come to life to communicate the special powers of the younger brother. Mom has died in childbirth  and her grave is a central figure in the film.  There's a goat, hidden money, marijuana plants, sparklers, and an unusual old man who emerges as a hero.  All of this contributes to a beautifully made film filled with humor, sadness, and truth regarding family and coming of age for a young boy and his brother.  Don't miss this, it's wonderful.

Park Slope Revisited 2012/Live From New York

We walked Prospect Park this a.m. in glorious sunny weather (we've had only sunshine since arriving) and split up for a day with different friends.  First, we both visited the Ansonia Storgage Warehouse Corporation, the cooperative Abe and I lived in for 25 years.  Brought both the kids home to this address when they were born.  Rang our neighbor Daniel's bell and he was home!  A talented designer/photographer who works out of the home he shares with his wife and 11y.o. twins.  Showed off a fantastic renovation that uses the empty air space of 24' ceilings to create separate bedrooms and office space.  Same brick walls and brick pillars in this 100+ y.o. warehouse of Ansonia Clocks.  After the Park I stopped by the kids' schoolyard at P.S. 107.  WOW!  What a difference in population since the neighborhood gentrified. Now a  desireable  school with the writers, directors and new wave of creative professionals who came to Park Slope.  The schoolyard floor has been painted professionally with a track, basketball court, potsy and hopscotch.  So different from the hand painted mosaic pictures my kids played on (more like Austin).  Ran into old work buddies, store owners and operators and was reminded how easy it is for us to fall into the rythym of our Brooklyn life.  I'm still a newcomer to Austin is what I realize and still have to work on building community.   Last night the good fortune of dinner with Stuart and Lenny very dear friends (Lenny and I met in college 45 years ago) and today is lunch with Revathe, dinner with Gloria,shopping in between.  As Lenny told me last night "you live a charmed life."  I hope I'm worthy of it.

Dr. Ira Reiser Honored at Gotham Hall/Live from New York

Last night we entered Gotham Hall, a renovated bank at Herald Square which was beautiful, filled with people from all over the country and world who were there to honor our friend Ira who has been a nephrologist at Brookdale Hospital  for 30+ years.  What a great party: good food, great music and dancing, and funny speeches honoring Ira who has remained at a hospital and become the head of Medicine in one of the most underserved communities in Brooklyn.  Ira made mention that when he was a kid he saw a film about a rural doctor (Robert Mitchum)  and decided then that he wanted to devote his life that way.  And so Brownsville is lucky to have their own Robert Mitchum in Dr. Ira Reiser.  For those of you unfamiliar with NYC hoods, Brownsville has one of the highest crime rates, highest levels of unemployment, highest levels of illnesses related to poverty yet Brookdale Hospital is the #1 employer and provider of medical services in this community. Ira's children, Craig and Samantha, provided great anecdotal material about their Dad in their introductions.  Hats off to a great doctor and a great friend.

We Can See For Miles and Miles/Live From New York

This morning was bicycling and yoga at the 9th Street Y with Pammy where I ran into the celebrated Joe Zarba, Park Slope's favorite photographer who has photographed everyone's important events.  Then Abe and I hooked up for lunch (he at his beloved Smilin' Pizza and me bringing in a bagel from Bagel Delight).  Abe chatted it up with the owner's son and then we headed on the F train to Weegee's exhibit MURDER IS MY BUSINESS at International Center for Photography on 43rd and 6th.  I had taken my kids to see this exhibit years ago on New Year's Eve.  Awesome photographs of murders, Coney Island, and accidents in NYC taken by the famous Weegee in the 30's and 40's.  Then we walked over to HighLine at the northern end on 31st and 10th Avenue and walked down to 13th Street where we hooked up with Abe's sister at Bill's Burger and Bar (highly recommended). The HighLine is a salvaged railway line that has been converted into a walkway with benches, plants, retained tracks and salvaged wood benches. Abe and I shared a chaise lounge bench where we could see for miles and miles across the harbor and watch the sun set.  Good thing Pam gave me a hooded down coat and gloves it was freezing.  But I kept warm and was happy to share this moment when HighLine wasn't crowded with pedestrians.  Back into the rythym of my hometown.  Won't dare to look at SXSW film offerings.  Can't have it all.

O MEIN GOTT YOU LIVE IN TEXAS??/Live from NY

Drop off our bags with Pam in Park Slope, walk to Bagel World for bagels and lo fat veggie cream cheese and chat with Scott's Mom who manages the place when he's off or at the other shop on De Kalb. Get on the F train for an hour plus and arrive in Jackson Heights (which now resembles East Asia, South America and China all put together) and arrive at Abe's Mom's residence Regal Heights.  There she is in the lobby, hair  long and wavy and sparkling white, being spoken to by a lovely recreation therapist and holding a humentaschen (apricot or prune tart) in honor of Purim.  She sees us, introduces us to every one in eyesight and when we get upstairs and tell her we just arrived on a plane...she looks at us in awe and exclaims...."o mein gott..you live in Texas?"  This is all done EXTREMELY LOUD and INCREDIBLY CLOSE.  She is 95, has a great sense of humor, has a wonderful caretaker, Lucie, and a remarkable will to live.  Arrive back in Park Slope after another hour plus on the subways where we see a young woman push an older man in an altercation over a seat (welcome home) and then on the way back to Pam and Ira's marvel how coming home reminds us how quickly we get back into the rhythm.  We see my former hair cutter Michael, Abe runs into a young handball player, the streets are pulsing with activity, lot dirtier than Austin but it's what we know so well.  Ingrained in our psyches, makes us who we are.  More to come.

Leavin' On a Jet Plane

I do know when we'll be back again.  Heading off to the Big Apple to see friends, Abe's Mom and sister, gallivant in the old Park Slope hood, honor Ira at Gotham Hall where he will be recognized for his many years of service as a fine physician  at Brookdale Hospital.  Ride the subways, have coffee and bagels on 7th Ave, 5th Ave, walk Prospect Park, go to the gym with Pammy at the 9th Street YMCA, see HIGHLINE, Weegee's exhibit at ICP, gallivant with Pam, dinner with Lenny and Stuart, see Revathe, Gloria.  So lucky to have friends we can stay with.

And at the end of the day when all is done, Austin is home now.

MY TEHRAN FOR SALE/AFS

Back to Essential Cinemas tonight with this telling and dramatic film exposing the underground world that young people in Iran have established given the rigid constraints of their current society.  The film is written and directed by a woman filmmaker, Granaz Moussavi, who emigrated to Australia with her parents at the age of 23.  The film goes back and forth in time between Iran and Australia and leaving Iran is never a clean separation.  It is clear that people long for a culture and life in Iran that is freed from the current fundamentalism and strict punitive controls.  We see people in a public office waiting to be whipped for attending a co-ed rave.

The acting in this film is superb.  The lead female actor was subsequently imprisoned for 5 months and sentenced to 90 lashes (!!!!!) for her involvement in this film.  She was released the day before the punishment was carried out after worldwide outcry.  In Chale's notes (5+ pages) he provides us with so much good background information that even  includes the Bronx birthplace of one of the musicians.  I have learned more about Iran this past month through films than I would have ever imagined.  A country that has very brave people yearning for cultural freedom.

Class with CK McFarland

Had my 3rd class today with CK.  She filmed a scene that Angie and I had rehearsed which CK wrote. ( A tough woman trucker picks up a young hitchhiker runaway on a thruway).  One of the first things I noticed about CK is that she loves to teach.  By the time you reach my age you've had plenty of teachers of all kinds of subjects and you can separate out those that do it for a living and those that have a passion for sharing what they know.  And CK is that second kind of teacher.  She is intelligent, wise, shares what she knows constructively, has enormous patience, gives great advice about technique, is thoughtful about each of her students, and brought her two adorable small and cuddly dogs to our class. I loved that.   I came home and watched the DVD of the three different shots and could see how much I changed in that small time.  It is a pleasure to be in this class with CK who tells us how much she enjoys being there.  And she does not bullshit.  She is for real!

Austin's Kite Festival

So I parked the car on a lovely street I'd never seen before and walked to Zilker where there were thousands of Austinites flying kites.  The diversity of it all (people and activities) was what really made me so happy.  I hooked up with Liz (amazing that we found each other) who was taking photos of kids, babies and pregnant women for TEXAS CARES FOR CHILDREN.  It was good to see her in action, babies, kids and parents took to her easily.  And I got to be the proud Mama taking this all in.  Abe recovered from NYC style handball.   A beautiful day in Austin.  Gearing up toward heading home to Brooklyn in a few days.  When we go back I guess I refer to it as home.  Hard to erase 60 years of NYC identity.

New Kerbey Lane and NYC Handball

Big, modern diner atmosphere with booths, great Kerbey Lane menu, good service, and right on South Lamar.  First we hit Goodwill to make donations and picked up a neat shirt  for Abe and then two minutes later were at Kerbey Lane right down the road.  I mulched the garden this glorious afternoon and Abe finally found guys who play good old NYC handball.  Perfect!

CRAZY HORSE

Today we headed off to Violet Crown to see Frederick Wiseman's CRAZY HORSE.  Mr. Wiseman is a meticulous documentary filmmaker who humbles me with views of welfare offices, hospitals and ghetto NYC High Schools.  But he also loves the performing arts with views of BALLET in NYC and Paris and BOXING GYM.  Today he brought us the creative and beautiful Parisian erotic revue of a dance performance night club renowned for it's artistic and creative presentation of nude dancers.  Let me forewarn you, these women are beautiful, stunning and elegant.  They are creative dancers who have been selected with enormous thought and sensitivity. Austin filmmakers will observe how hard working, collaborative, and ingenuous all of the crew and directors are to create the ultimate performance.  The last solo dance sequence of a woman dancing  on ropes is breathtaking.  The film is long, and the editing could have firmed things up but this film is stunning, pure beauty for the beholder.