Holiday Magic!
Holidays are a super exciting time for New York living. I must say that it was a little weird initially for me to experience this time of year with no snow, but I'll admit that the adjustment was fairly simple.
Forever enjoying the theatrical side of life led me to attend the Judy Garland Christmas Show starring Peter Mac, my favorite Judy Garland tribute artist.
There have truly been so many renditions of the Judy Garland life story over time. I find that media loves to take the cheap shot of painting her life as being something that was only marked by tragedy. There's no denying that there were tragic elements to her life story, but the same could be said for anyone. After Peter Mac's glorious performances I find that he typically breaks character and talks about the influence that Judy has had on his life.
Within his talk, he states that Judy saved his life. Being a gay boy in Long Island, NY he explained that he longed for school to end so that he could watch Judy's MGM films in his basement.
Why is that story never told? That she served as the artistic life-line for people who didn't feel if they were a natural fit in society. I too was enthralled by Judy's overwhelming grace and talent at a young age. She has given me the confidence to attend the Judy Garland festival in Grand Rapids, MN twice, attend Oztoberfest, meet John Fricke (world renown Judy Garland historian), and perform in Meet Me In St. Louis. Judy has shaped my life and her influence on my life cannot be summarized in words.
A lot of my New York life is dedicated to taking in as much art as possible (visual arts, music, dance, writing, etc.) and supporting and connecting with as many Alaskans as possible. Fairbanks is the artistic mecca of Alaska and is home to a great many artists who have actually relocated to the tri-state area. Through Shirley Scott (my friend and true connections diva) I have been able to talk with Dr. James Johnson. He was head of the music department at the university in Fairbanks, before my time, however, from time to time he would give my brother piano lessons.
Anyways he is an organist at a church out in Staten Island where I actually ventured with his husband. At this concert I was also pleasantly surprised that two other past Fairbanksans (John & Kathy Butler-Hopkins) were also performing. Dr. Hopkins guest conducted the choir and Dr. Butler-Hopkins played violin accompaniment.
This concert/service was absolutely gorgeous and I'm so glad that I went. Afterwards we all went out to eat, and above is a photo that was taken of our entire group.
Well, that ended up being quite a night. The overall pace reminded me of the time that I spent in France. I have to say that no one really seemed to really be concerned by the time. That night I ended up getting to bed around 2:00 AM.
A few nights later, I went to an art gallery in Harlem and met up with my friend Salem.
I'll never forget this experience. At first I'll admit that I was kind of weirded out by this woman wearing a kimono who just randomly turned on a boom box and dramatically started flinging paint onto a blank canvas, but then I realized how beautiful it was. I cannot express in words the release of emotions that I experienced as she slammed different colors onto the canvas, but I was able to identify that I had never seen anything like that ever before.
I have been neglecting to mention Ron, because I must say that a lot of the memories that we experienced were not good. I try to remain to be fairly positive, but I must admit that Ron really did put me to the test. Over the past few months I must admit that we did spend quite a bit of time together and somehow I relayed to him that I truly wanted to fall in love with someone who treated me like a princess. Then he asked me if he could serve as my prince? I just shook my head and told him that our story was too sad.
I'm afraid that this is the last picture and the favorite one that we had taken together. It was taken at a bar in the Underground Market that had amazing holiday decorations. We had just traveled from the Bronx where Jennie Herreid held her annual holiday party, This event was so classy and solidified that it is possible for me to one day give a sophisticated party.
Even though I was able to recognize that my romantic life was kind of in shambles, I didn't let that bother me. "Onward and upward" is the name of the game. So after listening to a Podcast with a special guest appearance by the one and only Shirley Scott, I was inspired to join "Goldstar" a half-priced ticketing service.
Well "Goldstar" had a ticket deal for the Hip Hop Nutcracker, so being an ultra dance enthusiast and annual attendee of "the Nutcracker," I decided to go.
Here is a photo of me pulling out my hardest-core hip hop pose just before the performance. This picture was taken by a man that I had befriended on my way over to the theatre from the subway station. When I asked if he would snap a photo of me I think that it would be a typical point and shoot, but was visibly shocked when I pulled out this elaborate pose!
Just before I was to go back to Alaska, I made sure to accomplish a few things on my ToDo list. One of them was to go over to Bruce's apartment and see his gorgeous Christmas tree.
I don't think I have discussed my lack of ability when it comes to navigation in quite some time, however, this time definitely qualified as exhibiting some quality lack of orientation.
After having ventured into the wrong building while strangely gaining entry, we were able to conference call and then establish that I had not walked far enough down the avenue.
Once I had arrived at the correct apartment I was amazed at how beautiful everything was in there. I guess that's just the annoying thing about being poor and unable to afford much of anything; this causes you to be jaded and not realize that one day it will be possible to have a beautiful apartment in Manhattan.
The last thing on my ToDo list to accomplish in the city was to go see Harry Connick Jr. sing Cole Porter on Broadway. I was very glad that I was able to see this show, and I'm sure that it was a limited run, but I left with mixed feelings after it was all done.
This anecdote about the operation of the Judy Garland show remains to be very famous. It is well known that she starred in her own television series for a year in 1963 and on the show they had her doing skits, dancing with her guest stars, doing comedy, and singing on occasion. It wasn't until the show was canceled that she began to do what she was known for - belting out songs with extreme conviction and emotion. At that point her ratings began to improve.
That's the way I felt at this show. Connick tried to wow his audiences with plasma screens, amazing props, and complex choreography when all we really wanted to do was hear him sing. When he simply did what we had paid for, it was exquisite.
