Sunday, December 13, 2009

NEW YORK'S BEGINNING TO FEEL LIKE CHRISTMAS


POLLYTALK FROM NEW YORK
By Polly Guerin
December 14, 2009

NEW YORK: IT’S BEGINNING TO FEEL LIKE CHRISTMAS

Look to the stars and fill your heart with dreaming as New York sparkles with a thousand dazzling lights, snowflakes float in the air, huge red lit bows embrace a building and the Empire State Building lights up red, green and white. For surely it is true, the holidays are here, so be of good cheer and let us celebrate this wondrous season. Here’s the scoop!!!
THE CERAMIC SHOW bows with the perfect personal touch gifts for holiday giving at the Westbeth Community Room, 155 Bank Street (between West & Washington Sts.) The Friday Night Preview on Dec. 18th gives you a first chance at the beautiful handmade ceramic bowls, platters, vases and mugs. This year there’s also a unique jewelry selection featuring pieces made of ceramic and bead also silver and precious stones. Sip a glass of wine from 6 to 9 pm and get into the holiday spirit. Sixteen local ceramic artists present original wheel and hand built one-of- a- kind pieces. Mostly the signature signed, these pieces are lasting treasures for that special person on your list or they make it a collectible purchase just for yourself. Open Saturday, Dec. 19th from 12 to 7pm.
LITTLE IMP: You’ve heard of Eloise at the Plaza well here comes HENRY AT BROOKS BROTHERS. Henry, a precocious young boy, loved shopping there so much that he hid in the racks until the store closed so that he could spend the night. This mischievous imp proceeded to dress mannequins in some of the store’s finery and even paraded around in the famed Lincoln’s jacket. Just in time for holiday shopping Henry is the character in a new children’s book, “Tales from Brooks Brothers; Henry’s Unsuitable Adventure.” written by Mike Reiss, illustrated by Dara Goldman and based on a character created by the company’s public relations director, Arthur Wayne. Visit Brooks Brothers and pick up a copy of Henry’s adventures at, 346 Madison Ave., www.brooksbrothers.org.
VINTAGE LOVERS: Remember Flair magazine, Fleur Cowles amazing magazine with pop up features and iconic design, which I wrote about in my blog amazing art deco divas? Well, Flair is still influencing the creative genre and here comes VINTAGE, a new title influenced by Flair. The print run is of only 1,500 copies with a cover price of $20, a biannual that is something of a limited edition. The premier issue is hand-bound and features quirky design elements: A story about record jackets by former Village Voice columnist Gary Giddins is presented in cutouts that resemble a 45 rpm record, and a piece on bygone hairstyles has a flip book-like construction. Launched by Ivy Baer Sherman. Barbie and Forties recipe cards round out the retro package. Sold at specialty bookstores, including Rizzoli on 57th Street in New York. Sherman alludes to the fact that people still like to sit down with a book, and Vintage proves that.”
JANE AUSTEN AT THE MORGAN: In an age when email has so often replaced the art of letter writing it is comforting to see 19th century letter writing firsthand in the Morgan Library’s exhibit of Jane Austen’s missives, “A Woman’s Wit,” now on view and through March 14th. Like Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Austen conserved precious writing paper as carefully as possible. Austen typically used a single sheet, folded in half to make four pages. However, when she ran out of room, she filled the margins, writing perpendicular to the body of the letter, and then, if she had still more to say, she would continue across her own script—EBB did the same. Austen once said, “I have now attained the true art of letter writing, which we are always told, is to express on paper exactly what one would say to the same person by word of mouth.” Treat yourself and a friend to the Morgan, 225 Madison Ave. at 36th Street. 212.685.0008. www.themorgna.org. To get further connected to Jane join the Jane Austen Society of North America JASNA 1.800.836.3911 and check out the website www.jasnaNY.org.
Well Ta Ta darlings, as you know I’m a total fan of Fleur Cowles and FLAIR so I’m off to get my premier copy of VINTAGE and cozy down in a comfortable chair with fireplace ablaze on a cold winter’s night. Fan mail to pollytalk@verizon.net or visit blogs: http://www.amazingartdecodivas.blogspot.com, http://www.thefashionhistorianpollyguerin.blogspot.com. Wishing you a very Happy Holiday!!!

Monday, December 7, 2009

NEW YORK SINGS ANGELIC CHRISTMAS MUSIC


POLLYTALK FROM NEW YORK
By Polly Guerin
December 7, 2009

NEW YORK SINGS ANGELIC CHRISMAS MUSIC
Gather snowflakes while you may, for singing fills the winter night. Listen to the melodious song Christmas will be here before too long. And have you heard the angels singing? Raising their voices all around the star lit town most events are Free and oh what glee to hear such joyous ringing of percussion, brass and bells!!! Here’s the scoop!!!
Calling all Angels!!! Let voices rise up with cheer at the 5th Annual Carol Sing with seasonal choral music for harp and strings by Houkom, Paulus & Willan at (MAPC) the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, Wednesday, December 16th at 7 pm, 921 Madison Avenue at 73rd Street. FREE Admission! Audience carols, poetry and readings with the Saint Andrew Chorale & Orchestra, children’s Choirs. Andrew Henderson & Mary Huff, conductors, John 7 Joyce Evans, readers. Then on December 20th THE PIPES OF CHARISTMAS features Music of the Season performed on pipes, and organ and brass. For more info: Tel: 212.288.8920; www.mapc.com.
Scandinavia lights up the holidays with the Annual Holiday Concert with (SCO) the Scandinavian Chamber Orchestra at ASF) American Scandinavian Foundation’s Scandinavia House, 58 Park Ave. (38th Street). Led by its founder Per Tengstrand and Magnus Martensson, SCO will perform classical works along with traditional Scandinavian Christmas music in a special concert that celebrates the magic of the holidays in Scandinavia. Sunday, December 13, at 4pm $25 ($15 ASF members). There’s a Swedish Children’s Christmas Workshop on December 12th at 1 pm. Children will experience how Swedes prepare for Christmas in a customary julpysseldag (Christmas craft day). They will created their own decorations and learn the secrets of making traditional holiday items like woven hearts, yarn tomtar and paper angels. Cost $6 ($4 ASF members, ages 5 to 10. www.scandinaviahouse.org. FREE is the Saturday morning storytelling with Hans Christian Anderson storytellers, Dec. 12 and Jan. 9, 11am, ages 5+. Stories and songs from Sweden by Therese Folkes-Plaire. Last chance to see the film THE LAST FARM Wed., Dec.9th, 6:30pm & Sat.,Dec, 12 3pm. Tickets $9 ($6 ASF members).
FASHION’S NIGHT OUT, Italian Style is the place to be from Dec. 10th to Dec. 22 on New York’s Madison Avenue where MADE IN ITALY features a Free shopping spree with incentives. 30 Italian luxury purveyors who have banded together with special events, charity tie-ins, discounts, and gifts-with-purchase in the holiday spirit offering incentives to encourage shopping. By invitation: Made in Italy kicks off with a VIP party Dec. 10th at the Morgan Library & Museum on Madison at 36th Street with free sparkling wine at Giorgio Armani on Madison between 65th and 66th streets, an unveiling of Fretter’s limited edition collection with Town & Country editor in chief Pamela Fiori, on Madison between 65th and 68th streets, and a cocktail party at Bric’s, on Madison between 54th and 55th Streets to support the T.J. Martell Foundation for Leukemia Cancer and AIDS research. All this and more sponsored by The Italian Trade Commission and the Madison Avenue Business Improvement District. For a VIP invite contact: rsvp@aciconani.com.
TARGET-TO-GO Comes to New York for the Holidays at Gansevoort and Washington Streets at the entrance to the High Line. Don’t get fooled it’s not a store or even a pop-up shop. It’s a façade with a list of different products to choose from. Shoppers will request products by number at the ordering window and then go to another window to pick up your purchase, which will be wrapped and ready to place under the Christmas tree. Target To-Go runs from Dec. 11th to 13th, from 10am to 8pm. WHEW!!! New York may still not have a Target, but Target-To-Go is worth the visit.
Well, Ta Ta, my darlings. I’m off to hear the angels singing and do a little holiday shopping myself. Fan mail welcome: pollytalk@verison.net. A visit to my blogs will give you greater insight into the world of pomp and circumstance. http://www.amazingartdecodivas.blogspot.com. If fashion is your passion go to http://www.thefashionhistorianpollyguerin.blogspot.com. For beauty advice from a sage of the ages go to http://www.awakenyoursleepingbeautyedgarcayce.blogspot.com. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!