Virtual Arts TV Shows Their TITS

Wired Arts Fest Celebrated in Queens

March 8, 2013 / Theater in Queens / Long Island City Neighborhood / Queens Buzz. I attended a Virtual Arts TV performance, entitled TITS, on February 19th at the Secret Theatre in Long Island City. The performance was part of a twelve-day event entitled Wired Arts Fest. Wired Arts Fest is one of the first of its kind, and by the looks of things, appears to not only have legs, but great TITS as well.

TITS, the show, is the brainchild of Ege Maltepe who is a Turkish actress from Turkey who now resides in NYC. The comedy lecture takes on one of huMANity’s favored subjects: TITS. It seems Ege stumbled upon the American [and perhaps global] fascination with this part of the female anatomy while joking around. She found that both women, as the owners, and most men; have something between a fascination and obsession with TITS.

And so she created Professor G, the main character in this one-woman comedy lecture. Click this link to view the Virtual Arts TV Queens performance of TITS, including photos of the performance [NOT FOR CHILDREN].

M55 Art Gallery In LIC

Relationships Undressed

August 19, 2012 / Long Island City / Art Galleries in Queens / Queens Buzz. It had poured all day Wednesday, but began to let up as I decided to brave the rain to attend the M55 Art Gallery opening of Relationships Undressed in Long Island City. I arrived early to meet with artist Emily Stedman who I had been communicating with for the past couple of weeks. This was her first solo exhibit in LIC, and it appeared to be an intriguing exhibit which she’d entitled Relationships Undressed.

The lead art piece she used to advertise the exhibit was a water color painting she’d done showing beautifully sculpted naked bodies swirling around in a variety of poses on the canvass. The art exhibit opening was by rsvp [& posted in our events calendar] and I was informed that the wine servers would be scantily clad.

Click here for our review and a slide show of the art exhibit at M55 in LIC entitled Relationships Undressed.

Rosh Hashanah – Jewish New Year 5773

Chabad LIC & The Jewish New Year

September 18, 2012 / Long Island City / Ethnic & Religious Culture in Queens / Queens Buzz. This report is about the significance of Rosh Hashanah in the Jewish faith, and includes information about the Chabad LIC community center. The report is based upon a visit I had with Rabbis Zev Wineberg and Yitzchok Moully at the Chabad LIC Center opening on September 22nd, 2011, and includes photos taken at that time.

I arrived at the Chabad LIC community center about mid evening. Rabbi Zev welcomed me into the center where there was a small gathering of friends and neighbors who had gathered to celebrate the opening of the center. Forty families have come together since Rabbi Zev and his wife Rivka arrived in Long Island City in December of 2006. Their friend, Rabbi Yitzchok, was also in attendance. Rabbi Yitzchok is also an artist and he depicts scenes and objects from Orthodox Jewish life in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Williamsburg and Crown Heights in pop art silk screens. The photo to your right shows one of his works.

We began discussing the Chabad LIC Center as well as the history and significance of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Chabad LIC is one of 3,000 Chabad centers around the world.

Click here to learn more about the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah in LIC & Queens, and the Jewish Center in LIC, called Chabad LIC.

Beautiful Day For A Bike Ride

May 7, 2012 / Long Island City & Astoria / Queens Buzz. This Sunday some 32,000 bicyclists rode through Astoria and LIC on their way to completing a 40 mile bike ride through all five boroughs of NYC. I caught up with them at the Con Edison rest station along Vernon Blvd in LIC. Some of the cyclists had come from other countries and they saw this as a nice way to see all of New York City, not just Manhattan. Others had come from other states and were cycling enthusiasts who echoed the same sentiment.

The Con Ed rest station offered beautiful vistas of Manhattan, while offering raisins, bagels, bananas, Larrabars and rest rooms. Many caught their breath, made adjustments to their gear and selves, consumed a bit of nourishment, before resuming the relaxing trip and heading on to Brooklyn and Staten Island.

I followed them out of the rest stop down Vernon Blvd - click here to see our slide show of the 5 Boro Bike Ride in LIC, Astoria & Queens 2012.

Art Exhibit: How Much Do I Owe You?

Clocktower Building 'No Longer Empty' in LIC

January 7, 2013 / Long Island City LIC Neighborhood / Art Exhibits in LIC / Queens Buzz. I went to a workshop in December sponsored by Materials For The Arts at the Clocktower Building in LIC. The workshop was an adjunct program done in tandem with an arts organization called No Longer Empty.

No Longer Empty is hosting an art exhibit entitled How Much Do I Owe You in the abandoned Clocktower Building in LIC through March 13th. The exhibit includes a number of workshops and programs throughout the exhibit period, which may be of interest to those who have a curiosity or fascination with modern art and our ongoing social / economic crisis.

As I approached the Clocktower Building I noticed figures moving across the face of the Clock … click here to read our report on the arts organization No Longer Empty, which is hosting the exhibit How Much Do I Owe You, at the Clocktower Building in LIC; and about the Collaborative Drawing Workshop sponsored by Materials For The Arts in LIC.

Queens High School Closings

How Are Queens High Schools Performing, Are They Being Evaluated Fairly & How Do Public Schools Perform Vs Charter Schools

April 21, 2012 / Education in Queens / Queens Buzz. Is the Mayor trying to improve NYC school system performance or is he trying to privatize the NYC public school system? When I began a journey to better understand the issues surrounding public school system performance beginning about a year ago, I had no idea I would end this segment of the journey pondering the question articulated above.

Over the course of the past year I’ve attended a number of meetings and rallies held at public high schools in Queens concerning the performance of public high schools in the Queens school districts. My last visit was on Tuesday, April 17, 2012, when I attended the public hearing at LIC High School regarding the Department of Education recommendation to close it.

As I entered the building I was surprised to see such a large turn out for the meeting. An auditorium that seats nearly a thousand people, was nearly full.

Click here to read our report about the public high school closings in Queens.

Remediation Of Newtown Creek Begins In Queens & Brooklyn

After 150 Years Of Environmental Destruction, Remediation Of Newtown Creek Begins

January 21, 2012 / Long Island City, Sunnyside, Maspeth & Brooklyn / Green in Queens / Queens Buzz. Every good process begins with information gathering, so that the decision makers have all of the relevant information they need to make sound decisions. After the information gathering / research is done, and the decisions are made, then the actual execution of the [clean up] process begins.

And so it was that on October 27, 2011, I visited the Newtown Creek Superfund Public Meeting – Queens at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City. There were more than ten representatives, largely from various departments within the EPA, on hand to answer questions and provide information to the public about how the federal government process to clean up Newtown Creek.

Click here to learn more about the history and EPA clean up of Newtown Creek which shapes the border between Queens and Brooklyn.

Richard Meier Model Museum

New Architectural Model Museum In LIC

Summers in LIC / Long Island City LIC / Queens Buzz. We had the opportunity to visit the Richard Meier Model Museum in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens. The museum began as a storage area for the models made and used by world famous architect Richard Meier, during the architectural design process. In the museum you will see some of the great buildings he's designed over his long career, such as the billion dollar Getty Museum in Los Angeles or the Smith House in Darien Connecticut. But there's much more ...

The museum reminded me a bit of the Noguchi Museum, where the artist had a vision of his own lasting legacy. In visiting the museum, I felt I not only had the opportunity to view the architectural process as managed by one of the great modern architects, but also to become a bit more acquainted with the man himself. Laura Galvanek, guide and curator, took me on this fascinating journey through the Richard Meier Model Museum [LIC / Queens NY].

Space Womb Births New Talent

Color & Gray Exhibit Open Through Friday

July 16, 2011 / Long Island City Neighborhood / Art Galleries / Queens Buzz. I attended the opening reception of a new photography exhibit at the Space Womb gallery in Long Island City. Space Womb opened a couple of years ago on Jackson Avenue on the street level of the 5 Pointz building located across from PS1 Moma.

The exhibit featured nine artists, seven of whom immigrated from Korea. This lent an Asian accent to the opening and provided a different lens through which one could experience NYC through art photography, as many of the photos shown in the exhibit were taken in the NYC metro area.

The exhibit was entitled Color & Gray and was curated by Ung-Jib Park. I had opportunity to meet and converse with Ung-Jib, as well as Jongwang Lee the Space Womb gallery manager, and eight of the nine photographic artists, about their works.

Click here this weekend to read our report and view photos of the Color & Gray photography exhibit at Space Womb in LIC.

LIC Arts Open

Art, Dance, Theater @ LIC Arts Open

May 19, 2011 / Long Island City LIC / Art Galleries & Museums / Dance & Theater / Queens Buzz. I attended an art exhibit and several dance performances on Tuesday evening in Long Island City.  These events are part of a ten day celebration of all of the arts in Long Island City.  The celebration will end this weekend but there’s still time to join in the fun [see front page story and Queens Events section for remaining events].

On Tuesday night there were eight artists featured at The Industry, each of whom was given the walls of a ground floor studio apartment upon which to hang their works.  All of the artists were from Long Island City, chosen by Jeffrey Leder who curated the event.

Click here to read more about the live art performance and photos of LIC Arts Open.

Feared Immigrantula Seizes PS1

Hundreds Held Spellbound, Released Unharmed Late Saturday

May 1, 2011 / Long Island City LIC / Art Galleries & Museums / Queens Buzz. I have to admit, it was frightening. I was there and I saw it. The long feared 'Immigrantula' swept through PS1 Art Museum and captivated a spellbound audience Saturday afternoon.

I arrived at PS1 Art Museum around 3 pm. I had decided to check out the Saturday afternoon art performance entitled 'We Have Come To Take Your Jobs'. And even though it was a nearly perfect day outside, I found hundreds of people waiting for the performance to begin, in one of large rooms on the third floor of the museum. The lights were out and videos were playing on two large screens that hung along the back wall of the large room. It was hot and steamy, as drapes hung over the doorways, sealing the human heat inside. Modern music with a rock beat filled the space. It reminded me of a downtown Manhattan club in the late 80's.

Click here to read more about the live art performance and photos of Immigrantula at PS1 Art Museum in Long Island City LIC.

Solar Panels & Energy In Queens

LICBDC Seminar - Solar Energy Tax Incentives 2011

March 20, 2011 / Long Island City / Queens Buzz. I just returned from a seminar detailing government incentives for installing solar on residential and commercial buildings in 2011. Based on what was presented in the seminar, anyone contemplating this sort of investment, might want to think about doing it in 2011.

The federal, state and city government are all offering tax incentives which add up to significant savings and shorten the payback period over which a building owner could recoup their investment in a solar energy system. Solar is a hedge against increases in oil prices, and demand for such systems is likely to grow. Given the tax incentives it’s possible, that as we approach the end of the year, companies selling solar energy systems might become quite busy. The photo to your left shows a roof top solar energy system.

Click here to read our report about the tax incentives for solar energy in Queens NY in 2011.