Lea Salonga To Perform in New York for Typhoon Ondoy Victims

Lea Salonga greeting fans and signing autographs at the Broadhurst Theatre
stagedoor on March 11, 2007. In her last Broadway appearance, she played the
role of Fantine in the revival of Les Miserables.

Tony Award winning artist LEA SALONGA will appear in a special performance for the victims of Typhoon "Ondoy" to be held at the Philippine Center's Kalayaan Hall located at 556 Fifth Avenue (between 45th and 46th Streets) in New York City on Monday, October 12 at 7:00 PM. The event is called "Lea Salonga Sings in New York for Typhoon Ondoy Victims." Ms. Salonga has always been an inspiration to many, not only for her enormous talent, but also for her love and dedication to her country. The typhoon, which struck the Philippines on September 26 led to the worst flooding disaster in the country in over 40 years. It has displaced over 450,000 people and left 380,000 living in makeshift shelters. There are more than 200 known to have died due to the severe flooding that affected most of the Metropolitan Manila area and nearby provinces. After several days, another typhoon followed that affected parts of northern Luzon.

To purchase tickets for the event, please go to: http://leasalongaondoybenefit.eventbrite.com

Donations are encouraged even if you are unable to attend this benefit event. Please go to http://www.af-usa.org. Go to “Donate Now” and select "AF-USA Typhoon Relief Fund." You may also send your check to payable to Ayala Foundation USA at 255 Shoreline Drive, Suite 428, Redwood City, CA 94065. Please put "flood victims" on the memo portion of your check.

Lea Salonga is a singer and actress from the Philippines who is best known for her role in the musical, Miss Saigon. In the field of musical theatre, she is recognized for having won the Olivier, Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics, and Theatre World Awards for Miss Saigon, the first to win various international awards for a single role. She was also the first Asian to play Eponine in the musical Les Misérables on Broadway. Salonga is the singing voice of Princess Jasmine from Aladdin in 1992 and Fa Mulan for Mulan and Mulan II in 1998 and in 2004, respectively.

The Ayala Foundation USA (www.af-usa.org) is a public charity registered as a 501© 3 tax-exempt organization. As the bridge between US-based Filipino individuals and communities, and Philippine-based social development institutions, AF-USA becomes a mechanism by which donations and other forms of support can reach intended beneficiaries in the Philippines. Ayala Foundation USA is coordinating with Ayala Foundation, Inc and other groups conducting major relief efforts. The donations you send will be brought to areas where the need is greatest and areas that have not yet been reached by groups doing disaster relief mobilization.

Lea Salonga's concert schedule:

10/9/09 - 8 PM, Tarrytown Music Hall, Tarrytown, NY

10/10/09 - 8 PM, Mainstage Theatre, University At Buffalo Center for the Arts, Buffalo, NY

10/16/09 - 9 PM, Club 88, Cache Creek Indian Casino, Brooks, CA

10/17/09 - 8 PM, Club 88, Cache Creek Indian Casino, Brooks, CA

10/18/09 - 7 PM, Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, Cerritos, CA

10/20/09 - 7:30 PM, Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater, Medford, OR

10/31/09 - 8 PM, Eisemann Center, Richardson, TX

11/2/09 - 7 PM, Morongo Casino Resort & Spa, Cabazon, CA

11/4/09 - 8 PM, Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Toronto, Ontario,

11/6/09 - 8 PM, Arena Theatre, Houston, TX

11/7/09 - 8 PM, Paramount Theatre, Austin, TX

11/10/09 - 7:30 PM, The Concert Hall, Neil S. Blaisdell Center, Honolulu, HI

11/13/09 - 7:30 PM, Harold K.L. Castle Theater at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center, Kahului, HI

Tickets for venues above are available at Ticketmaster.

12/11/09 - 12/12/09, LEA SALONGA...Your Songs Concert, PICC Plenary Hall, CCP Complex, Philippines: http://www.leayoursongs.com/

12/16/09 - 8 PM, Esplanade Concert Hall, Singapore

UPDATE: See the posting for the October 12, 2009 performance at the Philippine Center.

Korean Parade and Festival

These are snapshots of the 29th Korean Parade and Festival held last Saturday, October 3rd. The parade began at 42nd St. & Sixth Avenue down to 24th St. There were floats, marching bands, Korean traditional dances and yes, politicians including John Liu. There was also a Festival on 32nd Street, between 5th Ave. and Broadway, during and after the parade.

Sidewalk Photography: PATRICIA FIELD @ 302 Bowery Street

302 Bowery Street, September 26, 2009, 2:30 PM

This photo was taken right outside PATRICIA FIELD's boutique at 302 Bowery Street.

From wikipedia:

Patricia Field is an American costume designer, stylist and fashion designer. Field was born in New York City and raised in Astoria, Queens to Greek and Armenian parents, after they immigrated there from the island of Chios in Greece.[1] She has claimed credit for inventing the modern legging for women's fashion in the 1970's. She is the owner of Patricia Field, a boutique located at 302 Bowery in Manhattan.

Field met Sarah Jessica Parker during the filming of 1995's Miami Rhapsody. The actress became so enchanted with Field's collections that they became friends and continued working with her on the series Sex and the City. Before beginning the first season of the Sex and the City television series on HBO, Parker asked to have Field design some of the clothes that her character, Carrie Bradshaw, would wear. During Field's tenure as costume designer on Sex and the City, the show became famous for the fashions showcased. For her work on Sex and the City, Field was nominated for 5 Emmy Awards, with one win, and nominated for 6 Costume Designers Guild Awards, with 4 wins. She is one out of six Honorees of the 2008 Reel Time Film Festival.

Field has been in constant demand by some high society clientele ever since, and some of her designs have become well-known. Her television credits include Hope & Faith and Ugly Betty. She served as costume designer for the feature film The Devil Wears Prada, for which she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Costume Design, although in an extensive interview included as a bonus feature on the film's DVD release, she admits she dressed the cast by gathering garments from other designers' ready-to-wear collections rather than creating them herself.

For many years she was romantically committed to costume designer Rebecca Weinberg (Field)[2], with whom she has partnered on Sex & the City and Spin City.

Field also appeared as the first guest judge during the first season of the Bravo reality television series Project Runway.

Field has been seen in the USA and Athens with Greek superstar Anna Vissi, whom she is good friends with. Vissi went to the Oscars with Field in 2006.

Patricia Field boutique was featured in a 2007 episode of Kathy Griffin's reality show My Life on the D-List, as well as on a 2008 episode of Paris Hilton's My New BFF.

Field also designed the outfits in Namie Amuro's music videos for her three songs from her single 60s 70s 80s, as well as Anna Vissi's music videos for Stin Pyra and Alitissa Psihi from her album Apagorevmeno.

Carnegie Hall Ensemble ACJW at the Bryant Park Fall Festival

Ensemble ACJW performed last night at the Upper Terrace of Bryant Park as part of the ongoing Bryant Park Fall Festival. Ensemble ACJW is the performance arm of The Academy, a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and The Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education. 

The Academy is a two-year leadership program for the finest post-graduate musicians from leading music schools that provides performance opportunities at Carnegie Hall and the Juilliard School, as well as teaching opportunities in public schools, communities, and on college campuses. 

Fellows from the Academy will perform works from David Lang, Francis Poulenc, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

For more information on Carnegie Hall, please visit: www.carnegiehall.org.


Bryant Park Fall Festival, presented by Bank of America, is a free taste of the NYC cultural season.

Performances begin at 6:00pm.

Here is the schedule for October:

THU

1

Bryant Park Fall Festival: Young Artists from the Metropolitan Opera

6:00pm–7:30pm | Upper Terrace
Presented by Bank of America

FRI

2

Bryant Park Fall Festival: Carnegie Hall
Featuring Ensemble ACJW

6:00pm–7:30pm | Upper Terrace
Presented by Bank of America

MON

5

Bryant Park Fall Festival: The Joyce Theater

6:00pm–7:30pm | Upper Terrace
Presented by Bank of America

TUE

6

Bryant Park Fall Festival: Ailey II

6:00pm–7:30pm | Upper Terrace
Presented by Bank of America

WED

7

Bryant Park Fall Festival: Bargemusic

6:00pm–7:30pm | Upper Terrace
Presented by Bank of America

THU

8

Bryant Park Fall Festival: Brooklyn Philharmonic

6:00pm–7:30pm | Upper Terrace
Presented by Bank of America

FRI

9

Bryant Park Fall Festival: Jazz at Lincoln Center

6:00pm–7:30pm | Upper Terrace
Presented by Bank of America

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Lobby

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Lobby, Photos taken September 9, 2009.

The museum is located at 1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street.

In 1866 a group of Americans were visiting Paris taking in the cultural delights of the Old World and it occurred to some of them that New York deserved a world class art museum. To that end John Jay, President of the Union League Club gave a speech declaring "America needed a National Institution and Gallery of Art and that the American gentlemen then in Europe were the men to inaugurate that plan." The art committee of the Union League Club, in concert with other prominent citizens, led the way with the museum to be established by an act of the New York State Legislature in 1870. The Metropolitan Museum of Art first opened its doors on February 20, 1872, housed in a building located at 681 Fifth Avenue in New York City. John Taylor Johnston, a railroad executive whose personal art collection seeded the museum, served as its first President, and the publisher George Palmer Putnam came on board as its founding Superintendent. Under their guidance, the Met's holdings, initially consisting of a Roman stone sarcophagus and 174 mostly European paintings, quickly outgrew the available space. In 1873, occasioned by the Met's purchase of the Cesnola Collection of Cypriot antiquities, the museum decamped from Fifth Avenue and took up residence at the Douglas Mansion on West 14th Street. However, these new accommodations were temporary; after negotiations with the city of New York, the Met acquired land on the east side of Central Park, where it built its permanent home, a red-brick Gothic Revival stone "mausoleum" designed by American architects Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mold. The Met has remained in this location ever since, and the original structure is still part of its current building. A host of additions over the years, including the distinctive Beaux-Arts facade, designed by Richard Morris Hunt and completed in 1926, have continued to expand the museum's physical structure. As of 2006, the Met measures almost a quarter mile long and occupies more than two million square feet, more than 20 times the size of the original 1880 building. In 2007, the Metropolitan Museum of Art was ranked #17 on the AIA 150 America's Favorite Architecture list. The Metropolitan Museum of Art was designated a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1967. The interior was designated in 1977.

Corner of 7th Avenue and 11th Street in the West Village: Tiles for America

Located in the West Village, at the corner of 7th Avenue and 11th Street is a fence that became the site of TILES FOR AMERICA. Tiles for America began on September 12, 2001. In the aftermath of the tragedy, crowds gathered in large numbers in front of Saint Vincent's Hospital, located at the corner of 7th Avenue and 11th Street. This was the hospital that was prepared to receive the thousands of survivors that many people were hopeful they would be. Lorrie Veasey, owner of OUR NAME IS MUD, also located on 11th Street, began to create what she hoped would be an inspiration to recovering victims. From raw clay she fashioned approximately 5000 small angels and American flags, which she and friends attached to a fence that faced the hospital on September 14. The angels and flags were attached with ribbon, and before two weeks had passed, most of them had been removed from the fence.

Lorrie is a member of an organization called the Contemporary Ceramic Studio Association. They have a web site with a bulletin board where "Paint Your Own Pottery" studios correspond with one another. Studios across the USA were understandably horrified at the events of 9/11 and eager to find a way to help. The idea of a tile memorial took hold, and soon studios all across the USA held individual fundraisers in which tiles were created for the NY Memorial. Soon, case upon case of tiles began to arrive. Studio owners often drove through the night to bring their tiles to the site (such as Patti Bowman from Glazenfyre in Virginia Beach VA-who drove up with 1500 tiles), and many studio owners worked in freezing weather to install them, (Most notably Deb from Garden City Doin the Dishes and Meredith from Art and Soul). What was once a small section of fence has grown to encompass more than a full city block. Approximately 6000 tiles now hang on the Memorial. Most CCSA studios have participated in some way, and tiles have also been received from Europe and Japan. Word has also spread through the clay community, and the Memorial has received several hand made unusual tiles from prominant ceramic artists.(information from the Tiles for America website). When I visited this part of the West Village, I also took a picture of the colorful fashion advertisement just above the memorial tiles.