10 possible mash-ups of Broadway, Central Park & Harlem

by Deirdre Towers

Yesterday, I strolled through Saks Fifth Avenue, glancing at price tags and snapping photos. It was empty of course because of Covid. Or was it deserted because of the retail implosion?

Once the luxurious spine of New York City catering to predominantly white ladies-who-lunch and the men who keep them, Fifth Avenue may have to re-invent itself. What if shoppers simply don’t come back because the 1% has moved to their second or third homes and the 99% prefer home delivery?

NYC is a hub of innovators, designers…

I have been a mess lately. Haven’t we all?

That mess — how can one describe it? A storm of conflicting emotions? My instinct has been to run, to flee as though from a house on fire, Achilles’ tendons be damned. Flip the soul-draining energy and ride the wave away from it all. In the fix-it-mode, I tried — ineffectually — to wrench my lover and friends away from their all-consuming obsession to understand what caused the fire and how to squelch it. Couldn’t we just galvanize artists and scientists to create a tsunami of positive energy?

Occasionally, a cool…

Josh Fox released in 2010 a documentary GASLAND that won the Special Jury Prize at Sundance, and seemingly as many fans as enemies. Ten years later, this New York theatre director turned documentarian returned to New York to appear at The Public Theatre in his unforgettable, multi-media one man show The Truth Has Changed in the 2020 Under The Radar Series.

As a verbal showman, he has mastered the art of suspense, surprise, and nuance. He is mesmerizing as his voice rises and dips, he flips the lights, picks up a banjo, jumps on a table and pauses while a…

Oysters To The Rescue, Again and Again…

by Deirdre Towers

The Billion Oyster Project caught my attention as a romantic attempt to salvage the Hudson River. And it’s working! The Hudson River is reportedly the cleanest it’s been in 50 years.

28 million oyster shells recycled from 75 restaurants. have been planted in NYC Harbor. The oyster shells filter the water, removing some of the nitrogen dumped into the river from septic tanks — thereby reducing oxygen in water — by absorbing it into their exoskeleton.

Imagine 220 acres of oyster beds. That’s how much of a natural seafood farm…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVmEHVF9lXg

Indian classical dancer Shantala Shivalingappe regaled us with a stunning program at The Joyce Theater. The last work Bhairava jolts you immediately with the fierceness of her scolding fingers twitching faster than a teleypist, held high by the back-lit dancer. For 600 years, Kuchipudi dancers have admonished the heavens in this manner to destroy fear by shocking them with an ascendant lightning rod. This dance makes you feel like a child being intimidated by your mother to Never again do whatever heinous thing you did. …

DOES A SCULPTURAL LIFT MASSAGE OPEN YOUR THIRD EYE?
It’s been known to…

by Deirdre Towers

Imagine a facial so relaxing you feel wise, opened, and tall!

That’s how I felt when I left Bellanova Beauty Lab in Brooklyn yesterday, October 2, 2019, as the first client to experience Magda Bellanova’s newly acquired skills in Sculptural Lifting Massage. Bellanova learned this technique from a Russian named Yakov Gershkovich. Gershkovich massages the face, jaw, neck, and upper back to trigger lymphatic drainage and a surge of energy. …