<Excerpt from New York Offbeat Walks: Midtown> Walk on, stopping outside (26) 1678 Broadway—approximately where the parking sign is today. This venue has an equally important place in modern music culture as its basement was home to The Birdland Jazz Club from 1949 to 1965. It was named for jazz pioneer and saxophonist Charlie Parker (1920-1955), whose nickname was “Bird.” ... Read More »
Rock star lives have long been grist for the Hollywood movie mill—“The Doors”, “The Buddy Holly Story”, “The Runaways”. Even fictional rock stars and real bluesmen have ruled the multiplex at various times (“The Rose”, “Ray”). But for some odd reason, biopics of jazz greats haven’t quite become a successful category onto their own. Sure, we’ve had a few ... Read More »
Looks like we missed a big one last month when we forgot to wish a happy 100th birthday to the man who made “hot jazz” an international hit, Roma guitarist Django Reinhardt. Sure, the guy may have passed on to that great caravan in the sky some 57 years ago, but his importance and influence have not dimmed in ... Read More »
Glamour and gangs defined the Sunset Strip between the 1930s and the 1950s, as its renowned restaurants and nightclubs became a playground for the rich and famous. There were movie legends and power brokers, and everyone of significance danced to stardom at such legendary clubs as Ciro’s, the Mocambo and the Trocadero. Frank Sinatra made his Los Angeles debut at ... Read More »
John Baxter’s new book, The Golden Moments of Paris, got exciting reviews.Here’s the review by June Sawyers of the Chicago Trubune. Paris, especially the Paris between the two world wars, continues to resonate with many people around the globe. The city has had many golden ages but probably none as famous as the 1920s: the Paris of the Lost ... Read More »
With the housing market slowly pushing renters further and further into the outerboroughs of New York City, more and more neighborhoods are seeing an infusion of young artists whom have come in search of inexpensive housing. The consequence of this influx of younger renters in cheaper neighborhoods is gentrification, as was the case in Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Fort Greene, Carroll Gardens, ... Read More »
Due to a dispute with the Basquiat family over the content of the below essay, we were unable to publish this chapter about the influential 1980s New York artist Jean-Michael Basquiat in our latest guide, Art+NYC. Instead, we present it here is as a web exclusive along with listings on where Basquiat worked, dined and showed his paintings. In ... Read More »
New York based photographer, author and filmmaker Andrew Zuckerman is set to release yet another highly anticipated book entitled Music, a follow-up to his acclaimed Creature and Wisdom. Music explores the the process of making music, the power of music and the experience of writing, producing and performing through interviews with fifty musicians, artists, composers and producers whose genre range ... Read More »
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