I went to a preview of the Met Museum’s latest exhibition, Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock & Roll, notable for making it the first art museum to stage a show dedicated entirely to the instruments of rock ‘n roll. The preview email said to expect “special guests”, and, this being New York City and all, those guests were Jimmy Page, Steve Miller, Don Felder (the man behind the Eagle’s most famous guitar riff, Hotel California, which he played for us, in the hallowed halls of the Met) and Tina Weymouth, one part of Talking Heads. I’d last seen Jimmy Page in New York almost 7 years ago at the press event for Celebration Day.…
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Basquiat’s New York City
It’s thanks to my dear friend Akemi that I filled one of the 50 000 slots that were granted to see a unique collection of Basquiat’s work in New York. The Brant Foundation is a new gallery that’s opened up in the East Village, offering free visits to its space to see the collection of 70 works up close and personal. The slots went fast, and “sold out” super quickly, much to the dismay of many of my friends on Instagram who’ve sent me DMs of disappointment at not being able to themselves nab tickets. Simply titled “Jean-Michel Basquiat,” the exhibition was mounted by publishing magnate Peter Brant’s daughter, Allison,…
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And the Award for Best Running Scene Goes To…
The nominees are… 5. Yalitza Aparicio at a moment of play in Roma. 4. A lactating Charlize Theron in Tully. 3. Captain America and Black Panther ahead of the pack in Avengers Infinity War. 2. Ah-In Yoo’s Jong-soo barn-hunting in Burning. and the winner is… 1. Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible: Fallout It had to be. The man runs across the London skyline, breaks his foot in the process but keeps on going, through an office building, jumps out a window and ends up at the Tate Modern, all while seeming to keep a sub-6-minute-mile pace. Legend.
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Lady Gaga – Oscar Nominee
Raised on the Upper West Side, Gaga, spent her early years in NYC learning to play the piano and sing, and eventually made her way onto the local music circuit. You can trace her path to success from the bars and music venues across the city, although some of them may be long gone. I decided to stop by the places that still exist and are still part of Gaga’s New York City journey. From her small apartment on the Lower East Side to the restaurant her Dad created in loving ode to his late sister, her aunt, these are some of the places that make up Gaga’s NYC.
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Minding the Gap
There’s a moment in Minding the Gap when Zack Mulligan, one of the skateboarders featured in the documentary, and a friend of filmmaker Bing Liu, skates along a path holding his baby son. It’s a moment that made me tear up, because in the context of the film, it shows the beauty and tragedy of the documentary. It’s also a moment that so beautifully displays Liu’s talent as a filmmaker: potently capturing the gap between Zack as a son who stays young and naive, and Zack as a father who grows up and doesn’t want to relive the traditions bestowed down to him. It’s just one of the many layers…
