ya know over these last few months
i've been reading, hearing, seeing.. the enormous pressure
from democrats for hillary clinton to step down
and quite honestly
the fact that she kept on plugging
and kept on winning
made me feel even more
that she would make a good president
her strength was shining clear
but really what i've seen, felt, heard and experienced
these last few months
was sexism
oh americans love to put down religious moslems
by saying we know how to treat women
they keep them down
and honey don't get me wrong
we are ions past shoving our women in a burka
and stoning them
but we still know how to keep them down
i think glass ceilings
and hidden sexism are still alive and well in this country
and while im thrilled
thrilled that this country may actually be ready to elect a black man as president
i am saddened that i dont think this country is ready to elect a woman as president
i guess it's pretty unlikely for hillary to become the democratic
candidate
but imagine if she did
if after all this pressure to drop out
she squeaked past the finish line anyway
either way
i admire her for not giving up
ah memorial day
a long weekend away for many
a chance to barbecue for the first time in the season for many
family
friends
beer parties
but for moi honeys
it was a day to recuperate after catering 3 weddings over the weekend
wooof
a big weekend
all went fabulously natch
but when monday came
even opening and closing my hand was a chore
had a brunch with a pal
and that was really all this girl could handle
so i decided to have a really really
really cheesey movie marathon
i picked up some cuban food
and crawled into bed with my fat old cat
and watched
"Walk hard, the dewey cox story" the comedy spoof on the johnny cash walk the line movie
and holy moly was that stupid
funny though
and enjoyably brainless
after that i watched "knocked up" bout the hot chick who gets knocked up on a one night stand by the shlubby loser guy but winds up
of course falling for him
stupid
but cute
and well sentimental
after that
it was yet another "queer as folk" re-run which i've seen like 4 times
but i can't get enough of gay boys in a soap opera when can i say
it was a nice long relaxing day
to end a crazy ass weekend
how did you spend your memorial day?
I’ve been feeling a bit sad lately about how all of the great parts of old Manhattan
That I had loved seem to be disappearing and Manhattan is more every day turning into the emerald city
just watched a documentary on the Ramones
and almost cried when I thought about how CBGBS is gone
and
The Bowery is now miillionare row!
Little italy has shrunk to 3 or 4 blocks!
The jews of the lower east side have been replaced with hip designers
The west village has turned into Hollywood on the Hudson
The lower east side is being harpooned with glass skyscrapers
And my beloved east village becomes every day closer and closer to
Madison avenue
honey i dont miss the crime of the 80's dont get me wrong
but did we have to lose all our character too?
In the east village
There sits a magnificent community garden
In which is perched a structure like no other
The life work of a mad visionary a man named eddie
Who fathered the garden
And built the structure by attaching piece after piece of dolls, stuffed animals
Urns anything he could find
this huge tower must shoot up 20 feet in the air or more
It was an icon of the old alphabet city amidst the new S.U.Vs
it was punk rock in a sea of pop
Today on my way to work I watched a man in a cherry picker
Chain saw Eddies legacy into pieces
It felt like the end of the east village
Heres what I have learned from Michael Rossato Bennett
A champion of Eddie’s work who just passed this press release on to me
Thanks Michael…
if you want to write about this
or find out more contact michael
""East Village Residents Band Together to Save "Eddie's Tower"
65-Foot Tower of Toys Will Soon Be Torn Down By NYC Parks Department
The East Village, New York, NY (May 15, 2008) - The world-famous
East Village Tower at Avenue B and East 5th Street will be destroyed
within the month. Best known from the opening credits of the TV series
"NYPD Blue" and the long-running stage hit "RENT," the 65-foot wooden
tower filled with old stuffed animals and carousel horses, is being
torn down as a result of recent rulings that allow the NYC Parks
Department to destroy objects over ten feet high within its
jurisdiction.
Instead of bemoaning the loss of yet another East Village symbol of
anarchy and free expression, a group of residents, some members of the
Sixth Street and Avenue B Community Garden, are banding together with
a "Save the Tower" campaign. It includes a plan for the structure's
safe maintenance, which has been lacking since the death last winter
of its quirky and controversial creator, Eddie Boros.
According to Michael Rossato-Bennett, a 48-year-old filmmaker and
Eldridge Street resident, there is a realistic grass-roots plan to
save the Tower and make it safer and better. A member of the Avenue B
Garden, an artist also named Eddie, has volunteered to take over being
the tower's guardian. With some engineering help, he is willing to
stabilize the tower, keep it intact and make it safe from collapse or
fire.
But there's a problem. The Parks Department isn't listening. And
with few financial resources, Rossato-Bennett and other garden members
need to raise money, and FAST. They also need volunteer engineering
and construction help, and legal resources to find a way to fight the
new parks ruling against objects over 10 feet high.
Finally, they've been making outreach to all kinds of celebrities
and New York City denizens whose sensibilities are aligned with
gardens and the pre-gentrified East Village and Lower East Side that
it represents. Among the names they're trying to get in touch with:
Bette Midler, John Leguizamo, Rosie Perez, Phillip Glass, Kiki Smith,
Debbie Harry of Blondie, and Rosario Dawson.
Rossato-Bennett doesn't care if he drops names, because he believes
media coverage is the best shot the community has for saving the
Tower.
"It's the only way to provoke a public commitment to preserve the
sculpture," he said. "The Tower is the Empire State building of the
Revolution, the Eiffel Tower of Punk NYC. "There was even a Japanese
town that wanted to buy the tower, but we want it right here where it
belongs. I know some gentrification is inevitable, but why does one
rule have to destroy the best-known symbol of what the East Village
and Lower East Side is about?"
Rossato-Bennett has been circulating a "Save the Tower" petition,
available at www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/269521983.
# # #
Media Contacts:
Michael Rossato-Bennett, (212) 533-8116 OR Peter Engel, (646) 734-1933
Email: savetheeastvillagetower@gmail.com
Website: http://savethetower.blogspot.com
Oh Cali
Cali
Oh Cali
Cali
yeah Cali
Cali
California!
hurray!
i was out in New Jersey
attending I kid you not
a women's roller derby show
which i'm told is making a comeback
and honey what can be better then watching a bunch of sexy
tattooed pierced women
skating around in circles while trying to give each other
the booty bump!
or the shoulder shove!
or hmm well i ran out of extremities
but fill in the gap
i was so in the throws of beach
rock and roll and fun gay
asbury park
not to mention a night in ocean grove next door
where i enjoyed
a great murder mystery put on by the fantabulous jade green
of cafetheatre
that i totally did not see the news
and missed the big yippy woo hoo
that california had approved gay marriage
oh honey this is big
big
big big
almost makes me like the governator
and now i hear the in honor of this great event
Ellen DeGeneres will marry Rossi!
yes its tree oh ummmm thats Portia de Rossi but hey
same name!
anyway
as more of the country
stands up
for equal rights
for all of us
it just makes me feel giddy and high
and downright silly
so hurray
for tonight
i am a california gal
i went to see the movie BLOOD LINE
the documentary about a film maker who kind of took up where
the davinci code left off
it ran a bit slow
but it was truly eye opening
ill tell you
its actually pretty hard to believe when you think about it
that jesus did not marry and have children
a jewish man of his era
of course he would
and there does seem to be some compelling evidence
that mary magdelene may have been his wife
what would the world be like today
if the church
rather then suppressing the role of women
in jesus's life
had celebrated them
would sexism
not have happened
wars fought less
women celebrated more
would the world be a happier place
my own religion judaism
clearly did some major league
abolishing of worshipping the holy feminine too
supposedly the orginal jews
worshipped the male and the female of god
but then the female figures and texts where destroyed
and the priestesses banned from the temples
and the idea of god as male
and man as superior reigned
and honey
this is true today
sexism is alive and well
in this country
and in this world
when hillary is strong
shes called cold
a bitch
when a obama is strong
hes called a good candidate
this country is not ready to let a women be president
and you all know it
but how would the world be today
if christianity was taught with mary magdelene at the side of jesus
as an equal
how would the world be today
if islam and judaism
worshipped the holy feminine
would women and men rule the world equally
in peace and harmony
as it was meant to be
it boggles the mind
one interesting tidbit
of my time in Rome
was when I stepped out in front of my swank hotel
to find out the IRON MAN was having its big premiere 10 feet away
yep Robert Downey Junior, Gwyneth Paltrow, the whole shebang
never saw either of them although Maurisio caught an eyefull of Gwyneth
to tell you the truth I never liked her
she's always been just well too white bread for my nerves
brad pitt bought her a house in my old hood in the west village
and i thought
hello brad!
ditch the uptight blonde for a hot down and dirty mama
and hmm i guess he did
oh angelina,oh oh angelina- hot to trot but lately too skinny
honey start eating again we love meat on your bones!
the west village has truly turned into hollywood on the hudson
with meryl streep, jodie foster, sarah jessica parker, matthew broderick
and many more moving in
but i high taled it for the east village where there was still a pulse
all the life seemed to be pushed out of the west village
leaving only madison avenue designers and the uber wealthy
sad
i miss the days of aging beatnik poets sitting on the stoops
and artist's spending an entire afternoon at the patisserie lansiani
sipping coffee and pondering life
but i digress
IRON MAN
havent seen it yet
but i will
because first of all
when it comes to movies
i have the taste of a 16 year old boy
secondly i love
robert downey junior
oh maybe its the drugs
the rehab
the jail
the drama
i just love me the bad boys
bad girls too
anyway
what was most interesting about the premiere
was watching the paparazzi
a solid wall of them
climbing on top of each other to get a better shot
i mean literally climbing on top of each other
recently id been in a pet store watching hamsters climb on top of each other to get at the spin wheel
and this felt a lot like that
they didnt even seem human
crazed sharks in a feeding frenzy
it must be frightening to be their target
i don't know it seemed more intense then in america
do you think it is
back in nyc
and heres what i can tell you right off
i have noticed since i landed
new yorkers do move at a faster pace then most other places
i had just gotten into the slow groove of venice
so slow in fact that my hotel babe (a cutie)
told me that they listen to reggae as it suits their vibe
ya man, ya loves you
but after finally slowing down i had to pick the hell up to get back into the nyc
pace
and its like turning your movie from play to fast forward
woooo hoooo
i took notice of the difference in my mornings since i returned
in italy i would wake up leisurely
eat breakfast,
slowly shower
feeling each bit of lather on my skin
slowly dress
feeling the way the t-shirt felt sliding over my head
in nyc
its drink tea
maybe shove a protein bar in my mouth
simultaenously check cell phone
chug some vitamins
shower while planning my day and balancing my check book in my head
run out the door with my hair still wet
wow
no wonder we are stressed
i think those europeans know how to live
maybe they don't get as much done in a day
but damn
they sure are enjoying themselves
i think for me the answer is
a little balance
a little slow time
scheduled in there some where
anyway
the other thing i noticed back in nyc
is that ny is all about MORE
our pizza has MORE sauce
with MORE dough
and more SPICE
our fish has MORE salt and MORE pepper
our wine has MORE acid
and well
i guess i like it
MORE MORE MORE
how you like it
i sure like it
hows the song go
anyway
love food in italy
but i think i have to say it out loud
i actually love italian food in nyc just a little itty bit more
yeah the fish isnt as fresh
the produce not as perfect
the mozzarella not as sublime
the risotto not as crunchy
the polenta not as perky
but its got the MORE
ive become addicted too
what can i say
im a trashy lady
and honey one thing for sure
the fish and produce and pasta may be better there
but hands down
the meat is better here
nothing like a new york steak
and honestly
the pizza in rome matzoh with pizza topping
not my thing
i like New york style pizza more
really
and i like new york tomato sauce more
more spice
so hey there you have it
the brasaola in venice was melt in your mouth divine
way better then nyc
the polenta simpler in venice
creamier in nyc
liked both
i know rome is not known for its food
and im sure when i go back to tuscany to eat
i will forget about nyc food all together
but in this trip
over -all
still like italian food in nyc more then in rome
and a smiden more then in venice
odd i know
i found myself using the salt and pepper shaker a lot
and i never do this
so i guess im well an american
as to the wheat free in italy
well it basically came down to two things
risotto and polenta
but my salvation
my dream come true
and listen out there
people going to italy who dont eat wheat or gluten
was the amazing
miraculous place in Rome
that offers all the great traditional roman italian pastas and pizzas
also gluten free
yes its true
my darling friends brenda and maurizio and i went there
and it was just a wheat free dream come true
i had stuffed pizza breads with sauce and cheese inside for an appetizer
and a huge plate of pasta with meat ragu
and it was not only wheat free
but gluten free
and delicious
tasted just like flour pasta
not the linoleum fake stuff
so if anyone is searching the web
crying over their trip to italy
and not able to eat gluten
go to
La Soffita
its right off the Piazza Risorgimento
amazing
honestly for me
it was better then a night of a hot sex
or well
almost as good
GRACI stephano and maria
GRACI
