Tag Archives: New York

May 2 2012

The Mayor Of Nottingham

As I headed back across the pond toward Blighty yesterday, a timely reminder that all of Nottingham should turn out to vote tomorrow! And whilst I was in the air, I gather that I had my 15 minutes of fame (well 15 seconds) on both the National 6 o’clock and 10 o’clock news….

It’s time for the referendum on whether Nottingham should have a Mayor. My view has always been ‘yes’ – and this means a change in how Nottingham is run.

Having spent the last few days in New York and watched that City grow up over the last twenty five years I’m convinced that we need strong leadership. Giuliani changed things for the better. He sorted crime with his zero tolerance policy. He created a seismic shift. The place is better for it.

Unfortunately we don’t seem to have been able to engage the ruling Labour Party over the last few weeks. They seemed to have been intent on a ‘negative’ campaign. Latterly they have clung on to a ‘racism card’ – suggesting that Mayor could be a BNP supporter? Previously though it was spin about the costs, corruption and fat cat salaries as I blogged about here.

I have said before that I think Nottingham has great ingredients – Confetti / Antenna for the creatives, Nottingham Contemporary for Art, Bio-City for the scientists and, amongst other things, tow World Class Universities. What it seems to me that we don’t have is a recipe to bring these things to gather – and we certainly don’t have a master-chef.

A Mayor could be that master-chef?

We have so much potential, but seem to get dragged down in small-time party politics.

This is an opportunity to play a bigger part in the UK. Cameron is offering seats at a Mayoral Cabinet – do we really want to be listening outside the door? Really?

I have seen at first hand how inward investment works – you need someone to go to. You need someone who makes things happen. Although I have respect for some of our local Politicians I am of the view that the system we have at present need change if we want to see see change in the City. A change of perception, a change of direction (up) and a change in our future fortune…

I know which way I’ll be voting tomorrow – assuming Mr Branson gets me home in one piece!

May 1 2012

Apple – the coolest shop in New York?

It’s definitely a store for boys; judging by the girls at the entrance, I’m not sure they get it. I’m talking about the Apple Store. And this one is an amazing piece of architecture at the corner of Central Park in New York.

18 panels of glass on each side cover a glass spiral staircase which leads to a cavernous basement – full of boys toys. It’s an amazing shop.

On the plane over the pond I finally finished Steve Jobs authorised biography. It’s a mighty tome – at over 600 pages. I found it fascinating -and if you have a month or so spare, worth a read.

One of the chapters describes in detail the retail experience Jobs wanted us to have – and it contained some fascinating facts. The 5th Avenue store in New York grosses more revenue per square foot than any store in the world. It is famously open 356 days a year 24 hours a day. during it’s first week of opening it had 50,000 visitors.

Last year Apple had 326 Apple stores around the globe. And the average annual revenue per store is a staggering $34m.

As you wander around these great places you might be forgiven for not noticing the attention to detail Jobs lavished on them.

The glass staircases were patented by Jobs, but the floors deserve special mention. They look like a concrete grey – but are actually stone sourced from Il Casone quarry near Florence, Italy. They only use 3% of what they quarry – to ensure the highest quality! I’m not sure how sustainable that is!

The store has been open since 2006 and is the ultimate in minimalist architecture. I love it.

Oh, and I might have bought some essentials there! Like a Jawbone Jambox speaker which is awesome!

Apr 30 2012

The tallest building in New York?

It’s like one of those Trivial Pursuits questions – ‘which is New Yorks tallest building’. Of course if you bought Trivial Pursuits pre 9/11 then the Twin Towers would have been the correct answer. But subsequent to that disaster – the Empire State Building stood tall again on Manhattan Island. The last time it was overtaken was in 1970 as the steel of the Twin Towers was hauled into place.

But tonight in Manhattan I have witnessed another game-changer (the first was the Shuttle fly-past last week!). The Freedom Tower – David Child’s new Ground Zero sited building overtook the height of the Empire State building. On it’s way to 100 floors the height reached 1,271 ft this afternoon in New York. That’s 21 ft higher than the Empire State Building. It will eventually reach 1,368 ft – the same height as the twin towers it replaces on the skyline.`On top of that there will be a 300 foot mast!

It’s an impressive building – which apparently can be seen from La Guardia airport 8.5 miles away! The Park at the foot of the towers with the infinity pools are a stark reminder to what was there before. It’s a sobering place – but a fitting tribute to what was once there – and to those people who lost their lives.

The new building will open in 2018 and is expected to have cost $3.8bn. It will have a floorspace of 2.6m sq ft (That’s a lot!).

Apr 30 2012

Keith Haring – at the Brooklyn Museum

One of my all-time favourite artists is Keith Haring – his life was cut short at 32 by AIDS. His was a very brief career – and that has been celebrated with an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum.

I went a few days ago. It’s a 30 minute subway ride from Manhattan (take note Nottingham Tram people – is $2.25 – £1.39). It’s a monster of a building – over half a million square feet. They have a wide range of exhibits ranging from Egyptian masterpieces to contemporary art, and represent a wide range of cultures. Some of the stuff is really old – 3,000BC! Not altogether my cup of tea, but fascinating.

This is the first time a major exhibition has been shown of Haring’s work. There were 155 ‘pieces’ on show.

It’s a fantastic collection. It chronicles his arrival in New York with a mixture of photographs, paintings, sketchbooks, journals, exhibition flyers, posters and chalked subway drawings. There are some interesting videos of him working at the New York School of Art – it’s incredible to see the speed at which he painted in his highly stylised way.

My favourite piece was a 6ft high 49 foot long single painting which contains may of his signatory icons – the baby being seen several times. I think his work is brilliant, it’s a little ‘daring’ in part – this isn’t an exhibition for young kids! I love the simplicity of the art – it is almost cartoon like. The later more perfected style I prefer to the slightly messier earlier work.

I think we should get it at the Nottingham Contemporary next!

Oh, and I bought the T-shirt – partly because at that point Mr Branson and the blind man hadn’t returned my bag!

Apr 29 2012

Squeeze – Cool for Cats in the Big Apple

Two of the finest songwriters of the late 70′s and 1980′s were in town last night. Chris Difford and Glen Tilbrook’s Squeeze played the Roseland Ballroom – and as you might expect, I was there!

The Roseland Ballroom has an impressive history – Fred Astair, Madonna and The Rolling Stones have all performed there! The carpets are authentically sticky, bet Fred didn’t have to put up with that?

Squeeze are one of my all-time favourite groups. I first saw them in the early 1980′s and have subsequently seen them numerous times. Once on a beach in Cannes! Last night it was New York, it was the final night of their US tour.

But first – It was The English Beat in support – known when I was in shorts just as The Beat. And they were pretty good, playing “Can’t Get Used to Losing You,” “Mirror In the Bathroom,” “Hands Off She’s Mine” and “Best Friend.” I remember these hits well – It’s an age thing I suspect?

The great thing about Squeeze is that I know all the words to all of the songs! So it follows that I’m not going to have a voice after these gigs! I don’t, but I could easily stand in for either Chris or Glenn if they couldn’t make it. Lyrically they have been compared to Lennon & McCartney.

They were brilliant. The romped through the greatest hits – and in the final section played Cool for Cats, Up the Junction, Another Nail in My Heart, Goodbye Girl, Annie Get Your Gun, Take Me I’m Yours, Hourglass and Pulling Mussels from a Shell. Then for an encore, Slap & Tickle, Tempted and Black Coffee in Bed.

The American audience seemed pretty good to the boys from back home, some of them even knew the words!

And so it was all over, so I have to wait until December to see them again, this time back in Nottingham!

Apr 28 2012

The Space Shuttle and the Statute of Liberty!

Yesterday morning I saw a sight I never imagined I would! The space shuttle ‘Enterprise’ flew at 1,500ft down the Hudson River and past the Statute of Liberty. We were at Battery Park with thousands of people who had turned out to see the spectacle.

We saw it twice as it did a loop around Manhattan Island before flying off to JFK Airport to land. It was obviously not flying by itself (it’s no more than a glider in the earths atmosphere) but rather piggy backed on a modified 747. Technically, the Enterprise is not a real space shuttle. It never actually flew in space. It was used to test aerodynamics.

It’s off to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum during the summer in Manhattan.

But yesterday it was met by none other than Leonard Nimoy – aka Dr Spock. The coverage here couldn’t help but capture him say to the engineers, “Live Long & Proposer”. Corny but good!

And a once in the lifetime opportunity to see the Space Shuttle with that particular backdrop! It was an amazing moment and the collective crowds eyes welled up and burst into spontaneous applause. God Bless America.

Apr 27 2012

The New York Steady State project

The journey to JFK from London is a drag – just shy of 7 hours yesterday. The headwind of up to 75mph didn’t help. Lost baggage it makes it longer!

I managed to squeeze in two films (The Ides of March and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol) and a documentary. The documentary was a one hour special with Andrew Marr looking at ‘SuperCities’ around the world. It was a fascinating look at some the best and worst of the planets biggest places, – Shanghai, Mexico City, Dhaka and London.

The real point of the programme was to prick the conscience. Cities of this size may have some advantages, but we could be a tipping point where the bad outweighs the good. Consumption is staggering – and that leads ultimately to waste – in epic proportions.

It is clear that something has to change. We can’t go on consuming at the pace we do. We are going to have to find new ways of living. Some of the things Marr found included localised hydroponic farming, re-use of vegetable oil for taxis and free-gans (people who live off others thrown away food).

I was sent a link to some really interesting visoning done by Terreform Inc. who are offering a glimpse into what could be the New York of tomorrow with their New York City Steady State (NYCSS) sustainability plan.

In the plan, the developers summarise their mission for greening up New York in its entirety.

“New York City (Steady) State is an alternative plan for New York City based on a single predicate: it is possible for the city to become entirely self-sufficient within its political boundaries. At its conclusion, our project will have proven this and outlined the necessary steps to achieve it.”

It looks to be a fantastic, if not fantasy, project. Even if we adopt some of the ideas this should surely help. We certainly need some free thinkers? This is more than ‘greening’ the place – it’s about a holistic approach where the city can sustain itself by using local produce and recycling locally. Food for thought?

Apr 27 2012

The New York Steady State project

The journey to JFK from London is a drag – just shy of 7 hours yesterday. The headwind of up to 75mph didn’t help. Lost baggage it makes it longer!

I managed to squeeze in two films (The Ides of March and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol) and a documentary. The documentary was a one hour special with Andrew Marr looking at ‘SuperCities’ around the world. It was a fascinating look at some the best and worst of the planets biggest places, – Shanghai, Mexico City, Dhaka and London.

The real point of the programme was to prick the conscience. Cities of this size may have some advantages, but we could be a tipping point where the bad outweighs the good. Consumption is staggering – and that leads ultimately to waste – in epic proportions.

It is clear that something has to change. We can’t go on consuming at the pace we do. We are going to have to find new ways of living. Some of the things Marr found included localised hydroponic farming, re-use of vegetable oil for taxis and free-gans (people who live off others thrown away food).

I was sent a link to some really interesting visoning done by Terreform Inc. who are offering a glimpse into what could be the New York of tomorrow with their New York City Steady State (NYCSS) sustainability plan.

In the plan, the developers summarise their mission for greening up New York in its entirety.

“New York City (Steady) State is an alternative plan for New York City based on a single predicate: it is possible for the city to become entirely self-sufficient within its political boundaries. At its conclusion, our project will have proven this and outlined the necessary steps to achieve it.”

It looks to be a fantastic, if not fantasy, project. Even if we adopt some of the ideas this should surely help. We certainly need some free thinkers? This is more than ‘greening’ the place – it’s about a holistic approach where the city can sustain itself by using local produce and recycling locally. Food for thought?

Apr 26 2012

New York – 2012 – part one

This morning I leave Blighty for Manhattan Island. Some have suggested I have stirred enough of the Mayor debate up that I need to leave the City. Whereas some fine citizens get the key to the City I managed to get barred from filming with the BBC in ‘my own’ Castle. I found it amusing. It’s now my claim to fame!

But the trip was arranged some weeks ago, when Virgin dropped their flight prices to half of what they were in March when I blogged about the coincidental pricing arrangements between Virgin and BA. In fact it is the cheapest I have ever paid.

So, it’s across the pond for a few days. To the City that never sleeps.

As we have been discussing the Mayor in Nottingham over the last few weeks I was reflecting on the Mayoral position in New York. In the easy days when I went it was a very different place – crime was high and feeling safe was not how you felt. The Subway was out of bounds and going past 100th was considered suicide.

But Guiliani was credited with changing that. He cut crime and made the place safe again. He cleaned the City up.

I wouldn’t dream about travelling other by the subway. We have been into the Bronx. In some ways i think it is safer in New York than in Nottingham on a Saturday night! The Police presence is high – they are on every corner and at rush hour on station platforms. It’s zero tolerance.

So for the next few days, The Big Apple is home. It’s a chance to see some art, some music (I’ll blog about that later!) and lot’s of coffee shops. I get to go to some great independent music shops – and buy some more vinyl. A trip to John’s Pizza is essential as is the Milk Bar in the Chelsea Flower Market. The High Line is great at dusk.

I really ought to write my guide book this time…

Dec 31 2011

2011 – what a year!

As you get older the years seem to slip by a bit quicker?

Looking back 2011 was pretty special in many ways. Certainly from a work perspective it was challenging. I can’t help but wonder what 2012 will bring – I’ll have a go at that little conundrum tomorrow!

So, what of 2011? Well the highlight was undoubtably the Wedding. No, not that one, the one where my ‘little’ girl married and became a Smillie. It was a proud day – and, for the first time in my life I dressed up as a girl – not once but twice. I wore a kilt and took on the mantle of Anni-Frid from Abba. People told me I wasn’t too good at the lipstick…

Jak, my youngest son who passed his driving test in 2010 got his first car – so can now drive me around, which is brilliant. He has also had two jobs! Adam continues to wait for Spielberg to spot him, but in the interim has moved on from his supermarket job and is now raising money for a charity.

We managed New York twice – which was a low-count year! It still remains my favourite place and I’m expecting we’ll be back there very soon. But I also managed to squeeze in a second trip to Shanghai and also a first trip to Istanbul with The University of Nottingham. Shanghai is worth a trip if you get the opportunity – I still haven’t mastered the language! Istanbul was an amazing City – I wished we had more time to look around.

My golf hasn’t moved on – despite two trips to Scotland. It is still a great place to go if you like the game described as a good walk spoiled! My handicap is resolutely stuck at 14. If only I could play to that!

I was also in Copenhagen when they had their worst storm for 30 years. That was for our friend Alan’s 50th birthday – which he was trying to keep secret. I know someone (who you know) who will be 50 in 2012. We may be keeping that one quiet!

One of the best ‘corporate’ events of the year was my trip to Downing Street – my claim to fame is that I spoke to an audience at Number 10. And not everyone can say that. It was a great night – especially as I have been into the Houses of Parliament earlier in the day.

There were lots of other good moments too, but I figure you will soon get bored of the list!