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!).
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!
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!
The Branson Pickle
As you might have gathered I have been having fun in trying to re-connect with my luggage in New York. Finally the bag I entrusted to a nice girl at Heathrow has been delivered to my hotel in New York, it took 36 hours. It arrived in the middle of last night.
The Blind Man sent the bag back to the airport and Virgin then had it shipped to the Hotel. It was the least they could do. I did note Mr Branson that you had it delivered by the ‘regular’ service as opposed to the ‘rush’ option the delivery company offer.
Virgin Atlantic are an organisation who pride themselves on excellent customer service. Well, on their performance over the first 36 hours of my holiday were woeful. A few issues:
1. A member of their staff picking my bag up for the blind man in the first place – a good idea to check? He was blind after all.
2. My having to suggest that there had been a swap as the blind mans bag was similar and still on the carousel?
3. Giving me a USA number to call to get an update which didn’t work. It was unobtainable.
4. A warning that I should keep my spending to a minimum for emergency stuff only. $50 doesn’t go far when you need 2 x sets of basic clothes and toiletries.
5. That I had to call Virgin three times in the UK to get an update – despite the fact that they promised to keep me posted – they had my mobile and email addresses – but didn’t use either. Ever.
6. They use a delivery company in the USA who they can’t talk to (!) – so although they knew that my bag was with the delivery company they couldn’t tell me where it was / make contact with the company – other than by emailing them!
7. When they did dispatch the bag from JFK they used a ‘regular’ delivery service – within 12 hours when there was a ‘rush’ option.
8. Being unable to find my details on two occasions – despite me having a reference number. Hardly confidence inspiring.
This is one of this occasions when you are completely powerless to do anything. The staff say the right things but didn’t do anything pro-active.This is a very short break, spending the first 36 hours wondering what to – especially if the case didn’t turn up? At what point do you go out and start replacing some of the things in there…
One very unimpressed Virgin customer. Back to BA next time I think.
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.
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?
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?
You couldn’t make it up….
There were some omens in place before this trip to New York. Like I couldn’t book the seats on-line or do an on-line check in. I should have known really.
The M1 was shut at Milton Keynes so we skipped around the M40. We were still on-time. Parking at Purple Parking was easy and friendly. Check-in was remarkably smooth.
The trouble struck. Apparently Heathrow was ‘busy’ and they swapped the runways round – this cost us an hour on the tarmac.
But the real fun started when we picked our bag up. Or rather didn’t pick our bag up – because it wasn’t there. After a bit of detective work we established that someone had left a similar bag spinning on the carousel and wandered off with ours. To make matters worse the person is ‘visually impaired’ and so had some help. Presumably she just pointed at a blue bag and that was that – my bag with someone else.
I would have thought the ‘helper’ might have just checked the name tag?
Alas not. So the first night in New York is without any toiletries or clothes. I do have a laptop and kindle, but have found these to be poor substitutes for the likes of toothbrushes and deodorant?
I shall blog ‘properly’ soon…
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…
Nottingham – The Mayor debate rages on…
The debate about the Nottingham Mayor continues to rage with our former Nottingham MP Alan Simpson wading into the debate. You can read his comments here.
It’s an interesting take on the arguments. On the one hand Alan seems to be suggesting the current system is fine and on the other he takes some swipes at the leadership. The phrases I picked out…
“NOTTINGHAM needs an elected mayor like a dog needs flippers. It is a delusion to think they would make the dog a better swimmer, or the city better governed. This has nothing to do with how much an elected mayor would cost. It is about democracy and Accountability.”
But then….
“My prediction is that all the things you might criticise the city council for today, you would get in spades with an elected mayor. Mates will get favoured, patronage will go unchallenged, books will remain closed, and “vision” will come a poor second to vanity.
Nottingham may have lost its way, but you can’t blame this on the absence of an elected mayor. We have a first-class public transport system, a really good ice arena, a community energy company in The Meadows widely regarded as a national beacon, two good universities and a number of outstanding authors, architects, designers and artists. Beyond this, we are strictly second division.
Good governance demands strong opposition as well as visionary leadership. Nottingham has neither. This is the council’s Achilles heel. To demolish the case for a mayor, it must open its own books and then be more imaginative.
Nottingham could be part of this, but we have to break from a culture of contentedness that holds the city back. Pride and ambition are not qualities you can claim for yourself, without inviting ridicule.
Making a stand for something better has nothing to do with mayors. Cities driving the most exciting changes do so because their citizens demand it. And those cities have real powers. Ours do not.”
Looks like a pretty damning view of the current arrangements to me? It’s hardly a ringing endorsement for the status quo? Perhaps this is my point, the current arrangements are past their sell by date. We need a new way?