This and That by JL

Perhaps I am dating myself…BUT…When I was just a kid growing up in the Rockaways, my mother and I would board the Long Island Railroad every Saturday for an hour trip into Manhattan for ballet classes and for Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s concerts at Carnegie Hall.  The closest thing we had to culture was the [...]

What is there about The Nutcracker that makes it such an endearing classic? For one thing, it’s a party. Beautiful people in elegant attire gather around a magnificently decorated tree, along with little boys in knickers, girls with starched white dresses, and magic in the air as toy soldiers and flowers come to life. But [...]

Going global.  That’s the plan for the fall season at the Performing Arts Center (PAC) (www.artscenter.org) at SUNY Purchase.  I have this from a reliable source… Wiley Hausam, PAC Executive Director.  “Our season is more robust than last year  with 35 performances and more international programs, including those from Brazil, Venezuela, Spain, Hungary, Germany, Australia [...]

The Village of Ossining seems to be on the move, thanks to Mayor Bill Hanauer. He’s an artsy guy. I first met him at the MTA of all places where he and I were panelists on a committee selecting artwork for the Ossining train station. He was shaking hands and loving it this particular Sunday [...]

There we were in Albany, us hearty few who care deeply about the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). It was cold. The streets were icy. The halls were full of advocates for many causes. We were there to talk to legislators about the importance of the arts to New York State. Our [...]