TheFitzyreport

Frayed Knot

Posted on September 8, 2013 by TheFitzyreport

Williamsburg is a hub of artistic activity and of all the suburbs of NYC is known for it’s innovative vibe. So when I heard about a colourful installation that had been woven onto the walkway of the Williamsburg Bridge I pedaled over on Saturday morning with much anticipation. A street artist called HOTTEA had spun a tunnel of wool and the sun shining through the rainbow of colours at the entrance to the pedestrian walkway would be glorious. But by the time I arrived all that remained were a few strands of wool, a sequence of knots where the colorful pattern would have been sewn to the bridge. How disappointing – and it had only been up for a matter of days. Perhaps this means the new art of Williamsburg does not have the staying power of the old art of Manhattan – or that street art, no matter how beautiful, is very transient. However my ride over the East River was hardly a waste of time. The view from the top of the bridge was breathtaking, there was plenty of graffiti to spark a real political debate along the way, and the exercise of the long slow incline leading on and off the bridge was a healthy start to the weekend. Oh and there was also the joke that was cogged by the tufted remains of Hottea’s installation. Did you hear the one about the three pieces of string that walked into a bar….?

COURTESY OF HOTTEA…

Posted in art & inspiration, Uncategorized | Tagged HOTTEA | 1 Comment

Little Collins Cafe

Posted on September 2, 2013 by TheFitzyreport

If there isn’t much a cup of tea can’t fix, then a really good coffee can change the world. Well, certain parts of it anyway. The Little Collins Cafe on Lexington is off to a good start. They opened their doors a few weeks ago with an Australian welcome, and a trendy but transforming fit-out that will have you reordering flat whites just to watch it all work.

Leon, the owner and barista extraordinaire, came to NYC from Melbourne to work as a lawyer. But the daily grind was not the blend he was looking for, so one bar was quickly swopped out for another. Kaffe 1668 became Toby’s Estate in Williamsburg, and the collective experience of managing these hot spots coincided with a great opportunity to open a new cafe in midtown. This part of town was drastically in need of a good coffee shop so Leon was greeted like a saviour by the locals – even his vegemite challenge was taken seriously, and there were more than a few free coffees given away when Americans successfully ate a whole piece of blackened toast.

Offerings are expressed coffee like the classic flat white and the almost scientifically prepared pour-overs, but the Modbar, making it’s first appearance in NYC, is the eye-catching feature that allows the barista to work and interact with patrons at the same time. Instead of having a monstrous steaming box on the bench, all the mechanical parts of the apparatus are hidden underneath. The result looks like chrome soda fountains curving majestically out of the counter. Between those that express and those that steam, there is a cleansing unit that zaps the milk jug after each use. When you order a flat white, not only is the coffee ground freshly, but just enough milk per cup is heated and the rest disposed of. One coffee is made at a time. It’s a total juggle of portioned perfection.

Even more than the excellent coffee, the best part of swinging by the packed cafe this morning was the happenstance of finding Leon’s parents just arrived from Melbourne. There were celebrations all round and definitely no time for jet lag. One minute it was customs and the next they were running cappuchinos to table two. So it may turn out to be a busboys holiday but at least the coffee will be good….

Posted in coffee, Uncategorized | Tagged coffee NYC, Little Collins | 6 Comments

The Bird is the Word

Posted on August 28, 2013 by TheFitzyreport

Every year the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival spreads the love between Harlem and the East Village. Saturday’s lineup is uptown in the Marcus Garvey amphitheater where you are usually assured of a view of the stage, and Sunday is downtown in Tompkins Square Park where people spill out from deck chairs over the lawns and around the gardens between Hari Krishna drummers, fried chicken stands and the dog run. People found a spot where they could, sitting, standing and meandering between sun and leafy shade. In the end it didn’t really matter if you had a good view, so long as you could hear. The atmosphere took care of everything else.

Sheila Jordan was headlining and the darling of the stage. At 85 she was not only a contemporary and friend of Charlie Parker but performed with him and followed him to New York – inspiring his song Following the Bird. It was as though she was channeling him as she sang If I should lose you, and it was amazing to have a legend sing about a legend with the energy and groove that only a lifetime of jazz could deliver. (Interestingly, Sheila didn’t start working full time in music until she was 58 years old, so there’s hope for some of us yet… )

The atmosphere in the park really made the day for me. Couples danced and people tapped and the cool vibes made it a great day to be alive. Music even came from paper – at least that was what Sir Shadow told me. He puts jazz on paper in one continuous line – his pen does not lift – and hums all the while. When I asked him what the music was, he said he just sang what the paper told him. By the look of the outcome that was Charlie Parker alive and well…

Posted in events, music, Uncategorized | Tagged Charlie Parker Jazz festival | 3 Comments

Back in the saddle

Posted on August 21, 2013 by TheFitzyreport

Every year the Summer Streets program gets busier and better. All the way from 72nd street to the Brooklyn Bridge, Park Avenue is closed to normal traffic for the first three Saturdays in August and the strip becomes a rush of cyclists, walkers, runners and fun. Apart from the joy of owning the streets for a few hours, there are events sidelining the celebration, which means that even though you can travel faster on the car-free track, there are more reasons to stop along the way.

There was a circus atmosphere in front of City hall as muscle-men challenged the crowd to ripple massive ropes under the stop watch, people traded their wheels for the whizz of a ride on the flying fox, and a giant popping machine introduced the coming of a most welcome Museum for Food and Drink. The popper had everyone transfixed. Corn was poured into a compression container on the roof of the truck and as the pressure – and anticipation – grew to boiling point, a well armed fellow whacked the release of the corn which exploded into puffed perfection. Then it was all swept aside for tasting.

If the queues along Park Avenue were any measure of the popularity of the various entertainments, then the most successful was the tunnel, which runs underground from 33rd Street to meet the overpass of Grand Central Station. For the first time since the 1930’s this tunnel was open to pedestrians, and not for a simple walk-through. There was an amazing light show with sound effects created by people’s voices recorded over music, resulting in a totally eerie experience. It was an art installation, but my awareness of the traffic that would normally be racing through that very space, contrasting with the peaceful aerial view to the skyscrapers on Park Avenue, made it feel more like a time machine. No pressure, but it was time to get back on my bike…

Posted in events | Tagged Summer streets NYC | 4 Comments

Big smoke to bush BBQ

Posted on August 3, 2013 by TheFitzyreport

New York City has much to offer but this does not (yet) include the Big Three – koalas, kangaroos and emus. In Port Lincoln however, these special creatures are locals, and they really turned on the charm at Mikkira Station when I visited with my family last weekend. All week I had been holding out to see a white calf frolicking in the Bight, but having a whale of a time was even better and gave the land mammals the edge.

Koalas have seen people come and go at Mikkira. For thousands of years it was the aboriginal tribes of Barngalla, Nauo and Battara who tapped into this permanent waterhole. Then it was the sheep farmers and shepherds, but more recently the station has been in the care of Bette de La Parelle who made this unique place a protected environment. Tourist buses haven’t arrived yet whereas bush fires come a little too frequently, but the old homestead survives to tell tales and the campground inspires the telling of a few more. Our barbecue was a legend in itself – what a treat!

So long as the koalas have something to eat they are happy. In fact they munched on regardless of cameras and kids kicking the footy around. Best of all though was the koala moment. After pushing my zoom to the limit to capture a good shot of this magnificent marsupial perched high in the trees, there was suddenly an opportunity within arms distance. I had never been that near to this gorgeous creature, and who would have believed they could be that cute. The little bear posed and paused, looking straight down the lens, then with measured manners let out a bountiful burp. There are many unexpected delights that always bring joy to a trip home, but sharing eucalyptus breath up close and personal with a koala bear has to there with the best!

Posted in travel, Uncategorized | Tagged koalas, Mikkira Station, Port Lincoln | 7 Comments

Clubbing with Qantas

Posted on July 16, 2013 by TheFitzyreport

It was just like being at Wimbledon – cucumber sandwiches, champagne, and pictures of Andy Murray on every publication in sight. His triumph was not unlike my own, although mine was not 77 years in the making and I wasn’t wearing shorts. Courtesy of Qantas and the magic of friendship, I not only had a very good seat on a very last minute booking for Australia, but here I was at JFK enjoying all the comforts of The Club.

I consider flying Qantas to be an intricate part of my Australian nationalism – not so much due to successful advertising campaigns as to that fabulous feeling of welcome that accompanies the journey. I look forward to it every time. I have heard there are cuts and compromises to the flying kangaroo’s operations – there appear to be less and less toilets and the seats seem to get smaller and smaller, but there could be many other reasons for that…

Between Jackie, Anne, Derek and Stella, I feel like a Qantas queen, being indulged in not only enviable creature comforts, but also with the opportunity to pursue an ongoing curiosity. Why do some travellers have an appearance on arrival that is so much less tragic than others? While flying at the front of the plane with the ability to be horizontal anytime during a 24 hour flight does have it’s advantages, I have another theory. M & M’s at JFK and liquorice all-sorts in Sydney. The small scoop diving into the oversize jar at JFK followed by the clattering of candies into a cup alerted me to the popularity of the practice. Apparently at the Club in Sydney patrons complain if the all-sorts are all gone, so maybe I’m onto a sweet secret. A little indulgence may make a first class difference to that crumbled complexion and now that I am in the land of Haighs and Hoadleys, I am on a mission. Between here and Port Lincoln it’s time for some serious clubbing…

M&Ms

Posted in Food, Fun, travel, Uncategorized | Tagged Qantas | 9 Comments

Icecream

Posted on July 7, 2013 by TheFitzyreport

There’s nothing like a New York heat wave to really know how good ice cream can taste. Being an all-season, all-occasion, any time of the day ice cream devotee, I don’t need an excuse to splurge in the frozen treat department. But give me an excessive heat warning and the possibility of a blackout, and I’m ready to serve. Especially the good stuff, we don’t want any of that going to waste…

At the Ciao Bella stand downstairs at Grand Central, there are a team of people who really know their ice-cream and want to share the love. One customer tasted 13 flavours every day for three weeks. He had vouchers, but that was incidental. When I called in today, I tasted the chocolate, pumpkin and spice, banana, hazelnut, strawberry, cinnamon, key lime, vanilla, blackberry cabernet and blood orange sorbet. Lucky there were 5 staff on hand. But there was no hesitation from Cluny and his generous crew – they are looking to tap into people’s memories with taste – and it works. Whenever they serve Belgium chocolate s’mores, they sell out in an hour. I didn’t have any historic revelations ( not through lack of trying ) but I remember tasting a fig and balsamic sorbet at Ciao Bella a couple of years ago that I thought could not be surpassed in deliciousness. Think again Fitzy, the vanilla today was exceptional. Cluny churned out a story about their ice cream being extra creamy because it contained less air. If I didn’t prefer the texture to the whipped variety this would have been a bit of a stretch, but then again, I’ll even believe that the use of unrefined cane sugar makes ice cream nutritious.

With so many fabulous flavours to choose from ( and all of them can be made into milkshakes ) the temptation is to have half scoops of many rather than whole scoops of less. But as the scoopers pointed out to me, there are 125 tracks in the station not counting Metro North and the shuttle, so deliberating customers could jam the whole system mid order. That could be a sticky situation – just imagine missing your train by procrastinating between the pear and the pistachio…. Or the passionfruit….Or the pecan… Or the peaches and cream… Ciao Bella!

Posted in Food, Uncategorized | Tagged Ciao Bella, Grand Central Station, ice cream NYC | 6 Comments

Sex and politics

Posted on June 30, 2013 by TheFitzyreport

The Gay Parade is more of a political statement than ever today. Here in my garden on 36 Street the music is still pumping from Fifth Avenue where the parade started almost 5 hours ago. The reason for the event being even more colorful and outrageous than usual is not just the milestones of legal status that have been achieved in recent times, but the celebration for the women who made them.

When I swung by 5th and 35th before the parade started, I stumbled into the press machine of Christine Quinn. She already has a very high profile in the city, being the Speaker of the NY City Council and the most powerful public servant behind the Mayor – a gap she soon hopes to close. There are pictures of Christine all over the city, due to her pinup potential with street vendors, and after today’s crush of cameras and the metronome of motor drives, there will be a lot more. I didn’t have the advantage of height or camera armor to fight to the center of the pack, but even without a press pass I found myself in just the right spot to shoot Edie Windsor when she joined the red head’s spotlight. Edie, at 84, is very much the hero of the day. When her partner of more than 40 years died a few years ago, Edie had to pay $363K in death duties – something she would not have been liable for if her partner had been a man. In the Supreme Court last Wednesday Edie won her case against the government when it was declared that the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional, and since then rainbow ripples have been running riot around the country.

So while celebrations continue on the ground, I will enjoy the evening breezes and welcome drops of rain up here in my arbourage. There is a time for redheads and a time for politics, and there is a time to stop and smell the flowers…

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Mermaid Parade

Posted on June 24, 2013 by TheFitzyreport

Coney Island has a carnival reputation. At any time of the year you are going to find sword swallowers, sideshows and tattooed ladies. But there is one day in Summer that seems more outrageous than the rest, when thousands of locals come together for the Mermaid Parade to party in painted, shelled, bejeweled and sometimes brazenly bare, self constructed costumes. It has been a regular event for thirty years and could only really happen at Coney Island. When Sean and I joined the briny buzz before the parade started on Saturday, it felt one minute like the Easter show, and then next like Mardi Gras. But somewhere between the babies and the burlesque, there were a lot of people having a great time..

Sea creatures and their supporters gathered early in the day to secure a good vantage point, or to pay their $25 to enter the parade and join the pre-party of wrist banded entrants vying for the attention of the judges. There is a history of ( unofficial ) bribing that adds to the irreverence of the competition and to the overt advertising of the judges themselves. But in any case many contenders seemed more interested in photo opportunities than prizes. On the day, it is all about performance and being in character ( it is an ‘art’ parade after all! ). There were lobsters, bridal showers, muscle men, Neptunes, many mermaids and even an Elvis. Hordes of photographers, news reporters and cameramen were on hand to capture every scale and tendril. There were even some aspiring politicians looking for votes, although I can’t imagine what Mr Weiner would have worn. Maybe he didn’t get past Nathan’s Hot Dog stand…. But no-one was hiding in their shell on Saturday. The motto of Coney Island is ‘Defending the honor of American popular culture’ and whatever that is, when the Mermaid Parade is in town, you definitely don’t have to be under the boardwalk to be having some fun…

Posted in events | Tagged Coney Island, Mermaid Parade | 8 Comments

The Standard view

Posted on June 20, 2013 by TheFitzyreport

There is nothing standard about the view from the top of the hotel of the same name in the middle of the Meat Packing District. Standing over and around the High Line, with one foot in a popular biergarten and another surrounded by artworks in a transforming neighborhood, The Standard is, in a word, trendy. It is one of a growing style of properties under the umbrella of Design Hotels that are characterised by their unique style and a certain fit with their surrounds. A German fellow called Claus Sendlinger was running rave parties in Europe years ago when he decided that all the cool people in attendance would probably enjoy staying in similarly cool hotels. He was right. Now there is a community of 250 properties around the world and Claus is a happy man. He is also very generous, throwing a party this week to celebrate success in a space that has one of the most outstanding vantage points in the city. With almost 360* vision you can see the Empire State in one direction and the Freedom Tower in the other. Even New Jersey looks good from that height.

The Cloud Appreciation Society need look no further for a new clubhouse. Cocktails and clouds – what a heady combination! Sean and I joined a colorful crowd of designers, architects and New York characters swanning around. Brett Whitely appeared to be in attendance. There was champagne, perfectly sculptured canapes, high heels and hats. The room itself was totally retro, like something out of the seventies, and strangely I didn’t talk to anyone who actually liked it. This may mean there will be a new commission in the works soon, but in the meanwhile nothing can surpass the coolness of the view…