Writes of Passage

720 Northern Blvd,
Brookville, NY 11548

The Georgian is very beautiful and talented. Listening to her is equally enjoyable as watching her play. She did Liszt’s Piano Concerto #2 and quickly encored a Schubert, the orchestra played Rachmaninoff’s Symphony #2 and encored a Tchaikovsky).

• 2007, Tchaikovsky’s violin concert

Now to crappy Tilles Center. It’s a myth that they’re able to attract top virtuosos around the world. My kid had his high school graduation here. For a student concert hall, it’s ok but for Yoyo Ma, Perlman and the late Stern, I think it definitely comes up short. The 70+ Royal Philharmonic Orchestra overwhelmed the stage. Come on, Long Island deserves a better concert hall.

The glass atrium is nice. An Asian boy plays there before the concert.

Oddly enough, it isn’t sold out event. The little talk before the concert by Dr. Paul Kim is really nice, giving historical and personal touch to the program: that Rachmaninov’s first symphony was a failure and Rach’s wife later said, the conductor Alexander Glazunov was drunk … Kim said he had a chance to meet his granddaughter at Saint Petersburg Conservatory and wanted to confirm this. But he finally decided not to ask, leaving another unconfirmed  history …

There are many walkers and, as I’ve said many times, the atmosphere is homey … in comparison, I much prefer Lincoln Center. The parking is free and the exit is easy, and it’s closer to home … a few reasons we keep going there.

格鲁吉亚🇬🇪的美眉 Khatia Buniatishvili
顶级的音乐家
超级的表演
比林肯中心还贵的票
离家近
但是剧场好烂喔
几年前孩子的中学毕业典礼也在这里
拜托 盖个好点的剧场好吗？

你会问吗？

左是Rachmaninoff 拉赫玛尼诺夫 右Glazunov 格拉祖诺夫
1897年,老拉的第一交响曲首演. 老格指挥. 长话短说, 砸了.其中的一个原因是老格喝高了.
省时间, 长话短说: 一个多世纪后
前二天在一朋友家遇到音乐家保罗. 小保说他曾在圣彼得堡音乐学院和老格的孙女相遇 … 原想向她求证. 但是他磨叽了好几天, 最终没有问 因为觉得不妥当.

如果是您, 为澄清一个小历史, 您会问吗？

俺八婆了一下, 因为老格在俄外没有老拉出名 (虽然同是天涯沦落人, 但是老格说他因为健康住在海外所以他在俄国内名声比老拉高. 老拉实诚, 直说不喜欢…好汉一条), 老格60多才结婚但没有亲生. 亲不亲生并不影响证实一个小历史吧？

Ok … 星期一笑: 几年前俺无意中看到老拉坟墓 周围空空荡荡. 正好有个管理员经过. 俺问: 这空位 … (别想哈, 都有主了)
我也不是老拉的粉, 又计划树葬, 为什么多口呀？
一定是更年期 … 快乐一周

The architectural concept, blueprint and the actual photo of the Liu Temple. They’ve celebration on Oct 4, 2019.

Is the stage too high?

The foliage, of different kinds, shapes and colors.

I was out for a walk after the first snow of the season while listening to the podcasts. I’ve been listening to NPR for a long while but never figured it out how not to replay what I’ve heard. And have no idea which and when the past episodes reappear again. One of the Planet Money episodes (#868) Moneyland came up today. I was about to change then I stopped, dead in my track. I remembered this piece well from last October (2018), because of the subject matter and lavishly interesting anecdotes.

Ukraine is a gut-rotten corrupted country, even the government couldn’t do a thing without bribery.

The reason for the episode was to a British journalist Oliver Bullough’s book, under the same title. Moneyland is an imaginary country where ill-gotten money around the world is resting safely and peacefully. The 12 minutes long episode on Planet Money was aired on 2018.10.05, (the 37 minutes Fresh Air on 2019.5.01) opening with the downfall of Viktor Yanukovych in 2014’s Euromaidan revolution (wiki). The protest began small, as he decided to ditch the EU and cozy up to Putin. As the protest grew bigger, Yanukovych was toppled and he fled his palace, hunting lodge… etc. in a hast where the gates were left wide open. The Ukrainian protesters and British journalist Bullough went in and saw the unbelievable lavish lifestyle, vulgar, trashy,  bling – the escaped president lived while the country was in ruin. There was the giant tv in front of the toilet, golf course, hunting lodge and sauna room where they dried the documents rescued from the bottom of the swimming pool. The docs showed Bullough the money trail. Having bitten by Yanukovych’s female press secretary once (on the shoulder, trying from stopping him asking touch questions) Bullough wrote, some the property isn’t even owned by Ukraine but England and layers of shell companies.

Ok, enough tidbits of the story to show how corrupted Ukraine was (or maybe is), which is what has stopped me dead in my track: it’s about the same time that Hunter Biden joined the Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings. Hunter has no experience in Ukraine, except he’s the then Vice President’s son. Does it matter if Joe the VP has talked with his son Hunter about Ukraine? I don’t think Burisma’s boss Zlochevsky paid Hunter $50,000 a month cared if the father and son had talked. All he needed was the fact, the son of the VP of US was on his board and that simple fact, worth $50,000 a month.

As I’m writing this, US Senator Kamala Harris has dropped out of presidential race. Hmmm… IF president Trump has any legacy, I would like to think, he is very inspiring. He inspired twenty able and smart adults to believe they could become just like him, to live in the White House. And the fact that Michael Bloomberg is running at such late time, is because, even as the impeachment proceeding is going on, he feels none of the 20 comrades could NOT beat Trump. Just sad.

第一场小雪后出去走走，边听播客。收听这个台很久了，但一直不知道怎么设置不重复。 今天 Moneyland 金钱乐园 （？）又跳出来了。我正要删但是一听到’乌克兰‘我突然决定再听几分钟。这个去年的采访给我留下的印象挺深的。

乌克兰是一个烂透顶的腐败国家，不贿赂连政府都无法做任何事。英国记者奥利弗·布洛夫（Oliver Bullough）的香肩曾被亚努科维奇的女新闻秘书咬过一次（试图阻止他提问题 – 嗯 没有伤到肉 但是外套咬破了。。。咱中国大妈还有段路要赶喔）。 2014， 亚努科维奇决定倒向普京 （欧盟你见鬼去吧！）。刚开始只有少数人在抗议 但是慢慢大到‘欧洲革命’把他推翻了。速度之快他只能裸身奔向普京。他的宫殿，狩猎小屋等都来不及处理。 给他贫穷的臣民一个难得的机会去开开眼界 他们总统难以置信的奢华生活方式，粗俗，肮脏，金光闪闪。马桶前有电视机，高尔夫球场，桑拿房 – 喔在那里他们烘干了从游泳池底部救出的文件。亚努科维奇的贪和洗钱的轨迹一览无余。

简单的故事但是今天 另我想起来。。。大约在同一时间，亨特·拜登（Hunter Biden）加入了乌克兰能源公司Burisma Holdings。Burisma的老板兹洛切夫斯基（Zlochevsky）每月给小拜5万美元，他才不在意美国副总统与儿子有否谈过乌克兰；小拜在乌克兰没有任何经验也不会乌语也无所谓， 他那5万美金买的是副总统之子的牌子。

就在我胡言乱语时，美国参议员卡玛拉·哈里斯（Kamala Harris）宣布她退出总统大选。嗯…如果大嘴巴床铺有什么总统丰功伟绩的，我想是他很鼓舞人心。他启发了二十位有才能和聪明的成年人，让他们相信他们可以像他一样进驻白宫。20个人，去角逐一个提名 妈妈咪呀。彭博（Michael Bloomberg）这么晚才宣布他也竞选， 是不是因为，即使在弹劾程序还在进行中，他仍觉得20个同志中没有一个能击败床铺？真伤心。

^{Times Square, Friday, Nov 29, 2019}

Passing by the Square, although it was only at the end of November, the day after Thanksgiving, but Christmas was already in the air. Many characters are dressed up as Santa or in red. As I was heading to the Central Park, I felt very cheerful. Blissful. Peaceful. 

I rarely venture out on a Black Friday, not to mention shopping.

Not disappointed today.

Not due to shopping (concert tickets) but just enjoyed the day in the Big Apple, from the Park to the shops to the streets. Walked a hearty 6.6 miles.

The Lincoln Center

Columbus Circle, Time Warner Center, Amazon Bookstore

The streets

I see something golden and yellow … on a Black Friday.

The sun sets at different angle in different seasons – here was during the summer months. I sat out by the water to read, on a 60 degree day. 

10 Columbus Cir, 3rd Flr
New York, NY 10019

Probably will return?

Been here before for a tea, loved their view and casual attitude. It’s just right for us, before a 3pm concert.

I enjoyed my spicy mint tea and smoked salmon (lox), but the sliced cucumber are old, and their service could have been a little more attentive – like not wet my phone when putting down the tea pot with hot water for my tea. Not sure I heard “I’m sorry” …

My friend said it’s the best French toast ever. Maybe it is or maybe bec I was paying … Overall, the food is good …

On a Black Friday

The sunset is beautiful. And where is Andy Garcia?