Cinco de Mayo weekend!

Tis the season for skirts and sunscreen! As the streets of New York become flooded by those out from winter hibernation and tourists eager to stand smack in the middle of the sidewalk jamming up the crosswalks, we had our own guests and adventures... but while the London Boys brought chaos to the streets, it was a girls night out!

We started Cinco de Mayo at a proper Mexican bar in midtown... no idea what the name was, but young men in tall hats lined the edges of the dance floor, speakers crackled tubas tunes, and hips swayed as furiously as the drinks were poured... not a single song had English in it and the latinas were more than happy to teach us and twirl us around.

Randy and Alena shake it salsa style!

Kathy and Steph go gangsta Espanol

and then it was off to...
Danny Tenaglia's Mad Hatter Ball at Pacha... one of the best house DJs that's been on the scene for years at a see-and-be-seen club that thumps til dawn... and listed on Danny's guestlist were:

Steph and James

Alena gives the crowd a steamy show!

Kathy, Steph, and Alena sporting their MAD Hats

Weekend images...

What's up with the hustlin' T? In SoHo Billiards, blurring the afternoon away...









Mark and Hannah - recent arrivals to the New York scene from across the pond...










Danielle in from Los Angeles with hugs from the boys - James and Randy...









Making the scene happen until the early hours, despite a painful DJ...

Out past Curfew

Everything went amazingly well.
The playwright was pleased
and the audience was captivated...
and i was reminded why theater is so difficult to do... 
But I do love it and had a wonderful weekend -
especially with the boys!

LtoR: Tom, Dad, James

Central Park in April...

Almost Sold Out!

SAY WHAT??!!?? (yes...)

To the casual reader, the previous posts may have been mere fodder for the masses... whoo-hoo, Steph and James are on holiday!

However, the more keen observer may have noticed something very, very different...

Look again:
"What??" You say... "It's just Stephanie playing with fire again."

Perhaps.

Look again.

Closer...

Even Closer:
Is anything out of place?

Do you see something that doesn't belong?

No that's not a new tattoo...

YES, I AM GETTING HITCHED.

I never thought (and I'm sure most of you never thought either) that I'd see a ring on that finger, but in truth, it fits, James fits, and I am the happiest woman alive right now... and it feels something like this:

a goofy kiss across the stickshift in a convertible that's going
120 km/h through the twisty roads of Europe.

Yeah... something like that.

A Nice Easter Weekend

Coming up the drive to James' family home in South France after a grueling 12 hours of delayed flights, missed connections, and knee-knocking airplane rides invites you to breath a little deeper and walk quite a bit slower. The house is in Gattiere, a secluded town north of Nice where every shop closes for an hour at lunch and you can walk from one side of town to the other in minutes. A beautiful change from the hectic New York concrete skyline.

Lunch was everyday on the patio, over looking various French towns. On a clear day, you can see the Mediterranean just beyond the hills in the distance. Here the family gathers - having just woken up or been working in the gardens since dawn - and the day commences...















Afterwards, the afternoon is yours... to catch some sleep like James' brother Simon here, or catch some sun instead and contribute to the gardening facelift that the grounds around the house are undergoing... everyone here saved at least one tree from the ivy or built one section of a pathway wall...














Outside the house is an open-stove fireplace. The quinessential pizza oven! I have never had a pizza anything like what came out of this oven... fresh ingredients, wood-burning stove, cooked to perfection!














Easter lunch was a more forman occassion... we all gathered with friends of the family for a delicious meal after attending mass service at a tiny church in the center of the town.

Landscape Artists?

So much has already been done to bring thirty years of overgrowth under control... The walls and levels, which were once covered in ivy, are now blank canvases for lawns, gardens, swimming pools... reality does indeed leave much room for imagination!















Off we go! James' brothers Tim (the youngest) and Nico (second youngest) and I to hack and chop our way through the landscape!

Veni Vidi Vici Venice!

Before leaving for Nice, I had made plans with an old friend of mine, Brian, to meet him in Venice for dinner one night. Seeing as how he had no cellphone or internet connection during his tour of Italy, I couldn't very well cancel... so we took a quick drive along the coastline of southern France and Italy and across the mainland, which looks astonishingly similar to rolling grassy hills of Tennessee - only that the buildings are made of stone. And have been in existance longer than the United States.
















well, maybe not so quick... never did figure out why the entire motorway came to a complete stop in the middle of the afternoon. We translated the Italian truck driver's description into somthing along the lines of "fire-breathing dragons are ravishing the countryside!!"

But we did eventually make it in time for dinner, and to see the lights come on across the buildings in St. Marks Square. One of the most stunningly beautiful twilights I have seen in my life... Here the sky grows dark over The Basilica:















I honestly had not been feeling 100%, probably all the travel and time adjustments... but when you're in Venice, this face doesn't last too long!















The next morning we were up early and headed back to the Square to go inside the Basilica (more pics soon) and roam the Square with Brian and his brother Michael before they headed off to Munich... Brian is on the left here and looks EXACTLY like when I knew him 16 years ago. Will try to find evidence of this!














And then James and I were off to meander the quiet, narrow passageways of Venice ourselves... I desparately wanted to get lost for days, but we were due back in Nice in time for the evening Chelsea football (read: soccer) match.

(I'll post more Venice pics later - Blogger only allows 5 per post)

Book your tickets now!

As you know, getting going in New York isn’t always easy. But moments like this make it worth it!
PROUDLY ANNOUNCING….
Stephanie’s New York theatrical directing debut!

And this is not just a random play in a forgotten black box theater. I am directing CURFEW, written by Academy-award winning writer Arthur Jolly, as part of the acclaimed American Globe Festival, with two incredibly talented actresses: Susan Stout and Casey Geraghty. This promises to be a riveting performance you do not want to miss!

Mark your Calendars and Get your Tickets! The show is just off Times Square on Friday, April 27th at 8:00pm. At this performance, the audience will participate in selecting the best play of the evening, so your support at this performance is much needed!

THE DETAILS:

~~~~~~~~~~~
Date:
Friday April 27th at 8:00pm. Run-time is approximately 1 1/2 hours.

Venue:
AMERICAN GLOBE THEATER, Times Square's longest-running Off-Off-Broadway theatre, located at 145 W. 46th Street. As part of the American Globe Festival - Offoffonline.com called the Festival the highlight of the Off-off Broadway season (May 2004).

Cost:
$15. This festival sells-out every year and tickets are already on sale! Best not to wait. Purchase your seats by either calling American Globe Theatre at 212-869-9809 OR going to www.theatermania.com to purchase them online. Only pre-paid (not reserved) seats will be held once it sells out. And seriously, where else can you spend $15 on a night-out in New York?!

Afterparty:
Drinks nearby directly afterwards!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRO!

May all the presents you open either
look like This
or
bring this Look to your face!

Oh YEAH!

NSEW in Full Effect

Having
flown West for the completion of "New York Blind",
driven South to see my brother and friends in "The Greatest City in America",
and having no intention of going any further North until the weather starts cooperating
- it's time to head EAST... all the way over the Atlantic, down to the south coast of France to find a little sunshine, lots of space to breathe, and a few games of chess between hours and hours of eating.

Back next weekend...

Heading south for the winter weekend!

I've been waiting to put this post up for a while... not sure why though.

After a full 12 hours of non-stop snow in New York City, James and I trudged our way to the rental car shop wondering if we were actually going to make it out of the City... the highway speed was dictated by signs all the way down to D.C. "35 MPH". And not a drop of snow on the road. Even the cops knew that speed limit was ridiculous. As I was driving down the New Jersey Turnpike I thought to myself "hmmmm, that dark Crown Victoria with tinted windows, that just pulled on to the road is probably an undercover cop"... and proceeded to continue at a steady 85 MPH. Sure enough he pulled in front of me, put his lights on... and slowed me down to 35. And when I was going mind-numbingly slow enough, he took off. Punishment enough even without a ticket.

Eventually we made it down to DC, where Tom now lives... saw his awesome apartment and took a stroll around the original Great Mall of America. Of course, it was freezing so we found the optimal place to spend a few hours:















In the IMAX movie theater at the Air and Space Museum.
Somehow that wasn't "American" enough. And here we are hosting a Brit to the nucleus of our country... the center of what makes everything run... Capital Hill, Washington Monument, Smithsonian... but let's get real here.

Let's go to Baltimore! It's claim to fame, after all, is written all over the benches...











(Disclaimer: This was the only bench we could find that hadn't been set on fire or been claimed by a homeless person)

This is where my girlfriend Kat and her husband live... both working at Johns Hopkins, which is probably the only reason that this boarded-up, dying-while-standing-up, frighteningly-forgotten town is still on the map. Well, that and Duckpin Bowling.















"What is Duckpin Bowling?" Kat asks as Justin and James check out the scene... well just look here to find more... It's the Sport of a Lifetime! And we went to the #1 rated Duckpin Bowling Lanes in Baltimore...




















But I'm not going to spoil it for you! This sport is sweeping the nation! Find out for yourself how "Duckpin bowling combines the elements of fun, excitement, challenge, competition and sociability into one fantastic activity!"

And after that wild ride, how could we possibly bear leaving America's Greatest City for... New York City? At least there were no speed limit reductions on the way back. Not that they would have slowed me down anyways.

Just in time for Summer

No more hiding the booze bottles from the cops patrolling the sand... No more awkward bottles to carry along with your beach volleyball gear... No more getting so lit you can't remember where you left the liquor!


A flip-flop that doubles as as flask!!! Now, the only thing I want to know is why they only come as menswear?

http://www.reef.com/productdetail/guys/footwear/sandals/2597

Chips N Sips

Poker at ours last Tuesday... maybe the guys thought that the suits and ties were going to be intimidating??? I don't think so, boys! Look at where the chips are stacked... Not even this pair of pocket rockets could help Good Ol' Randy...

Why?

Sunday morning with the sun playing hide-n-seek behind the clouds... and I'm listening to my neighbor's music... usually loud and hammering... this morning it seems they too enjoy a slightly slower Sunday... I catch myself humming along to the lyrics - lyrics that I don't know the words to, but I do know... somehow... the chorus... "tell me why"... Annie Lennox. Annie Lennox. That is the EXACT same song that I had cranked up last night at midnight while I taking a much needed relaxing bath (yes, they can be essential at midnight!)... there was something soothing about going to sleep and waking up to the same song... like the world was in tune with me or I had passed the song on to someone else... or maybe they heard it in their sleep and they, too fell asleep and woke up to the same song... without knowing "why"...

If not here, then there...

If you can't see the video below, go here and watch it full screen on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkm1HLOfEdo

The Making of New York Blind

Chronicaling the calamitous creation of the 3-minute film "New York Blind"... to its curious conclusion!

What was the first poem that ever struck you?

I used to read a lot of poetry... the simplicity, precision, and imagery of poetry was always much more my style than long prose using 20 pages describing 30 seconds of action (Hemingway, anyone?). Recently, a friend has been going through tough times here in New York, and the first poem that ever struck me and stuck to me came back in a brilliant rush... potent, emmersive, emotional, beautiful... I remember the person who gave it to me, the reason why, and where I kept it for the longest time. Now it's something that I pass on... will they remember who gave it to them and why?

After a while you learn the subtle difference
between holding a hand and chaining a soul
And you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning
and company doesn’t always mean security
And you begin to learn that kisses aren’t contracts
and presents aren’t promises
And you begin to accept your defeats
with your head up and your eyes ahead
with the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child
And you learn to build all of your roads on today
because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans
and futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.
After a while you learn that even sunshine burns
if you get too much.
So you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul
instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.
And you learn that you really can endure
that you really are strong
and you really do have worth
And you learn and you learn
with every goodbye you learn.

VERONICA A. SHOFFSTALL
1971

Ways to fight the -19 windchill...

You know that when nothing's going up on the blog, that something's going on in life... Very busy lately with shooting a new short film called "new york blind" and a follow-up short that shows the "Making of New York Blind", but those are nearly complete now and several new projects are coming up...

I'm helping to put together a large party at The Pierre Hotel on Thursday where they're unveiling a re-furbished venue for social events and meetings. The Hotel has been around since pre-Depression and managed through several turns of hand to maintain an air of elegance and old-world charm. I believe it used to be owned by the Four Seasons, but has recently been bought by Taj Hotels. Small-scale event management has always intrigued me as something that would be fun, yet not time-consuming to do... so far, my instincts are proving to be correct.

I am also currently laying the foundation to direct Arthur Jolly's short play "Curfew" as part of the American Globe Theatre festival. It's a stunningly well-written play with beautiful parts for the two characters... both gripping and revealing. The festival has been running off-Broadway for 13 years and is well-established and able to attract name actors. Definitely worth making my off-Broadway directorial debut a success!

As always, the Arizona documentary continues... we've located many of the subjects we're looking to interview and a week in Arizona is now scheduled for late March, pending schedule confirmation with the interviewees.

James and I are looking at a trip to visit his family over Easter weekend. All in all, many wonderful things happening and lots of things to look forward to... For today, however, it's Sunday, so a nice, calm breakfast and an afternoon cycle in Central Park with friends is all that needs to be planned.