NYC is a Running Town: Nike+Human Race Aug 31

There is the world famous New York City Marathon (I swear I'm gunna run that puppy one day) and every weekend there seems to be a charity race going on in Central Park (personally, I'm looking forward to running the Komen Race for the Cure on Sept. 14!). Basically, NYC is a running town, with plenty of opps to get your jog on.

There is an interesting new 10K race in town. On August 31, 2008, runners from around the globe will take part in the world’s largest running event, the first ever Nike+ Human Race. The goal is to get 1 million runners racing at the same time, in 25 cities around the world including Buenos Aires, Istanbul, London, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico City, Quito, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo and more. Since we'll all be going through Olympic withdrawal at that point, this looks like a great way to get back in the global athletic groove.

In New York City, the race will take place along the waterfront at Randalls Island beginning at 8 p.m. There is a give back aspect too, with runners supporting the Lance Armstrong Foundation, World Wildlife Federation or ninemillion.org. Sounds cool to this running New Yorker. Get more info at www.nikeplus.com.

Music the Central Park Way

Take a walk through Central Park and you are bound to see sights unexpected. But it is the sounds you hear that are truly startling.

Each weekend (and many a weekday) musical artists of all kinds flock to the park and congregate to jam, bam and wail in the open air. Taking a walk today in the oppressive heat, I heard African drums, super funk, New Orleans jazz, electro pop, forceful folk and world sounds. Some nights the park has offered up symphonies and sounds more classical. Most impromptu concerts are free, or solicit only a small donation, so anyone can listen in. With more musicians per square foot than just about anywhere else in the world, NYC offers a level of tune talent that amazes time and again.

Check out the Summer Stage, NY Philharmonic in the Park and other more scheduled concerts. Upcoming acts include Crosby, Stills and Nash, Mark Knopfler, and other funkier stuff that I'm just not hip enough to recognize.

NYC Sound Tracks: Searching for the Best Underground Sounds

As a sometimes weary, daily NYC subway commuter, I am ever grateful for the subway musicians that break up my journey with talent I'd pay money for in a club. So it was nice to get word on a new show, MSG's NYC Sound Tracks. This eight episode series goes underground into the subways of NYC to find New York's best subway musicians. 16 musicians from all 5 boroughs will compete for the title, and the viewers will have a chance to vote for their favorite. Watch NYC Sound Tracks Sunday, July 13 at 8:00 p.m.

NYC Sound Tracks will be holding an open call on Tuesday, July 15 for underground talent from noon to 4PM at Foley Square in Lower Manhattan. The “Open Call” is a chance for any and all subway musicians to audition in public to be one the 16 finalists for the show.

For more information about NYC Sound Tracks, including more info on the open call, photos and trailers, visit www.msg.com/soundtracks. I'll be interested in checking out the winner's music - below or above ground.

Out Pride Outside: NYC's Gay Pride Parade!

What can you say? Its the best parade with the most fabulous costumes around, dancing its way down 5th Ave. to the gay mecca that is Christopher Street. Floats galore, terrific transvestites and a crowd loud and proud, the New York City Gay Pride Parade is a delight of fun fun fun. Favorites included Wonder Woman and Super Girl, a pair of Hilton sister look alikes, and men in platform heels showing off legs better than Gisele Bundchen's. Its just not fair! Here is to celebrating the diversity and flamboyance that is New York City.

Mermaids, Mermaids Everywhere at Coney Island's Mermaid Parade!

Nothing is more quintessentially New York fun and freaky than the fin-fabulous Mermaid Parade at Coney Island. Dress code ranges from Broadway quality aquatic costumes to teeny weeny bikinis on gals full figured and proud. Glitter and sea shell bras are prerequisites. The parade's cast of characters included voluptuous flesh baring pirate babes, shark finned macho men and drag queens shaking their mermaid tails. And the crowd ate it all up like fried calamari.

This year's parade had a tinge of the somber as Coney Island is under attack by yet another attempt to commercialize and commodify New York City. Talk about swimming with sharks. Looks like some in the city feel that Coney Island would do better as yet another generic shopping mall. Can we stop pouring Purell all over our city, please?

But despite the dip into the political, the day remained wacky, hot and humorous like any day at the beach should. For great images, check out New York City Daily Photo or the fingers-on-the-pulse Gothamist.

Standing Clear: Your Theatrical MetroCard to All Things Subway

Standing Clear, a new play by Coffee Cup theater company, takes you on a subway ride without the commuter torment of the N or W line. But even if you take a cab to the theater, beware - you'll be met with a barrage of wackadoo subway staples that are the human grid of New York City public transportation.

Written by performers Ishah Janssen-Faith and Jack McGowan and created with input from the entire cast, Standing Clear is an ode to the daily here-to-there grind. You'll identify with hapless subway sheep as they are surrounded by freaks, weirdos, arguing lovers and clueless tourists. The subway shenanigans shift from poignant to horrifying to humorous smoother than the trains run, largely due to the talents of an able cast playing a diverse array of characters.

Melinda Ferraraccio, with her sharp tongued strength, plays full tilt. Becca Hackett has a real girl presence so sweet it makes you wonder if she's even acting. Jack McGowan ably juggles cute boy and fed up husband among others, and Ishah Janssen-Faith is spot on as a talks-too-much butt-in-ski that we just want to shush, and then shames you with her palpable loneliness. But it is Ben Holbrook's perfect portrayal of a not-all-there subway dude with a heroic streak that steals your heart.

While the plots and pace occasionally veer off track, it is nicely directed by Barbara Karger. The real fun of the show is the nodding laughter of recognition that bonds the audience, met as we are with clueless iPod blasters and cramped crowd choreography. Commute on down to the Access Theater at 380 Bway at White Street before Standing Clear closes on June 21, for a show we can all relate to. Tickets are $20 or $15 for students.

Bonus: There will be a talk back on June 16 at 7pm with Hollaback NYC and Girls for Gender Equity at $30 a ticket.

Saved from Shopping by Rev. Billy

Can I hear a hallelujah? Rev. Billy preached his freakalicious gospel at the Highline Ballroom this fine Sunday afternoon, compelling all to put down their credit cards and raise their hands to heaven. That is right, children, the holy spirit was among us in the form of trapeze artists, Coney Island freaks, a talented choir in green robed glory, and a message that speared your shopaholic sternum.

Leader of the Church of Stop Shopping, Rev. Billy is perhaps best known outside NYC as the subject of the documentary What Would Jesus Buy? produced by Morgan Spurlock. But he is a staple of the New York arts and activist scene, protesting corporatization, capitalism, and commodification of our once divinely diverse city. Delivered in a Southern Baptist style, his stop the buy buy buy madness message is aimed at big business and consumers alike.

As New York City is bulldozed into just another megamall filled with Banana Republics and Best Buys, Rev. Billy tirelessly takes to the pulpit with a trinity of prayers - stop gentrification, preserve culture, and suspend your spending. The preacher strives to save your soul with a communion plate of performance art and cleverly lyric-ed gospel music. For me, it was more cathartic than any wafer and grape juice divinity I was ever served.

Catch the Rev in action at Union Square Park on Thursday, June 5 at 5pm on the NW corner. Face the Shopocalypse, confess your carnal commerce sins, and be saved!

(credit: Photo by Dogseat.)

Manhattanhenge Tonight!

Dude. Tonight, there will be a rare occurrence in New York City. As I read in today's daily Metro, according to Neil deGasse Tyson of the Hayden Planetarium (located at my neighborhood hotshot American Museum of Natural History) the setting sun will perfectly align with streets north of 14th. He says to look west from First Ave., and has dubed the event Manhattanhenge. 

This is a delightful side affect of the grid plan for the city, made more dramatic by today's skyscrapers. Check it out at sunset and maybe make an offering to the city gods of old. 

Losing Weight the Healthy Way: Weight Watchers in New York City

On a day of perhaps less than optimal self esteem, (and we all have them) New York City can be a challenging place in which to feel comfortable with your body. Its the fashion capital of the world, for Gucci's sake! Models routinely prance by you on the street, all thin and six foot towering, looking chic even in sushi stained tanks and yoga sweats. Add in a few movie stars and those awesomely gorgeous gay men with cheekbones to die for, and on a bad day you can feel a bit... thick.

After a reality check, you realize that New York City is filled primarily with beautiful, fabulous, everyday type folk, with real live bodies with real live flesh covering the bones. Every body is welcomed here, especially if that self - no matter its size - is embraced from within (and being clothed in couture never hurt). I've never felt more beautiful than I do in New York City, and I am no size zero, proving that New Yorkers really aren't as into 'appearances' as those living outside its borders are led to believe.

That being said, we all want to feel our best, and for me that has meant coming to grips with my long time struggle with weight and emotional eating. No, make that scarfing. I may never have been morbidly obese, but on my 5'3" frame even a five pound gain can make me feel ginormous. To feel really confident about moving to a city I'd forever been infatuated with, yet incredibly intimidated by, I would need to lose the weight I'd packed on since my mother's death and the end of a serious relationship. Diagnosed with an underactive thyroid, my 'stuff the face to stuff the emotion' approach to pain management led to my all time high puffy state of 163 lbs. As you can see from my before photo, I was pretty uncomfortable in my stuffed Vienna sausage-like skin.

When I finally was ready to plunge into the abyss of my own weight obsessions, the only place that made sense for me to turn to was Weight Watchers. I'd heard of so many successes from friends and colleagues, and I also knew it wasn't a 'magic pill' approach to dieting (if I thought a diet capsule would work, I'd be downing those puppies by the cereal bowl-ful!) No, I knew my weight gain had to be addressed on many levels, and Weight Watchers did that for me.

First, I had to understand my relationship to food, and the meetings helped me comprehend the emotional tie I had to Breyer's Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream. Hearing other people talk about that love affair gone wrong that is often our relationship with food made me feel less freakish about how I ate. Weight Watchers also was, like, the best nutritional class ever - I learned about food in a thorough way, and precisely how certain foods are processed by the body.

But the best thing about Weight Watchers? It gave me accountability. It helped me to see, by writing down what I was eating each day, just how much munchie munchie was making it into my mouth. Not surprisingly, it was way too much. And I was shocked to learn how the most innocent and beloved foods in my pantry (oh, let's be honest, at my corner deli) actually turned out to have the most WW points values (those are the little things that make it easy for you to track how much food/calories you've eaten in a day). Allotted 20 points a day, I learned quick that a six point bagel each morning was going to do me in!

Weight Watchers radically altered my perception of food, and my relationship to it. Through the knowledge I gained and the support I got in the meetings, coupled with exercise, the weight came off. And off. I lost 30 lbs. before moving the New York City. Once here, I was able to continue going to WW as there are meetings all across the city. As you can see from the after photo, I'm a much happier gal.

And now? I am still struggling with that last 10 lbs. But WW has make that even easier by offering a great online program - and their own cute-as-a-low-fat-cupcake blogger Faint Starlite. She started out keeping a video diary of her WW adventure on You Tube, and now she is a spokesperson for the program. Don't you just love how all high tech and hip Weight Watchers has gotten?

The best thing about being at a healthy weight in New York City? The town itself helps you stay that way. Not only do the clothes inspire you to keep it lean, but NYC is consistently voted the best walking town in the country. With so much to look at along the way, you walk everywhere. And now that the Mayor has ordered that restaurants list their food's calorie counts, you'll never look at a black and white cookie the same way again.

Update-a year later: Well, I've finally done it. Reached my goal weight of 125 lbs!!! It really is miraculous and I am thrilled. Losing the last 10-15lbs was incredibly difficult, however. My weight just kept going up and down-so frustrating. So earlier this year, I started eating lots of veggies and fruits, cut out the snacking, started a probiotic regime (I think that helped curb my appetite), and just stayed with it. And after years of trying, met my goal. Yay!

Pray the Devil Back to Hell at Tribeca Film Festival

Had the pleasure of seeing Pray the Devil Back to Hell at the Tribeca Film Festival, where it won Best Documentary Feature. Powerful on many levels, this exquisite, hits-you-in-the-heart documentary tells the extraordinary story of a small band of women who unite in the midst of a bloody, beyond brutal civil war. Determined to bring peace to war torn, war lord overrun Liberia, theirs is a tale of courage to the extreme. Also inspiring are director Gini Reticker and producer Abigail E. Disney, two female filmmakers on a mission, who gave a great Q&A after the showing.

The film will be released nationally soon, but get involved prior by asking for it to be shown in your town or by visiting the MySpace page.