Category: february 2017

Brief intermission: don’t leave it to the last minute!

The Humble Fabulist2 Comments

An unassuming flower shop somewhere near the tracks at Grand Central.
Every weekday morning they put out fresh cut flowers arranged in colour-coordinated rows on the shelves. Busy commuters can always count on finding the perfect bouquet for their occasion, until closing time at 7:30pm. Always?

Not so on February the 14th! By 6pm the vases were empty and folks were pushing and elbowing their way through hoping to catch the remains of the day.

For that day was V day and people were willing to put up a fight.

Aah, the things we do for love…

Snapshot from February 14th, 2017

Evening At The Talk House

The Humble Fabulist4 Comments

Back in New York with not a moment to waste. Off to The Pershing Square Signature Center for an ”Evening at the Talk House”. Wallace Shawn’s latest play, a dark comedy, a sounding alarm, a dystopian society, the end of the world as we know it. Nothing too dramatic, just a few friends and theatre colleagues getting together on the occasion of the 10-year anniversary of a huge flop they had worked together in, the legendary ”Midnight in a Clearing With Moon and Stars”.

The author, played by Mathew Broderick, introduces us to the rest of the group and they all sit together having drinks and exchanging compliments and mischievous (un)pleasantries. Everything seems perfectly normal – except the more we follow their conversation the deeper we enter into a dystopian world where theatre is dead and people have taken to executing foreign nationals, in order to protect ”us” from ”them”. Who exactly is ”us” and ”them” is open to debate.

But first, there was some housewarming mingling; the audience were treated as guests, with members of the cast offering candy-coloured drinks and jelly babies. If you look closely, you’ll notice Mr. Broderick and Mr. Shawn in his pajamas, casually chatting away with their ”guests”. 

The Pershing Square Signature Center
February 26th, 2017

Philadelphia – For Brothers. For Sisters. For Love

The Humble Fabulist4 Comments

A lovely coincidence it was, two Greeks in their first trip outside New York, to a city with a Greek name. From philos > φίλος > friend and adelphos  > αδελφός > brother; who knows what Penn was thinking when he named her. One thing is sure, he did have good intentions. 

Philly sparkled as she waived goodbye that night. Penn would have been proud.

Philadelphia
February 25th, 2017

Philadelphia – A City Street || An Institution

The Humble Fabulist7 Comments

Albert Barnes taught people to look at works 
of art primarily in terms of their visual relationships.

The Barnes is home to one of the world’s greatest collections of impressionist, post-impressionist, and modern European paintings, with especially deep holdings in Renoir, Cézanne, Matisse, and Picasso. Assembled by Dr. Albert C. Barnes between 1912 and 1951, the collection also includes important examples of African art, Native American pottery and jewelry, Pennsylvania German furniture, American avant-garde painting, and wrought-iron metalwork.

The minute you step into the galleries of the Barnes collection, you know you’re in for an experience like no other. Masterpieces by Vincent Van Gogh, Henri Matisse, and Pablo Picasso hang next to ordinary household objects—a door hinge, a spatula, a yarn spinner. On another wall, you might see a French medieval sculpture displayed with a Navajo textile. These dense groupings, in which objects from different cultures, time periods, and media are all mixed together, are what Dr. Barnes called his “ensembles.”

In this spirit, here is an ”ensemble” of my own, a compilation of images from the up and coming Comcast Technology Center – with its dangerous-looking platform lift – and the Barnes Foundation. Photography inside the galleries is not permitted and, for once, I understand. With its small rooms and artworks arranged over the entire length and width of the walls, the ”ensembles” are not easy to capture – at least not by the casual photographer.

The Barnes Foundation
Philadelphia

February 25th, 2017

How to order a steak

The Humble FabulistLeave a comment

In 4 easy steps.  There are a lot of good addresses for Philly cheesesteaks nowadays but if you value tradition, there can be only one: Pat’s King of Steaks. Original home of the steak sandwich invented by its founder, Pat Olivieri, in 1930, the place is still owned by the same family. The sandwiches (we got them wit) are utterly delicious.Philadelphia
9th Street & Passyunk Avenue

February 24th, 2017

Philadelphia – The Ben Franklin Bridge

The Humble FabulistLeave a comment

Dear Ben is omnipresent in Philadelphia. Monuments, museums, his memorial, this bridge, they all honour one of America’s most illustrious figures.The bridge named after Benjamin Franklin spans across Delaware River and connects two Cities and two States: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Camden, New Jersey. It can be crossed by car, train, bike or, like we did, on foot. Around 1,3 miles or 30′ walk, longer if you pose to take photos, soak up the views, try to identify Philly’s tall buildings in the background or just take deep breaths of fresh air. Or maybe watch a game.Camden Waterfront, on the other side, was undergoing a major redevelopment and didn’t look too welcoming at the time so we just turned back without exiting the bridge. 

The Ben Franklin Bridge
Philadelphia

February 24th, 2017

Philadelphia – The House of Edgar Alan Poe

The Humble Fabulist4 Comments

For all its charm and history, Elfreth’s Alley was not our destination – just a passage to Philadelphia’s most poetic home. A thirty minute walk beyond the Expressway to an area I wouldn’t like to find myself after dark, and there it was. Poe lived in different houses during his six-year residence in Philadelphia, but this is the only one still standing. Poe lived here with his beloved wife Virginia and devoted mother-in-law Maria Clemm who was an excellent housekeeper, a great help to the couple especially while Virginia was in declining health. The house is stripped bare; no objects or furniture belonging to Poe because nothing was left behind when the family moved on to their next home in the Bronx. Only drawings and period photographs indicate how it would have looked back then.  Narrow staircases and tiny rooms always make me wonder how much we and our living spaces have expanded over the years.
The cellar, that is said to have been described in “The Black Cat” (1843), a short story written here, in Philadelphia. The reading room, the only furnished one in the house and decorated according to Poe’s ”The Philosophy of furniture”. A library with the full body of Poe’s work is available and visitors are warmly encouraged to sit comfortably and indulge to their heart’s content. Plan ahead though: admission is free but the house is open only Friday through Sunday, from 9am – 12noon, and 1pm -5pm. And they do take their lunch break seriously! Edgar Allan Poe’s House
532 N. 7th Street
Philadelphia

February 24th, 2017

Betsy Ross & Elfreth’s Alley

The Humble Fabulist4 Comments

Leaving the ”Keys to Community” in the capable hands, or should I say bust, of Mr. Franklin we followed Arch Street towards 2nd Street, finding some quaint little shops along the way.

To Betsy Ross’ House. Ms Ross was a seamstress, credited with sewing the first American flag – to Mr. Francis Hopkinson’s design, as we learned from his epitaph earlier. While no proof exists of Ms. Ross’ accomplishment, the fact remains that she is a beloved figure and her legend lives strong. And, right across her house, a giant flag. Can you get more patriotic than that? 

Yes, you can – by way of preserving your city’s history for generations to come. Like Elfreth’s Alley. Connecting N 2nd Street with N Front Street, it has been there since the 1700s – the oldest residential street in the United States, only because of the efforts of its very residents. Built by merchants and tradesmen to house their families, later welcoming working class immigrants, today impeccably preserved by its community of artists, artisans, educators and entrepreneurs. A street with its own history, its own architecture and website, a little world of its own.

With the most charming dwellers, indeed.

Philadelphia
February 24th, 2017

Philadelphia – Benjamin Franklin

The Humble FabulistLeave a comment

Back in Philadelphia, on to more agreeable sights, starting with Benjamin Franklin’s resting place, in Christ Church Burial Ground. The great man sleeps close to other patriots and prominent figures like Francis Hopkinson, designer of the first official American flag:

And Gerald Connely, a Seaman, Soldier, Safecracker. Wait… Safecracker?!? Was Gerald Connely Philadelphia’s most prominent crook? A quick research showed that actually, Connelly was a world-class locksmith who was cooperating with the FBI whenever his expertise was needed. He was also a very funny guy who knew, when we was writing his parting words, that he would get people looking twice.

Finally, Mr. Franklin. He was just 22 when he wrote his epitaph. I wonder what made a man think about writing an epitaph at such a young age:

On the way out, a fire engine, descendant of the service that Franklin helped create in 1736, the Union Fire Company, one of the first volunteer firefighting companies in America: 

Here is Mr. Franklin again, his bust sculpted by James Peniston, covered with casts of 1.000 keys collected from local schoolchildren. ”Keys To Community” also contains several brass nameplates representing Philadelphia firefighters fallen in the line of duty since 1736: Philadelphia
February 24th, 2017