Happy Halloween

It's a Jacko-lantern! :-) Hehe

ENJOY THE DAY!

Trip to LA 10/25-10/29

Hello Everyone......Sadly, I'm under the weather and highly Unmotivated to elaborate on the details of our trip so I'll just say we had a wonderful time. Here's a brief highlight:

I was in Los Angeles from Wednesday through Sunday (10/25-10/29), mainly to attend one of Shawn's best friends from high school's wedding in North Hollywood. Luckily, I had the opportunity to see several of my friends as well. A little reunion in West Hollywood I'd like to call it, seeing faces I haven't in years. I wish I had planned the atmosphere a little better because sadly it was cocktails with the porn stars night...oops! :-) We still had a blast! We hung out on the patio instead of in front of the speaker system...good times!

The wedding was so much fun, Gianne looked beautiful (Loved her), And it was great meeting all of Shawn's friend's from Vet school as well (Gladstones and the Getty Museum...nice).

Also, It was great to revisit Woodland Hills, Encino, Sherman Oaks, and Studio City again (where I grew up). It would be very easy to return to LA, but I'm very content with the East Coast life.....but who knows what the future has in store. Thankfully, I'm VERY happy and I'm grateful to have such an amazing man in my life. He is my sunshine, the air I breathe, the fuzzy feeling all over. And that's enough cheese for the hour.

I hope all is well in your world....Enjoy the festivities on Halloween....Boo Hoo, I'll be indoors eating chicken noodle soup, trying to relax. Oh Yeah!

FH Party Pics

More Pictures from the party! :-)

Apple Picking, Pumpkin Picking, Entropy

Shawn, Alicia and I ventured to Riverhead, Long Island hoping to find a place for pumpkin picking. We ended up at Harbes Family Farm (which was the place I went with the Forest Hills Clan many moons ago) and enjoyed sweet buttered corn on the cob & I picked a pumpkin that resembled a football. Shawn loved it! :-) Afterwards, we spontaneously headed to a couple wineries in the general area (Jamesport and Pamonauk). But seriously, the best part of the day was Apple Picking at Woodside Farms. It was a gorgeous day and I was surrounded by happiness (Apples, nature and Shawn.Alicia). :-)

In Syosset, NY Alicia and I discovered a familiar restaurant we'd like to call home. Baja Fresh...SO HAPPY!!! I had my favorite Carne Asada Burrito and a pound of chips and salsa. Heaven! A West Coast chain on the East finally. Sadly, locations are not in NYC (yet). Here's hoping!

Lastly, My ex boyfriend Chris just arrived in town. This is the first time Shawn and Chris have met face to face. Surprisingly, it wasn't awkward for me (and they seemed to be comfortable hanging out). The idea of it is wierd though...Understandably. Thankfully, they both were cool with the situation. We all headed down to the June Havoc theatre to see Brooke's show "Entropy Songs" which was amazing. Out little star! She (as I figured) lit up the stage with a star presence. She rocks my world. :-) Then we headed back to Queens.

So in short, my weekend was filled with lots of laughter, music, and great fun. Memories to hold onto...and hopefully I'll never forget. :-)

Forest Hills Broadway Masquerade Party 10/21/06

Last week was all about preparing for the Forest Hills Broadway Masquerade Party. Shawn was primarily in charge of decorating, I was in charge of cleaning, cooking, singing, etc, Kenneth was in charge of door prizes, and cleaning up and Brooke was available to help set up before the party on Saturday. We were all in charge of hosting, which went very well. If I do say so myself, the party was a success. We had about 40 guest with a wonderful collection of performances and those who admired from afar. Lots of drinking, snacking and socializing. It was a GREAT group of people. The party ended around 2am, Lots of mess and Shawn passed out on the bed. I finally was asleep around 3am, but I went to bed happy and content. What a fulfilling evening.

Masquerade! Burning glances, turning heads . . .

Masquerade! Stop and stare at the sea of smiles around you!

Masquerade! Grinning yellows, spinning reds . . .

Masquerade! Take your fill - let the spectacle astound you

Happy Halloween!

Thank you to those who attended. It was awesome! :-)

Rehearsal @ The Center

After work, I had rehearsal for the New York City Gay Men's Chorus. Yes, for those of you who didn't know, I'm actually singing again for the Carnegie Hall concert. I'm excited for Shawn to see me performing @ Carnegie. GREAT REHEARSAL....I'm hoping to land one of the solos, but I'd be content just singing in all the numbers. December 11th is the date of the concert for those of you who are interested. Afterwards, I went home to find my apartment converted into a Halloween masterpiece. Shawn creatively decorated for the Masquerade party this Saturday. It's spooky! :-) I love it! Can't wait for Saturday!

Football and Games

On Sunday, Shawn finally was available to play football with the O.W. team. I traveled to the East River near the FDR Highway to show my support. Happily the team won and directly following we headed to our friend Jody's for a night of board games on The Upper Upper West Side. The night was loads of fun and although the theme of the party was board games we never played any. Boo hoo! There's always next time. But in all honesty, it was awesome just hanging out with Alicia, Ruth and Jody.

Pet Shop Boys

Saturday Evening, Shawn and I attended the Pet Shop Boys concert at Radio City Music Hall. Unlike the Indigo Girls, it was a semi staged show with lights and choreography. They plays the hits such as Always on my Mind, It's A Sin, West End Girls, etc. We bumped into my friend Nick & Ryan & Shawn's friend Kevin and his boyfriend Shane. Spontaneously, we went back to the Sheraton on 53rd Street and ordered 2 bottles of wine at the Library Bar. We got a little silly after the 2nd bottle...Um, Shawn and I had 2 bottles and Shane/Kevin as well. The subway ride home was definitely entertaining.

Indigo Girls

Friday night @ Radio City Music Hall, Shawn & I attended the Indigo Girls concert. Happiness is 3 hours of amazing Folk Rock. LOVED IT!!! The harmonies! :-) They played hits such as Closer To Fine, Galileo, Power of Two and Shame on You. And although Shawn and I both experienced challenges within the day, we went to the Heartland Brewery & had a couple burgers and a few beers. Good food, good music and the best company. :-) A night to remember!

A Dream Performance

Gil Shaham (violin soloist) rocked my world last night at Avery Fisher Hall with Mozart's Violin Concert in D & Stravinsky's Violin Concerto. Next to Itzak Perlman & Joshua Bell he is now one of my favorites. :-) If you like classical music, I highly recommend buying one of his CDs or trying to see him perform live. Amazing!

Babs: My Review

Last night's concert was exactly what I expected....the gayest concert of the year. :-) I loved it.....How could you not? A living legend and she still sounds amazing. I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to see her live at Madison Square Garden, considering she's from New York City. And with Oprah, her girlfriend Gayle, Al Sharpton and Rosie as surrounding neighbors, we were in good company. Considering the cheapest ticket in the house was $104.00 I knew we were in for a treat. :-)

Babs Review

A Review from The Associated Press (10/10/06)

It was an evening that elicited tears, standing ovations, raucous laughter and shouts of joy from the audience - and that was just in the first few minutes.

Yes, Barbra Streisand's return to touring after a 12-year absence was the extravaganza that it promised to be. Monday night's show at Madison Square Garden was the third stop of a 20-city jaunt across the nation - a virtual lovefest between the ultimate diva and an adoring, sold-out, celebrity-dotted crowd.

Streisand effortlessly crooned through a select repertoire of her four decades of hits. But night's most riveting moment came during what was perhaps the only unscripted - and truly uncomfortable - episode in the three-hour show.

There was Streisand, enduring a smattering of loud jeers as she and "George Bush" - a celebrity impersonator - muddled through a skit that portrayed the president as a bumbling idiot.

Though most of the crowd offered polite applause during the slightly humorous routine, it had gone on a bit too long, especially for those who just wanted to hear Streisand sing like she had been doing for the past hour.

"Come on, be polite!" the well-known liberal implored during the sketch as she and "Bush" exchanged zingers. But one heckler wouldn't let up. And finally, Streisand let him have it. "Shut the (f--k) up!" Streisand bellowed, drawing wild applause. "Shut up if you can't take a joke!"

With that one F-word, the jeers ended. And the message was delivered - no one gets away with trying to upstage Barbra Streisand, especially not in her hometown.

Once the outburst (which Streisand later apologized for) was over, Streisand noted that "the artist's role is to disturb," and delivered a message of tolerance before launching into a serenely beautiful rendition of "Somewhere." That put the focus back on what the audience came for - her voice, one of the greatest female instruments of her generation.

Streisand's sound, at once soaring and soothing, doesn't seem to have been affected much by her long layoff from performing. Early on she seemed to fall short of her full potential - moments when she once belted a tune, she now seemed to simply sing at a steady register, sounding great but not delivering that the big showstopper as she had in the past. But as the evening progressed she got stronger, such as during her stirring performance of one of her biggest hits, "People." Though she sang a few of her signature songs ("They Way We Were," "Evergreen"), the evening was not designed as a hit parade - some of her most popular work was absent. Instead, the show had more of a cabaret feel, from the choice of songs (including those from her Oscar-winning performance in "Funny Girl") to her onstage banter.

Though most of it was completely scripted and read from a teleprompter, there were a few funny, spontaneous moments, such as when one fan shouted out, "Marry me, and I'm gay!" to which Streisand, a gay icon, replied: "There are gay people here?"

The comedic moments were best when unscripted. The few planned skits came across as forced and trite, such as when Il Divo, the dreamy, operatic boy band, came out to sing backup and joked about their difference in ages. Streisand relinquished the stage twice to Il Divo, a Simon Cowell creation known for their crossover style. Though they apparently pleased the crowd, they were grating at times. They would have served better as an opening act instead of having Streisand leave the stage in their hands - it was like going to a Madonna concert and having her surrender the stage to Brooke Hogan.

When Streisand was on stage - and most importantly, when she was singing - she was masterful. Her performance of "I Stayed Too Long at the Fair" - sung just before her outburst - was poignant, especially from an entertainer who has spent so many years away from the spotlight.

By the time she offered her encore with the rousing "Don't Rain On My Parade," it was clear that Streisand hadn't stayed too long - she hadn't stayed long enough.

NY Times Review

Music Overpowers Streisand's Many Missteps

Barbra Streisand took a carefully plotted step down from the imperial pedestal she has occupied for decades at Madison Square Garden last night and stumbled. The biggest miscalculation was the appearance, late in the show, of a George W. Bush impersonator (Steve Bridges) who Ms. Streisand, an ardent Democrat, interrogated in a tone that tried to be witty, and failed.

How would the president erase the national debt? Sell Canada; they don’t use half of it, he replied. “If I cared about polls,” he remarked, “I would have run for President of Poland.” And so on.

The tepid segment mercifully ended after the two joined voices for an unfunny spoof of the famous Judy Garland-Streisand duet of “Get Happy,” and “Happy Days Are Here Again.”

When Ms. Streisand stopped talking and started singing, she was her old self.
Accompanied by a 50-piece orchestra, she performed more than two dozen songs that encompassed most of her career. Missing were her hits with the Bee Gees, with whom she reunited on her last studio album, “Guilty Pleasures” (Columbia), and songs from her film “Yentl.”

Most heavily represented was “Funny Girl,” (both the show and the movie) in a thrilling end of Act 1 suite that peaked with three ballads: “The Music That Makes Me Dance,” “My Man,” and “People,” all beautifully sung.

One of the pleasures of a Streisand concert is hearing this diva of divas live, her voice unembellished by “improvements” carried out in the recording studio.
In her drive for technical perfection, Ms. Streisand has a longstanding tendency to apply too many coats of aural varnish to her records.

She should realize that sounding like an imperfect human being is more expressive than trying to sound like God, and her singing last night was frequently magnificent. Her voice is fuller than it used to be and still drips with the juice most singers begin to lose at 50. (Ms. Streisand is 64).
Another misstep was the choice of Il Divo, the operatic boy band, as her musical guests. While this multilingual, multinational quartet of singing mannequins, assembled by the diabolically market-savvy impresario Simon Cowell, belts in tune, they have the emotional spontaneity of robots in tuxedos.

An early low point of the show was their arrival on stage to bombard Ms. Streisand with smarmy flattery. Let’s hope she never records with these pretenders to the kitsch pop throne of Andrea Bocelli.

Befitting an event that suggested a one-woman Super Bowl in which the star competed with her legend, the concert was packed with distracting bells and whistles. A useless question-and-answer session in which she responded to randomly selected audience questions wasted precious time. During the Bush impersonation, a solitary heckler so annoyed Ms. Streisand that she lost her temper and hurled an obscenity.

A Barbra Streisand concert should be about singing. That’s what people really want. The rest they tolerate out of respect for her gigantic talent. And when she stuck to music, there were many magnificent moments. “Starting Here, Starting Now,” the “Funny Girl” suite, “When the Sun Comes Out,” “Children Will Listen,” “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life,” and “My Shining Hour” were the musical high points of a concert that was further dampened by the lack of a pre-performance sound check because Ms. Streisand was stuck in traffic. As a result, the acoustics of the first half of the concert were muddy.

True to her show business instincts, she saved the best for last. In her final sprint, she might have a scored a winning touchdown had she not interrupted it with the Bush impersonator. And near the end sabotaged her own glorious performance of “Somewhere” by bringing Il Divo as a robotic harmony chorus.

A poignant moment for those who have followed Ms. Streisand’s career from the beginning was her rendition of (“Have I Stayed) Too Long at the Fair?” a Billy Barnes ballad that she recorded in 1964. Way back then, it was the reflection of an insecure ingénue feeling her first intimations of ennui after too much partying.

Sung four decades later, with just as much passion but an entirely different outlook, Ms. Streisand made it a rhetorical question about her own future. Has she stayed too long at the fair? Despite all the evening’s missteps, the answer is a resounding no.

Delaware, Philly, Brooklyn

10/8: Shawn & I spent the weekend celebrating Ashley's first birthday outside of Wilmington, Delaware. Shawn's sister lives in a beautiful house in cute little area. I was very excited to finally to hang out with Heather and the family on their turf. Almost all the siblings were present, with the exception of Ryan/Amanda....Haydn sadly was under the weather. On Sunday afternoon we headed to the waterfront of Wilmington, DE (This is definitely up and coming), wandered around the University of Pennslyvania where Shawn studied veterinary medicine (and received his degree), toured around the Philly area and finally endeding up in Brooklyn at Ruth's dinner party. It was an action packed day. I love our adventures. :-)

SURPRISE

I get by with a little help from my friends.

- John Lennon

Last Thursday, the only plans I had was to meet Alicia after work to film her audition for the Food Network. With camera, battery charged and sluggish mindset from the long day, I headed to Jay Street/Borough Hall where Alicia said she was going to pick me up. To my surprise, she invited Shawn to join us because she was making a full dinner (and when Alicia is preparing a meal you should run as fast as you can to Clinton Hill). When we arrived, we ended up straightening the apartment so when filming the camera wouldn't catch any excessive clutter. Little did I know we were actually preparing for my surprise party. So after filming for 15 minutes there was a knock at the door. Alicia insisted on grabbing the camera to film me answering the door. And now I know why.....when I opened the door, 10 smiling faces yelled surprise as my mouth/jaw dropped to the floor. It took me a few moments to realize that they were all there for me...to celebrate my birthday....again. :-) WOW!!! No words. Not only was dinner amazing, the night was filled with love, laughter and a sense of comfort.

Thank you to Alicia & Brooke for a wonderful surprise. I'll never forget it! :-)

THERE IS NOTHING MORE EXCITING THAN TO EXPERIENCE AN EVENING YOU WEREN'T EXPECTING. P Zipkin

Check out the pictures below. http://www.flickr.com/photos/sputnitsa/sets/72157594319824015

I'm so lucky to have an amazing circle of friends. :-)

Future Events: October

An update on my activites calendar...Geez, I'm never home. :-)

October 4: Gin Blossoms (Nokia Theatre: Times Square)

October 6: Air Supply (B.B. Kings: Time Square)

October 7: Shawn's Niece's First Birthday in Delaware (Ashley)

October 9: Barbara Streisand with El Divo (Madison Square Garden)

October 13: Indigo Girls (Radio City Music Hall)

October 14: Pet Shop Boys (Radio City Music Hall)

October 20: New York Philharmonic Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky with Eisenstein's film (Avery Fisher Hall @ Lincoln Center)

October 21: Forest Hills Broadway Masquerade Party

October 22nd: Apple Picking/Wine Tasting (Long Island)

October 25-29: Los Angeles

I will have a full report of each event...stay tuned!

Worcester & Hartford

Hartford, CT

It's becoming a tradition to leave the state of New York on the weekend. Shawn and I were invited to his cousin Matt's wedding in West Boylston, Massachusetts and stayed at the Crown Plaza in Worcester. I can always count on having a good time when surrounded by his family, not to mention an open bar at the reception. Word to the wise...inexpensive wine in moderation is a good idea! :-) After a late night, we woke up, enjoyed the Crowne Plaza buffet and then headed out in the pouring rain. Monsoon anyone? Originally we planned on riding the coasters at Six Flags, New England, but sadly Mother Nature was not on our side. We instead headed to Hartford, Connecticut...I know you're probably asking why. My dad is originally from the area so I felt we should explore new territory spontaneously. OMG....Hartford is beautiful but there's NOTHING going on. Everything was closed downtown...on a Sunday (no joke). Thankfully we found a coffee shop (Jo Jos) and then walked around Bushnell Park, visited the State Capital building and lastly we visited the Mark Twain House (one of the biggest attractions in Hartford). AWESOME...I love it. We ended up returning to Forest Hills around 8 and ended the night with the movie "Barefoot in the Park" which was hilarious.

Character is the architect of acheivement...Mark Twain