T.V.O.D.TM  August 2003 TVOD.com presents New York City, America … and the world.  This IS t.v.o.d.

Friday, August 1 and we meet Jude Goldberg at the Hotel Pennsylvania; she has just arrived from London.  We are heading off to the Pocono’s in dad’s SUV.  For more information on the area, check out my February 1999 and December 1999 pages.
 

Jude is on her way to a few months in Toronto for the filming of Resident Evil 2: Apocalypse.  And all I will reveal (other than the cast includes Milla Jovovich) is that Snoop Dogg plays Daddy Prime.  Now that’s a doggy dizzle! “The film begins where the first film left off, with ALICE in the heart of the ravaged and deadly Raccoon City.  She has been subjected to biogenetic experimentation by the vast Umbrella Corporation and become genetically altered, with super-human strengths, senses and dexterity.  These skills, and more, will be needed if anyone is to remain alive.”

Saturday, August 2 and we must go to the Rainbow Mountain Lodge for dancing and karaoke, not that we do either but it’s fun to sit and have cosmopolitans.  Normally, we would also stop at Secrets for a drink, as we did during the blizzard in February.  The Poconos are very friendly!
 

The Big A Steakhouse is out of business, so we drive to Stroudsburg to Everybody’s Café.  Before the wonderful food, a depressing situation.  Last year, they doubled the tables without increasing the kitchen.  Tonight it imploded.  Half the tables, waiting an hour (without bread or water), left with fiery words to the hostess.

First, they should have refused to seat anyone until they caught up.  Second, the owner was present, but instead of taking control, she floated amongst the disaster.

OK, back to the food; I have the “wedge of iceberg” with onions and blue cheese dressing, glazed duckling with bing cherry sauce, and carpetbagger oysters (breaded and deep-fried).  Bryan has the Szechuan baby shrimp salad and Aspen shrimp, and Jude has a huge prime rib with breaded oysters.  With two rounds of fresh lemonade, the bill is $70 for all of us.  The lack of liquor license is the main reason, but the prices are very reasonable.

Sunday, August 3 and “no rooms at the inn”  — we were lucky to find rooms, much less gay-friendly ones, at the Howard Johnson’s in Bartonsville.  The spacious rooms have a refrigerator and microwave, and indoor heated pool and gym, for $140 a night.

Breakfast at the Yankee Doodle diner in Marshalls Creek, where Jude and Bryan get biscuits and gravy.  Across the street is the Pocono Bazaar flea market.  The heat and humidity are stifling, and it’s Jude, who gets a nice travel bag for $14, who fares best.  But we must be back on the road before noon to get her to the airport.

Monday, August 4 and the weather in this area is changing to that of the South; every day in the afternoon, a downpour occurs that rivals a washing machine.  From papyrus to parchment, to paper to pixels.  My day is devoted to my final paper for Information Technology at NYU.

After class, dinner is at Mary Ann’s for Mexican, a very sweet pollo borracho (drunken chicken in a mole of toasted chili pasilla, tequila, orange and chipotle peppers), and a combo plate for Bryan, along with our favorite margaritas.
 

At its triennial convention, Episcopal Church confirms the church’s first openly gay bishop. The Rev. V. Gene Robinson becomes bishop coadjutor of the Diocese of New Hampshire.  He will be consecrated in November and will begin his duties next March.  The American Anglican Council, which represents conservative bishops and parishes, said it was “deeply grieved” by the results. The bishop said:  “Clearly I’ve been called to play a role here.  But if anyone leaves the church it’s because they’ve chosen to, not because they’ve been asked to or forced to.  I don’t hold the future of the Anglican church on my shoulders.  Young people had already decided this is a non-issue and that they don’t understand why it would be, or frankly, want to be associated with a church where it would be an issue.”  [The Associated Press] The church rejected a proposal that would have created a liturgy to bless same-sex unions.  The House of Bishops approved a diluted proposal that allows local dioceses the option of blessing same-sex unions, without creating an official liturgy.  [David Ryan Alexander, Gay.com / PlanetOut.com network]

Tuesday, August 5 and I’m at lunch with my cousin Matt at Pie; he’s an account executive with Allegiance Telecom.  This is the third time I’ve been here, and we  like the idea of cutting off a few inches of their various types of extremely thin-crust pizza.

Dinner is at Virage; I have an incredible duck breast with mushroom sauce and Bryan has the warm Portobello mushroom salad with beets, arugula and goat cheese.
 

“Homosexuality is so unnatural.  Even in the world of dogs, cows and lions, we don't hear of such things.”  Peter Akinola, the Archbishop of Nigeria, said, “We are astonished that such a high-level convention ... should conspire to turn their back on the clear teaching of the Bible on the matter of human sexuality.  The present development compels us to begin to think of the nature of our future relationship.”  Oh, take your toys and go back home.

Wednesday, August 6 and dinner is at Tanti Baci, the pasta special is penne pugliese (black olives and sun-dried tomatoes) and a side order of meatballs.  A glass of wine brings the total to $26 (the pasta was $14, meatballs $6, glass of wine $6).

We watch repeats of Enterprise (which has author and actor J.G. Hertzler, better known as General Martok) and The West Wing.  By midnight, we’re in bed watching Arnold Schwarzenegger declare his candidacy for governor of California on Jay Leno.

Thursday, August 7 and the day is spent studying for my Print Technology for Publishing final, I leave for class just moments before the rain.  After my last class with Patrick Henry, I go for drinks at the Riviera with Anthony, Scott, Heather, Sarah, Sarah and Ellie.  Bryan grills hamburgers.
 

Friday, August 8 and in the evening, I meet my cousin Sam and Roy and we go to Madison Square Garden so she can see Benny Hinn, a faith healer (oh, do not ask).

It is already full, but he comes out to speak to the over-flow crowd.  This is a good thing, as Sam might have stayed waiting until midnight!

Having time now, we return to the East Village where Roy miraculously finds a parking space.

We take a short walk around and then, since they love sushi (and wasabi mustard, I find out!), we have dinner at Mie ... and do I have to remind you again that they have been in business since 1965?  And everyone, but everyone, raves about them?

And what better to subdue the heat of the spices ... yes, the superb pastries at Veniero’s.

Saturday, August 9 and burgers on the grill before visiting our friends Michelle and Art, who live near Ground Zero and were home that fateful morning.  There is an earthcam site where you can view the work.  We walk most of the way home, until it starts to rain, then hop in a cab for the last portion.
 

PW calls Dharma Punx (from Harper San Francisco), “This honest, page-turning confession.”  Noah Levine is the son of author Stephen Levine.  In his introduction, he writes: We sought a different path than our parents, the once idealistic hippie generation that had long since cut their hair, left the commune and bought in to the system.  Peace and love had failed to make any real changes and in response to the despair and hopelessness we felt came the punk rock movement. Seeking to rebel against society’s fascist system of oppression and capitalist driven propaganda the kids responded in our own way, different from those before us, a new revolution for a new generation.  Aware of the corruption in the government and inconsistencies in the power dynamics in our homes we rebelled against society and family in one loud and fast roar of teen angst.  Unwilling to accept the dictates of the system, we did whatever we could to rebel.  We wanted freedom and were willing to fight for it.

Sunday, August 10 and my parents arrive to look at Bryan’s garden and old pictures.  Then it’s down the street to John’s Italian, where Donny used to work.  This is an old-fashioned, red-sauce restaurant (since 1908) with huge portions.

Appetizers consist of fried calamari, clams oreganata, stuffed mushrooms and arugula salad.  Entrées are varieties of pasta, as well as veal parmigiana for me and eggplant rollatini for Bryan.  We finish off with espresso, and a chocolate mousse for me.  Along with a couple of martinis and a bottle of 1998 Luiano Chianti Riserva, the total comes to $150.  Why so cheap?  We had a 20% off coupon!

Monday, August 11 and I join Bryan for lunch at the diner; he buys me a pair of Sony 51 headphones and the DVD of Roxy Music Live at the Apollo in London in October 2001.  This is a great gig, with most of the original members, including Bryan Ferry, Phil Manzanera, and Andy MacKay, as well as Chris Spedding (but obviously without Eno) and a broad selection of songs, dating back to the first album.  “I blew up your body — but you blew my mind.”

This evening is my last class of Information Technology with Alex Zlotnick; it is the end of the summer semester at New York University.  Back home, we grill up a couple of burgers, before going to Pangea for piña coladas.  We were only going to have one, but Edwina makes triples!

Tuesday, August 12 is Bryan’s 34^th birthday.  Wow.  His presents include Donna Summer’s deluxe release of “Bad Girls” with the bonus disc of singles.

There is also a gift certificate for a shiatsu massage from the Jolly Madison Towers Hotel, and Jell-O with fruit cocktail.  Yes, an odd assortment of birthday presents it is!

Bryan is home at 6 pm, and after a couple of songs, at discotheque levels, by Donna Summer, we’re off to dinner at — where else? — Mary Ann’s.

Yes, it’s margaritas and Mexican for his birthday.  As usual, it’s extremely loud, but the drinks are good and strong and we have a good time together.

Wednesday, August 13 and I take the subway uptown to join him for lunch at Moonstruck, which was rather bland and not so cheap.
 

WQXR fires Gregg Whiteside, my favorite announcer; the NY Post reports “another political-correctness flap at the Gray Lady.”  I search for more answers, but come up with more questions. The fringes of the social spectrum suggest that his comments (made in private to Sam Hall) were anti-Semitic, confirming their views of the Jewish cabal at the NY Times; but stranger were a pair of sites, one which referred to his “ambiguous sexuality” and the other suggesting that he made a homophobic comment.  “They’ve destroyed an innocent man,” an emotional Whiteside told The Post yesterday.  There is also a petition.  Weird.

Thursday, August 14 and the day; FreshDirect delivers right on schedule at 2 pm.  But at 4:10 pm, something totally unexpected happens — the blackout of NYC for over 24 hours!  At first I thought it was the apartment, and then the building or even the immediate area, but soon we know the truth.

Bryan has to walk home, and we smartly go out for drinks and dinner at Pangea, just like 9/11.  As the evening progresses, there will be less food and less cold beverages, so we have made the right decision.  Plus, they can manually take credit cards, which runs up to $160 with tip.

We return home through the dark, after walking through the East Village.  Little did we know that at the sleazier gay bars there are naked guys everywhere!  For us, it’s a hot night of sleep on top of the covers.

Friday, August 15 is the Feast of the Assumption but not the resumption of power.  The blackout continues.  Bryan goes to work because his job is directly associated with this type of risk.  I spend the day sweating, but also prepare superb “3-alarm fire” steaks from FreshDirect.
 

He gets the grill going and we have corn on the cob, and spinach with garlic, along with a bottle of 2000 Sangiovese from Umberto Cesari.  It tastes better this time, but it could be eating by candlelight!  Then cosmopolitans at Pangea.  While there, the power returns.

Saturday, August 16 and I go to Little Poland for blueberry blintzes.  Later, we visit a street fair before drinks at Marion’s (which also has fine food) and the Bar.

Dinner at East Post is perfect again, although they are out of the Sangiovese that we’ve been having.  So for wine, Bryan has a glass of Barbera Superiore ($10) and I have a Dolcetta ($7), for the second round we both have a regular glass of Barbera ($6 each).

Appetizers (both $9) include scamorza griglia (smoked mozzarella wrapped in prosciutto) and salmone affumica (smoked salmon with corn relish and oranges).  Entrées are the gnocchi special ($12, with grilled chicken) and the fusilli ricotta ($9) that I’ve had before.  Total is just under $75.

Sunday, August 17 and if we were the type to go out, we’d see the Scissor Sisters at the Mercury Lounge.

Instead, we open a bottle of Sobon Estate 2001 Amador County Sangiovese.  These grapes have been transplanted to California, and whether it’s that or the recent vintage, it’s not so great.

Humorously, it describes itself as having “powerful berry aromas, overlaid with hints of tea, spice, leather, eucalyptus and mint.”  Um, these aren’t the best flavors I can think of for wine!

Monday, August 18 and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel sees fit to tackle Bryan’s ongoing debate between the opera and musical.
 

Tuesday, August 19 and I join Bryan for lunch at Red Lantern for Thai food.  At 6 pm, I meet Sarah Alonso at Luna Park before she goes to Germany; joining is Anthony, Scott and Heather.  The latter two leave and 8 pm, and the three of us go for beers at King’s Head.

Back home, Nick Cave is on David Letterman, but who was that singer with him?  None other than Chris Bailey, formerly with The Saints.  From their most recent CD, Nocturama, they sing “Bring It On.”  It’s not a very great performance, despite being akin to the show.

Wednesday, August 20 and there is mail from Time Warner; they now have digital video recorders as part of the cable system, and for only $7 more per month.  So it’s off to the payment center to get new DVR service.
 

Dinner at Shima.  For $7, I received a selection of 4 sake shots ... one each of Onigoroshi (from Hyogo, “dry and crisp taste”), Akita Homare (from Akita, “well mellowed fruity taste”), Harushika (from Nara, extra dry sharp citrus taste”), and Suishin (from Hiroshima, “light and smooth taste”).  All the sake descriptions are accurate.  The sushi assortment at Shima is called New York, New York; it is $17 and features their unusual toppings.

Thursday, August 21 and I’d promised to be part of an orientation for new students in the Master of Science in Publishing publishing program along with Heather, Joanne Gaccione and Jill Musguire.  And since they’re all part of the new student advisory board, it’s good networking.

Of course, Robert and Heidi are there with a few instructors and it all goes very, very well.  A nice bonus for me is my grades for the summer semester; I get an A in both Print Technology as well as Information Technology !

Dinner must be had, and so it’s Sappora Village Japanese very late.

Friday, August 22 and this is the hottest day we’ve had so far; it almost hits 100°.  Bryan buys the new single by Delirium, “After All.”  Back home, he is enjoying his new digital service, checking out “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” and “Boy Meets Boy” — both on Bravo.

Saturday, August 23 and a cookout at Jim and Jamie’s in Cranford.  Steve Ratzel is joining us for chicken, corn on the cob and salad.  Jim and I work on installing The Rite Stuff to his new computer.
 

We do not think of Dr. Seuss as a political cartoonist.  But for two years, 1941-1943, he drew over 400 editorial cartoons for the New York newspaper PM (1940-1948).  200 of the cartoons can be found in Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel by Richard H. Minear.

Sunday, August 24 is my mother’s 79th birthday and we start by going to IHOP where the wait staff sings happy birthday.  There is only one bottle left of a 2000 Umberto Cesari Sangiovese at Total Wine, but at $9 it’s worth the trip.  Not much happens for the rest of the day until Pat Faraone and his friend Elaine join us for the 3 pm bus ride into the city.  Of course, it takes almost two hours, but that’s the bus for you.

Bryan is at work, and walks over to meet us at Capri, where we ate a few weeks ago.  The meal is once again perfect, with the additions of complimentary bruschetta and roasted garlic pieces.  There are as many entrées as diners, but all are good and I recommend you check out their website to find out more.  Suffice it to say, though, that the older folk got drunker than us young’uns!

Monday, August 25 is my father’s 80th birthday.  Dinner at Jade Mountain.  For a cheap joint, the food really isn’t bad, and it seems like they’ve cleaned up the place since the last time we were there.  At Dick’s, we find our friends Mel and Bradley got married on August 24.  They even have official matchbooks!  We get mail (from Florida):

As an old publisher (and NYC TV manager years ago) I’m rarely impressed; but your web site that I came upon by a fluke, totally amazed me.  The links are extraordinary, and take me back to favored haunts of old, and some new ones too.  A job so well done by you guys that it defies words!  Seriously.  Superb!

Tuesday, August 26 and Bryan and I have a smart drink at the Key Bar, next door to Lima’s Taste Peruvian Cuisine at 432 East 13th Street, across from the Phoenix.

There’s a fifteen minute wait for a table.  We split two appetizers, the grilled shrimp in bacon ($9) and papa rellena (deep-fried mashed potatoes stuffed with beef, raisins and olives and served cold, $7); entrée is green stew (much like our own beef stew with frozen peas and carrots, $13.50).  I think we need to be more adventurous with the Peruvian menu as other dishes smell incredible.  Their red sangria, filled with apple pieces, is crisp and dry.

Wednesday, August 27 and the picture of Love Park in Lima, Peru comes from Sean Connolley.  Lunch with Bryan at the diner.

I watch VH1 with an episode on gay sex on television, while he makes pesto pasta with cheeseburgers.  Then a repeat of Enterprise.  It’s an episode I haven’t seen with the Andorians which means Jeffrey Combs appears.  He was also a regular on Deep Space 9.

Thursday, August 28 and Bryan has to work late.  I spend the day cleaning every corner of the house in preparation of his parents’ arrival.  I join him after work to walk to Penn Station and the train to New Jersey to borrow the Tahoe.

We arrive at EWR at just the moment that Pam and Lee arrive from Wyoming, and we drive into the city.  This is the first time that they have been to New York City since they were here over 9/11.

Once we’re back, we finally have dinner at BBQ at the corner of St. Marks Place and Second Avenue.  Bryan and I walk by it all the time and envy the rather huge margaritas.  We have a few, along with very tender ribs.

Friday, August 29 and the Farmer’s Market; then it’s Little Poland for breakfast.  The weather is only vaguely cooperative, but we take the subway anyway to Coney Island.
 

Once there, we immediately head over to Nathan’s; they have hot dogs while I have a very good cheese steak sandwich.  Pam and I go up the tower for a great view of the area, and then she and Bryan take two rides on the Cyclone, the famous roller coaster.  Finally, we visit the New York Aquarium for a couple of hours.  Of course, for a different view, read A Coney Island of the Mind by Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

Saturday, August 30 and we’re on the way to Philadelphia.  We’re staying at the Club Quarters, a corporate membership-only hotel just two blocks from City Hall.

We walk down Market Street, through City Hall, pass the Clothespin sculpture by Claes Oldenburg, Congress Hall and wind up at the Bourse.  There’s a walking tour of the area at 6 pm, which gives us a good over-view of the historic district.

On the way back, we stop at Fergie’s Pub for martinis before getting back to the hotel.  At 9 pm, the dinner choice is the Olive Garden; obviously I had no say in it!  We’re back before midnight and I try to persuade Bryan out for a drink but he’s tired.  This must be a first.

So off I go, first to Woody’s, then 12^th Air Command, Tavern on Camac, and Uncle’s.

Sunday, August 31 and history:  Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, National Constitution Center, Ben Franklin’s grave, and the Betsy Ross House.

It’s after 3 pm by then, and we go to try the famous Philly cheese steak.  We had heard of Pat’s King of Steaks but couldn’t find it; people recommended Ishkabibble’s but it was Jim’s on the corner of South Street and Fourth Street that wins out.

South Street and Antiques Row is a great area, much like the East Village for art and music.  Pam and Lee get in line for more than half an hour while Bryan and I shop at Spaceboy Music, a local record store.  I get the second Suicide album and he gets a couple of mix cds, including one from Fatboy Slim.

We’re on the road by 5 pm and hit New Hope and Lambertville.  After a quick cocktail at the Lambertville Station, we walk across the bridge to see the shops and get some ice cream.

Then it’s back on the road to my parents; but since we don’t get into the area until after 9 pm we drive directly into the city and incredibly find a spot right in front of the building.  It’s a drink at Pangea before returning home to sleep and the end of August.

Some restaurant links connect to new york citysearch, the Menu Pages, or amazon's new restaurant site.    Remember, I spend hours researching interesting websites; the  hyperlinks open in new windows, and are rarely connected to advertiser-supported sites.  Try them and encourage their existence.

Culture © 2003 Anthony Francis Vitale for the T.V.O.D. Companies

“At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love.” – St. John of the Cross