quite a weekend....

Where to begin? Well, Saturday night, I attended the spring musical at Friends, Little Shop of Horrors, an off Broadway hit from about 37 years ago. Really enjoyed it---one of director Steve's best efforts---where everything flowed easily, the cast had total energy and every moment seemed like a wonderful surprise. Great work by all cast and crew---including two students whom I never thought that I would see on stage. Totally authentic! Afterwards, went to the nearby diner for a blt---was not in a bar mood---had it and watched some of the Golden State-Houston game.
  The 2,3, and 1 trains were slow at the 42nd street station---so I decided to return to the N and take it to 57th street. Full of energy I walked all the way from there to 76th and Broadway, near to where I live. Admired myself for being able to do that.
 Sunday, believe it or not, two movies. The first was Decade of Fire---the story of the destruction and ultimate rebirth of the eastern part of the south Bronx. Very intense, beautifully made---I was riveted during the whole movie. Its amazing that certain people were strong enough to remain in their homes during all the fires and gang warfare, and then build something. Very impressive. The area that the narrator of the movie (she is hispanic) lived in was quickly integrated in the fifties. Unlike the middle class area of the Bronx in which I was raised which was 95% Jewish and all white. For all our liberal mindset, my family would have reacted with some kind of alarm if the neighborhood had begun to change. But that did not happen; three new apartment buildings close to where I was raised opened in the late 50's and absorbed many of the Jewish families moving out of the area where the documentary takes place. Most of my travels are in Brooklyn and I am most comfortable there, but I should make a few trips to the Bronx, to the different neighborhoods, including the one I was raised in. That is a goal for the summer.
  Second movie, Non-Fiction by Oliver Assayas---about as far from Decade of Fire as one could get---a totally intellectual movie taking place in Paris, about bright smart people who don't seem at all interested in people less advantaged then they are. Four main characters, and the story revolves around a publishing company trying to cope with changing ways of putting out books---from paper to e books to simply digital. Lots of scintillating conversation that I could enjoy---for a last minute decision, it worked out very well.
  That is all for now---stomach a little bit improved from this morning---it should (I hope) get better. Will report soon.