VALENTINE HAIR DESIGNER STAYS IN WOODHAVEN

It was in 1979 that I searched for a nearby "beauty parlor" in Woodhaven in order to get a decent haircut.  My hair is sort of curly-wavy and prefer the cut at to be one that I don't have to do any more than a quick comb or just puff it up with my fingers. I am also not interested in spending $50 for this. 

I checked out what was then "Charles Hairstylists" or something like that, located on Woodhaven Blvd. just south of Jamaica Avenue.  Joan cut my hair and eventually colored it to cover up the gray.  Even the combination didn't reach the $50 mark. Two moves later Valentine Hair Designer moved into an already existing "beauty salon" at 95-16 Jamaica Avenue.  It's not uncommon for another owner to rent "chairs". 

The place looks great, I let my hair go gray, and I'm still not paying anywhere near $50!  It's also a lot easier when the same person over the years and yes, Joan is still snipping. Larry, the second partner,  tends to be the person cutting men's hair and more of a "stylist".  718-441-6571. 

ANTHONY WEINER WILL LOVE DON JON

Did you watch the tv show, "3rd Rock From The Sun"?   If so, have you ever wondered what happened to that actor who played the "son"?   His name is Joseph Gordon-Levitt and just directed and starred in the soon to be releases movie, "Don Jon". 

Jon Martello (Levitt) portrays a modern day Don Juan who manages to get women classified as "10s".  That's fine accept for his addiction...to watching porn on the internet.  His family consists of: his dad, Jon Martello, Sr. (Tony Danza), who finds pride in his son's "nailing"; his mom Angela (Glenne Headly) who is hoping for grandchildren; and his sister, Monica (Brie Larson) who is always seen communicating with her iphone or whatever gadget it is. 

Don meets Barbara Sugerman (Scarlett Johansson) and forms a relationship.  She finds out about his watching porn and asks him to promise that the won't do that, since she is "the real thing".  But, he's addicted.

As a "good Catholic" he goes to church with his family each week with many scenes in the confessional.  It's not unusual for the next scene to take place at the gym with is pumping iron while reciting some "Hail Marys" and "Our fathers".  

He takes a class at a college and meets Esther (Julianne Moore), who is standing outside of the school door crying.  She is much older than him and into smoking pot.  They become friends.

What we have here is a comedy with some very funny situations and lines.  Funny, but not hilarious.  The  porn is shown as he views it on his computer.  Let's call it partial nudity.  Some breasts, no nipples. Certainly nothing to see regarding men.

See this one for a good laugh.  

AND THE OSCAR GOES TO, "THE BUTLER"

Oscar nominations will be abundant when it comes to the new Lee Daniels movie, The Butler, written by Danny Strong.  The acting and directing is flawless not to mention an all-star cast.  "Absorbing", "compelling", and "captivating" are just some of the adjectives to describe a drama that captures the Civil Rights Movement as Cecil Gaines (Forrest Whittaker) portrays a White House butler who serves eight presidents.

As a young boy, Cecil is working in the cotton fields with his father during the 1920's.  Plantation family member pulls his mother, Hattie Pearl, (Mariah Carey) aside to rape her. Dad speaks out and gets shot.  Annabell Westfall (Vanessa Redgrave), a matriarch family member of the plantation is feeling sorry for Cecil.  She trains him to be a "House Nigger".

Older now Cecil leaves and wanders to find himself hungry.  Seeing some cakes in a hotel window (at least I think it was a hotel), he breaks the glass and enters.  Staff worker Maynard (Clarence Williams III) catches him and winds up giving him a job serving after asking what he has been doing. When Cecil uses the word, "Nigger", Maynard reprimands him and tells him that the word is used in a negative way by white people.

We skip a few years as Cecil is married to Gloria (Oprah Winfrey) and has two sons. He is noticed by the White House staff in charge of jobs and is offered the butler position, where Dwight D. Eisenhower (Robin Williams) is now the President.

During the course of the movie various aspects of the Civil Rights Movement are taking place.  Many of the scenes are actual footage of the violence.  Birmingham riots, school integration, and the sit-in incidence at the Greensboro, NC Woolworth's are entwined with Cecil going from one president to the next.

Home life with the family centers on his problematic relationships with  both a boozy Gloria and Cecil's older son Louis. Louis is quite the rebellious one, knocking his dad for being a butler, going off to college and getting involved with the Civil Rights Movement including becoming a Black Panthers member and hopping on the Freedom Rider Bus.  Louis gets beat up a number of times as well as finding time in a jail cell.

What comes to play in this movie centers on the two positions of father and son, which at one point becomes estranged.  Cecil is willing to deal with the way blacks are treated wanting to keep his job and as we go from one President to another, something involving Civil Rights comes up and slowly gets accomplished.   Both share an accomplishment in 2008 when Obama gets elected.

Over at the White House we have butler staff to include: Lenny Kravitz, Cuba Gooding, Jr and Terrance Howard.  John Cusack portrays Richard Nixon, while Jane Fonda takes on the role of Nancy Reagan. Don't look for spot on portrayals.

The movie theatre was totally packed and not a sound was heard during the entire movie accept for a few scenes that deserved some chuckles. You certainly won't go away without being emotional moved.

THAI A RIBBON AROUND THIS KITCHEN

Here’s my take on the population of Queens County.  Within the last 20 years immigrants from all over the world were eying the US for residency.  With their saved up cash and just about more than the clothes on their back, they all flew into JFK.  No money left to go anywhere else they found a place to live. Needing to earn a living a decision was made to open up a restaurant.   Thus you find just about any cuisine in Queens.

Having a total variety of cuisines from Asia, I recently ventured to Thailand Kitchen located at 86-05 Jamaica Avenue (718-847-4700) to sample more than my usual Pad Thai.  Please keep in mind that the sampling was not done in one sitting or on the same day.   Yes, I do get full.

I tend to judge a Thai restaurant on its Pad Thai, a dish consisting of Thai rice noodles sautéed with egg, dried bean curd, bean sprouts, ground peanuts, and green onions. With an added choice of chicken, beef, tofu, vegetables or vegetarian duck, I tend to find it to be a “safe” dish as well as “passing my test”.   

Spicy food is not my thing, but I do want to be fair.  In fact I take my friend Deveka along with me as nothing seems too spicy for her.  I chose one safe salad and one spicy soup. Glass Noodle Salad uses translucent vermicelli noodles that are made from mung bean starch. Add minced chicken and shrimp, chili, onions and cilantro, topped with a lime dressing.  Per my request the chili was not added.

On a more recent occasion, we sampled the Mango Salad of julienne mango and carrots with red onions and lime dressing.  Me thinks that I communicated my spicy situation regarding the glass noodles and forgot to mention on this salad as the dressing is quite hot but so tasty.  I viewed chili flakes.   My Thai iced coffee was of great use having the milk in it.  

  

Lemongrass Shrimp Soup, better known as Tom Yom, is a hot and sour soup with lemongrass and galanga root, a white-fleshed root from Thailand that is used as a substitute for ginger. What makes the soup hot is the chili pepper. However, I found that this particular chili doesn’t circulate around my whole mouth and make it unbearable. It hits that back of my throat and within a few lovin’ spoonfuls I am able to build up a tolerance and appreciate the excellent flavors of the soup.

As a change on soup choices, I did order the Coconut Chicken Soup that uses coconut milk, galanga, kaffir lime and scallions. It’s quite good and not as spicy as Tom Yom.

Back to the appetizers.  Spare ribs here on not of the Chinese ilk.  They are deep fried with garlic and pepper, accompanied by a sweet and spicy sauce for dipping.  No dipping for me.   I found them to be tender and savory.  

Crispy Spring Rolls seem to be made different in each Asian cuisine.  Thai style is filled with glass noodles, cabbage and vegetables.  I also loved the Shrimp Fritters, a sort of fried wontons filled with ground shrimp and chicken served with that sweet chili sauce. Then, there are the Chicken Wings in the sweet Chili sauce.  They were not coated with bread crumbs or flour and the sweet chili sauce, scallions and cilantro gave it an added flavor to the freshness of the wings.

Deveka was being “vegetarian” for a while. Thus I ordered the Emerald vegetarian dumplings served with a ginger soy sauce. Quite a good mixture in the dumplings tasting just fine without any meat.  

At this time I stray from the Pad Thai and selected the Drunk Man Noodle dish with chicken.   Wide wheat based noodles are used in this vs. the Pad Thai cooked with rice noodles.  It was sautéed with chili, onions, vegetables and basil that is not the same as basil used in Italian dishes.  Dealt with the chili to find how delectable the combination is. 

Sauteed is another group listed on the menu and one of many groups that you choose from: chicken, tofu, veggie, duck, beef, or shrimp and priced by the chosen protein.   We opted for total veggie with the Japanese Eggplant in Hot Sweet Basil.  It was sautéed with fresh garlic, onions and chili with a basil sauce. Tofu was the protein.  Deveka was thrilled and I loved it as well. 

On a different visit I guess that I was in the mood for chicken as the Grilled Lemongrass Chicken was one of the Specialties that I opted for.  The marinated half of a chicken is served with a plum sauce and some veggies. The marinade is not spicy and the plum chili sauce is perfect as even though it had a bit of spiciness, the plum adds a bit of sweetness.

There are only a few desserts to choose from, one of which is the fried ice cream.  Vanilla ice cream is thickly coated so that when fried, the crust becomes crispy without the ice cream melting.  Topped with whipped cream and some chocolate sauce swirls.   I’m full just writing about this! 

Here are few other photos that I took after going back.

WHERE'S JEFFREY

For those of us who had been attending performances at Queens Theatre In The Park...better known as "QTIP"...Jeffrey Rosenstock was running the show as the Executive Director.   It was only a few years ago that he retired.  Well, at least I thought that he retired from that type of work.  It appears that Jeffrey has been working for another performance venue along with Artistic Director Leon Denmark.  For those of us who had been attending performances at Colden Center...the name had changed, but not to protect the innocent.  It is now the Kupferberg Center for the Performing Arts named after a long time alumni couple.

There has been some recent renovations and the whole center looks fabulous.  The front of the building that houses the Colden Auditorium now has a box office on the outside as well as one one in the lobby, which looks great, as well.

As a student, I recall a theatre and one that I never got to be on the stage of as I had no interest in the particular plays that were being performed.  The theatre and communications wing had what was called, "The Little Theatre".  Then there was Colden Auditorium where, twice,  I was one of the master of ceremonies for an entertainment contest.  Although I was amazed at seeing such a large audience, I wasn't nervous.  What I particularly loved about this venue was the acoustics.

The Goldstein Theatre, as it is now called, did not have the greatest acoustics but had, and still has, all of the tech that Broadway theatre has including an orchestra pit.  So, here's the thing. It's called,

Kupferberg Presents the entertainment hub of the Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College.

The  2013-14 Season features a vibrant lineup of world-class cultural events, concerts and family

programs at Colden Auditorium, LeFrak Concert Hall, Goldstein Theatre, and select off-campus

locations to  the 2.2 million residents of New York City's most diverse borough. 

KCA is comprised of eight partner organizations including Kupferberg Presents, the Aaron Copland

School of Music, the Godwin-Ternbech Museum, the Louis Armstrong House Museum, Queens College Art Center, Queens College Department of Drama, Theater & Dance, and the Queens College Evening Reading Series. www.KupferbergPresents.org 

What's the lineup?  Here's a sneak peek as the season opens with Audra McDonald (Porgy and Bess on Broadway), who will be joined onstage by a jazz ensemble for an intimate evening of song, on Saturday, October 5th at 8p.m.


Next is a special one night only performance by Balé Folclórico da Bahia, the dynamic 25-member troupe of dancers, musicians and singers, often cited as the best dance company in Brazil.  Performing a repertoire based on “Bahian” folklore dances of African origins, this explosive display of dance, music, drama, and color comes to the Colden Auditorium on Friday, October 18th at 8 p.m.

So here's the 411 from Kup. 

 

KUPFERBERG PRESENTS - 2013-2014 SEASON SCHEDULE

AUDRA MCDONALD: Saturday, October 5 at 8:00 PM –  Colden Auditorium

BALE FOLCLORICO DA BAHIA: Friday, October 18 at 8:00 PM – Colden Auditorium

CYNDI LAUPER “She’s So Unusual 30^th Anniversary Tour”: Sunday, October 20 at 7:00 PM – Colden Auditorium

HOLIDAY POPS WITH KEITH LOCKHART AND THE BOSTON POPS ESPLANADE ORCHESTRA: Sunday, December  8  at 7:30 PM – Colden Auditorium

VALERIE SIMPSON: Saturday, December 14 at 8:00 PM – LeFrak Concert Hall

BALLET HISPANICO: Saturday, February 8 at 8:00 PM and Sunday, February 9 at 3:00 PM – Goldstein Theatre

CHRISTINE ANDREAS: Friday, February 14 at 8:00 PM – LeFrak Concert Hall

BARBARA COOK: Saturday, May 10 at 8:00 PM – Colden Auditorium

WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO MY GRAETER'S

I was at Stop and Shop today and looking to buy my favorite ice cream, Graeter's.  OMG what have they been doing with it?  There was more than just freezer burn on these.  Doesn't anyone in the frozen food section notice?  This is not the first time and it looks as though they are not looking to fix it, either.  So, what happens when the reports go in saying that people are not buying the ice cream? 

I don't think you'll find this happening at Fairway Markets.  














Also, check out the signs.  You have a choice of buying strawberries or ones that are sweet for the same price and the same with cherries.  Hmmmm...which one would you choose?

BEYONCE BEYOND STUPENDOUS

Move over Las Vegas as Brooklyn has a venue.   When it comes to delivering a live concert with a star that can hold an audience, the new Barclays Center certainly makes use of their sports arena.   I recently had the opportunity to see Beyonce perform here.   Before I go into her performance, let me share the setup of the arena.

There were two stages, one at each end.   A main stage first gave the impression that it was wide but small.  Why?  Singer Luke James was the opening act and that was the amount of space that he required to perform his hits, "Make Love To Me", "I.O.U", and "I Want You".   I believe that the women near the stage were swooning, especially when he was handing out flowers. 
  
Beyonce later made her entrance as a curtain was lifted to reveal the all-female band and great set.

Two large screens are placed high up on each side of the stage for those wanting a close-up as the cameras center.  This, however, does not provide a wide angle to view the rest of the stage.   As one would expect in a sports arena, seats are at various levels. 

The second stage is circular for the most part, with a runway in the middle.  I think that the audience who obtained standing room around there were quite surprised as Beyonce made use of it to perform while giving them a more up close and some personal contact.  

How did she get from one stage to the other?   Call it a zip line.   That’s just one of many technical aspects of a performance that was beyond stupendous.    Fans were used to have her hair blowing (and keeping here cool from the hot lights).   A screen was placed above the stage to show videos of Beyonce as well as other clips and special effects.  The film clips and videos gave Beyonce the time to change into another outfit, too.   Fire, smoke, as well as the stuff that looks like sparkly fire reigning down or coming out of both end s of a guitar.  Stage traps were utilized for some entrances and exits.   

The floor of the arena area was filled with people who paid a VIP price to stand as close as they could and watch Beyonce sing and move about.  This was her Mrs. Carter World Tour, in her role as Queen B.

Most of the audience stood, sang along and danced at their seats.   It was that kind of a show.  There were her backup singers and dancers to compliment the concert.  I think that just about all of Beyonce’s discography was presented and yes, she did sing “All The Single Ladies”.   

There will be one more Beyonce concert her on December 22nd.  Tix go on sale August 12th!

Lionel Richie is scheduled for later this month so check Barclays Center's  website for tickets, although I'm not sure that Lionel will be zip lining.  www.barclayscenter.com