As you can see, we had every right in the world to be skeptical of the Vinny Vella's Pizza fliers strewn across our apartment building hallway. Yes, that's a gun and a cross hanging from his neck in the caricature drawing!

But just like I had the vision to see a place I could call home out of a color block walled den of filth, porn, and Gilmore Girls screen savers (if I've never told you the story of the first time we saw our apartment, remind me the next time we meet) – I could, despite what seemed like the obvious, consider the preposterous idea that this would actually be good pizza and (unlike Fornino that totally abides by the silly “no delivery past McCarren” policy) one that we could have delivered to our front door.

Vinnie Vella is indeed a shining example of the phrase no reward without risk. The pizza is more than good. Friends have even declared that the Grandma's Favorite, which has fresh mozzarella and chopped up garlic, is the best pizza they've ever tasted! Yes, ever! And they weren't even that drunk. It's really remarkable, and you may not believe me, but the Grandma's crust is nice and thin without ever being crunchy (I can't stand crunchy bottom pizza – it calls to mind frozen junk), it features the?right amount of cheese, the sauce is present but not overwhelming and the garlic adds bite.

The only other pie I've tried and recommend is the Vodka. This one is heavier, and richer due to the creamy red sauce, but still a winner particularly when you end up with a bite with an unmistakable bacony kick. I can't recommend the white for being way too cheesy.

Vella himself is somewhat famous but to look at the vanity of his shop, you'd think he were DeNiro rather than a mobster character actor. A friend use to live next to him in Little Italy and everyday as she walked her puppy he'd stop every one hanging out on the stoop to announce “Hey, you know what dat is? A fox walking a fox!” So it seems he's also a comedian.

Not sure what prompted the man to open a pizza parlor but I am just glad he did. Never again to I have to bemoan the absurd lack of decent pizza available to us. Sorry Triangolo, while I loved the stories of Steven Seagal getting hummers down below in your restaurant, your slices made me pout.

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Posted on December 15, 2008

The first thing you notice about a William Eggleston photograph is the color: often surreal and other worldly beautiful (especially in the Graceland photographs) it makes you look at the familiar in a new way. The process he uses is called dye transfer and it allows him to manipulate one hue in an image without altering the others. Even his sketchbooks, filled with swishes of brights and bolds show his obsession and love for color. He was one of the first photographers to work in color and have it be taken seriously as art and now his career is being appreciated by the Whitney.

I was surprised then, by his huge black and white portraits which were just as powerful and stunning. They sat in a room with TV sets playing his video documentaries of the people he knew in his home town. Most subjects in his work are from the south, it's his people, his land and never treads the common ground of exploitation because of that.

There is work to be seen here from all his great books: Los Alamos, Democratic Forest, Graceland, Election Eve, Mississippi Delta, Stranded in Canton, 14 Pictures, William Eggleston's Guide, and True Stories.

The last is an interesting collaboration between he and David Byrne, the photos taken during the shooting of that truly amazing work True Stories. The fact that Eggleston was an inspiration for Byrne is not surprising he also inspired filmmakers Sofia Coppola and Gus Van Sant. Eggleston had an eye for capturing the mundane within the vibrant American landscape; from dirty dishes to an ice box stuffed with beef pies to flowers sitting outside a bodega. The idea of the mundane as art is typical now, but he began a very new and a very American approach and it's never been done better.

His photos are crisp and clean and remind me of high definition, in the sense that they make you feel like you're right there and you relate to them. I don't just say that because this posted image looks like my long lost prettier sister (someone standing next to me even remarked “She looks like the photo” to my blushing delight) but because he captures life and makes it look spectacular.

Nearly all his work is untitled, and he has no favorites. He has to have friends help him edit because he sees his images equal but different. He lends that same fair eye to his subjects so the title of the show is quite apt for a truly democratic man….

At the Calder exhibit, you are first greeted with a fun wall of wire portraits. A whimsical take on the traditional art form, they express so much with so little and leave behind equally interesting shadows that are as much of the work as the armature.

The next rooms hold his contraptions and mobiles. They are the least exciting for me but interesting to look at. The seem functional while at the same time are wildly not – just shapes in black and white with a bit of color. It's comparatively somber to the next room filled with his joyful circus work.

I am easily amazed with three dimensional craftsmanship, as I myself have no skills in that area, and Jim, ha – I should tell you the story sometime about the bike he tried to make out of wire in college. But it's not just Calder's craft, but his whimsy and life he injects into these moving sculptures that make them so special. As a person that counts drawing cats and polar bears repeatedly as part of her job, I can say it's a feat to infuse character into simple animals.

The video playing overhead and in the next room is priceless. The adults sitting watching were smiling and happy and the audience on the film were oohing in ahhing. The circus is not hi tech but very hand made, Calder in the video often uses his hands to move things around to everyone's delight.

It's an in depth show that also includes toys he made in Oshkosh, WI, more wire work inspired by Josephine Baker, and some great sketches and drawings. It's great to have two such different but wonderful shows under one roof. Don't let them pass you by. The Eggleston show ends January 25, Calder on February 15.

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Posted on December 15, 2008

As a girl, it took me a long time to get into Neil Young and as much as I wanted to have my musical horizons broadened by my friend Bill and the greatly appreciated mix tapes he'd send me over the years (at different times in our lives he introduced me to Tricky, Radiohead, The Girl from Ipanema…) his inclusion of Old Man on one particular tape just left me faintly annoyed. Annoyed by the hard to love voice and annoyed that I just didn't get what the boys saw in it all.

The song that recently made me a believer is from the classic After the Gold Rush: Don't Let it Bring You Down. I like this song firstly because I feel that I can sing it exactly like he does (and I do at the top of my lungs erractically – of course, like some things that I assume I do well, this may not actually be the case) and secondly, it also happens to be the best song on the album and with the most vivid lyrics. The song that first started to change the tide long before that one was aided by Freaks and Geeks. I'd pretty much be able to fall in love with anything featured on that show, and Only Love Can Break Your Heart was an easy one – much easier than Old Man, because A. it's about love and not and old man, and b. It's just really pretty.

Pretty is a word I never associated with Young before, but After the Gold Rush, which is now becoming a fast favorite, is introducing me to a squishier side to the grizzled old time rocker. The names of some of these songs would make a lesser man seem sissy: “When You Dance You Can Really Love”, “I Believe in You”, “Oh, Lonesome Me”. It would seem that 1970 was a year of serious romance for Young, but in reality he was breaking up with his first wife Susan Acevedo who in this article is awesomely described as “A wild one? city chick.” And,?”Maybe the first women's libber.?She was in hate with men.” Here's a photo of her, dressed all in black as was her habit.

And who knows if he was already smitten with actress Carrie Snodgrass whom he later dedicated songs to and had a child with before things grew steadily more bitter at the time of writing these songs, but ideas about relationships and love were certainly pouring from his pen and on his mind.

Of course, so was social injustice by way of “Southern Man“, a song that angered the proud members of Lynyrd Skynyrd and prompted them to include this line in Sweet Home Alabama: “Well, I hope Neil Young will remember / A southern man don't need him around anyhow”.?Take that Neil – how dare you point out the woes of racism in the South! But contrary to my vision of the prolific singer songwriter, this album is not teeming with social commentary. In fact, there is quite a bit of joy to be heard here. Cripple Creek Ferry is the kind of song you could see the Country Bears singing and Till the Morning Comes is brief and wonderfully playful.

While now considered a classic, it didn't receive the warmest reaction from Rolling Stone (a magazine that's more relevant now than ever) when it came out. Their critic described Young's singing as “pre-adolescent whining” and claims, “I can't listen to it at all,” then goes so far as to condescend anyone who does like the album by saying, “Neil Young devotees will probably spend the next few weeks trying desperately to convince themselves that After The Gold Rush is good music. But they'll be kidding themselves”. What a jerk!

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Posted on December 15, 2008

Gold Diggers of 1933 is a classic musical with a goofy, fun charm anchored by several lavish Busby Berkeley numbers and a lively story. The film opens on Gingers Rogers's beaming face as she sings “We're in the Money” with a trail chorus of girls in tiny coin costumes tap dancing behind her. The irony (we quickly discover when rehearsal gets shut down by the coppers) is that no one is really in the money at all – it's the Depression, darling, and Barney, the show's producer, hasn't paid his bills.

This leaves our four little actresses: innocent Polly (Ruby Keeler), sultry Fay (Rogers), sassy Carol (Joan Blondell), and the magnificently named Trixie Lorraine (Aline MacMahon) who's wise and funny (she remarks a portly dance partner: “Why, you're as light as a?heifer,”) out of work until Barney can come up with the money for a new show. Enter Dick Powell as Brad Roberts, the seemingly hard up neighbor and songwriter who comes to their rescue. But how? Did he rob a bank to impress his sweetheart, Polly? Or is there some other secret he's been hiding?

We find out soon enough (though I won't spoil it for you here), but the story roller-coasters through mistaken identity, star crossed love affairs, and more than one topsy turvy romance. Chorus girls and high society men mix even though the upper class considers our heroines to be “parasites”, “chiselers”, and “gold diggers”. While much of the story, despite its considerable age, is still relatable and surprisingly fresh, humorously enough the one bit of life that's changed the most is high society's aversion to fame and entertainment. Nowadays the rich can't wait to be splashed all over TV and date celebrities.

Also, even in a Depression, the clothing is spectacular here – even a “bad dress” sports amazing sleeve details and tailoring, while more fun frocks (particularly worn by the statuesque Blondell) are wild and stunning. In one scene two of the girls, in a ruse to fool a couple of Boston high society men, insist on new adorable hats and refuse to leave the apartment with out corsages – corsages, I might add that sit prettily atop fur stoles at lavish night clubs.

The cast is wonderful and I was particularly taken with Warren William's leading man snob (see this week's hunk), but the musical numbers are the real show stealers. The first, “Petting in the Park” features: kissing monkeys, dapper singing cops, roller-skating girls, a freaky man-baby on roller-skates, an on-stage blizzard and rainstorms, a strip tease in silhouette, innumerable garter belts, and bathing suits made of tin!

Another number “The Shadow Waltz” is kind of a boring song, but it's saved by discus skirts and neon violins! The final number, “Remember My Forgotten Man” is the best song and Joan Blondell's spoken word lament reminds us of the actual pains the Depression brought so many.

This popular film spawned three sequels that I haven't seen yet.

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Posted on December 15, 2008

Pin Up Queen

Bettie Page became a star decades after the photos were taken that made her famous. Generations recognized her charm, effervescence and beauty once the times caught up to her racy career. She and her signature cute bangs were certainly an influence on me as a teen around the time that she was becoming a pop style icon dug up from the past.

She was 85 when she passed away this last Thursday.

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Posted on December 15, 2008