A FRIDAY NIGHT DATE NIGHT

THE CHER SHOW

I feel so strange talking about having a date night when I'm two steps away from needing a walker to get around. Turns out we seniors can show a little life every now and then and Friday night the pilot light was turned on high.

The whole idea started earlier in the day when Rick after making me brave the morning cold and retrieve his wake me up Diet Pepsi said, "If you really loved me you'd take me to see Cher". He had a doctor's appointment at eleven and I didn't have anything until one so I skipped out right after he left and went down to the Lincoln Center TKTS office to stand in line hoping that the Cher Show would pop as one of the available shows on the digital board showing the evening performances. The good thing was I got there early enough to be near the front of the line. The bad thing was I was sandwiched between two tourists that wanted to gab about and critique every show both on and off Broadway. The woman in front was deciding on her fifth show in four days and the guy behind was decidedly not a musical theater patron.  In the end she decided on The Band's Visit and he settled going to The Ferryman. I was too intimidated and embarrassed to say I was waiting for Cher. I didn't want them to think I was going lowbrow against their highbrow choices. So I lied and said I was hoping for My Fair Lady. When I got to the window the woman ahead of me was still at the other open window and the man behind was close on my heels. I tried to whisper into the little speaker in the glass window that separated me from the ticket person "Two tickets for tonight's Cher Show". The bearded guy with a silk scarf wrapped around his neck sitting on the other side of the glass window lowered his head to speak into the microphone and yelled, "SPEAK UP" loud enough for my line mates and at least several other people in line to turn to see what was going on.
"TWO TICKETS FOR TONIGHT'S CHER SHOW" I was outed.

With an impish smile the ticket master replied "You know you look just like Bob Mackie without all the surgery and that's a good thing. I've got two seats third row center. You can have an upfront view of all your fabulous costumes. Enjoy honey"

When I sprung it on Rick that we had tickets he went directly to his Open Table app and reserved a table for two at Bond 45.
We were set for one of our rarest occasions: a real Friday night date complete with all the fixins.

Six-fifteen saw us dressed in our best and out the door. Bond 45 is a very traditional Broadway feeding house more appealing to a tourist and out-of-town crowd, but with an interesting menu.

We started sharing a small plate of fried olives with a calabrese aioli dipping sauce and a crusty Italian table bread.

We both settled on pastas as our main courses. Rick chose a fried artichoke spaghetti Cacio Pepe

and I went for a guanciale bacon spaghetti carbonara topped with a poached egg that oozed out its golden nectar once you opened it up with a fork. They kept our flatware down to a minimum with no pretentious spoons for spinning. Our timing was off so it was the check without dessert. That would have to wait until after the theater
We really did have third row center seats right on the aisle and it was fabulous.

When I was very, very young and trying to find my way into the film industry in Hollywood I started out working at Propinquity, gift store, on Santa Monica Boulevard. It was a hot spot and a big draw for a celebrity crowd. A pair of brothers, John and Dudley, owned the store but Cina ran the place. She had a personality that was bigger than any star that walked in the door. She came from a big wealthy family from Grosse Point, Michigan and several of her siblings had made the trip to LA with her.

Her brother, Curt, was an aspiring songwriter and the bouncer at the Troubadour, LA's premier venue for new talent. After work on many nights Cina and I would walk down to the Troubadour and Curt would let us in to see the show from the back entrance where the talent entered and exited to the open stage platform. It's where I first saw Cher sitting at a table with an entourage. She sparkled then with that mane of long straight hair the color and sheen of black marble. When she left she went out through the back entrance where we were standing. She said, "Excuse me" as a few strands of that black hair whipped me on my shoulder. Not much but enough.

All of this came flooding back as we slipped into our seats. The theater can be many things. It can be shear escapism, it can be edifying and it can be emotional cathartic. What I didn't expect was The Cher Show to be all of the above.

The escapism is what I had expected. The music itself repeats itself over and over again in your head. Rick was so into it he began singing along to my annoyance until I heard the lady behind me doing the same thing. I still feel if I wanted to hear them sing I would have bought a ticket to their show at their theater. I was here to hear the professionals but I got over it.

Broadway is blessed with so much talent and the performers in The Cher Show were no exception. Being in the third row when the lead Cher (there are three of them in the show) sang "Believe" near the end of the second act and real tears began to roll down her face it confirmed that acting isn't a silly game but a real talent. Doing a show eight times a week and being able to find that emotion each time is something not everyone can do.
The show does a fair job of encapsulating Cher's life. In a musical that was filled with fluff and humor there was also a lot of attention paid to failure and redemption. You hardly ever think that someone as iconic as Cher could ever have faced such ruin and betrayal. It makes the meaning of survivor all the more a deserved badge she can proudly wear.

At the finale the crowd was on its feet and dancing in the aisles. I'm not sure what everyone's motivation was for choosing to go to the Neil Simon Theater that night but I know we went in order to update our gay card and get it reissued. What all of us got was a lot more.
Dessert is going to have to be left to your imagination.

POSTSCRIPT:
To those highbrow theater snobs, including those in line with me at TKTS, guess who won the BEST LEADING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL Tony Award … yep Stephanie J. Block as the current/contemporary CHER !
















THE GALLERY

Cher for Vogue, 1974
Richard Avedon, photographer
Represented by Fraenkel Gallery, New York

THE TWA HOTEL AT JFK

THE 60's REVISITED

In the 1960's a pencil thin Twiggy was the rage but curves were sexy in architecture. Eero Saarinen was commissioned to design a flight center for TWA at JFK Airport. The design would become iconic as it pulled away from the brutalism of the Bauhaus and turned straight walls into conch shells. Unfortunately the 60's made way to the 70's, then the 80's and the 90"s and TWA didn't last  - the flight center closed. The building remained vacant for decades. To American's great good fortune New Yorkers have always been at the forefront of preservation. Unwilling to let such a significant piece of architectural history meet the wrecking ball the terminal was first declared a city landmark in 1994 and then listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. It's ability to remain a viable terminal collapsed when Terminal five was built between it and the runways. It was eventually up to JetBlue to come to the building's rescue converting it into a hotel that opened in May 2019.
It's an easy but long subway ride on the E train out to a transfer point for the AirTran and a drop off at Terminal five,  but boy is it worth it.
The hotel is nothing less than theater even if you aren't planning on staying at the hotel. My first visit was just to see the space for myself. My next will be to book a room, take a drink in the airplane lounge called CONNIE and then a jump into the infinity pool on the top floor.
From the hosts dressed in TWA uniforms, to the bits of history spread around like the halls of a history museum, to the lush signature red of the decoration.   Whether you're a tourist or a native visiting the TWA hotel should be a must on your list of things to see along with the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center and The Statue of Liberty.
Enjoy!

LEWIS STATION WINERY AND LAKE MILLS

DEATH ROW LAST WISH

If I were in prison and on death row in those final minutes before my execution when they ask me about what I'd like to eat as my last meal on earth I know just what I'd say.
"Forget the clergy and the absolution of my sins, give me the menu from the Lewis Station Winery in Lake Mills"

Let me set the scene
Lake Mills is one of those quintessential Wisconsin towns so popular with vacationers and second-home owners from more urban cities in the region and beyond like Milwaukee and Chicago.  Located a half-hour from Madison and wrapped around Rock Lake it's the perfect vacation location, near enough to a cultural center yet quiet enough to provide space to just chill.

The downtown is laid out in a typical town square fashion around a central park complete with a bandstand for summer concerts

that then transforms into a skating rink during the winter.

The village square is surrounded by vernacular architecture mostly from around the turn of the former century crowned by the Neogothic revival L.D. Fargo Public Library.

There are several antique stores, a world famous hotdog stand down the street

and one of the most beautiful pottery studios to be seen anywhere since Tiffany began producing art pottery.

Twice a year our favorite event is the Devine Treasures Estate Sale held in a church turned home where the sanctuary fills with great vintage and antique treasures. We have yet to leave empty-handed from one of these great sales

But the event that keeps bringing us back is lunch at the Lewis Station Winery. Housed in a former gas station and auto repair shop is the outlet for the winery filled with inebriates tasting the many wines offered at Lewis Station.

We don't really have a bunch of heavy drinkers in our family but come the end of winter the winery puts out its Knickerbocker Ice Wine. It's truly a Northern tundra specialty made from classic Riesling grapes quickly harvested once the first freeze has frozen the grapes having remained on the vine. It's a definite dessert wine with "an excellent balance of sugars and acid with gentle crispness and a delicate smooth, long, creamy finish". Served cold with a biscotti to dip it's the best finish to any meal or the perfect accompaniment to a delicious book while cozying up to a winter fire.

But we don't stop there. There are two dishes on their inventive menu that we will never pass up.
The first is a set of six pork ribs they cure and smoke like bacon and serve with a hot gooseberry BBQ and maple mustard sauce. A bowl of BTL salad and a basket of bistro bread are splayed out on a wooden cutting board. The menu labels it an appetizer but for us it's a main course that can be shared by two with leftovers to take home.

The second and my all-time never leave without and don't even peruse the rest of the menu must order even if you're not hungry is their GOAT CRACK.  Yes, I said goat crack! It's a terrine of Wisconsin goat cheese swirled with fig marmalade and roasted almonds served warm and then spread on more slices of their bistro bread. It got its name from its completely consuming addictive quality. Once you try crack you're gonna be back.

The cat's out of the bag. Lake Mills is not only worth going to but it demands return visits on a very regular basis and one of the few things that keeps Rick coming back to Wisconsin!   If you find yourself unable to get there because of your incarceration ask your warden to add the goat crack, bacon cured rib and a glass of Knickerbocker Ice Wine to your final meal request.








THE GALLERY

Camp Longwood, 2013
Bruce Weber, photographer
Represented by Fahey Klein Gallery, Los Angeles