Good Morning and Hello 2022!

Big emphasis this week on entertainment and the arts. Highlights include the start of Oklahoma‘s National Tour (the stunning Daniel Fish adaptation). Also very excited about Brad’s upcoming museum shows in Arizona, one at SMoCA, the other at the Tucson Museum of Art. I’ll be checking out both in April, along with the Maricopa County Fair (#2 and 6 below).

And then there’s real estate. Am I the only one who foresees the potential for a “shake up the industry” partnership between Adam Neumann (founder of We Work) and Moishe Mana as they both gobble up heaps of real estate in Miami? See #10 below.

1. [watch] VIDEO: What’s New this week?

2. Daniel Fish’s Adaptation of Oklahoma: National Tour starts this week (Best Broadway Musical Ever!)

WATCH THIS ⬇️⬇️⬇️ — it’s exquisite!

• The National Tour is hitting 20 cities starting with Pittsburgh, then on to Chicago, Buffalo, Washington DC, Nashville, Dallas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, etc., etc., Link for all cities and ticketing here.

3. Joe List on Youtube: best new stand-up discovery. Also, “Joe and Raanan Talk Movies”

• Replacing my TV viewing with podcasts on YouTube was essential for my mental well-being, especially early in the pandemic.
• Now I catch everything, from tech tutorials to German language lessons, on YouTube. But my favorites are the longform podcasts put out by many stand-up comics, e.g., Nateland, Bill Burr, Gaffigan, Andrew Schultz (who I’m seeing at Radio City in April), David Chappelle, Eric Griffin etc. In my opinion, comics are today’s philosophers.
• I’m new to the Joe and Raanan Talk Movies podcast so not committed to it yet but they’re off to a good start. Raanan Hershberg, btw, is from Louisville, KY. and very self-conscious about his weight which is kind of endearing.
• Give it a listen, let me know what you think. Their take on Schindler’s List vs. The Pianist (above) is quite brilliant (and provocative).

4. Banana Ink’s ‘idaho, not iowa’ apparel. #IfYouKnowYouKnow

This is a really funny news story. And it inspired me to order BANANA INK‘s IDAHO/IOWA sweatshirt. You’ll see me wearing it proudly. I’ll even wear it on one of the videos once it arrives.

5. Anyone else into trail cameras and eagle cams? I’m obsessed.

• Utah’s Parleys Canyon Wildlife Overpass is used by all kinds of animals from bears to coyotes to moose.
• The 2021 video compilation (only available on Facebook) counts 706 animal crossings in total including 414 mule deer, 54 coyotes, 27 porcupines, 8 black bears and 10 moose. Here’s the link to the 2021 video.

EAgle Cams have also become all the rage

Harriet and M15 have been keeping close watch over the two offspring they recently welcomed into the world after incubating the eggs for nearly two months. Scroll to 10:35 to first see the baby eaglets.

6. Meet me in AZ in April. Why? 2 Museum Exhibits + a county fair!

• Brad has two museum shows opening in 2022, one in February and one in March: Swap Meet at SMoCA and 11:59 to Tucson at the Tucson Museum of Art.
• Additionally, The Maricopa County Fair is happening April 6-10
• Heads up to my travel mates (you know who you are!!) – let’s do this!

7. Phillips kicks off the Spring auction season with “1970s / GRAFFITI / TODAY” (Viewing starts Jan 13)

This new exhibition showcases the past 50 years of street art and graffiti.

• It also elevates graffiti’s contributions to 20th and 21st century contemporary art.
• Artists include Jean-Michel Basquiat, Chaz Bojórquez, CRASH, Al Díaz, EKLIPS, Fab 5 Freddy, FUTURA, Keith Haring, HAZE, KAWS, KRUSH, Lady Pink, Mister Cartoon, Lee Quiñones, and many others.
• The exhibition opens on 13 January 2022, and runs through 20 February, at Phillips’ NY headquarters at 432 Park Avenue. Link here.

8. Nashville gets a Buck Mason store — spectacular!!

• Big fan of this modern classics brand. They have two stores in my NYC neighborhood (but nothing like this!).
• Per Nashville Lifestyles, Buck Mason first began by selling boxes of third-party jeans and tees packaged together—six wardrobe essentials for $250. But the brand didn’t really blow up until 2014 when the WSJ  ran a weekend edition article describing the brand’s t-shirt as the equivalent of high-thread-count sheets. Inventory completely sold out overnight. It was then that co-founders Sasha Koehn and Erik Allen Ford knew they were onto something big.

“I had this idea of what I wanted my closet to look like, the absolute classics in tried-and-true colors, made to stand the test of time. I guess that’s all Buck is, my dream closet.”

Erik Allen Ford, Co-Founder

9. Finally made it to Xi’an Famous Foods: 5-stars!!!

• Xi-an Famous Foods is a privately owned chain of fast casual restaurants in the NY area serving Shaanxi-style Chinese cuisine. Shaanxi cuisine is best known for noodles and lamb dishes and uses strong, complex flavors. such as salt, garlic, onion and vinegar; sugar is seldom used.
• Standout dishes: [B2] Spicy Cumin Lamb Burger, [F5] Spicy & Sour Lamb Dumpling, [N1] Spicy Cumin Lamb Hand-Ripped Noodles. Make sure you order the right spice level. I went for regular and it was perfect and I love very spicy food. In other words, don’t go for super spicy unless you really know what you’re doing.
• Xi-an was founded in 2005 by Jason Wang.
• Very popular spot. Lots of people eating on-site but I’d rather do take-out. Video of the Bayard Street location below.

10. MOISHE MANA AND Adam Neumann NEED TO PARTNER UP!!!!

WHY PARTNER UP?

• Because Moishe Mana knows how to run a great real estate enterprise but also aspires to be a mover and a shaker in the contemporary art world. Based on what I’ve seen of his cultural center in Jersey City (Mana Contemporary), he needs help with the cool factor, i.e., aesthetics and vibe.
• Adam Neumann, meanwhile, is on a buying binge of apartment buildings in “vibrant cities where a new generation of young people increasingly are choosing to live.” Neumann had a big fall from grace with We Work but there’s no denying that he is a trailblazer and visionary when it comes to how we want to live, work and play. He pioneered the trend to co-working in highly stylized, amenities-rich environments. What he lacks is the business acumen to run these operations without losing loads of (other people’s) money.
• If Mana and Neumann saw eye to eye, this partnership could be transformative for apartment living, offices, and the hospitality industry. It would indeed “shake up” the industry.

And that’s a wrap for this week.

Wishing you all a great weekend – my dance card is full once again now that most of my friends have recovered from the omicron! Lots of dinners, art jaunts, and the first of the season’s Dim Dum Feast on Sunday at Ludlow House. I will check in with you all next week.