SCOOTING AROUND TOWN

I'm still around.. but been facebooking mostly ! I bought a new electric scooter to battle the high price of gas ! milo is a great passenger!

NEW YORK - DAY 5 - LAST DAY!

Boo hoo.. my last day in New York ! Today I venutured out on my own to do some clothing shopping. I wanted to go to a NY store called Lane Bryant. This store to my delight was not far from my Hotel, on 5th Ave at 34th street, Right across from the Empire State Building. After some shopping I met up with Kathy at South Central Park road and 5th Ave. Right at the Apple Store and across from the famous Park Plaza Hotel. We went on a bus and made our way over across town to 2nd street, to take a trip on a Gondola ! yuup. and Gondola in NY ! this would take us across the river to Roosevelt Island. it was very cool !

http://www.roosevelt-island.ny.us/index.htm

high up above the river the view was amazing. Once arriving at the Island we took a bus to the ( that cost 25 cents) to the most northern tip on the island.. very cool. took some pics, and then made out way back to the gondola. The Island does have inhabitants.. with a few large apparment building, and more being built. A somewhat secluded area, with one bank, one school, one grocery store and 1 hospital.
Making our way back to the Main land, Manhattan, we then had to go back to my Hotel as it was time to leave. We did pass Carnigie Hall by doing this... wow.. this was an amazing week.. I still love New York.. and Kathy was a great friend by taking so much time to show me around... ** smiles ! **

NEW YORK - DAY 4 - MUSEUM DAY

Kathy and I had breakfast together, and then worked out in the Gym.. there got that done! .. now off to see some more culture. We decided to go to the Whitney Museum. We took the Bus, uptown through Central park, but before continuing on to the museum, we made a quick pit stop at where the memorial for John Lennon was in the park. Very near to where he lived, off Central park, also known as' Strawberry Fields.

We took some pics.. of course, and continued on to the museum. The Whitney museum is a modern museum, but I did enjoy the 5th floor of the collection which included paintings by deKonning, Karl Apple and Andy Warhol. The rest of the museum was a little to ' Wacky' for me.. but Kathy liked it. After the museum, we bought , we thought would be a cheap sandwich at the local grocer on the corner, ( an $8 egg sandwich) and ate it at the park. Kathy then had to go, as she had to perform G & S - Pirates, so I continued walking up 5th Ave to 72, and found the Frick museum. I had heard all about it from Ineke, and was looking forward to seeing it. I was indeed very special. A small museum, with an outstanding collection ... all my favorites, Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Rubens etc... http://www.frickmuseum.org/

after the museum, I hopped back onto the bus, to take me back downtown. I got off at 42nd street, only to discover this really great brass band performing live right outside the Subway entrance on 42nd street.. I took a youtube video of them...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gUbm17cA90

they played really well.. I supported them by purchasing their CD . I started walking back down to my hotel. I made a left onto 44 street, and thought , I should find a neat place to have dinner.. and there it was ! right in front of me.. the famed ' Sardis'

http://www.sardis.com/

I had a wonderful steak dinner.. the restaurant was expensive, but well worth it.. and now I can say I ate at Sardis !

another great day in New York !

NEW YORK - DAY 3- Spring Awakening

After a good work out at the Hotel Gym, today, I ventured out to see Kathy perform a live concert in a Office lobby of a big office building right in the middle of the Wall Street area. I took the subway, the number 2 train down to Wall street, and found my way to 80 Pine street where Kathy, and a double reed ensemble were performing a lunch time concert. The lobby was a bustling with Lunch times crowds, rushing out to grab a quick lunch. As Kathy and this group of 2 oboes, 2 english horns and 2 bassoons played everything from Handel to Oh Danny Boy. Most enjoyed the nice, different setting it created. But like life in New York, most where really to busy to even notice that they were playing. Ya do what ya need to do, to play in this city !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-oBV98kaoI

After the hour lunch time concert, Kathy and I made our way to Wall street, and saw the New York Stock Exchange building. It is really heavily fortified now since 9-11... no more inside tours for tourist, just guarded by heavily armed guards, and lots of police cars, with huge metal boulder like blocks in the middle of the street.. so no cars can even get close to the building.. it's pedestrian only. A huge change from the last time I saw this building, when I visited Kathy in 2000, when the WTC was still there and intact!

We looked around for a nice place to have lunch, found this cool Middle East restaurant and had delicious Lamb Shawarma for lunch. We then went into the subway system, to make our way back to my hotel, uptown. We relaxed a bit, then slowly got ready to go to our next adventure. " Spring Awakening"... the Broadway Show, I bought tickets online a couple of weeks ago.

The Theatre was very small, not even a public lobby, we had to line up outside and wait for the Theatre doors to open, to which opened straight to the inside of the theatre.. there we saw a really neat set up.. not stage curtain, and chairs for public to also sit on the stage ! We had an aisle seat, 10 rows from the front, PERFECT!.. the Show was amazing.. !!! the most creative, artistic show I have ever seen. And the music was fantastic. The small band was also on the stage.. very different !! The story about teenagers discovering SEX!.. taking place in 1891 in Germany... (at the end of this journal, I will add the story line, straight from the Spring Awaking Web site). Kathy and I loved it ! I bought the CD..

It is coming to Toronto next year, and I recommend that everyone see it.. you will be amazed !! After the show, Kathy and I walked down to the Mariott hotel, and had a drink at the 8th floor lounge that over looks Times Square, I have been here many times in the past, and remains one of my favorite look out points. Kathy came back with me to my hotel, as my livingroom of my suite, has a pull out bed in the couch, so she decided to slept over, as so she would be able to work out with me in the morning, and enjoy some hotel comp breakfast with me as well... a great day.. once again. !! http://www.springawakening.com/home.php

Full Story Description

SPRING AWAKENING takes its inspiration from one of literature’s most controversial masterpieces – a work so daring in its depiction of teenage self-discovery, it was banned from the stage and not performed in its complete form in English for nearly 100 years.

It’s Germany, 1891. A world where the grown-ups hold all the cards. The beautiful young Wendla explores the mysteries of her body, and wonders aloud where babies come from, till Mama tells her to shut it, and put on a proper dress.

Elsewhere, the brilliant and fearless young Melchior interrupts a mind-numbing Latin drill to defend his buddy Moritz – a boy so traumatized by puberty he can’t concentrate on anything. Not that the Headmaster cares. He strikes them both and tells them to turn in their lesson.

One afternoon – in a private place in the woods – Melchior and Wendla meet by accident, and soon find within themselves a desire unlike anything they’ve ever felt.

As they fumble their way into one another’s arms, Moritz flounders and soon fails out of school. When even his one adult friend, Melchior’s mother, ignores his plea for help, he is left so distraught he can’t hear the promise of life offered by his outcast friend Ilse.

Naturally, the Headmasters waste no time in pinning the “crime” of Moritz’s suicide on Melchior and expel him. And soon Mama learns her little Wendla is pregnant. Now the young lovers must struggle against all odds to build a world together for their child.

NEW YORK - DAY 2, MARCH 11, 2008

My exciting experiences continue in the Big Apple. Today 3 big things happened ! first my room !... there was an issue about the fact that my hotel room did not have an internet connection, even though I paid extra for it. So after many calls to the front desk and Management, I was finally told they can't fix it, and are willing to exchange my room for another. So after a big sigh, of inconvenience havening to pack up my whole room, repacking my suitcase, I made my way back down to the front desk of the hotel, and marched right up to the Manager. I told the manager that I was not pleased. I had paid a lot of money for the extras in my room, and so far have been sadly disappointed in the hotel service so far.

The manager, a very nice, charming man, apologized profusely and then announced that they were upgrading me from a single room to the corner suite... ' smile'... I was very happy with that.. so up I went with new key card in hand, by this time Kathy had arrived from her place, so the two of us went up... ' what to my wondrous eyes to appear?... a 2 room suite did I receive, oh my dear!'... wow.. a living room with couch, tv , fridge, and then a separate bedroom with large bathroom... yah !! jackpot!... Now this is what I call 'liv'in in New York!'... so after settling into my new room.. Kathy and I venured out.. first on the list of things to do was to walk down 2 blocks to the corner of 46 and Broadway, to jump up and down and stick out our tongues at the ' Fridays' live Times Square Webcam.. ! there many friends and family saw us live on the internet... amazing.. so cool...
http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare/index.php?cam=fridays

After that we jumped into a cab and went uptown to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. After a quick NY hotdog, we made a bee line to the 16th- 18th century European Art section, got my MAJOR fix of Rembrant, Van Dijk, Frans Hals and Rubens. From there we went to the 19th & 20th century European Art section, and there I too then got a Major, MAJOR !!! that litterly brought me to TEARS, room after room of Van Gogh, Cezzanne, Monet, Pissarro, Gougain, Piccaso and Tolouse Latrek. Wow... very emotion day so far for me ! what a place.. NY'ers are so.. soooo lucky to have this collection at there fingertips to enjoy anytime they like.. and for pennies too.. as the entrance fee to the museum is ' pay what you can' .. as Kathy and I paid $3 entrance fee... sigh!...
http://www.metmuseum.org/

After this we hopped into a cab once again, and made our way over the ' West side' of New York, there we walked around, and then stopped and had a nice lunch/dinner at a local Diner/Deli. After lunch, we got on to a NY bus, and made our way back downtown , direction Hotel. Kathy jumped off the bus, at her more convenient stop, as she had a rehearsal to go to, she was playing ' Pirates'... operette stuff..

I continued on with the bus.. then out the window I saw.. hey.. The Letterman Show !.. I jumped off the bus, walked up to the Ed Sullivan Theatre, and saw this line in front.. so I just joined in on the line. A Letterman Show person walked up to me, and said do you have a ticket?.. I said , why of course I do... so I looked in my wallet, and through all my coat pockets.. teared up a bit, and said.. geez.. I lost it.. that's so terrible ! oh my , I came all the way from Toronto !... the Letterman person said, wait here, and if all these people get in, and there's still an empty seat we'll get you in ! ( jackpot!) .. so to make a long story short.. yuup... I got in ! coool.... I'm I'm seeing Dave Letterman LIVE
!! and the guests to my joy for today's show, where Martha Stewart and Snoopp Dog ! ... So the taping started at 4:30pm exactly... and the whole show.. after many laughs, ( mostly about the NY Governor Splitzer) and some great LIVE music from Snoop Dogg, the show was exactly 1 hour. He really tapes the whole thing, doesn't do ANY ' Do over's' ... alot of the show really is improv!

http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/

Dave is a genius ! ... after the show.. we were filled out of the building.. entering the famous side street.. and there is also where the Letterman Band exit's asl well as Snoop Dogg and band.. to which I got some pics.. as my camera battery just died, could have gotten more.. but that was it... WOW... so off to the CBS store at the corner for some gifts' for family.. and then I walked the rest of the way down Broadway to my hotel, which was about 10 blocks.. not to bad... so back to my hotel, ( my nice new ' Suite' ) to charge my camera battery, and to relax a bit.. it was now about 7:30pm..

At about 10:00pm I ventured out again, just to see Times Square at night... spectacular as usual!... did some more shopping.. and of course my jaw was dropping at the overwhelming sights and sounds of all that happens in this amazing world city.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M5zL_v3TyU

So now it's the next day.. Wednesday.. Here I sit, in the hotel Club breakfast room writing this.. just spoke to Kathy on the phone.. told her the whole story about Letterman , as she didn't know about this yet... a gentle- man leans over to me, that's sitting behind the computer screen beside me.. and says... and you can also add to your blog.. as I'm sorry I just overheard your conversation about Letterman.. " that you can write, that you are sitting beside the ' Famous... Comedy Legend - Gallagher ! ' ... I 'm the guy that does the Smashing Watermelons from the top of the Ed Sullivan Theatre !!! http://www.gallaghersmash.com/
ha.. ha.. ha...as I laugh !! wow.. this town just doesn't stop with the daily surprises !!
I love New York !

NEW YORK DAY 1- GOING TO THE OPERA!

New York City is such an exciting place!... so much to see and do and experience ! After arriving at my hotel, which to my delight is only 1 block from Times Square! talk about being right in the middle of the world ! Kathy came and met me at the hotel, we chatted a bit in the Hotel club room, and then went off to the Hotel Gym to work out. After our work out, we changed and decided to make a go of trying to get ticket to the Met.

We hopped into a cab, and drove up to the Met. We walked straight to the Box office at the Met, and I jokingly said to the Box office empoyee, " I"m sure you have 2 tickets for me!"... ( thinking of course he doesn't, its Opening night of Tristan with Ben Heppner and Deborah Voigt and according the the Met website, the tickets have been sold out for months now!! ) and the guy at the Box office said, sure.. what price ticket would you like?... stunned.. I looked at Kathy, and I said... the $80 tickets please.. and there we had them! 2 tickets to see Tristan and Isolde at the Met!!! ya hoo... amazing ! so exciting... so off to the opera we went ( in our jeans !!! ) what a first day in New York... Kathy knows the new English Horn player in the Met orchestra, and after the performance, we said hi to him.. he played beautifully... the Met Orchestra, is one the finest Opera Orchestra's I have ever heard in my entire life ! and all conducted by James Levine

If this was day one.. I can hardly wait till what New York brings to me tomorrow !

MY NEW YORK DIARY

I will be posting my daily experiances and adventures in New York, here on my blog starting tomorrow, March 10th, 2008








(* photocredit - Trey Ratcliff)

CONCERT IN OSHAWA

So we just finished our Baroque concert with the Oshawa Durham Symphony... it was fun to play with Diane again !

... to bad my next gig is not untill May !

OUR SECOND NETWORK WINDS CONCERT

Network Winds, my Woodwind Quintet performed it's second concert at the Gladstone Hotel, on January 14th, 2008.. it was a huge success, with a totally sold out crowd !

This is the special coat that was made for me for the concert by ' Magpie Designs' on Queen Street.

PERFOMING WITH AMICI CHAMBER ENSEMBLE

Wow.. what a great concert ! This weekend I finally was able to perform with the Amici Chamber Ensemble. We performed the Dvorak Serenade for Winds at the Glenn Gould Studio. All of the performers were from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra plus myself, and Kathy Halvorson ! wow.. it was so great ! life is wonderful !!

CHRISTMAS WINDOWS AT ' THE BAY'

Finally the Bay has gone back to the old fashion way of displaying their Christmas Windows!

Click here to see a slide show of the windows and opening of the exhibit.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEL

Tonight Mel, Maya and I went to Jack Astors to celebrate Melinda's birthday... wow.. time flies!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

This year I decided to join in and dress up for Halloween, I sat at our front door in the lobby of my appartment and shelled out halloween candy!

BEAUTIFUL FALL COLOURS IN ONTARIO

Fall is here.. Ontario is at its prettiest!

THE SQUIRRELS ARE VERY CRAFTY

Stealing my fries!.. squirrels are very sneeky and fearless here!

FALL IN TORONTO

pumpkin time is here! halloween is around the corner!

these pumpkins are for sale at my local supermarket....

they work as good chairs too!

LIESBETH COMES TO TORONTO

Liebeth, my dear cousin came to Toronto to visit for 10 days! we had a great time together !

TORONTO THE GOOD

some pictures of Toronto as seen through the eyes of my cousin Liesbeth...

Caroline at Starbucks

This picture was taken at Carolines new job, at Starbucks on King Street

FIRST DAY OF AUTUMN= FIRST GIG OF THE SEASON

On Sunday I played in the Mooredale concert series, with members of the Toronto Symphony. In this picture taken just before the concert I am posing with Gabe Radford, 3rd horn of the Toronto Symphony. It was alot of fun, and nice to play chamber music with such a high level of musicianship ! yaaaaahhhh... I love being a musician!!

AIR SHOW IN TORONTO.. LAST DAY OF THE EX!

Today I went down to a new park I discovered at the lake to watch the airshow.. it was hot hot hot.. not much tree cover.. but a fun vantage point to see the show..

DUTCH BIKES HIT TORONTO!

This morning, I just happen to drive past a new bike store on Bloor street, at Brunswick.. ( right across from Future Bakery)...and noticed that the whole store just mostly sold only DUTCH BIKES ! how ever so cool !!

In ten years.. mark my words, every biker in Toronto will be wanting and owning a dutch bike to get around Toronto.. they are a perfect city Bike !... speaking to the owners, they told me they have been selling these bikes for only 2 months now at their shop here in Toronto, and have sold over 200 of them ! and the bikes start at $700 and up.. !!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MAYA AND ALEX!

Today, is both Maya's and Alex's birthday. Although I can't really reach Alex today, as he is in Vancouver with his dad, I was able to celebrate with Maya. Melinda, Hali ( Maya's best friend) Maya and I went out together for dinner at the Keg Mansion. We had a really nice time.. but cut a bit short as Hali was not feeling quite right, and so I took her with Maya to emergency... hopefully that baby will come out soon.. she really looks like she is going to pop ! This evening , Maya is enjoying her first LEGAL drink !

FEELING ALL WARM AND YELLOW!

Our yellow family !

L-R Me, Melinda, Maya, Nicholas and Caroline.

I went to see the new Simpsons movie with Caroline, Nicholas and Ineke.. it was a hoot ! I haven't laughed so much at a film for years ! YAAAAHH Simpsons ! I can hardly wait for the sequel, and for the film to come out on DVD.. I will be one of the first to purchase it
I found this great website that can simpsonize a live photo.. and I, just for fun, tried it out.. turned out pretty neat.. Simpsons The Movie.. great flick.. I highly recommend all to see it !

CARIBANA IN THE CITY

This weekend Toronto was hopping.. with North America's largest Caribbean Festival ! Caribana... a 40 year tradition in Toronto.. every August Thousand flock to Toronto from all over the world, but mostly the United States to see and take part in this festival. Its full of colours and traditions from the Caribbean.. mostly Trinidad and Tobago.. but now encompasses many other regions of the Caribbean.

1 million attended today parade on Lakeshore.. shutting down the downtown core. The weather was perfect for today's festivities !

ESCAPING THE CITY

I had to escape the city this week.. I rented myself with my sisters, Ineke and Melinda a cottage up north in Muskoka. The most beautiful part of Ontario very close to Huntsville, where I hold many great memories of summer band camps, and playing in the Huntsville Festival for over 10 years with Anne marie Monaco. It took 2 ½ hours to get to the cottage located on a small lake, Ril Lake. The cottage was quite large and fit the 8 of us quite comfortably. We did lots of swimming, boating, fishing, game playing, cooking and Potter reading during the week. Perfect weather was the real plus for us as well, but the bugs were pesky ! I will defiantly do this again next summer, it’s a real treat to enjoy cottage life in Ontario.. I love it !

click here to see more pictures of our week up north !

A VERY PROUD AUNT INDEED !

Today, I was a very proud " stage aunt" .. Caroline performed at City Hall infront of a crowd of hundreds, and did an amazing job. She was selected after an audition to perform at this event, Youth Day 2007 at Toronto's City Hall. We all came out to support her, and in the pictures below you see her close friends, and Maya, Joe and Hali as well as of course her very proud mom, Ineke !

I have also included a video of her performance.
( click on any of the images to enlarge the picture view) ...*click on this links below part 1 or 2 which will take you to YouTube to see a live video of the performance, its in two parts.. Part 1 Part 2

YOUTH DAY IN TORONTO

Today, Caroline will be performing on the main stage at City hall for Toronto's first Youth Day Festival . She auditioned about 1 month ago, and is a finalist, and therefor has been given the opportunity to perform at City Hall on the main stage. She played her song for me last night, to practise and prepare , giving her performance tips that would be helpfull to her and her overall performance.

I'm sure she'll be great ! such a talented family we are !

GREAT FAMILY MEMORIES

This morning I woke up to a great surprise email from my cousin Rutger in Hamburg. He had sent me this great photo that was recently found by his brother Steven, when he was rummaging through some old photos. Taken in the 30's its a picture of my Grandfather sitting outside on the car, and inside the car , sitting on my Grandmothers lap, is my Uncle Bob, at the window my Aunt Hilda, and in the background is my mom ! What a great photo ! very cool!

THOSE SILLY DUTCH!

Today I drove up to Barrie with Ineke to attend the Holland Pavillion, that that Jeff Van Niekerk organized. Jeff is the son of John, the owner of Niemeyers Dutch import store in New Market. He did a great job ! I"m very impressed.. it was like walking into the Amsterdam Pavillion that mom organized for Caravan back in 1977 ! It even made me a bit teary eyed when I walked into the pavillion !

click here to see more pictures of the day

videos from the day:

Dutch pavillion in Barrie

Dutch Carnival Band performs

More of the Dutch Band

Making fresh Stroopwafels

HARRY POTTER HAS ARRIVED IN TORONTO

Tonight was the premier of the newest installment of the Harry Potter films. And of course the kids were all excited and went to see it tonight, including Maya, who as you can see in the this picture even got a great picture with one of the main characters and stars of the film Rupert Grint ( Harry's best friend aka, Ronald Weasley)

( maya with Rupert Grint tonights premier of Harry Potter at the Toronto Scotia Theatre, downtown at Richmond and John)

I too am looking forward to seeing the film! and this weekend.. more excitment as the last Potter books in hitting the shelves... all computers, cell phones and ipod's will be abandoned for about 5 days, as all of Toronto kids and teenages will be silently reading in every corner of the city !

NEW SUMMER LIGHTS HIGH IN THE TORONTO SKY

Toronto main tourist attraction the CN tower has a new look ! LED lights have recently been added to the tower to make it really look spectacular and really stand out. The summer heat, today a balmy 43 degrees adds to the heated colours the tower is able to produce !

here are some CN tower facts and trivia...

Is the CN Tower the World’s Tallest Building?Yes, it is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the World’s Tallest Building. The CN Tower has also been recognized as having the World’s Longest Metal Staircase and World’s Highest Wine Cellar.
How tall is the CN Tower?The CN Tower is 553.33 m (1,815ft, 5 inches) tall or the equivalent of 5 ½ football fields stacked end-to-end.
Why was the CN Tower built?In the 1960s, Toronto’s growing skyline created problems for radio and television transmission because the pre-skyscraper transmission towers were simply not high enough to broadcast over the buildings. The prime function of the Tower is a telecommunications hub and several Canadian radio and television channels broadcast from there.
How much did it cost to build the World’s Tallest Building?The CN Tower was built for $63 million (about $300 million in 1998 dollars).
How long did it take to build the CN Tower?It took approximately 40 months to complete the CN Tower. Construction started on February 6, 1973, and wrapped up in June of 1976.
How many people did it take to build the CN Tower?1,537 courageous workers toiled around the clock, five days a week, 24 hours a day, to build the CN Tower.
Who owns the CN Tower?Canadian National (CN) built the tower in 1976, and retained ownership until 1995 when it became a public company. At that point, ownership of the CN Tower was transferred to Canada Lands Company, along with a number of other real estate properties.

CELEBRATING IN LITTLE ITALY

I went out to dinner last night with Ineke and Nicholas, celebrating Nicholas's High School graduation.. Nice going Nic ! We had a lovely dinner in a Toronto Life recommended Italian restaurant, a bit pricey... but alias.. what do you expect from the Toronto Life ! but it was really tasty !