Five-Star Chiffon

Call me Chiffon, my fantasy DJ name.  It derives from my early days as a publicist when I spoke too quickly, especially when identifying myself.  A book reviewer once asked "Did you say Chiffon?"  This year, I'm using it to aggregate my favorite music, books, movies and theater for the first time.  Television isn't included because rating it is too complicated in this day and age. 

SONGS

I downloaded 310 songs from Apple Music in 2023.  Here are 25 favorites in no particular order, linked to videos on You Tube.

"Kalahari Down" by Orville Peck

"Anti-Hero" by Taylor Swift

"I Hate Myself, I Want To Party" by King Princess

"Bad Thing Twice" by Carly Rae Jepsen

"Pineapple Slice" by Tove Lo & SG Lewis

"Wolf" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs

"It’s Too Late" by Lucy Dacus

"America Has A Problem" by Beyonce

"Cardigan" by Emotional Oranges & Unusual Dermont

"Otto Atardecer" by Bad Bunny & The Marias

"Blessing" by Alec G 

"Just Can’t Get Enough" by Channel Tres

"Glory" (featuring Ladysmith Black Mambazo) by Burna Boy

"Catch Me in the Air" by Rina Sawayama

"Candyfloss" by Alfie Tempelman

"Lemon Tree" by Post Malone

"One Man’s Prayer" by Regina Spektor

"Brightsider" by Dagny

"Paracetamol Blues" by Sea Girls

"hate to be you" by Lexi Jayde

"Symptom Of Your Touch" by Aly & AJ

"This Car Drives All By Itself" by The Wombats

"Dido’s Lament/White Flag Medley" by Anthony Roth Costanzo & Justin Vivian Bond

"Kiss My Scars" by August Royals

"Take My Breath" by The Weeknd

BOOKS

I read 24 books, all novels or memoirs.  They, like movies and theater,  get from one to five stars.  Only five-star ratings make this list.

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

Twentieth Century Boy by Duncan Hannah

The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel 

The Candy House by Jennifer Egan

Beautiful World Where Are You by Sally Rooney

Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen

The Anomaly by Herve Le Tellier

A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James

The Great Mistake by Jonathan Lee

The Recent East by Thomas Grattan

MOVIES

I watched 100 movies, too many to write about.  They're linked to trailers.  

The Fabelmans

Nope

The 400 Blows

The Bad and the Beautiful

Gandhi

The Worst Person in the World

Elvis

Fire Island

The Card Counter

Flee

Don’t Look Back

Spencer

The Mauritanian

THEATER

I saw 15 theatrical productions, mostly on Broadway.

Ain’t No Mo

Into The Woods

Hon Bling

I decided to give away some bling that belonged to my father this Christmas.  Joe is flashing Ken's gold watch, purchased at the Heidelberg PX when Rolexes were within financial reach of ordinary people.  Look for the unusual jade ring Ken acquired in Japan on Zoltan's pinky.  Both items had been sitting in a wood box since 1992. Now they're putting big grins on the faces of people who mean the world to me.

Christmas began with some adult time with Tom, Audrey and Zoltan in North Andover. Dagny's and Della's arrival on Saturday morning put an abrupt, noisy end to that.

Meanwhile, Tom re-upped the prescription cat food that Mr. P.--who made himself scarce as soon as the D-Girls took over the main floor of house--requires.  Moofy stoically endured a time-out for pishing on the carpeted staircase.   Not the coolest way for a pooch to mark his territory in a cathouse!

Vedder prioritizes sun even when the kids are in residence.

Don't Joe and Magda look relaxed?  That's what having grandparental child care just 45 minutes away will do for you!  They're expecting their third baby in late summer.

Dagny ended her impromptu dance recital by collapsing into giggles on the floor.  Magda reported that my holiday video kept her daughter occupied for the duration of her manicure the day before.  #grateful, she texted.

I finally had a rapt audience for my holiday photos.  At least for five minutes.

Audrey lit the Hannukah candles on Christmas Eve.  The two religious observances have been more closely in synch for the past couple of years, making it easier to find menorahs. 

Dagny and Della enjoy the best of both denominations.  In fact, Della LOVES proclaiming that she--and everybody else--is part Jewish.  If only!

Afterwards we gorged on a yummy Christmas cake that turned everybody's mouth, tongue and teeth bright green.

I always add an ornament to the tree picked up during one of my travels.  This year, it came from Scotland.  But we also lost Betty Boop--who began the tradition in the early 90s--as well as a manatee and a glass sea horse due to a funky blue fir.  

There's nothing more joyful than Christmas morning spent with children.  Would you believe that both Dagny and Della each managed to get down a bowl full of cereal before the gift-unwrapping frenzy began?

Della instantly bonded with a stuffed snow leopard.

Dagny began her cosmetology apprenticeship with a Valkyrie make-up doll that she singled out from a catalog of hundreds of gift ideas.

Zoltan was just as thrilled with a gift card to start his pub crawl at Lincoln in South Boston on St. Patrick's Day.  It was loaded with enough loot to get more than wasted, even if he's throwing back shots from the Emerald Isle Collection!

Doesn't Della look like Amelia Earhart?  I picked up her aviatrix hat on Portabello Road in October.

Moofy got a New York hoodie from Canine Styles on Broadway.

The tree and spiral staircase in North Andover provided the perfect backdrop for a three-generation portrait.  Audrey did a splendid job of hanging the family archive--which goes back two more generations--on the curved wall behind them.

Joe snapped me with the D-Girls and Moofy.  Nothing like a little soft focus to wipe away a decade or two!  Tom and I will be SEVENTY the next time we celebrate the holidays!

Fall Collection

  Central Park never looks more beautiful than it does in autumn.

I have yet to attend a concert at the newly renovated (and renamed) David Geffen Hall, but a colorful mural on one side of the building nods to the mostly Puerto Rican neighborhood that Lincoln Center displaced (Robert Moses, again!) in the mid-60s.

Es Devlin created an installation for Lincoln Center plaza called "Your Voices."  I first became aware of her work at Superblue in Miami.  She also designed the terrific set for The Lehmann Trilogy.

The Library of Performing Arts at Lincoln Center has an excellent Lou Reed exhibit.  "Walk on the Wild Side" celebrated its 50th anniversary in November.

I took this picture in the stairwell of the Museum of Art and Design at Columbus Circle after being blown away by the Machine Dazzle extravaganza.

The Morris Hirshfield retrospective at the American Museum of Folk Art is highly recommended, too.  A successful slipper designer and manufacturer, the Polish emigre became an artist late in life.

The Museum of Modern Art rewarded him with a one-man show in 1943 at the age of 71.

"Birds On Grass" (1942)

Some of the exhibits I see don't display enough material for a blog entry.  Like the Grolier Club's modest celebration of the 150th anniversary of Aubrey Beardsley, one of my favorite artists as anyone who has visited 47 Pianos can attest.  

I didn't realize that he died at age 25!  Beardsley definitely deserves more critical attention.

Self Portrait

Mr. Aubrey Beardsley by Max Beerbohm (1896)

Before flying to London, Thom and I hit the Brooklyn Museum and took in a very bloody production of A Little Life at the Brooklyn Academy of Music for his birthday. 

JFK American Airlines Terminal

I celebrated Thanksgiving in North Andover where it looks like Dagny got the home ownership gene, too.

Photographing holiday windows takes me all over New York in December, including the Lower East Side where the street art can't be beat.

It also affords the opportunity to take some dazzling cityscape shots at night.

General Motors Building Plaza/Apple Store Entrance

High Line View of Hudson Yards

The Oculus

9/11 Memorial & Museum

"XO World" @ One World Trade

Central Park South Skyline

So many shows, so little time before this snowbird departs for his winter hibernation at museum-deprived Lake Worth.  Three more must-sees rounded out my final weeks in New York: 

Wolfgang Tillmans:  to look without fear and Meret Oppenheim:  An Exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art:

"Anders pulling splinter from his foot" by Wolfgang Tillmans (2004)

"Beginning of Spring" by Meret Oppenheim (1961)

Edward Hopper's New York at the Whitney:

"New York Office" (1962)

Alex Katz and Nick Cave at the Guggenheim:

Mr. and Mrs. R. Padgett, Mr. and Mrs. D. Gallup by Alex Katz (1971)

"Soundsuits" by Nick Cave