FPM: Massive Mad Hatter's Tea Party--No Not THAT Kind of Tea Party

I was going to talk about belted short dresses (and how they irritate me), and/or the Sonic Youth concert I took the kids to last night (Kim G. wore a silver shift over black leggings full of slashes), but a flier directed me to a Mad Hatter's Tea Party in Tompkins Square Par on Sunday--a production of way groovyThe Free Art Society.

(Much to the chagrin of many, I stop to read fliers, even those advertising a need for band members, which should mean nothing to me, a non-musician, but I can't help it. When I lived in San Francisco, this compulsion led me to drag a reticent roommate out to the Palace of Fine Arts one damp and cold August 8, 1988 for a kind of lame "8/8/88" celebration.)

Back to the--er--Tea Party. (Does anyone else hate how much undereducated yahoos have co-opted that delightful noun phrase?) I hope I've captured a little of the mayhem and how happy it made everyone who participated and who watched. English accents were attempted by all. Passersby were invited to the table to eat and drink at a long narrow table on which the Cheshire Cat intermittently pranced. Things like this make me happy to be in my largely inconvenient life.

Wearing: polka dots
Reading: Beverly Cleary's 1963 teen novel Sister of the Bride aloud.

FPM: (Don't) Shoot the Piano Player (Nor the Girl in the Modrian Dress)!

Today's the last day of Play Me, I'm Yours, Luke Jerram's installation of playable pianos all over the city. One's in Tompkins Square Park, and I happened to be there at its unveiling. I stayed for a couple of hours on the summer solstice and heard the most amazing players. How could this be? Everyone who ambled over to play blew me away, and the players' repertoire ranged from Duke Ellington to Chopin to the Beatles to Leonard Cohen to Jelly Roll Morton.

This opening photo shows a young woman I had been stalking for this post in a Mondrian-inspired shift. She and her boyfriend(?) performed the Leonard Cohen ditty "Take This Waltz."

If you look closely you can see neighborhood blogger and key member of the East River String Band, Eden Bee in the background of one of these photos.

Others here include, models running and ersatz-posing on Houston Street, my best photos from last Sunday's Pride Parade, a photo of the Brazilian samba band Manhattan Samba playing as part of Make Music New York, and a man with very large hair.

Check back next week, when I kick off this post with my photo of the best dress I saw on a subway platform on the 4th of July.

Reading: This Song is You by Arthur Phillips.

And I need recommendations for realistic fiction NOT written by middle-aged white men. It's all I've been reading much to my dismay.

I am the worst dressed citizen of this city right now.

FPM: Shrunken Leather Jacket of My Dreams

Big day today. Will be working with The Collegiate Chorale today and tonight, when we will be performing at Carnegie Hall with opera and Broadway stars Nathan Gunn and Elizabeth Futral and Victoria Clark. JANE FONDA narrates in what is the opera version of The Grapes of Wrath.

No time to explain these photos adequately. The kids and I attended a protest last week (the Dept of Ed has banned bake sales in public schools). I have a friend who lives on my street who is leaving with her kids at the end of this week--moving to Hong Kong just as I feel like I've gotten to know her. I'll say it again--don't take people for granted! Look at her beautiful necklace from Satya. My kids and hers sold advice and cookies in the park over the weekend. People paid a quarter to ask the eight year olds for gift ideas, whether or not they should stay in NYC, how many characters should they include in their animated film, what would be a fun thing to do in NY, and where should they eat?

Oh, and I was up late listening to health care reform pass! Look how groovy Michelle Obama looks (at an earlier event).

Also, I saw The Runaways last night, filmed in dirty, grainy 16 mm (I read). Great fashions, platform shoes, glitter tights, shrunken leather jacket of my dreams on a young Joan Jett. Is that the best phrase of my life? I think so.