Jono Wood Photography

I was really shocked and saddened to hear of the death of Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Especially the circumstances of his death from an apparent drug overdose. But it immediately brought to mind the recent photography exhibit I saw at the Rubixcube in Maboneng.

Jono Wood spent months in the park in Hillbrow in order to gain the trust of the homeless drug-addicted people who live there. He finally did and the result is a poignent and honest series of portraits of people just trying to live another day.

It is brutal but it is true. Go see it.

And while you're at it, be kind to one another. You never know what demons someone is concealing right below the surface of their smiling face. You do not have to go the park to find someone struggling with addiction or depression, to see someone in pain. Your understanding or acknowledgement, your small act of kindness and forgiveness could help someone take another step. One step at a time.

Bruce @ FNB

Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ

For me, it was just an opportunity to see and hear a little bit of "home"  here in South Africa.

on the floor @ FNB

"The River"

But for the South Africans in the audience, it was clearly much more. They were there to celebrate one of the "rock heroes who helped us to overcome." That was the title of an article about Bruce's concert series in South Africa which appeared in today's Sunday Times newspaper.

It was written by Dali Tambo, a London television presenter and the son of the late Oliver "O.R." and Adelaide Tambo. He was also one of the co-founders in 1985 of Artists United Against Apartheid (AUAA).

Together with Bono, Annie Lennox, of course Steve Van Zandt, and a slew of  other international artists and musicians, AUAA brought the message of anti-apartheid to a world audience influencing world opinion and providing political pressure which ultimately resulted in the policy's demise.

So the crowd naturally went wild when Bruce and Stevie and the E Street Band opened their first ever concert in Joburg with the AUAA anthem, "Free Nelson Mandela" ...

Jersey to Jozi

Bruuuce!

FNB!

Tonight!

Happy Year of the Horse

We always celebrated Chinese New Year in New York and when Vince had his apartment there, we celebrated it in San Francisco too. Two American cities with two great Chinatowns.

Of course we do not follow the Chinese calendar. It was just another excuse to get some friends together and go out and eat Chinese food. And most of the time that was the extent of our celebrations.

In fact, I only went to one street celebration in New York and it was pretty scary actually. There were explosions going off everywhere. People were just throwing long strings of  firecrackers out into the streets willy nilly from out of their third and fourth floor windows. Firecrackers were going off in the air on their way down and all over the ground wherever they landed. You were literally running through explosions. It reminded me of the fall of Saigon scene in Miss Saigon.

Well Johannesburg celebrates Chinese New Year in a big way too and there is no shortage of events over the 15 days of the New Year season. You see, Joburg has an old Chinatown and a new Chinatown and each is having their own celebration. Old Chinatown in the CBD is celebrating on February 1 with fireworks and a dragon dance down Commissioner Street. New Chinatown in Cyrildene is celebrating on February 8 with a street party.

Then there is the Chinese New Year Culture Festival on February 2 at the biggest Buddhist temple and seminary in Africa, the Nan Hua Temple in Bronkhorstspruit. They will have displays of martial arts, Indian dancing, Buddhist-related displays, lantern painting and more. There will also be different Chinese, Cantonese and Taiwanese food on offer.

And in addition to all the street parties and festivals, there is the food. We are going out tonight for a first night hot pot at The Little Sheep in Rivonia. And next week there is an invitation-only banquet at the Red Chamber restaurant in Hyde Park. We were invited and we are going! The menu is festive and the dress code is "Happy Colors."

Gong Hey Fat Choy. Happy Year of the Horse 2014!

Winos for Rhinos @ Katy's Palace

Winos for rhinos.

It's a simple algorithm really ...


















you peruse the wines ...

 you taste ...

you keep track of the ones you like ...

you purchase them and a percentage goes to the WWF to support anti-poaching.

Who's hurting you?

Life is a Cabaret

Even in South Africa, ol' chum ...

We started 2014 off on the right note at the Second Annual Jazz & Blues Weekend at the Theatre on the Square in Sandton where we saw Cat Simoni perform her new show, Cat's American Songbook.

It was basically a Steinway and a singer performing her interpretation of The Great American Songbook. The classic combo for a Cabaret. With a classic repertoire from legends like the Gershwins, Jerome Kern, Hoagy Carmichael, Johnny Mercer, Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, Oscar Hammerstein, Leonard Bernstein and Cole Porter. Many of the songs were first introduced by Fred Astaire on a big screen version of New York in black and white musicals or performed live on The Great White Way by the likes of Ethel Merman.

a madcap 50th birthday party @ The Oak Room w Andrea Marcovicci

And it was a throwback to one of our favorite forms of New York entertainment over the years. From the 70's cabaret revival with the hipsters downtown at Reno Sweeny's to its heyday with the swells uptown. Julie Wilson, Mary Cleere Haran, Steve Ross, Karen Akers, Andrea Marcovicci, and Barbara Carroll at The Algonquin's Oak Room. Michael Feinstein at Feinstein’s at Loews Regency. Legendary Bobby Short at the Cafe Carlyle. 

Just the songs without the extraneous story. They're good enough to stand alone.

@ Feinstein's just prior to its closing in 2012

Many of New York's Cabaret venues are unfortunately gone now. Reno Sweeny's ... The Oak Room ... Feinstein's. All closed. To hear anything even close to The Great American Songbook live anymore in New York you have go to a Broadway revival. Or to Jazz at Lincoln Center's Allen Room in the Time Warner Building (which always seemed to me to be more like a museum than a cabaret supper club.)

Yes, the Cafe Carlyle is still open, but it cost between $155 to $205 to see Woody Allen play clarinet there on a Monday night! Crazy! We used to pay $25 at Michael's Pub to see him play and we thought that was a lot in the day. There was that pesky two drink minimum too.

But these things have cycles. Cabarets - like 70's style, swing dancing, and the slow food revolution before them - will return to ol' New York someday too. In the meantime, Cat Simoni will be performing the Ella Fitzgerald songbook in May at the Theatre on the Square in Sandton. And we'll be there!

Happy birthday Robbie Burns!

As my first full year in South Africa toddles on I realize more and more that I am a slave to the calendar. It can't be the seasonal cues - we are upside down here. It is the middle of summer in South Africa and it feels it too. It can't be the advertising. It is minimal. It has to be my inner calendar which pops up reminders of things I need to do as the months progress. Make a dinner reservation. Book a trip. Buy a new dress.
 
For instance my internal calendar has reminded me that Burns Night is January 25. Burns Night, a Scottish holiday which commemorates the birth of one of Scotland's greatest poets, is nevertheless celebrated all over the world. From Jamaica to Perth. My favorite one that I've heard about is the Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner in Vancouver. It's like two for the price of one. (Ah yes, Chinese New Year is coming up too!)

And with the strong British connection in South Africa, you can bet there are a few celebrations planned here in Joburg as well. If you feel a need to celebrate, you need look no further than the nearest golf club. They are sure to plan a Burns Night supper. Or the local Caledonian or Scottish Society. My Expat Meet-up Group is even planning a black-tie charity event at Gold Reef City later in February with a Burns Night theme complete with haggis and bagpipes.

But one of my goals when moving to South Africa was to break free of the traditional chains that bound me in America, remember? Shed some of the obligations on my internal calendar, not carry them forward into my new life. Make room for new South African holidays and traditions.

So while I may have been compelled to celebrate Robbie Burns' birthday back in New York and New Jersey by going to a Burns Night supper somewhere, I will instead stay home and just reminisce a little via photographs. Okay, with a dram of whiskey by my side. C'mon!

Edinburgh

I have been to Scotland several times but never for Burns Night. (Who travels to Scotland at the end of January on purpose? Brrrr!) But I have celebrated in New York which at times can feel as cold as Scotland in January. At some formal places with a banquet at the Grolier Club and some informal places with just a dram and a toast after work at the Campbell Apartments in Grand Central Station.

But the best celebration I ever attended was in the wee village of Kearny, NJ close to where I was born. Kearny once had a huge population of Scotsmen who had come over to America to work in the local clothing mills. The demographics in Kearny have changed over the years but there is still one great restaurant which keeps the Burns Night tradition alive, The Argyle.

The Argyle holds a series of Burns Night suppers in January to accommodate all who want to celebrate.












There are bagpipes of course,

















spirited highland dancing,












the piping in  ...

and toasting of the haggis,

















and a toast to the lassies.















Vince pours some more for each toast. Be careful ... there are many of them!

Is this vegetarian haggis?

















Happy birthday Robbie Burns ... from Johannesburg!