Personal/Family

An old colleague from NYU, Jen Schwartz, just started at DePaul. It's a small world.

I was in Berlin when the Wall came down. In fact I had been living there since 1984.

I had just woken up from an early evening nap when one of the people from the Wohngemeinschaft where I was living told me the Wall had come down.

This seemed strange since it looked perfectly intact only an hour before when I had gone to sleep.

Of course my room-mate was exaggerating. In fact, the Wall hadn't come down -- it had simply opened up. That's an important distinction which I'll get back to in a moment but at that point it really didn't matter. I like everyone rushed out to welcome the incoming East Germans at Checkpoint Charlie, buying a bottle of Sekt (German sparkling wine) along the way.

[read more...]

I've posted this before but every year at this time I'm reminded of the incredible tragedy that happened while I was living in New York and its aftermath.

It's strange but maybe understandable: my initial reaction immediately following the attack that morning -- after the shock and confusion -- was simply to go to work, show my face and help in any way needed.

In November, we'll be celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. I was there and it easily has to be the most significant public event I ever personally witnessed in a good way. By the same token, 9/11 had to be the worst.

So I'm listening to NPR's 'All Things Considered' and they start talking about an old pal of mine from my days in Berlin, Stew. The segment is called, "Wondrous 'Strange': Spike Lee Makes A Musical" and it's about how Spike Lee produced a film version of Stew's musical 'Passing Strange' which won a Tony last year (see my write-up).

The musical is about Stew's experiences growing up in L.A. and then going to Amsterdam and Berlin. Since that's when I knew him (we were in the same group called the 'Wonderful Guise'), I look forward to seeing the film. Below is the trailer.

Yes, we were able to fit in everyone who came. Got back home late.

They're selling Obama hats at my local 7-11. I know 'business is business' but this is the first time I can recall when the 'swag' from a presidential campaign was thought valuable enough to hit the retail shelves.

Finally someone I know is famous!

In the 80's in crazy Kreuzberg, West Berlin, a bunch of us belonged to this good-time group called the 'Wonderful Guise'. Mark Stewart Stew was one of the lead musicians.

Well, Mark Stewart Stew is now up for a Tony award as "Best Musical" for his show 'Passing Strange'. According to a write-up in the Village Voice, this Bildungsroman in musical form "takes him to Amsterdam and then to Berlin, where he's indoctrinated into hardcore bohemian life."

Hardcore bohemian it was! Above is a shot from a concert we gave at the venerable SO36. Mark's on the left, followed by Enrico, Freie Freya, Art and me. Not pictured were Marek the drummer and Anthony Millionaire (of Maakies fame) who did the costumes and sets.

UPDATE: Results are in. 'In the Heights' won out over 'Passing Strangely' 'Passing Strange' for Best Musical which kind of makes sense considering the subject and location of each show. 'Passing Strangely' 'Passing Strange' did get the 'Best Book' Award which is still pretty good.

UPDATE (5/27/2013):The content of this page is available for modification and reuse under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License and the GNU Free Documentation License.

Today was my first day as Web Coordinator at the Office of Admission and Records at UIC. Bunch of nice people and lots of possibilities for the site.

On a totally unrelated note, here's a shot from the day before of my sister blowing out the candles on her birthday cake.

I've witnessed two major events of "historical" proportions, one very good and one very bad. The very good one was the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The very bad one was 9/11 in New York.

At the time of 9/11, I was living in Manhattan. Here are a number of video clips I took around two weeks after the attack.

We see the flyers for missing persons, a NYFD Fire Station set up almost like a shrine; we see the World Trade Center in smoldering ruins with debris everywhere; finally we see energetic attempts to get things back in working order.

Living the High Life at the Lake in Lincoln Park -- with relatives and old friends from both coasts in for the occasion. A perfect day.