Category: Events
Slàinte redux
At Midtown Loft, across the street from Marble Collegiate Church, this evening for a tasting event hosted by Macallan. Or rather: The Macallan.
On the 11th floor, we were greeted with tumblers of scotch, which we brought to the high round tables set up along what had been a fashion runway the last time I was here. As trays of hors d’œuvres were passed about, we were treated to a primer on the six scotch single malt whisky-producing regions in Scotland: Highland, Lowland, Islay, Campbeltown, Islands and Speyside — that last being the heartland of malt whisky, and the home to The Macallan distilleries. We learned that in order to be classed a “scotch” whisky, the spirit must have been matured in an oak cask in Scotland for a minimum of three years, and bottled at a minimum strength of 40% alcohol by volume… which meant, so we were forewarned: no sticking your nose inside the glass for a hard whiff unless you’re looking to burn out the nasal membrane.
I’m not much of a scotch drinker, so there was added value in being talked through the tastings of The Macallan Fine Oak 15 and 17 year-old scotches. For this line, the scotch is matured in a triple combination of oak casks from Europe and America: the European casks are seasoned with sherry, which imparts hints of dried fruits, spice and chocolate orange; the American casks are either seasoned with sherry (lending notes of lemon, coconut and toffee) or with bourbon (which delivers floral aromas and sweet notes of vanilla and fresh fruits.) Tastes of The Macallan Sherry Oak 12 year scotch came next, followed by the distillery’s pride: The Macallan 18 year old, which was named “Best Malt in the World” by Whisky Magazine in June 2004. All The Macallan Sherry Oaks are matured exclusively in sherry oak casks brought to the distillery from Jerez, Spain — a town acclaimed worldwide for its sherry and brandy production.
Fancy, but not the fanciest: on December 8, a bottle of 1926(!) vintage Macallan — bottled in 1986 and rebottled in 2002 — was sold for a record-breaking $54,000 (including commission) at Christie’s “Fine and Rare Wines and Spirits” auction, in what was the first spirits auction to take place in New York since Prohibition.
Each new glass was accompanied by cheers of the Scottish Gaelic toast “Slàinte Mhath!” — pronounced: “SLAHN-zhe-vah,” which is an ever-so-slightly different pronunciation from the Irish toast we were taught earlier this year. Each vintage was introduced with a newsreel montage, which provided some context for the year in which our scotches were bottled. Has it really been 17 years since Nelson Mandela was released from prison in South Africa, and Milli Vanilli were stripped of their Grammy? (Best “Behind the Music” ever, by the way — “Girl, you know it’s… Girl, you know it’s… Girl, you know it’s true!”)
Five drams in one night. Not record proportions, but quite enough.
An evening with the Kitchen Sisters
With so many happenings around New York City on any given day, it’s good to have friends who will clue you into ones you would otherwise miss. Courtesy of a tip from JL (again!): “An Evening with the Kitchen Sisters” at NYU’s Kimmel Center for University Life, overlooking Washington Square Park.
Those who tune in regularly to NPR’s Morning Edition are probably already familiar with the duo of Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva. The two women, who first crossed paths while working on similar oral history projects in Santa Cruz, have been producing radio programs together since 1979. They are the renowned creators of the NPR’s series “Lost & Found Sound,” the Sonic Memorial Project, and “Hidden Kitchens”; their fascinating and provocative radio documentaries have earned them two Peabody Awards and a duPont-Columbia Award.
Most of tonight’s program was framed around the Kitchen Sisters’ past radio features, chronicling little told stories of American kitchen and food culture, past and present. The pair had an easy-going rapport with each other and with the audience (several members of whom were called upon to read from their book) — and much livelier than their Saturday Night Live counterparts.
Nelson and Silva shared many fascinating stories about food subcultures: a Kosher cafeteria in New York City’s diamond district, Christmas dinner at a nail salon in San Francisco where dozens of Vietnamese manicurists convene from around the city… the women provided context for the stories while sharing selected clips from their radio series as well as a few listener phone messages that inspired the topics. Among the projects were a few non-food-related stories, such as that of WHER, the first “all girl” radio network that broadcast out of Memphis, Tennessee for 17 years, beginning on October 29, 1955. With hushed awe in their voices they talked about their interviews with members of the Mohawk Indian tribe, working precariously high above the ground to build much of our city’s skyline.
I was struck by the Kitchen Sisters’ obvious passion for their work — how would I go about getting a job like this? — and the women’s affection for their subjects; at one point, over an audio excerpt of their “Milk Cow Blues” story about an Indiana farm community divided over the sale of raw milk, Nelson was moved to visible tears, despite admitting to having heard the clip dozens of times before. The piece offered a nice segue for the women to introduce from the audience food writer Frederick Kaufman who in November, 2004 wrote an article for The New Yorker entitled “Psst! Got Milk?” about his infiltration of a private raw-milk coven in Hell’s Kitchen. (Slightly off-topic, Kaufman — who also happens to be Nelson’s cousin — amused everyone with his musings on food porn conventions.)
Finally, there was the ultimate “hidden kitchen” story of Robert “King” Wilkerson, who spent 31 years in the Angola State Penitentiary for his involvement with the Black Panthers, 29 of those years in solitary confinement. During that time, Wilkerson developed a recipe for pralines, prepared over a contraband stove in his cell fashioned from cans and tissue paper. As a free man now, he sells his candy with much of the proceeds going towards helping his still-imprisoned cohorts fight for freedom. The Kitchen Sisters brought baskets of King’s “freelines” with them this night, which were distributed throughout the delighted audience for sampling. A sweet ending to a wonderful night of stories.
Broadway Sings the Phone Book
Broadway stagehands went on strike over the weekend, effectively shuttering 27 Broadway shows, and crippling a $939 million local industry. 8 shows playing in theaters that have separate contracts with the union remained open, including The Ritz — playing at Studio 54, where tonight’s event was scheduled. (The strike would last 19 days, and cost the city some $38 million in lost revenue.)
“Broadway Sings the Phone Book” was created by a trio of young producers (Sarah Melissa Rotker, Joe Tropia and Jonathan Tessero), inspired by the sentiment that fans would be willing to listen to their favorite stars “sing the phone book.” The gala concert was sponsored by the KeyZe Company and organized as a fundraiser for the Metro New York Chapter of the The Make-A-Wish Foundation. Since its founding in 1983, the Metro New York chapter has granted nearly 7,000 wishes; in 2007, the organization granted 481 wishes for local children, and facilitated 238 wish assists for children from Make-A-Wish chapters around the world whose wishes involved travel to New York City.
Julie White emceed the festivities. The actress is best known to television audiences for her supporting role as Nadine, the quirky neighbor on ABC’s mid-90s sitcom Grace Under Fire, and was last seen on stage in The Little Dog Laughed for which she won the 2007 Tony Award. I didn’t see White in either of those roles, though I did catch her turn as the mom in this summer’s Transformers movie — ”Autobots, roll out!”
Tonight’s line-up included Avenue Q’s Stephanie D’Abruzzo, Sunset Boulevard’s Alan Campbell, The Drowsy Chaperone’s Mara Davi, Grey Gardens’s Erin Davie, The Threepenny Opera’s Brian Charles Rooney and Brooke Sunny Moriber, and two eliminated contestants from television’s Grease: You’re the One That I Want! : Austin Miller and Kate Rockwell.
The cast of Broadway stars (and would-be stars) sang familiar songs… with the lyrics replaced either Mad Lib style (the word game, not the DJ/producer) or with the contents of pages ripped randomly from a phone book or dictionary. Performers were given the option of experimenting, or delivering their selections straight; most chose to embrace the challenge of spontaneity, to varying levels of success and hilarity. Hence: “Suddenly Sanchez.” “There’s a Fine, Fine Line” (one of my favorite songs from Avenue Q) became “There’s a Hot, Hairy Line.” And “Maria” from West Side Story segued into a listing of Marias in the Manhattan phone book (names and addresses only).
“Maria. Say it loud, and ten thousand Marias will answer.”
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