Tag Archives: nyc

Celeste Martin: Holiday Generosity at its Best

Celeste Martin & Noel Tursi

In The Pass Musical, I speak about my guardian angel, Celeste Martin. She owned the carriage house building in the West Village from 1810 that I live in. She passed on December 13, 2018. I have a vignette in my show, about the apartment, aptly titled # 5 My West Village Apartment, and the first time I stepped into this very charming space and started my life in NYC as an artist.

Today I remembered how every holiday Ms. Martin would leave bags of treats for every tenant. She had 36 apartments and 3 commercial spaces at one time all filled, and everyone got gifts! Every year she went to Macy’s and filled up bags and dropped them off at the door of every tenant with a personalized card. And there was always champagne and it was always Veuve Clicquot. I still have a 1999 bottle unopened, because of the date!

Memories can be very special if they are good ones. I like to focus on good ones and when the not-so-good ones come into my head, I whisked them away. No need as these days, are challenging enough. However recalling the holidays with Celeste Martin and the joy she brought to me and all her tenants, well that may keep me warm for days!

How lucky am I to have a memory such as this?

Here’s a story I penned, and West View News shared. A Requiem for Celeste

To generosity.

The Pass Musical & West Hollywood

Our first NYC stage, Theatre Row, United Solo Festival: https://unitedsolo.org/shows/the-pass-musical/

We are going to be presenting The Pass Musical on November 18, 2021 @9PM. I hope you can attend, if you are in NYC and if we go live.

I am currently in West Hollywood, and the 12th vignette of the show is entitled West Hollywod. It is good to be back however it is also bringing up lots of the past. Which funny enough, is also sometimes what people think the title of the show is, when I say The Pass, they ask, The Past? I do recall in the show, and often, so in essence there is a direct connection.

The past is a very tender part of life. We have lived it and it gathers meaning as time goes on with or without us knowing it. The skill is to know when to let the past navigate our present and perhaps our future and when to close that door, and keep it closed. We are all travelers, time is our map, and what we choose as our compass, is up to us.

I am focusing right now, in this moment, on love as my compass. I sometimes forget that, it is with love, I carry on. Other emotions can taint the windows or cloud the water, I swim forward with my heart; as it has led me wisely thus far.

Concrete Noise

Sirens, screams, laughing, shouting, gun shots, horns, windows opening and closing and air conditioners. Mine is too loud. It’s like living in a film noir at times, at night. With the birds coming in earlier and earlier as they too are unsettled, to add their two cents. What’s up? They ask. Yes I have birds in my courtyard. They echo as their trepidation eventually turns to bird-tunes. This city has its own soundtrack, that changes in level and timber each hour each year and we are here. And I sleep.

City Noises Sound Effect | Free Sound Clips | City Sounds

Sun Stays Up Longer

timeanddate.com

It was 5:48 PM EST NYC when I first noticed the twilight of the day lingering on. It made me smile; and I felt warm knowing Mother Nature is telling time again. And it’s wonderful to know…and of course we help her with tuning our clocks backwards and forwards. I did some research… Daylight Saving Time (DST) is used to save energy and make better use of daylight. It was first used in 1908 in Thunder Bay, Canada. Here’s more. https://www.timeanddate.com/time/dst/history.html

Herbes De Provence & a way with seasoning

I love cooking.

There was one special person in my life a long time ago that actually said to me while he was enjoying the dinner I had made, “You have a way with seasoning.” The way he said it it was as if I was seducing the salt, pepper, rosemary, tarragon, and whatever I could get my hands on! And it kept me interested in cooking. I related seduction to cooking.

One item I will always have now, is Herbes De Provence. I am not sure when we first met, when I first laid my hands on the very special blend of herbs, all I know is it is an enduring relationship. And not all glassed HDP are the same, not by a long shot. My favorite these days is Citarella, and it is close to where I live in the West Village, NYC.

Spring 2019 & Herbes De Provence

Make no mistake about it, the art of cooking is alive and well in my most tiny kitchen. You have no idea…

Writing Producing Recording Strangers No More

I love all 3 and have been working over the past few months on a new song I wrote with a new young male artist Tobe Baer singing it. He and I and his brother in Germany are producing the track. The song is being recorded in my apartment in the West Village, NYC, Tobe’s apartment in Brooklyn and in his brother’s Janosch Roth’s studio in Germany Lautstumm. It has been a great experience so far, we are diving into the track full steam ahead, it gets better and better as it grows and our creative collaboration has been pretty extraordinary. Strangers in the music…music in strangers. After all we were once strangers. No more.

I feel good about it. Feeling Good. In honor of Black History month…Ms Simone expressing good, in a perfect way.

My Own Barber Pole

As I continue to prepare for my one-woman show, THE PASS, in which I tell stories about my life & career, I have been thinking of my past successes. This has led me to ponder the nature of success in general. Some people experience success as one straight line like a rocket vaulting into the sky; for others it is winding, a fluid motion like the stripes of a barber pole that can lead them from top to bottom to top again. I feel this pattern is most apt in describing my own music career.

 My brother David and I recently found cassettes of my music from the 80’s and he wanted to transfer them to CD! We did at a studio in NJ – here’s CHEMISTRY- a very early song of mine.  The song resonates with the rousing vibrations of youth and an interest in a new love. 

Larga Vida el Paso – Meet Marta Sanchez

Marta Sanchez

After months of searching, I am happy to say I have found a great pianist Marta Sanchez to help me launch my show THE PASS. Marta is from Madrid, Spain and is currently living in Brooklyn.  She has an impressive background with degrees in both classical and jazz composition. Marta has toured the US, Europe, South and Central America and, among her many accomplishments, she was awarded MacDowell Fellowship in 2017.

I’m particularly engaged by the energy and commitment she brings to my songs. Rhythm has always been a big part of my composing and I have felt that through the years my recordings have not always reflected that ingredient. I like what she brings to the music!

You can check out Marta’s website at: www.martasanchezmusic.com 

 

Room for Me or The Pass & Workshops

Very odd I had posted a blog post a few days ago about my thinking about changing the name of  my one woman show and it seems to have disappeared.

IMG_4333

So the gist of the post, what do you think of the title ROOM FOR ME vs THE PASS? What do either titles conjure up?

Why you may ask am I considering a title change? Especially when I have been calling the show as it develops THE PASS and even have artwork for it? Good question and happy to share why.

I had 2 friends over at my apartment in West Hollywood the night before I flew out to Florida and we had an impromptu workshop aka read-thru.  They gave me some great feedback, suggestions. One friend I met in London and the other I know from NYC; around the same time. We have been friends for many years however we have all 3 rarely hung out together. Both are in the arts and I respect their opinion’s. Somehow a song from my Camden Town days came into the head of my friend (the one from the UK) -she is an actress and voice over artist) and now lives in California, in fact she is my neighbor with a home up the block. My other friend from NYC was in town working on past production for a new film, LET IT FALL. We had a great time hanging out. It was a great trip as a while and I plan to go back more often now. They both discussed the idea of a new title and called me separately. I am now considering their thoughts. I am also going to hold a handful of workshops before I film the show. Much work ahead!

In Florida to celebrate my dad’s 90th birthday. Pretty damn cool. Lot’s of celebrating.