50 Oldest Churches of NYC: Saint Paul’s Chapel

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Saint Paul’s Chapel at 209 Broadway (between Fulton and Vesey Streets) New York, N.Y was built in 1766. St. Paul’s was the tallest building in New York when it was finished.  It is Manhattan’s oldest surviving church building. Land for the church was granted by the Queen of Great Britain at the time, Queen Anne, and was designated in the Parish of Trinity Church.

In 1776, during the American Revolution, the Great Fire of New York destroyed one-third of the city. But a bucket brigade saved St. Paul’s.An archivist discovered an ancient bucket int he rafters of the church which could have been from that historic effort.

On April 1789 General George Washington took the oath of office as the first President of the United States and then went to worship at St. Paul’s Chapel.

The chapel regularly hosts community events, concerts, and art exhibitions. It is open to visitors daily and worship services are held in the chapel every Sunday. Saint Paul’s Chapel welcomes over 1 million visitors every year.

In 2016, the church underwent an extensive restoration to modernize and repair the building. The interior was repainted, and landscaping was added outside. The church got air conditioning installed, repairs to the steeple, and a production room for webcasting.

St. Paul’s Chapel was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960 and an official New York City Landmark in 1966.

50 Oldest Churches of NYC: Saint Mark’s in the Bowery

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Saint Mark’s in the Bowery 131 E. 10th Street at Second Avenue, Manhattan, New York.  In 1651, Petrus Stuyvesant, Director General of New Netherland, purchased land for a bowery or farm from the Dutch West India Company and by 1660 built a family chapel at the present day site of St. Mark’s Church. Stuyvesant died in 1672 and was interred in a vault under the chapel. This is why the church building faces true South, even though that makes it skewed from the City’s grid: it originally stood on a rural lane, before the city grew north to meet it.

in 1793, the Stuyvesant family sold the chapel to the Episcopal Church for $1. In 1795 the cornerstone of the present fieldstone Georgian style church was laid, built by John McComb Jr. who also built New York City Hall; it was consecrated on May 9, 1799.

Alexander Hamilton helped incorporate St. Mark’s as the first Episcopal parish independent of Trinity Church in the United States. By 1807, the church was flourishing.

St. Mark’s continued to grow in stature and prominence throughout the 1800s. In 1828 the church steeple, designed by Martin Euclid Thompson and Ithiel Town, was erected; in 1835, the Parish Hall was built; and in 1836 the Sanctuary was renovated, replacing its square pillars with slender Egyptian Revival pillars. The cast- and wrought-iron fence was added in 1838; in 1856, the Italianate cast-iron portico was added; and in 1861 the building gained a brick addition.

In 1903, beautiful stained-glass windows were installed (you can still see some of them in the Sanctuary’s first floor) and in 1913, St. Mark’s was given the altarpiece of the annunciation in the Parish Hall—a reproduction of an original created c.1475 by Andrea della Robbia.

On July 12, 1978 a fire started—apparently caused by a restoration worker’s acetylene torch. It turned into a three-alarm blaze. The iron fences around the church prevented fire companies from using normal equipment, and there was fear that the steeple would collapse. Fortunately, no one was injured, and the steeple stood the blaze—but a back section of the roof did fall in, and 9 of the 23 stained-glass windows in the church were destroyed. The 1836 church bell was cracked beyond repair. The bell and the steeple’s original clock still sit in the East and West churchyards today.

Saint Mark’s is New York’s oldest site of continuous religious practice, and the church itself second-oldest church building on Manhattan.

FBI investigates OMA Basquiat Fakes

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Sometimes making painting is like counter fitting money. The New York Times reporter Bett Sokol has been doing some amazing investigative reporting about the apparant Jean-Michel Basquiat forgeries on exhibit at the Orlando Museum of Art (OMA).

Basquiat died at the age of 27 from a heroin overdose in 1988. His art work has skyrocketed in value since then. A canvas by the painter was recently auctioned for $85 million.

The FBI is now investigating the 25 painting on exhibit at OMA. The 25 works are supposed to have been “discovered” in a Los  Angeles storage unit in 2012. The unit was owned by the now deceased MASH screenwriter Thad Mumford who the owners claim purchased the works for $5000. The owners say they met Mumford for lunch and that he gave them a poem on printer paper to commemorate the sale. The problem with this is that Mumford was a techno phoebe who never used printer paper, preferring analog pencil or pen on a legal pad. De Groft included the poem in the museum’s exhibition as proof of the paintings’ authenticity. The story relies on the initials JMB written with thick oil stick below the poem. Those 3 letters they claim would be very hard to forge.  “The poem is almost like a receipt, it refers to the works, it refers to the inscriptions in the works, it refers to the time,” OMA  museum director Aaron De Groft said in an interview. In an interview I saw of the artist back in the 1980s, Basquiat was asked about the words used on a particular canvas. The artist was annoyed and refused to explain what the words that he scrawled and crossed of in the painting were meant to convey.

The back story establishing the paintings’ origins rests largely on the word of Mangin and Force, who have both served time in prison for felony drug trafficking. Mangan was part of a criminal ring that forged documents and illegally issued more than five million shares of bogus stock, earning him over $8 million in illicit proceeds. Mangan was convicted, and his 1999 sentencing included a lifetime ban on working in the securities trade. O’Donnell also has a criminal record, having pleaded no contest to violating campaign finance laws in 2006.

The Times found a designer who had previously worked for Federal Express. He identified the FedEx typeface on a piece of cardboard Basquiat was said to have painted on as one that was not designed until 1994, six years after the artist’s death.

De Groft is staking his reputation on the paintings being genuine, he cited statements from art world experts commissioned by the owners William Force and Lee Mangin and Pierce O’Donnell. who are trying to sell the works. If authentic, the Basquiat paintings would be worth about $100 million, according to Putnam Fine Art and Antique Appraisals, which assessed them for the owners. Exhibiting paintings at a museum can often enhance the legitimacy of works without more established provenance.

University of Maryland associate professor of art, Jordana Moore Saggese was paid $25,000 to authenticate the works on cardboard. Pages where removed from her report where she clearly stated that nine of the 25 paintings could not be attributed to Basquiat. The owners pushed back on her findings which is unheard of and unethical.

In a subpoena to OMA dated July 27, 2021, the F.B.I. demanded “any and all” communications between the museum’s employees and the owners of the artworks “purported to be by artist Jean-Michel Basquiat,” including correspondence with experts regarding the artwork. Museum staff have been told they would be fired if they spoke to media.

Colette Loll, a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University pointed out the unethical motives of the owners and museum, “The lack of any real scientific analysis on methods and materials speaks volumes.” In another tweet, she added, “Handwriting analysis and poems don’t authenticate artworks.”

Immune Escape

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The pandemic has never followed a simple linear path. New variants pinball around as people ignore the virus, and continually change the game.

In Early May 2022, The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) designated the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants as variants of concern (VOC) and said they could fuel increases in infections in the region in the weeks and months ahead.

At least 24 countries outside of South Africa have now reported the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants. In US developments, key outbreak markers continue to rise, especially in the Northeast and Midwest. New daily cases are now over 100,000 and that is of course an under count. If you just go by your social media contacts who have been infected it seems the virus is everywhere.

With 12% to 13% growth advantage over BA.2, the ECDC estimated that BA.5 will become dominant. The growth advantage is probably due to immune escape from earlier infection, including from the original Omicron variant, and vaccination. Vaccine protection against Omicron infection has been shown to wane over time, though it still protected against hospitalization and death. Countries should have plans in place for the rapid deployment of booster doses for individuals who are 60 years and older to combat this immune escape.

COVIDCON Superspreader

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Seth Meyers  told the thousands who had packed Radio City Music Hall for NBCUniversal’s presentation, at the Upfronts, “What a historic room to be able to tell people you got Covid in.”

The NBCUniversal upfront, which kicked off proceedings at Radio City Music Hall with elaborate production numbers involving dozens of performers, was a largely mask-free affairs

Ten days later, Covid cases were sweeping through the ranks of those who attended the marathon of events in New York. Top-level executives at virtually all of the major networks and studios were impacted, along with support staff that worked on the presentations as well as media buyers and reporters who attended the string of events.

It is likely the largest Covid superspreader event in the senior ranks of the TV industry since the start of the pandemic.

The majority of attendees did not wear masks most of the time. None of the non-affiliated guests were required to take a Covid test throughout the week. Vax cards were mandated at all venues. On May 16, 2022 New York City health officials strongly recommended that people wear masks when they were in densely populated indoor spaces. But they didn’t go as far as mandating this, and for the next couple of days, there were not a lot of masks seen at the events targeting ad buyers.

So inviting senior studio executives, talent and ad buyers was a great way to spread the virus. How might you infect as many of the worlds billionaires as possible? You invite them to Davos, Sweden for the World Economic Forum. Davos returned to an in-person meeting format this year. Videos I saw showed mask less crowds huddled together gleefully spreading deals and the virus. They might be rich but that doesn’t mean they are smart.

50 Oldest Churches of NYC: Saint Patrick’s Cathedral

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Saint Patrick’s Cathedral‘s cornerstone was laid in 1858 and the doors opened in 1879. It is located at Fifth and Madison Avenues and Fiftieth and Fifty-First Streets in Manhattan.

In a ceremony at Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Archbishop Hughes proposed “for the glory of Almighty God, for the honor of the Blessed and Immaculate Virgin, for the exaltation of Holy Mother Church, for the dignity of our ancient and glorious Catholic name, to erect a Cathedral in the City of New York that may be worthy of our increasing numbers, intelligence, and wealth as a religious community, and at all events, worthy as a public architectural monument, of the present and prospective crowns of this metropolis of the American continent.”

Ridiculed as “Hughes’ Folly,” since the proposed, site was considered too far outside the city, in what was perceived as the wilderness. Archbishop Hughes, nonetheless, persisted in his vision of building the most beautiful Gothic Cathedral in the New World in what he believed would one day be “the heart of the city.” Neither the bloodshed of the Civil War nor the resultant lack of manpower or funds could derail the ultimate fulfillment of Hughes’ dream and architect, James Renwick’s bold plan.

The Cathedral was built at a cost of approximately $850,000, not including the altars, furnishings for chapels, organs and other furniture. The stone chosen was white marble.

From October 22 to November 30, 1878 a fair was held to raise money for the opening of St. Patrick’s. It was the largest ecclesiastical fair ever held in the U.S. Forty-five parishes sponsoring tables. Receipts of $172,625 were raised to assist in purchasing furnishings for the Cathedral.

St. Patrick’s spires were completed in 1888 and The Lady Chapel in 1908. The Kilgen Organs were installed from 1928 to 1930. Major capital improvements were made in the 1940’s and the 1970’s. The Kilgen organs were restored in the mid 1990s, and the gem of the Cathedral, the Lady Chapel, was restored in 2003.

Corsets and Cuties ICONIC at Fringe

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After sketching Bullock and the Bandits at the Abbey, Pam wanted to extent the evening by going to the Stardust Lounge (431 E Central Blvd, Orlando, FL) to see the Corsets and Cuties show ICONIC. Stardust is a very small basement space. The main room is perhaps 10 feet wide by 20 feet deep. The venue was jam packed for this performance with standing room only.

Pam her niece and I were perhaps the only people wearing masks that evening. Rather then press into the crowd, I sat off to the side in the aisle that leads back to the dressing room for the performers. At one point the stage threatened to collapse and I was front and center to watch as several stage hands or bar tenders tried to re-assemble a microphone stand using their iPhone flashlight to see what they were doing.

Who’s your favorite iconic star? Troupe co-founder Lady Jaimz warmed up the crowd and also took part in many of the performances.  The one performance that had me laughing out loud was Barbi Rhinestone who dressed as Dolly Parton using two huge pink balloons as her boobs. She had to enter the staging area with her back to the audience for the big unveiling. I could only see a fraction of the performance but when the balloons started popping the audience roared.

I got to sketch the 27 May 2022 performance and it looks like the final performance was 28 May 2022 at 07:00 pm – 08:00 pm.

Bullock and the Bandits

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Kangagirl Productions presented Bullock and the Bandits at the Orlando International Fringe Festival. A $10, reusable button is required to enter each performance. You may purchase online or in person at the box office. This show is at the Abbey, 100 S. Eola Drive
Orlando, FL.

Step inside the haunted saloon at the World Famous Bullock Hotel for a rhythm and blues, country, and rock fueled ghost rider romp across the Wild West! Orlando Fringe Festival Lifetime Achievement Award recipient David Lee’s new band performs with special guest stars Tymisha Harris and Eddie Cooper.

“I’ve always been fascinated with Deadwood, South Dakota, which is a world-famous destination for ghost hunters. Sheriff Bullock built a hotel there in 1894. It still stands and is known to be haunted with all types of bandits and heroes of the Wild West”, explained David Lee. The talented Bandits band: David Lee, Eddie Cooper, Tymisha Harris, Tanner Kasier, Bryce Hayes, Matt Lyinx, Tom O’Hern, and Randall Scandal.

Tickets are $15. The remaining show dates are today, Saturday 28 May 2022 at 4:15PM and Sunday 29 May 2022 at Noon.

Complacency Waves

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Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla warned Wednesday of “constant waves” of COVID-19 caused by complacency around the virus, politicization of the pandemic, and waning immunity.

Cases are rising in the U.S., and the rate at which people are getting vaccinated is falling. In the week that ended May 22, 2022, the US reported 790,000 new cases, more than three times as many as were reported in the last week of March. Of course these numbers are a fraction of how many are becoming infected since testing sites are closed and people test at home if at all.

People are also growing tired of COVID-19 safety regulations, said Bourla, who was speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where world leaders and members of the business elite are gathered for an annual summit.

“What worries me is the complacency,” Bourla said in Davos, adding that fewer people were wearing masks and that even people who have already been vaccinated were less likely to get booster shots. The consequences will likely be seen in three to six months, he said.

Bourla said Pfizer believed that antiviral drugs would replace vaccines as the key weapon in fighting the coronavirus, at least until shots providing a longer period of immunity are developed. Pfizer is “doubling down” on producing its antiviral pill Paxlovid, he added.

COVID-19 Dating Game

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Your COVID-19 vaccination status is now a deal breaker for many singles. Your vaccination status can determine moral compatibility.

If you are dating a shlub who hadn’t gotten around to making a vaccination appointment, then that person cares only for themselves and isn’t very empathetic to the  health risks to people around them. It is a sure sign of moral ineptitude.

Across the country, about 41% of daters say they would not consider dating someone who is unvaccinated, while just over half say it wouldn’t matter to them, according to a Pew Research poll released in early April 2022. Only 2% report that they would only date an unvaccinated person.

About half of singles in their 20s and 30s are vaccinated, with some requiring that of potential partners and others having a more laissez-faire attitude. On the other hand most singles above 40 have gotten their shots, and they definitely want that in a match, too. OK Cupid, Bumble, and Tinder have added functionality where you can put your vaccination status onto your dating profile. The sites will even boost your exposure as a perk of getting the shot. Dating.com said 86% of its users list the vaccine as a deal breaker – no shot, no date. If someone is unvaccinated, then swipe left.