With Javier and Angie in town... enjoyed Sir Peter Hall's production of The Importance of Being Earnest at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Lynn Redgrave starred as Lady Bricknell, and we particularly enjoyed Bianca Amato's portrayal of Gwendolen Fairfax and James Waterson's Jack Worthing. Late dinner in Little Italy.

Saw the premiere of the Matthew Buzzell documentary on Luna's last world tour, "Tell Me Do You Miss Me," at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Watch the Columbia Business School follies' video skit, "Every Breath Bernanke Takes." Hilarious. Well, for economists at least.

(alternate link here).

Morning seminar with Bob Solow ("Environmental Regulation and International Trade"), an evening with the Bill Frisell Quintet at the Village Vanguard, and drinks in between at the Cub Room, Soho.

What else could you possibly want out of a Wednesday?

Saw Olga Borodina in recital at Carnegie Hall with the Russian bass Ildar Abdrazakov, accompanied by Dmitri Yefimov (piano).

The first half of the program consisted of Russian art songs (or, "romance") while the latter consisted of arias from some well- and lesser-known Russian operas.

Ms. Borodina's voice remains one of my favorites. Her voice was gigantic (she could have filled 3 Carnegie Halls) and pointed yet delicate and lushly musical. On the three dreamy art songs that opened the program (especially Borodin's "Sea Princess" and Cesar Cui's "I Touched the Bloom Lightly") her voice seemed to almost be one with the accompaniment. Mr. Abdrazakov on the other hand--very young at 29--seemed tentative and disconnected during the art songs, and his dynamics somewhat artificial. After the intermission, however, he seemed much more at home with the raucous opera arias, particularly "Song of the Varangian Trader" from Sadko. Ms. Borodina brought down the house with the "Air des Adieux" from The Maid of Orleans.

With Jeff and Katie in town...

Late Thursday afternon stroll in central park from 60th to 92nd, and vietnamese dinner that night at Vermicelli.

Spent Friday at Fort Tryon Park, the Cloisters and the lovely
Heather Garden. We visited Hamilton Heights in Harlem and saw the victorian used in The Royal Tenenbaums (144th and Convent Ave), as well as Columbia University. Dinner on Friday at Pam's Encore on West 47th (an extension of the kitchen at Pam's Real Thai on 49th), then off to Sarah Jones' one-woman play on Broadway at the Helen Hayes Theater, Bridge and Tunnel. Spent the rest of the night in the West Village.

On Saturday, spent a rainy day shopping near Rockefeller Center after brunch at the Barking Dog. The rain postponed our plans to shop in Soho. Had a classic italian dinner at Joe's Pub, where we saw the phenomenal Bjorkestra, a 18-piece jazz orchestra interpretaion of Bjork's music. Nearly every soloist was impressive, but the Bjork-channeling vocalist Becca Stevens gave a stunning performance. Becca if you're reading this, will you marry me?

Late Saturday night at Rue B.

View some pictures from the weekend here.

Taking Inventory: Every Single Apartment for Sale on East 64th Street -- New York Magazine

Enjoyed a very thought-provoking guest lecture by Pamela Barnhouse Walters at Russell Sage: "Protecting Privilege: Race, Competitive Advantage, and the Politics of Separate and Unequal Schooling in the U.S." Hear her recent Sonneborn lecture here.

Dinner tonight at Maya.

See some interesting photos of NYU's Washington Square Village and Silver Towers here.

on Good Friday: saw a brilliant staging of the St. Matthew Passion at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (Harvey Theater). Directed by Sir Jonathan Miller and conducted by Paul Goodwin, the performers (2 small orchestras, 2 choruses and a number of soloists) were dressed in street clothing and performed in a circle on stage. During the duets between solo vocalists and instrumentalists (first an oboe, later a violin and flute), the orchestra soloists would rise from their seats and dramatically "act out" the duet with the singer.

I was 50/50 on the solo voices, but I particularly enjoyed the countertenor (Daniel Taylor), the Evangelist (Richard Clement) and Jesus (the bass Curtis Streetman).

Anthony Tommasini's glowing review can be read here.

Today--spent the afternoon in Central Park (mostly napping on a rock overlooking The Pond). In the evening made a field trip to Astoria Queens, and had pastries at the Omonia Cafe (Greek).

The Soviet statue of Lenin in the East Village (read more about it here).

Scenes from College Park, as told by the Washington Post...
"Police began marching down Route 1 beating their batons on their shields to drive the students off the street and onto campus, witnesses said. Police used a limited amount of what appeared to be a chemical spray, witnesses also said.

"This is my craziest riot," said a woman who identified herself as Shelley Avney. "Trying to knock over a bus, tearing down street signs, burning things -- it's crazy."

Shea Hoxie, 21, a senior majoring in government and politics and criminology, said: "I was disappointed we didn't flip over the bus. We rioted for the women's basketball team, which is out of character for us. We needed something to cheer for.""