An Abundant Life - Songs In The Night

A few months ago I was introduced on Instagram to the beautiful Ava McCoy. Her Mother, Dena, who I've written about in these pages before, had started posting some of Ava's music and performances and videos,  and what I found myself watching and seeing was not only enjoyable, but also so deeply moving and well constructed musically in so many different levels, from lyrics to cadence, to the harmonies and melodies and interplay between instruments, the singer's guitars, and her voice.

Ava had a record launch at Baby's All Right last weekend for her new album "Dragonfly", and because I knew the evening would be a special one, I decided to take the time to travel out to Williamsburg and see her. I arrived early and was given the gift of a quite early evening seat at the bar, and then when the doors opened I was able to find a seat inside with a center view. I've had so much going on in my schedule that it sometimes feels difficult to even think of adding something else, especially if it's something just for the pure enjoyment of it, but because I felt so strongly that I wanted to show support and give encouragement to this beautiful young singer and songwriter and musician I made the choice to go and really be present in that room for that evening.

The performance was a spectacular one, and even the opening acts were wonderful. Ava sang on another band's song towards the end of the openers, and when she arrived on stage herself, it seemed as if she was right at home and could live there. 

Each song was memorable, and some I'd known before sounded completely new in this space. New compositions and older, remembered ones, brought such joy to me that I was reminded of years past and people and places I'd known and my own teenage times of singing in a garage band in High School. Those were the days, the saying goes, but I think there's something to be said for the days we have being the days to remember. Seeing Ava McCoy perform was a gift that makes me smile every time I think of that evening and her music on that beautiful night.

Ava McCoy

At Baby's All Right

146 Broadway

Brooklyn, New York

https://babysallright.com/  

https://avamccoy.bandcamp.com/

A Quiet Moment Before The Show

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

An Abundant Life - Theatre In The Round

A little over a week ago I received an email newsletter from the New York Public Library describing an event that would be happening at the main Library branch in Bryant Park in collaboration with the Public Theater. The usual venue for the Public Theater's Shakespeare In The Park, the Delacorte Theater, is being renovated, and before its reopening there will be several performances throughout the city in different places with a group of Actors and Theater Professionals called The Mobile Unit. 

There's been so much going on in my schedule and I thought I vaguely remembered reading something about the renovation of the Delacorte and the Mobile Unit a while ago, but because of everything that I'm juggling at first when I read about this performance I thought I might not have time to go. Similarly to the Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park, there are no tickets that can be bought or reserved. The usual Shakespeare in the park is a free performance and people wait in line to reserve a space, and some tickets are made available beginning at noon of the day of I think, but it's always a long wait and very difficult to reserve a seat because the performances themselves are excellent and the venue is a very special experience.

In years past I've gone to two or three performances at the Delacorte Theater, the first time was when I first moved to New York and I went with a friend of an Actor I knew who I'd met for lunch one day after we'd worked on a show together and his friend either was having lunch with us or just appeared where we were and invited me to join him. He was an understudy for the play and had tickets so we didn't have to wait in line and our seats were excellent. That's the way that things sometimes happen and back then when they were happening I knew I was being blessed but didn't have the words or understanding to thank God the way I do now. The other times I was able to go it was something different but similar in that I didn't have to wait in line. One time in more recent years I was invited to go with friends from St. Ann's Church For The Deaf and our seats were excellent then too, and so much fun and exciting to see the signing along with the acting and language of the play. I think another time or maybe it was that time, a friend was in the cast, and that is always a wonderful added joy.

The way the newsletter from the New York Public Library described it, you could sign up for notifications about the play and put in a request for a date, but there was no reserved seating and you'd just get notifications about upcoming performances, and then you'd go and wait in line to see if you would be able to get a seat. They did say they had standing room and you could bring a blanket to sit on, but I wasn't sure if I really wanted to go and take my chances, especially with everything else I have going on, but somehow I felt like God was saying just sign up so I did. 

When the week of the day I was thinking I might go arrived, I was feeling even more busy in my schedule than ever and thought that maybe I wouldn't end up actually going. But the day before as I was thinking I didn't have the time or energy, I felt like God was saying to go and enjoy myself and what the heck I could always leave if I couldn't get a seat and was standing and feeling exhausted.

I was at YES Gallery before going into the city for the play, and I was planning on leaving at a particular time, but then I felt again like God was telling me to leave a bit earlier so I did. When I arrived and saw that the line wasn't very long yet I realized that I might actually be able to get a seat, but they had said the seating was limited so I wasn't a hundred percent sure. When they began to let people in I saw there was a fairly good amount of seating, and because there were seats set up for theater in a three quarter round, there were still seats in the front row of one of the sections so I walked over and sat down. I was so excited that I said to the couple sitting next to me, "This is a treat!" and they agreed. Although it was a very full audience, we were delighted that we were able to find seats and that we hadn't had to wait all day or even for a long time at all.

As I looked at the program, I saw that I knew one of the Actors from many years ago, Robert Jimenez. We belong to the same theater company and we've been in plays together, he's acted in my plays, and I've cast him in plays that I wrote, that I produced and that I assisted in casting and producing over the years. He's a wonderful Actor, and was always such a wonderful person to me, and I'd missed seeing him and wondered from time to time how he was and where he was, and now here he was in this play that I'd be watching on a beautiful June evening, outdoors in front of the Public Library in Bryant Park in New York City.

As the cast and crew prepared for the performance, Robert came out and checked his marks and there were a few things he did as he walked right by me that made it difficult not to jump out of my seat grinning from ear to ear and say hello. But I know as an Actor myself that the time before a performance is sacred time, a time to focus and prepare for the play. Acting is strenuous in every way, physically, emotionally and mentally, and that time of focus is necessary for an Actor's well being.

The play itself was tremendous. "Much Ado About Nothing" has always been one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, ever since I saw it and read it many years ago when I was still a teenager. Seeing it in this place with this cast and crew was such a special experience and blessing, and seeing Robert perform in it was a double blessing. The entire production was one of the best things I've seen in years and ever, truly a highlight in every way. The cast and crew and everything about it brought laughter and tears and smiles and joy and pathos, all of the emotions following one upon another as they told the story of the play.

There is something that happens with wonderful theater, that it can help us to understand our own life and to have an understanding of the continuum of time, to be able to have hope when we need it and to feel like we are not alone in this journey we're walking on called life. Experiencing this play at this time in this place with a long time dear friend and colleague appearing like a ray of light from the past was a joy filled blessing that I'll carry with me as I continue walking on and into wherever it is that God is leading me.

The Beginning Of A Beautiful Evening

At The Main Branch

Of The New York Public Library

At Bryant Park

For The Public Theater

Mobile Unit

Shakespeare In The Park

"Much Ado About Nothing"

By William Shakespeare

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

An Abundant Life - Lovely To See You Again!

During NYCxDesign Week, I attended a showroom opening in the design building at 200 Lexington Avenue for Astek, a company that makes designer wall coverings. I had met the company at one of the design fairs, and they are from California. This new showroom is the first one they've opened in New York City, and I was excited to have been invited to join in the celebration.

On the night of the event I had two other parties that were scheduled out in DUMBO, one for another showroom opening and the other the closing party of NYCxDesign Week, and so I thought that I'd go to Astek early and then go to the other parties afterward. When I arrived at Astek, they were just getting ready for the evening's event, and they were so cordial and kind that I was glad to be there and have time to really see their designs and to meet with the staff that had come from California and also the staff who would now be in the New York showroom.

At one point when I was walking around and looking at a few different things, someone who looked familiar said hello to me. In the same instant when he asked me, "Did you used to go to Antique?" I thought immediately that I thought I knew him from that restaurant where a favorite Chef had been the Executive Chef. I saw him in that instant in the kitchen at Antique Bar & Bakery when he was working with the marvelous Chef Paul Gerard who I have written about in these pages before. I have photographs of Brandon, the young man who said hello to me in the showroom, with him too in one of my posts from a few years ago.

Brandon had gone to California, and I didn't know at first why or how he had arrived in that showroom until he explained that he was the Chef for the night and that he'd flown out from California just for this event. It was all I could do not to hug him all night I was so happy to see him, and as it was I hugged him a number of times until I thought it was important to let him go and get the food ready for the evening.

Moments like that are times when it feels like God is just smiling over me, when I see someone I didn't know if I'd ever see again when I am somewhere that I never imagined I see them. The project that I've been in the process of developing in Massachusetts need a Chef with his specific experience and knowledge base, and I told him a bit about it as we talked. He told me he'd go to Massachusetts for me and that made me so happy, to think of him there in this very special place, helping me to create the kitchen and farm to table restaurant of my dreams.

It was so lovely to see Brandon again, and such a wonderful way to start the evening that I didn't want to leave at all. When I finally did, after staying much longer that I had originally planned because the food an company were so wonderful, I found my way to DUMBO and what were wonderful parities of their own with wonderful food and wonderfully designed environments, but the start of my evening was the star because of the loveliness of seeing Brandon again, enjoying the wonderful food he created for the event, and having the opportunity to speak with him about this project.

Brandon

With His Culinary Creations

Including Caviar And Blinis

At Astek

New York Design Center

200 Lexington Avenue

New York City

Blessings,

Jannie Susan