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    A New Venue Celebrates the Sound of the Bronx

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    The Bronx Music Hall is the first new independent music venue in the borough in more than 50 years.Good morning. It’s Friday. Today we’ll get a look at the Bronx Music Hall, the first brand-new music performance space to open in that borough in more than 50 years.David Dee Delgado for The New York TimesThe 250-seat music performance space that is opening tonight in the Melrose section of the Bronx began with a cassette recording that was played at a staff meeting of a nonprofit organization. This was in the early 2000s, when cassette tapes were still a thing.The tape was a sampling of the musical legacy of the Bronx — music that had been written or performed there.“Everyone’s eyes lit up,” recalled Nancy Biberman, who at the time was the president of the nonprofit, the Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation.She remembers telling herself after the meeting that “maybe we are thinking too narrowly about what community development could mean — it’s not just bricks and mortar.” That realization morphed into thinking about what tenants would want besides basic needs like food, health care and education. What would make them happy?We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      in Music

      Ka, Lone Soldier of New York’s Underground Rap Scene, Dies at 52

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      The rapper, whose name was Kaseem Ryan, was known for self-producing 11 albums while also a maintaining a career with the New York Fire Department.Kaseem Ryan, who built a small but fervent following as an underground Brooklyn rapper known as Ka while maintaining a career as a New York City firefighter, died in the city on Saturday. He was 52.His death was announced by his wife, Mimi Valdés, on Instagram, as well as in a statement posted on his Instagram page. No cause was given, though the statement said that he had “died unexpectedly.”First with the mid-1990s underground group Natural Elements, and then on 11 solo albums he produced himself and released over nearly two decades, Ka gripped hard-core hip-hop listeners with gloomy beats and vivid descriptions of street life and struggle.In a 2012 review of his second album “Grief Pedigree”, The New York Times pop music critic Jon Caramanica described Ka as “a striking rapper largely for what he forgoes: flash, filigree, any sense that the hard work is already done.”Kaseem Ryan was born in 1972 and raised in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York. During his teen years, he dealt crack and sold firearms.He spent much of the 1990s trying to make a name for himself as a rapper, but then quit music altogether, only to come back a decade later.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      in Movies

      Filmed in New York, Hold the Taxis and Radiators

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      When independent movies like “Rosemead” travel to a state for tax incentives, they save money but add creative challenges.On a rainy morning this past January, Roosevelt Avenue in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens was a stream of yellow cabs, honking buses and weaving cyclists. Nearby, a film crew peering out the windows of a Chinese pharmacy discussed how to make all of that invisible.The film it was making, “Rosemead,” starring Lucy Liu as an immigrant mother with a mentally unwell teenage son, was based on a real-life story and set in the San Gabriel Valley of sunny Southern California. Any signs of the East Coast would need to be hidden. No cabs, no buses, no bare trees and overcast sky.“That’s a very New York-looking trash can,” said Liz Power, an assistant director, ruefully eyeing the green receptacle just outside the pharmacy’s glass door.Filming “Rosemead” in Rosemead, Calif., would certainly have been easier. But the producers had decided on New York over California because of tax credits.According to a survey by The New York Times, states have spent $25 billion on tax incentives over the past two decades to lure Hollywood, often competing against one another. New York State, which writes checks to studios of up to 40 percent of their costs producing a movie or TV show, has handed out more than $7 billion to entice productions from California, which has dedicated more than $3 billion to try to retain them.The movie industry says the incentives help create jobs and spending in the communities where they film, but economists have long been skeptical of whether they create enough value to justify the taxpayer cost. More

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      in Music

      Sean Combs Will Try Another Appeal of Judge’s Decision to Deny Bail

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      Mr. Combs is in a Brooklyn jail awaiting trial on federal charges of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.The music mogul Sean Combs has given notice that he will file a second appeal of a judge’s order that denied him bail and sent him to a Brooklyn jail while he awaits trial on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.In a brief form filed with federal court in Manhattan, lawyers for Mr. Combs indicated that they would be appealing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Judge Andrew L. Carter Jr. had denied Mr. Combs’s first appeal of a federal judge’s order that he be held in the detention facility until trial.Attorneys for Mr. Combs did not immediately respond to a request for further information about his appeal.As recently as last week, Mr. Combs’s lawyers had informed Judge Carter that they did not, at that point, intend to ask for Mr. Combs to be moved from the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal facility in Brooklyn.The M.D.C., as that facility is known, has been harshly criticized by lawyers and advocates for what they say are poor conditions and chronic understaffing. But in a statement last week, Marc Agnifilo, a lawyer for Mr. Combs, spoke positively about the facility, saying the “dedicated professionals at the M.D.C. are doing everything possible to help him and his lawyers prepare his defense, and I personally thank them.”“I can’t say enough good things about the M.D.C.,” Mr. Agnifilo added, “which has been responsive to our and his needs.”In arguing for Mr. Combs’s release on bail, his lawyers have suggested a variety of measures to ensure he would not flee before trial, including offering to post a $50 million bond as security if he were released. They have emphasized that their client has been cooperating with the prosecutors’ investigation for months, and that he had taken steps to fund the bond offer. Under an unusual proposal, which a federal judge rejected, Mr. Combs would have agreed to remain at his mansion in Florida, monitored around the clock by a private security force.But prosecutors have fought to keep Mr. Combs behind bars, citing concerns that he will tamper with witnesses if given the opportunity and that he is prone to violence. Judges have so far sided with the government, leaving him in the same unit of M.D.C. as Sam Bankman-Fried, the crypto mogul convicted of fraud. More

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      in Television

      Jessel Taank is Back For More on ‘RHONY’ Season 2

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      Early on a Monday evening during New York Fashion Week, Jessel Taank breezed into the Sabyasachi boutique in the West Village, passing a life-size elephant sculpture near the sidewalk. But the “Real Housewives of New York City” star couldn’t quite say what it was doing there.“Good question,” she said with a laugh. “There’s apparently a great elephant migration that I wasn’t aware happens this time of year, and Sabyasachi is celebrating that tonight.”In fact, The Great Elephant Migration is a touring art installation featuring a herd of 100 faux pachyderms, handcrafted in Tamil Nadu from a dried invasive shrub. (Actual Indian elephant migration in India happens year-round.)Such obliviousness to details seems on brand for Ms. Taank, 41. After all, who could forget when she called TriBeCa “up and coming” on the last season of the “Real Housewives of New York City”?Ms. Taank with an art installation outside the Sabyaschi fashion week party she attended on a recent Monday night. Lanna Apisukh for The New York TimesBut when she commits these faux pas, she does so with a disarming smile, one that has won over prickly fans. By the end of the show’s 14th season — and the first of the cast reboot — it was clear that she had received the villain edit, criticized for what came off as willful ignorance and bratty behavior. But she had also found a fan base so ardent that, according to Rolling Stone, its members call themselves “Taank Tops.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      in Music

      Only Connect: Meredith Monk’s Antidote to What Divides Us

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      As the story goes, Indra, the king of the gods, takes a net and stretches it across the universe. At each joint is a jewel, unique and infinitely faceted, that reflects all the others in an endless web of interdependence.This tale, from Indian myth, and shared by Hinduism and Buddhism, is the basis for Meredith Monk’s immense, interdisciplinary “Indra’s Net,” which has its North American staged premiere at the Park Avenue Armory on Monday. The concluding installment in a trilogy about connectedness and the natural world, it arrives at the start of Monk’s 60th performance season, and in New York, where her idiosyncratic artistry has long been synonymous with the downtown scene and spirit.“I just am really grateful that I’ve had a life where I’ve done what I’ve loved all these years,” said Monk, 81, a polymathic avant-gardist who has long eluded categorization, and has composed, choreographed, directed, sung and played in her works. “I’ve held out this long, and my voice is holding out.”Listen to Meredith Monk sing a theme from “Indra’s Net.”“Indra’s Net” is preceded in the trilogy by “On Behalf of Nature” (2013) and “Cellular Songs” (2018), but it was the first to enter Monk’s mind. Nearly 15 years ago, she was working on “Weave” for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra; written for two vocal soloists, an orchestra and chorus, its structure recalled, for her, the myth’s story. But the title “Indra’s Net” didn’t feel right for that piece, so she held on to it for later.Still, she was haunted by the title and the story. Monk is an artist who embraces humanity with Whitmanesque generosity, and her earlier works have shared themes with the interconnectedness of Indra’s net. It was at the front of her mind as she made drawings after the premiere of “Weave.” And then again one afternoon as she sat at her piano and came up with eight-bar themes for “jewels” in the net. But she put all that away and wrote “On Behalf of Nature” instead.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      in Television

      Valarie D’Elia, Travel Reporter on TV and Radio, Dies at 64

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      She steered vacationers and business travelers to choice destinations, talked about the best deals, and offered up savvy tips on how to avoid vexation.Valarie D’Elia, a travel reporter who visited 102 countries on all seven continents to advise her viewers and listeners on where to go, how to get there, what the best bargains were and what to pack, died on Sept. 10 in Manhattan. She was 64.The death, in a hospital, was caused by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the degenerative neurological disease also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, her husband, Ron Cucos, said.From 1998 to 2017, Ms. D’Elia appeared regularly in a segment called “Travel With Val” on the local cable TV station now known as Spectrum News NY1. She also hosted a syndicated radio program, “The Travel Show,” and wrote a blog, which included the trademark feature “D’Elia’s Deals.” (Her personal mantra was “Travel with VALue.”)Her viewers, listeners and readers might learn that ski resorts in the Canadian Rockies were opening in early November that year because of snow storms; that a hotel near London was offering complimentary honeymoon accommodations to couples who got married there; or that rare winter discounts were available at a resort in the Florida Keys timed to school vacations the first week of January in several Southern states.Her advice was coveted. (Her favorite was “Pack light, forget the blow-dryer — who wants to worry about all that stuff?”) Her wanderlust was celebrated. Her documentary “The Making of a Maestro: From Castelfranco to Carnegie Hall,” the story of the conductor Sir Antonio Pappano, won first place in the North American Travel Journalists Association’s competition for travel videos in 2018.From 1998 to 2017, Ms. D’Elia appeared regularly in a segment called “Travel With Val” on the cable channel now known as Spectrum News NY1.NY1We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 138 Shares199 Views

      in Music

      New York Philharmonic Opens Its Season Amid Labor Talks and Troubles

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      The orchestra is working to negotiate a new contract with musicians, resolve a misconduct inquiry and hire a new chief executive.On a recent night at Lincoln Center, a group of New York Philharmonic musicians, dressed in matching black shirts and carrying union leaflets, fanned out and began to evangelize.“Support the musicians!” Thomas Smith, a trumpet player, told a crowd of concertgoers.It was one of the New York Philharmonic’s first concerts of the fall, and the musicians, in the middle of high-stake labor talks, were alerting their audience to what they hoped would be embraced as startling facts.The orchestra’s players have not had a raise since 2019, and they are paid substantially less than colleagues in Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles.“We need your help,” Alina Kobialka, a violinist, said as she handed out leaflets.The scene was a reminder of the stark challenges this season for the Philharmonic, which not so long ago seemed to be beginning a vibrant new chapter.The labor agreement between management and the musicians expires on Friday, only a few days before the orchestra’s opening gala, a major fund-raising event.The Philharmonic lacks a permanent president and chief executive, after the sudden resignation in July of its leader, Gary Ginstling. An investigation into sexual harassment and misconduct at the Philharmonic has dragged on. And the ensemble, which is awaiting the arrival in 2026 of the star conductor Gustavo Dudamel, has no full-time music director this season or next.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 150 Shares99 Views

      in Television

      7 Days in the Cultural Life of a Real Housewife of N.Y.C.

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      Between seasons of “The Real Housewives of New York City,” Erin Lichy is researching recipes, listening to Charli XCX and checking out fashion at the Met.Erin Lichy joined the cast of “The Real Housewives of New York City” last year, and like so many of the women on the long-running Bravo series, “housewife” doesn’t really even scratch the surface of her life. Lichy, 37, is a mother of three and sells luxury real estate in New York City and the Hamptons. She has a home on the Upper West Side and another in Sag Harbor.Before the premiere of the new season of “Real Housewives of New York City,” which is set for Oct. 1, Lichy kept track of her cultural goings-on during a busy week this summer. These are edited excerpts. (“RHONY” fans will be delighted to know that Lichy really does serve a lot of shakshuka.)On a busy summer Wednesday, Lichy visited bookstores around New York City to research recipes. Monday: Pilates and PickupsI arrived back in the Hamptons from visiting my son at sleep-away camp in Maine, then drove my two younger kids to day camp back in the Hamptons and finally got to a Pilates class. I picked up a cappuccino and a croissant at Carissa’s Bakery and got home around 10:30 a.m. to begin my meetings and calls. Then, I picked up the kids from camp at 3 p.m. and stopped at the farmers’ market on the way home to pick up fresh produce to grill for dinner that night. After we ate I put the kids to sleep, journaled and got to sleep early.Tuesday: Italian in Sag HarborBefore I dropped the kids off at camp, I stopped with them at Provisions to get the kids smoothies they love called “Strawberry Monkey.” I went to acupuncture in Sag Harbor for my “trigger finger,” and it actually healed it. Steroid shots didn’t work, but acupuncture did. It’s amazing. Then I got back around 10 a.m. to hop on a call with the mezcal brand Mezcalum team about a weekend that we planned in early August. We created lots of video content and social/YouTube content for the brand in addition to cocktail and recipe videos with Joey Wölffer from Wölffer Estate. Then, after a long day of work, I landed at Tutto il Giorno for dinner in Sag Harbor.Lichy outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she saw the “Sleeping Beauties” fashion exhibition.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More