Who knew that childcare could be stylish?

This is me with the Parks--Steve, Kelly, Owen and Eliza. They came to the Secret City on Sunday.
They were dressed beautifully, all of them. And Owen and Eliza were the first children to take advantage of our childcare!

They loved Emma, our wonderful babysitter, and they drew pictures and had a great time. While we were celebrating the creative spirit downstairs, they were upstairs channeling it.

The Secret City is expanding, and allowing for families to participate in a way that supports the services, and the needs of those with kids.

So, bring yer kids to The Secret City!!

A stylish fellow

He was a dancer. It was all he knew. Oh, and floral arranging.

A little story about style...

This is from my dear friend Patti Tippo. Patti lives in LA. She's a wonderful actress and a very stylish woman.
One of the tricks to Patti's style is she doesn't have too many clothes, but she has great taste. So, when I was thinking
about the people I wanted to ask to contribute to the service, I thought of her. What I did was ask 12 of my most stylish
friends to send in inspirations, images, a memory--something that meant something to them in regards to STYLE.
We put people's stories, images and inspirations on the wall of the space yesterday. At the part in the service where we look at the art on the walls, we went around and had people read the stuff out loud.

Patti offered this story. Enjoy.

"When I was 22, (this would have been the early 80s), I took a course through est, maybe it was through the Forum, but it was geared toward film industry people, and it was going to be grueling. For the orientation they had us stand up and introduce ourselves, there were maybe about 100 people. And you were supposed to stand up and divulge a secret, something you didn’t want people to know about yourself. So I stood up. I wanted to do the exercise well and I said, “The thing I don’t want you to know about me is that I think you’re all tacky.” Someone said, “What?” And I said, “I think you’re all tacky.” There was no laughter and I took that to mean that inside they knew I was right."

Style Update!

Hello all you beautiful and lovely people. Monday now, the day after our STYLE service. WOW. What an amazing, colorful, beautiful event. I'm going to post some pics here and give some highlights of the service.

This is Laurel Devaney and Lyssa Mandel, two of the Secret City Singers.



So, the reason I chose the theme of STYLE this month was complex. It is the dead of winter here in New York, and it's been a long, cold, gray one. And, as we all know, times are tough, and the world is freaking out about the economic situation. So, there was that. It was also fashion week last week, and New York does turn out for that. and in the streets around Bryant Park one sees a lot of stylish and international folks. On top of that, it was the Academy Awards last night, and well, you know those movie people like to dress up and talk about themselves, and that seems stylish, too.

BUT, I think the real, overriding reason to have STYLE as our theme was this: I felt the services needed a little bit more oomph. That joy that comes from wearing a smart outfit. Or the elan that emerges when we feel confident. The exuberance of feeling one's own personal style. And, it worked.

We had an amazing time, and the vibe in the room was joyful, and the service was the most expansive yet.

This is a shot of the food offering. It was an Opera Cake, made by Jack Lawhon, a wonderful baker and a dear, generous man. The cake was presented on two old silver platters. That's Lisa Rothe on the right, with her new, cute haircut.



The almonds were gold-dusted. MMMMM. I LOVE this picture.



We started with Jeremy playing some great, classic Brazilian music. Lots of Bossa Nova--Desafinado, One Note Samba, Girl from Ipanema. Songs with such great style; they evoke ease and sunshine and saudade, that great Brazilian word for a quality that we all know and feel cannot name in English. It was a sweet breeze that got the room set up right.

Nikki Hughes read the Cultural Calendar for us. Here she is on the runway, from the fashion show portion of the service.



The featured art on the walls this month was sent/brought in by different people. I asked some of my most stylish pals to send me something or someone whose style inspires them. We had seven people participate. We put their images and their own 'curation' notes on the wall and read them aloud. Here's Jamie Brickhouse with his style inspiration: Miss Joan Crawford.



And people dressed!



And new people came, too. All sorts of lovely new people. People like my cousin Maddy.



I'll write more tomorrow. Gotta get the follow-up emails out. Hey, we're on facebook now, too, as a group. If you're not a member, join now! The Secret City is taking off, and we don't want to leave without you!

Love and kisses.

And Coco Chanel.

A Stylish Affair

We had out latest service today, February 22nd. The theme was STYLE. So much to report, and it's too late to do it now. We had a great service, though, and it was packed. Lots of new people, and lots of love and joy in the room.

I'll leave you with one of the many great images from the day.

STYLE

Hello style mavens. Our next service is this Sunday, February 22nd
and our theme this month is STYLE. What better way to combat these
late-winter, recessional/depressional blues?

I'm thrilled about the way the service is coming together.

We have Jeremy Bass playing Songs from Brazil on guitar.
Jack Lawhon is preparing an Opera Cake (!) for the food offering.
The walls will be adorned with stylish iconography submitted by our
most stylish friends.
We'll be screening an excerpt from STYLE WARS, the documentary
about New York subway graffiti in the 1980s.
Joanna Adler will be sharing some epigrams from Coco Chanel and
we will be having a participatory fashion show WITH PAPARAZZI!
And we'll be listening to some Bowie together.

As usual, we'll have out regular, juicy features like The Cultural Calendar,
the Mingling Ritual, Our Gratitudes, Meditation and coffee hour. And, of
course, The Secret City Singers will be with us, too, spreading the love.

I hope you can join us.

The Secret City
137 W. 14th St.
february 22nd, 1130am

Oh, and with the theme being STYLE, please dress.

We Came, We Saw, We ate Baklava

Tuesday late afternoon, February 3rd. It's over a week since the last service, but want to share about our beautiful service last Monday night, January 26th. It was our first evening service, and our first Monday service. I got a theatre job, and with the 8 shows a week, and the five show weekend, adjustments were made. So, we gathered at 730 on a Monday night and had a great gathering. Our theme was WORK, inspired by the new year, the new administration, the new job...and we had a great collection of WORK to look at and share.

We started with the amazing weavings of Ani Afshar (aniafshar.net). Ani is a dear friend of Bobby's in Chicago. When we drove cross country last year, I had the pleasure of spending the evening at her amazing home and studio. Her walls are covered with a lot of great art, and her weavings are extraordinary, some as big as bedspreads. When I was putting together the service, i really wanted to feature handmade work that required time and dedication, so I naturally thought of Ani's beautiful pieces, made on a loom, and full of details such as beads and mohair. She shipped seven recent small works to New York and they looked beautiful on the walls of the space.

In keeping with our theme, my dear friend from childhood, Pamela Gregory, made Baklava, also shipped to New York for the event. Pam is someone I would say excels in the domestic arts--her home, family and kitchen are her workshops. One of her great talents is baking. And i thought it would be nice to have a food offering that required a lot of craft. Her suggestion was Baklava, and it was a perfect offering. She also sent along a short essay about the significance of the Greek desert, and what it requires make it. This was read aloud as we passed around the individually wrapped, honey soaked treasures. When everyone had their piece, as is our custom, we all ate it at the same moment. Such great flavor, such satisfying payoff. All were pleased, and there was a lot of oooohing and aaaahing. When the taste is done well, and with craft and intention, it is profound.
To share flavors with others in a focused way--a great ritual.

We heard a piece of music by Duke Ellington, Work Song, from Balck Brown and Beige, introduced by Gib Frazier and beautifully so. We listened intently.

Kelly Stuart made another short film, It Was Cold and Rough and I Did Nothing, about artist Kurt Lightner and his piece inspired by his great grandfather. Kurt is carving the words from his great grandfather's farm journal, into a tree that he felled on that same farm in Ohio. Kurt's studio is across the hall from Bobby's in Long Island City, and when I was talking to Bobby about possible artists for the theme of Work, we started talking about Kurt and his amazing endeavor. The film is great.



And, it's amazing to think that Kelly has made a piece for the last five services...she's averaging one short film a month! The layers of artists making art about art to share with other artists as part of a larger piece of art...deep.

Also, I should note that we had amazing technical assistance from Carlo, who runs the space we rent. He provided his laptop and projector for the service, and it was dreamy to have that taken care of.

We read a poem of Wendell Berry's--Who Makes a Clearing Makes a Work of Art, we had the cultural calendar, the mingling ritual and the sermon. This month I wrote about getting a job, and meeting the challenges of my Life Work (The Secret City). Jeremy wrote another killer song for the service, and he and I performed our Mariachi Song. Meditation, gratitudes, The Secret City Singers and more. It was a great gathering.

We had a full house, and a lot of hang out afterward. I think the theme of WORK really resonated with people--for many of us, Work is a a complicated, beautiful and never ending subject. Felt like a timely, juicy topic to start the year.

And here's an observation about the Secret City itself...it felt like the service is moving in a deeper way toward finding it's own way in the world. That Monday night, something was even more clear to me: it is not time to re-make the old world, it is time to make the new world, to make new forms and new ways of being together and engaging with each other. And The Secret City celebrates the notion that creative people, artists, are a crucial part of this movement. It is time to create places where people may meet and gather and connect, and I believe it is one of my jobs as an artist to continue to find a way to make this place matter for people, to make it beautiful and safe, welcoming and magical. That is my work, as I see it. And Monday night, the WORK seemed to be WORKING. I sense that this thing is becoming itself, it's own best self, and it feels like a deep, joyful and powerful place. And a radical, original and singular piece of live art.

Next service is February 22nd, 2009. Back to Sunday. Our theme will be STYLE. Mmmmmmm.