frankly speaking

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Lennon's country house

Went sailing on the weekend with relatives at Cold Spring Harbor, a lovely area about one hour out of New York City. This scenic bay area on the North side of Long Island is reminiscent of New England, with docks and marinas, along with mansions on the forested, rugged shorelines.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono once owned a home here, my cousin told me, pointing to a house at nine o'clock as we headed towards Long Island Sound. Home movies Lennon made there are available on YouTube, he added. While the mostly unedited footage is a little tedious, it offers a testament to the beauty of the area:

This was an unexpected stop on an irregular Lennon tour of New York, which has on previous occasions included such obvious landmarks as the Dakota building and Strawberry Fields in Central Park.

In addition, it just happens that I recently did an article on Steinway & Sons, the Queens-based piano maker, in which I wrote that Lennon composed one of his signature songs on his white Steinway grand piano.

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My premium rush

Riding a bicycle in New York, is that do-able? I've been trying for the past week -- and it's not as bad as you might think.

From Brooklyn, I've mostly been taking the Williamsburg Bridge into Manhattan. It has a path reserved strictly for bicycles. The Brooklyn Bridge also has a bike lane, but there you have to contend with pedestrians stepping into your path to take pictures and the like.

Once in Manhattan, I have found that there are some good bike routes, for example 1 Ave going up and 2 Ave coming down, with lanes over to the West Side at several streets along the way. Similarly on the West side, there's a bike path along 8 Ave going up, and along 9 Ave coming down.

Still, you have to keep your eyes and ears open at all times. Cycling here reminds me of the enjoyable movie 'Premium Rush'. Though the plot of the film is flimsy, it aptly depicts the state of mind of a bike courier, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as he travels the city -- constantly making dozens of observations about sudden dangers, and split-second calls about best options.

Not that I would ever ride without brakes, or among a bunch of yellow cabs. But riding in Manhattan definitely requires a heightened state of awareness. It sure is a premium rush.

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Billboard in Times Square. Will Gabrielle Giffords' call for gun control measures be noticed, amid the square's sensory overload?

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Hey Mister: Yellen or Summers?

It's one of the purest forms of journalism: going out into the street and asking people what they think about an issue of the day. When I was an intern at local newspaper De Dordtenaar in Holland over 20 years ago, a regular assignment was to fill a daily column of that concept -- one of the most read parts of the paper. Great fun.

Yesterday I did an assignment of that nature again. This time the street was Wall Street. And the issue of the day: who should be the next chairperson of the Federal Reserve, after Ben Bernanke leaves the post next January? President Obama is considering two main candidates, Fed vice chair Janet Yellen and economist Larry Summers.

The race has turned into a nasty cat fight, with various people coming out in favor and against both candidates. See for example this very handy and amusing -- though admittedly slanted -- comparison chart.

In Lower Manhattan, some said both candidates are fine. Others said they liked neither. On balance, Yellen got more votes. "Whoever gets that job has big shoes to fill", one source told me. "They have to bring a good understanding of what happened in the last few years, what has worked and what hasn't."

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All-denim Obama on Fulton Street in Brooklyn -- jean jacket anyone?

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Just another pianist at Steinway Hall

For an article about Steinway & Sons, the venerable piano maker that is being sold to a private equity firm, I made my way over to Steinway Hall, an historic venue on W 57 Street in Manhattan, diagonally across the block from Carnegie Hall. Its centerpiece is a ground floor rotunda with -- you guessed it -- a Steinway grand piano.

Built in 1925, Steinway Hall has housed performance spaces and showrooms for almost a century. But now the 16-storey building has been sold. The company has to vacate it by the end of next year -- to the dismay of many pianists, who consider the venue, where the likes of Rachmaninoff and Horowitz played, to be holy ground.

I wandered up to the second floor, where classical piano music was audible from several small practice rooms. I asked one of the pianists what he thought about the sale of the venue and the company. He thought it was a shame.

"There's concern about the direction of the company under new management", he told me. "As pianists, we love it the original way. We love the rich sound of a Steinway piano."

His name: Beny Tu. Turns out he was practicing for a solo performance at Lincoln Center on Saturday, when he will be playing works by Schuman and Chopin. And oh, the show is sold out, I found out later online when I thought it would be nice to stop by.

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Bike Slug shoutout

Riding home the other evening along Tompkins Ave in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant area, I heard an ominous sound, followed by a deflationary tick-tick-tick. I had no choice but to stop, and sure enough: a screw had managed to pierce the front tire, right in the center. I walked home with a flat.

Next day, I looked for a bike shop in the 'hood, and found Bike Slug, a very cool little place with an even cooler website -- check it out here.

Service was affordable and quick: I could wait while my tire was fixed. I'm back on the bicycle again, planning new rides across the Brooklyn and Williamsburg Bridges. Many thanks, Bike Slug!

[frankkuin]

Reservoir jogs

One of my favorite things to do in New York is go for a run around the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir in Central Park.

Not only do you have the benefit of a gravel path, as opposed to pounding pavement, you also get the most amazing views of the city at every turn you take. These stunning vistas are as good as an 128 BPM count through the ear buds for propelling your run and inspiring a great runner's high -- if not better. For me, it works every time.

On Sunday evening, I took this shot of the sun setting on the Upper West Side from across the Reservoir. Run, baby, run.

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Ladies and gentlemen: Pelé

As I walked up to Gate C at Hofstra University's James M. Shuart Stadium, where the New York Cosmos were about to play their first match in 29 years, a sudden flurry of security activity betrayed that something was up. Everybody stand to the side, people were advised, as out of a black limo and onto the stadium grounds walked Pelé.

Surrounded by a security entourage, and followed by fans and curious onlookers, the 72-year old soccer legend made his way into the private area of the stadium. Dressed in a black shirt, black jacket and grey pants, with a crucifix around his neck, Pelé was about to be honoured ahead of the restart match of his old team.

Pelé, who played for the New York Cosmos in from 1975 tot 1977, is widely credited with sending the club from obscurity to soccer glory (watch a great documentary about the rise of soccer's most glamorous squad here). Now he's back as honorary president, as the Cosmos try for a comeback in the North American Soccer League (NASL) and hope for a revival of the glory days.

Pelé was on hand for the opening of the first new Cosmos game -- but he didn't last until the final whistle. Shortly after the start of the second half, as spectators were focusing on the field, he left in a cart, still surrounded by security men -- a kind of Pelémobile that whisked him right back to the waiting black car at Gate C.

"Unfortunately, Pelé had to leave", was the word during the post-match press conference, to grumblings of the eagerly waiting crowd. I suppose if you're known the world over by just one name, like Madonna, or Cher, you can do that.

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A cow encounter at the museum

During a quick visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I came across an old favorite in the modern art section: The Innocent Eye Test, by American artist Mark Tansey. It depicts a cow that has been brought to an art gallery, to be shown a large painting of a bull. How will the animal react when it comes face to face with the life-like image?

I have always liked Tansey’s 1981 painting. The monochrome technique in shades of grey gives it a photographic, realistic feel. But more than that, it’s a picture within a picture: the painting reproduced is Paulus Potter’s ‘The Bull’. Nicknamed the ‘Stier van Potter’ (Potter’s Bull), this massive canvas is one of several masterpieces in the collection of the delightful Mauritshuis in The Hague, Netherlands – a museum I have visited many times.

Tansey’s work offers a modern, American view of a classic Dutch master. Moreover, the premise is intriguing. The tension is heightened because as viewers, we don’t know what happened next. Did the cow respond to the bull in front of her? Did she recoil, or moo? Or did she just stand there and stare quietly, nonplussed?

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