This was a very fun event. We had gotten tickets from Yelp and went to redeem. While trying to…read moreredeem they couldnt find my name even though i showed them the confirmation email of the event and the ticket email. They still gave me a ticket but found the process very frustrating. When going up i got seats in The front bevause i had arrived a few minutes late but it was not a problem. All theshort films were great. I got the Horror short films and they were all very unique in their type of horror. Overall it was a fun event with a rocky start.

As a volunteer for this non-profit organization I'm trilled to work with such a great staff and…read morewill continue working with them in the future! All my friends have attended their events and have only great things to say!!

When the name of the festival is "Bowl of Pozole", you kind of what that to be the star of the…read moreshow. While, the festival as a whole did have roughly 10-12 stations serving different types of pozoles. There were only two standouts. However, if you were there for the booze which was heavily mezcal but also included unannounced tequila, vino & cocktails. Then you my friend are in a really good place. The two standouts of bowl of pozole are: 1) Oxomoco - I expected Michelin star restaurants to bring it and this Michelin restaurant did not disappoint. It was the ONLY bowl of pozole I eaten twice. Very nice lady in the lime green blazer representing the station. Definitely will visit their restaurant when I get the chance to. You should too. 2) Taco Guey - Known for tacos but surprisingly brought out some really good pozoles. I ain't mad at that. Will pay a visit to their restaurant as well. The festival space was...well spacious. The outside space had a few stations for tacos, elotes, pre-mixed cocktails in cans and ample seating/fresh air. Inside the venue however was much different. The lighting was a bit odd since the lights were only spot lights that kind of ran in rows and left most stations especially the pozole stations in the dark. Why? With press, bloggers and those taking photos this made it extremely hard not to use flash or other distracting devices to make the photos pop. Now, if you had bought the VIP tickets which gave you that extra hour before general admission. I suppose that would have allowed you to take photos/videos in better lighting. However, I thought it would have been better to provide such lighting throughout the event. Just one man's opinion here... The booze was flowing...oh was it flowing. It is never wise to mix alcohol/liquor but you almost couldn't help it. Mezcal, which was the star attraction of the festival second to pozoles sort of got trumped by a few tequilas and mix drinks it seems. That is not to say that the mezcal wasn't noteworthy. Overall, I had lots of fun and I really liked the vibe of the festival. Fan.

I had a good time. Although I thought there would be more food stations, I was enjoying my time…read morewith good music, food and great vibes. I'm looking forward to next years event.

Wow. Made me feel stupid. I'll stand by the 1, but sure wish I'd been with Nicole C…read more Hubby wanted to give this event to me for my b'day. But I had to make the arrangements. This was in August. Buy this time many, many events were sold out. So I got sucked into buying the 4 day package. I guess that was stupid. It was over $1000 (add to the hotel/air). Night one was the women's night. Two, the b'day party. Three, burger night & four BBQ. These were all rooftop parties which were simply a mad house. All those volunteers! What a good job they did of politely corralling hundreds of people. But then the hordes were turned loose. Rude crowds is one complaint. Rude celebs is another. It's a double whammy. Where were the photos taken showing attendees with their fav chef? Certainly not where we were. We barely got a *glimpse* of Bobby, Ina, Giada, & Alex when they were on stage for 30 seconds. The only person we saw not under guard was Casey Webb ( I just looked him up. Who knows his name?!) Burger challenge night had GZ, Zimmern, Neil P. Harris & his hub as judges. They were roped off by about 20' with guards. Seriously. On top of that they didn't even look at the crowd -- not a smile, a wave. GZ grimaced. Funny, I actually liked these people before this. I "heard" Bobby/Ina signed books one night. Opposite each other in the same section of the roof. Well, guess what? That caused one major cluster -------! You ***could not*** get through the crowd. I "heard" Giada was in the mix for a time on top of that. All I wanted was to get to some wine. Which brings up another point of serious contention: wines were only available at the far end (BACK) of the pier. So I, the wine drinker, had to make the hike and fight the crowds to get what turned out to be a very expensive sip, considering what I spent to be there. (And I never talk about costs. Money's never in my forethoughts. That's how disappointed I am) So, my non drinker husband was kind enough to pretend to drink so I'd at least get two at a time while the crowds were swilling beer after beer and whiskey. But, oh it got worse. The charity wine purveyor refused to serve Chardonnay!! the last two nights. Of course that's what I drink. I don't have pix because of full hands and crowds. The lines were ridiculous, food scarce. Burger night was the best but started badly. We were in line for a taste of Cinton Hall when shoving and line cutting started. I asked someone what the hell was going on. Apparently Rachael Ray was spotted at the front of the line! People are crazy! They served 1/2 burgers & I scored a whole Shake Shack special burger. Yum. Hubby voted w/ the crowd for Cinton Hall. Another incident. I stepped up to a booth serving sunchokes. The server was asking me if I'd had them before, etc. when the "chef" working behind her looked up & I said, "I know you." I don't know if she'd been a contender on Top Chef or what but I recognized her. With no response I asked, "What's your name?" She just batted her false eyelashes at me and mewed, "Tara. . . " Fine, be coy. I just walked away. I just couldn't understand how all these people could have paid what I paid. BBQ night we sat down with a mother of two. Somehow it came out that her tkts had been comped by a chef she knew. Figures.

I was leaving town for Thanksgiving, and thought it'd be fun to stroll calmly by the Balloons and…read moreFloats the night before the parade. Nope! Nothing peaceful about it. Cool? Yes. Chaos? That too. My thinking was arriving closer to end time to avoid the masses. The float inflation viewing started at 1pm & ended at 6pm. By arriving at 530 I'd let all the families and die hards pass through beforehand. Turns out the rest of NY had the same idea. The line was 10 people wide and wrapped around a couple city blocks. I kept walking, and walking, .......and walking, and finally found the end of the line. A worker in a parade vest started yelling "If you're not at 72nd St by 6, you aren't guaranteed to get in!". If it worked out great. If not, no big deal. Vendors along the way were selling pretzels, hot dogs and light up toys. Not a boring wait. There were wooden barriers lining the sidewalk, but about half way through, a huge crowd moved the saw horse and cut all the patient people who did the nice thing and started at the end. I was not happy! Said so out loud, too. Luckily their bad karma didn't affect my getting in at 555pm. There were more corrals to wind through as we paralleled the park. Then I saw Minnie Mouse! She was pretty. Other balloons followed like Bluey, Sponge Bob, & Spider-Man. Most of the characters were face down hugging the ground and covered in netting, but how awesome is this free BTS experience! I stayed farthest away from the balloons in the hopes I could breeze through faster. Kinda worked. Took some ok pics. Finished the first row. I was feeling done when a worker said there's more on 81st St. I'm not a quitter. I headed north! Saw Pikachu, Snoopy, Smokey, The Pillsbury doughboy and a couple unknowns. The thick crowds and shuffling along the path made me start to feel a bit claustrophobic. I asked the closest police officer how to get out, and he said you can't. You have to keep following the trail passed the floats of the next block, and then you can peel away without finishing the last block of floats. It was overwhelming, but really neat. Would I do it again? No. Am I glad I did it once, absolutely. A simple way to fix this frustrating congestion situation, would be to have a free online ticket with a timed entrance. Staff wouldn't need a person manning the tickets, but it would give attendees a designated block of time to show up. Something to consider for future events.

Macy's Thanksgiving Balloon Inflation is an Upper West Side tradition to me. The first time I…read moreattended I lived in a rooming house on West 74th Street owned by an order of Catholic Nuns. The director Sister Pius suggested I go to the balloon inflation the first year I moved to Manhattan 2002. The event definitely gets crowded. I had no idea what to expect. Sorry to say I wasn't taking photos of everything and posting on a social website. This year Beagle Scout Snoopy was in the balloon inflation. He is the one photo I got. On Thanksgiving I saw him in the parade on TV. If you are in the area you should at least experience this tradition once! Take lots of photos!!

REVIEW: "Here Lies Love" at the Broadway Theatre on September 3, 2023…read more This highly immersive show took nearly a decade to make it to Broadway, and I have to say it left me a bit cold. Pre-recorded disco pop is just not the way to my empty Sondheim heart. Written by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, this episodic musical covers the 20th century political history of the Philippines in ninety minutes with no intermission. The simplistic plot revolved around Imelda Marcos with Ferdinand more of a shadow figure. Constantly challenging their regime was Ninoy Aquino presented as Imelda's former childhood sweetheart. The set-up felt very much like the demagoguery in "Evita" but on a more shallow level like a Vegas-style variety review targeted to indiscriminate tourists much like Rock-a-Hula on Waikiki. The production's chief novelty is that the Broadway Theatre was turned into a Studio 54-era disco with multi-dimensional screens on the surrounding walls. The seats were removed to allow the actors to perform and move about on modular elevated walkways. Half the audience (including Jamie and me) stood on the main floor for the duration of the show...but that's not all. Between key scenes, we were signaled by uniformed ushers to move to allow for different configurations of the walkways. Periodically we were directed to dance as if no one was watching. All of this led to the inevitability of squashed feet and jousting elbows. It was exhausting, and even though we were past the days of mandatory social distancing, it made me feel anxious. The cast was energetic but frankly not all that impactful. Arielle Jacobs made an especially buoyant Imelda, but understudy Aaron Alcaraz delivered a particularly tone deaf Ferdinand. Conrad Ricamora fared much better as the fiery Aquino. A couple of other performers had standout moments: Reanne Acasio as Aquino's mother Aurora on the ballad, "Just Ask the Flowers" and Moses Villarama, the DJ, leading the chorus on "God Draws Straight", poignant given another Marcos is running the country now. RELATED - Interested in my thoughts on Broadway shows past and present? Here's a collection of reviews I've written: http://bit.ly/31uxyL1

What if David Byrne joined forces with Fat Boy Slim to tell a story of someone famous with a…read moresoundtrack? Would it be danceable? I wonder what that would be like? It depends on what you're expecting. We were on the dance floor. On one side was a young girl and her mother from Manilla, on the other side, a loving father and his son. So many beautiful people, experiencing a musical biographical account of someone's life! The moving dance floor created an interactive experience for those of us on the floor, moving around as directed by a small staff. For those in the audience, I can only wonder what it was like for them to look down on us in the audience. The cast was incredible and the venue was an intriguing transformation. A truly interesting experience. One thing to note, in a dance/nightclub environment the BPM is constant and increases as time moves forward. That isn't the case in this production. This was a real disconnect for me between dance club environments in a Broadway performance. You can't have it all.

It really does not get better than this for many and all reasons. The staff was VERY accommodating,…read morelistened, cheerful and volunteered information and asked if there were an questions. I have been to countless openings , and exhibitions. All of them flawless and impeccably curated. Unlike many of the galleries in the area, or city, for that matter, the front desk staff and associates were very professional, engaging and curteous, (not pompous or aloof). Some of the most outstanding artists of the world are represented here, and the staff represents this level of representation and curation, as well. Lovely people and I am always invited to their openings.

Awesome art installation by Leo Villareal. I have nothing but awesome feelings for the artist and…read morehis amazing light installation artwork. The lights are simply stunning. The chandelier lights and the square ring of light would look amazing in any home. Chandelier light is massive. Security guards both times were rude. The female security wouldn't allow us to take a photo underneath the light installation. Which I guess I understand except I see photos of people geotagged on instagram and they're underneath it. It just seems like security wants to play favorites which is unfortunate because it took away from the experience. I have money saved I'm not going to spend it all by breaking art pieces. I'm not klutzy when it comes to expensive items. It just cheapened the experience when the two female security guards both times (could be the same woman) were being so rude. Especially telling us we needed to move. But where were we moving to? There were people standing on one corner (and security was on the other corner) like do we ask the gallery goers to move over? I would've thought nothing of it had it been more people. But we specifically went on a non-weekend day and at that time we entered there were no more than 6 people including security and my friend and I in a 700-800 square footage of space in the second room. I would've happily moved had there been people behind us who wanted a better view. Except nobody was behind. What are we moving for? Just don't quiet understand security like there are more pleasant security at Dominique Ansel bakery and their line was out the door. The doorman at the Dominique Ansel was so kind to my friend and I last summer and that place is smaller and narrower. Maybe Pace Gallery should up the class and hire more pleasant security to make a more pleasant experience. I wouldn't even mind pay as you wish many museums do if it meant hiring security without attitudes. Both times the female security here were so incredibly snarly. The two women at the front desk were incredibly nice and welcoming. The security man in the back was nice and pleasant too! So it's not everyone it's just the female security here. Something is just not right with the female security.

So I attended The Greatest Day Ever after hearing about it from YesJulz (love her!) and though I am…read moresad I didn't get to meet her the event was an overall good time AFTER getting in. The wait to get in was tremendously HORRIBLE! I still do not understand why it took an hour + to get in when the place was not even half full. I think there should have been much better control of the line and entering the park, especially because there were so many advanced tickets sold - not to mention that it was scorching hot out.

There was a separate line for guys and girls, with the guys' line being much much shorter - and…read moresince I had my guy's ticket he had to wait with me for about 45+ minutes before we were let into the event. Imagine our surprise when we got in and saw that the place was almost empty. I think the wait had something to with the number of male/female checkers being imbalanced, but it was super hot outside, the bouncers were a bit obnoxious and it sucked to watch the guys whizz buy while the women's land was at a standstill. I did like that they had free cotton candy, however the 4 or 5 food vendors didn't provide lots of food options. We wanted to go to smorgasborg to get a bite and then go back to the event since the site said re-entry was allowed, however we were told if we left we would have to wait on the long line all over again to get back in. So, basically we felt trapped. We sucked it up and hung around - went on the 2 rides that were there (a ferris wheel and a spinning thingie), and watched a bit of jenga at the yelp table. We were not inclined to buy the $8 small cans of beer and after dancing around for a little bit (there were various dj's playing throughout the day who were admittedly pretty good) and getting a slight headache from the loud music and sun, decided to leave to get some food at smorgasborg and look at the skyline of manhattan a few blocks away. All in all, it was interesting experience (not worth $60, but maybe worth the $20 advance ticket price!) and a nice way to pass the time ...but it's not quite at the greatest day ever status just yet..

Booked two days before my event and was able to have an entertainer! Communication was clear…read more Performer was on time! It was a hit at the party! Added the CO2 blaster! Highly recommend for all occasions

I booked this company a year before our event, my daughter's Sweet 16. A year later, the team…read morearrived on time, met with me, and we discussed everything in detail. They prepared for the show program and performed wonderfully. All the guests were very happy, everyone took pictures. My daughter still remembers that evening as the best one in her life. Thank you so much, guys, and I will definitely invite you again for our next celebration. I highly recommend Laser Show USA.