Tag: Dan Metz

Categories
Beauty Health

Pisterzi: Cutting Through the Chaff

Pisterzi Italian Grooming Art changes the way New York men look at grooming with a unique approach to the barbershop experience.

  

An unlikely shelter hides in the heart of downtown. Freezing winds, erratic snows, and city stress fall away in Pisterzi Italian Grooming Art’s latest Atelier, an authentic Italian barbershop in SOHO that brings new levels to the barbershop experience. Italian Master Barber Gian Antonio Pisterzi, the company’s founder, created Pisterzi Italian Grooming Art to make his own mark with an Italian style unique to the city with locations in Milan and NYC. His newest location, at 367 W Broadway, is the first to match with the colors and textures of his brand, a space that he can claim as his own. The new space embraces an intimate boutique feel of a sanctuary, which Pisterzi aims to enhance with the shop’s two private rooms where clients can enjoy one-on-one services and get pampered by the expert hands of Pisterzi barbers. Pisterzi wants to create a bubble that lets both parties focus on the barbershop experience, and to let all else fall to the wayside. 

“The grooming market has grown in the past years” says Gian Antonio Pisterzi. “More men are now taking time for themselves and do not look for a simple haircut anymore. Throughout my experience, I came to know and understand better the desires and needs of customers and I have been trying to translate them into the services we provide at the ateliers. Opening a second location in the Big Apple was a step that I was longing to take, and doing it in the energetic heart of New York, felt like the right choice to make.”

Pisterzi Italian Grooming Art has also launched a new line of high-end products, which includes gels, serums, conditioners for beard and hair, cosmetics with multiple functions, and more specific treatments. The launch will also include three fragrances entirely created and produced in Italy. Born within an elegant and sophisticated Italian lifestyle, the products will also be sustainable: they will use 100% recycled paper, post-consumer aluminum, and will have reusable, refillable containers. 

Pisterzi is a graduate of the prestigious Steiner Academy in London and a beholder of extensive experience as an international Master Barber in luxury brands such as Dolce & Gabbana and Acqua di Parma. Just recently, he added to his board Andrea Pirlo, the Internationally renowned soccer champion. Pirlo, who is a big aficionado of cosmetic products for personal care and well-being, faces this new challenge with enthusiasm: “I had the pleasure of personally meeting Gian Antonio Pisterzi in New York and I was struck by the culture expressed by his know-how and unique care that Barberia Pisterzi offers to its customers. I immediately wished I could be the protagonist of this enterprise which, today, evolves through a range of high-level products and a restyling of the barbershops in a sustainable way.”

Pisterzi’s other NYC atelier is located at Cipriani Club 55 in Wall Street. Check out their website for more.

Categories
Beauty Fashion Health

Hair with ’70s Flair

Fall hair trends are a playful nod to ’70s style.

THE ‘70S ARE BACK. We might be over glam rock and disco right now, but the styles they inspired are back in orbit. Maybe it’s
the feeling of revolution in the air. Maybe it’s the time we spent in lockdown yearning for freedom. If you’re looking to share in the celebration, then you’re in luck. Here are three perfect looks for your hair — long, medium, or short — that will bring out your ‘70s soul with a modern twist.

Long

Model: Bodhi

“This is our long look, a crimped wave with long layers, natural hair color, and long bangs. For the styling, I used Fekkai’s Full Blown Volume Shampoo and then a 3-barrel curling iron and 1-inch brush for the curtain bang.”

Medium

Hair by David Cotteblanche/Next Management. Photo by Antoine Verglas.

Model: Mnatalla

“This is a shorter look, a mid-length chop. For this, I used shea butter curl-defining cream and then created a long layered collarbone- length cut with a 1″ inch curling iron.”

Short

Hair by David Cotteblanche/Next Management. Photo by Antoine Verglas.

Model: Clelia

“This last short look is a French bob with blunt ends. To get this look I used Fekkai’s Apple Cider Detox, followed by a shampoo and rinse, and then blended the haircut at chin level, smoothing and straightening it with a flat iron.”

For more information or to make an appointment with David Cotteblanche, visit fekkai.com DT

photography by Antoine Verglas

 

Categories
Culture Events Featured Theater

An ASL Performance for Regina Comet

Regina Comet
Photo credit Matthew Murphy

“A Commerical Jingle for Reginia Comet” is *running* an ASL-interpreted performance of their show on November 20th at 3pm. The performance is part of a partnership with Broadway SIGNs! and show producer Jo-Ann Dean. Regina Comet is the story of two nobodies dreaming of writing one hit song for everybody…and a diva. It stars Alex Wyse (Spring Awakening, Waitress) and Ben Fankhauser (Newsies) as two struggling songwriters and Bryonha Marie Parham (Prince of Broadway) as the eponymous Regina Comet. Wyse and Fankhauser also wrote and composed the book for the show. Tickets are available at reginacomet.com.

Since their opening in September, Regina Comet has drawn audiences, laughs, and rave reviews, including from this website. The show follows two struggling songwriters, so anonymous that they go unnamed in the show and are billed as “Man 2” and “Other Man,” who get the chance of a lifetime when over-the-hill diva Regina Comet hires them to write a new song to advertise her new fragrance, “Relevance.” The results are creative, endearing, and hilarious. 

The November 20th ASL-interpreted show also marks one of the last performances of the show at the DR2 theatre. 

So hop online now and check out A Commercial Jingle for Regina Comet, running through November 21st, 2021.

Regina Comet Description

Categories
Art Culture Entertainment Featured NYC Theater

A Musical Success for Regina Comet

Bryonha Marie Parham as Regina Comet singing in A Commerical Jingle for Regina Comet
Bryonha Marie Parham as Regina Comet

`What would you do if you finally got your chance to shine? Maybe it’s your first chance. Maybe it’s your last. In A Commercial Jingle for Regina Comet, two writers and a diva get that chance when the diva, Regina Comet, hires two jingle writers to create a song for her upcoming fragrance release, Relevance. The musical is goofy, charming, and tons of fun in a joke-a-minute journey through the emotions behind the creative process. 

Regina is a star in decline. In an age of Instagram, she’s lost too many of the nuances of the 13-18 demographic that used to be her fanbase. Audiences don’t get an exact age, but we get the feeling the new tween fanbase is made up of the kids or even grandkids of the fans who once flocked to Comet’s concerts. Desperate to draw the spotlight again, her managers convince her that her best shot at teens catching her scent is through a fragrance, which she names Relevance. But all is not well: her commercial efforts have fallen short and, in a last bid to make things happen, she hires out a songwriting pair— the cheapest option available— to pen a jingle that will blast Regina’s career back into outer space. The show follows the efforts of the two songwriters— never named but billed as Man 2 and Other Man— and Comet as the three claw desperately at the promise of relevance and success. 

The characters put their heads together to create One Hit Song
The characters put their heads together to create One Hit Song

At the heart of the show beats Ben Fankhauser and Alex Wyse, who play Man 2 and Other Man and co-wrote the music, book, and lyrics for the show. Inspired by their real-life friendship and a desire to carve out their place in New York City theatre, the show is a comedy-of-errors reflection of the pair’s real search for musical success. And it is clear that the pair are in on the joke. When Fankhauser’s Man 2 is struck by musical inspiration, he pushes aside the show’s music director and keyboardist Alex Goldie Golden and takes over the music mid-song. To play bumbling, struggling versions of themselves in a musical with hit after hit is, to borrow a modern phrase, quite the flex. 

Bryonha Marie Parham likewise shines as Regina Comet, commanding her scenes in a role she fills with perfection and enthusiasm that perfectly matches the show’s sometimes serious, sometimes absurd tone. Comet, who could be a plot device with a solo, comes alive under Parham’s stewardship, aided by the actress’s input in the creative process.

A Commerical Jingle for Regina Comet is a welcome return to live theater— light-hearted, fun, simple, and straightforward. It is the perfect way to venture back out into public, into theater, and head home laughing. 

A Commerical Jingle for Regina Comet is playing at the DR2 Theatre. Learn more and get tickets at reginacomet.com

Categories
Culture Entertainment Featured Movies

You Should Be Watching: CODA

CODA Film

Communication between teens and parents is notoriously tough. It has been fodder for hundreds of coming-of-age stories. CODA (2021), whose title is an acronym for “Child of Deaf Adult,” tells the story of a teenager whose parents and older brother are all deaf and her struggle to find her voice and be seen through her love of singing. This simple premise alone breathes new life into a coming-of-age story and infuses every moment with detail and love.

 

Ruby Rossi grows up in Gloucester, MA, the only hearing member of her family. All her life, she has acted as the ears and as translator for her mother, father, and brother. When her senior year comes around, she picks choir, mostly to impress a boy. There, she finds her voice through song, a talent she had never been able to share or express with her family. As Ruby starts to move toward her dream of attending a university of the arts, her family moves toward their dream, one that relies heavily on Ruby as their translator. The plot follows the tension between the two as life forces Ruby to choose between expressing her family’s voice or her own. 

 

CODA is a remake of a 2014 French film, La Famille Bélier, which it sometimes mirrors shot for shot. It is one of those examples of what I consider to be a justified remake. They took a look at the movie and said to themselves, “No, we can do better.” The original was a comedy, played much more for laughs, with most Deaf characters played by hearing actors. Much of the humor is at the expense of the Deaf characters. The emphasis on comedy takes the impact away from some of the strongest scenes in the story. 

 

The core story is a simple one: a family trying to get by and a girl expressing herself and getting the boy. What sets it apart, what forms its soul, is outside of language. There are two moments in this movie that, I believe, describe the experience of music better than anything else I’ve seen. The first is when Ruby’s choir teacher, Bernardo Villalobos, asks her what it feels like to sing. Unable to describe it aloud (before joining choir, nobody outside of her family had been around while she sang, so no one had ever heard it), she expresses herself through ASL. It is a moving moment, something that cannot be said out loud. The second example, equally if not more moving, is much deeper into the story, but I think you will know it when you get there. 

 

There is something in CODA, a certain je ne sais quoi (if we want to, like CODA, borrow from the French) that transcends language. Like music, it is something that you have to feel to understand. It demonstrates a deep understanding of its subject matter, displays stunning performances throughout, complete with great chemistry in the cast, especially the Rossi family. But that doesn’t entirely cover it. 

 

There is only one real way to understand the heart of CODA and those making it: watch it. Please. Go to a theater if it’s showing there. Hop on Apple TV, or head to your friend’s house if they have it. Watch this movie. 

Categories
Business Dining Featured Restaurants Travel

The Flavor of Adapting in a Strange Age: The Original Hotdog Factory

Aaron Anderson chowing down on a Original Hotdog Factory hotdog.

Around the corner from the Liberty Bell, The Bourse Food Hall is adapting to COVID-19. The 130-year-old commodities-exchange-turned-food-hall, well known as a gathering for good food and good variety, has removed their chairs from indoor tables. If you want to sit and eat, there are tables set up outside. The lines are marked with social distancing diamonds that read “STAND ON THIS JAWN” (jawn is Philadelphian for “thingamajig”). 

Last week, The Bourse is welcomed a new vendor: The Original Hotdog Factory. Any other time, this might be routine. The Original Hotdog Factory franchise specializes in a wide variety of hotdogs alongside wings, fried Oreos, and other delicious goodies. During COVID, though, opening any new food location is an aberration. But for franchise owner Aaron Anderson this is nothing new.

Anderson is quiet and friendly. For a man with a dozen successful businesses, including 5 Original Hotdog Factory locations in Philadelphia, he carries himself like a mom and pop shop owner–a modest smile, quiet voice, and focused attention. But he dreams big, including owning a sports team (his first choice is the Philadelphia 76ers) and running for office in Philadelphia.

This is the second Original Hotdog Factory that he has opened since COVID hit Philly. 

Technically, it’s his third. 

Anderson opened his fourth location in February of 2020, right before COVID. The location focused on indoor seating, and the sudden desertion of foot traffic drove it to extinction in weeks. So Anderson turned around and reopened in a new location in March. This time, he focused on takeout. He reached out to first responders and offered meals and services with organizations like the Ronald McDonald House. And the store thrived.

If other companies want to survive, he says, they’ll have to adapt. “Pivot in everything that you know. You’ve just got to change it…Stay focused no matter what. Times are definitely tough, but if you stay strong and sustain (then) on the other side is success for sure.” It is also, he says, about who has your back, including yourself. “It’s just being self-motivated and having a strong support team that keeps you motivated, and that’s always got your back.”

The next time you’re in Philadelphia, you can stop by The Original Hotdog Factory in the Bourse Food Hall, now open for business. Top options to check out at the Bourse location include the Surf n Turf (beef hotdog with crab meat), Fire Dog (loaded with peppers), and a damn fine Coney Dog. You’ll have to leave the Hall to eat them, but it will be worth the extra steps when you order the deep-fried twinkie for dessert.