Paul Smalera

One of the first things I wanted to write about when I made the leap was a little country/bluesy rock and roll band that a friend of mine introduced me to by taking me to see them in a dark, weird basement under a pizzeria in Soho.

When I met them there, I introduced myself as a writer, which is something I did once before, long ago, when I had hardly written anything. After that embarrassing moment, you’d think I’d have learned my lesson, but this time, I had dropped my entire old life and moved to a new city to BE a writer. And even if I wasn’t yet, damnit, I was at least gunning to be one, which was a definite improvement.

So, I talked to this red-haired larger-than-life, lead-singer-of-a-man names Sean, and told him I wanted to write about them. And I desperately wanted to, because they played a kind of music that I felt like I had been missing all my life. So I pitched a story about them relentlessly.

And

nothing

happened.

Fast forward two years. I have learned a ton about this business, and it seems Hoots and Hellmouth have learned a ton about theirs, having signed a record deal and released a professionally produced album, which is excellent. The fact that both of us made alot of progress in a relatively short time (which feels extremely long, I’m sure, to both of us), let me finally write a story about them for the New York Press. It was an extremely rewarding story to write, and I hope you’ll take a minute to listen to them, or maybe even buy the CD (also available here).

Congratulations boys! It was an honor to be able to write about you, and your month-long residency at Pete’s Candy Store. I caught their last show there last night, and they sounded and seemed better than ever. Keep spreading the good word.

A very brief review of a man and his sausage. Verdict: It’s pretty good!

New York Press - PAUL SMALERA - Cheap Eats

As much as I want to leave my New York Times clip up there until I have another, I wrote a review of the Campbell Apartment, a swank little bar in Grand Central, for the Press recently. Reading it will give you a window into my daily battle with tourists in Times Square. Enjoy!

New York Press - PAUL SMALERA - Old-School Class

photo by wendy ploger

I’m happy to link to a story I wrote in today’s New York Times: Havens North Tucson. Havens is the second homes column, so this is a story about people who live there and why they chose to buy a second home in Tucson. The southwest is a beautiful area, and I really felt thrilled to be able to cover it and say things like:

If, like Buck Clippard, you fly but have trouble finding airplane parking, you might consider requesting permission to land at La Cholla Airpark, a community 20 miles north of downtown Tucson. The Clippards have a second home there — and a two-plane hangar on a taxiway (or, as the earthbound might call it, a road), right off the airpark’s main drag, a 4,500-foot landing strip.

Anyway, please give it a read and enjoy. If you’re interested in reading more about the foothills, one of the real estate agents I spoke with, John Schneider, writes frequently about the area on his aptly named blog, The Tucson Foothills.

Also, thanks to Rob Ploger who, after all, moved to Tucson (not in the foothills though) and gave Wendy, his sister, my girlfriend, a reason to bring me out West and see what all the fuss was about. Now I know!

Well, I don’t know what’s happening to the East Village. Since I moved across the island, comes word that Kurowycky Meat Products has closed its doors after 50 years of fatty service. This was the Polish deli of my childhood dreams, complete with slabs of greasy bacon back (boczek pronounced bo-check) sitting right out on the counter, totally safe to eat because they had been cured to within an inch of their lives. The kielbasa, sadly, had to be put in refrigeration several years ago thanks to overzealous DOHers. Salty, fatty meat products are the staples of Polish winter cuisine. I didn’t shop here often enough. It will be sorely missed.

As if this blow wasn’t enough, Teresa’s Polish restaurant, also on First Ave., like, I think the same BLOCK of First Ave, has closed too, according to Gothamist. This was just a simple diner, with cheap and quite good food. No elegies (except this one) will likely be written about it, but I’ve always liked “Fanfare for the Common Man” and this restaurant shared that same space in my heart: just a simple place to get simple food, prepared from scratch and with some heart and love. Too many of these places in New York seem to be going out of business. I wonder what will take their places.

In other news, I reviewed an old favorite for The New York Press this week, the Italian restaurant named Max. And then Eater promptly published a rumor that it was going out business too, though this is still just a rumor for now. What is going on?

Also continuing in my role as Traveler’s Quizmaster General (ok, I gave myself that title), I try, this month, to teach my fellow statesiders about our neighbors to the north, eh? See if you can tell  a canuck from a poutine: Interactive Quiz: Conde Nast Traveler

Another week, another clip. Read my meandering feature on the east side of Broome Street–its history, its culture, and its future. For out of towners, Broome is one of those little streets on the Lower East Side that, while part of the whole, also looks like a microcosm of all of New York. Ok, there are alot of streets like that. But Broome is more interesting than most. Read: New York Press.

It’s true, computers are made of very bad things, and for a long time, we consumers, and we corporations, have ignored what happens to those bad things after we’re done with them. But since 2007 is the year of the Greening, it’s no longer so easy to ignore where our detritus ends up. In fact, Apple godhead Steve Jobs recently announced their initiatives in cleaning up our digital trash, strongly noting, in response to Greenpeace’s nonstop pestering, that they’ve in fact been way ahead of the pack for a number of years now. I wrote a small piece on it for Portfolio.com.

I haven’t posted much lately (and sorry to have to write that, as I hate reading it on other people’s blogs) but that’s becuase I’ve been at work for Condé Nast Portƒolio and things have been a bit too busy there for me to keep up my normal pace of pitching and writing articles as a freelancer.

The good news is that I still have managed to contribute a small piece of analysis to Portfolio.com, launched today, the online companion to the print edition. I could try to describe it to you, but by the time I did that, I would’ve rewritten the whole thing. So why don’t you just click on the headline below and head on over to Portfolio.com to read it for yourself? It’s a really nice site, speaking as a former web developer, I’m really happy to see how nicely it turned out. Have a look:

Daily Brief: McClatchy Jilts Tribune and Gannett for Yahoo

Another issue of New York Press brings with it another restaurant review from yours truly. Harlem is still mostly undiscovered territory to me, dining wise. I’ve eaten at perhaps a half a dozen restaurants above 96th street. One of the ones I enjoyed most (though you can hardly call it a restaurant) is Charles’ Southern Kitchen on 125th. So good it inspired me to reach back to my ’80s childhood for a headline: Charles’ in Charge.

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