Step into history at the world premiere of “How Emeline Got Free,” a captivating 30-minute audio drama unveiling the pivotal Lemmon Slave Case. Delve into Emeline Thompson’s perspective, as she leads eight enslaved women and children through the 1852 trial. Following the drama, engage in a talkback with Mustapha Khan, the director, Hon. Albert M.…
Growing up, César Álvarez, a Mexico City native, was obsessed with magazines. Raised in the neighborhood of Anahuac smack-dab in the middle of the city, he’d spend hours flipping through issues of Eres, a Mexican media brand for young people interested in design. “I loved the fashion, the expression, the idea of creating narratives and stories around music, fashion, photography, looks,” Álvarez tells Time Out.
One thing about Álvarez is that he’s always been the type of person to put his ambitions into action. He started simply by getting some of his friends together and shooting looks for them. Through those shoots, he began to build an online magazine that he named Tótem, a reference to Indigenous totems found throughout North America. Like those fixtures of Native culture, Álvarez hoped to create a record for his community and give a sense that they were worthy of being built up and displayed as pillars for others to revere. Tótem magazine became a fast success, and Álvarez decided to host pop-ups where the designers from the magazine could actually sell their work, thereby creating an ecosystem of emerging Mexican talent.
Eventually, Álvarez sought to explore fashion beyond his home city and moved to L.A., where he wanted to build a cultural bridge between the fashion and aesthetic languages of L.A. and Mexico City. In L.A., Álvarez ran a successful show room that was visited by celebrity stylists wanting to source from the hottest designers coming out of Mexico City
In 2022, VANS reached out to Álvarez and asked him to be their global ambassador, offering him resources to work on any projects he wanted. His mind immediately went to his dream of making Tótem a print magazine, and the first issue featured Julio Torres from the comedy Problemista. To Álvarez, Torres represented everything that he identified with: A Latino person doing his best to build a creative life in the U.S..
In recent years, Álvarez has found himself getting positions and opportunities that people like him don’t often tend to get. “Growing up in Mexico in the hood, you don’t even realize what opportunities you’re missing out on because nobody tells you,” Álvarez says. “In Mexico you can see a lot of nepotism, and there’s a lot of people who have amazing talents but have no access or opportunities.” His own background as an underdog in the fashion world informs how he chooses the designers he highlights, who tend to be extremely talented and hard working creatives with zero idea about how to access a bigger audience through marketing or media. In many ways, Álvarez’s most important role for them is to create a thread that connects those designers from the underground and pull them within view for the larger public.
We’re Mexican and we’re proud of that, but we’re also part of the larger world. We deserve to be in the mix.
Tótem magazine is a way for Álvarez to push out a different vision of Mexican creativity that is not just rooted in stereotypes and tradition. “As a Mexican person, we are our culture: Mariachis, the food, all of that,” he says. “But we’re also affected by globalization. We’re Mexican and we’re proud of that, but we’re also part of the larger world. We deserve to be in the mix.” Arriving at a different vision of Mexican design is also about finding a balance between embracing the things that make Mexican culture unique, while also showing others that Mexican creativity doesn’t have to just draw from the same tiny pool of references (Frida Kahlo as an overused motif comes to mind).
Throughout Álvarez’s long creative journey through Mexico City and L.A., he had his sights set on New York for a long time. “New York has always been the city I’ve always been in love with because it was the closest to Mexico City in terms of fashion and all of these creative scenes,” says Álvarez. He finally made the big move here last year and has been constantly inspired by all the people he sees on the street. “People in New York are not afraid to be themselves, you can just take the train and see so many people with different styles that just go for it.”
People in New York are not afraid to be themselves.
Álvarez says that living in New York has already begun to inform Tótem’s new creative direction: It’s bolder, more elevated, and more high fashion than it’s ever been. At his pop-ups, Álvarez plans to showcase Mexican designers from the cities he’s lived in and propel them into a new era that folds creatives from Mexico City, L.A., and New York into the same narrative thread. As disparate as these places are geographically, they each seem to have the same concern: How do we display our Mexicanness on our bodies in a way that not only reflects our past, but also imagines our future?
Although Mexican designers will continue to draw from traditional Mexican fashion—from the elaborate, colorful fabrics to iconic footwear (who doesn’t love a good huarache?)—I also want to know what young Mexicans should be wearing to, for example, a club in Bushwick, which, for better or worse, is my more immediate concern when it comes to fashion. To embrace our entirety, we can’t just confine ourselves to what others want to see from us. We have to be bold enough to dictate what direction we want to go in ourselves. In order for this to happen, it feels necessary to put Mexican-Americans and young Mexicans from Mexico in the same room. Or, if you’re Álvarez, to feature them in the same magazine.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks) Commissioner Sue Donoghue today took a major step towards transforming New York City into the skate capital of the East Coast. In partnership with local elected officials and The Skatepark Project — a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help underserved communities create safe…
Given how much New Yorkers love tacos and guacamole and margaritas, and all of the other wonderful culinary gifts that Mexico has given the world, Cinco de Mayo in NYC is a pretty big deal. To celebrate the spirited occasion, Astral Tequila has been hosting the first-ever MargaritaCon, a month-long celebration that brings Astral margaritas to 170-plus participating bars and restaurants across the country, with each cocktail contributing towards building homes for those in need. And on Saturday, May 4, MargaritaCon is taking over New York’s East Village (as well as Chicago and Charleston) for a boozy day of fun.
Join the tequila brand from 4pm to 8pm on May 4th for complimentary samples of Astral-splashed margaritas while supplies last at local spots like Onieals, Virginia’s, The Hidden Tiger and The Blind Barber. Other NYC spots like Mood Ring, Golden Wuish, Boske, Hold Fast Kitchen and Spirits, Asset, Monarch Rooftop and Blinky’s Bar will also be pouring Astral margaritas as part of the campaign. (You can check out the full map of participating bars nationwide at the Astral Tequila website.)
Astral Tequila upcycles spent agave from tequila distillation into bricks to build homes, so every margarita made with the brand’s booze goes toward a good cause. Along with partnering with Hábitat para la Humanidad México to build homes through their ongoing sustainability program, the Adobe Brick Project in Jalisco, Mexico, the tequila company will also be donating a total of $50,000 to Habitat for Humanity affiliates across the country, including Habitat NYC and Westchester, all in honor of MargaritaCon.
Equally exciting is the fact that at each participating NYC bar, you can enter a Cinco de Mayo Sweepstakes for a chance to win an all-expenses-paid trip for you and three amigos to Mexico. If you sadly can’t make it out to the fiesta in person, you can also enter the sweepstakes via the Astral Tequila website but, really, why would you want to miss a minute of this tequila-fueled fun?
Dubai, renowned for its towering skyscrapers, bustling souks, and lavish lifestyle, is also a haven for families in search of an unforgettable vacation. With its plethora of family-friendly attractions, accommodation choices, and dining venues, Dubai effortlessly caters to the desires and requirements of every family member, promising an unforgettable and enjoyable trip for all. Additionally,…
It’s the soundtrack of summer—no, not “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter. We’re talking about that iconic Mister Softee jingle, tempting New Yorkers young and old alike with the promise of soft serve and sweet treats. The ice cream vans are ubiquitous on New York City streets when the temperatures start to rise, but you won’t have to strain your ears trying to hear for that whimsical jingle next time you’re craving a King Cone or a Chocolate Dip—the Mister Softee app makes it way easier to track down a truck.
Though Mister Softee is a throwback that’s been serving the New York area since the 1950s, the ice-cream truck company is solidly in the digital era with its own smartphone app, available on both the App Store and Google Play. You don’t even need to set up an account to utilize the application, which grants user the ability to plug in their zip code (the app assures that it won’t save your location data) and track down the nearest Mister Softee trucks in the area.
“Looking for the popular Mister Softee ice cream truck? Look no further, our popular and beloved trucks are now easier to find with our mobile app,” reads the app’s description. “Find the closest Mister Softee truck to you, set up your next ice cream party and more all from the app!”
Even more convenient, the mobile app allows sweet tooths to see exactly how long each truck has been parked at a given location by simply tapping on the truck icon, so you can gauge whether you have enough time to walk over before the vehicle gets moving on. Along with mapping the closest trucks to you, the app allows you to view the entire Mister Softee menu (and maybe expand from that basic vanilla cone with rainbow sprinkles?), reserve a truck for your next ice cream-themed party and more.
That’s all much easier than physically chasing that Mister Softee truck down the street, right?
In the dynamic landscape of healthcare, the demand for high-quality surgical instruments has never been greater. At the forefront of this burgeoning industry stands Acheron Instruments, a pioneering company renowned for its commitment to excellence and innovation. With a global footprint spanning continents, Acheron Instruments has earned its reputation as the leading Surgical instruments manufacturers…
The nominations for the 2024 Tony Awards have now been announced, setting off a six-week period of campaigning, complaining and arguing before Broadway’s biggest prizes get handed out on June 16. We’ll have more Tonys coverage for you before then, including our predictions of who will win. But here are a few quick reactions to today’s crop of nominations.
David Adjmi’s long, beautiful play about a 1970s British-American rock band that is definitely not Fleetwood Mac recording an album that is totally not Rumours racked up an astonishing 13 nominations—the most of any play in Tony Award history. In large part, this accomplishment was made possible by the original music that Will Butler created for the show, which put it in two races usually reserved for musicals: Best Score and Best Orchestrations. (It’s the first play ever nominated in the latter category.) But Stereophonic also dominated elsewhere, earning noms in all four design categories as well as featured acting nominations for five of its seven cast members.
There are now two front-runners in the race for Best Musical.
The 2023–24 season was notable for its large number of new musicals: 15 in all, the most of any season in decades. The Tony nominations have put two of them at the front of the pack in the race for Best Musical, the biggest prize of the season: Hell’s Kitchen, a jukebox show drawn from the catalog of Alicia Keys, earned 13 nominations, including for four cast members and all of its designers; The Outsiders, a musical adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s young-adult novel, earned 12, including one for Best Score. The season’s other contenders for Best Musical got significant but smaller tallies across the board: seven nominations for Water for Elephants, six for Suffs and five for the dance show Illinoise. That doesn’t mean they’re out of the race, but the other two shows have pulled noticeably ahead.
The lead acting categories for plays are star wars this year.
More and more, nonmusical productions tend to rely on big names to draw audiences, and that’s reflected in this year’s nominations. The Best Actress category is a face-off between American Horror Story mainstays Jessica Lange and Sarah Paulson, with Rachel McAdams a potential dark horse. Best Actor is a battle between HBO stars Jeremy Strong (Succession) and Michael Stuhlbarg (Boardwalk Empire), but I wouldn’t rule out Hamilton‘s Leslie Odom Jr.
Tony nominators and theater critics don’t always agree.
Although this year’s Tony nominations matched my own choices exactly in only two categories—Best Revival of a Play and Best Lighting Design of a Play—I can’t object to most of this year’s Tony nominations, which recognize fine work. That said, there are interesting points of divergence, in the aggregate, between the nominations and the overall critical consensus on certain productions. The Outsiders, which was met with mostly middling notices, received more nominations than the reviews might have suggested—as did the outlandish Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, which sharply divided critics but earned eight nominations, including for stars Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin. Conversely, the flashily designed reimagination of The Who’s Tommy, which critics loved, got a nod for Best Revival but nothing else. (A desire to support current shows may also play a role in this crowded season for musicals; there’s no way to know, but I suspect that the critically lauded Here LiesLove and Days of Wine and Roses would both have gotten more love if they were still running.)
Photograph: Courtesy Matthew MurphyThe Outsiders
It may finally be Michael Greif’s year…
As far as the Tonys are concerned, director Michael Grief can’t get no respect. He did not win Best Director for Rent, which won Best Musical in 1996. Nor did he win for Next to Normal or Grey Gardens, two of the best Broadway musicals of the 2010s. Nor did he win for Dear Evan Hansen, which won Best Musical in 2017. But this year—when he directed or co-directed three new musicals, an unprecedented feat in modern Broadway history—he may finally get his flowers. He’s nominated for Hell’s Kitchen, but his very fine work on Days of Wine and Roses and The Notebook could help give him the edge over Merrily We RollAlong’s Maria Friedman and his other competitors this year.
…but other prolific contenders got overlooked.
I tend to dislike talk of snubs because there are only so many nominations to go around, and many worthy candidates are always going to be left out—especially in perpetually overcrowded categories such as those for featured acting. But I will single out two people whose omissions seem especially egregious because, like Grief, they had more than one worthy contender this year: Lorin Latarro, who choreographed The Who’s Tommy and The Heart of Rock and Roll; and Paul Tate dePoo III, the scenic designer for The Great Gatsby, The Cottage and Spamalot. Both should have been shoo-ins, I think.
Photograph: Courtesy Matthew MurphyThe Who’s Tommy
Category sizes still confuse many people.
A quick glance at the nomination list raises an obvious question for many people, which I’ve seen a lot on social media: Most categories have five nominees, so why does one have only three and another has only four, but one has six and another two have seven? The answer is mostly straightforward, and has to do with the number of eligible candidates. When there are at least nine candidates, as in most races, there are five slots; when there are fewer (as is usually the case for revivals), the number of nominees shrinks. There were only five play revivals this season, so Best Revival of a Play has three nominees; there were six musical revivals, so Best Revival of a Musical has four nominees. But here’s where it gets more complicated: If there is a tie for the bottom slot in a category, the category expands to accommodate it. That’s why there are five nominees for Best Actress is a Play this year, even though there were only eight candidates, and it’s also why there are six nominees for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. But the categories can only expand to seven at most: If there is still a tie at that point, it triggers a somewhat complicated tie-breaking vote on weighted ballots.So we don’t know exactly what happened in the two categories—the very competitive fields of Best Featured Actress in a Play and Best Scenic Design in a Musical—that have seven nominees; all of the tying candidates may have been included, or there may have been others who tied on the first round but were subsequently cut. Either way, though, the expansion of a given category is the result of an automatic process determined by Tony rules, and does not reflect a conscious decision by nominators to widen the field.
Let the bickering begin!
Photograph: Courtesy Evan ZimmermanThe Great Gatsby
Heroes get remembered, but legends never die. New York Yankees MLBbros are being immortalized for heroics that have made them legends forever.
Dave Winfield was honored on April 24 for his incredible accomplishments while wearing the pinstripes with a mural a few blocks away from Yankee Stadium.
The mural, titled “Exhibiting Possibilities: Legendary Yankees,” was a collaboration led by The Bronx Children’s Museum, The Players Alliance, the Yankees and the Bronx Terminal Market to feature historically great Black Yankees players.
“We hope that every boy or girl that sees these murals will have their own dreams of greatness on the field and, more importantly, in their communities. We will continue to support the storytelling of excellence surrounding the Black players in our game, and we look forward to continuing to honor our history, particularly our history of Black players,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said during the unveiling of the mural.
An uber-athletic outfielder, Winfield played for the Yankees from 1981-1990, during which he was an All-Star for all but the last two seasons of his stint in the Bronx. He also won five Gold Gloves and five Silver Sluggers over his time as a Yankee.
Winfield played the first eight seasons of his career with the San Diego Padres, for which he is a member of the franchise’s Hall of Fame and has his No. 31 retired. The native of St. Paul, Minnesota was a standout for the University of Minnesota’s baseball and basketball teams before being drafted by four organizations in 1973: He was taken by the Padres with the fourth overall pick in the MLB draft, the Atlanta Hawks in the fifth round of the NBA draft and the ABA’s Utah Stars in the sixth round. And despite not playing college football, Winfield was a 17th round selection by the Minnesota Vikings in the NFL draft.
In addition to the Padres and Yankees, the 6-6, 225 pound Winfield also played for the Los Angeles Angels (formerly the California and Anaheim Angels), Toronto Blue Jays, Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Indians. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001 in his first year of eligibility. Winfield was the first Padres player ever to make it to the venerable HOF in Cooperstown, New York.
Even with the unforgettable accomplishments he had in his first 18 seasons with the Padres and Yankees, Winfield didn’t win a World Series title until 1992, in his one year with Toronto, when he was 41. During that season, he hit the game-winning, two-run double in the 11th inning of Game 6 of the World Series that clinched the title, forever earning him the nickname “Mr. Jay.”
Over the course of his career, Winfield, now 72, batted .283, with 465 home runs, 1,833 RBI, a career on-base percentage of .353, and a slugging percentage of .475. He also has 3,110 career hits, which is 23rd all-time. He was a 12-time All-Star, seven-time Gold Glove winner, and a six-time Silver Slugger award winner throughout the entirety of his playing career.
