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Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Inside the quirky pink bus spotted all over NYC, as its loudly dressed owner runs for office on ‘Party Party' line
A bright pink school bus covered in stickers has become a common scene on the streets of New York City — with partiers dancing on its handmade bamboo rooftop. 'Hello, we've got some celebrities here we are passing through!' Glinda the Good Bus' loudly dressed owner Michelle Joni Lapidos said as The Post rode tagged along through Manhattan with some college-aged curiosity seekers. Self-described 'social savant' Lapidos brainstormed the bus in 2019 and has been zipping bridal parties, birthday celebrations and more throughout the city since — but this year is bringing the bus back to its roots as a campaign trolley. Lapidos is trying to launch the aptly-named 'Party Party' line in a longshot bid for Brooklyn borough president, a job she said will help her 'bring the New York spirit back.' 'I truly see people right for their magic and I want to activate that and people,' Lapidos told The Post. 'Radical inclusion — I want everyone to win. We can all win. We have a society built around competition and divisiveness, and the 'Party Party' offers the viewpoint that we can all win.' Dressed in a blue flight attendant suitdress and red pilot cap, and flanked by her two co-pilots, Lapidos scooped up a party of the New School graduate students while blasting 'Empire State of Mind' — and Lapidos played karaoke with the vehicle's sound system. While the group dined and drank on the couches on the bus' roof, co-pilot Addison Dreher tossed out glitter, stickers, bubbles, party hats and more. Whenever the bus slowed down, co-pilot Luna März danced in the open doorway of the bus and encouraged rush hour passersby to join in on the party. 'It's very much that feeling of people being taken out of their element of like, 'Oh, what that!' I don't know if I'm addicted to it for personal reasons, but it's needed and people are ready,' Lapidos said. This spring marks a return to form for Glinda the Good Bus, which is named in honor of the equally bright and pink witch from the 'Wizard of Oz.' Lapidos said she originally bought the vehicle as a campaign vehicle for a bid for president in 2020. As far as the city Board of Elections would be concerned, the campaign was an informal one. But Lapidos ordered license plates that said 'JONI2020' and put out her dreams of being president into the universe. 'There's the spiritual belief that intention is creation, so each little bit as intention is actually creation,' she explained. When her mission to become the first female commander-in-chief didn't pan out, Lapidos found ways to community organize in other ways. She founded a skipping club — which is exactly what it sounds like — and helped brainstorm the Metro Gala, an annual 'underground' version of the elitist fashion party. Plus, Glinda the Good Bus boarded thousands of customers — including many who were picked up off the street. Birthday girl Ren Hasuda watched the spectacle breeze down the street one evening and knew it would be the perfect spot to host her first-ever birthday in America. 'It's fantastic! It's super unique. I wanted to do something special and then saw this on the street — it feels meant to be,' Hasuda told The Post as she sat atop Glinda to celebrate her 32nd birthday. The environment is an attempt to replicate the 'vibes' of Burning Man, an event that Lapidos said changed her life and opened her eyes to a new form of self-expression and community. Now, Lapidos is attempting to expand the party even further by throwing her hat into the race for Brooklyn borough president. Lapidos failed to provide a valid cover sheet with her paperwork, technically bumping her out of the race to unseat incumbent Antonio Reynos but the determined bus driver plans to run as an independent on her own line: the 'Party Party.' Her main mission, she explained, would be boosting businesses and nightlife so that Brooklyn is keeping the lights on 24/7. Shouldn't there be a cocktail hour for the waitresses who work the typical cocktail hour, she asked Lapidos also hopes to place an even stronger emphasis on the arts, something that has been an integral part of the city, and especially Brooklyn's, identity for generations. 'Art as inherent is the kind of party that we want to bring. That's creativity, expression and community,' Lapidos said. 'I also have a vision for the world. I ride around in the driver's seat of my bus — this is my corner office. I see the world. I see the streets.'
New York Post
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Inside the quirky pink bus spotted all over NYC, as its loudly dressed owner runs for office on ‘Party Party' line
A bright pink school bus covered in stickers has become a common scene on the streets of New York City — with partiers dancing on its handmade bamboo rooftop. 'Hello, we've got some celebrities here we are passing through!' Glinda the Good Bus' loudly dressed owner Michelle Joni Lapidos said as The Post rode tagged along through Manhattan with some college-aged curiosity seekers. Self-described 'social savant' Lapidos brainstormed the bus in 2019 and has been zipping bridal parties, birthday celebrations and more throughout the city since — but this year is bringing the bus back to its roots as a campaign trolley. 8 Michelle Joni Lapidos, with Luna März and Addison Dreher, take partiers on tours of the Big Apple aboard Glinda the Good Bus. Stefano Giovannini Lapidos is trying to launch the aptly-named 'Party Party' line in a longshot bid for Brooklyn borough president, a job she said will help her 'bring the New York spirit back.' 'I truly see people right for their magic and I want to activate that and people,' Lapidos told The Post. 'Radical inclusion — I want everyone to win. We can all win. We have a society built around competition and divisiveness, and the 'Party Party' offers the viewpoint that we can all win.' 8 Lapidos spiritually ran for President of the US in 2020. Stefano Giovannini Dressed in a blue flight attendant suitdress and red pilot cap, and flanked by her two co-pilots, Lapidos scooped up a party of the New School graduate students while blasting 'Empire State of Mind' — and Lapidos played karaoke with the vehicle's sound system. While the group dined and drank on the couches on the bus' roof, co-pilot Addison Dreher tossed out glitter, stickers, bubbles, party hats and more. Whenever the bus slowed down, co-pilot Luna März danced in the open doorway of the bus and encouraged rush hour passersby to join in on the party. 'It's very much that feeling of people being taken out of their element of like, 'Oh, what that!' I don't know if I'm addicted to it for personal reasons, but it's needed and people are ready,' Lapidos said. 8 Birthday girl Ren Hasuda, in center, said spending her 32nd birthday on the bus felt 'meant to be.' Stefano Giovannini 8 The Post joined Hasuda's birthday celebrations and witnessed the Glinda magic. Stefano Giovannini This spring marks a return to form for Glinda the Good Bus, which is named in honor of the equally bright and pink witch from the 'Wizard of Oz.' Lapidos said she originally bought the vehicle as a campaign vehicle for a bid for president in 2020. As far as the city Board of Elections would be concerned, the campaign was an informal one. But Lapidos ordered license plates that said 'JONI2020' and put out her dreams of being president into the universe. 'There's the spiritual belief that intention is creation, so each little bit as intention is actually creation,' she explained. When her mission to become the first female commander-in-chief didn't pan out, Lapidos found ways to community organize in other ways. She founded a skipping club — which is exactly what it sounds like — and helped brainstorm the Metro Gala, an annual 'underground' version of the elitist fashion party. 8 Lapidos bought Glinda in 2019 as a campaign bus. Stefano Giovannini 8 The inside of Glinda the Good Bus is colorfully decorated. Katherine Donlevy/NY Post Plus, Glinda the Good Bus boarded thousands of customers — including many who were picked up off the street. Birthday girl Ren Hasuda watched the spectacle breeze down the street one evening and knew it would be the perfect spot to host her first-ever birthday in America. 'It's fantastic! It's super unique. I wanted to do something special and then saw this on the street — it feels meant to be,' Hasuda told The Post as she sat atop Glinda to celebrate her 32nd birthday. The environment is an attempt to replicate the 'vibes' of Burning Man, an event that Lapidos said changed her life and opened her eyes to a new form of self-expression and community. 8 She is running for Brooklyn Boro President on the 'Party Party.' Stefano Giovannini Now, Lapidos is attempting to expand the party even further by throwing her hat into the race for Brooklyn borough president. Lapidos failed to provide a valid cover sheet with her paperwork, technically bumping her out of the race to unseat incumbent Antonio Reynos but the determined bus driver plans to run as an independent on her own line: the 'Party Party.' Her main mission, she explained, would be boosting businesses and nightlife so that Brooklyn is keeping the lights on 24/7. Shouldn't there be a cocktail hour for the waitresses who work the typical cocktail hour, she asked 8 März danced in front of the open door and encouraged passerbys to join the party. Stefano Giovannini Lapidos also hopes to place an even stronger emphasis on the arts, something that has been an integral part of the city, and especially Brooklyn's, identity for generations. 'Art as inherent is the kind of party that we want to bring. That's creativity, expression and community,' Lapidos said. 'I also have a vision for the world. I ride around in the driver's seat of my bus — this is my corner office. I see the world. I see the streets.'
Channel 4
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Channel 4
‘Hell will freeze' before Putin meets Zelenskyy, says Khrushchev's great-granddaughter
We are joined by Nina Khrushcheva, who's a Professor of International Affairs at the New School in New York and great-granddaughter of the former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.
New York Times
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Carla Bley's 1970s Experimental Masterpiece Gets a Belated Premiere
On a recent afternoon at the New School, the Tishman Auditorium vibrated with the hum of voices. The sound started so imperceptibly that it took a while to realize that it came from the 10 singers who appeared motionless, lined up in front of microphones. As the low drone grew louder, individual voices peeled off with microtonal shudders and ululations, and foghorn-like trombone blasts wormed their way through the vocal texture. Eventually, a 20-piece jazz orchestra joined in, forming a vast mushroom cloud of sound. 'Whatever it is can't have a name,' a spectral voice intoned, 'since it makes no difference what you call it.' The ensemble, made up of students and faculty members, was rehearsing 'Escalator Over the Hill' by Carla Bley with lyrics by Paul Haines for a performance on Friday. Remarkably, it will be the staged American premiere of this masterpiece of 1970s experimentalism. In an essay, Bley, who died last year, wrote that the work was conceived as a jazz opera, though 'the term 'opera' was used loosely from the start, an overstatement by two people who didn't have to watch their words.' When a recording was released in 1971, the album cover identified it as a 'chronotransduction,' an invented term playing on time and conversion. Whatever it is, 'Escalator' became a cult album. The pianist and composer Arturo O'Farrill, who played with Bley and now teaches at the New School, said in an interview that a couple of things might have kept the work from being staged: the composer's gender and the expense of putting on a work of such ambitious dimensions. With vocal styles spanning classical, pop and experimental rock, it's a challenge to cast and difficult to fit into a traditional opera house. O'Farrill said that the hybrid style — the question of what to call it — was confusing to many. 'It's not acceptable jazz to the gatekeepers,' he said. 'It's clearly some sort of monstrous hybrid, something that doesn't stay quietly in its lane.' The sprawling work, blending Indian classical traditions, jazz, rock and free improvisation, was recorded over three years with a breathtaking lineup of stars: Jack Bruce from Cream, a not-yet-famous Linda Ronstadt, the saxophonist Gato Barbieri, the guitarist John McLaughlin and the cornetist Don Cherry, known from his work with Ornette Coleman. Bley's 4-year-old daughter, Karen Mantler, who would grow up to become a jazz pianist and composer, also contributed vocals. In footage from the recording sessions, you can see her stand at a microphone wearing headphones that smother much of her head, eyes fixed in concentration as she interjects 'riding uneasily' in one of the early numbers. In a phone interview, Mantler recalled learning her part by heart as her mother sang the words into her ear. 'I had a few lines where I did not understand what it meant,' she said laughing, 'although I don't think anyone did.' Set at a seedy hotel, 'Escalator' unfolds in a kaleidoscope of voices that is closer to Dylan Thomas's radio play 'Under Milk Wood' than to narrative music theater. 'It's surreal,' Mantler said. 'It's like stepping into a series of rooms and each of them is different.' O'Farrill said that for all the stylistic eclecticism, there is a thematic cohesion to 'Escalator' that sets it apart from other jazz works of this scale. 'Like all large works, this chronotransduction is architectural, with supporting points and balance points,' he said. 'The 'Hotel Overture,' for example, is a piece of foundational writing that supports the entire work. We don't get that a lot in jazz.' In the 1990s, Bley authorized a new orchestration of 'Escalator' by Jeff Friedman and led a handful of live performances across Europe. Mantler, who worked on that project as her mother's assistant and performed in some of the concerts, said Bley had always wanted to make the work available for performance. 'She would have liked to have seen it turned into a theater piece,' Mantler said, 'but it required a lot of funding.' It also requires nerves to take on parts that had been defined by such musical legends. But O'Farrill, who teaches an ensemble class that focuses on Bley's music, said Bley would never have wanted any musician to emulate another's performance. 'It was never meant to be set in amber,' he said. 'Of course they have big shoes to fill,' he added. 'But should they fill them like the people who performed on that record? If Carla were here, she'd be saying: 'Absolutely not.' Because the integrity was not in the performance, it was in her writing.' O'Farrill said that the real challenge in taking on 'Escalator' lay in matching the emotional intensity of the recording. 'You have to press the crayon harder than you do with most jazz that we're taught. There's a gritty aspect to it.' During a hard-driving passage in the rehearsal, the conductor, Keller Coker, broke off and urged the brass players to bring more wildness to their sound: 'You're playing in a barn. You're next to the prize bull. Mix it up!' The students repeated the section with rattling intensity and splintered overblown notes from the saxophones. The sound seemed to shudder like a pot about to blow its lid. 'It has to come from your own experience,' O'Farrill said he told his students. 'Find your own crucible of pain. That's where you're going to find your voice.'
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NYC university sued, accused of not taking action against antisemitic harassment
A New York City university has been slapped with a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging the New School's Parsons School of Design "allowed a climate of antisemitic hostility" in the wake of the Oct. 7 massacre. The lawsuit was filed by the Dhillon Law Group on behalf of Brandon White, a recent Parsons graduate. The suit alleges that "the university failed to protect him from assault, slurs, and a prolonged campaign of harassment, fueled by protestors' mistaken belief that he was Jewish." The school is accused of not acting to stop the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) group on its campus — along with faculty and other activists — from harassing Jewish and Israeli students, or those who appear to belong to either group. Masked Anti-israel Stanford Protesters Charged In Destructive 2024 Campus Building Takeover White is neither Jewish nor Israeli, but he alleges that he was subjected to anti-Israel activists' taunts and harassment. According to the lawsuit, on Dec. 4, 2023, activists stopped White from entering the University Center for class, screamed slurs at him, shoved him, slammed a door on his hand and threatened him. "When someone blocks you from going to class and shoves you out of the only entrance because they assume what you believe, and the university just shrugs — it's clear something is broken," said White. "This lawsuit is about standing up to that kind of hate and holding the school accountable." Read On The Fox News App Former Columbia University President Reportedly Pressed By Government On Campus Antisemitism Protesters allegedly launched a "smear campaign" against White online using his photo and made false claims that he was a "violent bigot." Despite White reporting the incident, the school opened a disciplinary investigation against him — not his alleged assailants. In the end, the university did not take action against those who allegedly harassed White, and his complaint was dismissed. StandWithUs Legal worked with White during the university's investigation and is now serving as a legal consultant on his case against the New School. "The kangaroo court process didn't just fail Brandon White—it sent a message that Jewish students, and those perceived to be Jewish, are not safe or supported on campus," said Yael Lerman, legal director at StandWithUs. The New School sent Fox News Digital a statement on the lawsuit, saying it is their policy not to comment on pending litigation. "The New School is a place of shared learning, mutual respect, and open and robust discussion by our students, faculty, and staff. As a community, we do not tolerate discriminatory acts of any kind directed at any individual based upon their race, religion, national origin or other protected categories. Maintaining a safe, civil, and respectful campus environment for all members of our community is our priority," the statement read. Dhillon Law Group partner Matthew Sarelson says the lawsuit is about more than a protest. "This is about a university that allowed students and staff to use physical force and public smear campaigns against those they deemed 'Zionists', real or perceived, and then punished the victims instead of the perpetrators. What happened to Brandon was disgraceful," Sarelson said. "Brandon White's experience is not an isolated case, it's a symptom of a broken system where antisemitism is tolerated, even rewarded."Original article source: NYC university sued, accused of not taking action against antisemitic harassment
