Up until a few years ago, a world-class music festival was missing from New York City. That’s when Jordan Wolowitz and his friends took it upon themselves to create one.

The idea was simple: great music and a good venue located in New York City. Wolowitz left his job in December 2010 and eight weeks later announced Governors Ball.

When the festival first launched in 2011, it was only a daylong concert series with Girl Talk headlining. By the following year, it was a two-day festival with Beck and Passion Pit as the main acts.

“The trend is that it takes a couple of years to build a successful music festival,” Wolowitz says.

This year, Governors Ball is on its way to becoming a city music festival that rivals that of Chicago’s Lollapolooza, Wolowitz says.

“What you’re seeing [this year] is where we wanted to be,” Wolowitz says. “It’s a diverse and contemporary music festival.”

There’s a lot of buzz around this year’s headliners. Kings of Leon are releasing a new album, and for many this will be their first time seeing Guns N’ Roses live. As for Kanye West, well, he’s just everywhere. 

The festival offers an array of activities other than music. A focus point of this year’s festival is the food.

“Everyone agrees that whey they go to a festival and are hungry, the only options are hot dogs and nachos,” Wolowitz says.

This year, New York City staples like Rickshaw Dumpling Bar, Luke’s, Num Pang, Little Muenster and Bareburger will be some of the food vendors on site.

During daylong music festivals, breaks are needed. Other activities on the island include a silent disco, a photo booth, lawn games and ping-pong tables.

“We want this to be a full-day activity for people,” Wolowitz says. “While I would love it for everyone to love all acts performing, people need a breather to do other things.”

While there are some big-name bands playing, the festival is also a platform for younger artists to promote themselves to wider audiences.

“Governors Ball is a festival for die-hard music fans, for casual music fans, and for those who like experiencing the arts and culture,” Wolowitz says. “It’s a place where you can go experience the best music that’s out there while immersing yourself in New York City culture.”

For more information on tickets, transportation and more go to governorsballmusicfestival.com.

Follow Mary Ann Georgantopoulos on Twitter @marygeorgant

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President Barack Obama will stop in Midtown Manhattan this afternoon, which might mean traffic headaches.

The president, who met with British Prime Minister David Cameron this morning at the White House, will reportedly speak at three fundraisers.

One stop will include the Waldorf Astoria for a Democratic event.

The president’s entourage might signal traffic problems for the afternoon while he is here — his visit is estimated to last from about 3 p.m. until 10 p.m., according to the Daily News.

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Bombing suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were allegedly en route to set off six bombs in New York City’s Times Square after their attack on the Boston Marathon, but the plan fell through due to last Thursday’s shootout with police.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said at a press conference today that the Tsarnaev brothers’ made a “spontaneous decision” to hijack a car in Cambridge last Thursday and drive to the tourist destination and detonate explosives. They had one pressure cooker bomb and five pipe bombs in their possession.

“If God forbid they’d arrived in New York City and arrived in Times Square, they would have seen not only the police presence but an extensive network of cameras” meant to identify suspicious packages, Bloomberg said.

The plan was apparently not well thought out. According to officials, the Mercedes SUV the brothers hijacked was low on gas, and the brothers stopped at an ATM to get cash.

The abducted driver escaped when the car pulled into a gas station and both brothers got out, one to pump the gas and the other to pay for it at the station’s night cashier, according to what Dzhokhar reportedly told investigators during a bedside interrogation at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

The driver then called police and a shootout with the bombing suspects began, eventually leading to the killing of older brother Tamerlan, 26, and the arrest of Dzhokhar, 19, in Watertown. Police later said the pair threw explosive devices out of the car window.

Before these developments, New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said yesterday the men wanted to drive to New York to “party.”

“The information that we received said something about partying or having a party,” Kelly told reporters yesterday, adding that the NYPD has no information that the brothers had plotted a terror attack in the city.

Kelly said that authorities are inclined to believe last night’s confession over the previous statement because Tsarnaev was reportedly “more lucid” during the second questioning.

Today, Kelly suggested the bombs could have caused extensive damage in the bustling New York City hub.

“Look at what the bomb did in Boston and you (can)… speculate on what it could do in Times Square. There are clubs, bars… I wouldn’t want to guess, but clearly, you saw the power for the bombs in Boston … you can give a ‘guestimate’ as to what they (would do) in New York City.”

Bloomberg and Kelly pointed to the large role surveillance camera footage played in the investigation into the Boston Marathon bombings, asserting that shows how crucial surveillance is to New Yorkers’ security.

The NYPD already uses a vehicle that takes 360-degree photos along the route of major events, like marathons, but Kelly said they want to expand the numbers of cameras around the city generally.

In particular, he said, they would like to increase the number of “smart cameras” they use, which use video analytics to conduct real-time facial recognition.

Bloomberg agreed that cameras are an integral part of the city’s security measures, noting that they work as a deterrent because “you’re never going to know where all our cameras are.”

The brothers are accused of detonating two pressure-cooker bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15, killing three people and injuring 264. The brothers were identified by the FBI as suspects from pictures and video at the scene.

Prosecutors formally charged Dzhokhar Tsarnaev with the bombings in a hearing before a U.S. magistrate judge in his hospital room on Monday, accusing him of crimes that carry the possibility of the death penalty.

Tsarnaev has spoken to FBI investigators, however today reports surfaced that suggest he has stopped answering questions.

Danielle Tcholakian contributed to this article from New York.

Follow Morgan Rousseau on Twitter: @MetroMorgan
Follow Metro Boston on Twitter: @MetroBOS

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Since taking on the role of Metro’s Earth Day guest editor in 2010, actor and environmentalist Matthew Modine has remained committed to sustainable living and encouraging others to make positive choices to reduce their impact on the planet. As a young surfer and lover of the outdoors, Modine became passionate about environmental concerns at an early age. An avid New York City cyclist, Modine launched the environmental nonprofit Bicycle for a Day to empower individuals to rethink their mode of transportation and start riding a bicycle to curb their consumption of natural resources.

“If I were asked about one thing to do to improve the environment, my reply would be simple: Ride a bike,” Modine said.

Bicycle for a Day has worked since 2008 to make this an easier choice, by fighting for things like safer bike lanes and citywide bicycle share programs like those in Paris, Montreal and Washington, D.C. Since BFAD was founded, cycling in NYC has gone up by as much as 30 percent. Today, the advocacy group has shifted its focus toward improving bicycle routes in school areas to encourage children to switch to a two-wheel commute.

“If I can get kids to ride to school,” Modine explained, “there is a good chance that bicycling will become part of that young person’s lifestyle.” Besides being healthy for the environment, Modine stresses, cycling is a great form of exercise and can boost overall health at any age.

New York City is rolling out a bicycle sharing program called CitiBike, which Modine hopes will encourage people to give cycling a chance. His own ride is a single-speed kickback break bicycle, which is simple and allows great visibility – “there is no need for a fancy, multigeared bicycle,” he said. Modine also encourages cyclists to ride safely and defensively.

For those who aren’t able to transition to bikes, Modine urges people to contribute to the eco-friendly movement by being conscious of their behaviors. “Remember that whatever you throw away actually goes somewhere,” he said, “There is no magical ‘away’ place. Resources were used to make the things we throw away, and the resources of our planet are finite.”

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Fans of New York City’s annual Fleet Week will feel the hit of federal budget cuts this year. The Department of Defense has put a hold on optional events like the 29-year-old Fleet Week celebration that takes place in the city every spring.

Organizers are trying to move forward with plans to hold the event, but it is almost certain that sailors won’t be flooding city streets like they usually do. Only local Navy ships will be deployed for this year’s celebration, and most of the ships that arrive for Fleet Week are not local, The New York Post reports.

A Navy spokeswoman added that according to the Department of Defense’s policy, “no branch of the armed forces can participate in community relations or outreach that comes at additional cost to the government.”

This year’s Fleet Week is scheduled for May 23 to 30. Many local businesses count on the annual event that brings thousands of men and women in uniform to the city each year. The celebration also features Navy ship tours and demonstrations.

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 Take a look inside Elle magazine’s fourth annual Women in Music celebration at the Edison Ballroom in New York.

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We are extremely excited to learn that brewing beer is making a big comeback to New York City. Call up the brew crew and go have a cold one.

Mmm…beer.

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NASA released an amazing image of New York City that its astronauts captured from outer space.

According to the space agency, a member of Expedition 35 aboard the International Space Station took this photograph of the city’s metropolitan area March 23.

The space station orbits the Earth, and the crew member was able to capture the 400-millimeter image at night.

The photo shows Manhattan glowing nearly completely amber, ringed by New Jersey, Brooklyn and Queens.

As NASA pointed out, Central Park is just to the left of the center of the frame.

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Now you have a place to recycle your Metro at the Crossroads of the World.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a slew of new recycling spots today in Times Square.

The pilot program will bring 30 solar-powered recycling stations to Times Square, along Seventh Avenue and Broadway between 42nd and 47th streets.

The receptacles will replace 53 trash bins, according to the mayor’s office.

The heavily trafficked area generates 15,300 pounds – that’s about 900 bags of garbage – each day, Bloomberg said.

“Times Square is a global destination,” said Ron Gonen, the Department of Sanitation’s deputy commissioner for recycling and sustainability. “That means that there is a tremendous amount of paper as well as bottles and cans often left behind.”

The new receptacles will compact items like cans and bottles and paper as well as garbage.

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The city’s unemployment rate rose to a four-month high in January despite the fact that the city continues to add private sector jobs at a rapid pace, according to State Labor Department data released on Thursday.

The city added 19,000 jobs in January, but the unemployment rate hit 9.1 percent, according to the reports. Private sector jobs in the city grew by 85,000 in 2012, bringing the total number of jobs in the city to a record 3.94 million, The New York Times reports.

The discrepancy between the high unemployment rate and job gains in the city has stumped some economists, but the continuous growth in jobs signals a strengthening economy.

Labor Department data released on Friday showed that the national unemployment rate fell to a four-year low of 7.7 percent with 236,000 jobs added in February.

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The federal Department of Transportation has ordered the Fung Wah bus company to shut down immediately, one day after state officials said they were requesting the feds to declare the company an “imminent hazard” over safety concerns.

The DOT’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration made the decision today, according to a statement from the agency.

The statement said that the agency has “ordered Fung Wah Bus Transportation, Inc., to immediately cease passenger service and provide its entire fleet of 28 motorcoaches for thorough and detailed safety inspections by qualified inspectors.”

The agency said it is continuing an examination of the discount bus company’s operations, including its vehicle safety records, driver safety performance and other records.

Additional actions against the company may be warranted, the agency said.

Ann Berwick, chair of the state Department of Public Utilities, said Monday that the agency’s Transportation Oversight Division conducted random inspections earlier this month and of nine Fung Wah buses looked at, eight had cracks in their frames. Those buses were ordered off of the road.

State officials met with the bus company’s owner who agreed to take all buses manufactured before 2005 off of the road. As of Saturday, 21 of 28 buses were taken out of service.

Calls placed Monday to the bus company’s Boston and New York City offices requesting comment were not returned.

Follow Michael Naughton on Twitter @metrobosmike.

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Governor Andrew Cuomo issued a state of emergency late this afternoon regarding Winter Storm Nemo.

“As this winter storm unfolds, bringing heavy snow and high winds to parts of the state, I strongly urge all New Yorkers to exercise caution, avoid travel, and stay indoors,” Cuomo said.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned New Yorkers to stay off the streets today as Winter Storm Nemo arrives in the city.

Snow began this morning, which has since turned into heavy rain and will morph back into snow sometime between 3 and 7 p.m., he said.

The mayor advised New Yorkers to opt for a warm Friday night at home.

“Stay off the city streets,” he said.

He even had a few suggestions.

“Tonight, what’s a good idea?” he said. “Cook a meal, stay home, read a good book, watch a movie. Just take it easy.”

Bloomberg said he met with Sanitation Department officials this morning, checking equipment. Sanitation workers are on 12-hour shifts, he said, with about 1,700 snowplows and 450 salt spreaders.

“They had one plow that if we had 10 feet of snow, it would blast right through it,” he said, adding, “I don’t think we’re going to need that one.”

The FDNY also has dispatched 100 extra ambulances, he said.

“You can’t take nature too lightly,” Bloomberg said. “It’s certainly not going to be a Hurricane Sandy, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get badly hurt or killed if you’re not careful.”

As for his plans? “I will be home tonight,” he confirmed, elaborating, “Will I cook or get something from the Greek diner down the corner? I haven’t thought about that yet.”

The NYPD asked New Yorkers today not to call 911 for downed trees, blocked driveways or other non-life threatening conditions, instructing instead to dial 311.

The major winter storm with dangerous winds is expected to barrel through the Northeast tonight, and could drop more than a foot of snow on the city.

The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning for New York City, Long Island, northeast New Jersey, southern Westchester County, and large parts of New England.

Original forecasts had indicated that the city could get approximately six to eight inches of snow, but officials now say 12 to 20 inches of snow is possible for the city, with wind gusts exceeding 60 mph, according to The Wall Street Journal. More than two feet of snow is likely for much of New England.

Coastal areas of the city could see storm surges of three to five feet.

More than 2200 flights have been canceled and Amtrak has suspended some service northbound service out of New York and southbound service out of Boston, The New York Times reports.

Snow is expected to fall heaviest tonight into tomorrow morning.

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Suspected members of several of New York’s five organized crime families were caught up in the sweep in New York and New Jersey, said J. Peter Donald, a spokesman for the FBI’s New York office.

The investigation focused on suspected extortion and loan sharking schemes in which these figures targeted private New York area garbage haulers, Donald said.

As many as 30 organized crime figures were caught up in the sweep, according to the New York Post, which said the arrests began around 5 a.m. EST (1000 GMT).

The investigation was a coordinated effort between federal agents and police in New York City and Westchester, a suburb north of Manhattan.

The suspects are expected to be arraigned in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday.

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But 21-year-old Brett Cohen isn’t an actor. Nor is he a musician, an athlete or a model. Brett Cohen is a prankster — and on the night of July 27, he duped thousands of people into thinking he was a huge celebrity.

Cohen, a media management student at SUNY New Paltz and a Long Island native, planned the fake celebrity stunt with a group of friends just to see if they could pull it off. They recruited two bodyguards with ads on Craigslist, planted paparazzi-style photographers and personal assistants. Cohen, though, had to make sure he looked the part. He donned a collared shirt, jeans, tinted sunglasses and spiked hair.

“I was going for a Tom Cruise kind of look,” Cohen, who posted the video online Wednesday, told Metro.

He entered NBC on 50th Street and exited at 49th Street to a small crowd of people who gathered after his “assistants” told them a big celebrity was about to exit. Cohen said his crew did not plant any fans and all the reactions seen in the video are real. His “assistants” were instructed not to tell people anything about him or why he was famous.

“The crowds grew on every block,” Cohen said. “People would praise my work. They’d say, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe it. I’m such a big fan.’ Only one guy said, ‘I don’t know who you are.’ I said, ‘Well, I don’t know you who are either.’ And that was it.”

Cohen’s co-producer, Edward Sturm, was part of a camera crew interviewing fans in the crowd. Some people said they recognized Cohen from “Spider-Man.” Others said they’d heard his music and thought he had a bright future.

In one group of excited teenaged fans, a girl can be heard saying, “This is the best day of my life! I love him!”

“I think it’s ridiculous,” Cohen laughed. “It makes a point about culture and how people are so obsessed with celebrity.”

The prank continued for several blocks until one of Cohen’s bodyguards ushered the crew into a hotel bar. The crowd eventually dissipated. At the end of the video, Cohen is seen walking to the subway as if nothing had happened.

“The most interesting thing I’ve learned was how a video platform like this is the best way to showcase comedy,” Cohen said. “I’ve tried a lot of different platforms, and it did take a lot of talent to pretend the whole thing was normal.”

Cohen estimates he posed for about 300 photos that night. He said the crowd was a mix of tourists and New Yorkers.

“People are so obsessed with fame. It’s not a theory. It’s a fact,” he said. “It doesn’t matter whether they are really famous or not — people want to take a picture and they will put it on Twitter and Instagram in the hopes that their friends will know who it is.”

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But some New York City naturalists warn that an unusually warm winter isn’t always good news.
As today’s weather attests, winter in New York City this year was not much of a winter at all. In fact, Central Park had its warmest February on record, with temperatures averaging 40.9 degrees.
Meanwhile, there have been just 7.4 inches of snowfall this winter, compared to 61.9 inches a year ago, according to the National Weather Service.

Some flowers — including daffodils, crocuses, snow drops, winter jasmine and Japanese flowering apricots — have taken advantage of these conditions to bloom up to a month earlier than usual.

“They feel that winter is over, spring is here, bring on summer,” said Todd Forrest, vice president for horticulture and living collections at the New York Botanical Garden.

Daffodils and crocuses usually begin flowering in March, but this winter their blooms appeared in early February, according to Doug Blonsky, president of the Central Park Conservancy. But inordinately early blossoms are often susceptible to damage from late frosts, Forrest warned.

In other bad news, this may also be a banner year for mites, scale insects and other garden pests, whose populations are normally kept partially in check by winter cold spells. And since the ground never really froze, squirrels have been having a field day eating tulip bulbs, Forrest said.

“Those of us attached to our native wildlife and native plants do prefer our winters to be more normal,” he said.

Warm temps not good for all

new york. A warm winter is not good news for all insects, such as those that use snow as an insulating barrier during hibernation. But others may be able to access new food sources this spring, much to the chagrin of the city’s gardeners.

“In normal cold winters, the insects may not emerge early enough … to begin feeding on tender plant parts,” Lou Sorkin, a member of the New York Entomological Society, said in an e-mail. “A little later in the season, when insects normally emerge, the parts are tough and too difficult to chew or penetrate.” 

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The 2012 campaign focuses on some of the rarer cancers associated with smoking — stomach, pancreatic and esophageal cancer.

The ads highlight the painful nature of the cancers and the ordeal of the treatments — which even then are no guarantee of long-term survival.

The theme of the campaign is “Quitting is much less painful,” and the ads focus on the nature of chemo and radiation therapy used by doctors to tackle the diseases and sometime catastrophic effect they have on the quality of life of patients and their families.

The three cancers have some of the lowest survival rates of all.

The National Cancer Institute studied survival rates of patients in the U.S. from 1975-2008 and found:

1.  Only 17 percent of those diagnosed with esophageal cancer can expect to survive more than five years.

2. Only 26 percent of those diagnosed with stomach cancer can expect to survive for more than five years.

3. And only 6 percent of pancreatic cancer sufferers can expect to survive for five years. The survival rate among men is even lower.

The ads, run by the city’s Department of Health, feature graphic images of the cancers themselves.

Time to quit
   
Thursday begins the Health Department’s annual Nicotine Patch and Gum Program.
   
The program will run from March 1 through March 16.
   
Driven since 2006 by the hard-hitting educational campaigns NYC has become internationally renowned for, this program has prompted 300,000 to call for help to quit. It is estimated that 100,000 New Yorkers have quit smoking from this program, which equates to preventing more than 30,000 smoking-related deaths.

This year’s program

The new campaign, called “Pain,” is educating smokers about the painful cancers smoking causes and they devastatingly low survival rates of these cancers.

This year, smokers can receive further help by registering on NYC QUITS, an interactive website that includes tools to help smokers quit.

They can enroll online by searching “NYC QUITS” on www.nyc.gov or calling 311 for help quitting smoking.

Not just lung cancer

Metro asked Dr. Manish A. Shah of New York’s Weill   Cornell Medical Center about the effects smoking can have on the rest of your body:
   
Smoking is associated with an increased risk of several other cancers, including cancers of the esophagus, stomach and pancreas. These cancers are amongst the most deadly cancers we treat, and are often devastating to the patient, their close relatives and their caregivers.  

The esophagus, stomach and pancreas collectively form the foregut — the initial part of the digestive tract. These organs are critically important in starting the process of digestion by preparing food for both mechanical digestion (in the stomach) and for chemical digestion (by the pancreas). Patients with cancer of these organs commonly present with increasing difficulty swallowing, unintentional weight loss and abdominal pain. The abdominal pain can be severe, described as a gnawing pain centrally located in the abdomen and extending across the abdomen like a band toward the back.

These are aggressive tumors that require careful treatment planning. Patients with localized cancers of the esophagus, stomach or pancreas often require a multidisciplinary approach to treatment, including the coordinated efforts of a medical oncologist, radiation oncologist and surgeon. Unfortunately, despite these efforts the majority of patients will develop metastases — the spread of disease to other sites. Although patients often achieve some benefit from chemotherapy and other forms of treatment, for most patients the inevitable outcome is death.  

Limit the risk of developing the disease by stopping smoking. If the disease develops, it is important to catch it early if possible.

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Samuel Adams founder Jim Koch said, “I know Foley’s, and it’s a great bar. I hope they remember… if it weren’t for the original New England patriot, Samuel Adams… we might be watching cricket and drinking tea instead of watching the Super Bowl.” That Samuel Adam’s beer must have left a sour taste in his mouth.

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Christopher Neimann, who draws the column for The New York Times Magazine, not only ran the marathon, (which is an accomplishment on its own considering we can’t walk up five flights of stairs without stopping to catch our breath) he live-sketched it. Yup, live-sketch.

As if that wasn’t enough, he also tweeted his sketches. Check them out on Twitter @abstractsunday and @abstractsunday1.

Armed with a marker, and toward the end of his run paint, he sketched himself and the surrounding events. Often depicting himself as a running battery, Neimann sketched his energy levels by showing how ‘full’ the battery is.

We’re in shock. Let alone the physical demands of running a marathon, we’re in awe of his coordination. According to Gawker Neimann practiced for months to get used to running and sketching at the same time.

At mile 23.8, Neimann tweeted that he was hallucinating.

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By polling 1,000 users in the most populous dating pool in the country, Match found out the best neighborhoods to take a date, the sexiest jobs a man or woman can have and whether or not it’s okay to go Dutch.

One hot topic was inter-borough dating: 94 percent of New Yorkers are willing to commute for love, but only 71 percent of them are willing to schlep more than 40 minutes from their apartments.

Manhattan and Brooklyn singles were the most desirable, and only eight percent of daters were willing to travel to Staten Island to meet someone.

Don’t dare meet up at a chain restaurant, a karaoke bar or Times Square — you won’t get asked out again, respondents said.

Ladies voted Wall Street bankers and firefighters as two of the sexiest professions for men, while the guys said that they prefer women who work in either fashion or entertainment.

By the numbers

83% of Big Apple singles said that the high cost of living in the city affects how much they will shell out for a date.

But 57% of women say they volunteer to pay half the check.

Best getaway

Romantic weekends are an important part of any relationship. Match users voted Long Island their favorite getaway. Newport and Fire Island came in a close second and third, respectively.

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Citywide, food cart vendors have tallied up a whopping 2,517 health code violations this year, but the city Department of Health has no plans to make these conditions public.

The health department does not post letter grades on food carts, as it does for restaurants, and has no immediate plans to do so.

Street vendors failed to meet heath code regulations ranging from personal hygiene to rodent infestation.

Some carts are even serving “mystery meat,” according to the New York Post — “food from an unapproved or unknown source, spoiled, adulterated or home-canned.”

Since last year, City Councilman Daniel Garodnick has demanded that mobile vendors be brandished with letter-grade rankings. “People should know that the food they’re eating is safe.”

Gone bad

According to the New York Post, the following vendors racked up the most offenses:

Bulent Isci, at 41st St. and Seventh Ave.
16 violations, including keeping foods at the wrong temperature and leaving chow unprotected from   contamination.

Mubarak Ahmed, at 23rd St. and Sixth Ave.
14 violations, including bad personal hygiene and hazardous cart conditions.

Mohammed El Hiba, at Liberty St. and Broadway.
14 violations, including bad personal hygiene and cooking foods below minimum required temperatures.

Nur Ahammed, at 56-17 56th Drive in Queens.
14 violations, including improperly using pesticides and sleeping in his food cart.

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That’s because in the early 1980s, AIDS only seemed to affect the overlooked, ostracized gay community; but throughout “The Normal Heart,” this acronym is ominously absent as research has not yet progressed so far as to identify the syndrome. It’s a nameless, faceless terror attacking those with no power to fight it — a group that, similar to the disease at large, is still struggling in search of recognition and identity.

Though the premise of this play sounds monstrous and depressing, it is a relatable, moving, vital piece of art calling attention to a cause that’s still highly relevant today. The social and political issues remain unresolved even 30 years later.

This revival (contending for five Tony Awards) is co-directed by Broadway heavyweights Joel Grey and George C. Wolfe. The cast features many players from the small screen, including Jim Parsons (“The Big Bang Theory”), Lee Pace (“Pushing Daises”) and John Benjamin Hickey (“The Big C”). Coming off a strong directing spree, Joe Mantello returns to acting as the angry, confused, railing Ned Weeks — an activist who learns to love just when it seems the four-letter word is destroying his friends, his community and his faith.

Though laughter intermittently accompanies wrenching sobs, the simply staged and beautifully written play strikes an even more invaluable balance: “The Normal Heart” supplies a powerful call to action that gives modern meaning to all of its historical heartbreak.

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Eric Peterson, from HeliNY, which runs tours from Pier 6 in downtown Manhattan, says, “I never, ever tire of seeing the city this way. You could fly over a volcano in Hawaii and it wouldn’t be any more breathtaking than New York from the air.”

According to Peterson, jaded New Yorkers will likely be spilling out the superlatives. “Locals shouldn’t discount this unique way to see their own city. I rarely see anyone land disappointed,”?he says. “Maybe 1 in 1,000. That’s pretty good odds.”

If you go

HeliNY
Pier 6, East River
Prices start at $149,
plus $12 for fuel fees
212-355-0801
www.heliny.com

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