• by Kelly Samardak , June 8, 2010

2010 Made in NY Awards, Gracie Mansion, New York
June 7, 2010

As I approached 88^th and East End, my ears were ringing with the silence that was broken only by the yips and rowfs of neighborhood dogs feeling intruded upon while doing their business. To my right was more park, to my left I saw the East River sparkling in the lowering sun. In front of me was a curved black walkway surrounded by thick green shrubs and poppy little purple blossoms. I switched from my flats to my heels and made eye contact with security. Behind security was a white tented booth and in front of the booth was "Saturday Night Live"'s Jenny Slate. I was at Gracie Mansion!

Anyone who has lived longer than two years in Manhattan is bound to start feeling that love/ hate pull here and there. It comes in many forms: the screaming mini poodle in the courtyard on a Saturday at 8 a.m., the broken A/C in the middle of August, the unfortunate day you find yourself in the middle of Times Square at the heat of summer tourist season, and the noise, the bloody noise. But I think habitation longevity may give us a temporary amnesia because there are beautiful parks (find your Zen!), amazing restaurants owned by the world's most talented chefs, and models and actors in the wild! The Made In NY Awards honors the people who take this beautiful island, make it look good on stage, film, screen, and in your mouth, and also give back.

The whole time I was there, I must have looked like an escaped mental patient with my jaw sort of loose, stalking around the soft, grassy-tented backyard that faced the water. Every once in a while I'd jerk as my heel wedged into the soil. The pastel-purple-matched Jonathan and Liza Lipp didn't seem to notice my "pinch me" state as they let me know all about the Big Apple Film Festival, which is their deal. We haven't missed it! It's coming in November. On the lawn at one of the brightly painted picnic tables, I met the hardest working woman there (who wasn't working yesterday, but must have been sleeping with her eyes open!) Marlene Gray, who works for HRA, in the Department of Social Services. Across the table from Gray was Shirl Mayo of NYCTV.

Inside the tent I found the pocket-sized Nasim Pedrad and Jenny Slate, two of the funniest gals from "Saturday Night Live"! I was surprised at how nervous I got when I approached them for a photo. Maybe it was Pedrad's shiny hair, or Slate's red lipstick, but I couldn't put any intelligible words together, NOR could I remember their real names as my favorite skits of theirs drooled over my brain. Slate said, "I love your nail polish..." and more words, but blood was yelling in my ears. I think I burped something out like "Thank you... Crest" because in the back of my mind I knew I wanted to say something about my nail polish looking like toothpaste. What a rube. I walked away eight shades of purple.

Surrounding the tent of revelers were some of my favorite things: a French-fry cart, mini hotdogs, little pizzas, tiny burges, and beer! Silver trays of wine went from full to sparse in seconds as everyone from film insurers to stage actors scooped those puppies up. Back out on the lawn, I found an adorable little girl who later turned out to be from the Broadway show "Enron," and who gave me my hardest laugh of the night with her indignation at discovering the commercial spoof she did for SNL wasn't as it appeared. "They said it was for water guns, "she confided, "but we found out later, it was pee! It was pee guns!!" Her eyes got wide as she emphasized "pee," and I was giggling like we were at a slumber party.

I also met Steve Carroll and Laura Cumerford, two good-natured insurance types. Yes, that exists. They're with Aon:Albert Ruben Company and they insure films shot in NYC, "really, anywhere for that matter," added Carroll. They let me in on how the Made In NY awards used to be, harkening back to five or six years ago when almost every NY restaurant wanted their tents there -- even the tattoo artist or two. "It's a sign of the times," they sighed. I freaked out a little when Dominic Chianese (AKA Junior Soprano) plucked me out of the bushes. I don't know what I was doing in the bushes, but he found me. It's so weird to talk to someone and out of their mouth comes the voice of Junior Soprano. I didn't know whether to make a lucrative deal or just run.

As I made my rounds, I finally met actor types! Philip Willingham, actor, has been in the film "Cargo" recently and is working on "The Arrangement. He was with Ben Hartley, director of "The Broadway Experience" and Sabra Lewis, an actress. I also struck up a conversation with Sammy Simpson of CBS and Adrian Sas of NYCTV, who is a producer on "It's My Park" When I told Simpson that my party coverage was landing me at The Box this week he gave me a few names to hold on to. That's one thing I noticed about the group at Gracie, everyone I met was willing to hook you up with whoever you needed. Maybe they all rememeber their beginnings in NY, and how even the tiniest connection helps. Warm and fuzzy, I tell you.

As I tottered on one foot trying to remove the weird pile of black thread that had gathered I spotted a familiar face but because it wasn't a digital media/tech event, my synapses were firing but not connecting. Wait, yes! It was Melanie Notkin, founder of SavvyAuntie.com, a community she has put her heart and soul (and savings into). You can feel how passionate she is about her work when she talks about it. There is no eye-rolling, there is no "but let's talk about something else"ing, she's proud of her baby and she should be. And true to the theme of the night, when I bounced an idea off her, the response wasn't "well, good luck with that" -- it was "how can I support you?" Work that into your vernacular kids, it's heart-humping to hear. Next New Networks' Michelle DeForrest emerged through the crowd with Brian Leddy, who seems to be starting up a bunch of projects o-- ne being citiology.com, a review community style site focusing on going out in the city and another project with Social Media Week founder Toby Daniels.

It was an amazing night, a night I got to trounce around the ground of Gracie Mansion and expand my interactions with the inhabitants and hard workers of New York. Oh, right, and there's that little details of being right under the nose hairs of one Mayor Bloomberg as he and Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment Commissioner Katherine Oliver handed out awards to Angela Lansbury for her work in "Murder She Wrote" and on Broadway; HIS Productions an independent production company; "Saturday Night Live," accepted by Seth Meyers; Filmmaker Lee Daniels; Brooklyn Workforce Innovations, a not-for-profit community-based network of social enterprises and job-training programs in South Brooklyn; and WFT Productions, an NYC digital agency that delivered an augmented reality view of MTA stops.

And in case you Internet Week readers were curious, Mayor Bloomberg did indeed give Internet Week props. Good thing because David-Michel Davies and Neil Vogel were there keeping everybody honest.

Thank you, New York!

Larger photos are up on Flickr with many more to come!