Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Stoops to Nuts Honors A Friend, Kurt Gerstmann

Dr. Kurt Gerstmann
Dr. Kurt Gerstmann's soaring spirit circled the room last night at the City Stories: Stoops to Nuts show at Cornelia Street Cafe. Kurt, a dear friend of the Cafe and Stoops to Nuts, passed away suddenly this past week.

His full life was celebrated with stories by his friends, Barbara Aliprantis, Dean Dacian and me, and the New Year was sounded by four rookie Stoops to Nuts talents, Melissa Caminecci, Annette Estevez, Natasha Gural and Maggie Nuttall. If Kurt was there he would have approached each of the artists after the show, told them how much he enjoyed their performance and given each of them a big hug and made four new storytelling friends. That's who he was. Kurt was scheduled to do the April show and we will have a special video performance of Kurt telling a story at that show or shortly thereafter.

Thank you, Melissa, Annette, Natasha, Maggie, Barbara and Dean for bringing your best last night. Thank you, to our tremendous audience for your engaging support. A wall of folks right back to the entrance door. Thank you, Paul and Matt for your fine service and professional stage management. Thank you, Robin, Angelo and Josh for letting us play in your home.

Last night's show marked the 17th anniversary of storytelling on the second Tuesday of the month at the Cafe. Barbara Aliprantis, a co-founder back in 1997 still leaves her heart and soul on the stage when she performs. I'm a lucky boy to have Barbara as my friend and mentor.

Next month's show on February 11th will showcase the incredibly talented, Sherryl Marshall.

March 11th, mark your calendars, this will be a special show. Admission and your first drink are on me, the line-up is out of this world and I'm giving a lot of stuff away. Life is short, I'm thanking a lot of people for making my world more interesting.

Melissa Caminecci

Cornelia St

Annette Estevez


Natasha Gural


Maggie Nuttall


Dean Dacian


Barbara Aliprantis



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