We know how easy it is to slip into sweet, sweet hibernation mode when you’re faced with freezing rain, apocalyptic snowfall, or just plain cold – but not this time! Here’s a few fun local reasons to see something besides your laptop, television screen, or apartment walls this winter, and maybe, just maybe, even get a head-start on some new year’s resolutions.

Go Ice Skating

This one’s a no-brainer! Grab some friends and enjoy this classic chilly pastime in two ways right here in Queens – and without getting stuck in an overcrowded tourist trap. You can try skating in a bubble at NYC’s only rooftop rink, City Ice Pavilion, located right off the 7 train in Long Island City/Sunnyside (47-32 32nd Pl), or take the 7 a bit further down the line to the World Ice Arena in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park (131-35 Avery Ave). Both rinks are open everyday, offer private lessons (if you want to get fancy), hockey programs (if you want to get rowdy), and special rates for groups and parties. In general, aside from any spills you take on the ice, it’s minimal damage – both rinks are just $5 on weekdays, $8 on weekends/holidays, and $5 for skate rentals.

Attend (or sign up for) an open mic

What’s better than an open mic? A multi-genre local open mic that fosters true creative community. Cozy and comfy yet well-equipped, Waltz-Astoria (23-14 Ditmars Blvd) has been running its open mic for the past seven years, currently on Tuesday and Wednesday nights (sign up at 7:30pm, show at 8pm), and it shows no signs of slowing down. Actors, singers, writers, comics, musicians, spoken word artists, and more step up to what is usually a packed house, but always a supportive crowd. Proprietors Song and Pedro Gonzalez have enjoyed seeing countless individuals either continue growing as artists or begin their careers on the Waltz stage, so why not join the family and go on next? If you’re not into performing you can just show up to support, and most likely come away with a fuzzy feeling of pride for – quite possibly – your new favorite people. Drinks (alcoholic and non), sandwiches, and treats available, too.

Try some Hot Yoga (or Hot Vinyasa, or Hot Pilates…)

If you truly loathe the cold and would rather commune with your fellow yogis instead of a lonely treadmill, perhaps you should consider trying the several hot class options at The Yoga Room in Astoria (38-01 35th Ave) and LIC (10-14 47th Rd). Hot classes like Hot Yoga (featuring Bikram-style 26 postures), Hot Yoga Flow (which mixes in additional postures), Hot Vinyasa (a dynamic flowing practice), and “Hot Bodies” Hot Pilates take place in a room heated from 95 to 105 degrees, so it’s kind of like exercising in a sauna. The higher temperature increases blood flow and burns calories while sweating out toxins and aiding in flexibility. It’s an experience like no other, but if you’re not into the added kick of extra heat or would rather work up to it, The Yoga Room offers many other options for yoga and Pilates students of all levels, seven days a week, in both locations.

Get Hands On

No, we’re not going to play you “Unchained Melody,” but we are absolutely going to recommend you get involved in the lovely multicultural community at the spacious BrickHouse Ceramic Art Center (10-34 44th Dr) in LIC. Anyone at any skill level can walk through their doors and benefit from meeting new people, developing or honing their skills, and spending time crafting art with their bare hands – which, in this increasingly fast-paced world, is really quite special and relaxing to take part in. A full range of classes are available during the day or evening, and students can learn to make functional pottery (like plates, cups, bowls, etc.) or sculpture at various levels, from beginners up through advanced students and professional artists. BrickHouse director Ellen E. Day also organizes the yearly Clay Fest (which you should look out for in 2013), a citywide open studios event in which people all over NYC can get well-acquainted with the vibrant ceramic community that exists here.

Enjoy Some Live Music

Our borough isn’t blessed with traditional music venues, but thanks to some enterprising locals that’s never stopped us from making it work. Queens classic LIC Bar (45-58 Vernon Blvd), with its original tin ceilings and antique wood, has always been a welcome haven for standout sounds. You’ve got four days a week (Sat, Sun, Mon, and Wed) to grab a brew or just enjoy the evening, featuring local Queens and NYC talent alongside national acts and top-notch curated showcase nights with various themes – including “Queens of Queens” featuring original lady-musicians from the borough – dedicated John Lennon and Elvis tributes, or a rollicking Rolling Stones cover night. Did we mention there’s a private carriage house out back with its own fireplace?! And lucky for you, starting in the new year LIC Bar’s popular fireside reading series (think ghost stories, classic radio programs, and live musical accompaniment) will make a much-anticipated return.

Run Away with the Circus

Here’s the part where childhood dreams, restless adulthood, or ambitious new year’s resolutions come into play. If you’ve ever wanted to train like a circus star – soar through the air on the flying trapeze, balance and tumble like an acrobat, scale flowing aerial silks to dizzying heights – then LIC’s Circus Warehouse (53-21 Vernon Blvd) is your new playground. Founded by Suzi Winson, Gino Farfan, and Michelle Arvin, the 8,000-square-foot space with its towering 30-foot tall ceilings and full trapeze rig will excite athletic practitioners and performance enthusiasts of all sorts. Beginners and drop-ins are welcome but it’s easy to get addicted, and because the Warehouse offers classes taught by actual circus pros, their homegrown stars have gone on to work with major productions around the world. If you’ve got the gumption (and the tights) – this could be you!

Bring Art to Yourself and/or your Kids

Did you know that there’s a conservatory for music and art nestled in the ground floor of a building on a main Astoria drag? Multi-talented couple Jane and Micah Burgess founded Art House Astoria (23-35 Broadway) as a nurturing space for both children and adults to stretch their creative wings with music, dance, writing, and visual art. There’s something for nearly every age bracket to try – tots 6 months to 2 years can rock and roll with their parents to themed classes like 90s grunge and glam rock; 3 to 4 year olds can learn basic music theory by playing on Little Red Pianos; and kids 9 to 15 can realize their Glee fantasies by singing and dancing in Show Choir. Both you and your kids can takeindividual guitar or painting/drawing classes, and adults can get a little creative writing in as well. Art House also hosts an open mic night and a faculty cabaret, but for full info on programs give them a call or check their Facebook.

Play video games in a museum?!

Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first digital video game by literally playing your way through a history of gaming at Astoria’s own Museum of the Moving Image (36-01 35th Ave). Their Spacewar! Video Games Blast Off exhibition is comprised of more than 20 playable (!) games ranging in platform, genre, and developer. Full-size arcade versions of Space Invaders and Asteroids, Yar’s Revenge on Atari 2600, Galaga ’91 on Game Gear, Star Fox on Super Nintendo, on up through Halo 4 on Xbox 360, and of course a playable simulation of Spacewar! on a model PDP-1 computer…what are you waiting for?! Special programs relating to Spacewar! will also run while the exhibition is on view, and after you mash buttons for awhile don’t forget to geek out over the rest of this one-of-a-kind museum’s kaleidoscopic displays, multimedia, and cinematic memorabilia.

Get Your Drink On – Winter Style

Take your usual booze cruise off autopilot and mix it up with some wintry drinks that are sure to combat the chill in your bones. If you’re in Astoria, pop by Sweet Afton (30-09 34th St) for a classic spiked hot cider with your choice of spiced rum, bourbon, or apple brandy, or stop in Pachanga Patterson (33-17 31st Ave) to snag a Canelazo, a traditional Colombian beverage made of panela (sugarcane) and water boiled with cinnamon – it’s typically served with Aguardiente (firewater) but can alternatively be paired with your choice of brandy or spiced rum. If you’d like to give LIC a try, Manducatis Rustica (46-33 Vernon Blvd) offers an egg nog martini (with vanilla vodka), a caramel kiss (with caramel vodka, marshmallow, and Godiva), in addition to good ol’ hot toddies and several varieties of hot cocoa that are perfect to cozy up to their fireplace with.

And Finally…Have a Snow Day!

Yes, we said it! Should global warming relinquish its dreaded grasp and grant us a generous dusting or a nutsy blizzard this season, please heed this last piece of advice: drop the shovel, stop grumbling for at least a few hours, and give yourself permission to have some fun. Romp around in sprawling Astoria Park, careen down the big hills in LIC’s Rainey Park on a sled, smash someone in the face with a snowball… Yup. You’re welcome.

By LISA A. FRASER

Pia Toscano was glamorous as usual when she performed for a local Howard Beach event in October.

The former American Idol contestant and now recording artist, was clad in a bedazzling short, silver, sequenced dress and six-inch heels, which accentuated her already long legs as she performed her single, “This Time” for her friends, family and attendees at Russo’s on the Bay’s hosting of the annual fundraiser for the Angels on the Bay charity.

For her, it was great to be back home in Queens.

“Things like this, being here is so special to me. I’ve performed here over the last four years,” she said as she spoke with It’s Queens that night. Toscano, a wedding and events singer up to her record deal, always performed around the borough with her band, Current Events, also on hand that night.

The fact that it was her birthday and also her grandfather’s birthday held an even more special significance. “It’s amazing,” said the 23-year-old. “I’m so glad that I could sing with my band again, I miss them. They’re the ones that brought me to where I am now.”

The band made a special cake for Toscano and presented it to her after her performance – to her surprise.

All through the night, the young starlet barely had a chance to sit for more than a few minutes as admirers and fans asked for photos and autographs. But it wasn’t something she minded in the least bit.

With her mega-watt smile and down-to-earth charm, Toscano gracefully accepted compliments and well wishes, and she graciously posed for photos and signed autographs.

And when she performed, her powerful voice filled the room as she belted out her single, “This Time,” as well as flawless covers of Alicia Keys’ “New York” and the classic, “Stand by You.”

For Toscano, the journey to where she is presently has been “quite the ride.”

Her shocking elimination broke the hearts of many Queensites and Idol fans. But within 24-hours after her departure from the show, she scored a record deal with Interscope Records.

Toscano just wrapped up the American Idols LIVE! concert tour in the Philippines and is now working on finishing up her debut album, which will be released in January.

Originally set to be released in November, the album was pushed back because, among other reasons, she and her team wanted it to be the perfect representation of who she is.

“I’m a down-to-earth girl. Family for me is first and foremost, I love my family time,” she said. “I like to lay low, I like my quiet time and I could be a little shy at times but I just like to have a good time.”

Though she wouldn’t reveal the name of the album, she promised it would be an eclectic mix of sounds.
“If [fans] don’t get the chills or they don’t want to get up and dance, I’ll feel like I’ve failed,” she said. “I want people to be able to relate to my story.”
The best part about her success, Toscano says, is making her family proud. “My family for sure has helped keep me grounded,” she said.

And about Queens, the Howard Beach native has an infinite appreciation for the borough.

“Queens has watched me grow and allowed me so many opportunities to perform when I was nobody,” she said. “That’s what special to me.”

On her rise to fame, Toscano says everything about the journey has been surprising.

“It’s all new to me. But most surprising is to know that you’re a role model,” she said. “I’ve always looked up to all those big voices – Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey – and now I guess I’m kind of that person for a young girl too, to look up to and that’s the best and most rewarding feeling ever.”

By DANIEL BUSH

One afternoon a few days before flying to Denver for the start of the NCAA tournament, Steve Lavin paused to reflect on the extraordinary turnaround of the St. John’s men’s basketball program.  Tailor-made for the spotlight, the former ESPN analyst-turned Red Storm head coach was dressed head-to-toe in red and black Johnnies gear, following a long team practice at Carneseca Arena in Jamaica.

It was the height of March Madness, but Lavin appeared well-groomed, even rested.  “You can sense the buzz in the St. John’s community,” Lavin said.  He added, the school’s “base has been energized.”  For a man known for making large pronouncements, this might have been the understatement of the college basketball season.

Since taking over last summer, Lavin, 46, has made college hoops in Queens – and New York City – relevant again through a combination of good hires, recruiting and a pile of victories.

The team finished 17-16 in 2009-2010.  Under Lavin, this year’s squad – anchored by standouts D.J. Kennedy and Dwight Hardy – went 21-12, good for a third place finish in the Big East Conference and a birth in the tournament – the school’s first trip to the Big Dance since 2002.

Sure, the Red Storm lost in the first round to Gonzaga University.  But that almost seems beside the point.  For the first time in years, long-suffering fans around the borough had a reason to watch basketball in March.  The way Lavin sees it, that’s a pretty good start.

Coaching at St. John’s has been “one of the most rewarding experiences of my career,” he told It’s Queens.  That’s saying something, considering Lavin’s remarkable journey from the hardwood to the small screen to the world’s most famous arena.

The son of a former high school basketball star, Lavin was raised in San Francisco and caught his first break as an assistant coach at Purdue University in the late 1980’s. He moved on to UCLA, where he was named head coach in 1996.  In his seven-year run with the Bruins, Lavin compiled an overall record of 145-78, and was one of only two coaches with five Sweet 16 finishes in six years. But the high-profile assignment ended abruptly in 2003, when Lavin was fired after the Bruins sank in the standings.

Instead of fading away, Lavin used the setback to land a position as a basketball analyst for ABC and ESPN, where he would work for the next seven years.

He considered cutting his television honeymoon short to take a head coaching position at N.C. State in 2006, then changed his mind.  When St. John’s athletic director Chris Monasch came calling in the summer of 2010, the two signed a deal within 72 hours.

New York is a tough sports town, but Lavin never seemed to miss a beat.  While he couldn’t have scripted a better first season, Lavin is the first to admit there’s a lot of heavy lifting to do. It begins with a strong recruiting drive to replace the team’s core group of seniors.

Lavin also faces a more personal challenge off the court in the form of his fight against prostate cancer.  He said he kept last fall’s diagnosis a secret in order to focus on basketball.

“I didn’t want to distract our team,” Lavin said.  But now that the season’s behind him, the coach is preparing to undergo treatment for the early-stage cancer.  His prospects are good; Lavin’s docter said he expects “a complete cure.”  And his coaching duties won’t be affected, which means Lavin can continue to build on the Red Storm’s surprising turnaround.

His long-term goal?

“Returning St. John’s to its place as the crown jewel of basketball in New York City.” Carmelo Anthony has a fight on his hands.

By NATHAN TEMPEY

In the subway, through the clatter of trains and the murmur of announcements, you hear it before you see it. Even a few feet from the performer, the source of the music is unclear. “She’s singing.” “No she’s not, she’s playing.” “Playing?” Natalia Paruz gets that a lot.

Thirty-five-year-old Paruz, also known as “The Saw Lady,” has been playing the musical saw in New York’s subway system for nearly two decades.  She’s grown used to strange reactions.  Some passersby reach to touch the blade mid-song; others sing to imitate its eerie pitch.

To be fair, it’s unexpected to see someone playing a saw with a bow. And more surprising still is Paruz’s proficiency at it. She works her saw seriously, making it tremble like a violin and wail like an opera star (she’s in the process of learning a few arias). Her skill has carried her from grimy underground hallways to the stage at Carnegie Hall.  For someone with such an unusual talent, her calendar is impressively full.

On a recent Saturday afternoon, she sat in the Astoria living room of pianist Mary Bopp, practicing for an upcoming competition. Though sometimes paired with other  unusual instrumentalists, Paruz mostly works with traditional ensembles and, occasionally, orchestras.  She had just returned from a short tour in Israel, where she was born and spent her early childhood.

“It was enough for me,” she said. “I don’t like to be away too long.” She lives a short walk away on 27th Street in a house she owns with her husband.  Paruz is something of a neighborhood fixture; cashiers at the grocery store refer to her as The Saw Lady, and school kids mime saw-playing when she passes.  The post office clerk asks after her family.

“I like the fact that Astoria’s so close to Manhattan, but you can see the sky,” Paruz said. “The buildings are lower, you know, and further apart. And it has lots of small town feel, lots of old moms and pops.”

“You can’t eat a bad meal here,” Bopp interjected. “Or at least there’s no good excuse.”  The two met on a street corner where Paruz was taping up a flyer for the saw festival she organizes, and quickly became friends and frequent collaborators.  The festival that started with five sawists (as they’re known) in Paruz’s living room is now in its ninth year, and is expected to fill Astoria’s Hellenic Cultural Center this July.

These days Paruz is settled into her groove.  Though better-paying opportunities beckon, she makes sure to carve time out for playing underground, where the audience talks back. Her determined grace amid the bustle of subway stations gives her a mystical aura, as if she was chosen for the profession. To hear her tell it, she was – New York City made a saw lady out of her. But her path was paved by hours of practice a day, and a solid street sense.

Raised outside Tel Aviv to a concert pianist mother and scientist father whose residencies and research fellowships carried the family across Europe.  At the age of 15 her parents moved to New York, and she signed on as a Martha Graham Dance Company trainee. When her parents left she stayed, renting a room in a convent and began dancing full-time.

Two years into her busy new life she was struck by a cab speeding across Central Park South.  “It was clear that my dance career was over,” said Paruz, who suffered a spine injury.  “I felt empty.” After the accident, she audited computer programming classes at Hunter College, thinking she might turn the hobby into a job, but the emptiness remained.

Around this time Paruz traveled to Austria – on a trip arranged to lift her spirits – and it was there, at a variety show, that she first heard the sounds of a musical saw.  She asked the saw player for instruction afterwards, but he insisted that the best way to learn was to try it out for herself. Back in New York, she borrowed her landlady’s rusty saw and went to it.  On finding that the saw only bore six notes, she went to the hardware store and upgraded.

“I was totally hooked on the phenomenal acoustics in the subway. I never wanted to go back to playing above ground.”

One day she was playing on break in the parking lot of the Broadway theater where she sold souvenirs, when a man walking by stopped and gave her five dollars.  At that moment she had her first inkling.

And when, at her coworkers’ insistence, she played out front during a play intermission some time later and made more than her shift pay, she knew: she was a busker.

Busking is the ancient act of performing in public for tips, and the city is ambivalent about it.  While busking is generally tolerated, it is forbidden on trains, and police sometimes push back if they feel like it. (A $150 ticket for weapon carrying prompted Paruz to take the teeth off of her busking saws).

On the other hand, there’s the Music Under New York program, which is something of a holy grail for buskers. Paruz, a member since the mid-‘90s, is one of just over 100 musicians permitted to play three-hour sets a few times a week at designated performance spots throughout the subway system.

To earn that privilege she quit her job and struck out for the sidewalks of Times Square.  Winter drove her into the subway.  To her surprise, the subteranean open space was perfectly-suited for saw playing.  “I was totally hooked on the phenomenal acoustics in the subway,” Paruz said.  “I never wanted to go back to playing above ground.”

Another thing she realized after a few years in the subway: so much happens in a day of busking, you’re liable to forget most of it. So she started jotting notes between songs, using her saw blade for a desk, and in the late ‘90s she started the blog, “Subway Music.”  Unable to find software for it, she wrote the HTML herself. It began as a personal journal.

“But then people started commenting and I realized that it’s another platform to bring people together,” she wrote in an email. Her blog posts read more like ledger entries than short stories now, in part because of the sheer quantity of people she sees in a day.

Over the course of a three-hour show, she might interact with drunks and businessmen, Japanese tourists and orchestra conductor friends.  Below-ground, she writes, “the level of humanity among these people is beautifully high.”

Even the scariest and most frustrating people, she concludes again and again, harbor “hearts of gold.” Her experience seems to bear this out.  There was the girl who stole from her bucket, and came back months later with a box of cookies as an offering.  Then again there was also the scarier thief who never came back.

“But that’s New York,” Moses Josiah said, recalling his own tip-theft experience between songs at the Times Square shuttle station. Josiah, 82, is the city’s other saw-playing subway veteran. Like Paruz, the vertan busker has a rosy outlook.  “The people of New York, most of them are givers,” he added. “They give so, so much.”

Paruz remembers the blind man years ago, swaying as he listened to her play. A stranger bought a cassette tape from her and stuck it his hands, then disappeared into the crowd.  And the silent man, who was deaf but could hear the frequencies of her saw.  There have been millions more.

“They say if you stand in one place in New York long enough, eventually you’ll see everyone who lives here,” Paruz said.  And why not?  Magical thinking has brought her this far.