Ginny will probably fill you in on the itinerary. From me, an apologia.
Perhaps you're a New Yorker wondering what the fuck the deal is with me, coming to your city and not coming out to meet you. Look, it's not that I was avoiding you in your own backyard, it's that there wasn't time to do your city and meet you properly.
The trip was arranged through our friend's father's Italian social club, so arrival, departure, and lodging were out of my hands. And though we participated only minimally in the group's itinerary, we had a great many things we wanted to see and do as a cadre of 4. We were artfiends with 2 days and 3 nights to spend in Manhattan.
While we were taking in the Museum of Natural History, a stroll through Central Park, the MoMA (in that order), the late set at the Village Vanguard, plays off-Broadway and at Lincoln Center, not to mention the gastronomic pleasures offered by breakfast diners and Italian specialty shops, I tried to keep my mind off the things I wasn't doing, and there were certainly plenty of those. But I was with dear friends and having a great time, a few of the best days I've had in recent memory.
I couldn't have been with them in those moments doing the things we like to do together if I was worried about keeping an appointment with you--and how present could I have been with you while watching the clock to make it to where I needed to be in a couple of hours?
The other 40-some-odd people that came in on the bus stuck pretty closely to the itinerary, and consequently, their hotel rooms. We 4 spent not more than 24 hours in ours from Friday night to Monday morning. They weren't eager to pound the pavement and go exploring like we were, but still they had a good time. I said to Claudio, we're not walking the same streets, the city we're visiting is not the same one they're visiting. In ours, Times Square is an obstacle to efficient travel, joy comes in following impulses, and the subway is your servant. In theirs, Times Square is a terrifying wonder, the subway is for fools and monsters, and you keep good and wary of wasting your time and money on things you haven't heard of.
But New York is also the city where you live. It's where you work, go out for a good time, host friends, and altogether forget after a while. I wasn't visiting that city, I'm afraid. Not this time.
I'll get there soon, if the invitation still stands.
Perhaps you're a New Yorker wondering what the fuck the deal is with me, coming to your city and not coming out to meet you. Look, it's not that I was avoiding you in your own backyard, it's that there wasn't time to do your city and meet you properly.
The trip was arranged through our friend's father's Italian social club, so arrival, departure, and lodging were out of my hands. And though we participated only minimally in the group's itinerary, we had a great many things we wanted to see and do as a cadre of 4. We were artfiends with 2 days and 3 nights to spend in Manhattan.
While we were taking in the Museum of Natural History, a stroll through Central Park, the MoMA (in that order), the late set at the Village Vanguard, plays off-Broadway and at Lincoln Center, not to mention the gastronomic pleasures offered by breakfast diners and Italian specialty shops, I tried to keep my mind off the things I wasn't doing, and there were certainly plenty of those. But I was with dear friends and having a great time, a few of the best days I've had in recent memory.
I couldn't have been with them in those moments doing the things we like to do together if I was worried about keeping an appointment with you--and how present could I have been with you while watching the clock to make it to where I needed to be in a couple of hours?
The other 40-some-odd people that came in on the bus stuck pretty closely to the itinerary, and consequently, their hotel rooms. We 4 spent not more than 24 hours in ours from Friday night to Monday morning. They weren't eager to pound the pavement and go exploring like we were, but still they had a good time. I said to Claudio, we're not walking the same streets, the city we're visiting is not the same one they're visiting. In ours, Times Square is an obstacle to efficient travel, joy comes in following impulses, and the subway is your servant. In theirs, Times Square is a terrifying wonder, the subway is for fools and monsters, and you keep good and wary of wasting your time and money on things you haven't heard of.
But New York is also the city where you live. It's where you work, go out for a good time, host friends, and altogether forget after a while. I wasn't visiting that city, I'm afraid. Not this time.
I'll get there soon, if the invitation still stands.
VIEW 7 of 7 COMMENTS
"Dead Man' on the other hand, is wonderful. "Ghost Dog" is even better IMHO.