A Dream of Escape

A dream of escape.

Here in the Northeast in America, we are under a cold snap.

Since Christmas, we have been suffering with below zero temperatures and into the predictable future (according to the iPhone).

And then, with or without a cold (which I have), we are essentially trapped indoors.

I've been lucky to have a writing project to take me out of myself.

The BEST vacation I can ever have. 

In Sparkly Love Just as NYC gets Cold

He mentioned how suddenly it had turned cold and windy, right on Park Avenue and 51st street.

It occurred to you that this was the New York you KNEW.  Always either too cold, or maybe too hot.  Just a few weeks ago you indulged in a diet coke like you were a sailor enjoying a beer.

He had a funny white knitted cap which made him look like a 6 ft tall 5 year old.  And he had a grand smile.

You tried not to read into it, tried to take it for the joy both of you felt in the moment.  Leave behind what you would learn later, all that he would tell you about the divorce, and the woman after.  And how you were not in the plan.

That is how you know New York.  Cold and beautiful.  Shining lights, the aura and illusion of warmth and beauty, but the wind gets in everywhere.

Even your dreams.

Take ALL the Pictures You Can

Yes, I realize that the world is taking far too many pictures.

Yes, I realize I will probably never match up all the photos I take of the same thing everyday.  The difference is imperceptible, yet I am riveted by the changes and the similarities.

Because everytime I DO go back to my previous pictures, I am happy. Whatever images made me happy that first time allow me to revisit the shapes again. Look again and again until they become familiar and part of my mental art gallery.

The Blue and the Red which pop when side by side, outside of a favorite theater. 

Sometimes the shapes or the colors no longer speak to me. But the ones that do, the ones which catch my attention may even be more glorious than the original, real life image.

Just this morning, the reflection of leaves on the pond, and the bottom still visible.  And Green leaves with Red stems, and blue in the background, not of the sky-but of the steel and glass building behind it.  Almost as good as the sky.

VINdication

When I first arrived in the city, as an overworked or out-of-work Stage Manager, I would often come home late at night and wide awake.

One of the first friends I had, to my mind, was an amazing DJ who was on the air from 10-2 (or longer) On WNEW (?) Vin Scelsa.

I found him the old fashioned way. I turned on the radio and turned the knob until I hit a song I liked.  When a song came on I didn't like, I'd change the channel.  i found that during his time slot, I was less likely to turn it off at all.  Even the songs I didn't like (or wasn't ready for) were worth sticking around for.

His archives now exist online in the form of https://vindication.neocities.org/test.html . 

This week at work, a millennial coworker asked how I access the radio.  I tried not to laugh when I said, "I simply turn on the knob"

Ghosts all Around

NYC is a vastly changing city.

The Riviera is closing.
http://gothamist.com/2017/08/04/rip_riviera_cafe.php

Lou is getting older and losing her memory.

Fringe is changing and becoming a block party.

Martin Denton is closing Indie Theater Now
http://www.indietheaternow.com/Playwright/tamara-rose
http://nytheatre.com/

Soon, it is only left to YOU to share the memories, like the Ancient Mariner, clinging to people's sleeves, trying to conjure up the good old days!

And life brings you back to someone's wants (your mother wanting you in Waltham), like gravity, like centrifugal force that you never fully expected to be able to escape.

Jeremiah's Vanishing New York

As if we came to the city at the same time.  It always starts the moment you enter, and then gets diminished, constantly taken away.

And replaced by the towers of steel and glass, very soon, there will be nothing left of the New york of legend.

Maybe there never was.

Dojo

Walking by Dojo, why did I remember it to be a crunchy-granola place?  It's Japanese, NOT specializing in Sushi!!

I ordered a madellaine, a fried tofu burger.  Suddenly I was transported back to my early days in the city, the first time.  When it was all I could afford, so I savored it.

The 2 gay guys next to me were being so precious about their conversation.  Preening about poetry, using all the super-meta words.  Exaggerating in front of each other, who is more gay, who is more smart.  NYU Grad students/teachers.

It took me back to those days....