Thursday, December 31, 2009

Getting ready and set:

Accounts of many new adventures to come, but for now, a few resolutions.

1)Immersing myself in art-- living so close to museums and venues, there's really little excuse to not go and see creation occur. A mecca to the Nuyorican Poets Cafe really sealed it that I miss writing.

2)Exercise, namely yoga-- the fact is, my relationship with yoga has been a lustful one, practicing only when I need it.

3)Taking note of finances in a more organized fashion.

Hm. Nothing too witty here. Just wanted to make sure that I had written
something to document the turn of the decade. And Whoop there it is.

Monday, December 21, 2009

If you hadn't realized this..

...and were raising eyebrows, scratching chins, heads, other-body-parts, the titles of my New York posts are all songs, lyrics or titles having to do with the day of the week I was writing on. OH, you protest, I knew that.
Well in case you didnt:
Monday-- The Mommas and The Poppas
Tuesday-- was tough, so I gave up.
Wednesday-- Simon and Garfunkel
Thursday--Kings of Leon
Friday--The Cure
Saturday-- Elton John
Sunday-- Etta James

:)

Sunday, December 20, 2009

A love to last past Saturday night



12/20 -This morning was probably one of the most physically exhausting of my life, dragging my suitcase through the snow, up and down, stairs and platforms alike. -Something fitting-- I walked over to the Sunday farmer's market, and Brian from the week before coerced me (it wasn't tough to talk me into the idea) to make a first snow angel of my life. And so we did, practically perfect strangers on a patch of clean snow in front of the Brooklyn Public Library, Cortelyou Branch. And I was on my way.

Friday, December 18, 2009

I'm in love

12/18
-I chanced upon and danced upon a holiday milonga midtown. Funny to be a new face, quite an interesting dynamic, to be unstable (in regard to my quality as a dancer). Funnily it was leading other women that got me dances with men. Go figure.
-People are just so friendly in NYC.
-Thereafter, jumped from bar to bar with Dustin and Atiba. Truth be told, the scene was unimpressive for a Friday night. Or maybe we were going to the wrong places.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Wind and wind and wound up over everything

12/17
-Ventured off on my own today, and had coffee in Union Square facing a fantastic view of the Empire State Building, electric blue against navy sky.
-Had a chat with a couple of dancers about the emotional lumen of tango.

-Met Dusty at Rockefeller for night time tree viewing.
-First time ice skating in at least a decade. I would feel its effects the next day, certainly

-With the help of the Village Voice, Dustin and I found an Afrobeat show played at The Knitting Factory in BK. Antibalas was incredible,and with its orange amber, dark grey energy, felt quite relieving. 9 piece bands do my heart good.


Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Morning, 3 AM

Wednesday 12/16
-What fantastic gushes of wind, whipping my hair as we trekked ac
ross the Brooklyn Bridge!
-We broke on through to the other side, to NY Chinatown. A dinner of duck and string beans, and soup, was not enough for us-- we had to have a picture with said poultry as well.


-The Nuyorican Poet's Cafe is always a source of small fires lit up in my belly, to write and expel, and shout out about eyelids, and static, curly hair and hearts of palms of hands outstretched. I just have to pick up my pen now and then, and stop getting in my own way.

-Passionfruit margarita, and Sparks with flowers in the forefront.
-Making a splash at Splash with some fine fellas.
-Recovering at 5AM with dirty rice, mac & cheese, and a screening of
Paris is Burning.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Very few song lyrics of note with Tuesday..


Tuesday 12/15
-Slices of pizza and hellos to Miriam Arkin
-A new favorite place-- the market area in Grand Central.
-There's a certain place (47th between something and another) where the stores are filled with jewels, and streets are filled with Jews. I kid you not.
-Serendipitously strolling with Ryan Kasdin, to 30 Rock in the daytime.
-Incredibly ridiculously unbelievably (adverbfully) amazing chocolates.
-Delicious soup and sandwich from Wichcraft. (Exceedingly clever)
-Reading Laura with Michael as Jim, in the Glass Menagerie known as Pax Foods over tea. They call me Blue Roses.
-Judge Roy Bean, and almost leaving my cell phone in the bathroom. (Surprised? I'm not).
-Session 73, a four piece band, and an introduction to Balboa.
-Calves (Tyger tyger?) burning bright after a four minute song by that four piece band, after the introduction to Balboa.
-And Halal food-is divine.

Monday, December 14, 2009

So good to me.

Monday 12/14
-Took an obligatory picture with two fellows from the NYPD, spent most of my day rediscovering my New York legs.
-Screwed up royally on the subway, because someone (Christine Lee) didn't notify me of certain things, and I didnt realize said certain things until I was.. in Brooklyn. So I got out, and screwed up again. Well played. But,
-New Yorkers are quite kind with people like me. :)
-Finally made it to see Christine Lee off of Bleecker, and am glad I did.
-Dustin and I slipped in to see a comedy show, which promised to be so much shorter than it was. In particular, most interesting was when this one Indian guy made a few Asian jokes and then some. He asked me if I dated Asian guys, I said no, as its a personal preference. But he jumped on that, and found me an unwilling ally as he made comments on the self hatred of Asian people, how "not even an Asian gay guy would date another Asian gay guy". He then went on to profusely use the words fag and bitch as they are verbally efficient, and one syllable. I think it went a little far. He used "fag" so often that it sounded like a hiccup, or the way some people use "like". Dustin and I did not applaud for him, and because the venue was so small, I like to think that he noticed it, that the couple sitting right in the front didn't bat an eyelash as he left the stage. In the context of a stand up performance, we as an audience do much face saving, by laughing, because silence is reminiscent to a comic of a kiss of death. But in very small but true ways, this is how a hegemonic culture develops. People make money and are put on national television, or the cable screen by saying things that people feel they have to laugh at, and thereafter, they are penetrated through to the privacy of our own homes, where people can laugh at racist, misogynistic, homophobic statements in the comfort of their own homes. And truly upsetting is that, this Indian guy's comments were probably the straw that made the camel finally say as his back was breaking, "Oh, well if a man of color can say it, who am I to not laugh?" all the while being relieved that it is now deemed somewhat socially acceptable.

If he was trying to be satirical, he needed to work harder.

There's such thing as white guilt, but is there anything reminiscent of what we can consider heterosexual guilt? It seems that we consider ourselves magnanimous for even letting queer folks exist, that there is no real sensitivity by heterosexual people of the word. It carries such less weight than certain slurs that get bleeped out on the radio. Marginalized cultures are of color, yes, and color combinations. (like a rainbow!). I think he felt that because of his South Asian heritage, he therefore claimed a license to be distasteful and offensive.

If youve read any sociological theory, Irving Goffman makes it his lifes work to hypothesize that we are actors playing on a world type stage. Shakespearean, yes, and more than that, its describes what we as concurrent actors and audience members do by laughing, and saving the face and performance of our fellow thespians. Dangerous. Gladiators and American Idol contestants alike, I despise standing ovations when unneeded, and this boy was exhibiting nothing brave, slaying no beasts. He in fact, acted as one.

The guy saw my face disgusted and sneered into the mic, "You look confused". I wonder if he was trying to regain face. I wonder if he was trying to recover himself as the down-with-the-people minority with the agency to be crass and uncouth. I wonder if his face would have fallen a bit if I had answered in front of the crowd, "I'm just embarrassed for you".

What a sociological marvel is this thing called stand-up comedy.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

New York State of Mind Dec 13-20, 2009

Bullet-points over Broadway, and 42nd St, and Herald Square, etc. (Kudos for catching the Woody Allen nod)

Sunday 12/13

-Sat next to an Orthodox rabbi on the flight-kosher bubblegum is delicious.
-After a bit of chatting, my eyes closed, and when I opened them, I saw Brooklyn.
-Golf courses look like splatterings of tawny paint on green canvas.
-Cemeteries are plentiful in BK- it's cheaper to be here, even in death.
-Welcomed into the city by a hilarious bus driver, drizzles of rain (which later became a large, fat downpour of rain), and an egg & cheese sandwich.
-After settling in at Dustin's, I decided to be a bit ear
ly to our date at the Jazz Standard.
-I was... 2 hours early, and since that was the case, I
-stepped into a bar by myself and sat there by myself for the firs
t time, but
-not for long. Made quick friends with the rambunctious neighbors and the bartender Steve.
It was just like Cheers. But not quite.
-Show itself was pretty impressive, though short. Pablo Ziegler and his pals played plays on Piazzolla, introducing an alto sax and electric guitar as two very new voices. But AP always lent very well to jazz, as it's extremely experimental and racy, even.
-Great first night ended with Dustin singing karaoke for the first time. :) You never forget your first.