Stealing from Andy is really OK

In the interests of getting somewhere back near writing about the same week that I'm in, I'll steal from Andy's recent group email. Steal the entire thing in fact. Thinking of staying in NYC for all of next week too, there is just too much to do here.

From: Andrew Horwood
To: Everyone
Subject: It's fun to stay at the YMCA

Howdy,

No, I'm not gay. I just like Wayne's World.

It's not long since my last groupie but things are going so fast here that I had to write another. If you haven't worked it out, this is also my diary.

I shuffled through the city (Manhattan) on August 6. I'm staying with Shaun (from Huge in Japan) which is excellent, as you'd imagine. We both arrived late at night on the 6th so we drank some beers in our rooms and caught up on Europe/SoDak. The YMCA is a weird hostel as it has many small, single rooms.

On the 7th we hit the ground running. We went to the United Nations building which was unremarkable. Then we went up the Empire State building which was worth the wait in line and the US$19 fee. We got some kai and took the subway top Harlem which is an amazing neighbourhood. We were the only white people on foot (the rest were in a double decker bus). The place oozes black-ness. I expected it to be like Compton or Inglewood (in LA) but it was just a funky soul party. We walked past the Appollo theatre and saw a store that sold full on check pimp suits for US$100! We resisted but if I wasn't living out of a backpack...You can get your hair braided 'African' style and but local indie rap on the streets. It is an alive neighbourhood and I felt as safe and welcome there as I have everywhere else in Manhattan. Manhattan seems like red carpet sometimes. When we arrive at the subway station, the train arrives. When we arrive at an intersection, the lights change our way. I want to use the red carpet metaphor in a song to go up against other Manhattan songs ('My Blue Manhattan' comes to mind). If you beat me to this then good for you.

After Harlem we went to the Lincoln Centre, outdoor arena for some free live jazz from a French trio (gat, bs, drm) and flamenco dancing which was part opera, part tap, part ballet and all passion. It was good and the price was right. We finished our eventful day by hitting Times Square, that houses advertisements more than Moorehouse Ave hosts car yards or Manchester St is home to prosties. It is possibly the only thing more retina burning than the Bang! Bang! Eche! myspace page.

Yesterday we met up with a friend of Shaun's who is off to Geneva to work for the World Health Organisation. We strolled around Greenwich village (which is full of homosexuals and places to eat), then headed to the Lower East side which is the Indie district. This is where the Strokes cut their teeth and Ryan Adams makes many references to it in his work (Houston and 3rd, etc). We stumbled upon an urban community park in which we met an artist who biked from San Fransisco (respect). We are going to party with him tonight. He sort of lives in the Park which is maintained by members of a volunteer group. It is not large, maybe 8m by 12m, but it is an urban oasis. We talked to him for a while and Shaun tried to control the karaoke machine he had plugged in that was delivering feedback and not much else. I had a go on his clarinet which he got for free, intending to teach himself. The whole thing was a little surreal.

Then we caught the ferry over to Liberty Park, NJ, to see Radiohead, the New Pornographers and Andrew Bird at the All Points West festival. There were other acts but we were there for those 3 reasons. The crowd was large but still. Radiohead to 2 encores, totalling 8 songs but none of the Americans clapped loud enough to deserve them. The festival was interestingly white. I did not see one black person there. America is very segregated like that. All the security staff were black. I have never seen a whitey shining a black man's shoes. I have never seen a woman getting her shoes shined.

Today we ran around Central Park which was cool, particularly because we stumbled upon a new event in which the streets were closed for runners and cyclists to promote healthy living. We didn't know that when we jumped the fence and started running with them though... I felt like Manhattan was not only made of red carpet but was parting like the red sea. Now that's hospitality. I heart NY.

There are a few homeless people on the streets but not as many as I expected. In order to feel good about ourselves, we have bought some apples which we carry around, giving out to those who are begging. This negates the common objection to financial benevolence: "oh, they'll just spend it on booze."

Peace,

Andy