Finally made it.
Walk to 14th, take the L train to 1st Ave. Emerge from underground, blinking into the blazing sun that has baked the outside air to scorching perfection. Walk. Walk some more
. Look at street names.
Feel the vibes of the area. Judge where you are using cafe names, the shops look on the outside, the apartment buildings and the people. Do not consult your map.(This is the City equivalent of using landmarks, animal tracks and the direction of the wind to navigate.)
Found myself a few decent vintage placs, amazing-looking coffee shops and a nice park. Also found myself the beginning of the Williamsburg Bridge, on Clinton and Delancey. Across I walked, dodging slow-moving fellow peds, endless bikes and even more endless Hasidic Jewish families, walking 6 abreast and taking up the whole width of the bridge. That's a mum, a dad pushing a double buggy containing 4 todddlers, another unidentifiable adult and 3 kids varying in size but not appearance. I am newly fascinated by Hasidic Jews . The way they express their faith - in particular their traditional dress - has me curious. Of course I respect their religious choices, and also their generally calm and peaceful demeanour, pride in their communit and strong family bonds. (Except the ones in the Mitzvah tanks, they were a little aggressive and annoying). But why oh WHY do they have to wear so much black, long sleeves, trouers, tights, dress shoes, heavy satin coats and huge furry hats on a day like today? Do lightweight material versions of their garb not demonstrate the same piety? They must all be dying under all that. And how do the women run after their multiple children in those long skirts?
I understand religious purposes, I understand tradition and symbolic clothing - but it makes me break out in a sweat to look at them - surely they could introduce sandals into the dress code? Slightly more seasonal headgear, maybe? I dunno. My fascination will continue and I will do my research. Maybe I'll find the answers to my perfectly legitimate wonderings.
Stopped to breathe in the Hudson and the view on my way over the bridge. Wow. Not until you see it from a distance do you appreciate how very tall the Empire State Building is. The river looks fantastic from that high. Lazy and cool and green.
Sadly I can take no pictures because I dropped my camera in a sink.
***
Still in W'Burg. Having taken a slight detour through all the Hasidic neighbourhoods (MAN there's a lot of Jews here!) I finally found the bit of Williamsburg I was looking for...the bit I was told about. Thrift and vintage places, one-off cafes, skateboarders, girl wearing ankle soks slacks and braces. This is where all the yoof have been hiding. Had a v. enjoyable stroll down Bedford Ave and spotted a small but vibrant purple awning on a side street. On closer inspection it turned out to be 'Rockin Raw', a rawfoods cafe which was advertising an open back garden. I peeked through and glimpsed a little corner of elysium that looked sooo inviting after all my striding around. I went in, took a table in a sunny corner and ordered lentil chilli and a glass of sangria. No I.D. Success! Ahem. Not that I measure my achievements by my ability to illegally purchase alcohol. But y'know.
Who knew that you could do this in New York? It feels almost like Kefalonia or somewhere - it is that hot, the outer walls of the building are pastel green, there's a dry and gnarled tree giving shade to the left half of the garden/patio. Also to my left there is a humming noise of uncertain source which puts me in mind of cicadas, possibly where I got the Kefalonia association. The fences bordering the place are ramshackle and greenery-festooned. A restored-antiquey looking dresser stands to the right of the open door that leads back into the cafe, its shelves filled with bell-shaped glass jars containing tea lights obviously waiting to be set out as the light fades.
Imagine a really gorgeous pub garden, combine it with a European cafe and a Meditarranean back yard then chuck in a bit of English eccentric-hippy sensibility. Soaked in sun. That's where I am. I am going to sit in my (astonishingly comfortable) iron garden chair and sip my sangria. It's 5pm so the sun is hanging, straight ahead of me, at what I imagine to be a 45 degree angle from the Earth. Shadows are lengthening, light is mellowing. There is only one man up to the task of underscoring this moment for me. Everything's gonna be alright.
Sing it Bob.
Who knew that you could do this in New York? It feels almost like Kefalonia or somewhere - it is that hot, the outer walls of the building are pastel green, there's a dry and gnarled tree giving shade to the left half of the garden/patio. Also to my left there is a humming noise of uncertain source which puts me in mind of cicadas, possibly where I got the Kefalonia association. The fences bordering the place are ramshackle and greenery-festooned. A restored-antiquey looking dresser stands to the right of the open door that leads back into the cafe, its shelves filled with bell-shaped glass jars containing tea lights obviously waiting to be set out as the light fades.
Imagine a really gorgeous pub garden, combine it with a European cafe and a Meditarranean back yard then chuck in a bit of English eccentric-hippy sensibility. Soaked in sun. That's where I am. I am going to sit in my (astonishingly comfortable) iron garden chair and sip my sangria. It's 5pm so the sun is hanging, straight ahead of me, at what I imagine to be a 45 degree angle from the Earth. Shadows are lengthening, light is mellowing. There is only one man up to the task of underscoring this moment for me. Everything's gonna be alright.
Sing it Bob.
***
After I woke up from my happy stupor (brought on by delicious food and sheer relaxation, not sangria) I made my way out of Brooklyn and back to Manhattan, with my usual lack of any kind of plan. And here's what happened...
Ok so...in the Bowery Poetry Cafe (I know right, I'm like, a beatnik or something yah?) Anyway I like the vibe in here, it has a nice cafe bit out the front with tea and cakes and a room behind a tatty velvet curtain with a bar where performances are held. And, Judith Light who plays Claire Mead in Ugly Betty is literally 2 feet away from me. Right in front of my table. She looks disgustingly, impossibly young and lovely. It seems all the cool older ladies hang out on the Bowery.
And now apparently I am going to see a band, in the dimly lit back room of the BPC. Guh???
Old mingle with young trying to be old. Girls with the super short haircuts, like Agneyss Deyn, stand around with wine glasses looking trendy and clever and matching. Also annoying - for some reason that haircut makes me angry.
The band in question were Snarky Puppy. Now, I looked them up today and it turns out they are kind of a big deal. They hail from Dallas, Texas (though the frontman and bassist did say 'when we're in New York we say we're from Brooklyn to sound cooler'). So I'm slightly embarrassed a my judgement of them from last night. Possibly they were having an off night or were overtired or something but I just couldn't get into it. They were an 8-piece for the night though I think overall there are more members. Anyway the drummer was amazing but after a while it sort of stopped making sense - I couldn't hear where the beat was supposed to be and where the music was supposed to lie over the top of it. Maybe I just have a crap ear but it just seemed a bit overambitious. This was confirmed when the other percussion guy, on a second drum kit made up of different stuff...drummy things...I know nothing about them, humour me...anyway the other drummer guy kept screwing up his solo really obviously, you could tell cos he grimaced, cursed and his bandmates laughed. The bassist frontman guy annoyed me a little as he was doing this really annoying thing where he kept throwing back his head and laughing and generally trying to make it look like he was having the best time in the World. For some reason this annoyed me. Obviously. May have just been tiredness induced grumpiness though. As individual players they were all amazing, they just didn't seem to be functioning too well as a unit that night. Annoying as the annoying guy was, he could slap bass.
Note to TLOGs: bass solos are awesome, we need some. We don't have the most badass bassist around for nothing. Likewise drums - insanely good drummer, tick. Solos needed.
So anyway check out http://www.sonicbids.com/epk/epk.aspx?epk_id=80687 for a bit of Snarky Puppy info and the reasons why I should have been more appreciative.
Also this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJnAymG7i5U courtesy of Thee - this didn't happen on Sunday night but it looks like fun!
Ok so...in the Bowery Poetry Cafe (I know right, I'm like, a beatnik or something yah?) Anyway I like the vibe in here, it has a nice cafe bit out the front with tea and cakes and a room behind a tatty velvet curtain with a bar where performances are held. And, Judith Light who plays Claire Mead in Ugly Betty is literally 2 feet away from me. Right in front of my table. She looks disgustingly, impossibly young and lovely. It seems all the cool older ladies hang out on the Bowery.
And now apparently I am going to see a band, in the dimly lit back room of the BPC. Guh???
Old mingle with young trying to be old. Girls with the super short haircuts, like Agneyss Deyn, stand around with wine glasses looking trendy and clever and matching. Also annoying - for some reason that haircut makes me angry.
The band in question were Snarky Puppy. Now, I looked them up today and it turns out they are kind of a big deal. They hail from Dallas, Texas (though the frontman and bassist did say 'when we're in New York we say we're from Brooklyn to sound cooler'). So I'm slightly embarrassed a my judgement of them from last night. Possibly they were having an off night or were overtired or something but I just couldn't get into it. They were an 8-piece for the night though I think overall there are more members. Anyway the drummer was amazing but after a while it sort of stopped making sense - I couldn't hear where the beat was supposed to be and where the music was supposed to lie over the top of it. Maybe I just have a crap ear but it just seemed a bit overambitious. This was confirmed when the other percussion guy, on a second drum kit made up of different stuff...drummy things...I know nothing about them, humour me...anyway the other drummer guy kept screwing up his solo really obviously, you could tell cos he grimaced, cursed and his bandmates laughed. The bassist frontman guy annoyed me a little as he was doing this really annoying thing where he kept throwing back his head and laughing and generally trying to make it look like he was having the best time in the World. For some reason this annoyed me. Obviously. May have just been tiredness induced grumpiness though. As individual players they were all amazing, they just didn't seem to be functioning too well as a unit that night. Annoying as the annoying guy was, he could slap bass.
Note to TLOGs: bass solos are awesome, we need some. We don't have the most badass bassist around for nothing. Likewise drums - insanely good drummer, tick. Solos needed.
So anyway check out http://www.sonicbids.com/epk/epk.aspx?epk_id=80687 for a bit of Snarky Puppy info and the reasons why I should have been more appreciative.
Also this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJnAymG7i5U courtesy of Thee - this didn't happen on Sunday night but it looks like fun!
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