New York Trip Dec 2002

Off To NY - 12/3/2002

Will be off tomorrow to NY to see Ms Tan. Won't be doing much except mooch around the city. But then there'll be lots to look at hear and think about in NY anyway. I'm quite intent on documenting snippets of the trip so I'll try to post observations and a link to pictures here (the first real outing for my digicam!)

So stay tuned.

New York New York! - 12/6/2002


Am finally in NY after 23 hours ++ on a plane. I must say the flying was quite boring. Watched many movies and was so bored I even went to the toilet to take a photo of myself!

Everything went well except that during the transit in Frankfrut I wandered a little far off and found myself outside the checked in area and had to take a long de-tour to get back in ... other than that it was pretty unadventurous.

New York snowed the day I got in! Which was pretty special as it hadn't snowed yet and isn't supposed to. After meeting Edna at the Airport we took a train (the A train referred to by Ellington and Strayhorn, actually for those jazz enthusiasts out there!) to get back to her dorm. On the way we had lunch at Tom's Restraunt - which was the Seinfield diner. It was really cold and snow was just falling continuously and so we made the resolution to get me some proper shoes later in the evening.

So we went out in the evening - a little scary with weird men muttering strange things in the train. Actually the subway can be quite a scary place - I'm really impressed that Edna's been commuting all alone on it. Anyway - everyone just looks at each other and because there's such ethnic diversity, you can't help but notice the different styles.

Walked by ground zero and saw the construction going on at night. Thought it would be rude to take photos though so didn't. Bought some pretty tough looking Timberlands.

Next morning - we visited Central Park. It's lovely in the snow - really like a winter wonderland. Met a Dog and his owner and played with the dog a bit. Played around in the snow and trudged around. It's really stimulating for the senses to be in a space that is so different seasonally from Singapore.
Check out the pictures. They're not in order - my mistake - I'll number the next batch so that they make sense chronologically!

More from New York - 12/9/2002

Sat, we walked the Brooklyn Bridge which connects Manhatten (which is mainly where people think all of NY is) with one of its boroughs, Brooklyn. The Bridge is supposed to be an architectural marvel, being the longest suspension bridge at the time that it was built. More significantly, it changed the social landscape of NY, linking two separate cities, and making them one. It's a pleasant walk over the bridge. There's a walkway over the traffic and the swirl of the wind forces you to keep walking. Conversation is swallowed by the wind and one makes the crossing alone. Hart Crane wrote an inaccessible but awfully stirring poem in his idealised age of the machine. Several early 20th century American artists also intepreted the bridge. I suppose it was a time of hihg optimisim about what the wonders of steel and cable could do for humanity.

In Brooklyn, we ate at Grimaldi's. There was actually a queue even before it opened. It's been rated the best pizza place in NY for several years and they're brazen enough to tell you they won't do deliveries or slices - they don't need the extra business. And they don't have fancy sides. Just Pizza - and you choose the topping. No cute names or garlic bread. And it's really good pizza. Ms Tan and I managed to easily put away a small (which was a 16 inch). And I could have easily polished off another one ...

Next day. Ms Tan had to study so I wandered around the Museum Mile (so its called) alone. Was nice cause I walked through Central Park and had some time to look at the buildings. Visited the Guggenheim and the Whitney. Spent 2 hours in each. Nice being able to see some of these Modern Art pieces that you've only encountered in books. The scale of some of the pieces, the sheer magnitude of paint stretching itself across canvas, was itself an enthralling experience.

Got back and had dinner with some Singaporeans living in NY.

More of NY - 12/12/2002

Been exploring more of NY. Have been to many music and bookstores. Apart from Tower, Virgin, Barnes and Noble, HMV, there are quite a number of smaller bookstores as well. Have been spending hours in them. I think there was a day I spent like 4 hours in three second hand bookstores. Anyway there's like this mega 2nd hand bookstore called the Strand ... it claims to have 8 miles of books - it's really great - lots of obscure crit books at half price too. Found an autobiography of Hart Crane that I've been reading. Sadly, I haven't been able to locate 2nd hand Delany. I figure I'll just have to get new copies ... which Barnes and Noble does stock.

Managed to visit the Columbia Libraries as well. There are many but the main one, for the Arts and Humanities is this huge building called the Butler Library. Am quite pleased that I actually qualify for membership cause Ms Tan is studying here! got my library card made in less than 20 mins (which is a lot more efficent than SOME institutions of higher learning that I'm acquainted with ...) and explored the library. It's a wonderful place. The books are in these cell like rooms with low ceilings that are like shut off from the main library. So you have to know what you want and then take a trip to "the stacks". Pretty much like a labyrinth, with 12 floors of stacks ...

Managed to visit the NY Public Library as well. It's an all reference library with gorgeous interiors. The amazing thing is the commitment that NYorkers put into preserving these buildings and giving funds for these institutions to be preserved.

Walked around 5th Avenue, the Rockafeller (?) centre Times Square, the UN (!), Greenwich Village too. The weather's been nice except for when it rained and when the wind blows - just chills you to the bone.

Visited a Jazz club called the iridium - ron carter was playing. A very short set but highly satisfying. His percussionist was excellent - inventive and appropriate.

Been spending too much on books and CDs - need to show some self restraint ... the damaages thus far:
Books - The Broken Tower - Biography of Hart Crane

Forbidden Knowledge - From Prometheus to Pornography

The Illusion of Power - political theatre in the English Renaissance

Alternative Shakespeares - edited by John Drakakis

The subject of Tragedy - Identity and difference in Renaissance Drama

Shakespeare Left and Right

All that is solid melts into air - Berman Marshall

Sweet Tragedy - Terry Eagleton

The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (not for me)

this week's edition of the New Yorker - couldn't resist - it's damn cheap compared to back home at the Holland V mama shop ...

CDs

Pithecanthropus Erectus - Charles Mingus

Free Jazz - Ornette Coleman

Inner Urge - Joe Henderson

Big Train - Wynton Marsalis

Juju - Wayne Shorter

Compilation - McCoy Tyner Big Band

And I have been resisting buying Videos and DVDs ...
Will try to watch a musical soon. Am gunning for "Harlem Song" cause it's showing at the Apollo Theatre - which is supposed to be the heart of Afro-American art in NY, is about the history of Harlem, isn't in crowded Times Square but is up here in Harlem, and is damn cheap compared to Broadway ... see how maybe will go for the Sat Matinee.

Home home - 12/23/2002

Just got back. Tired man. Weather is suffocating. Muggy is the word. Getting off the plane is always difficult to do. At least there's the new year to look forward to. With each leaving, a return insists on writing itself, even if it never materialises. a mushy, corny anecdote. Leaving for NY on Dec 4, the plane was delayed. So the KrisWorld entertainment panel was playing even before the plane left the ground. I was listening to channel 3, which plays songs from musicals. As the plane took off, the channel played the Nicole Kidman number from Moulin Rouge, One Day I'll Fly Away - how fitting I thought. Except that our yesterdays are never left behind. Anyway - I'm allowed to sentimentally think that there's a better life somewhere away from here...

I follow the night

Can't stand the light

When will I begin

To live again?
One day I'll fly away

Leave all this to yesterday

What more could your Love do for me?

When will Love be through with me?
Why live life from dream to dream

And dread the day when dreaming ends

One day I'll fly away

Leave all this to yesterday

Why live life from dream to dream?

And dread the day when dreaming ends
One day I'll fly away

Fly, fly away

Meanwhile, Ms Tan is really happy to be back for a short three weeks. That's nice.