No
one to talk with, all by myself...I'm smokin' anonymous
in the sexiest night I've felt in ages. An impending
storm, after months of bitter cold. Sudden warmth,
mugginess, my whole body feels hungover and then a
cool breeze whistles in off the water. It's wet. The
sky is twenty shades of gray and slowly enveloping
the whole city. It twinkles gray and yellow like an
old black-and-white movie. The electricity is intoxicating.
A perfect night for film noir-style true love, but
I'm in love with the pavement.
I'll tell ya 'bout Manhattan.
It's a small town. It's Sesame Street. A giant
screwed-up multicultural ultra-lingual family that
loves animals and builds its days around colorful
numbers and letters. A C E! 1 2 3! Uptown Downtown
Crosstown. It's wondrous. It's wonderland. It's all
soul and bottomless hope and strong backs. It's absolutely
fabulous.
I'll tell ya 'bout freedom.
Freedom IS just another word for nuthin' left to lose.
And what else, Janis Joplin? Get it while you can!
I live in Brooklyn. 'Round
the corner from Love Lane, where Henry (Miller) lived
with June. Down the street from Norman Mailer. Where
Capote dreamed up Breakfast at Tiffany's. And
I walk streets immortalized by "Tangled Up in Blue"
and "Famous Blue Raincoat." It's lonesome.
I'll tell ya 'bout David Bowie.
I MET HIM! Week One at a Chelsea Gallery with the
lovely Iman. I gushed about how I love to strip
to Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
and he claimed he'd never seen it done! Right, sure,
David. I asked him what he thought was the best
song to see a girl get naked to. He said, "Well,
gosh! I imagine it'd have to be some kind of hymn.
Perhaps 'On the Wings of a Dove...'" At which point
he started singing "On the Wings of a Dove." I called
my Daddy Las Vegas, the Midwestern minister, first
thing. Meanwhile, the rich girls with lesbian tendencies
in super-fuzzy tight sweaters clucked about who
was a model. Who CARES?
I'll tell
ya 'bout Manhattan. It's a small town.
It's Sesame Street. A giant screwed-up
multicultural ultra-lingual family that loves
animals and builds its days around colorful
numbers and letters. A C E! 1 2 3!
Uptown Downtown Crosstown.
I'll tell ya 'bout the
greatest music I've seen in months. Two-way tie between
Japan's kinetic godzillas, the King Brothers (oh my!)
and this amazing five-piece playing perfect 60s girl
pop on the platform for the S train. Five African
American teenagers--three girls with guitars front
'n' center. I could have died. But had to catch that
S train.
My other new favorite
band is the Dictators. They RULE! And have since 1975
or so... And I would have never heard of them if I
hadn't had a special introduction to lead Dictator,
and ex-wrestler, Handsome Dick Manitoba (thanks, Richard
Meltzer!)?! The nicest man on the Lower East Side?
Who eventually got me a JOB bartending at Niagara
on 7th and A?
And why have I never heard
Aladdin Sane by David Bowie? Who is responsible?
Am I going to have to take the train BACK through
NY, PA, OH, IN, IL, MN, ND, MT, WA and OR just to
strip to "Panic in Detroit?" "Dear David, I lied.
'Panic in Detroit' is the best. No. 'Moonage Daydream.'
No...."
And I'll tell ya'bout
movin', cats. When you're down and out and desperate,
but somehow on fire, no one loves you more than NYC.
And I love it back! I love NYC.
