mood: relaxed
music: 'the ballad of john and yoko' by the beatles
ok, i left out some things in the last post. first off, a few days ago, we went biking in central park. actually around central park. it was something like 6 miles, and my ass still has a ring of pain the shape of the bike seat. along the way, i saw the house where john lennon was shot and killed and the straight pathway where everyone films scenes during the fall because of the trees.
the other night i befriended a street poet by the name of donald green. he was by the subway station we normally take to get downtown, and we were just talking about the value of money to poets. eventually, i bought a small anthology of his works for $2 and went off onto the subway. he lacked sublety, but he was good at getting his message across. well, last night i saw him again, and he remembered me. we talked again, this time on whether or not being a successful poet meant giving yourself completely to writing. we went thru a couple case studies and concluded that the conclusion was uninhibited by lifestyle. if anything, lifestyle, regardless of type, contributes to writing style. interesting guy. we shook hands and parted and off i went again into the subway.
then we went to cafe lalo. cafe lalo is famous for being in the movie 'you've got mail'. it's where tom hanks first sees meg ryan in the window. it's a very bright, boisterous atmosphere that i didn't really care for, so we got our coffee to go and sat in front looking at the people in the window.
then we made our way back to the bowery to go to the bowery poetry club. an event called 'gottlieb music' was going on. christian and i got there 2 hours late and watched only the last act, which was alison brave. she had an amazing voice and a good sense of alternate and open chords. i bought a shirt, which i don't normally do, and we left at about 1am to get back. there were countless delays on the way back and we didn't get back until about 2.
2 comments:
Ooh, I love NYC. I lived there for a year before, going to Hunter College and living very cheaply. I am still enjoying Saigon. Of the many people I have met, one was from Long Beach, who related to me the story of how he died once, but came back. One of those experiences, tunnel with light at the end and everything. He had been stabbed to death at age nineteen. He was a very nice guy, very rough around the edges.
Vietnam is a good place, quite down-home. I went to the War Remnants museum yesterday. Aack. I will post about it after I finally get to post about China, as soon as I work out the photo situation.
Your writing is good.
i'll take this backwards for nonconformity's sake.
thank you.
so the war remnants museum is probably intense huh? i can only imagine.
i love meeting people like that. it hardly happens, since public transportation is lukewarm in la, but evening on sunset or santa monica will present some interesting characters.
mr. donald green is quite like one of these characters, only much more grounded. each time he talks, he sounds like he's reciting a poem. it's a frail tone, but it lingers with a speaker's passion.
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