Exploring NYC through 26 words
The sheer amount of unseen preparation for the “look” of a live performance. Raye 6 performing at 92Y TriBeCa in January 2009. The spectacle of entertaining a crowd.
Photograph by Ryan Nethery.
“Rapture” (35mm)
Holus-Bolus
The bus driver keeps telling us, “Move back to the rear.”
But no one is listening, people plugged in
with their white earphones, their bluetooth headsets
singing and talking to no one, but loudly.
The driver’s not going to move unless we retreat further into the bus.
I can’t go anywhere, pressed against a heavyset man wearing a backpack.
I’d rather walk, but it’s 30 degrees out and windy. No one wants to move,
did I already say? We finally go and at Calamus Street, I almost crack up,
literally, like Van Gogh, my head almost splits in two. Forty people
cramming to get on and we’re already 10 over quota. Everyone’s a critic.
I’m a critic at 7am when I just want to get on the subway, get a seat,
go to work to make my money and pay my bill. ‘It boils down to bills,’
my dad used to say. Boiling bills, we work to pay and we pay
to work, but not really in that order always, though it seems so.
Oh the subway, we finally make it and people are pushing and shoving
and It’s no goddamn race someone yells. People come to blows at 7am,
did you know? Have you ever witnessed two elderly women having a slapping
fight? A homophobic man reapetedly yelling FAGGOT FAGGOT at the top of his lungs
because another man bumped him? It’s not too pleasant
traveling among strangers, among that energy. No wonder we plug in,
pretend we’re alone, horse blinders protecting us from the universe.
Melanie Daly
Vaticinator:
On the local train
the seer in the corner rhapsodizes
to all, but really to himself, he knows
what is good and true, but he’s lost sight.
He sleeps fitfully splayed across the bench
a waking dream, recurring nightmare,
the lullaby of Next stop
36th Street
and Steinway
and Northern Boulevard.
I’m going home,
I’m going home.
Melanie Daly
by Brandt Wrightsman
I went to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on 110th Street and Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan. The Cathedral is stunning, but I was more dazzled by the surprising inhabitant of the Cathedral’s gardens. Here is even more evidence of the breathtaking unpredictability and wonder of New York.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqKhMhMw1Bw
In trying to understand the sky and heavens above New York, I decided to take the most simple approach I could muster: observation. Everyday for two weeks I took reference footage of the sky above New York with my cellphone in the off chance that I would capture something that I haven’t noticed during my day to day operations.
At the end of those two weeks of observation I met a man, Jonathon (with his kids), on the sidewalk outside of a small East Village congregation and he proceeded to welcome me inside and talk with me about his perception of heaven. I recorded our conversation on my cellphone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8OqHDMdQks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKoKf0dCreI See Bill Brand’s phenomenal moving image subway art as a brillant FOUDROYANT New York City experience.
On his land use and transportation blog, Starts and Fits, Aaron Donovan, examines Charlotte Street, and the effort to bring suburbia to the Bronx in “New Hope in the Bronx.” The post is from 2006, but thoroughly examines the history of development in the area using detailed maps and diagrams. If you’re interested in urban planning and Bronx history, it’s a fascinating read. While on the site check out his other posts on locations from St. John the Divine to DUMBO, and browse the Planning and Urbanism link collection.