Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Let's Be Young, Let's Be Crass Enough To Care

A disco-nap pre-empted heading out in New York. For the last two and a bit weeks I’ve managed to push on through minimal sleep, but by 3PM yesterday, Seattle’s bbq and the red eye flight had forced me into a mini slumber.

I awoke at 5pm and almost immediately headed out for dinner. Grant, another guy from the hostel came along for a slice or two of pizza before we both went our separate ways. We had met earlier that morning and had grabbed bagels for breakfast with a girl from Sydney. She is from Bondi and loved to share intimate details about her cocaine habit with anyone who will listen.
Trespass much?

After the pizza I headed to a pier in Williamsburg and was surprised to see people fishing off it. The water is green, yet despite this there are warnings that the fish from it should not be consumed. It had started to rain slightly so I made my way to the Williamsburg Music Hall.

Mogwai’s film ‘Burning’ was filmed there over 3 nights in April 2009. The music hall had a rudimentary projector and screen set up and was premièring the film. Like most Mogwai concerts it was loud, but contrasted with the black and white images made for a pretty engrossing experience. It was so good I had to remind myself not to clap at the end of each song. Like the two times I have seen them live, I even managed to jump during ‘Mogwai Fear Satan’ when it gets loud again. Amazing.

I went back to hostel and met a Belgian girl. We decided to head back to the pier to take some photographs, but due to some construction work it was closed. We managed to sneak through some fences to do a bit of trespassing and photographing before stopping by a bar on the way back. The Belgian girl whose name I forgot/was too hard to remember was a bit of a motormouth. It may have been my exhaustion, but I could barely get a sentence in.
Much prettier than amateur photograph in real life.

I was distracted on my way to bed by a gathering in the hostel’s lounge room and its massage chair. After meeting some more people and grabbing some late night beers I finally made it to bed at 2AM.

The rain outside was something equally pleasant and terrible to wake up to. For all of its lovely sounds, it is a pain in the arse to negotiate without an umbrella. After another bagel and tea stop I took the subway to the Museum of Modern Art. It seemed like the perfect way to spend a rainy day, but I was not the only one with this idea.
Seurat, sewer rat

A quick fight through the crowds took me to the 5th floor. Again, I won’t profess to know a great deal about art because I don’t. However, there were a few artists/paintings that I was able to recognise. Dali’s ‘The Persistence of Memory’ is remarkably tiny, and Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ is better than any postcard. I recognised some Seurat and Mondrian and even checked out some works by Rothko and Jackson Pollock that are nothing like the style they’re famous for. I was disappointed that half of one floor was shut down. It was the era that I had wanted to see, hoping to catch some Hopper and Litchenstein works.
Picasso, grapes, guitars

This gallery had a tremendous wank factor about it, but was nullified by the equally annoying hordes. There is something about someone who carries around a camera in their hand, it appears they lose the ability to look where they are going or walk in a straight line.
Mondrian, just like the cups I stole from my last job.
Android

After a few hours in the museum I walked about 20 blocks in the rain to get to a pizza shop I visited a few times when I was here in 2007. I remember their mushroom and chicken & broccoli (sounds disgusting but is amazing) pizzas from last time and replicated the order. It might have caused a bit of foot ache, but was completely worth the effort.
Art wanker.

Another 20 block walk was in order to balance out a bit of the meal I had just punished. I stopped by the Chelsea hotel, where a whole bunch of people (Dylan, The Ramones etc) lived. I would absolutely love to stay there, and may even treat myself to it over winter should finances permit (credit card anyone?).
Strung out like some christmas lights.

I gathered myself back onto the subway before heading back to Brooklyn. I’m finally dry again and ready to go see Paul Dempsey play a free acoustic show in Greenwich Village. Life in the big city sure is tough.

****
Song: Mogwai - The Sun Smells Too Loud
This is my favourite song from Mogwai's most recent album 'The Hawk is Howling'. It's remarkably cheerful for them, but if it's not what you're in to then check out the ironically titled 'Happy Songs for Happy People'. PS, this fan made video is a reason youtube is great.

1 comment:

  1. Love the photo 'art wanker'. That's my kinda funny. I hate to sound like your mum, but make sure you eat something other than bagels and pizza over the next 12 months. Actually, you're on the right track to me winning our bet. I will be weighing you when Joe and I come to visit next June - 20 kilos exactly. Love the pictures and music in your blog, you have the perfect balance between words, visual and audio.
    P.S, Jack from Sam's Warehouse was at MK tonight and kept saying stuff like 'price check on manchester', and 'I see you all the time returning frames'. He was off chops.
    xx

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