ZenYC

Zen (noun) – “a Japanese form of Buddhism that concentrates on learning through meditation and intuition.” Free Online Dictionary

NYC is called the urban jungle for a reason: it’s an intense, concentrated place with all sorts of wildness and dangers and mysterious things lurking wherever you go. Our city is certainly comparable to a den of wild animals sometimes, and the population density has the same combustible elements of any diverse ecosystem or interdependent habitat.

And like the jungle, you experience nonstop sensory overload in NYC. You can’t go anywhere without having people, traffic, noise … stuff! … coming at you ad nauseam, ad infinitum.

Sometimes you just want to get away from it all but you don’t have the time or cash for a trip outta town. What do you do? Where do you go?

Best idea: find Zen. Inner peace. Locate an internal mental/emotional oasis of relaxation. Take a vacation within yourself. Get calm. Chill out.

But how?

How can such a thing be done within the confines of the urban jungle? How do you get all Zenny in this city? When you’re paying a fortune to live in a pillbox with crazy neighbors and loud traffic outside your door, how in God’s name can you just escape into your mind and spirit?

Oh sure, you can go get a massage or take a Yoga class, and those things are great but they can be expensive. The question is, where can you literally go in NYC to travel into yourself … and get out of all the craziness for a moment?

Mr NYC took a small non-scientific Facebook survey of some of his fellow New Yorkers and got some ideas. These are places in our fair city, thusly dubbed Zen Spots, where you can go and find mental and emotional calm. These are places that are not only relaxing but that give you additional elements of … ahhhhhhh … mmmmmm … hmmmmm … ummmmmm … ommmmmm … zzzzzzzzzzennnn.

Based on my survey, I’ve just given what I hope are but a few of the best Zen Spots in town. If you, my dear readers, have any other good ideas of places to find Zen in NYC, please please please do share them. You will be doing your fellow New Yorkers a great public service.

So here it is, ZeNYC (so far):

“Used to love Carl Schurz park when I lived on the UES. Now I wander through the woods in Prospect Park. The lake at sunrise can't be beat and, oddly enough, I find inner peace right smack in the middle of Union Square. Consistently. No clue why.”

“The church yard of Trinity Church or the Japanese tea house at the Met.”

“Cloisters in Dyckman. A train to 190th. Walk up Fort Tryon park. Good, unique view of the George at sunset. OK medieval museum too...”

“Walking through the streets (usually the ones that are lined with townhouses and glorious trees rate higher on the peace than lets say Time Square) of New York City... isn't there a song like this?”

“Bethesda Fountain.”

Mr NYC’s own: the Brooklyn Promenade at night as well as the park just beneath the Brooklyn Bridge. The lake at the lower edge of Central Park. The Temple of Dendaur at the Met. The Astoria Park pool.

Do The Right Thing@20

Twenty years ago this summer Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing hit movie theaters and sparked immediate controversy. Some saw it as a bold and insightful expose of race relations in NYC (and America beyond) and others saw it as nothing more than an angry Black Power rant.

Of course, when it was made, who would have ever thought there would be black a president within a generation?

Widely considered Spike's best movie, Do The Right Thing is still being talked about two decades later. Love it or hate it, it's made a lasting impact -- and is therefore one of the most important movies about NYC.

The Times and Tribulations of the Triboro Bridge

The Triboro Bridge is now the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge -- why it was changed, I'll never understand. Anyway, for any of your NYC junkies out there, here's a thumbnail history of this most legendary of public works.

Remembering Stonewall 40 Years Later

Today is the 40th Annual Gay Pride Parade here in NYC, and my wife and I just returned from walking in the West Village where we threaded our way amongst the revelers. It was a boisterous, happy crowd, and we even spotted a few drag queens along the way.

But today is a milestone in New York City history and in the history of the gay rights movement. Forty years ago this very night, at the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street, police raided and beat up the bar's homosexual patrons -- and they fought back hard. Dubbed the "Stonewall Riots", it was a watershed moment in the history of gay America, one of the first times where a marginalized, discriminated minority stood up for itself and resisted institutional brutality.

After that, gay men and women became more noticeable on the cultural radar, and in the 1970s more and more gay people came out of the closet. Movies like The Boys in the Band and TV shows like Soap and books like Armistead Maupins Tales of the City brought homosexual life to life for millions of Americans. Since then, homosexual culture has practically become mainstream.

Unfortunately, discrimination dies hard. There are still no Federal laws protecting homosexuals and, of course, many states have banned gay marriage and prevented millions of men and women from enjoying the same economic and civil rights that we heterosexual Americans enjoy. Shameless politicians demonize and exploit homosexuals, and play upon the fears and prejudices of the ignorant and hateful, for their own political gain. And violence against homosexuals -- which is nothing but pure terrorism -- remains a constant problem.

However, as Stonewall showed, a society can only oppress a minority group for so long before they fight back. Happily gay marriage has been legalized in several states in this country and hopefully it will be legal here in New York State soon -- if our dysfunctional legislature can ever get its act together.

So let's hope that for the gay rights movement -- which is really a human rights movement, a recognition that all men and women should have equal rights under the law -- their full acceptance by American society will come very soon.

P.S. Allegedly the people gathering in Stonewall on July 28, 1969 were there mourning the death of Judy Garland who died 40 years ago this month. This has been disputed by some but Judy was and is a gay icon so this does make some sense.

nycpride

He left his heart in Astoria

Wherever you go, whoever you talk to, one thing seems to be on peoples' minds this weekend: Michael Jackson is dead!

And certainly, Mr NYC wishes flights of angels to sing to the King of Pop to his rest (or maybe he'll do the singing).

Granted, MJ was one very weird dude and he had lots of private problems (ain't that an understatement?), but there's no question that his music was amazing, universal, and perennial. Young as he was (only 50 years old!), Jacko was truly the last of a dying breed, the super world-wide megastar, and there really isn't anyone in music nowadays who can quite take his place. We probably won't see his likes again anytime soon.

That said, for my money, Tony Bennett has always been the kind of singer and star I've admired most. Classy. Sophisticated. Fun. Aspirational. And humble.

Tony Bennett doesn't try to WOW his audience, at least not in any over the type kind of way; instead, he wants his music to tap into your better nature and draw out your best feelings about life. You're WOWed, in fact, by his ability to do just this.

Listening to Tony Bennet sing -- "croon" is a better word -- you feel the beauty and comfort that great music, gorgeously sung, can bring to the human spirit. Whether it's "I Left My Heart in San Francisco", "Rags to Riches", "Put on a Happy Face" -- whatever! -- you get the sense that the world is actually a better place than sometimes it seems.

And the other thing that's great about Tony Bennett: he never forgot where he came from. He's an Astoria boy, grew up "right across the river" in that little neighborhood tucked into northeastern Queens. (Puts him in great company too: Ethel Merman and Christopher Walken are native Astorians as well). Tony likes to come back to Astoria from time to time, visit his old haunts, and eat at his favorite restaurants. He even named one of his albums after Astoria.

But it goes deeper than that. Tony Bennett has helped build a new building in his old neighborhood for the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria. Tony just sang at the Class of 2009 commencement and the new auditorium in this space has been named after him. How cool.

And, like MJ's, Tony Bennett's music is timelessly great. We certainly won't see his likes again but fortunately for us, even at 82 years old, Tony Bennett ain't slowing down any time soon.

One of the greatest singers who ever lived. A huge celebrity. A neighborhood guy.

That's Mr NYC's kinda star.

NYC Prep SUCKS

My darling wife decided, for kicks, to watch this new reality show called NYC Prep -- and she made me watch it too.

Five minutes in, I wanted to do an Elvis and shoot the friggin' TV set in. This is the most awful, miserable, worthless show that has ever fouled up The Box. It's so bad, so so so so so so so so bad, and the kids on this show are so so so so so so so shallow and narcissistic and stuck up and AAHHHHHGHGHG!!!!! I CAN'T EVEN WRITE ABOUT THIS SHOW INTELLIGENTLY! It's that wretched.

I am, I confess, a product of the NYC prep school community and, yes, there were some truly horrible kids like the ones of this show there. In fact, most of them were truly horrible and, who knows, maybe they thought I was horrible too.

But I wasn't like any of the kids on this ... I won't even dignify it by calling it a show.

I wasn't (and am not) rich, I didn't (and don't) have any connections, I didn't (and don't) spend my time partying and hanging out in clubs (because I wasn't and am not cool or good-looking enough), and I didn't (and don't) score lots of hot chicks (again, because I wasn't cool or rich or good-looking enough).

Of course, I guess I'm just jealous. So sue me. But at least I have better values then of these miserable twerps.

So please believe me when I tell you that not ALL NYC PREP SCHOOL KIDS ARE WORTHLESS JERKS! Just most of them are. But not all ... and that's the most important thing to remember.

BTW, this New York magazine article misquotes one of the kids on this show. It quotes him as saying "Money flows like water in New York." Actually this dummy said "Money flows like the wind in New York."

Okay, and I just wasted five-minutes blogging about this show so now that's 10 minutes it's sucked out of my life. And I'm the real dummy here since I actually wrote about this damn thing!

We still have Nixon to kick around!

Barack H. Obama is our 44th president and the first bi-racial president.

Richard M. Nixon was our 37th president and a psychopathic criminal.

He ordered break-ins and cover ups, sold his office for campaign money, stole public funds for private use, cheated on his taxes, used the IRS and Justice Department to harass his political opponents, hired goons to beat up anti-war protesters, spied on Democrats and investigated their private lives, illegally wire-tapped journalists' phone calls, lied to the American people about Vietnam, and was forced to resign in disgrace.

And that's just some of the bad stuff he did.

But despite all that, Nixon was really worried about America losing its soul. He thought America wasn't moral enough. And as the latest bunch of White House tapes released today from the National Archives reveal, he was against abortion -- except in certain circumstances.

On the tape out today -- recorded on January 23, 1973, the day after the Roe v. Wade decision came down from the Supreme Court -- Nixon says there are times "when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white ... Or a rape.”

Wow! So if Tricky Dick had had his way, Barack Obama would never have been born. In Nixon's mind, Obama's conception was basically akin to rape. Yuck!

Dick Nixon's brand of dark, dishonest, fear-based politics has had a lasting impact on today's Republican party. Anyone who lived through the last eight years of the Bush presidency knows that. (Former VP Dick Cheney got his start in the Nixon administration. Big surprise.)

In the early 1970s, of course, George W. Bush was too much of a drunken slob to work in a diner let alone in the Nixon administration -- but his daddy did. When this tape was made, George H.W. Bush was the UN Ambassador here in NYC and Nixon called him on New Year's Eve, 1971.

This tape, though short, is fascinating. First, it was recoded late that night but Nixon is alone at the White House. You see what a weird, introverted loner he was. Second, you hear what a desperate pathetic kiss-ass Bush Senior was. Third, Bush makes a passing comment about living "in royal splendor" -- that splendor being the Waldorf Astoria hotel.

At one point, Nixon asks Bush about "fighting that New York society crowd" and Bush says that he doesn't like living in NYC or having his family here. Of course, that didn't stop Nixon from moving to NYC after his presidency and, of course, Bush was descended from a rich Wall Street family!

What hypocrites! But then again, how typical of Republicans.

New York and Dysfunctional Democracy

I love New York and I love New Yorkers but let's face it, some of our fellow citizens are just slimy -- and the slimiest of them seem to end up either in or influencing our government.

Too whit: this New York State Senate coup/stalemate/comi-tragic situation is now two weeks old. And it's all due to these two unhinged goons, Hiram Monserrate and Pedro Espada, one of whom is an indicted assaulter of women, the other a creepy operator just one step ahead of the law -- for now.

This Village Voice article gives you more history on these two con men who are, beyond corrupt, just really, really weird. Monserrate is a Scientologist ('nuff said) and Espada ... his entire career been able crossing and double-crossing people for his own advantage. Egads.

But these guys aren't the only ones. Here's another story that defies belief: an influential NYC Rabbi named Glanz managed to arrange, last year, a lavish Bar Mitzvah for the family of a prisoner in a New York City jail! This thing has become something of a scandal since, you know, prisoners aren't supposed to be able to do things like this!

Do you think Bernie Madoff is gonna get to have a sedar in his little rat cage? Think not.

And add to that this whole sleazy undermining of term limits and you feel that New York democracy is messhugah! The whole city and state is being run by creeps!

The principles of democratic government is that the people govern themselves. Generally this works out and prevents despotism. We dislike the idea of a "ruling class" or noblesse oblige, people born and bred to run the government, people who think they know better than us about how we should live. We call these kinds of people the worst thing you can be called these days: elitists!

But when you get idiots like Monserrate and Espada holding office, when you have people like this weirdo Rabbi Ganz holding sway over our politicians, you seriously have to wonder whether this democratic experience, where the "people" rule is really the most brilliant idea humanity has ever invented. Maybe being an elitist isn't such a bad thing.

But I guess Winston Churchill was right: democracy is the worst form of government ever invented -- except for all the others. And New York City and State right now is proving the "worst" aspect of that statement beautifully.

It's the rage!

June 2009 will go down in history as the month where NYC practically drowned. Literally.

Twenty days into this month and it has rained every ... single ... day.

Unstoppable. Relentless. It just keeps coming and coming. We get a moment of sunshine here and there, and then ... it rains again.

Oy vey. No relief for the weary.

Perhaps its global warming or a some kind of fakata pressure system. Whatever. It's annoying. And it won't stop.

This rain has been wrecking havoc on weekend outings, BBQs, baseball games, outdoor parties, you name it. People have had to re-schedule -- and then re-schedule again -- their outdoor activities. Even funerals.

This city is losing its mind.

The New York Times has a great term for psychological effect its having on people -- rain rage.

Count me as one of the raging. It has repeatedly delayed our much anticipated pilgrimage to the new High Line park. Who wants to walk around this amazing new creation ... all wet?

At least it gives me and everyone I know an excuse to stay in doors and be lazy. But it's the summer ... and we New Yorkers want to go out -- literally! -- and have fun!

The only thing to do in a frustrating time like this is to try to see the ... poetry in it. Try to see the ... music. And when it comes to poetry and music and rain in NYC, I can only think of the closing words of Suzanne Vega's timeless "Tom's Restaurant" where she beautifully sings:

"Oh, this rain
It will continue
Through the morning
As I'm listening

To the bells
Of the cathedral
I am thinking
Of your voice...

And of the midnight picnic
Once upon a time
Before the rain began...

I finish up my coffee
It's time to catch the train"

If you get caught between the moon and New York City ...

"... the best that you can do ..."

A great NYC movie, Arthur was a big hit back in 1981 and won two Oscars -- Best Supporting Actor for the legendary John Gielgud and Best Original Song for this song by Christopher Cross.

In 1982, on Night of 100 Stars, Christopher Cross performed his hit song with the movie's star, Dudley Moore, accompanying him on piano. It's quite touching to see. Sadly, Dudley Moore died in 2002 and Christopher Cross dropped out of show business for a long, long time after this. But this song has a certain timeless beauty, that celebrates love, fun, and, of course, New York City.

This song has a rather complicated title: it's alternatively called "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" or "The Moon and New York City." Either way, it's a great song, and don't forget ...

"... best that you can do ... is fall in love ..."