If you've read Mr NYC for any legnth of time, you know how much I love the music of Lou Reed, and how romantic I am for the 1960s NYC that birthed his band The Velvet Underground.
This month also marks the 30th anniversary of one of his greatest solo albums, New York. While the album is certainly a love letter to the city, it's more complicated than that -- it's a cry of emotion about the complex feelings any New Yorker has for this place. Nothing about Lou Reed's music is easy or simple, and this album is no different. When it came out in 1989, New York explored a city that seemed to be in crises, that was dying, but that still contained a wondrous and inspiring spirit. And this album is as inspired as any that Lou Reed wrote.
So here is my little compedium to all things Lou Reed & NYC:
- My collection of blog posts about Lou Reed and The Velvet Undergroud.
- A review of the New York album. - How Lou Reed and NYC are inseperable, both in music and soul, and are practically addictive. - And a guide to NYC per Lou Reed's music. If you like Lou, this post is ... for you ...
Once upon a time an eccentric architect, with the eccentric name of Buckminster Fuller, came up with an extremely eccentric idea to build a clear shatterproof dome over Mid-Town Manhattan.
Yes, decades before Donald Trump thought America needed a big useless wall across the southern border, this dude thought that a big dome over midtown would literally shield this most busy part of the city from the elements, from danger, and increase energy efficiency. It was a bold idea ... ... and, predictably, it went nowhere fast. Fuller proposed his dome in the 1950s, in the years after the war, when there was lots of building going on in NYC and America, and the idea of protecting the city -- and the world -- from another catastrophe was certainly understandable. And, crazy though Fuller's idea was, it wasn't nearly so bad as Robert Moses' idea of ramming a highway though lower Manhattan (which was, thanks to Jane Jacobs, mercifully killed). Personally, I don't think we should build a dome over NYC -- instead, we should develop the kinds of electromagnetic "Shields" like they have on Star Trek that protect the Enterprise. So whenever a storm or something threatening approaches NYC (and Lord knows that's happened!) the mayor could just yell "Shield's Up!" and we are thus protected.
Today is International Women's Day, a day where women and the movement for gender equality are celebrated.
All sorts of fascinating women come from NYC. There's no such thing as one type of proud NYC woman -- there many of them.
Here's a few impressive NYC ladies -- they couldn't be more different but they come from all walks of NYC life and each one is (or was, in one case) amazing:
There's Real Housewife Sonja Morgan, a glamorous NYC lady whose turned her socialite life into an art form.
There's Audrey Sanders, a legendary bartender and club founder.
There's the recently deceased Lois Carl, a Bronx girl who moved to LA and became a beloved on set tutor for the child stars.
And there's Anna Shechtman, a young lady from Tribeca, who is re-inventing the crossword puzzle.
Reading about each woman I got a sense of their fearlessness, their determination, their grit -- these are tough NYC negotiating a man's world and the exigencies of life. Whether you have sons or daughters (and I got two) they are role models for everyone.
Okay, so here's the deal -- I really, really, really, really, really, really want you to follow @MrNYCBlog on Twitter.
I post links to all the blog posts on there as well as constantly re-Tweet interesting, funny, informative, and sometimes just downright strange stuff about NYC.
It's a real-time, non-stop New York City's junkie's delight! Make it part of your regular Twitter diet and you'll feel nourished.
So please follow Mr NYC on Twitter and help fill that bottomless pit of need within me.
Wherever you grow up, wherever you spend your formative years from birth to adulthood, it stamps you forever -- no matter how far you may run away from it.
Think of Gatsby. The Long Island millionaire bootlegger is revealed to be, at the end of The Great Gatsby, what he always really was -- a poor boy from North Dakota trying to make good. Think of Ronald Reagan -- yes, he was a Hollywood movie star and US President but he never really stopped being the poor boy from small town Illinois whose dad was a drunk. It haunted him and his years in power, informing his dark view of the world.
You might not be able to "go home again" but your childhood home never leaves you -- no matter how old you get, no matter where you move to.
Being a kid in New York City is something special -- this city is so unique, so weird, so crazy, that growing up here defines you forever. You may move far away, you may grow old -- but NYC kids are always NYC kids no matter where they live or whatever age they are.
Here are two amazing examples of kids from NYC who grew up to define the culture: the movie director and author Peter Bogdanovich and the writer Diane di Prima.
Bogdanovich grew up on Riverside Drive (like me), fell in love with the movies as a kid and spent his childhood and young adulthood in the NYC art house movie scene. Eventually he moved to Hollywood and became a successful (and then not so successful) director of movies like The Last Picture Show and Mask. He had a wild life, dating Cybill Shepherd and Playboy playmates, being best buddies with Orson Welles, acting on The Sopranos -- just an amazing ride. He's an old man now but, as this big interview shows, despite all his successes and failures, despite all his adventures, he's still just the kid from NYC who wanted to be in the movies. And he did it.
I had never heard of Diane di Prima until now but I wish I had: she was the leading female member of the Beat generation. A child of Greenwich Village, she wrote books and poems, taught school and college, and was an innovator in what today we'd call "confessional memoir." She's over 80 now and has had a crazy life but, you get the sense from this article, that Diane is still a young girl from the Village who just wanted to write.
And here's something that all kids in NYC and their parents have to struggle with: at what age can they be allowed to ride the subway alone? Believe it or not, this is a matter of great debate. Honestly, I don't recall how old I was when I started riding the subway by myself (I was 10 when I started riding the bus by myself) but it's one of the "only in NYC" things that defines being a kid in NYC.
A new leadership team was announced today for the New York City Ballet. This might not seem like big news but, in a way, it is.
Since its founding almost 70 years ago, this important NYC cultural institution has only had two leaders -- George Balanchine and Peter Martins. Balanchine was not only the founder but also a brilliant, historic choreographer, the man who popularized ballet in NYC and America. It's not wrong to call him, in many ways, the godfather of American ballet. Martins, his successor, ran the company with an iron-fist for almost 35 years. He kept the company going but was, apparently, a bit of a tyrant, and he retired in late 2017 after he got all #MeToo'd.
I've blogged about my experiences with NYCB as a kid so, obviously, I took some interest in this story. It'll be interesting to see what the future for this company will be like.
Yesterday former Trump lawyer turned government witness Michael Cohen gave riveting testimony to Congress about his "dirty deeds" for Donald Turmp, the NYC real estate developer turned reality TV star turned POTUS. There was lots of shouting, grandstanding, bloviating, about Russian collusion, hush money payments, racism, etc. -- it was political theater par excellence, and mostly just rehashing of what's in the news.
Perhaps the most interesting, and most overlooked part, of Cohen's testimony was about something that hasn't been raised before -- specifically, insurance fraud as it relates to one of Trump's golf courses in the Bronx. This line of questioning came from AOC who lives in and represents the part of the Bronx where this golf course resides.
These revelations show how deep into the weeds of sleaze and corruption Trump and his cronies are and, more importantly, how Trump is like a virus, not only on America, but how he has always been one in NYC.
By the way, did you know that Michael Cohen once ran for the City Council back in 2003? Imagine how different the history of this country would be if he had won!
Here's a quick rundown, some lessons learned, from the special election for Public Advocate:
1. Strong candidates like Jumaane can win votes across neighborhoods and boroughs. Voters are not necessarily loyal to candidates from their districts or boroughs -- they vote for whoever they think is the best candidate, even in a field of 17. Candidates matter.
2. Oddly timed special elections = extremely low voter turnout. Not surprising.
3. For the all the heat and controversy, the failed Amazon deal played no part in the outcome. Voters did not revolt, did not rise up en masse in favor of corporate tax breaks/backroom deals/union-busting -- and thus Ulrich, the only candidate who supported the deal without reserve, lost big. Media hysteria doesn't necessarily translate into votes. People vote their core, unwavering values.
4. The New York Times endorsement is still hella powerful.
