Gotta Love New Yorkers

You can't love a city unless you love its people -- the people who created it, the people who maintain it, the people who give it its vitality, from the folks who pick up the city's trash, teach in its schools, drive its buses and cabs and trains, police its streets, build its economy, help it to grown, preserve and improve its architecture and greenery, to the people who give it cultural vitality -- the characters who help to define the city's character. 

To say that New York City has produced some interesting characters over the centuries would be an epic understatement. But reading about some NYC characters, a couple of whom recently passed, a couple who are still with us but in their winter years. I blogged in the past about some of the NYC greats, the characters who contributed to its cultural and intellectual life, and it's a tradition I like to uphold. So here are a few more great NYC characters, NYC greats, both past and present, that we should appreciate:

- There's the actor Charles Kimbrough who recently died at the age of 86. Most people will remember him for the decade he spent playing the pompous anchor Murphy Brown. But he was really a man of the stage and he originated roles on Broadway in two of Stephen Sondheim's best musicals -- Company in 1970 and Sunday in the Park with George in 1985. What an incredible acting legacy!

- There was the movie producer Ed Pressman who recently died at the age of 79. A native New Yorker he produced classics like Badlands, Wall Street, Bad Lieutenant, Reversal of Fortune, and American Psycho. He was one of the last big-shot, svengali producers that don't really exist anymore, and he made great movies about people instead of superheroes. A great cinematic legacy.

- Then there's Sonja Wagner. Who's she? She's a classic NYC story -- a bored housewife from Kansas who escaped to our fair city in the last 1970s and built a successful if under-the-radar career as an artist. She worked for adult mags while also creating her own art, and she found a loft that became an epicenter for struggling and successful artists to meet, party, network, and get into chicanery. Sonja is 85 now and terminally ill -- but she's kind of New Yorker who made this city her own and contributed to its culture in great ways.

- And there's always Fran Lebowitz. Look, what more can I say about this fount of NYC wisdom that hasn't already been said more often and better by others -- especially Fran herself? Fran is an NYC treasure, an institution unto herself. If I had to say what it is I love about Fran is that, even though she's a public intellectual, if that she's focuses on reality and not pretentiousness. She focuses on the real issues, not the nonsense. Perfect example, as she says in her latest interview, is that we should stop worrying or caring about the dopey-ness of people like the Kardashians and more about the threat that someone like House Speaker Kevin McCarthy poses. Smart lady, a great New Yorker. 

Classic Mr NYC

This is a record for the shortest amount of time between a blog post and then turning it into a "classic" -- about two months. Anyhoo, here's a link to my December 2022 review and examination of the classic 1980 movie Fame ... and below is an "on location" documentary that was made in 1979 at the time the movie was being shot in NYC.

The director, Alan Parker, makes a very interesting observation about Times Square and NYC at that time -- how you could pass the Broadway theaters and see the people who were at the very top rung of the showbusiness ladder ... and then, right next to them, were the adult theaters where you could see the people who were at the very bottom rung. 

Fame is about the people striving to get to the top rung -- or at least stay off the bottom one, and this documentary captures that restless spirit perfectly. 

Radio Remembrances

Over the years, I've blogged about my love for the old days of NYC radio. Heck, I realize I've blogged enough about it that I could create a whole separate blog about it all on its own! (Don't worry, I won't).

So talking about old NYC radio, I should note that this past January of 2023, one of the longest running show in NYC radio history came to an end: "Woody's Children" hosted by Bob Sherman.

Bob Sherman is an NYC radio legend, having worked at classical music station WQXR for more than 50 years. He's hosted shows like "The Listening Room" and "Young Artists Showcase" and others. At the age of 90, he's still working. His longevity is amazing.

"Woody's Children" was something different -- an American folk music show who's name was inspired by Woody Guthrie. "Woody's Children" debuted in 1969 on WQXR and ran there until 1999 when Bob Sherman moved it to WFUV. Sherman played every kind of folk music during those decades and interviewed everyone, including Pete Seeger (his first guest ever). Due to his age and other commitments, Bob has ended the show but what an incredible run!

I remember I used to listen to "Woody's Children" every so often when I was a kid. It used to be on Saturday nights at 7 PM. It was the first place where I ever heard "Alice's Restaurant". I can't say that I'm a huge folk music fan but I clearly remember this moment as being transformative for me -- where music could be funny and thoughtful, where a song could be a story unto itself. So thanks Bob Sherman, congrats on an historic achievement with "Woody's Children."

For some reason, at the same time I saw that "Woody's Children" was ending, I was remembering the weeknight radio show from my youth that used to air on Z100: "Love Phones" with Dr Judy. 

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, before the Internet and social media, call-in radio shows like this were very popular. They were, in a way, the original social media. And call-in shows about sex and relationships, airing after 10 PM in "safe harbor", where the hosts and callers would have explicit conversations, were especially popular, really being a kind of audio porn. The most popular, and longest running, was called "Lovelines" but, for whatever reason, it didn't air in NYC in the 1990s (it did, briefly, circa 2001-2003 on the ill-fated WNEW talk format).

"Love Phones" was the NYC-centric version of this show. Horny young people would call in with their weird sex experiences and questions, and Dr Judy would give wacky advice like suggesting that men write letters to their penises. They would have guests in the studio sometimes, many of whom didn't seem understand what kind of show they were on. I clearly remember one time a British guest was on and he was asked if he liked women making a lot of noise during lovemaking. His answer was rather odd: "Naw, I like 'em ratha' quiet." Eww. Anyway, this was, for that time, outrageous stuff although, by today's standards, quite tame and lame. But it was a moment in time where the exhibitionism that we see so much of in today's society was beginning to take off.

So, in remembering this show, it's easy to see today that "Love Phones" is both an artifact of its time, the kind of show that no longer exists, but also prelude of what was to ... come.

Greetings from the Rep. George Santos Office in Queens

 

Heavenly Riverside Drive

One of the defining features of great cities is that even its streets and avenues are famous: think Saville Row in London, the Champs D'Elysee in Paris, the Via Del Corso in Rome, Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Mulholland Drive in LA, and many others. 

In NYC, especially Manhattan, Wall Street, Park Avenue, Fifth Avenue, Central Park West, and Sutton Place are famous the world over because they posses some of the most expensive real estate on earth. These avenues are synonymous with wealth, power, fame, glamour -- you name it. The richest and most famous people in the world live there, its architecture and streets exude the 1%. Tom Wolfe wrote a whole book about it back in 1987. 

'nough said.

So what about Riverside Drive?

Unlike those avenues, it doesn't have anywhere near the fame and pedigree. But what's crazy is that Riverside Drive is probably more beautiful than any of them. Nestled next to the Hudson River, running quietly from 72nd street up to the top of Manhattan island, it's an amazingly peaceful avenue right next to one the most frenzied places in the entire world. You just walk a block west from the loud craziness of Broadway onto the leafy, zen-like Riverside Drive and it's like you've stepped out of one world into another. 

I know a lot about Riverside Drive because, well, I grew up there. And I've always felt like it never got the respect of Manhattan's other great avenue. But that's changed a little recently: there's now a book about it called Heaven on the Hudson that chronicles its amazing history. Riverside Drive is full not only of beautiful buildings, it's not only across the street from its own park with sweeting views of the Hudson River, but it's also full of monuments and also contains some of the last remaining free-standing mansions in NYC. You should read the interview with the author. I can't wait to read the book.

If you want to know more about what makes Riverside Drive so magical, you should read this 1998 essay "My Manhattan: 44 Blocks of Enchantment." I remember reading it when it was published -- I was in college, far from NYC, and it brought me right home in my mind. 

You can read all of Mr NYC's Riverside Drive coverage here.

I never say things like this but I'll say it here: Riverside Drive is the best avenue in NYC!

Mr NYC & COVID-19

If you go back to my blog posts of March, 2020 it's like watching an act of disruption in real time -- for the first part of the month there are, as usual, a bunch of posts about various random things and then ... boom! 

It's all COVID all the time. 

Reading those posts from three years ago, it's chilling to see how our world was just hit like a missile with this virus, this pandemic. It brings you back to that moment in time, in real time, and shows you both how scary it was and how far we've come since then.

Fortunately, for yours truly, over these past three years, I was super-lucky never to get COVID and got four vaccination shots. I've still been masking, taking precautions but, like most people, was living more and more like it was a thing of the past.

Well, it's not -- and, as is true for everyone, eventually my luck ran out. Last week the virus paid me a short visit. I took a home test and those two dreaded lines appeared with all the impersonal cruelty of the skinless metal terminator walking through fire. I had a stuffy head, a running nose, and got tired easily. I had to isolate at home, test regularly, tell all my friends and family and co-workers, and just sweat it out.

But here's where my good decisions in the past helped make this experience more of an inconvenience instead of a crises: I was already fully vaxxed, had all the information I needed for next steps, and called the city to get Paxlovid which helps to fight virus. In short, I nipped that sucker in the bud.

We're truly fortunate to live not only in the greatest city in the world but also in a city that takes care of its citizens. The NYC government actually has many great services that all New Yorkers can avail themselves of. If you're a fortunate son like me, you don't usually need these services but it's great to know they're there.

So, if you get COVID, you should hit the NYC COVID site and get all the services and resources you can -- including Paxlovid (if you qualify) that can help you beat the virus quickly. My experience with COVID makes all the anti-vax, anti-government lies and propaganda from the Republican party even more outrageous and stupid. Vaccines work and government can help and anyone who disagrees is just a moron. 

To quote that wise man Jerry Springer, take care of yourself and each other -- that's the NYC way!

Welcome to Grand Central Madison!

Remembering Kathy Acker

Writing is solitary work. It's also very earnest work. There's only so many ways to write something, anything, without it becoming boring, pretentious, or incomprehensible. Writing needs to be clear or at least readable in order to capture a reader's continuing interest. Writing also requires discipline -- just sitting down and doing it, over and over again, editing and rewriting your words into something comprehensible. 

It's not a surprise then that many writers are what we call "nerds" -- socially withdraw, socially awkward people interested more in a life of the mind than a life outside their door. It's also why the concept of the "reclusive writer" -- like JD Salinger or Harper Lee -- is so potent.

To be a writer is in a sense to be alone, to be apart, to observe and reflect the world rather that participate in it. To be its conscience instead of its muse. 

That's what makes the life and career of Kathy Acker so interesting. She was a writer but she was most certainly not a nerd. She was the closes thing a writer can be to a punk rocker -- her work is often called "experimental", "transgressive, "post-modern." She was a novelist and essayist, and dabbled in playwriting. Long before it became fashionable, she was writing about the long-term effects of childhood trauma, bisexuality, and the rebellious spirit. The titles to some of her work: "I Dreamt I Was a Nymphomaniac", "Don Quixote: Which Was My Dream", "P@#$y, King of the Pirates", "Blood and Guts in High School", and her 1979 Pushcart Prize winning story "N.Y.C. in 1979". She also wrote things with titles that were subversively conventional: "Great Expectations" and "Florida." 

Born in NYC in 1947, Kathy Acker grew up in a privileged but troubled home on Sutton Place. She was one of those New Yorkers who was from the city but who found more of a voice on the West Coast, eventually migrating to San Francisco before moving to London. She would return to live in NYC on occasion but, after a cancer diagnosis, she became a fan of alternative medicine, dying in an "alternative cancer clinic" in 1997, aged 50. 

Kathy lived a wild, exhausting life. She was no hermit. While a prolific writer, she also taught writing classes, held odd jobs, moved around constantly, married twice, and had many affairs with both men and women. She was openly bi at a time when few weren't. She even, allegedly, appeared in adult movies. 

Kathy Acker was, in short, a restless spirit. And now, more than 25 years after her death, her work still resonates. She has been the subject of not one but two biographies, one called After Kathy Acker, the other called Eat Your Mind. 

I will admit that I never heard of Kathy Acker until I stumbled across these biographies. She was a little before my time. But I became intrigued.

Writers like Kathy Acker or Ernest Hemingway or Hunter S. Thompson or Charles Bukowski and Jack Kerouac have always inspired me with awe. These were people who had wild lives, myriad experiences, lived life at 100 miles an hour -- and yet still found the time and energy and peace of mind to sit down and do the hard, solitary work of writing. They travelled extensively, drank and did drugs, had lots of sex, met lots of people, did all sorts of things -- and wrote. How they did all that and could still write brilliantly and earn a living is stunning to me. 

Talking about "experimental" or "transgressive writing", I like to think that this blog is just that. But probably not. It's not up to me or any writer to declare themselves that, only the public. But, for Kathy Acker, the public most certainly did. 

NYC Movie Theaters Are Vanishing

In some big news, the Regal Cinema multiplex in Union Square is closing. (This is part of a bankruptcy proceeding by Regal Cinema that is seeing its multiplexes close nationwide.)

While it's always seemed like it's been part of the Union Square scene forever, this multiplex has only been there since 1998. Nonetheless, it fast became a vital part of the neighborhood and its location made it one of the most heavily patronized movie theaters in the city. I went there countless times, seeing movies like Signs and Up and so many others. It was very popular with NYU students and it's also the movie theater where I once accidently bumped into Ed Koch on Christmas Eve 2004. Even though it was a big, impersonal, and wildly overpopulated multiplex, it had a cozy feel.

Now it's gone, following on the heels of so many other movie theaters around the city that are vanishing, especially in residential neighborhoods, and especially in downtown Manhattan. As sad as this is, it's not surprising. Streaming has utterly transformed how we consume movies. Now people can watch first-run movies on their phone while traveling or on their huge flatscreens on home -- why venture out and pay a ton of dough and put up with other moviegoers when you sit in the comfort of home, get some take out, and watch it there? In the same way that the Internet transformed Times Square by putting porno movie theaters out of business, streaming is transforming NYC and other cities by stamping out movie theaters. Sad but plus ca change. 

Video stores were an even earlier casualty of streaming. There's even a documentary about the once mighty, now gone, Kim's Video stores that used to populate the city (I used to live near one). Even though it was a basic CD/DVD store, it had a nerdy vibe that made you feel part of a movie-loving, pop culture community. That's been lost now -- the community belongs on remote. 

My favorite long-gone movie theater was the Ziegfeld on 54th street. It was a massive single-run movie house, the closest thing we ever had to a movie palace in this town. I saw many great movies there like Inglorious Basterds (and some not so great ones, like the Star Wars prequels). It was the kind of place that made movies feel important in a way that streaming and watching them on phones  doesn't.

There are a lot of great movies set in NYC -- it's just too bad there are increasing few great places to see movies in NYC. 

Queens & Brooklyn Take a Stand for What's Right in the US House of Representatives