Further adventures in the Big Apple

Our next blog post has been penned by the eloquent musings of Gregory Shields…..
(please note all views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the blog moderator).

Saturday night took us to Greenwich Village for the Big Apple Jazz tour, led by the vivacious, loquacious, bodacious, and amply appointed Amanda. Her beau, Jim, accompanied us as we toured their favourite joints. Jim himself was a great aficionado, and had lived in NYC since ’66 variously as an economics professor, squatter, private eye, world adventurer and writer. We saw a great range of acts across the Village, culminating in Sweet. Georgia Brown and the Blues Crusaders who saw us well into the wee hours with their incredible show at 55 Bar.
 
Moderator note – I suggest you listen to Cherry Pie (see link below) whilst reading our post. Side note: “Blues singer Sweet Georgia Brown , also known as “The Last of the Red Hot Blues Mamas,” stole the show from B.B. King at the 2009 Montreux Jazz Festival,receiving multiple standing ovations, and was given the title “Queen of the Village!”  From Jazz Foundation of America. Click the link to read her incredible story from being homeless to performing with BB King.

Sunday we woke late, and visited Harlem for a walking tour. It was informative and interesting. Soul food and jazz followed, then a Niall Connolly gig at Scratcher Irish pub.

 Monday was a blazing hot day, taking us to Coney Island. It wasn’t as Coney as I had anticipated, but the blue skies and old amusement rides were worth seeing. What was even more fantastic was our trip to B&H Photo, essentially a digital Disneyland for the modern gadgeteer, where an army of Orthodox Jews sell an alarming variety of camera, audio, computer, and miscellaneous electronic gear. The highlight had to be the 3D printers – desktop-sized – that whirred away making plastic toys.

 Once goods are ordered they are dispatched by the surly European cashiers into a system of electronic carts that ferry them all over the expansive store, to land eventually into our eager hands.  Jade and I eventually had to be removed by force after chaining ourselves to the shop-fittings and declaring our wish to remain in perpetuity in this wonderful microchipped Valhalla. Some elements of this story may not represent entirely true events.

One of the main tasks of the new week was to conquer the Metropolitan  Museum of Art, which had defeated us earlier at The Battle of the European Collection. We scuffled twice more on Tuesday and Thursday, losing each time to the incredibly rich collections of Egyptian, Oceanic, Pacific,  Native American, and modern Western art. Your humble author particularly enjoyed the collection of early American (Martin) guitars. 

The weather was well into the thirties for several days (and nights) which were taken advantage of in Central Park Tuesday evening, when we picnicked with Nick Cooper and Amelia, a friend of Jade’s from Sydney. The soundtrack was played by John Butler Trio in the stadium next door. The park was alive well into the night, and when we finally packed up at 10pm it was still very hot and humid.

Wednesday took us to the Guggenheim museum, where we were swept up into the feverish dynamics of 1930s nationalism at the Italian Futurist exhibition. While we both enjoyed the show, I couldn’t help being unnerved by the violence underlying the kitsch facades. I think they’re basically cubists on testosterone. The building, itself a work of art, provided us with equal amusement. In the evening we made our musical debut at Ceol, an Irish pub that hosts an open mic by Niall Connolly (a friend of mine well-known on the folk scene). The quality of the acts was on the whole superb, and we bumped into Chris Ford, a London-based musician we had met at a party 2 years ago in Streatham! ‘Tis a small world, after all.

On Thursday night, following several hours at the Met, we descended into the dark underground of Manhattan (cue Genesis references) to sup with the local ninja guild, at Ninja Restaurant. We survived the various physical and mental tests proffered and were permitted to dine in their fine establishment, which combines the subtlety of Japanese cuisine, with the tacos of Mexican. 

Friday was spent in the gorgeous Brooklyn Gardens, picnicking illicitly amongst the shrubbery; both eating and sitting were considered outside the law of the gardens, and security patrols were common. The sun was blazing and the gardens were in full bloom, so even the totalitarian regime could not spoil our day. In the evening we returned to Williamsburg where Jade took to bed, and I wandered the waterfront taking photos of the vibrant neighbourhood therein.

And there, gentle reader, is our week in a nutshell. For more aggressive readers, please turn to the sealed section. Au revoir.

Editors note : Please feel free to turn to Gregs hi res photo blog located at the top left hand corner or link is here.