Best of 2006: Visiting New York City
Best of 2006
Well, here I am at my parent's house in Basingstoke for Christmas. With not much else to distract me I thought I'd take this opportunity to have a proper play with Vox, and catch up on some of the stuff I'd have like to have documented better before I forget it all completely.
2006 has been full of surprises, not all of them nice - but there's no doubt it's been fantastic in terms of travel. So I'm going to write a bit about that, starting with the definite highlight of the year: visiting my friend Gareth in New York.
New York City - Welcome to Mirrorworld
Well I say 'New York' - he actually lives in New Jersey, but right on the edge, overlooking Manhattan. That was one of the first things to strike me - looking out of his window when I arrived and seeing that skyline.
Gareth had only been in America for a couple of months so a lot of it was still new to him too. I now know why William Gibson's American traveller dubbed London 'mirrorworld' in Pattern Recognition: strange as it may sound, I loved taking the subway. It was an instantly familiar experience, yet the trains seemed fresher and the stations less labyrinthine than the tube.
I remember laughing out loud the first time I heard the driver make an announcement. Why? Because the gruff Brooklyn accent sounded exactly like a stereotype from a film. That happened to me a couple of times, again when I walked past some hobos who were speaking in the hoarse yell I know from so many movies.
And I was obsessed with pavements and street furniture. The uniform nature of the surfaces - always these untarmacked slabs of concrete - came as a surprise to someone used to such varied textures underfoot. As for the street signs, well, there was plenty to entertain me there. Especially when I happened to pass what appeared to be the sign for Murray Street, as featured on the back of the Sonic Youth album of the same name.
Visiting Brooklyn, I could see why it's an increasingly appealing place to live. Not having much of a frame of reference, I likened it to the trendy parts of East London - both are formerly industrial and working class areas that have been occupied by 'creative' types with a love of street art.
It was in Brooklyn that I had the pleasure of attending a free open-air Les Savy Fav show in a huge disused swimming pool.
Les Savy Fav are almost guaranteed to put on a good performance, and this time was no exception. Frontman Tim was covered in red paint. But it was a very hot day in July, and he's an energetic guy and so quickly began to sweat it all off. There was also a noisy game of dodgeball in the pool that had been going for the duration of the event - including during Les Savy Fav's set. So Tim ran off the stage, still singing using his radio mic, and crashed into the court, grabbing the ball and temporarily disrupting the game.
Gareth and I attended quite a few other gigs on a semi-random basis, only with occasional success. I knew Lightning Bolt at Webster Hall would be great, but we tried going to not one but two 'world music' peformances in a tiny, unairconditioned box of a venue, both of which sounded a laugh in the Time Out writeups, but were mostly excruciatingly terrible.
Oh! And how can I not mention popping up the Empire State Building? I'm very lucky toknow someone who works almost at the top - just above the row of lights which change colour on special occasions (I was there around the time of Independence Day). I still can't fathom what it must be like to actually work up there on a daily basis. The view is quite incredible, especially around sunset. And you really get an idea of the scale of the city (approximate size: large).
Back down on street level, I took plenty of time to just wander around and try to get an idea of what it must be like to live in the city. I know I barely scraped the surface. It was hot - very hot - when I visited, and I know it got hotter the next month. So now when I think of New York I imagine it being baking hot, humid and thundery.
It was hot on 4th July, when we watched the fireworks from an independant film screening. It was hot when we explored the warehouses in Brooklyn, and when we failed to get into Eyebeam, home of the incredible Graffiti Research Lab (I succeeded on a later date).
Central Park was also hot, but there was shade in the mysterious woods in the middle. And it was hot in Greenwich Village, which I thought was beautiful. If you happen to know of a cheap apartment going in the area, do let me know...
In fact I wouldn't rule out living in New York for a bit. Though probably not in the Village (unless I become incredibly affluent, which I suppose is always an option). It's definitely got under my skin, and I can't wait to go back to visit at least. So watch out, NYC: you haven't seen the last of me.
My New York set on Flickr
I remember laughing out loud the first time I heard the driver make an announcement. Why? Because the gruff Brooklyn accent sounded exactly like a stereotype from a film. That happened to me a couple of times, again when I walked past some hobos who were speaking in the hoarse yell I know from so many movies.
And I was obsessed with pavements and street furniture. The uniform nature of the surfaces - always these untarmacked slabs of concrete - came as a surprise to someone used to such varied textures underfoot. As for the street signs, well, there was plenty to entertain me there. Especially when I happened to pass what appeared to be the sign for Murray Street, as featured on the back of the Sonic Youth album of the same name.
Visiting Brooklyn, I could see why it's an increasingly appealing place to live. Not having much of a frame of reference, I likened it to the trendy parts of East London - both are formerly industrial and working class areas that have been occupied by 'creative' types with a love of street art.
It was in Brooklyn that I had the pleasure of attending a free open-air Les Savy Fav show in a huge disused swimming pool.
Gareth and I attended quite a few other gigs on a semi-random basis, only with occasional success. I knew Lightning Bolt at Webster Hall would be great, but we tried going to not one but two 'world music' peformances in a tiny, unairconditioned box of a venue, both of which sounded a laugh in the Time Out writeups, but were mostly excruciatingly terrible.
Back down on street level, I took plenty of time to just wander around and try to get an idea of what it must be like to live in the city. I know I barely scraped the surface. It was hot - very hot - when I visited, and I know it got hotter the next month. So now when I think of New York I imagine it being baking hot, humid and thundery.
Central Park was also hot, but there was shade in the mysterious woods in the middle. And it was hot in Greenwich Village, which I thought was beautiful. If you happen to know of a cheap apartment going in the area, do let me know...
In fact I wouldn't rule out living in New York for a bit. Though probably not in the Village (unless I become incredibly affluent, which I suppose is always an option). It's definitely got under my skin, and I can't wait to go back to visit at least. So watch out, NYC: you haven't seen the last of me.
My New York set on Flickr
