Happy New Year!!!
I HAD NO PLACE TO GO ON NEW YEAR'S EVE!!!
Okay, I did have someplace to go -- a good party, actually, with a Weimar cabaret theme -- but it came in after my last e-mail check, so I lived my New Year's Eve as if I didn't have anywhere to go.
And it was . . . nice.
I went downtown to Trinity Church, where bells were ringing in the New Year for the first time in over a hundred years.
According to the publicity, the Trinity bells provided 19th century New Yorkers with the same kind of New Year's tradition modern denizens (and visitors) now enjoy in Times Square. And it was, apparently, the Times' move to the square in 1904 that sounded the (seeming) death knell for the downtown tradition.
But the bells are back.
And even before they tolled for me (and thee), the sound of nearby fireworks beckoned from (kinda) the south. So, after exchanging Happy New Years with some well-dressed older folks across from the church, I hustled toward the the fireworks, past the big, beautiful Chrrstmas tree in front of the New York Stock Exchange (in front of which a pretty, dark haired girl was kissing the ground as an expression of her love for New York City), past a New Year's bash with a James Bond (2)007 theme (at least on its sign).
The sounds of the fireworks were coming from two different directions, so -- naturally -- I headed in a third, toward where I thought they should be. But, as minutes passed and I realized I might miss them entirely, I turned toward the sounds and soon bright, colorless flashes began appearing above and around the varied structures of lower Manhattan. Eventually, I glimpsed colorful splurtches of fireworks from somewhere across the water -- maybe Staten Island. And when they ended, I turned right toward the Staten Island Ferry, by which where there were more ridiculous-looking, Happy New Year hats (which I love) per capita (which literally means "per head", doesn't it?) than I'd seen anywhere else in my (admittedly limited) evening's wanderings.
A guy in front of McDonalds asked me for money and when I indicated he was barking down the wrong purse, he offered to buy me a coffee (I turned him down, with thanks), a gesture of sweetness that reminded me of another time, some years back, when I was broke and heading for a nearby comedy club to glom train fare from a friend or distant associate. A bum on the southwest corner of 23rd and 8th hit me up for some funds and I frankly told him that I was so broke I was about to hit up people I knew so I could get home. He opened a hand filled with coins and whatnot and pulled from it a subway token, which he gave me so I could travel home.
It's a beautiful world.
THEY'RE AUCTIONING OFF MY STORAGE TOMORROW IF I DON'T PAY THEM $350 BEFORE THE AUCTION BEGINS!!!
Stay tuned.
__________________________________
2 January, 2007 @ 14:23 GMT
http://blogs.chortle.co.uk/andrewjlederer
Okay, I did have someplace to go -- a good party, actually, with a Weimar cabaret theme -- but it came in after my last e-mail check, so I lived my New Year's Eve as if I didn't have anywhere to go.
And it was . . . nice.
I went downtown to Trinity Church, where bells were ringing in the New Year for the first time in over a hundred years.
According to the publicity, the Trinity bells provided 19th century New Yorkers with the same kind of New Year's tradition modern denizens (and visitors) now enjoy in Times Square. And it was, apparently, the Times' move to the square in 1904 that sounded the (seeming) death knell for the downtown tradition.
But the bells are back.
And even before they tolled for me (and thee), the sound of nearby fireworks beckoned from (kinda) the south. So, after exchanging Happy New Years with some well-dressed older folks across from the church, I hustled toward the the fireworks, past the big, beautiful Chrrstmas tree in front of the New York Stock Exchange (in front of which a pretty, dark haired girl was kissing the ground as an expression of her love for New York City), past a New Year's bash with a James Bond (2)007 theme (at least on its sign).
The sounds of the fireworks were coming from two different directions, so -- naturally -- I headed in a third, toward where I thought they should be. But, as minutes passed and I realized I might miss them entirely, I turned toward the sounds and soon bright, colorless flashes began appearing above and around the varied structures of lower Manhattan. Eventually, I glimpsed colorful splurtches of fireworks from somewhere across the water -- maybe Staten Island. And when they ended, I turned right toward the Staten Island Ferry, by which where there were more ridiculous-looking, Happy New Year hats (which I love) per capita (which literally means "per head", doesn't it?) than I'd seen anywhere else in my (admittedly limited) evening's wanderings.
A guy in front of McDonalds asked me for money and when I indicated he was barking down the wrong purse, he offered to buy me a coffee (I turned him down, with thanks), a gesture of sweetness that reminded me of another time, some years back, when I was broke and heading for a nearby comedy club to glom train fare from a friend or distant associate. A bum on the southwest corner of 23rd and 8th hit me up for some funds and I frankly told him that I was so broke I was about to hit up people I knew so I could get home. He opened a hand filled with coins and whatnot and pulled from it a subway token, which he gave me so I could travel home.
It's a beautiful world.
THEY'RE AUCTIONING OFF MY STORAGE TOMORROW IF I DON'T PAY THEM $350 BEFORE THE AUCTION BEGINS!!!
Stay tuned.
__________________________________
2 January, 2007 @ 14:23 GMT
http://blogs.chortle.co.uk/andrewjlederer
posted by Andrew J. Lederer at 9:31 AM
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