White Hats

Kansas City to Memphis town, Arkansas on down; Come on into Mary's kitchen if you want your sausage ground"

Old Crow Medicine Show, 'Mary's Kitchen'

The work crew have a tradition. In fact, they have many traditions. Some of these traditions could be somewhat more accurately termed as 'addictions', but this particular example, whilst accommodating to some of those addictions, is very much a tradition. On the evening of Gay Pride Sunday, they rustle up as many folk willing to part with $30 and buy tickets that allow them to join the masses clambering aboard a large floating vessel that circumvents the island of Manhattan, whilst the aforementioned masses extend on the celebration of the day of pride.

It's not a 'quaint' tradition. Not at all like how you all might gather on the anniversary of your Grandma's death to solemnly remember her life. Neither is it equitable to a more joyous annual event like the Jewish festival of Purim. However, it is a tradition and it is annual and they really give the whole thing a (here comes the obligatory Australian cliche) 'A red-hot go!'.

On The Run

"I've broken the speed of the sound of loneliness. I'm out there running just to be on the run"

Alabama 3, 'Speed of Loneliness'

The back page of the New York Times on Saturday had a wonderfully dramatic panoramic photo of the skies above the so called 'Subway Series' baseball game between the Yankees and the Mets. As night invaded, the stadium lights increased in effect and overhead hung these impossibly crimson tinged clouds, glowing as consistent as a neon light outside some dodgy gay nightclub. As far as I gather, this was an extremely rare occurrence for New York. But back further down south beyond the equator, I've experienced this several times.

Fear

I haven't been on here for a while. It's not because i ain't had much to say - in fact, I've had plenty to say. It's just that I've felt unwilling to share. Scratch that. More accurately, I've been afraid. Not sure of what. It could be of anything that could occur anywhere along the spread from the action of conception of an individual blog, to you reading my wavering thoughts of the past weeks or so. But i feel that despite being unable to define and place the fear, i can be certain that wherever it lands it is misplaced. Fear so often is.

Daytime Movies

I love a trip to the movies. I go on my own and i go during the day. As a member of the Hospitality Industry, i live and work outside the hours of accepted, polite society. This can cost me so much socially, but one of the liberties it provides in quid pro quo, is sunlight hours to be enjoyed inside an overly air-conditioned cinema.

As i am particularly pretentious and somewhat artistically sympathetic, i feel most comfortable in an Arthouse cinema environment. So, i headed off to the Landmark Sunshine Theater, located in the Lower East Side. Now, i haven't really done that much research into the building. In fact, I've conducted none at all. All i know is that it was under very overcast skies that i scurried up to the entrance and the building itself looked and felt nothing even remotely landmarkish (yes, that is a adjective i have just invented). However, from the country that gave us The 'Big' Mac, The Baseball 'World' Series and 'President' George W Bush. i think one could expect and accept the odd bit of creative exaggeration.

Of Trains

"Train arrive 16 coaches long. Well that long black train got my baby and gone"

'Mystery Train', Sam Phillips

Duke Ellington's grinning face behind an almost impossibly reflective, laid-out piano, is an image that always served for me as an emblem of New York City. Despite the fact that Washington D.C. was the city that stood in witness at the birth of Edward Kennedy Ellington, it was the flickering lights of Uptown Harlem that announced, proclaimed and maintained the birth of the legend that was and is The Duke. Together with a handful of equally legendary peers, he transformed a few dance halls, ballrooms and speakeasies into at first ultimate destination venues, then establishments and finally into cultural and historical icons - not only of these United States, but rather, of this entire dusty globe.

One of The Duke's most regarded passions was trains. Many a title of a song referenced trains and he often spoke of trying to capture the rhythm, movement and swing of those grand old steam powered beasts into his songs.

Seagulls

'K.C. left Memphis at quarter to nine, was in New York City bout supper time.'

'K.C. Jones', Mississippi Fred McDowell

Lots of folk come here from somewhere else. There's alot of other great cities of the world that seem to magnetize escapees, yet i reckon this is different. Here, even the locals, those who've been here for generations (plural) want you to think they just got off the Greyhound from some far flung, dust swept town, nestled hard up against the border. Where i come from, Melbourne (that's Melbourne in "I can't believe they have Jews in" Australia) , a city defined by it's various and multi stages of immigrational flux, those that have had the 3000 postcode for over 50 years, wear that distinction with, well, distinction. But here?.....not so much.