"I'm Sailing!"

This could almost be a still from a movie about the ever-so-wacky adventures of Plaky called "What About Plaky?" Alas, it is not. But, yes, that is me actually steering an 1890's style schooner in NY Harbor (the busiest harbor in the world!). Fortunately, I was only steering for a brief time. There were actually many other guests sailing that Sunday evening and it was a wonderful sail. The actual captain of the vessel is standing off to the right in the picture. That is Captain Cait and she is a Doctoral Student at Hunter and was my Teaching Assistant this past spring. She is not only incredibly smart (quite true!) but an all around wonderful person who also happens to be one of only a handful of female captains in NYC.

The steering of a schooner (and sailing) is quite therapeutic. I understand why people find it so relaxing-because it is. There had been a light rain by the time we set sail (6-8pm) and it was really great. Kathy and I had sailed with our Houston friends Darron and Jen back in June and really liked sailing around the NYC Harbor. I wanted to take Emma out for a sail around the Statue of Liberty because, well, I just don't get tired of seeing her (the statue). Emma also brought along her friend Catherine and they seemed to really enjoy the sail. Kathy and I loved it also. It was quite romantic being out in the quite harbor, seeing the Statue, and the Manhattan skyline at sunset.

Since my last post we have done all sorts of things. Classes have started back up and I am teaching States of Consciousness again (I love it!) and an Intro to Psych lecture (100 students approx.) and it too is rockin'. Kathy and I went to Boston for a wedding and really liked "Bahstin". I had forgotten that they have a complete disregard for the letter "R" when placed in the third or later position in any word. For example, "yard" is pronounced "yahd". It's quite interesting. We did get to see the graves of John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Paul Revere among others. We walked through Boston Commons and swigged down beer at Cheers. The wedding was beautiful and Boston was just beautiful.

We experienced the 9/11 anniversary in NYC (amazing security everywhere) and the huge United Nations get together of world leaders. Have never experienced security measures such as those. It was almost overwhelming. Have also visited Governor's Island and very impressed by that. It's beautiful!

We are entering fall here and the weather is cooling. We are looking forward to experiencing an actual fall season for the first time in a very long time. We are likely going to rent a car and take a drive up through New England. Then, our sights shall turn to January and our next move. Our "year of change" seems to be flying by.

Morimoto's

It's been too long since the last post so thought I should find something of at least minimal interest to blog about. I have been spending all possible free time in the studio doing some creative stuff while Emma is on vacation. I have found most of the studio time has been spent reading rather large software instruction manuals as opposed to producing something in tangible form. I must admit however, that although I am not adversed to reading directions, I'd just rather do the creative stuff than work on an advanced degree in computer science. I must also admit that actually reading and understanding the directions is quite valuable.

So Emma has been on her first vacation without parents to supervise her every second. Suffice it to say she has been having a great time but clearly we all miss each other. While she has been away, Kathy and I have been actually spending some quality time together doing "stuff" that Emma would not enjoy. We've been out to some interesting restaurants located throughout the city, have been able to stroll along the Bowery, which just a few years ago we would not have been able to do safely. We saw some interesting galleries including the Morrison Hotel (way cool!), went into the old CBGB's location which is now a John Varvatos high end trendy clothing shop. My big learning experience there was that my trendy clothing wearing days that never were are now some sixty pounds behind me. A little disappointing, but I'm okay with it.

We also had a nice Friday evening Greek restaurant dining experience with our friends, Elizabeth and Stephan Mayer, over at Uncle Nick's in Hell's Kitchen. The food was wonderful, especially the grilled octopus, the conversations were fun and filled with laughter and the company was excellent! After dinner we wandered up to Columbus Circle, parted company and Kathy and I walked back along Central Park South to the tram. We had such a wonderful time.

Although it has been hot, humid and generally oppressive these last few days, Kathy and I decided to have one last night out before the girls returns home. We decided on Morimoto's Chelsea. Okay, I think 14th and 10th Avenue is still Chelsea, but I could be wrong. Masaharu Morimoto is an Iron Chef on the Food Network, though from I don't think he is actually made of iron . . . . .

He doesn't seem to say much but he makes some very cool looking food inventions. I'm not really one to do restaurant reviews, but I think Morimoto's warrants a review. This place is very cool! I'm sure if you are interested in seeing pictures (we didn't take any) of the interior there are many to be found online. The food was truly exquisite! We had various sushi and sashimi appetizers, Kathy had the Yellowtail that cooked in the bowl at table side, and I had the trout. Everything was like (fish) "buttah". Sometimes there is a difference when you pay a bit more, and this is one of those times!

As for the drinks, they too were fabulous! I'm not sure what Kathy had but it contained a lychee fruit, which for some odd reason I thought was a shrimp. Perhaps that's attributable to the minty gin and soda beverage I was consuming. I enjoy a good slightly dirty, dry gin martini. I can tell a good one from a not so good one (Kathy makes the best by far!), but opted for this minty drink just to be different.

After dinner we went downstairs to take a look at the bar. Okay, when you think really cool and hip New York City bar, this would be it. Again, I'm sure there are pictures on line. However, the real story here is the downstairs Ladies restroom. I do appreciate a clean restroom and I generally know where they are in most major cities (I still think that's a book I could sell to a publisher!). The men's restrooms at Morimoto's were very clean and earned my seal of approval.

The Ladies restroom was apparently something else, complete with infinity mirrors and lots of buttons that produced waters, air and possibly even a Cirque de Soleil performance. Let's be clear, I don't know this for certain as I did not go in, though I am considering dressing as a woman so that I can see what all the hubbub is about. I shall not steal the thunder from Kathy as she's the one who actually experienced the "performance" and will be blogging about it very soon. Even I will be reading her account of the festivities.

Next blog entry will be about Roosevelt Island's own, late-great Al "Grandpa Munster" Lewis and possibly, the new movie about Soul Storage that takes place to some degree here on our own little island. Adieu!

You may be a lover but you ain't no . . . .

Dancer?!  Think I know which one I would rather be good at . . .  Yes, you guessed it, writing and recording this song! Didn't see that one coming I'll bet!

By the way, I'm not sure how my little Canon digital camera managed to get a few of these pictures.  A couple of the stills turned out blurry though when I took them they looked fine.  Also, two pieces of video were unusable because the camera just would not focus, fortunately the audio turned out fine.

Still quite happy to have had the opportunity to see Sir Paul yesterday.  I believe that he is starting off his concert tour here in NYC at Citi Field-the new version of "Shea Stadium". So he plays at the Ed Sullivan Theater, homage to 1964, does it as a rooftop gig, homage to the Beatles Apple rooftop gig and starts off his tour at Citi Field, homage to the Beatles Shea Stadium gigs.  Nice trifecta!  Am I reading too much into this?  Most likely.  

As I recall, Paul wrote this song after hearing an interview of Pete Townshend proclaiming he had just written the most raucous rock song ever.  Paul, not one to be outdone wrote this little dity in response.  I can't help but think that recording a song like this could cause one to get blisters on their fingers.  

Anyhoo, as promised I'm posting a few more pictures and "Helter Skelter" in its entirety.

Adventure #4: When you least expect it . . .

So Emma and I set out on yet another adventure.  She wanted to go to the M & M's store in Times Square and I wanted to see a few more music sites in the same area.  Tin Pan Alley was a bit of a bust and the site of the old Record Plant recording studios has changed significantly.  Manny's Music Shop is gone but there is a nice marker on the sidewalk.  Sam Ash Music (now inhabits Manny's space) was nice, but I really had hoped to visit Manny's.  We meandered about some more just enjoying being together and talking various father-daughter "stuff".  

We wandered north on Broadway and I knew I could get a picture of the Brill Building and the Late Show marquee. 

 

As we approached the Late Show we could hear music, a sound check perhaps?!  We saw lots of people in the street.  We got closer and had to go a block out of our way to continue north as the sidewalk was closed.  That seemed a bit unusual, but nevertheless we journeyed on.  I couldn't help but notice lots of happily excited people with Beatles record albums and various other pieces of paper with Paul McCartney's autograph.  Now that tells me something, possibly something really big could be happening.  See, college is starting to pay off.

We made it up to 54th & Broadway and could see a stage with band gear set up and lots of police and security.  I asked a guy standing next to me what was going on and he said Sir Paul was going to play a few songs.  Emma was not really keen on standing for an hour waiting for music.  I kept her occupado and eventually (after Bruce Willis walked by-too bad I didn't actually see him) Sir Paul came out.

I must also mention that even though this being NYC where people are "a bit jaded" (well, that's how other people say it) everyone was excited and, dare I say, seemingly star struck!  It was a great time even before he started playing. And when he started off with "Get Back" (Oh, and yes, it was loud!) Emma got into it!  She's going to be my little rock and roller.  She took some video and lots of pictures (with varying degrees of success) and she really got into it!  In fact, once she saw news cameras and people being interviewed, leaving the area was simply out of the question.

This is something very interesting about NYC.  Stuff is happening all of the time.  You just never know what you may see.  The concert was great.  He played a couple of songs that I was not familiar with, threw in part of "Purple Haze" at the end of one song,  played "Band On The Run", "Helter Skelter" and ended with "Back In The USSR".  I must also add that his band was REALLY good (big surprise!).  They didn't miss anything.  I'm not sure what else Emma and I could see that could top this, unless of course, we get to see Townshend and Daltrey for free.

Am posting this 3:39 finale of "Back In The USSR" to enjoy.  Perhaps I'll post "Helter Skelter" in the next day or two.  Enjoy!

Adventure 3: Rock & Roll sites part one

I felt like a little kid seeing several rock & roll places in NYC.  Not sure Emma was as excited but had little choice except to accompany me.  She will thank me at some point in the future as "somebody" (other than me) is bound to be impressed by these sights and will recognize her with many "cool points" if those remain cultural currency.  I can only hope that I live long enough to say "See, I told you those were important places.  Aren't you glad we went?!"  I can dream, can't I? 

Started off at Madison Square Park for some live music (not really what we were expecting) and lunch at Shake Shack.  We then walked down Broadway through Union Square Park into the East Village and down to 96-98 St. Mark's Place.  It served as the cover of Led Zeppelin's "Physical Graffiti" (though they edited out one floor to make it fit the cover) and #98's stoop was where the Rolling Stones filmed their video for "Waiting on a Friend".  It's changed "quite a bit" since that time.  There are now locked gates at the sidewalk, most likely to keep people like me from emulating Mick Jagger on their front porch.  

I did my best Mick pose (legally) on the sidewalk between 96 & 98 and Emma snapped the picture. Okay, I admit I'm not the snappy dresser that Mr. Jagger is and I have "a few pounds" on him, (I am however, much taller) but if you watch the video you'll understand the pose-Really!  Our space for taking pictures was limited because there were delivery trucks on both sides of us, but you can still "get the picture." Emma clearly recognized that we were probably the least hip of anyone in the surrounding area.  I prefer to believe it was just the opposite.  Oh well, to each his own delusion . . . . .

We then walked across 8th Street into Greenwich Village (still a very "FUN-ky" place) to 52 

West 8th where Electric Lady Studios are still in operation. It was built by Jimi Hendrix in late 1968 as his studio.  I'm not sure but Emma may have actually been impressed by this (or possibly just humoring me in hopes of scoring some treat immediately following).  

Next, we headed south to 115 MacDougal Street to Cafe Wha?  

This was Bob Dylan's old haunt and where Chas Chandler of the Animals "discovered" Jimi Hendrix with the help of Keith Richard's girlfriend (psst: she discovered him but Chandler gets all the credit).  Admittedly, this is not the original Cafe Wha? which was across the street from its current location, but it will do just fine.  This is a very cool neighborhood!

Lastly, we walked south on Mercer Street into SOHO for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex to see the the John Lennon exhibit. Saw lots of Elvis jumpsuits (cotton, not leather as I had always imagined) and other effects; Michael Jackson's "We Are The World" 'uniform' (complete); Jimi Hendrix' Rainbow Bridge shirt/jacket and Monterey medallion (very cool!); Handwritten lyrics to the Four Season's hit "Sherry" originally spelled "Cheri".

The last part was the Lennon exhibit.  Well worth the money! Of particular note were the original handwritten lyrics to "Working Class Hero", "God", and "Imagine" (very tiny and on a scrap of paper-perhaps a receipt??); many correspondences involving his fight to stay in NYC.  Emma was moved by a video that's part of the exhibit that had scenes of the results of "conflicts" in terms of human casualties, most notably Hiroshima, Nagasaki, the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq (1980's), Bosnia etc.  We used the scenes to talk about lots of "things" I thought we might discuss a few years down the road, but no time like the present.  We signed a petition that will be sent to the President at the end of the exhibit and got to see the bag of "possessions from patient #???" that was returned to Yoko Ono in February 1981.  It is all of John Lennon's possessions collected at Roosevelt Hospital on the night he was murdered.  It most closely resembles a brown paper shopping bag still wrapped in a clear plastic bag. That's it.  It is amazingly powerful in its simple presentation.

We left to board a train back to Roosevelt Island, both of us exhausted.  Emma seemed to have enjoyed the day after all.  I was glad and grateful she accompanied me.  My little buddy rocks!

Adventure number two

So Emma and I set out on our second adventure, with of course, sunscreen.  We checked out the  Chelsea area and all its interesting sights.  We wandered all around 14th Street and eventually got to see the Highline.  Then we went into the Chelsea Market for some lunch (yes, the picture) and every intention of seeing the Food Network Studios (we didn't).  We wandered along the Highline until it we reached its end, then checked out a number of art galleries.  All in all a wonderful day together.  Next up, various rock and roll sights in NYC.

A Remembrance, Ken Cottrell

I was saddened by the news that Ken passed away late last week in Austin.  He was on his way home on his motorcycle when a 33 year old drunk driver went through a stop sign at 51st and Springdale Road and hit him.  Ken was a talented musician and a kind and generous person.  He had a huge laugh that will be missed by many.  Our thoughts go out to his many friends and family.