I was all over the universe that is New York today. I was recording an interview for a Latin Jazz documentary, and recieved word last night that the dude was up in the Bronx. The gig was not difficult- record someone answering questions while someone on the phone in England asks the questions. The work is the easy part.
The day began waking up in Brooklyn, my throat is the weirdest type of sore ever. Its like my throat pain has extended to my tounge, slowly moving forward until it envelops my whole body. So, I woke up in this crap-0-licious state and had to pack up my gear very quickly. I have a lot og crap to bring. In case the computer fails, I bring a DAT and what not, audio geek stuff. Its also raining out. The train up to the Bronx is a long one, and I am running on the late side. All this time, I imagine getting off the train and being mugged for all the recording equipment I own, which is on my back.
I have never actually ridden the subway up that far. Mainly because I would be kind of out of place in most of the places it goes once you get past manhattan, and easily most parts of Harlem. There were 3 school kids on the train once we got past 125th street, bragging of their badass train antics. They were probably about 13. They each tried to do flips using the hand rails. 2 succeeded, while the other who was slightly heavier said “You want me to try that? I’ll break this goddamn train!” We all got a good chuckle.
So all my fears were completely based on prejudice. It was a very nice suburban section of the Bronx. The interviewee was a very cool Afro Latin drummer, who described himself as a “New York Rican”. The interview lasted 2 very long hours while i sat on the floor with my laptop. Afterwards, he gave me a tour of the house, and took me out to breakfast/lunch at 3pm. We discussed Frank Zappa and I heard some weird Jazz World stories. So after that, He had to go back down to Manhattan, so I hitched a ride, and heard some extreme gossip about the latin jazz world while he was on the phone. If i remembered the names of the people, I could totally sell that shit to the tabloid press in Argentina. So he said we were going to manhattan, so i figured like midtown, right?
His rehearsal was at the Manhattan school of music. If manhattan were the empite state building, the Manhattan school of music would be at the antenna right at the top. I had to walk up to Harlem just to catch the train. Harlem was actually kind of cool right there, so no complaints. So that takes our journey from The Bronx, to Harlem, to Manhattan, on the train over to Queens to get the G train down to the hood, known as Brooklyn. I got home and collapsed. My throat felt like it would soon leave my body, I became light headed. While feeling this way on the subway platform, its a wonder i didn’t topple over onto the tracks, being topheavy from my bag which weighed about 265 lbs. Ok, that was a joke, but it easily approached 240lbs.
I had a good discussion with my roomate just now. I dont really know him at all, but he was telling me about law school, which he seems very frustrated with today. He basically said he hates lawyers, a sentiment I have shared since the mayor of my town called me a schmuck for not selling a phish ticket and selling out my friend in the process- leaving me with a personal vendetta that i shall not give up until death, partly causing me to give him the nickname McCheese, but anyway…(deep breath)… He told me that going into law school, about 50% of people want to be public defenders, but coming out, only about 6 % are. His words of advice were “If you meet someone that says ‘ I Love The Law’ be very cautious around those people” His point was, people who loved the law and interpreted it strictly, were the same who put martin luther king in jail, held up segregation, things like that- they are not always the ones pushing society forward, because justice doesnt always abide by the written law…..Go Kent. My girlfriend says he looks like Waldo, I would have to agree, but who doesnt thing Waldo kicks ass?
I spotted two typos. My aunt/cousin is or is going to be going into labor law, which I think helps out unions, blue-collar workers, and people like that from getting beaten down by the man. Also, judges (who were lawyers at one point) have been blamed for “legislating from the bench,” meaning for example a judge who makes a decision that goes against someone who believes in strict interpretation of the constitution (e.g. a judge upholding a gay marriage certificate). So in conclusion, nothing really exists in Staten Island except landfills, but that’s based purely on prejudice.
Comment by Cathleen Stumps — October 4, 2005 @ 7:51 am