World AIDS Day

December 1 marks the 18th anniversary of World AIDS Day. We are now in the 26th year of this horrible plague. In 2005, over 3 million people acquired HIV, which means there are now more than 40 million people living with HIV and AIDS.

New York City is home to dozens, if not hundreds, of organizations that serve HIV+ people, but the first and foremost is the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC). These days, the name is a reflection of the group’s history, not of the population they serve.

In early 1979, scientists noted that Kaposi’s Sarcoma, a rare form of cancer previously seen primarily in the elderly, had started to appear in otherwise healthy young men in California. Preliminary reseach showed that all of the affected men had two things in common: they lacked any of the known risk factors for the disease and they were gay. It wasn’t long before it became apparent that these men’s immune systems were seriously impaired; they were soon affected by a host of opportunistic diseases (such as tuberculosis, herpes simplex and candidiasis) that did not respond to standard therapy.

As the number of cases of what had been offically dubbed Gay-Related Immunodeficiency Disease (GRID) and was known on the streets as gay cancer and the gay plague steadily increased, scientists and doctors were baffled, members of the gay community were confused, frustrated and angry, and the mainstream media was almost entirely silent.

In this atmostphere, New York author and playwright Larry Kramer invited a group of gay men to meet in his apartment to discuss GRID and raise money for research. Eight people showed up for that first, informal meeting. Early fund-raising activities included a volunteer who manned a card table at the corner of Christopher Street and Sixth Avenue, collecting coins that passersby (including me) dropped into an empty water jug. Those first, desperate efforts were the foundation for what soon became GMHC.

Today, the organization is one of the world’s largest providers of services to those with AIDS, helping thousands of men, women and children regardless of their sexual orientation or ability to pay for services. Their Web site, telephone hotline (212-807-6655 or 1-800-AIDS-NYC [1-800-243-7692]) and a new collaboration with AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) enable them to serve many outside the New York area. But for many New Yorkers, thinking about the fight against AIDS means first thinking, thankfully, of Larry Kramer and GMHC.

Larry Kramer

Current Global Statistics from the National AIDS Trust, UK

United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS

Gay Men’s Health Crisis

Larry Kramer is Not Nice

Larry Kramer and the Politics of AIDS Research

The beginning: Two tiny whispers in July, 1981

Kaposi’s Sarcoma and Pneumocysitis Pneumonia, US CDC

Rare Cancer Seen in 41 Homosexuals, The New York Times

Charles & Camilla at MOMA

The Museum of Modern Art is normally closed on Tuesdays, but today metal barriers and law enforcement personnel surrounded the entrance. Inquiring passersby were told simply that “dignitaries” were coming. As night fell, reporters and camera crews assembled in the press areas flanking the front door. Observers started to gather behind the barriers across the street, whispering about what they suspected was about to happen — Prince Charles and his new wife, Camilla, were going to attend a dinner inside the museum

As 7:00 p.m. approached, a series of limousines began drawing up to the door — the invited guests were arriving. They emerged to a flurry of photographic flashes from the press corps and comments from the New Yorkers assembled on the sidewalk.

The observers included some dedicated celebrity-spotters who speculated about which stars might appear, discussing them with a familiarity that implied that the speakers and the subjects of their conversation were good friends.

“I hope Sarah Jessica is coming.”

“Do you think Matthew will be with her?”

“No, he has to work tonight.”

“Oh, that’s right.”

A few of the assembled called out the names of each new arrival, no matter how obscure or minor the celebrity.

“Who’s that?”

“That’s Matthew Modine! Matthew Modine!”

“Who?”

Two reporters from the BBC desperately called out for “Any Britons? Anyone British here?” Unable to find a Brit to interview, they turned to the assembled crowd and asked for reactions. “Why are you here? What do you think of the Prince’s visit?”

A short, stocky woman in a heavy coat confidently announced the arrival of “Joan Collins! Barbara Walters! Elaine Stritch! Steve Kroft — from 60 Minutes!” When asked how she recognized so many faces, she happily declared that she reads People magazine and “goes to things all the time.”

Some tried to make a celebrity connection. A 30-something with dirty blonde hair screamed, “Hey, Deb! We’ll see you in Dalton! See you in Dalton! See you in Dalton, Deb! We’ll see you in Dalton! Hey, Deb, see you in Dalton! See you in Dalton! Hey, Deb!” When she was finally rewarded with a smile and wave from television personality Deborah Norville, the apparent target of her cries, the woman proudly turned to those around her and announced that she, like Ms. Norville, hailed from Dalton, Georgia.

A series of celebrity couples arrived, some scurrying inside without pause, others graciously swanning for the photographers. Donald Trump and his new wife, model Melania Knauss were greeted with cries of “Donald! Donald! I want to be on the Apprentice!” Sting and his wife Trudi Styler heard “Sting! Sting! Look over here, Sting!” Similar shouts greeted the arrivals of Diane Sawyer and Mike Nichols, Barry Diller and Diane Von Furstenburg. When Yoko Ono exited her car, escorted by publisher Jann Wenner, the spectators cried, “Yoko! Yoko! Turn around, Yoko!”

An enraged New York City detective whirled around, placed his hands on his hips and shouted to the crowd, “How can you people cheer her? That’s the woman who broke up the Beatles!”

Finally, groups of armored men assembled. Walkie-talkies squawked. Police cruisers blocked both ends of the block. Sirens filled the air. A long, black limousine with the Union Jack flying from the hood slid into place in front of the door, and the royal couple emerged. They waved to the assembled reporters but didn’t turn for the New Yorkers who waited with cell phone cameras in hand, calling, “Hey, Prince! Prince! Here, Prince!”

The couple of the evening were quickly escorted inside. The consensus of the crowd: they looked different than expected, he older and grayer, she much nicer. The reporters packed up their gear, the crowd dispersed, and the celebrity spotters, turning towards Broadway, regaled each other with tales of the stars they’d seen on other occasions. “At a book signing, it was Jane Powell and Dickie Moore. They live here, you know…”

Welcome Aboard the Sukkah Mobile

Sukkot (also spelled Succoth or Sukkos) is a Jewish harvest festival that generally occurs in late October. One of the happiest events on the Jewish calendar, it is commonly known as “the Season of our Rejoicing.”

Sukkot commemorates the end of the 40 year period that Moses and his followers wandered in the desert and lived in temporary shelters. The word “Sukkot” is the plural of “sukkah,” which means “huts” or “booths.”

During the seven days of the festival, Jews are commanded to dwell in sukkot. Since few live in climates that allow them to sleep outside in October, most fulfill the requirement to “dwell” in a sukkah by eating all their meals there.

Generally, building the sukkah is a family project; once the structure is in place, the kids help decorate it with fruits and flowers of the season including dried squash, stalks of corn, bunches of grapes, painted pumpkins and branches laden with berries.

Another commandment involving Sukkot features what are known as the Four Species: a citron (known in Hebrew as etrog), a palm branch, two willow branches and three myrtle branches. The branches are bound together and called a “lulav.” The observant face East, hold the lulav and etrog, recite a blessing, then wave them East, South, West, North, up and down.

For those who can’t dwell in a sukkah, or shake the lulav and esrog on their own, the Chabad Lubavith has set up a mobile sukkah and it driving it through the streets of Brooklyn. Today it was parked downtown, near Borough Hall.

The curious and the pious were welcomed into the wooden hut on the back of a truck, where volunteers placed the Four Species in their hands. If the visitors didn’t know the proper blessing, they were prompted and if they didn’t know what to do with the Four Species, they were shown.

The Sukkah Mobile on Court Street

Borough Hall in the background  

Young volunteers display the lulav and esrog  

Judaism 101: Sukkot
Chabad-Lubavitch
Sukkot
CrownHeightsInfo: A Sukkah Mobile in London
DailyIllini: Jewish students celebrate

A Lily Underground

Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies, for instance.

— John Ruskin

If you have only two pennies left in the world, with the first penny, you should buy rice to feed your family. With the second penny, say the wise Japanese, you should buy a lily. The Japanese understand the importance of dreaming.

— Annie Walker, Lilies: Words and Music, 1999

It was rush hour. I was sprinting through the Times Square subway station, running down a short flight of stairs, when something bright caught my eye.

It was a flower — a stem of yellow lilies — stuck into some metal duct-work at the ceiling. There, against the dirty, peeling paint, was a small, cheerful beacon, a sweet surprise and a reminder of spring and beauty and hope.

I paused for a moment, fired off a couple of shots with my cell phone, and kept going. There was no time to linger, but I couldn’t resist turning around for a final, blurry photo of the lily underground. Then I ran for my train.

The lily in Times Square Station

The yellow flower in the duct-work

A final glimpse of the lily

Annie Walker

Visit Cumbria: John Ruskin

Two Sexy Italians Up for Grabs

Monday morning, a group of sexy Italians appeared in Grand Central Terminal. Under the star-spangled ceiling, a pair of Lamborghini sports cars was parked next to the information booth while four Augusta Brutale motorcycles were in the passageway to Vanderbilt Hall.

The reason? The Columbus Citizens Foundation is sponsoring two raffles for the benefit of their scholarship fund: Win an MV Agusta Brutale and Win a Lamborghini. A limited number of tickets are for sale and the drawing will be held when the last ticket is sold. Price per ticket? A chance to win the motorcycle is $50; a raffle ticket for the car costs $1,000. More than twenty tickets for the Lamborghini were sold the day they became available.

Of course, upon seeing the vehicles inside the train terminal, my immediate reaction was “A sports car? But if you won it, where on earth would you park it?” Sometimes I forget that there’s world outside New York where normal, average people have things like long, winding driveways and private garages. In this part of the world, those are ultra-luxury items; even multi-million dollars homes generally don’t include parking spaces, and private garage ownershp is confined to the very, very, very rich.

Yellow Lamborghini in Grand Central 

Black Lamborghini in Grand Central 

Agusta Brutale in Grand Central Terminal 

Win Lamborghini Gallardo 

Win Augusta Brutale 

Columbus Citizens Foundation

Grand Central Terminal

Lamborghini

Lamborghini Club

MV Agusta Brutale

MV Agusta Brutale USA

Jerry Seinfeld’s private garage

The 31st Annual Atlantic Antic

For more than three decades, Brooklynites have gathered on Atlantic Avenue once a year to celebrate themselves and each other. The Atlantic Antic is Brooklyn’s biggest community event, an opportunity for the residents of several diverse neighborhoods to come out, meet and mingle.

It is a time to learn about (and join) community groups, cultural groups and polticial groups of every stripe and respresenting every cause.

It is a chance for kids to follow their passions. A parking lot is turned into a playground. Face-painters, balloon twisters and pony rides abound. Civic-minded kids set up stands to raise money for victims of Hurricane Katrina and sell lemonade to benefit childhood cancer.

It is the time to dance. Throughout the Antic, the air is filled with music as bands perform country, rock, oldies, middle eastern, hip-hop and folk from stages and in front of bars.

It is an opportunity to find bargains. Retailers bring their merchandise outside. Artisans and craftspeople show off their wares and make connections.

It is the day to eat. The doors of the Avenue’s many restaurants open their doors and food vendors from elsewhere join them. Walk a few blocks and you’ll be able to sample Barbeque, British, French, Italian, Korean, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Lebanese, Egyptian, Greek, Palestinian, Jamaican, Hatian, Soul Food, Spanish, Mexican and a host of other cuisines. Must your food be vegan, halal, kosher, fat-free, salt-free or wheat-free? Don’t worry, there’s plenty available here, no matter what you prefer, for little or no money.

Kids Help Kids working to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina

The pastor of a church just off Atlantic drums up business

Mayoral candidate Fernando Ferrar and wife

Drummers in front of Stan’s Place

Frying crawfish cakes in front of The House of The Lord Church

Selling lemonade for childhood cancer research

Atlantic Antic

Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association

Alex’s Lemonade Stand

Project Backpack: Kids Helping Kids

Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn

The Arab-American Family Support Center

Kane Street Synagogue

Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club

Brooklyn Greenway Initiative

Brooklyn United for Innovative Local Development

Willowtown Association

Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts

Brooklyn Public Library

Brooklyn Community Access Television

Williamsburg Music Center

Doll & Toy Museum of NYC

Magnetic Field

Waterfront Ale House

Floyd

Last Exit

Brawta Carribean Cafe

La Mancha

The Soul Spot

The Chip Shop

Musician’s General Store

Urban Organic

Hope Vet

Providence Day Spa

Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is an annual event held during the last week of September. Every year I forget about it until something reminds me. This year, the reminder came in the form of an e-mail from Coliseum Books:

Greetings Book Lovers!
Starting September 24 to October 1, booksellers, librarians, authors, readers, students and other friends of free expression will participate in Banned Books Week. It was started in 1982 by the American Library Association, the American Booksellers Association, the Association of American Publishers and the National Association of College Stores to raise awareness of censorship problems in the United States and abroad. For the past 22 years, it has remained the only national celebration of the freedom to read. Book banning is nothing new. Dante’s The Divine Comedy was burned in 1497 on religious grounds. Queen Elizabeth censored parts of Shakespeare’s Tragedy of King Richard II in 1597. Jean Jacques Rosseau’s philosophical work was placed on the Roman Catholic Church’s Index of Prohibited Works in the 18th century. Click here to read a list of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression’s banned and challenged Books of 2004 – 5.

——–

I plan to mark the week by reading and releasing Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal Dreams, which appears on the current list of banned and challenged books.

Just a gentle reminder that those of us who are able to read and write what we wish must not take this precious freedom for granted.

Animal Dreams 

Banned and Challenged Books of 2004 – 5

American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression Banned Books Week Resources

American Library Association Banned Books Week Resources

American Library Association

Association of American Publishers

American Society of Journalists and Authors

Association of College Stores

Barbara Kingsolver

Animal Dreams

Coliseum Books

Bookcrossing

Broadway on Broadway

Today the 14th edition of Broadway on Broadway was held in Times Square. This free event features some of Broadway’s best: hit numbers from nearly every musical now on the Great White Way, including performances from some shows that haven’t yet opened (The Color Purple, Sweeney Todd, In My Life) and one from a show that will close later this week (Lennon).

The logistics are daunting, involving the closing of several of midtown Manhattan’s busiest blocks to traffic, the erection of an enormous stage and the installation of an extensive sound and video system. Television stars John Lithgow and Christina Applegate, currently appearing in, respectively, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Sweet Charity, hosted the event.

Featured shows included All Shook Up, Avenue Q, Beauty and the Beast, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Hairspray, Lennon, The Light in the Piazza, The Lion King, Mamma Mia!, The Producers, Rent, Sweet Charity, Sweeney Todd, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Wicked.

Representatives of various businesses strolled behind the police barriers distributing free souvenirs to the crowd, including paper fans, newspapers and CDs. The day was gorgeous, the singing was fabulous, the dancing amazing and the spectators enthralled. Darlene Love, currently appearing in Hairspray, had her first hit record (He’s a Rebel) more than 40 years ago and her soaring voice has lost none of its power. Her soulful, stirring rendition of “I Know Where I’ve Been” made her the brightest light on Broadway today.

There’s a light
In the darkness
Though the night
Is black as my skin
There’s a light
Burning bright
Showing me the way
But I know where I’ve been There’s a cry
In the distance
It’s a voice
That comes from deep within
There’s a cry
Asking why
I pray the answer’s up ahead
‘Cause I know where I’ve been

There’s a road
We’ve been travelin’
Lost so many on the way
But the riches
Will be plenty
Worth the price we
Had to pay

There’s a dream
In the future
There’s a struggle
We have yet to win
And there’s pride
In my heart
‘Cause I know
Where I’m going
And I know where I’ve been

Police barriers ensure no traffic on Broadway  

Video screen displays performers onstage 

Confetti released during the finale 

Broadway on Broadway

Playbill on Broadway on Broadway

Broadway World

Avenue Q

Beauty and The Beast

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

The Color Purple

Hairspray

The Lion King

Mamma Mia!

Sweet Charity

Wicked

Darlene Love

12th Annual Bus Festival

In the mid-1950s, America fell in love with a television program about working class New Yorkers called The Honeymooners. Ex-vaudevillian Jackie Gleason starred as blustering Brooklyn bus driver Ralph Kramden; 50 years later, the actor and the character he portrayed continue to occupy a special place in the hearts of New Yorkers and the New York Transit Authority. In fact, a statue showing Kramden in uniform stands outside the Port Authority Bus Terminal (New York City’s largest bus station) and a major bus depot on Brooklyn’s Fifth Avenue is named in Jackie Gleason’s honor.

Today the New York Transit Museum held its 12th annual bus festival at the foot of Borough Hall, drawing bus aficionados from far and wide. And naturally, Gleason’s presence was felt. As they walked along the avenue of historic vehicles, visitors were serenaded by the series’ familiar, brassy theme song issuing from loudspeakers. One of the highlights of the day was watching people suddenly stop, smile in recognition and happily exclaim, “Hey, they’re playing the Honeymooners’ song!”

From the official festival announcement:
September 17, 2005, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Join us as we celebrate a century of motorized bus service in New York City at the New York Transit Museum’s 12th Annual Bus Festival. More than a dozen vintage Museum buses, dating from 1917 to the 1980s, support vehicles, and more recent examples from the MTA fleet of buses will be on display in Columbus Park. The star attraction of this year’s festival is “Betsy,” the Museum’s newly acquired closed-top, double-decker bus (no. 1263), originally operated by the Fifth Avenue Coach Company from 1931 to 1953. Throughout the day visitors to the Festival may enjoy guided tours of the fleet, live musical entertainment, hands-on children’s workshops, story-telling, and complimentary rides around historic Brooklyn Heights on a horse-drawn omnibus. And everyone can shop for unique bus-related gifts and transit memorabilia in the Transit Museum Store tent. This event is free and open to the public.
Vintage double-decker bus 

New York Transit Museum Bus Festival 

Parked in front of the State Supreme Court 

Bus 303 (circa 1917) 

New York Transit Museum 

Getting ready to tow a bus back to the depot 

Jackie Gleason Depot, 871 Fifth Avenue (July, 2005) 

Transit Museum

Transit Museum Store

Museum of Broadcast Communications on The Honeymooners

The Honeymooners

The Honeymooners

The Honeymooners Theme Song

Ralph Kramden statue

Tribute In Light

Twin beams of light now mark the place where two mighty towers rose and fell. Each year, on the date of the World Trade Center’s destruction, brilliant blue towers shine into the heavens from dusk until dawn.

I shot this photo from my rooftop.

Tribute in light 

Tribute In Light

Tribute In Light Explained

Four years

Today a memorial service was held at the site where the World Trade Center once stood. Security was, of course, very tight. A chorus of children sang. A small orchestra played. Politicans spoke. The Secretary of State read a poem by Christina Rossetti, and then the brothers and sisters of the victims read the names and spoke briefly about – and to – those lost four years ago.

“We will be twins forever.”
“I know you are watching over the kids from heaven.”
“Every day brings us closer to the time we’ll be together again.”
“You are my hero.”
“In memory of my brother, my sister-in-law and their unborn child.”
“Thank you for the joy you gave us for 27 years.”
“Our hearts are broken.”
“You were my baby brother. I took care of you all your life.”
“You did so much in such a short time.”
“I’m wearing this bright pink because he loved bright colors.”
“We are all proud of you.”
“I’d give up tomorrow for just one yesterday with you.”
“Daddy hasn’t been the same since we lost you.”
“We love you and miss you every day.”
“There was so much you wanted to do and you never had a chance to do it.”
“My brother….”
“My sister….”
“Mi corazón….”

Four times bells rang out, four times the crowd was silent:

8:46 a.m., when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into Tower One

9:02 a.m., the time United Airlines Flight 175 dove into Tower Two

9:59 a.m., the moment Tower Two fell

10:28 a.m., when Tower One went down

Hundreds of uniformed police and fire officers wore small black ribbons imprinted with “WTC” on their chests, indicating that they served at the site on that day. Many friends and family members literally wore their hearts on their sleeves, attending the service clad in t-shirts and badges printed with the names and photos of those they lost.

Thousands walked down the massive concrete ramp into the gravel-strewn pit that had served as the foundation of the World Trade Center. Volunteers offered long-stemmed roses to those who were descending. Chaplains stood ready to offer comfort. Red Cross workers circulated with bottles of water, cookies and packets of Kleenex.

Two shallow pools, edged with planks of raw wood, were erected where the two towers had stood. Mourners propped photos and stuffed animals alongside the edges, dropped flowers, notes and religious symbols into the water, and inscribed notes onto the wood. A childish scrawl alongside a drawing of a dog said, “Dad, I am being good and taking care of the animals.” Nearby, a neat, precise hand wrote, “Nancy, you were the best daughter in the world. I’ll see you soon. Love, Mommy.”

Some of those assembled scattered rose petals to the wind, or used the flowers and stones to spell out their messages of grief. Several trained therapy dogs patiently allowed shaking mourners to hug them and weep into their golden coats.

The sky was the same shade of blue. The sun shone at the same angle. But four years later, nothing else was the same.

The survivors’ staircase 

At the bottom of the ramp 

Red Cross worker 

1WTC stood here 

2WTC stood here 

The pool filled with roses 

Memorial t-shirts 

FDNY mourners 

Therapy dog 

We miss daddy 

Jake 

Roses on a spot where a steel beam stood 

American Red Cross

Bright and Beautiful Therapy Dogs

Delta Society

Red Dress Running

A quiet, calm afternoon at City Hall Park. Suddenly, without warning, a horde of … are they men? are they women? performance artists? political activists? monks? … comes running around the corner, heading up Park Row towards Broadway. They are all dressed in red robes. Or, perhaps in … red dresses?

I jump up to get a closer look. Yes, those are definitely dresses, all kinds of bright red dresses. For moment, my view is blocked by traffic. Three more red-clad runners appear. They stand on a traffic island, waving, screaming and drawing chalk symbols on the pavement.

Seemingly in response to the shouting and waving, the first group of runners in red dresses turns around and comes roaring back, rounding a corner, startling drivers and pedestrians and hurrying into a dark lane at the edge of Manhattan Island. I run after them and snap a few photos.

Later, when I get to a computer, I google “red dress” and learn about a worldwide (but previously unknown to me) subculture called the Hash House Harriers that dates back to a running group founded in Kuala Lumpur in the 1930s. What I’d witnessed was announced on the local chapter’s Web site as the:

Red Dress R*n 2005
Trail start will be 3:00 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 10th at The Patriot, 110 Chambers St,, off Church. There will be a 2:00 p.m. celebrity makeover hour preceding the start of trail.

Running up Park Row 

Turning the corner by J&R Music 

Who are they? What are they doing? 

Booger’s Hash Primer

Half-Minds on Hashing

Hash Heritage Foundation

Go To The Hash

Harrier.Net

Hasher.Net

New York City Hash House Harriers

Red Dress Run 2005 flyer

Stretching on the Brooklyn Bridge

It was the perfect day for a leisurely walk over the Brooklyn Bridge. A bit past the halfway mark, near the bronze plaques commemorating the bridge’s construction, I came across members of The Silver Brown Dance Company – a small group who were rehearsing for a performance they’ll hold here tomorrow.

Walking towards Manhattan 

Midway across the East River, looking up 

Dancers stretching 

Warming up 

Preparing for rehearsal 

Reaching up 

Silver Brown Dance

Brooklyn Bridge Web Site

Brooklyn Bridge Web Cam

Brooklyn Bridge: American Icon

The Brooklyn Bridge in Harper’s Monthly, 1883

West Indian American Day Carnival

The Caribbean Sea is so close to New York City that it is possible to hop on a flight at JFK Airport and be on a sun-drenched beach in about two hours. This proximity, combined with the difficult political and economic conditions in many areas of the Caribbean, has led to a continuing wave of immigrants from the region. Although they may have left their tropical homes behind, many of the Caribbean immigrants brought their distinctive island cultures with them. Over time, their music, food and celebrations have become woven into the fabric of New York.

Caribbean Carnivals have been held in the streets of New York for decades. The biggest, the West Indian American Day Carnival, is a Brooklyn Labor Day tradition. The celebration is a combination street fair and parade, and the day is colorful, loud and chaotic. Everywhere, the people and music jostle for space and air. The pulsing rhythms of reggae drown out the steel drums of calypso, which give way to the brass and drums of soca. Shouting vendors circulate through the crowd hawking t-shirts, hats, towels, flags, bracelets and whistles emblazoned with the flags of West Indian nations. Young men spread counterfeit CDs and DVDs on the sidewalks next to booths selling handicrafts, toiletries and sweetly burning incense.

The sidewalks of the parade’s route, the Eastern Parkway, are crowded with food vendors that fill the air with tantalizing aromas. The variety is astounding – everything from slick professional restaurants with neat, tidy signs and deluxe tents to grandmothers shyly offering a cardboard box full of cookies and slices of homemade cake carefully tucked into plastic baggies to lone men drinking and cooking mysterious bits of meat on greasy hibachi grills.

Because this was the first time I attended the Carnival, I hadn’t been aware of two significant differences between this and most parades in New York, both of which made photographing the event a challenge:
1) At the West Indian Carnival, the crowd easily spills over the barriers, mingling and mixing with the official participants.
2) Parade participants compete for prizes and the judging stand is set up in front of the Brooklyn Museum, at the very end of the parade. That means that participants are expected put on their biggest, most energetic performance of the day after walking in the blazing sun for hours. As a result, many of the dancers and marchers contain their energy and pass the time (and miles) eating, drinking, chatting and talking on cell phones, not launching their full-out finest performances until they are in view of the judges.

The lesson: anyone who attends with hopes of photographing the participants in all their glory should arrive early and stand as close to the judges’ stand as possible. And wear a hat!

Angel on stilts 

Orange plumes and green cape 

Waving the flag 

Checking the cell phone 

Two of New York’s finest 

Large food stand 

Cow heel souse 

Sweet as her home made cakes 

Surrounded by masks 

Pink ladies 

Harlequin 

Uniforms 

Our Brooklyn: West Indian Carnival

West Indian American Day Carnival Association

WABC-TV News

Wikipedia entry for Caribbean

Wigstock 2005, Part Two: Offstage

At Wigstock there is no line dividing the performers and the audience. It is all a show; everyone is both a performer and an observer, an artist and a work of art. The personal is the political. Fantasy is made flesh. Dreams are made visible.

Heads up! 

Glamour at twilight 

Her roots are showing! 

Read all about it 

Blues in the night 

Lara Flynn Boy? 

Smiling 

Superhero 

Doris Dazed? 

Blowing a kiss 

It ain’t easy being queen 

Redhead 

Orange you glad you saw us? 

Blue lips 

Red boa 

Wigstock 2005, Part One: On Stage

The Wigstock festival is an homage to excess and over-the-topness. Inspired by a night of clubbing about 20 years ago, the festival has evolved into a more-or-less annual summertime celebration of drag, art and good, dirty fun.

Lady Bunny in blue 

Lady Bunny in a geometric print 

Lady Miss Keir and a prisoner of war 

The glamorous Candis Cayne 

Jimmy James is Bette Davis.  

Mr. Murray Hill 

Linda Simpson singing  

Jackie 60’s version of Les Mis 

More Mis-ery 

Jackie 60’s Les Mis 

Lady Bunny in black and white 

John Kelly as Joni Mitchell: “By the time we got to Wigstock …” 

Wigstock

Lady Bunny

Mr. Murray Hill

Jimmy James

Candis Cayne

Lady Miss Kier

Linda Simpson

John Kelly

HOWLing in Tompkins Square

Allen Ginsberg’s Howl is now 50 years old. When Lawrence Ferlinghetti published and tried to distribute the epic poem, it was seized by U.S. Customs authorities as obscene. The courts eventually found that the poem (laden with words that still have the power to shock) was not obscene, but the headline-making trial brought Ginsberg fame, notoriety and a permanent place in the pantheon of hipsters.

In honor of Ginsberg’s contributions to “the countercultural heritage of the East Village/Lower East Side”, The Federation of East Village Artists named their annual arts festival the HOWL! Festival of East Village Arts. This year, to commemorate its 50th anniversary, the third annual Howl Festival is hosting a celebration of the poem.

From the official festival listing:
Tompkins Square Park – FREE
FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 2005, 6:00 PM
ALLEN GINSBERG POETRY FESTIVAL
50th Anniversary of the HOWL! Poem
The Allen Ginsberg Poetry Festival celebrates the spirit of the renowned poet, world traveler, spiritual seeker, founding-member of the Beats, champion of human and civil rights, photographer, songwriter, community activist, teacher, and co-founder of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. Featuring Anne Waldman, Antler, John S. Hall, and Ed Sanders; HOWL will be read in seven languages and 16 voices.

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked …

Ed Sanders reading an excerpt from Howl! 

Reading Howl from a copy of Beat Voices 

Anne Waldman reading: “Moloch! Moloch! Nightmare of Moloch!”nbsp;

Antler reading Howl in a Walt Whitman t-shirt 

Reading Howl  

Singing Footnote to Howl: “Everyman’s an angel!” 

John Hall reading a portion of Howl 

Playing music inspired by Howl 

The Federation of East Village Artists

Howl Festival

Howl

Footnote to Howl

Wikipedia entry for Howl

New York Times Book Review special section on Allen Ginsberg

Literary History entry for Allen Ginsberg

The Beat Page entry for Allen Ginsberg

Interview with Lawrence Ferlinghetti on Howl’s 45th anniversary

Lawrence Ferlinghetti Speaks on Howl and Banned Books (click the link under his photo)

Ed Sanders

Anne Waldman

John S. Hall

Steven Van Zandt

I SAID, give me the ball!

In some New York neighborhoods amateur basketball is very serious business. This Alpha N Omega League game was held in an East Houston Street playground on the Lower East Side.

Shouting 

Watching 

Crouching 

Dribbling 

Planning 

Shooting 

Keeping score 

New York Sports On Line

Signs, signs, everywhere signs

A selection of signs seen in Lower Manhattan on a Sunday morning.

Calvin Klein Jeans on Houston Street 

Go vegan, thanks. 

Teairra Mari on the Bowery 

Rosario’s and Kropps & Bobbers 

Help Wanted 

Buckle Up New York 

MOMA moments

Located in midtown Manhattan since 1929, the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) began a vast $858 million expansion and renovation project in 2002. Rather than put the entire collection into storage during construction, or shut down completely, the Museum temporarily moved lock, stock and barrel — along with a selection of masterpieces — to a former stapler factory in Queens.

A series of blockbuster exhibitions enticed dedicated art lovers to make the long subway trip out to the hinterlands (at least once, anyway), but New Yorkers rejoiced when MOMA finally moved back to Manhattan (the library and archives have permanently relocated to Queens).

The renovated museum has nearly twice the space of the former facility, including the newly created sixth floor that is currently the site of Pioneering Modern Painting: Cézanne and Pissarro 1865–1885. Seeing how these two masters of French impressionism influenced one another was fascinating (unfortunately, cameras were not allowed inside the show). But on a gorgeous day like this the best place to be was outside in the sculpture garden, enjoying the bubbling fountain, the leafy shade and a cool, creamy cup of gelato.

Ellsworth Kelly. Colors for a Large Wall. 1951. 

Henri Matisse. Dance (I). Paris, Hôtel Biron, early 1909. 

Barnett Newman. Vir Heroicus Sublimis. 1950-51. 

Picasso sculpture 

Security guard on 4th floor landing 

Napping in the garden 

Aristide Maillol. The River. Begun 1938-39; completed 1943. 

Girl at gelato stand 

Pablo Picasso. She-Goat. Vallauris 1950. 

Museum of Modern Art

ArcSpace: MOMA QNS

MOMA QNS

Laboratorio del Gelato