well, i finally have the time to tell some stories in all their full, gruesome detail.... but i guess i'll start with new york, since that's where i just came from.... it's a funny city, not rally as intimidating as i had expected, just big. i suppose all these years of the media pumping it up to be so fast and busy and scary and murderous and backstabbing cold gossip-filled rich rich rich culture kinda got to me. but i found it quite... uhh... quaint? very friendly, at least in the area i was staying in. i booked this hotel online, it was kinda like a hostel except it didn't have any dorm rooms, they were all private (which is AWESOME, considering you then have a safe, locked door to stash your gear behind)..... my room was about the size of a jail cell, complete with scratchy wool blanket and a bed that was too short. it did the trick, though. AND it was right across the road from joey ramone place (yes, i DID get a picture of it for you, zac) down in east village. so i got there at about 11:30pm, ditched my shit (my room was too hot to even think about passing out in there after being stuck on a bus for 13 hours, AND going through customs). so like half a block away i see this window that's all covered in graffiti, the lights aren't on but the neon beer sign is. turns out to be this wicked dive bar, good tunes pumping -- lots of homemade mixed cds in the jukebox, even hank the third -- the beer was kind of expensive, but at this point i really didn't care. it was cold, and i was listening to metal in the dark, i didn't care. this is one thing about nyc that i really didn't expect -- people were really
friendly. like, outspokenly friendly, they came up to you and made sure you were being safe and having a good time in the city, it was pretty cool. i did, however, realize fairly quickly that they weren't really used to
genuinely nice, pretty girls.... i guess all the hot chicks know it there. cuz after about a day or so (at most) hanging out with any one person they'd start in on me..... ha! not to say that the individuals that i hung out with weren't really cool people, they were, i had a great time with them, but by the end of my week there, i was ready to disappear into the woodwork again.
anyway, so back to the stories, and away from the commentary....
my first independence day:
the morning started off by waking up in the bronx, after a night of drinking at this dude named cable's house, he was pretty rad to hang out with, got me started on all the cool shit to do around new york.... (but also got me freaked about wandering the bronx on my own cuz he'd always insist on walking me somewhere when i was there, said it wasn't really that great of an idea - i'd
probably be okay. heavy on the
probably). so i went across the street and got some more $1 tall cans -- yes, $1 tallies -- the ones that are thicker around than regular cans, as well as taller... beers from the store, a.k.a. deli, are waaaaaaaay cheaper, but bars are about the same as here, if not a little more. smokes are expensive, too, unless you get TOPS which is rolling tobacco. then it's $2/pouch. pretty much just wandered around for the rest of the day, cable got his friend scott to show me the city, so we walked a bit then went and drank another beer in tompkins park.... at which point a friend of his phoned, mentioning that he had a free ticket to sonic youth(?).... scott, ever the gentleman, got rob to find one for me too and then we were 6 deep in a cab, on our way to battery park by ellis island to stand in a ridiculously loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong line-up (luckily it was moving quite quickly) and then dance dance dance. i mean, i
like sonic youth, i've listened to the album daydream nation a bunch, but it's not like i hold a torch for them or anything. LIVE, though, they were the shit. then after the show, it was back to the village, hit up a deli for some beeeeers, and chill on edgar's rooftop, waiting for the fireworks to start..... i mean, how can you go wrong when it's so hot out you feel like you're constantly 'just out of the pool' with sweat, there is cold beer in your hand, and shit blowing up all around you making pretty lights in the sky. good day.
saturday:
napped all day. wandered around come happy hour, questing for the cheapest drink... found (another, though not quite as sensational) dive bar on avenue B called, you guessed it! 'the b-side'.... $5 for a beer and a shot o' whiskey, couldn't say no to that! met a couple of other people that night, good conversation all of them, ended up talking punk rock and politics with a guy named phil a.k.a. henry a.k.a. heinrich while drinking by the williamsburg bridge, looking over at factories on the other side of the river --- i love that dirty, smelly, industrious beauty. gets my ticker goin' every time..... then we climbed up to his roof and chainsmoked while watching the sun come up (yeah, east coast!).......
well well well i still have sunday to tell you all about, but unfortunately i have not slept at all on the bus ride and it is 6am. i will rant another day, now that i have found the cheapest spot to surf the web..... and it's 24 hours.
------ cheers from montreal! (it sure is nice to be back, well, in canada at least).
