When it stops for a while, say 45 minutes to an hour, I wonder if I’m being cunty as I do try to just absorb life as its lived ala the bar next door which never controls its patrons. Every summer at least a handful of times I have to yell out the window, but I never call and complain,wanting to avoid getting invested or upset as I know it could be SO much worse. I’ve known people who’ve had to move because of intolerable life-wrecking noise, and worse those who couldn’t get away and had to endure it for months – dogs that won’t quit barking, construction work, loud bass music, etc. I count my blessings. One must in this town.

Still, there is something so immature and stupidly selfish about people on purposefully loud machines roaming pack-like around the streets of a residential area blasting what must exceed 80 decibels, the limit set by the city. Regardless, this club is certainly breaking the law, as “highlighted” in the  NYC Noise code: “The Noise Code prohibits excessive sound from the muffler or exhaust of motor vehicles operating on a public right-of-way where the speed limit is 35 mph or less.” 

I wonder, would it be reasonable to complain, or even productive? For the sake of bikers who do get hassled more than automobile drivers/owners, should I just let it go, suck it up along with the occasional bunch of assholes screaming outside the bar next door. I asked a biker friend who more or less told me to complain, making clear it was noise not anything else that was bothering me. Always hard to know how to handle these things…

How sexy is this electric bike by Johammer,an Austrian brand, though? I bet it doesn’t sound like a car without a muffler!

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After I began to look through her various portfolios, New York 1 and 2, specifically, both shot in the 1950s, I noticed a number of her subjects had that hostile look of a person accosted by a camera. The person wielding it trying to steal a shot without consent. Its always been a tricky question for me, the ethics of that. I love a candid photo as much as anyone, but I’ve never felt comfortable aiming a camera at strangers. Still, the results can be brilliant. What do you think?

Some of the images I’ve selected don’t convey overt shock/irritation, but their subjects are still being taking advantage of (kids can’t consent, and street people can’t escape). Regardless, intention has to count, and I think Maier’s was innocent/honorable enough. See for yourself. At the end is a self-portrait she shot in a subway mirror. Funny to see what was at the other end of that lens, and to turn the gaze back onto Maier (maybe she was aware of this herself). It balances the power out a little:)

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When the stock market crashed in 2008, I remember talking to friends about the ensuing recession and how long it would last. One insisted it wouldn’t last but a couple years at most, waving off my prediction that in fact it would be long. Time has born out, sadly, my expectations, as we all know. Occupy Wall Street ignited the flame of unrest, but its been slow to have direct impact. I realizes that when none of the parties in the last presidential race acknowledged this constituency, the so-called 99%. Though de Blasio seems to, which means maybe OWS could revive itself and eventually do what the founder of the concept-brand intended. For now it seems to have been appropriated as a brilliant marketing strategy.

Still, I’ve made the same prediction for NYC after Bloomberg leaves, and presuming de Blasio wins: that things will get rough, unemployment will rise, as will crime, and hopefully that will be all (one can imagine energy outtages, and water shortages, too, but I try not to). As if that were a logical statement, for that to “be all”. I imagine there will be more cultural wars coming as well, but I’d like to believe the Tea Party et al won’t ever have much traction here. That 20-somethings would resist. Enough? I don’t know. I don’t want to dismiss the Occupy movement going forward, but I also hope that it evolves into something with more structure. Even anarchic models require a consensual vision. I get that one wants to avoid hierarchy and standardization, particularly when it comes to value systems. I’ve worked in all kinds of collectives, and have experienced the benefits and pitfalls, but to refuse to define an agenda is to disperse energy and focus, to lose, essentially, crucial momentum. IMHO, it was a tactical failure.

Or course, I waited for people to occupy real estate in NYC, take over empty buildings, camp on public monuments en masse, etc. I tend to be all in, or not, and had my moment in the 80s, and again during both Iraq wars, so I’d decided to watch from the sidelines for a while. Let the 20-somethings and lifelong activists take their rightful place in the sun. Taking on the banks pretty much means being willing to put your life on the line or damn near it, IMHO, as I pretty much see them as an international coterie of bandits who live outside the law

Of course, I respect very much those who made it happen, who were in the trenches from beginning to end, and not just site-seeing as so many did, literally and otherwise (at least in Zucotti Park). I tried, naturally, to encourage my students to get involved, but when I proposed having SVA faculty organize students to do the same, I became the satanist in church. WHAT WAS I SUGGESTING?! Students free to leave class and join the occupation?! This was not 1987. So instead we talked about it in class every week, and I saw that many were just ill-equipped to empower themselves, which I tried to counter. I think populist movements should be multi-generational and multicultural, but ultimately youth-driven because its a matter of preparing for battle.

Wow, what a rant, and all because I heard the BBC World News Report tonight discussing unemployment rates rising in Europe, and how crucial a moment it is now for the EU/Euro, etc. and it made me think of NYC, and what’s to come…let’s hope I’m wrong this time. But regardless, think about what you’re willing to do, and how best to harness your energy to do it when the revolution comes, and it won’t be on Facebook. Bodies are the most political tool we have. G’Nite all!

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I didn’t know Lou Reed personally, I imagine few really did. Of course, because of his tangential relationship to the art world via the uber-brilliant Laurie Anderson, his wife, I know people who did. Or who thought they did, wanted believe they did, because they interviewed him or took a picture together, hung out at some event, etc. Over all, capitalizing on a just-deceased person’s fame really turns my stomach, but once its an official news story, I guess its expected.

And then there were the people who got to trashing him right away?! The inevitable “he was an asshole, period” comments (eyeroll) that seemed so inappropriate. Doesn;t anyone consider the suffering and shock of loved ones left behind, especially when they have to live in the fishbowl of public scrutiny? It astonishes me. There’s just no communal respect anymore for those in mourning, it would appear. Anyway, I attempted here and there to politely counter these callous digs by saying “well, he might have been a misanthrope but he was also compassionate” – a contrary nature that gave his work its power IMHO. When one blogger suggested that LR had no talent – because the latter gave him a hard time when he was first starting out – and got by on attitude, I thought nice eulogy, who’s the asshole? That’s when I gave up, and said nothing:)

How people hang on to things like that for decades is beyond me, anyway. Pouncing the second they can when a person is no longer alive to defend themselves. No balls. Case in point, Vulture today publishing “Looking Back at Lou Reed’s Famously Contentious Relationship With Rock Critic Lester Bangs”, which I’m not going to link to, but here’s the opening line, which relegates LR’s death to a parenthetical (?!): “Over the years, Lou Reed, who died today at age 71, gained the reputation for being a sensationally prickly interview subject.” (Here’s the original profile by Bangs, that I’ll share) So you see what I mean, I’m avoiding the media on this for a while.

Mostly though I just posted all day to process my own sense of loss. LR’s music meant a lot to me, and I identified very strongly with it for many years. I’d rather not get more maudlin than that. There were a few interesting obits I read too (always amazes me what good writers can do w/so little time), loved this one by Michael Musto, and Rolling Stone did a good job of getting the whole profile together and focusing on compiling music (sadly one expects there was a file ready to go in some computer before the transplant though), and a few impromptu tributes here in NYC (Bowery Poetry Club, Otto’s Shrunken Head), which I decided not to go to (open mic is not my scene).

Here’s what I posted on FB followed, if you can stay with me that long, by some observations as I re-experience these posts in reverse (created links w/quotes when latter were song lyrics):

I AM STUNNED… LOU REED HAS MEANT SO MUCH TO ME OVER THE YEARS…WAS JUST LISTENING TO VU, AND “NEW YORK”, SO GRATEFUL I GOT TO SEE HIM PERFORM SEVERAL TIMES, ALWAYS CANTANKEROUS AND BRILLIANT! RIP

“HE’S NEVER EARLY, HE’S ALWAYS LATE…” — Velvet Underground – I´m Waiting For The Man

GREAT FOOTAGE OF LOU DANCING!!! — Lou Reed – Sweet Jane – live in Paris, 1974

Vicious / You hit me with a flower / You do it every hour / Oh baby, you’re so vicious / Vicious / You want me to hit you with a stick / But all I’ve got is a guitar pick

“sha lalala, c’mon baby lets slip away…” — Lou Reed – Street Hassle (complete music video)

“One chord is fine. Two chords is pushing it. Three chords and you’re into jazz.” — Lou Reed Metal Machine Music, Part 1 (HQ)

“lou was very adept at spontaneously erupting into elegant forms of prose and poetry” – john cale
— John Cale on Lou Reed and himself

Lou Reed & John Cale – Songs For Drella (Full Album) (HQ)

“so you want people to take drugs, why is this?”
“oh yeah, cuz its better than monopoly.” — Lou Reed Interview at Sydney Airport – 1974

THE EYELINER AND ‘FRO DAYS, LOVE THIS FOOTAGE THO HE’S REALLY HIGH HERE — Lou Reed Live Olympia Theatre, Paris 1973, Walk On The Wild Side , Heroin and White Light, White heat

“give me your hungry, your tired, your poor, i’ll piss on ’em, that’s what your statue of bigotry says” — Lou Reed performs “Dirty Blvd.” live at the Farm Aid concert in Indianapolis, Indiana on April 7th, 1990.

“people in new york do get ahead by who they know not what they can do” lou at his cranky best, taking on the music biz:)) –Lou Reed grills Mark Josephson, co-director of the New Music Seminar, on a 1986 episode of MTV’s 120 Minutes.

Lou after the transplant, on spotify/free downloading of music: “this whole idea of starving artists that stay starving artists, meanwhile you’ve got artists like damien hirst selling for a gazillion dollars” –Lou Reed’s shock at Edward Snowden’s NSA revelations

ok, the last one – my namesake song, a bouncy version, lou you will always and forever be in my heart

OBSERVATIONS: Obviously, I was drawn to live footage immediately, interviews as well as performances (as I’m sure were many, but I didn’t read posts until after I’d “processed”. AND it seems I liked anything that captured him dancing (and less guarded)! I think I captured examples of his rancorous wit and fierce generosity ( (even on David Letterman), that unusual mix that as I said above made his music so potent (and like Sinatra, I find his phrasing brilliantly varied in live stuff). The verbal runs in this show when he just ad libs all this poetry is a perfect example. The line I quoted in related thread being: ‘fuck radio ethiopia, man, I’m radio Brooklyn” Recorded live at Bottom Line 17-21 May 1978, no overdubbing. Mixed at Delta Studio, Wilster — Sweet Jane Germany (and yes, I noticed there were several Sweet Jane versions — naturally!)

I noticed too I liked the 1970s and 1990s Lou the best, the former for the obvious sexiness and decadence but also for its fevered experimentation, and the latter for the more reflective writing. I think of LR as a storyteller. “New York” is on my desert island list, I never get tired of it. I could go on and on. I’m glad to have a place to archive my thoughts/reactions. My little mourning session for the ICONIC NEW YORK ROCK LEGEND, LOU REED (1942-2013) who will forever be missed. RIP. (How painful to have to type that end date…may a new fan be born every minute)

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Anyway, it sure was nippy out there, had to make an urban fire upon my return (ie, turn on the stove). On the subway home, I saw this man reading a book about “Chilean Stones” or “The Stones of Chile” or some title like that, who proceeded to pull on thick woolen gloves before he got off the train. I thought he must not be used to the climate. I remember an Australian friend suffering terribly from the cold of her first few winters, she ultimately moved back to Sydney (for other reasons, I’m sure, as well).

I love this weather, and am hoping to get a little leaf-peeping in this weekend (I hear its peak season upstate), maybe Prospect Park if I can’t get further away. Pretty soon its going to be dark an hour earlier and then its going to be WINTER…but first HALLOWEEN!!! Can’t wait, might even go out this year. Nite-Nite!

(BTW, The last photo is actually from 23rd st/8th ave. subway – that poor boy who I’ve mentioned, STILL MISSING. So so tragic. If you haven’t seen his picture, please look closely. And the first is a detail of one of Evan’s works.)

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Well, having learned the prospect of my apartment building being sold is very real, I am now beginning to feel some shift in my mind, the idea of change being both seductive and terrifying. Practically speaking, I am poor and my cheap rent stabilized apartment in Brooklyn has allowed me to live as freely as I have in an increasingly gentrified – ie, expensive – neighborhood. Still I am going to try to see the opportunity in this (potential) crisis.

A couple of building shots for you all tonite (made small). My apartment door festooned in Halloween decor and the outside door festooned (on vestibule side) in my scrawl. It was the latter issue that led to my learning the owners are considering this option, as primary landlord is an old man and the building is in decrepit condition so for the rest of his family, a constant hassle. It is funny that I often have this dream, or variations thereof, where I’ve moved or traveled somewhere and I can’t get back home/here to this apartment, and I visit the “old” apartment and keep thinking I might get it back, or do, relieved, etc.

Obviously its about insecurity and risk, but I think the feeling in the dream that this place represented utter comfort/safety was so strong that I expected my conscious mind to feel the same. And it seems it doesn’t. Quite. God this better not bring back that dream tonite, the I can’t catch the boat/plane/train/ride in time or keep losing one of the other of my cats or my belongings, my need to keep them all with me making me miss my chance to return “home” again…sigh. <

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Anyway, my latest theory is that one can only be who they are and explore that more deeply as focusing on who you aren’t is never productive. I prefer time over money: “They deem me mad because I will not sell my days for gold; and I deem them mad because they think my days have a price.” (Kahlil Gibran)

Now, for a good price, you could have some of my days, I’ll be honest:) I need to make more money, and who am I to judge someone who does what they love and gets handsomely rewarded for it? Of course, how often does that happen, and for how many? The higher up the ladder, the more compulsory it is to rationalize excess (and not just monetary), I’d venture. Its the nature of power when not in balance (if thats even possible). Maybe the ladder analogy is the problem…Who knows? Lets leave it there (especially as I’m no exemplary model)!

Here’s what I intended to share:))

MY HERO FOR THE SEASON:
Chelsea Manning for telling the truth about our government at whatever cost! AND – if that wasn’t enough! – for doing it again! Coming out as a woman, and saying she wanted surgery to become herself, telling the military essentially, PAY FOR IT BITCHES! Causing a media frenzy over what pronoun to use for her (clearly you see where I stand) . So for sticking it to the man (pun intended!), not once but twice, before going heroically off to jail – and she’s only 25!! – Chelsea Manning is my inspiration for bravery (we all need at least one).

TRANSGENDER CULTURE EVOLVING:
Speaking of the spread of transgender awareness, which I find exciting and uplifting because all attempts to override repressive normative binaries excite me, and because tolerance and compassion come from a sense of openness that is heartening, I love these two photographers I just came across: Jill Peters, and Christer Strömholm! Both documentarians, the latter having worked and lived with transwomen (what would’ve been deemed drag queens even just a few years ago) in 1950s-era Paris, the former shooting the last remnants of Albanian “burneshas,” women sanctioned to live as men for her book/project, “Sworn Virgins of Albania”. A lot of commentary in the link to Peters’ work, FYI).

SHOULD I GET A SMART PHONE (which means an iPhone for me)?:
My relationship to technology is like many things, based on the examples I had growing up. In my house less was more when it came to the latest gadjets, and if something still worked it didn’t matter if it was the latest model. Technology was meant to serve a function not a status (along with this it was understood that one paid for quality). That was probably my mother’s postwar German point of view, although my dad was often easily confounded and angered by technology, never good at fixing things or learning how they worked. At 86, may the god(dess) bless him, he can barely work a computer (his MS doesn’t exactly help as his body is very stiff), so it these attitudes remain. He called the fridge the ice-box, the couch the davenport, the TV the idiot box, etc. speaking in an 1940s-50s idiom when Frank Sinatra was the man.

Naturally, we had a black and white TV because neither were big TV fans. All the way through high school when everyone else i knew of course had color ones, I had to endure this embarrassment. I remember having sleep-overs and being so nervous that someone would suggest watching TV. I had no idea that the Wizard of Oz, my favorite story/movie/book (I still have my pop-up) as a child, went from black-and-white to color, this pivotal narrative symbol, until i was in my early teens! Oddly, i loved it no more for this astonishingly magical colored world of Oz, whatever that says about me. Ultimately, my brother was the only tech-smart and tech-obsessed person in our family. He used to garbage pick electronic stuff to rework and fix like portable tvs, radios, etc. and once got me a easybake oven (if my memory serves me, which it often doesn’t)that worked but had none of the tiny cakeware to bake in it. Sigh. He did a lot of sweet things for me, my brother Billy.

Anyway, people pressure me to get a smart phone (my brother in his reaction against the luddite nature of our upbringing continues to have the latest, fastest), and at times I really get the vibe that I am ridiculous for not having one. When does technology become essential to being considered adept and capable as a together/professional being? Am i losing out or positioning myself at a disadvantage for not having one?

When I consider the continued rise in crime in NYC, which I suspect will steepen when Bloomberg relinquishes his stolen term, I begin to think its to my advantage as no one wants my MetroPCS piece of crap, which I hardly use in public (I don’t listen to music on street/subways either). I guess it just seems like it disservices others more than it does me and this is exactly how I felt when I didn’t have a cell phone long after most friends did. Eventually I got one to survive a trip and have texting access to friends while away. So maybe I just have to wait for the unplanned/random to decide for me again.

BACK TO SCHOOL LOOKS:
I don’t have time to do another fashion want list though I’d wear EVERYTHING on that list again this Fall, and the few photos I’m attaching here certainly attest to a consistency in taste. I didn’t go far afield here, but you can’t go wrong with Marni (the first 2 images), and I loved this look by Jill Stewart (I scored a second-hand sweater by her recently as a b-gift, and looked up what she was up to (the last image). All couture.

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“Less true park than promenade, the High Line knits together some of New York’s buzziest, most fashion-forward spots by weaving over, under, around and through. Photos are deceiving; there’s surprisingly little greenery on the High Line, and you can’t actually walk on the grass. But the people-watching, and wandering, is to die for. In true New York style, there’s a little bit of the High Line for everyone. Toddlers run laps in the confined space. Models recline on giant wooden armchairs. French tourists sit on benches, trying to figure out which of the dozen nearby high-end eateries offers the best brunch. Exhibitionistic couples show off  in the windows of the Standard Hotel, which appropriately straddles the park.”

Indeed, as an outdoor refuge, I initially found The High Line disappointing, expecting less concrete and more grass. L like London-based design critic Hugh Pearman, “I had worried. It’s only natural. The lure of dereliction, its especial beauty, is its very isolation and tragic transience. By this token, the idea of turning the secret world of Manhattan’s High Line into a linear, permanent public park could surely not succeed. But now [that] I have walked the first, and nearest-complete, section. I am impressed and delighted.” While I haven’t walked the entire length, I have explored more of its nooks and crannies than I had before,  (re)discovering some of its ragged charm, and finding myself wondering what it was like in its most decrepit stage. Lucky for me – and you! – my friend Phil Buehler documented the place back in 1981, and then again last summer. Merging “before” and “after ” shots taken from the same vantage, these ingenious little videos offer a wonderful, time-warp tour of  New York’s latest attraction, reported to double in size by next Spring. Enjoy!

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRv6ZLsKnoA

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIxCv5j4SYc

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=yncT0jOdqgk

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=61fMlGAbuxM

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