6/24/12

Homesickness reached out and grabbed my throat when shuffle pulled this up yesterday:



"Some folks like to get away
Take a holiday from the neighborhood
Hop a flight to Miami Beach
Or to Hollywood
But I'm talking a Greyhound
On the Hudson River Line
I'm in a New York state of mind

I've seen all the movie stars
In their fancy cars and their limousines
Been high in the Rockies under the evergreens
But I know what I'm needing
And I don't want to waste more time
I'm in a New York state of mind

It was so easy living day by day
Out of touch with the rhythm and blues
But now I need a little give and take
The New York Times, The Daily News

It comes down to reality
And it's fine with me 'cause I've let it slide
Don't care if it's Chinatown or on Riverside
I don't have any reasons
I've left them all behind

I'm in a New York state of mind"
~New York State of Mind
Billy Joel, Turnstiles

I don't think I'll ever tire of Billy Joel songs. I've been listening to "Glass Houses" on vinyl for the last day or so, which I hadn't heard in its entirely before. "Turnstiles" though, I listened to a lot as a kid. My sax-playing jazz musician uncle gave my mom a few CDs when we got our first player way back in the day, one of which was  the 1976 classic on the people, places and memories of NYC. Must find it on vinyl.

I miss New York. All of it, from end to end, the land, the water and the skies and the buildings new and old. I miss Rochester, most of all. And I miss the city, I miss the Finger Lakes, I miss driving down and up 490/590 from the canal and up to the lake, and crossing the new-ish bridge spanning the Genesee. I remember watching that bridge being built, wondering how on earth giant pillars of cement could find a steady foundation in the rushing current.

Am I mixing up emotions here, saying I miss a state when really I miss a moment in time? Pennsylvania's terrain isn't really all that different, and wandering along the Susquehanna proves a far more scenic hike than anything Monroe County has to offer.

I guess I'm just mourning the loss of an old home, while blindly stumbling into a new one.



Also, per the video: How cool is it that he plays that amazing 45-second-long intro with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth? Not cool in a chemicals-will-kill-you-way, but cool in a rockstar way. There's a style to these things, after all.

9/10/08

What career will they NOT do a reality TV show about?



The search for the subway superstar?

Kind of fascinating, kind of weird. I really don't know who is going to watch this show other than me. It's appeal to musicians seems redundant--why would they want to watch a competition of people just like them? Some might even say it's hypocrisy since the winner gets a chance to perform at an MSG event, a far cry from an underground subway.

One performed said he loved the opportunity because it was like a "Woodstock of subway musicians" while they were all auditioning for the competition.

There is a lot of cool music on it--just everything, every style, all kinds of people who look all different ways. Some of the musicians who performed at the open call seemed like normal, crazy musicians, others are fantastically unrealistic. Take, for example, the folk duo Dagmar--the woman performed with dragon wings and a pilot helmet a la Amelia Earhart. Sweet.

Then there was the ukulele player who called a stuffed leopard his production manager, and said he loves it when women smile at him. "I like smiles more than money, they last longer." Right on, dude.

Lots of old blues guys too(my personal fave). I especially enjoyed the metal-looking dude who played an electric violin, he was jumpin around all crazy-like.

Lots of cross-eyed lookin' folks as well.

It's interesting, though, to hear the perspective of New York from the eyes of the subway musician. They just love performing, so they perform. An honest lifestyle. Many of them noted the difference between performing in the subways or on a stage--and how the underground setting can make for a better performance.