Feelin' Groovy (59th St Bridge Song)

Greetings - as the drive south in 2013 begins. No, the house has not sold and only one couple has been brought in by our real estate agent in five months. Though the couple was from the bustling burbs of southern NH they felt that there were too many projects with the barn and that it was too “country”…hmmm. Fortunately our next door neighbor recommended someone to rent our place for a couple of months. This is a good thing financially speaking.

Kevin, our dear tenant, gave us a royal sendoff with crab legs swimming in seafood gumbo. The six month separation will be quite trying for all with Kevin losing out on martinis and pancakes. He does get to commiserate with Rocco, the cat.

The first friendly destination (last on the way back) is Rich and Val’s in Bolton, MA. The fall weather was perfect for a walk and dinner was scrumptious. Plans were refined for their visit to Miami Beach in December. Art Basel is the focus but a sizeable itinerary was assembled. Should be a very good time.

The weather was behaving as we wended our way to Tom and Sandy’s in Fishkill near the Hudson River in NY. Their photography business was moving along but the holidays portended many more bookings and cute kiddy close-ups. Their place is also on the market and have had a few viewings but nothing to consider just yet.

Then it was off to Long Island to begin our major vacation-like pilgrimage. Thanks to the wonderful generosity of Chris’ cousins Angela and Phil many details had been worked out to accommodate a wonderful opportunity.

It began with Angela preparing Aunt Rose’s chicken recipe for dinner upon arrival. Conversation covering our family’s immigration, movies, politics, retirement, children and a soon-to-arrive grandchild filled the evening. The plan would be to have Phil drive us toward the city and leave our ‘packed-to-the-gills’ Honda Element in their driveway for safekeeping. They had wisely invested in a couple of apt/condos in mid-Manhattan. One of their sons was currently living in one while the other would serve as pied-a`-terre for our five night sojourn in the Big Apple.

Phil bravely decided to forego the Queens train drop-off in favor of door-to-door service. This man is a saint! Presently we were at 37^th St between Park and Lexington with keys and luggage in hand; synchronizing iPhones and cells it was calculated that Sunday brunch would be our next meeting with Phil&Angela, our car and our belongings.

It was now Wednesday. Giddily we entered the elevator for the fifth floor thankfully since all our fifth floor accommodations in Italy this past summer were walk-ups. The apartment was wonderful and could be introduced pictorially with the accompanying description from Phil that the Chrysler building would be our ‘night light’.

Did the Gods currently favor us or what?

A serendipitous complement to our temporary residence was who we were about to see. Our long time friends Tom and Michele had driven some elderly friends from their summertime Cape Cod abode to their winter apartment on W64th St. They would arrive Thursday night with Michele scheduled for workshops on Friday and Saturday afternoons. Tom would be available for frolicking.

Our first call, however, would be to Rick. He had come to New York from Miami Beach to try his hand at retail once again. Two incarnations of the Pink Palm in the Miami area had come to an end. KADOnyc would be a similar store but in a new town and with new investors. After several years of possible sites and situations the reality had blossomed at 192 Bleeker St in Greenwich Village.

Before getting to see the store it was decided that we would meet at his apartment. This was in a ‘to die for’ location on W71^st St.

This was one block from Central Park West and the Dakota, scene of Rosemary’s Baby and John Lennon’s untimely demise. It also boasted at one time or the present: Lauren Bacall, Leonard Bernstein, Judy Garland, Boris Karloff, William Inge, Rudolf Nuryev, Joe Namath, Lillian Gish, Roberta Flack, Connie Chung, Rosemary Clooney, Jose Ferrer, Yoko Ono,  Jack Palance, Gilda Radner, Maury Povich, Rex Reed, Jason Robards and Robert Ryan to name a few.

It was decided we would hit a burger joint and then head for Central Park. Believe it or not, though typical of living in a big city, Rick had been so caught up in his business that he had not taken time to walk in the park yet.

It was a gorgeous day. We entered by the Dakota and could quickly come upon the Imagine section:

Autumn was refulgent and resplendent.

We were well protected:

It was one of those magic days and it was satisfying to see Rick visibly relax from all his efforts of serious planning, work and anxious evaluation. Everywhere we ambled there were smiles and creative activity. This very park had been the muse for Chris’ Baccalaureate speech back in ’03.

Then another dimension was entered as Chris espied a baroque figure holding a violin. She was preparing for some kind of performance. A male partner was dressed like Roma (gypsy). They were under a vaulted walkway near one of the fountains on the south side of the park. Tiling was everywhere. As it unfolded, the acoustics were amazing. She pended a diamond shape object as did he. They each began to slowly swing the artifact in giant loops. The sound was reminiscent of aboriginal tones. The vault filled with this drone and reverberated, sympathized and integrated with the tiles. The input diminished as they lay the sound makers down, though the ambience was a bit slower in giving up its acoustic memory.

The violins were fingered and the drone began anew with the hairs of the bow vibrating in aural enchantment. Now the voices … filling octaves and any available register. A wedding party slowly drifted into the space as they prepared for photographs. This was Earth….right? Oh yeah, we’re still here.

Here is a short video of the beginning of this experience. Chris recorded nine minutes of video and audio. 

Upon completion we moved through the archway only to be met by the Bubble Man:

He was performing in front of another artist who was standing in a hatch shell playing bagpipes and groovin’ on the fullness of the echoes. Love these days…can’t have enough of them.

We chatted with Rick a bit more to further invest in his growing positive demeanor then headed back home in the twilight. One of our first purchases had been seven day Metro Cards and they would prove to pay for themselves twice over as we headed for Grand Central Station:

Love the geometry of the subway stations:

Angela had been thorough in her wishing us a good time during our stay. We had a list of restaurants by location and settled on La Giara near the apartment. It was at first a bit loud but the decibels reduced when certain key patrons settled their bill and left. The food was absolutely delicious and we were quite satisfied with our fortune as we wended back to our little love nest. And away we go!

More to come.