where to begin....

well, just found out that it will not be the easiest thing to get from Long Beach air port to the house where my brother lives in LA. A cab might cost as much as 45, does cityboy have the tenacity to try to make it by city buses? Will be much longer, and i will be tired, but you know, you are a public transportation guy. May need to do some more research before I figure it out.
   Weekend report: Saturday night: Sarah Ruhl's new play at Playwrights Horizons---I found it disappointing- a strange cross between reality and magic realism that does not quite succeed on either level. A seventy year old woman remembers that she played Peter Pan in the fifties, at the time that Mary Martin was touring in her production Then she meets with her three male siblings and one female sibling as their father is dying. Lots of talk about family and predictions of death, but it a lot of time, the playwright seems to be riffing on ideas, rather than making them theatrical. Finally the present is linked to the past, but there is really very little sense of who the woman who played Peter Pan as a child is, and what effect starring in the role in school had on her adult life. Yes, I wanted something more concrete then what is offered, but it is never clear if the play is realistic or wish fulfillment. Good acting and it was nice to talk to actors Keith (always friendly and upbeat) and David, whom I had not seen in a long while; he filled me in on much that the had been doing in the past fifteen years. Afterwards, wandered along ninth avenue, looking for a bar to have a beer in---it was much too early to go home---but passed all of them--finally decided to go to the Dive Bar on 96th and Amsterdam, even if it meant overshooting my apartment---had to choose a bar that I at least felt comfortable in. Had my beer, a small conversation, and returned home.
   Sunday, off to Bushwick to watch the baseball game and hang with my friend bartender Olivia---witnessed the comedy of "errors" that the Mariners made in the first inning of what could have been a close game (it wasn't). I was wearing my Brooklyn is Not for Sale shirt, and it attracted the attention of two other denizens of Cobra and we spoke for a long while about the state of the city. Then off to South Fourth (following a long walk along Myrtle, from Wilson to Broadway) and good conversations with my friend Harlo, and her husband Noah. There was also a young man there named Johnny, who lives in Astoria. We spoke about his neighborhood---I asked him whether he had been following the Mayoral election---he said that he had not---in the nicest possible way, I urged him to follow it, if only by going on DNA info and watching what was happening. By about 7:15, I was tired and felt that it was time to go...but where. Yes,  felt physically tired, but to return to my apartment on the upper west side by eight would kill the evening---and worse---my imagination. Had to stay out, but where? Did not want to go too far from Williamsburg,  Finally I decided to catch the 62 bus---it runs south after Broadway, then down Wythe Avenue and finally under the Brooklyn Queens expressway, adjacent to Fort Greene. But was not crowded, a nice moody trip---I got off at Park and Vanderbuilt---then proceeded to the epicenter of Fort Greene---the BAM area. Walking down DeKalb and Lafayetter towards BAM, I was amazed at the number of people (almost all white) sitting at the many outdoor restaurants that I passed. I guess you might say that Fort Greene: 2000, when I first began to wander there to now---the transition has been fully realized. Where does all the money come from?  Finally, with a full stomach, settled on the only place in the area where I could truly kill time--the bookstore on Fulton near BAM. I must have spent about a half hour browsing there--saw many books that I would like to read, but did not buy any of them. Still reading the novel about the African immigrants who go to work for the Wall Street couple in 2008. Long subway ride home, but I arrived intact.
Today, the next BAN meeting, then...not sure---will depend on how tired I feel. Only four days remain until my trip to LA, and a very different world from the one that I inhabit here. Well, will let you know what happens.