a little annoyed...

I have been asked to cover a class on Friday morning that I don't especially want to do. I already have committed to two classes on Friday, this one is a music class--their concert is over---I just don't want to be stuck with a study hall. I do have the free time to do it but....well, let's see how it plays out.
Some reports from the weekend:
Ding dong the Ocean: a sensitive well conceived piece at Jack---a little self indulgent at times, but there is really a nice flow to things and a sweet benign energy throughout. Also, there is an artistic visual commitment to the vision that goes throughout the piece. Very unique on its own terms, which is what the theater at Jack should be about. My friend Eliza plays a role that is in complete contrast to the somewhat charming but aware countenance that she showed in her one person show earlier this year. She plays a woman who is very withdrawn and isolated. She really captured the isolation that the role asks for. Very nice to see.
 Saturday evening: at Clubbed Thumb, actually because their first play was recommended to me by a friend that I met at Jack---a play called Tin Cat Shoes---truly I hated it. I found it pointless and silly---nothing in it had any gravitas are seemed meaningful. I know that Clubbed Thumb has a fondness for plays that are language oriented, sometimes plays that are really clever but are somewhat in love with themselves. but this play just seemed silly. The actors ran around with great emphasis---but for what?
Afterwards I had a nice slice of pizza on first and Saint Marks (pizza is only what you can have if you want to save money) and then went to visit my friend Erin at Burp Castle, the quiet bar next to Standings. That was good, I have not seen her in a while, and we caught up. It ended the night on a pleasant and warm feeling.
Sunday; Visited my two hangouts, South Fourth and Cobra, in the opposite order. Had very good conversations with baseball fans at both. Looking forward to doing it again.
Monday: a rest day---the body asked for rest---I followed its request---but I did take a nice walk from 76 street to 110th, the last 10 blocks along placid Riverside Drive. Very interesting.
Yesterday--one period with the "mad" seventh graders at Friends---good fun, then an emergency tutoring session at 145 street, then the graduation---somewhat strange because it is so early this year.
Had a good time---said good by to many seniors, afterwards, went to the Gramercy Bar on 20th and 2nd. Not very crowded, the batender, Angelica was very welcoming; had two good talks with Michelle, who works at a school on 109th and 2nd, and Jeff, a young economist from Houston, so we talked about the Astros and Rockets. Left feeling quite nice, and I walked from there to the station on
23rd ad 7th.
Tonight, still to be defined. Tentative plans are to visit Lansdowne Road and say hi to my friend Mel, who works as a waitress there. Will report soon.

off to CLinton Hill...

this evening for the ;play, Ding Dong its the Ocean. I know one actor in it Eliza, but its the kind of play that interests me, somewhat improvisational, about people in theater putting on a play, or something like that. Just made the plans--that leaves tomorrow open---there is a cheap ticket available for the Clubbed Thumb project, but somehow I couldn't go ahead and book it. Why? Because I don't know anyone in it? Hard to say, usually someone from the theater community that I know very well appears, and there is some good conversation, but for some reason, I could not "pull the trigger". Well, it will be on probably tomorrow's TDF chart, and if I feel like it I can book it then.
  Yesterday evening, did go to the Community Board meeting in Bushwick, on Gates Avenue. Very interesting---three different ideas seemed to appear about how to confront the rigidity of the city and their plan to "save" Bushwick. The first I think sponsored by the community board steering group was to work hard to have a plan that was what the residents wanted, then negotiate with the city planning comittee and possibly accept some sort of compromise--get something, but not everything. A second group, the one that I came to support, simply wants to shut down negotiations---let the building that is going on there take its course, and walk away from any city vision. And the third advocated hard protest, every day in the streets, to show that any program the city gives to Bushwick is destructive. I left before the meeting finished, but it was enough to give me a strong idea of what was going on, and to really resent the city government's relentless rigidity in putting in "their" plan. I live on the upper west side, I am removed from this conflict, but the people in the room and those living in Bushwick are left to struggle this thing out and deal with the developer aggressiveness and the amount of brutal displacement that it causes.
Afterwards, took the bus north on Gates to the Myrtle Junction, from there I walked west on Wycoff to the pizza place on DeKalb (very good pizza, by the way) What I saw was the "two worlds" of Bushwick, a few bars for the newcomers and a lot of neighborhood people on the street next to them. Will the twain meet? Should it? Finally I retired to Starr Bar (the activist bar) where I had a beer---no discussion---and returned home.
More to follow.

cityboy experiences..

a little bit of bloating in the stomach. Means anything? We will see---sometimes these things just come and go, or depend on what I have taken in my stomach. Other parts of me feel fine.
First day off from Friends in two weeks (believe it!) A beautiful day to experience the "nothingness" of life, in other words, cityboy has to create his own structure today. And how will he do that?  No problem seeing anything, tonight, but there is also a rally in Bushwick at 5:30 to protest a zoning plan that the current city administration is proposing. Cityboy should be there. Which makes other plans negligible. Could plan a play and return to the city, but don't want to feel pressured. How long the rally and action thereafter, and possible discussion will continue, I have no idea, but don't want to be pressured into leaving for another place, if the conversation remains interesting. I have not been to the Starr bar in a long time; have always wanted to go there, so perhaps this is the night.
  Rest of the weekend, cityboy is trying to determine which plays he wishes to see and in what order to see them. Summer and Smoke has all but disappeared from view--other plays do have to ordered on TDF, or they will be missed. But which ones? Probably easier to determine than I think---and if I don't get tickets for any of them, it does not mean that the time will be flat. Sunday will probably be my "wandering" day, and Monday may be the cookout at South Fourth if it happens. I also have the Grace Paley book of short stories that Chris D lent me---reading those should be pretty fulfilling.
  Anything else to say about the reunion and the Seagull and Bobby's birthday. Well, not much, again, interesting how the Seagull is about my introspective feelings about love and want and success etc. while the party and especially the reunion were about immediate action and friendship--an interesting contrast, which came kind of unexpectedly. The Seagull was simply on at the right time.
  I think that is all for now, I am anxious to get on to other things. Will report tomorrow, or very soon.

a tumultuous day...

yesterday...first the reunion at Friends; second, seeing the movie the Seagull at the Angelica, and third, my friend Bob's birthday party at La Flaca. Quite a lot of action and movement---in a way, going to the reunion, spending all that time (11-5) with graduates of many classes. having many conversations, and then seeing the Seagull movie---truly an interior piece, one that reaches into the private feelings of myself, proved a strange contrast. Yet, as I evaluated this this morning, it all seemed to make sense. The Seagull is truly "my" play, I claim a kind of ownership of it, because I can identify and feel for so many of the characters. Yes, I am sure others claim "ownership" of the play as well---but thinking about it makes me feel that I know exactly what I want from a production.
Then, back to La Flaca, for the birthday party of my friend Bob, the owner of the place.
   Now, here I am, the next day, about to head to Williamsburg, putting it all together. All three events deserve more statements, more realization from this blog
.But not today. Time to move on to the next moment in my life. First three days of the week will be at Friends, will report soon.

not a lot of time to...

post, as I am in the 42nd street library and the computers are full. I have a busy week coming up at Friends, I will be working there all week, then Friday evening is the one act play festival (I have always liked that) and Saturday my all day reunion party there. That is a fun day, getting to talk with and interact with all the graduates. This year two classes celebrating their fifth (2013) and 10th (2008) will be there. Lots of people I would like to see. Will it happen, will many show up? That is the question. But it is one day that I really look forward to.
  Yesterday, two sessions, thought it would be an easy day, but it wasn't. Returned from Washington Heights about 5, considered the many options I had for spending the evening, but my body was simply too tired to do much. So the night was spent in the apartment. Slept well, now feel pretty ready, though physically I want to be ready for the week. Plan is to visit my two "hangouts" in Brooklyn---Cobra in Bushwick and then South Fourth in Williamsburg. Can I do it? Not sure. Other options are movies---possibly the free matinee of Henry V or Summer of Smoke---but I do feel I owe myself some kind of interaction, and that comes from hanging out. Well, we will move on and let the day reveal itself. Will report later.

sad evening in...

Flatbush yesterday, as cityboy attended the forum on rezoning at the church on East 37street in Brooklyn. It is in a basically all black (probably a lot of West Indian) neighborhood, and from my walking around a lot last night, I found the neighborhood people I encountered, both in and outside the Church to be very warm and friendly. It is mostly private homes, though many corners in the area have apartment houses. I spoke to some people living in the area; they seemed very mellow. But the sad part comes from the discussion---which over and over again pointed out that the "city" (I.e.the DeBlasio administration) is forcing its rezoning vision with a callow viciousness in many black and latino communities, while leaving white communities untouched. The five panelists repeated this mantra again and again, and as I left, community members who attended the meeting were asking important questions. But why do we have this? Why is the current administration so inflexible, and what, if anything, can the next mayor do to change this?  When I think about this, I feel very sad and frustrated---of course, more community action is necessary---city council members who are really the only check that the community has on the mayor's vision, must understand that they serve the people in their communities, not the developers who finance their campaigns. And education and commitment is also important---educating serious "onlookers" or "artists" who call themselves idealists, but don't want their vision to include the problem of displacement and gentrification.
   The next BAN meeting, which, assuming that I am not tired from work at Friends that day, I should attend, is next Tuesday, ironically the same day and the same time that my friend Sarah is presenting a very meaningful theater project at the Tank, which is actually very near the place where the BAN meeting is being held. What am I to do? I want very much to see this work that Sarah is directing,  a kind of take on Long Day's Journey, but as I sit here now, I also want to follow up on last night's meeting and share my thoughts with other like minded BAN people. Well we will see what happens.
    Last night, I left while the panelists at the forum were still taking questions, I walked a block south to Church Street--very hungry---thought I would take the Church street bus west and find a place to eat in Ditmas Park (where? Not sure) but when no bus came, I walked to Nostrand and took the 2 to Atlantic and then the Q to 14th, where I got off and grabbed a pizza at the place on 3rd and 14th. Very good pizza too. Again, I was faced with the problem---go to a bar and watch the end of the Yankee-Red Sox game but spend about $15.00, or get a slice of pizza and balance my budget. You know what my choice was. Disappointed, I would have loved to have found a place in Brooklyn to hang out, but that just the way the cards rolled last night.
  Tonight, have just ordered a ticket to Danger Signals, a play at Ohio Space that my friend Jessie is in. Will be nice to see her. It also frees me for Saturday, which is good, because so many options seem to exist for the next two weeks. Will report soon.

Beautiful day...

in the city, and cityboy has finished his work at Friends early, so here I am at Lincoln Center Library able to make an entry. It looks like I will be able to attend the BAN meeting at the Church on East 37 street this evening. It is supposed to be an educational forum for members of a community of homeowners in east Flatbush, who are unaware of the city's rezoning vision. That vision might bring high rises to their otherwise low rise community. Glad that I will have the time and energy to make it.
  Not much to say about yesterday, after one session, was very tired, so just returned home. By 7 I was feeling better and so ran through my mind the restaurant and bar possibilities where I had friends, and where I could watch the very important Yankee-Red Sox game. Thought that I might go to La Flaca, or to Lansdowne Road to see my friend Mel, but I was tired, and when I saw the the Amsterdam Ale House, only a block away from my apartment was not too crowded, i decided to go there. The bar was actually filled, so I chose a table that was facing the TV that I wanted to watch. So I had a nice,  not too expensive, hummus plate (nothing to drink except water)  while I watched both the Yankee game and, on an adjacent tv, the Mets game. The hummus was very good, and did exactly what I wanted it to do for my stomach--that is did not overload it in any way. But I find the Ale House very antiseptic, there is a coldness about it--the people at the bar seem to be business people, not interested in bringing neighborhood types into their world---pretty enclosed. The service, considering that the bar and restaurant was pretty crowded was quite effective--I did not have to wait a long time for my hummus---but I could take no warmth or feeling of satisfaction from the place. Should I have gone to the Dive Bar, on 96th and Amsterdam instead. They have hummus there too, but that is a sloppy place (albeit far more friendly) but I really did not feel up to a trip too far away from the apartment---so I went to the Ale House.  This morning when I woke up to prepare my day I felt kind of barren---I think it was the experience at the Ale House that created that.
   So the forum begins at 6:30---I should be out there by 5:45---maybe earlier to do some exploring of the neighborhood---looking forward to going out to Brooklyn, will report soon.

What to do....

Just read about the current administration (Federal) attempt to possibly send back many Haitians and Hondurans living in this country back to their native lands, for no real reason. A rally outside the White House planned for a week from Sunday. Won't go, but wish that I could. And then, what can one really do, once on receives this information? Make contributions to groups fighting to protect these lawful immigrants, I suppose. That would help. Still, one is stuck with a feeling of helplessness, of not being able to create policy one self. There is nothing more to say.
Saturday, spent the afternoon at Jen G's outdoor birthday picnic, nice conversations with many, especially with one of the two Emily's that was there. She works at the Met, so there is much to talk about. Perhaps will continue at some point. In the evening, I returned to Assembly's Seagull-Machine, for its last performance at LaMama. Nice to see it again, but I did not see a lot of growth in the performances, actually they seemed more mannered then on the first night, there was greater honesty and simplicity at that performance. But the vision and ideas of Hamlet Machine, by Muller, the second part of the production were clearer to me. Still do not understand why the elaborate costuming in Part II, if Hamlet-Machine is a piece of deconstruction, shouldn't its look be more austere?  Not really sure why the elaborate Elizebethan costumes were chosen. Still, it was nice to touch base with the group, and it will be interesting to see where they are going from here, I was tired, so I decided not to hang out with them at the next door bar as I did on the first night.
  Sunday, an understated day, kind of tired, finally felt strong enough to go to Standings and watch baseball and basketball for two hours; also it was good to see my friend bartender Sam there. Not much else to report, a nice time.
  Today a free day, the "event" of the evening will probably be the Yankee Red Sox game, at this point my plan is to watch it at La Flaca, that of course might change. Will report soon.

a rough night...

last night, not because of the oppressive heat, but because, shortly after returning home from Friends, there were a couple of new leaks in the bathroom. Not what I wanted to see---I had hoped to get some sleep before going back to Friends to see the Dancers Responding to AIDS concert---instead I made many phone calls, trying to find the plumber for the building. Did not get any sleep, felt anxious, as the leak continued, but somehow I was able to get my body to Friends for the concert. Remained there for most of it, as always, there were some very inventive moments---but left early to return to the apartment and a handyman's promise to check things out upstairs. He did, moved the leak around; I also got some nice support from two others in the building--and I went to bed with the leak moving full form. However, getting up in the middle of the night, the leak had ended, and, as of this point, it has not returned. I have a full afternoon and evening planned out of the apartment so I am hoping that this part of the crisis is over. That's it, folks.
Thursday evening---did go to see Alternating Currents, my friend Adam's play,left with mixed feelings. The play is about a union sponsored community in Queens---a real one, and what happens when a mixed race couple (a black man and a Jewish girl) join the community. Adam (my friend the playwrigh) has worked very hard on this, and his hour and a half play covers many bases. It is one of his best works, and his ability to look into minority people and endow them with what I think is believable feelings is very strong. I think the play wants to do too much, sometimes issues, of which there are many are simply repeated, but looking back on it, I truly admire what Adam has accomplished. If only his play Freedom Summer, a really good piece were more often produced. It is his play about the training in Oxford Ohio for the students, white and black, who were going into Mississippi to register black voters while dealing with the hatred of the white community. Never has been given a full shot (the play, that is)---what does that say about theater as we see it today? 
  Getting out that night was a godsend. I really needed to do something out of the apartment on a weekday evening. Slept much better that night (of course, it was before the leak).
  Today, my friend Jen's birthday party in Central Park, and then maybe later at her apartment watching the Kentucky Derby, and then, quickly off to LaMama to catch the final performance of Seagull-Machine, by my friends, the Assembly. Tomorrow, maybe I will get back in my "activist" groove, and flyer for the May 9nth forum in East Flatbush with some very important issues.
Will report soon.

a short day...

at Friends: two periods, gone by 11:30. Nice sense of freedom---actually decided to see my friend Adam K's play tonight since I should be well rested. But oh, those full period days---ended yesterday with my body aching and returned home---could do very little in the evening. I took several walks around the block; that was it. Tomorrow, I have a full, but possibly not a very taxing day. Dancers Responding to AIDS is a dance concert that Friends holds every year---this year's one is tomorrow---I plan to come, but hopefully, I will not be too tired to attend. Then comes Saturday---I have been invited to a party by one of Friends' faculty---that should be fun, at first it was just an afternoon event, but now it bleeds into the evening, and that evening will be my only chance to see SEAGULL-MACHINE again---I promised those guys that I would return, and they are, in a way, my "family"---I really want to support them by seeing the project one more time. Will I be able to do both? Let's hope so, but that is the plan.
On the bus coming to the library, I thought a lot about Clifford Odets and his plays, particularly Golden Boy, and my favorite, Paradise Lost--a great play taking place in the Bronx during the depression, with a very large cast. Would love to see it done---well, something I could possibly direct myself, but where and how?  The people Odets created are in some ways the people whom I inherited the Bronx from, and whom I knew, or appeared to know growing up. Strange at how long a time ago that was. Remembering ingenues and young serious actors whom I watched and admired as a teen, now playing very old people. Have to figure this out.
Anyway, that is the plan for the next two days---will see if I can sustain enough energy after the full day tomorrow to attend the dance concert, and how Saturday plays itself out. Will report soon.

Finally, a free day....

my only scheduled free day this week. More and more, the focus of my life seems to be on Friends, this day off, while nice, seems only to be a short passage of time until I return. So much time spent with middle school classes, they are really exhausting, but I will make it through.
Anything else significant in my life? Well, this Saturday after three sessions, I did go to see my friend Sybil's project, Sasquatch Rituals, at the Kitchen. But before I even talk about the play, even more on my mind is the walk I took too and from the seventh avenue subway to the space (which is on 19th between 9th and 10th avenues). Endless brownstone streets, beautifully sculpted, a sense of calm and prosperity projected in those streets. Right in the middle of all this, though is a group of NYCHA houses (the projects); however their presence seems to have no effect on the surrounding area--indeed, there are luxury high rises practically next to the projects. So what is one to make of all this. On the way back from Sybil's project, feeling highly energized, because I had met so many people there that I know, it came to me that there are no longer neighborhoods in this city. There are simply two kinds of world: comfort zones (like Chelsea with its brownstones) and places where poor people live. That is the city today. Is that an oversimplification? Possibly, there are still areas in Queens, and the Bronx (the neighborhood where I was raised, actually) that are diverse and have a solid economic mix that includes working and middle class. Still, often I feel that I have been the inheritor of this "good fortune", that is the exclusion of poorer and more diverse people from the areas that I travel in.
    Now to Sybil's project: As usual, her dialogue (in this case collaborative dialogue) seems obscure at times, there is a sense of exclusion or perhaps you might call it "non-play"---but at the end it all came together in a very theatrical and passionate dance piece---utilizing fully the seven actresses who made up the cast. And it was a great cast---so many inventive actresses doing their thing, I feel fortunate to know Lindsay, Linda, Eleanor (although I did not say hello to her) and of course, Sybil. Lots of warmth from many people I had not seen in a while, which is why I left the Kitchen space, feeling so excited. Sybil's next project is her solstice event at the Whitney, I read that it will be an early morning piece---I love those things---and am really looking forward to it.
   Tonight is free, I don't expect to be too tired, and there are many artistic events that people I know are involved with that I should check out, but I think what I really want to do is to hang out and watch baseball---maybe at La Flaca, if I can swing it. Anyway, the next post will probably be on Saturday---will report anything that takes place interesting then.