the weekend....

Friday...a tired day---not much energy---stayed around the neighborhood---in the evening went to the first Lincoln Center Opera Outdoors film festival---the film was not an opera, but Funny Face with Fred Astaire, Audrey Hepburn and Eve Arden (Our Miss Brooks---a funny sitcom from the fifties). Could not keep my attention---went back and rested.
Saturday---energy much higher--lots to do---a session at the library---then off to Crown Heights for the Crown Heights Tenants Union picnic, where I was to distribute some flyers for the march in September. Took the C train to Kingston Throop, and walked south to Brower Park, where the picnic was being held. Amazed by what I saw---some beautiful Brownstones all around the park---especially on Saint Marks between Kingston and Albany---who knew that they existed..? Others on Park Place even as the street approaches Nostrand Avenue. A great walk! Should (hopefully) return there soon. The rest of the day spent around the Gotham Center---had a salad and watched the Yankee-Dodger game. Thought that I might check out a movie at BAM or some other theater, but by 7 I was  pretty tired---it was time to return to the apartment in Manhattan---kind of an adventurous trip back on a couple of C trains---I had drank a lot of coffee and water at the Gotham and even though I made a bathroom trip before I left---felt a lot of pressure on the subway---very difficult. Finally left the C at Penn Station and hustled to the bathroom on the Amtrak level, much improved from the last time I visited. Then got back on the C, and just made it home.  Wow! Too much coffee and water---a devastating combination.
 Sunday---much more energy in the morning; I would realize how much during the day. Returned to Cobra Club in Bushwick to visit my friend bartender Olivia; that went well, but alas, the broken tv at Cobra was not fixed---so I could not watch the Met-Atlanta game as per usual. Not terribly sad, I was a little over saturated with baseball---still I left early and headed to the used bookstore Molasses to check on my friend Matt and Maggie (the owners) and their little boy Tuli. Found out that they were visiting in Canada, but will be back next week. From there, walked to Broadway and took the bus on Malcolm X to Fulton and the C train. Toyed with the idea of going further south on Utica, but figured this was for the best. Hung out at Gotham until the movie I was seeing at BAM---called Give Me Liberty was beginning at 4.
  The movie itself was a bizarre crazy quilt of events centered around a 25 year old van driver for disabled people. On this day, he gets himself into all kinds of trouble by shepherding around a bunch of elderly relatives of his to the cemetary of a recently deceased relative. Lots of craziness with many obnoxious people--particularly an opportunistic friend of the driver whom I found annoying and obnoxious. The movie then careeens into a riot in front of a police precinct---very dynamic event shifting by the creators of the movie. Hard to say what I felt about it, I was impressed with its vision and narrative which seemed to defy normalcy and go where ever it wanted to go---but the characters and situation were annoying to me. Still, it is a definantly original movie.
  It was still early after I left BAM, and after a short conversation with Simon, a former Friends student who is beginning social work school---so I did not want to just pack it in and return to Manhattan. It was then that I went on my longest walk, from BAN to Freddys, the "cool" bar on 17th and 5th Avenue. Tired a bit but determined to walk the 30 or so blocks from BAM to the bar. Once there I had a beer, and watched some baseball on tv. As "cool" as the place is, I never end up having conversations with anyone there. Should I have gone back to La Flaca and spent some time there instead? Not sure---Anyway, when I left, the body was still strong---still I opted for a bus that would take me back to the Gotham Center and finally the G to the C. Returned home in much better shape then Saturday.
  A pretty strong weekend---I felt good this morning---tonight the BAN meeting and a possible protest on Duffiled...will report soon.