Leaving on a Jet Plane

Well my final day in New York. Have just about finished fighting with my suitcase, it's not that there's no room it's just that I don't want to pay excess baggage, and line the pockets of the airlines any more than necessary.
Ive avoided losing all of my photos by realising the hard drive I purchased would have needed to be formatted from Mac to PC when I got home, which would have instigated a major temper tantrum back in England.
Ive had my last breakfast on the terrace, watching the sun rise on the shining beauty of the Chrysler Building, and in two days time when I'm having breakfast back at home I won't hear the drone of traffic, honking taxis and the shrieking of sirens, but the sound of seagulls calling and church bells chiming.

My top moments here where: Amanda's graduation, seeing the rest of my family all together, the Dyke March, Sarah McLachlan and Norah Jones in concert, Figment Festival, The Mermaid Parade, The International Centre for Photography, hearing Alicia Keys sing Empire State of Mind live, Event Horizon by Anthony Gormley and whiling away time in the many parks and coffee shops just observing and photographing New Yorkers and their wonderful city.

Will North Shields seem quiet by comparison? Yes, but home is home and I'm ready to return. My batteries and senses are fully re-charged and I'm ready to get on with my life now.

Goodbye New York, see you again sometime.

the smell of the greasepaint, the roar of the crowd - New York Pride

The day started grey and overcast, but it didn´t stay that way for long. Spectators were already parked in anticipation and in their deck chairs on 5th Avenue by 10.30 am and the parade wasn't due to start until 12 midday. by that time there was no traffic traveling on 5th Avenue, apart from the cross-town streets being allowed to travel across on police instruction. It's quite a sight to see the major avenue empty, people pinned back to the pavements by barriers, and traffic limited to the odd dribble across it.

I was down at the cross-section of 13th and 5th, and it took about half an hour for the front of the parade to reach us, although we could hear it well before then, given that the Sirens motorcycle group were leading the parade. From then on there was pretty much a constant flow of various organisations and groups in colourful and outrageous costume, but to be fair some of the spectators would have been just as well suited to the stage.

As the parade progressed the temperature rose, so did a few tempers surrounding me, and with the crowd eight or so deep with people vying for positions almost constantly, I decided after an 2 hours to vacate the area and seek some shade and the pridefest celebrations down on Hudson St.

I found some shade on the walk down 14th St, and the festival area whilst busy and colourful was in essence commercially OTT for me. The icing on the cake came about 20 mins into my visit, when turning round, to be confronted by a man with a 10ft Python, asking if I wanted my picture taken with it. Anyone who knows me knows I have a serious snake phobia, and my exit from pridefest would have challenged Usain Bolt on a good day. Feeling somewhat ragged after that experience I sought refuge in a quiet bar and consoled and calmed myself with some iced tea, before making my way back home on a crosstown bus. The journey was slow, due to the parade still going (2.5 hours later, and as I looked up 5th as we crossed it, probably a good while longer to come.

I apologise for the late posting, but I know Ive been feeling under the weather due to too much sun, and I also think that PTSD (Post Traumatic Snake Disorder) forced me to have a rather quiet day yesterday.

18th New York Dyke March

The march, subtitled 'barely legal' was due to kick off from Bryant Park on 42nd St and then go down 5th Avenue to Washington Square park, a distance of some 2 miles at 5pm yesterday. As suggested dykes started to assemble in the park during the afternoon, and I was fortunate to find a friendly group from womenabout.org as well as Mindy and Elaine from New Jersey.

At first there didn't appear to be a great number of marchers, but as the show kicked off from the 42nd street end of the Park women of all colours, and ages began to join the march and continued to do so for the length of the march, swelling the final numbers into the 2 to 3 thousand mark I would guess.

March is probably not the right word to use, as the pace was pretty sedate, mainly due to some argument over the amount of space on 5th avenue we could occupy, cones and road markings were the physical and metaphorical barriers that gay women, not just in New York have to face and overcome. Some did it surreptitiously, edging the cones a few inches back towards the middle of the road, others were more slightly more daring, walking down the white line marking of the road, and some were openly engaged in removing the cones and demanding the same freedom as everyone else.

Religious protestors tried to give us some shit on the way, with various banners at various stages. ( the same ones I spotted at the Mermaid Parade two weekends ago - don't they have anything better to do than check out other peoples alleged sins? Or are these the same kind of people that held people of colour as second class citizens in the USA until the Civil Rights Movement got up and fought back for equality. Still it's not fair to paint everyone with the same brush, and a church on route came out to support the march, by offering water as well as a singing choir, to restore faith in the fact that not all religious people condemn and contort the bible to suit their own bigotry.

Shortly before reaching Washington Square Park there was a moment or two when the weather could possibly have rained on the parade, but hey, it would only have caused an even bigger rainbow than the already colourful parade. Once into the Park the marchers made it their own by celebrating in the fountain, a local tradition.

What do we want? Equality. When do we want it? NOW!

It's Official - Elmo is a lesbian

Yep you read it first here. While waiting for the 18th New York Dyke March to start yesterday, Elmo arrived at the ladies 'restroom' at Bryant Park and proceeded to hang with the Dykes outside for the start of the rally. Way to go Elmo!

Good Morning America- you can't beat breakfast and a free gig in the park

Up and out by 6.30 with a couple of thousand other people to go to see Alicia Keys perform in Central Park. Herded by the security guards, jostled by the American R n B fans, observed by the secret service agents, and instructed by the TV producers - but it was worth it all just to hear Alicia Keys sing Empire State of Mind, a modern day anthem to the city.

Liberty & Ellis Island

Decided to behave like a proper tourist yesterday with a trip on the ferry to see the Statue of Liberty and visit the immigrant museum at Ellis Island - what I hadn't bargained for was being treated like a suspected terrorist. Having purchased my ticket for the trip - sadly no tickets that would allow me to climb 340 steps to the crown of her head, oh dear how sad never mind, are you mad it's 90 degrees. I guess the taste of things to come was advertised neatly enough with the warning sign pictured. Now guns and pepper spray I can kind of understand, and explosives well yes - but cool boxes? Are the US government so hard up they have to make sure that all visitors eat in the venue canteen?

We are lead ushered into the security check queue, which snakes its way into a tented area, whereupon all metal items must be placed in a tray, coins watches, cameras, etc etc. Belts removed always gets me - I mean do they do that so that suspects can't run away without losing their pants?

Anyway having proved none of the party are carrying anything they shouldn´t and we are not posing a threat, we are allowed to board the ferry and take a pleasant breezy trip to Liberty. Once there we decide not to alight, on seeing the queues to get back on board to go to Ellis, but instead remain and head to the former immigration centre.

Once inside my eye is taken by a large pink BARBIE sign. (no opportunity for cross-selling missed here) 'Explore your heritage through Barbie' it proclaims - heaven forbid my heritage is in the slightest way connected to that pink plastic partner of Ken!

We collect our tickets fort the film show and duly arrive in cinema 1 to be informed of the basics of the history and the purpose of the centre by a no frills park warden. The film begins, but unfortunately only the sound and a very small percentage of the screen is working, as for some reason there's a clipboard in front of the projection inside the booth. I would be happy to just listen to the commentary, alas the 'locals' can't do this and start to get up to leave, talk loudly and generally behave like spoilt Barbies. After about five mins only foreign visitors remain, the problem is sorted, the film re-started, and an appreciation of the trials and tribulations of the early settlers to America imparted.

On return to Manhattan on the ferry, the first person that greets us is a street vendor, selling 'Obama Condoms', well you just have to smile, if only the parents of the hoodlums working in the security check area had used them eh.

Wednesday - It's too darned hot

Didn't venture out until late in the afternoon, due to temperatures in the low 90's and humidity to match. It's like trying to swim in soup, and not a cool bowl of Gazpacho. i wandered at a leisurely pace down 5th Avenue to Washington Park in Greenwich Village, and then wandered around the village in search of inspiration. However it was surprisingly quiet, which in a way was good, but deprived me of any colourful characters.
I'm sure as the week progresses towards Gay Pride weekend things will change, with the advent of the Dyke March on Saturday, from Bryant Park to Washington Park, and then main parade working it's way from 36th down into the village on Sunday, ending with a street festival, which the weather in whatever guise it takes will not dampen.

England expects, but will the overpaid prima donnas perform?

Ive happily avoided all things World Cup, the English are a huge source of amusement here, but in less than an hour and a half England have to perform to avoid becoming an international laughing stock. Will they do it? Who knows, maybe if they loose we could swap them for the gummi bears?

Tuesdays are the New Mondays

I took most of the day off today, up at 5am, watched the sunrise, and felt the temperature and humidity soar and decided to stay in and have a quiet one for a change. Ventured out about 4.30 for a little walk, which ended up lasting three hours, but that's the sort of place this is. I didn't take my camera as I've run out of storage, but I put that right today so normal service will resume tomorrow, and happily i didn't see anything that really took my eye.
After returning to East 34th the heavens opened with a thunder storm, but within 30 mins the rain had stopped, the pavements steamed and all was just as before, hot, sticky and busy in the streets below.

The Solstice continued

This evening we went to Bryant Park, a very pleasant green oasis hiding behind the main City Library, along with about 5,000+ other people to watch 'Goldfinger' in the open air.
A party atmosphere ensued from the lawns opening at 5pm until the film started at 9pm.
Crowd participation started with the arrival of a set of gold balloons in the form of '007' and long after they had been released, the crowd cheered and whooped at certain cliches in the film.

Meanwhile, back on 34th St before the film started, Manhattanhenge occurred. The setting sun streaming straight down the avenue from the west to the East.

Apologies for the lateness of the posting and perhaps even the quality, but it's been a long and very warm day at 32, and even I get tired sometimes.

Summer Solstice in NY - ManhattanHenge, Yoga and Goldfinger in the Park

Up at the crack of dawn this morning to see the sun rise on the 21st June. It wasn´t much of a spectacle from East 34th St, too many buildings in the way, but......tonight, I'm reliably informed that 34th St is one of the few streets that runs from river to river across Manahattan and the sunset therefore should be worth a look. Watch this space.

By 7.30 am I was in Times Square, along with huge numbers of Yoga enthusiasts, who were preparing for their solstice celebrations. Quite a sight to behold once they got limbered up and working in unison.

After that I spent a while on the beach in Times Square, just drinking iced coffee watching everyone make their way to work or wherever, and when that brought nothing out of the ordinary I decided ot make my way back down to East 34th. However on my way, I stumbled upon a new public art work, yet to be unveiled, promoting 'The Fashion District' - I wonder if it will last until the 24th, or will someone's curiosity get the better of them?

Sunday - Plan B

Yesterday should have been a visit to a public leather and fetish street fair in Chelsea, and I did walk down there with the expectation of being able to walk around, as I have at any other street fair, however there was one difference - an entry fee of $10 and an air of 'we don't want you here'. I'm not sure why you would advertise this event widely, and then give people such a cool reception, perhaps the men in charge had a power fetish.

However, did we let that spoil our day, no we didn't. A couple of blocks further down I meet Isack, a photographer, setting up his stand on the street, selling large landscapes on gallery plexi. We exchange ideas and emails, and he points me in the direction of the Highline, an urban garden walkway, created out of a dis-used railway line.

The walk is pleasant, if a little surreal being halfway between the ground and the roof-line. We alight in the 'Meat Packing District', now land of the uber cool and beautiful people. I'm reliably informed that the French restaurant 'Pastis', is one of 'the' restaurants in New York. As I walk by on the sidewalk, I take a sneak peak at the plates of the alfresco diners - ee tha eatin chips - Frites you philistine my sister mumurs. (Aye you can take the girl out of North Shields, but you can´t take...........

Coney Island Mermaid Parade

A completely original creation of Coney Island USA, the Mermaid Parade is the nation's largest art parade and one of New York City's greatest summer events.

Founded in 1983 by Coney Island USA, the not-for-profit arts organization that also produces the Coney Island Circus Sideshow, the Mermaid Parade pays homage to Coney Island's forgotten Mardi Gras which lasted from 1903 to 1954, and draws from a host of other sources resulting in a wonderful and wacky event that is unique to Coney Island.
The Mermaid Parade celebrates the sand, the sea, the salt air and the beginning of summer, as well as the history and mythology of Coney Island, Coney Island pride, and artistic self-expression. The Parade is characterized by participants dressed in hand-made costumes as Mermaids, Neptunes, various sea creatures, the occasional wandering lighthouse, Coney Island post card or amusement ride, as well as antique cars, marching bands, drill teams, and the odd yacht pulled on flatbed.

Each year, a different celebrity King Neptune and Queen Mermaid rule over the proceedings, riding in the Parade and assisting in the opening of the Ocean for the summer swimming season by marching down the Beach from the Boardwalk, cutting through Ribbons representing the seasons, and tossing fruit into the Atlantic to appease the Sea Gods.

The Parade is followed by the Mermaid Parade Ball, a post-parade gathering where costumed parade participants can get together with each other and parade spectators to listen to live music, purchase raffle tickets, and watch burlesque and sideshow acts performed by some of New York City's hottest burlesque stars. (Decided not to attend that, I had already had more than enough excitment for one day, and could feel myself coming over all unneccessary.)

I would guess there were around 20,000 people at the parade, I stood for around 4 hours but eventually had to give up to go and move around and having negotiated the crowds, when I got back to the starting point there were still people and floats waiting to start, still all good training for Pride Next weekend when things will be even bigger.

Eat ya heart oot Whitley Bay eh

Do you know your art from your elbow? - The Answer to Wednesdays Question

The piece at the top of the three is actually part of the advertisement for people to become members of MOMA. The middle image is a piece of street art about two blocks away from MOMA, and it's the third image of the days repeated that is a MOMA exhibit.

Magic Moments

Last year while I was in New York I was very fortunate to meet some wonderful people who were 'between apartments' as one of them put it. Darth, Newt, Al and Mariah Carey's would be suitor all made my day with their warmth and humour. Ive missed that element this time round, and decided to take a quiet day off from the hustle and bustle of the streets to concentrate on domestic affairs at East 34th St. However, late in the afternoon I took the bus down to Chinatown to buy some squid and vegetables for dinner, slipping a compact camera into my pocket, just in case I saw anything. Stepping off the bus at the Bowery and turning into the street where the fish stalls seem most concentrated I see Mike, his sign makes me laugh, and he smiles and says 'hey well you have a sense of humour'. I say I think he has one too. I slip a dollar bill into his hand and ask if I can take his picture, which he is happy to give. I take the photo, and wish him well and he wishes me a good day. It was all the better for that moment.

Some of my faves from MOMA

The most expensive art I've ever seen in one day

Went to MOMA today, the Modern Art Museum. Main reason for going being the two photographic exhibitions they currently have running, Henry Cartier-Bresson and a history of Women in Photography. Both excellent, not too crowded and with and entry charge of only $20, I did the rest of the six floor building and saw the likes of Klimt, Matisse, Picasso, Van Gogh, Warhol, Pollock, Khalo etc etc etc. I can take or leave some of them, some of them I understand and some of them I just don't get. I like going to galleries, one of the reasons being is that I'm often surprised just how big or small the actual original paintings are and I like to see them close up and find the detail that is lost in reproduction for publications. The other reason being is that in going to see the ones that I know I will like, I often discover new artists that I was unaware of and they can lead into some interesting new avenues to explore.

So do you know art when you see it? Of the three pics above, which one is an exhibit at MOMA?

Answer on Friday.

The Big Bambu in Pictures