Unique Nu York

"New York City's the place to be..." -Laurie Anderson (followed by screaming: "New Yooooooork!")

Aw, man, I LOVE New York! I'm loving it more and more each time I go. Should I worry? What would happen if I went for more than a week, more than a month even? What if I never came home??

The great thing is, just a couple of days before the spur-of-the-moment decision to go with Button and Nick, I suddenly got it into my head that I really wanted to go...like, now. And then, magically, it melded with their plans and off we went!

Our first stop was Friday night in Albany, the state capital, where we had our Real American Experience in a bar off the highway. Lots of middle-aged Americans with their SUVs parked outside, their pouffy hairstyles and a middle-aged DJ sitting comfortably at his formica table playing everything from Bon Jovi to Billy Ocean. It seemed like everyone in that tiny bar knew each other and they must have hung out together since Junior High. Wish I'd had my camera then...

The hotel, "hotel", we were originally going to stay in in Brooklyn was a total dump and we ended up in a much cooler place in Murray Hill, where each of the rooms had been entirely painted by a different artist. I'll have pictures on my website soon, stay tuned! Even the common bathrooms on each floor were done up head to toe. Some of the artists conveniently painted or pasted their contact info into the walls... I think the one I liked most (we stayed in 2 different rooms throughout the weekend, on two different floors) was the hall on the 5th floor, with a giant, naked, egyptian goddess and plaster heads with Nefertiti hats that were obviously the creator's friends. Imagine your head being plastered on the wall of some New York hotel for, like, ever? Amazing.

A highlight of this flash weekend trip was the party in Harlem with les amis chiliens. I have pictures of that too! Playing cat's cradle, of all things, into the wee hours. Too bad I lost my umbrella, but it was a small price to pay. I'll just go to Winners and buy a new one, I guess.

I still haven't ever really been in Central Park yet, but I did make it to Wall Street (absolutely fascinating historical buildings down there) and we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, just like cutie David Amsden did for his article in New York magazine about sleeping outside in NYC. When we reached the other side we were met by the other highlight event of our trip: the D.U.M.B.O. Art Festival. Loved it. I didn't go into any of the galleries that were hosting open houses because the stuff on the street was too much fun. I walked into this brick cubicle to take pictures of the graffiti and the stickers and lo and behold, found a pair of headphones with some recording coming through... and then there was this person, KMA, that stuck the little name tags that always go alongside paintings onto just about everything in the street. Like, he didn't put anything onto the street himself, he just appropriated everything. A bike chained to a post had a sticker, "Bike on Post. Mixed Materials. Rubber, metal..." etc. Loved it more.

On Sunday, Pepi invited me to go with her to a sort of dinner party at a friend's in the East Village. That was New York. A small, precious apartment, with the bed on a platform over the hall; amazing food cooked by Jaime; strangers making small talk; the gallery owner; the girl who was talking about her repeated trips to a Benedictine convent to photograph the nuns.

I walked home....oops, back to the hotel...along 3rd Avenue and yes, I did begin to feel at home. Almost scary, except not.

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movies for the week: none, because I'll be broke!