Second Visitors

Wednesday we enjoyed the company of our second visitors and our first at the apartment. They are left to right, Julie Dornbush, her sister CeCe, and Susan Summerlin. We had a great time catching up and the time really flew by. They are professional New York visitors as this is their 18th time here together and we expect to see them again next year. Julie is an old friend from high school in the early 1970s and we first met Susan in the 1980s when we first opened Village Records. She was one of our first regular customers. It was only a few years ago that we learned that Julie and Susan were friends, they all met at KU in the 1970s where Susan and CeCe were roommates.

New York Does Kansas City

Just a quick one here. I posted this link from the New York Times on Facebook but it is here as well for you who don't take part there. I found it to right on the money and really shines a favorable light on Kansas City. I think you will enjoy reading about your hometown.

36 Hours In Kansas City from the NYT.

The Witching Hour

Turning Cabs Into Pumpkins

We were out and about one afternoon recently and we decided we would use a cab to get back home. We were on 9th Avenue and it was early rush hour. Imagine four lanes of yellow cabs in a logjam all bobbing and weaving and angling for their break. We did our usual hand up to hail a cab, which we now are able do confidently. But almost immediately we noticed something was amiss. Nobody was stopping to pick us up. All of the cabs already had customers or were off duty. All of them! There were so many cabs right there so we continued hailing just in case there was one on duty and we just didn’t see it. A couple of them stopped, rolled down their window and asked us where we are going. In each case the same response, “No, sorry” and they sped off.

Now we were really puzzled. Then it struck me. It was the dreaded shift change. I had heard of this before but I dismissed it as I could not relate to it, after all I was never going to be living in New York. Well let me tell that it is real and there is not much you can do about it.

There are roughly 13,000 cabs here and they all work twelve hour shifts, basically a day shift and an evening shift. There is more money to be made working the day shift so they do a couple of things to make the evening shift desirable and equitable for the drivers. One is that they charge an extra fee, I think one dollar, for evening rides. The other thing is that they time the shift change so that both shifts get the benefit of one rush hour included. Everyday from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM all 13,000 cabs are required to return to their garage immediately after they drop off their last fare. In a sense they all really do turn into pumpkins as they are no longer functioning as cabs.

What we witnessed was all of these drivers getting off work at the same time. The few who stopped for us were trying to grab some extra cash on the way back but only if the destination was exactly along their route. No leeway on that. For each of these cabs there is another driver waiting to start his shift as soon as possible to catch his share of rush hour bounty. Think about it, these cars are driven 24 hours a day!

So, if you should find yourself in a similar situation in Manhattan don’t get frustrated. Instead just take a look around you. There will be a dozen restaurants or bars at your feet. Go sit down and relax until the shift change is complete.

Carrie Rodriguez Again

You might recall that we saw Carrie at a venue here in April and I wrote a little bit about that show. Well all of you in Kansas City will have your chance to her plus a couple of other top notch acts in your own back yard. It is a work night but that is no excuse to miss this show.

Carrie Rodriguez performs Sunday night at Knuckleheads, 2715 Rochester in the East Bottoms. Jim Lauderdale and Tim Easton are also on the bill. Show time is 8 p.m. Advance tickets are $15. 816-483-1456

Tim Finn has written a nice article on her at the Kansas City Star.

Home Sweet Home

Although we have been in NYC for about 6 weeks now, it was just this past week when we have finally felt residency was established. First, boxes we had packed of clothes, office supplies, and tools arrived from KC. Next, a 2 pack of chairs arrived from Costco, one for the living room and one for the bedroom. After a couple of weeks of never living with a dry hand towel, additional towel racks arrived and were hung perfectly by Bill in the bathroom. A visit to the NYDMV located across from Macy's flagship store led to a temporary driver's license, with the real one to arrive in the mail in early June. After a month of waiting for the correct color of TV console to be back in stock at IKEA, it arrived at the door Friday evening but only after 20 gradually escalating phone calls (the last and most effective made by Bill, my hero) to customer service. Getting the TV, cable box, telephone, Bose sound system, and DVD off the floor and the plethora of wiring hidden from view made for one of the happiest occasions here so far, promptly celebrated with wine AFTER four hours assembling it ourselves (Bill did the hard parts, I was just the helper). I lied, there was a glass drunk while waiting for the delivery. Yesterday, a 4th shopping trip to good old Bed, Bath, and Beyond across from Lincoln Center produced a mirror for the dresser purchased, delivered, and hung. So you know we haven't gone too sparse in our taste when you view these photos, a couple of pieces of art for the walls are now on order and a couple more need to be ordered, but other than that, we have completed our nest. You can see our progress HERE.




With those tedious but important steps completed, our minds are finally free to think of the more pleasant side of adjusting to a new city. In the free time I had this weekend I spent in a detailed exploration of all services available to us within 6th and 7th Avenues and 3 blocks north of our building. I found a fantastic nail spa, with long hours and no appointments necessary, so today I got a sorely needed mani and pedi which both included 10 minutes of reflexology, and a 10 minute chair massage for the back. Then across the street, I found a new grocery store that had everything we would ever want or need, and of course they deliver. We now have subway and bus maps on the coffle table to study once a day. We are gradually memorizing the routes that will take us in 15 minutes or less from our building or one square block from it, to the East Village, Chinatown, Brooklyn Bridge, Soho, Chelsea, Queens, Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, etc., etc. We know when we have graduated this self imposed, self paced public transportation course when we master the art of the transfer. For now, I look upon with envy a rider getting off a bus and walking down to the subway for his next leg of his trip, while thinking "one day that will be me". That will be the day I can call the city my home, not just my apartment.

Tim Burton Exhibit

I have fallen a little behind. We went to the Museum of Modern Art almost two weeks ago and I haven’t written about it yet.

We were lucky enough to catch the final weekend of the Tim Burton exhibit. It opened in November and has enjoyed a successful five month run, I imagine exceeding expectations. It would up with over 800,000 visitors coming in third behind a 1980 Picasso exhibit and one for Matisse in 1992. I read that one-third of the visitors had never been to a museum before. I can attest first hand that this was a younger crowd and they were five people deep at every piece.

I thought it would be somewhat interesting and focus on some film artifacts but I was really surprised how extensive the show was. There were over 700 pieces on display going all the way back to his teenage years. There were drawings, sketches, models, sculptures, movie props and costumes, short films, and videos. Some of the items were torn out of spiral books and still had the ragged edges. He had saved everything. I did not realize that essentially all the creativity in his movies originated with him and his skewed mind. I was really impressed at the body of work. I had forgotten some of the films he has made between Pee Wee's Big Adventure and Alice in Wonderland. There is definitely a very heavy Charles Addams influence.

As we were nearing the end of the exhibit Toni and I both noticed that several patrons had dressed in black and white stripes recalling the Beetlejuice costume. We had a good laugh because Toni was wearing a jacket of black and white stripes as well but in her case it was unintentional.

Here is a short interview with Burton. I think it would be good for any parent or grandparent to watch this and encourage the creative younger ones we encounter. They also show some of the pieces from the exhibit in this video.

Unfortunately this exhibit is headed for Melbourne for most of the year and then it will be in Toronto in late November into 2011. A fourth destination has not been announced yet. I don’t know if there are further plans.

The MoMA is just one avenue away so we plan be regulars there.

Weekend Update

Today is the day after the Times Square attempted car bombing. We got up early and went out for breakfast at a chic diner called "Moonstruck" located at 38th and Madison. Some of our KC friends had given us a gift certificate there as a going away present, and we finally had the time use it. We had a delicious, relaxing meal eaten while we read the New York Times arts and leisure section (we left the real news at home). Afterwards, I went to the more upscale, but not higher priced, Duane Reade drug store on 5th Ave and 45th St. then strolled by Rockefeller Plaza towards home with a bottle of Tide Free in one hand, and a nice handled shopping bag in the other full of goodies like shower gel. It was great to see, life was normal and no one was going to stay off the streets because of what happened the night before. That is the NYC attitude and I love it.

Yesterday, we took in a free concert sponsored by Carnegie Hall. The venue was up in Harlem at the Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture and it is very intimate seating around 200. It resembles a small school auditorium. The Carolina Chocolate Drops, a string jug band, performed and more than met my expectations. At times it sounded like a Ken Burns soundtrack, spanning music history from the 17th to the 20th centuries. These three versatile musicians all took turns playing fiddle, banjo, dobro, and more. A couple of them danced, one in bare feet. One played the bones while dancing and used them just like a flamenco dancer with castanets. In between songs, we learned the origin and role of each song in history. Here are a couple of tracks from their latest CD: LISTEN

During one of these song break talks, the topic of southern style food came up. Earlier in the day before the concert one of the musicians ventured down the street for lunch. He told us about an authentic southern food kitchen he highly recommended we all try. He specifically praised the macaroni and cheese as it tasted just like his momma made. We knew this was a good tip, after all we were in Harlem, and he was from Carolina. After the show the group was out in the lobby to meet with fans. I caught him unoccupied for a moment and got directions to the restaurant.

We are not inclined to ignore a good restaurant recommendation so we promptly walked a block and a half to Miss Maude's. We selected our seats and saw that many others who had been in the audience also had taken him up on the recommendation. We enjoyed homemade mac and cheese, BBQ chicken, string beans, gumbo, and hot freshly baked cornbread. All were perfection. Our first Harlem experience was complete.

After we ate, we noticed there were no taxis in sight so we decided to do something we had been quietly putting off trying. We took a bus home. It is just too easy to justify taking a cab instead of a bus. Normally we would have painfully planned this initial bus ride out to avoid all surprises but we had no way to do this now. Our first attempt to board was quickly aborted when we learned we could not use paper bills, coins only, so we had to get off, regroup, and go scrounge around get our currency changed. With that done, we successfully boarded the next bus and tried to look like we knew what we were doing. We really had no idea what the route was for this bus, only that it was going South and we figured we would hop off when it got within striking distance of our apartment and we could catch a cab for the last short leg. We rode from 136th street and Lenox Blvd. (aka Malcolm X Blvd.) to 54th and 7th Ave. Call it beginner’s luck because this bus came within fifty feet of our destination. We got a great little tour of upper Manhattan for $2.25 each. We got off shortly after 6 PM and walked to 53rd Street and around the corner to home.

A few minutes later after getting settled in, I looked out the window and said to Bill, "that's weird, there is no traffic or people on 7th Ave.", then went about business as usual. Keep in mind, that just that same morning I looked out the same window and saw 40,000 people participating in the Revlon Run/Walk packed curb to curb on 7th Avenue going toward Central Park.

A couple of hours later, we turned on the TV and got the explanation for the deserted street as we learned about the car bomb and watched as the story unfolded before our eyes. We were not in shock or disbelief as there had been talk something like this could happen after the attempted subway bombing trials had ended a week or two ago. Knowing the police here are well prepared, and they did do such a fantastic job, we feel safe. We fell asleep soundly just after 11:30 because we had such a fine day, and like the long time New Yorkers, we are resolved to not let any terrorist ruin it for us.