As a prelude to New York I was out cleaning the
copper on a roof. The cleaning solution was sticky
and the whole thing spilled down the ladder to
where my foot slipped and I took a dive into a barrel
cactus - butt first! Glad I missed the concrete. But
that barrel cactus pierced me well and I had to be
lifted off of it. Hurt! For about 20 minutes and then
sore for 3 days! With that adrenaline rush, it was
time to go to New York....
I adore the buses, the subway; I love walking in the
most cosmopolitan city in the world.
I love the cab drivers, the Park, Grand Central
Station, LaGuardia with all the mess of
reconstruction, the garment district, the costume
jewelry store on 57th, the Indian restaurants in the
East Village, the Japanese restaurants, the steak
houses, pizza and now the NEW YORK CENTRAL
LIBRARY. When I am in New York, I always feel "ON';
'Happening'. I was there in November to play
SQUEEZEBOX, the music event at DON HILL'S
hosted by Mistress FORMIKA.
COOPER SQUARE'S reedition of BACKSTAGE
PASSES prompted a BOOK SIGNING @ TOWER
BOOKS in the VILLAGE. It was scheduled for the
same night as the show, but when I showed up at
Tower, there was a note in the window saying it
was canceled. I was relieved to see HECTOR DE
JEAN, from COOPER SQUARE who explained that
TOWER had forgotten to order the books! Tower
offered to bring me back to New York for a
rescheduled book signing.
Back to SQUEEZEBOX: There was a wild big lively
crowd and the first bands were great punk acts.
MISTRESS FORMIKA did the introduction and sang
the Stones' song ANGIE to introduce me!
FORMIKA & DAVID MATOS and the band had done
an amazing job, they turned the intro into an event!
FORMIKA sang and DAVID MATOS did a fabulous
arrangement of ANGIE (Rolling Stones) I was
impressed. DAVID MATOS is the musical director of
the SQUEEZEBOX band. He is fabulous to work with
& handsome and talented!
BRUCE ALEXANDER snapped photos during the
performance and he introduced me to TIFFANY
ESTEB who reviewed the show for WASTE
newspaper in New York, so I was happy; I got
REVIEWED!
April and I hooked up with Chris Papandreou and went to see the show of PYX LAX a pop band from Greece. This is a very large band-8 players and a great girl instrumentalist who played violin and accordion and looked enchanting amongst Greece's version of THE BAND The venue was packed and the audience sang every other song along with the band! It was FAAAAAHHHBULOUS!
I did a photo shoot with Federico Mastrianni after Sunday brunch in the Village. Tamara NEVES/MRS. MASTRIANNI styled the session and I am sure my grin tells you how much fun I had in New York. This might be a good place for the Mastrianni photo!
DJ TENNESSE and I did a large quantity of dining; zipping down to the East Village to the Thai restaurant on 2nd Ave. and 5th. St., then movies and PIZZA. DJ TENNESSEE is a great New York date. So is STEVE LAFRENIERE. I went to Brooklyn and met up with Steve and John. We had the most wonderful Japanese banquet and talked and laughed and drank Sake. Then we went to a place where one of the bands, STEVE interviewed was having a birthday party. They were so sweet and I met a fabulous make up artist who works with them maybe she's in the band! It was very loud and very FUN!
I stayed with my friend MARCY MACDONALD, a free- lance writer/journalist. MARCY went out of town to cover a story and so I had charge of her dogs, 3 very fetching room-mates who I enjoyed immensely.
New York was blissful!
I walked the length and breadth of Manhattan,
stopping for coffee and hot chocolate, munching
croissants, thrilling to the brisk autumn breeze. I
went to the NEW YORK CENTRAL LIBRARY sight-
seeing and ended up sitting there for three or four
hours writing and working; what a grand library, my
photos came out a little dark. I asked the Library
custodians if I could get a shot of these gorgeous
carved wooden ceilings in the reading rooms which
are the size of a football field. If you haven't been;
you must check it out! I am pumped about the
Library. The Library people were so helpful about
pointing out all the different aspects of the building's
architecture and history, I had a blast! There was an
exhibition called UTOPIA: The Search for the Ideal
Society in the Western World. The exhibit installation
contained so many original manuscripts and maps
I did some Christmas shopping, went to parties and
hung with friends I haven't seen in ages: LEEE
BLACK CHILDERS & the band he is managing &
DAGMAR came to the book signing. ROBBIE
GENDER-BLENDER, (I have renamed him! Just for
today) did a splendid show at TRUE. Mastrianni and
Tamara and I went to the Book signing and then
caught his show.
JAMES EDSTROM arranged a press dinner for me @ Metro Fish @ 8 East 6th. St. where STEVEN KARATHANOS, the owner's hospitality was most generous: JAMES EDSTROM, RICHARD JOHNSON, MARCY MACDONALD, APRIL SANDMEYER plus CHRIS WILSON who is with Page 6 and IAN SPIEGELMAN from New York Magazine and another writer too.
Stasha called from New York today asking me where her boyfriend should take her for a Valentine's dinner and I told her to call Steve @ METRO-FISH. HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! SMOOCH someone! Who cares if it's not Valentine's day!
Love,
Angie