Oh Dog, you Sleuth!

Since I’ve listened to ‘John Coltrane at the Village Vanguard’ about a thousand million times, I figured I had to go down there and see what the place actually looked like. It’s weird standing outside, becaue the building doesn’t look that old or special. There’s a nail salon above it.

So far so good, and this definitely seems like the ante chamber of where one of my favorite albums would be recorded, but alas this door was locked. Maybe I’ll come back later in the evening some time. I’ve heard the club is really small. I always get burned in these cases because when I show up, I think, ‘oh, is this it? oh well.’

Seen from one of the windows at work, reminded me of the cover of Smog’s Doctor Came at Dawn album.

World’s Stinkiest car!

So last night I made it down to ground zero to check out the light exhibit. And the first thing you notice is: it’s not at ground zero!!! I just assumed they would set up these kleig lights in the ‘bath tub’…

… but the lights were set up in that parking lot next to the movie theater (where I saw Rules of Attraction, puke) near the Winter Garden. Was this how it was done last year?

Frankly, it seemed like a rip off.

Things I Would Say To Dorothy Parker If I Was Her Boyfriend That Would Lead To A Huge Fight and Nicknames For Jesus from McSweeneys’ List page.

Okay, I guess I was totally full of shit about my 911 jadedness. The Burns’ documentary last night had me crying my eyes out. The history of the building was pretty interesting, how it was a bad idea from the beginning: like one of those Robert Moses projects that was done more for one man’s ego than the betterment of the millions of people that use NYC. This documentary was the first serious attempt I’d seen (including stuff read) about just giving the land back to the people. Could Ric Burns be the next Jane Jacobs? But that could be the direction all of this is going in anyway.

Tonight at 9pm is Ric Burns’ Center of the World documentary about 9/11. It’s the follow-up to his massively long (yet kinda interesting) documentary about NYC. It’s on channel 13. Like a lot of people living in NY, I couldn’t really deal with all the 9/11 programming that aired this time last year, but am not as freaked out this year.

But to make sure everyone stays completely stressed, new reports of potencial subway gassings and terrorist cells should keep me properly sleepless and jumpy.

Yes… yes… then it hits all of us, Marilyn… This is not a new piece of graffitti, it’s been around for nearly a year (check out woostercollective.com, if you’re interested in the state of things LES, wise), but for my dollar, probably one of the best pieces of artwork on the streets of the lower east side (excluding Swoon’s work) and I like the choice of incorporating that Avendon picture of Marilyn, probably one of my favorites of her. I’ve never seen this in person before in all my wanderings around and it makes me wish I could buy this and frame it or at least hand it out to kids at their graduations, when they receive their BA degrees).

So I had a doctor’s appointment today at 3pm on a Friday afternoon in Tribecca. After a sobering $10 cab ride, it occurred to me that it wasn’t worth going back to work. I ended up walked around Soho for a while, actually venturing into some of those fancy stores on Greene Street. It seems like you’re not in NY (or in some foggy NY they way it seems if would be if your only frame of reference were old Hollywood movies, like Bell, Book and Candle). Like some of these stores have these beautiful skylights/sun rooms that overlook these back court yards. Walking around some more, I saw Russell Simmons, which seemed funny since I just watched the biopic about him, Krush Groove.

I finally built up the courage yesterday to go inside the Prada store. I always thought it was a little intimidating, but it’s worth it because inside it’s incredible. Dozens of mannequins lined up in this giant Triumph of the Will formation on this amazing scooped staircase with crazy elevators. The dressing rooms have these cameras built into the walls and you can press a button and see yourself on this giant TV monitor from different angles. There’s hidden monitors all over the store showing video art. The place will seem incredibly dated in a couple of years (I guess it is already, since all anybody cares about now is the new Prada store in Tokyo. But Rem Koolhaus’s bizarre store is worth looking at if you get the chance. I didn’t dare take any pictures. I felt like I was being watched the whole time. So here’s a picture of the ice cream truck that was out front. If you’re curious to see what it looks like, check out this and especially this.

All right, so I’ve totally been reeled in by this stupid teaser campaign.

This freaky grocery store in China town had these red fluorescents in their meat department. If it’s somehow possible to make a place that sells dried eel stomachs ($45 a lb.) then the blood red meat department is the final nail in the coffin.

Though I do love the idea of pay-as-you-go trading cards. Who wants that lousy gum anyway.

This was the first time I’d seen a cyprus tree in NYC. They seem so uniquely southern to me. Like magnolia trees. This was a park on Avenue C.

Later that night, I went to Freddy’s with Rachel, Bobby and Dan: still no smoking and still no customers. Till around midnight when the place started to fill up a little.

This or one of the above photos could be Bobby’s album cover or dust jacket photo.

Dan lost his glasses in the Amazon. There’s a crocodile or monkey wearing them now.

There is near non-stop jack-hammering going on in the offices above and aside mine. One of the more fearless producers I worked for went over to yell and at the construction workers and nearly got killed. What was he thinking? Anyway, thanks everybody who sent comments about the site. Sorry I missed the lunchblog on Friday. I ended up going home early for the holiday.

My friend Peter recently gave me a drawing of the Atlantic Center from a couple of years back. It’s from this exact angle, but now the ugly Target complex blocks out the Williamsburg Bank. Sad… Did any body else read the piece about the crumbling water ducts in NYC? I can’t find a link to it. It’s pretty freaky.