Empty Sky: World Trade Center tribute

for better or worse, I didn't personally know anyone who died in the World Trade Center towers. I was living in NYC at the time of the collapse and a lot of us had "friends of friends" that did unfortunately perish. But again personally I didn't know anyone who died there. I did however mourn their loss a good deal, especially around the time of the tragedy: the 6 month anniversary, 1 year later  etc. 


However I did personally know and love the Trade Center itself. SInce I was young it was a center of interest for a kid like me. it was the location of the  ultimate scene of a King Kong flick back then. also it was a theatre for the famous "HUman Fly": George Willig, who scaled the side of a tower and was fined $1.10, a penny for every floor.


 Whenever my family made a trip near NYC, I loved to see the skyline from wherever you could see it, no matter the distance. I  loved to visit the towers, see the views, learn about them. 


Years later I was to become an actual  tour guide in NYC, where I  passed by and noted the towers regularly to everyone I could. Over the years and mainly because of the job, I learned more about them, and the great achievements that they went through:  human achievement, technological, architectural etc:

• the Center was a city within itself, where up to around 50,000 people would be employed on weekdays. . How many cities around the world don't have nearly that many people living within them? And the greatest fear that I and many had on the infamous Sept 11 was that so many more would be dead since the Center could hold so many. Not to belittle those that were killed, but it seems like a great miracle to me that the toll was relatively low. 
• an incredible 200,000 visitors per day on average. 
• It was literally on top of the one of the greatest financial centers in the world. A soaring symbol of capitalism, architecture, achievement and more. 
• It was possibly  the location of the  site of  furthest viewing in the world: on a very clear day, one could see around 55 miles away. Possibly 2 states away to Penn. An incredible view: I don't think even mountains like Everest boast that far a look. 
• the most stories of any building for decades: 110
• tallest building in the world when it was first built: over 1300 feet tall. 
• from what I read, highest inhabitable floors of any building for decades, higher than Sears
• one of the most beautiful restaurants in a city with some of the most beautiful restaurants on Earth: Windows on hte World. highest grossing restaurant in U.S. 
• one of, if not the largest office complex on Earth
• quarter mile height, 1 acre of space per floor, in the 70s.  had it' own zip code. 
• huge amount of construction, excavation, material which was used to actually build a whole new neighborhood: Battery Park City
• housing some of the great architectural influence of Le Courbusier and Yamasaki. 

When someone or something passes from me that was close to me, I like to note a lot of the positive  aspects that it had when alive. To me, the Center was very much alive from when I was a child up through its death, and that's why I have written about it. Please do not assume that because I am writing about steel and frame, that I elevate it above the souls of those that died then. If I had a choice, I would have the lives of all of those who perished saved, with  the towers falling down. But I think that we could mourn the loss of both. 

Living Large in the Village

one lives here? 

used to be that it was an affordable place for up and coming, unknown artists to live, in a starving artist lifestyle,  where they could  express their art. now it's completely non affordable   for all but only the most famous and/or wealthy artists to live an extravagant  lifestyle and sell out more of their celebrity cache  so they can afford it all.   

Saint Patrick's day = Mardi Gras?

Irish genius 

walking in midtown Manhattan today observing the observers, the 2 holidays seem to becoming more similar in practice: 

• practitioners  dressed in beads and other idiotic apparel (beads seem to becoming more popular for St Pats)
• holiday for amateurs, phonies, drinking, yelling, fighting etc
•  carousing along a main street (5th ave in NYC) 
• loud music 
• some good food (even though corn beef/cabbage used to be white trash Irish food)

Mardi Gras=Halloween?

Carnival

i think a lot of us remember when Halloween was a kid holiday, adults didn't do much for it even when it fell on the weekends. eventually it "blossomed"  into a holiday of an adult nite equivalent to Vegas in psychological terms, where "what happens that night, stays in the past",  you go as you aren't, you could dress sluttier as a woman etc. 


i figure that Mardi gras/Fat tu/ Carnival could develop into something like that as well. days, or a night, for adults  to let loose, party like hell,  wear masks, beads whatever. kind of another "amateur night' in mid week like New years.  it's still more local in New Orleans, Rio, but seems to be growing. i remember a few years ago there didn't seem to be anything going on for it in NYC. now there's a list of events. 


also it's several days. you can party on fri, sat, fat tues. again i'm surprised that bars, beer companies etc haven't taken advantage of this more. or neighborhoods like Little Brazils. 

Close as I Want to Be to a Prisoner

"that's the sight of the men,..."

working as an emergency snow laborer, the NYC  dept of Sanitation really puts you right in league it seems with chain gangs: 

• we have to wear orange vests while working with tools,  outdoors
• we take buses as trans, to and from labor sites
• we're all local upper Manhattan guys, so ethnically mixed: black, Hispanic, not much white (i have to write another blog post, "places where i've been one of the only 'whites' there"). we separate at times, probably not in a bigoted motivation, into groups:  Latin guys, black guys etc. but again it reminds you of every prison show u'v ever seen:  Latin gangs, black gangs etc. 
• every attractive chick going by seems like the greatest we've ever seen
• sanitation cops (yeah they seem to have them) are in supervision

Can't Write Much Now

still looking for jobs. still tough. "Will this recession last for long?"--paraphrase Ray Davies. big tough NY city. no one hiring. can't pay. wish i could write more. city services. 

Jackoff HOusemates Continued

yeah there's nothing like one that's sick and clears his throat constantly all over the living space, and then i have to suck in his shit. living with stupid, cheap  folks is great.  so i'm feeling crappy and can't write much. 

Some New Years' Pasts Shenanigans

"shud auld ...be forgot?"

in 10th grade, bringing booze to a pot luck girls party and being kicked out by the parents


hooking up with this big girl (kick ass) and fooling around on the floor where everyone walked in from NYC (and the dirty early 90s), with a curtain for a blanket


making an invitation saying "Open party!" several times,  at  the NY Hilton and getting kicked out  right near midnight


a friend of ours who went into the military later getting drunk out of his mind and passing out around 10


another friend getting so drunk at his own house, in our early evening "cocktail party" (my idea), then  going into the city and threatening several people  again in the rough and tough early 90s of NYC


another friend spotting a Woody Allen look alike down in the 50s and Broadway, and pouring champagne on him after midnight 


these are just a sampling, more where that came from 

Shoveling out NY City

yeah im helping with that right now so im pretty tired and can't write much. Im doing it up in Wash heights. 


something i noticed: I live in Harlem and one of the stereotypes of blacks that's true: LOTS of barbershops. guess what: with Dominicans up in the Heights, just as true: LOADS of them! 

"On Every Block in NY" part 2

so what is on almost every block? well you're asking the right guy because i've been advertising around uptown at least (Upper west and east sides) lately, block by block. 

both neighborhoods: lots of nail /beauty salons, lots of dry cleaning. more laundromats in upper west. 

of course in all of NYCi think, bodegas pretty much every block. convenience, some food, soda, lotto etc. 

one interesting fold: on the Up. W side you'd think that there were as many animals as people (maybe it's a close count), there are so many pet stores: food, accessories, vets etc. huge amount of businesses. 

most likely restaurant, as expected maybe: pizza,  both areas. 

"On Every Block in NY City" part 1

what's next to be nailed?

one time a friend had some profundity wannabe that i have a feeling he got form some jerk comedian, that held that  on every block in NYC is a gun store, an Off Track Betting, and some other vice related place i think, maybe a pawnshop but i wasn't paying attention by then. 


of course it was bullshit then (90s i think) and bullshit now: NY has always had strong gun laws believe it or not (supposedly our guns in crime come from states with weaker laws). 


and OTB wasn't hugely prevalent then, and it's i think completely gone recently. for better or worse. something that became a bit of an institution;  almost bitter sweet that it's bust now. as i've written before: in NYC, there's no such thing as too big to fail.


seems to have  come in continuation of  the NYC  war on vice: strip joints moved and closed, cigarettes taxes thru the roof, now the betting parlors. 

Loser Lamentations: Cold Cuts

 finally tossed out. on to the street.  happened.  cut off


 3rd time during the holidays. tis the season. money matters. "success" matters. the "successful" matter. smarts? no. talent? no. family? no. friend? no. 


Benefit cards. food stamps. cutting lines. stink. his world. 


poverty,  never surrender,;  despair, creation


New York City.  unusually cold.  below freezing.  wind and chill. of course bitter. walking the streets. up town. darker less visible. lots of pet stores, etc. they matter. 


north. west. victories? triumphs? matters? 

Coogan's Ultimate Bluff

bluffer and bluffer

well it;s finally gone: the "Polo grounds curse', 'another NY baseball curse', is lifted. the Giants of baseball won 5 championships in NY, in the old Polo grounds. since moving to SF in the 50s: 0, until now. 


the old Polo grounds was a  classic park, with championships in football, great boxing bouts, etc. but it proved that there's nothing too big to fail in NY and even when the Giants  were one of the best teams in the world, they didn't sell much. 


not much left from the old house except the stairs on the left. I think i wrote about this and displayed it before: it's this condemned, falling apart, awful stair way up the  bluff (Manhattan's spine as i call it). you literally have to climb around to get to the top. but it clearly displays an old remnant from the Giants, and yes this is how it still looks. . and it's right near where i live. on the site of the old field are pjs (projects, housing). supposedly inside they've marked  the site of around  where home plate was. gotta check it out. 


the Giants, after some 70 years of playing in NY, went on to 'Frisco (SF, they hate when u say that),  where even with players like Mays, Maricial, Mccovey, Bonds, Kent etc: no championships. . that finally ended the other night. 


so next year, are the Cubs the only ones left? 

A Visit to the Lower Manhattan Muslim Center Site

tolerance and equality, please

today, out of curiosity, finally.  


it is really close to the World trade center, i thought. but then i also thought about something more important: that Muslims died in the tragedy as well. 


talked to a cool cop that was stationed there. said they have to be around 24 hours now. but not much trouble since Sept 11. 


i think the deal that i feel worst about is the fact that the building, which housed a Burlington coat factory (holy ground!), is a nice,  old fashioned, i think neo Federalist style building.  i think a military guy is trying to get it on landmark status now (which im sure he would've  done if there were no Muslims moving in, and im sure he's not doing it to keep Muslims away!) 


old fashioned bigotry also  still runs in NYC though unfortunately, lately: literal  gay bashing (even in the STONEWALL INN and Chelsea recently!), immigrant bashing, and the above.  the first area settled by European colonialists, still bigoted after all these years. 

Is Staten Island too Close to New Jersey?

great, cheap view

•  it is of course literally close to Jersey
• aren't a majority  of those Jersey shore geniuses really from Staten Island?
• wasn't the Real World with maybe  the most champs  (saying a lot) the one that took place in Staten island? (have to say: thanks for the  brain tobacco MTV  producers!)
• NJ-like  inferiority complex: S.I was disproportionately big on hte subway maps that were used  for around 10 years (the whole island has i think one subway line. Manhattan has the most of course and it was relatively small). the recent new maps have put S.I smaller, appropriately (on a subway map, and it's by far the smallest borough in population)

and now some old time NY stereotypes in the mix: 

• recent immigrant beatings
• a mosque has been rejected in one of their neighborhoods after outspoken and public  bigotry against it. also the Catholic diocese that owned the land/building reneged on their deal (how many molestation accusations have been brought against imams  lately?)

yeah it seems rough. however as a tour guide i used to try to express the good places  of all the boroughs, for instance S.I: Museum of Tibetan art, zoo, botanical garden, Ferry of course. but i would love the bigotry, ignorance,  idiocy to stop. come on folks, the largest garbage dump in the world closes and this is what takes its place? 

Once and Present Thoughts: Sept 11

Arab neighborhood

after the 2nd 110 floor  tower went down the early suggestion were to go out and give blood because many  thought that there would be many injured. i went out and walked towards i think Elmhurst hospital. i was living in Astoria Queens near the Tri borough bridge. at our side  is one of the busiest intersections in the city: 31 st, Grand central parkway, the  bridge, interstate, maybe more. it was at a stand still at this time though:  no one getting  over the bridge because of security probably,  cars everywhere.

 i went  to the hospital but they had so many donors that we were turned away (and folks complain about rude NYers). one guy on line  had a big turban, bearded, medium toned skin.. i talked with a nice guy and a girl. . we went walking to another hospital. Queens is very diverse and  we  thru what i think was an Arab neighborhood. much of it quiet that day  like many neighborhoods in the city.

 but me and the guy remarked, that it would maybe be  the beginning of a blast of hatred  against Arabs. it was assumed quickly  that bin Laden and the other terrorists were responsible, and ignoramuses would render Arabs guilty by McCarthyist association.

what we didn't think was that the bias  would still be alive 9 years later.seemingly more hateful than times closer to the tragedy.  Fox news, right wing bigots (redundant?), book burners,  hateful protesters that want to "bombard" the Islamic center in lower Manhattan. ii thought there would be an earlier expiration date but no.

i also want to remind those  politicians that don't believe in big government but are using this tragedy  as a political jack pot, and those out of towners that are against the Islamic center: if im not mistaken, the majority of folks that died hat day were NYers.   and it is in OUR  city that the center is being built. as far as the loved ones of the deceased, they were more likely to be here.  it was us going all over town and standing in huge lines to be turned away to give blood. it was us that had to smell the stink of burning as far north as the 60s  (up town, miles away). it was us that had to walk miles home that day.

  i know it was an attack on America and a lot of non NYers died.  and the center is going up (i hope) in our city, and it is our business literally. you ever hear of "think global act local?" we live in this city, with Muslims, Arabs etc, we mostly  live together, in peace, prosperity etc. we don't need opportunistic politicians or bigots from out of town telling us what to do with a  property in our city that peaceful, lawful people want to use.

A Good Wall (St) Makes Good Muslim Neighbors?

im a licensed NY City tour guide and know way too much about our history.  the Dutch were the first European settlers in lower Manhattan and they came here to make money, and it's been that way ever since. however they were advanced enough to "buy out" the Natives and not massacre them.

Wall st is so named because the Dutch  erected a wall there to keep out the British, or Natives, depending on your source. and so began the segregation way back then.


keep in mind the Europeans started settling at lower Manhattan and built their way up contuiing north, generally. so after the Dutch came the British and they fought.  the new Americans fought with the Brits (and now  im talking guns, prisoners, disease, not bigots with signs and/or politicians). everyone put down the blacks for a long time of course. later, the natives (now we're talking euro descendants) and at times the government  fought against the Irish, Jews, Italians, Asians. . the infamous 5 Points was pretty close to the future World trade center, and the Lower East Side close to that. "different" folks, "immigration problems", "security". sounds familiar im sure.





interesting though, that the Muslims have been there for a while now: the people, a mosque right down there before  the WTC.  Muslims were killed on Sept 11 itself.

and the Financial district went from people advanced enough to trade and not kill, to having  "greed is good" as their absolute,  to sociopaths severely damaging the economy of the entire world. not much movement to get them out of there either, besides Michael Moore  in a poorly reviewed film.

you see New York should maybe be called the city of the phoenix even more so than the western city. especially with an area like lower Manhattan. an area of horrible bigotry, violence, war, disease, poverty, that has risen up repeatedly through its history to give us a world leader in commerce, great architecture, at times great leadership, and of course great history.

and i hope that our city rises again in defiance of terrorists, bigots, extremists, ignorance, avarice, sociopathology. irregardless of who perpetuates such crimes against humanity: American, Muslim, rich, poor, extremist, politician, "average joe".

Doublespeak, Bigotry in Lower Manhattan

law for all groups

"Away from sacred ground" =Not In My Back Yard. a  sacred ground with strip joints (as i mentioned i used to work at one),  Wall street sociopaths, and a pre WTC  mosque 4 blocks away


. so let's send the  new Muslim center  to parts of Staten island, California, Tennessee, Wisconsin. just not the parts of those states that have protested against having the second biggest religion in history worship in peace. 

"Compromise" =Discrimination against a religious group. compromise means holding them to different standards than other legal groups, religious or otherwise. anti First amendment. (im sure their god forbids any treading on the 2nd amendment!) treat them differently because they're different (than American Christian white hegemony). 


Opportunistic and Hypocritical Politician: "It's disrespectful, offensive" etc. . real meaning: im using this political football to score political points. usually the same politicians that bitch constantly about big overreaching  government. 

Why I Thought/THink that NY Sucks in Summer

they still do this near me

• in our house with 2 parents and 4 kids, there was only a cheap a.c. unit in the TV room. we mainly slept upstairs (where the heat rose), barely had fans for some reasons. we had  one big attic fan which blew hot attic air,  thru i think a 4 by 4 vent, which was supposed to cool us off. god that hot air up there never moved, i wonder how we slept at all. hate to complain about the people that gave me so much, but that was one of those instances where we were supposed to tough it out. like sickness, injury, bad jobs etc. 
• i grew up thinking that all  beaches suck because of the ones in NY and NJ. still think they're pretty weak. at least back then,  places like Jones beach: not the cleanest water, get burned (sunblock not as common?), get sand everywhere.  is a place so great, when you have to shower afterwards? like sex with my ex wife yuk yuk. 
• school went til late June and there always seemed to be a heat wave attacking us at some point, and of course there was no a.c., little circulation in those huge brick buildings. 
•  i did a good deal of theatre pretty young. since i was in school,  i did it  much in the summer. again it seemed like a heat wave would often strike right at opening nite: in often big heavy costumes, big heavy makeup, wigs, hot lights, halls without a.c., little circulation
• again my fervent environmentalism kept me from even using a fan in the hottest month in NYC records, July 1999: http://thekrock.blogspot.com/2010/07/to-past-darkly-summer-1999.html
• i really want to know  why, if there's no sunlight at all  down below, every  subway tunnel feels like you're in a level of  hell? every other subterranean  level in the world is cool. 

keep in mind I've lived in the Mojave desert, L.A., FLorida and Texas in Summers, and i still think that NY summers are some of the hottest i've experienced. 

Strip Joint Run ins with Haiti's Future President (wink)

years ago when i started to live in NYC, i was supporting myself for a while in a job at the Flashdancers chain of strip joints, as a men's room attendant. contrary to what you may be thinking now, no, as far as i could tell there wasn't any masturbation in there (not that i would want to know). there was however a lot of cocaine snorted, almost like there was an extra pipe in there that flowed white powder into the stall. 

i worked at one of them down in the Financial district. actually pretty close to the World Trade center before... interesting, a location that;s so "sacred" (not the WTC, which is, but nearby?), yet i think there are 2 nearby titty bars and even worse, Wall street parasites everywhere, yet folks that practice the world's second largest religion are given a hard go.

Wycliffe john and the i think some of the other "Refugees" i suppose  were out looking for some of man's basics of survival,  and our club seemed to be an oasis. keep in mind i was only there a couple times a week tops. at least as an employee (just kidding, no need for a busman's holiday, wink). but  i would see them pretty often. at times  i would talk to Wycliffe when he was pissing, didn't usually do that, hope i didn't bother him too much. not  a big tipper maybe because of that--one time he actually tipped me with a guitar pic. if it was one of them from "Gone til November' maybe i would've been more impressed.


yes i know i should write more of the strip joints later.