I am not overly fond of NY – I know that I am in a minority among my friends. When I was younger, I even lived here for a summer and visited often and adored the city then, but now, it is way too huge for me, and I feel somewhat claustrophobic. Having said that, we’ve had a great time here. I just am not too keen on the kazillions of people everywhere.
The day we arrived we checked into our hotel and went exploring the neighbourhood – Upper West Side. Then we grabbed a cab and met our cousins Maddy and Marc for dinner in the village. That was spectacularly wonderful, as I haven’t seen Maddy for very many decades (Judi had seen her more recently) and we talked about family for hours and hours, catching up on everyone and having wonderful discussions. It was a most pleasant evening – couldn’t think of a better way to spend our first night here.
The weather has been cold and overcast – although when I travel, weather is pretty insignificant really. If it rains, you get wet. If it’s hot, you sweat. No problem either way.
The following day we met my friend Alixe Dancer in Chinatown. Alixe and I have had a lot of adventures together, travelling the world, living on a farm in Greece, climbing mountains in Switzerland, attending a Macedonian dance camp in Yugoslavia, for example. But I hadn’t seen her for twenty years. Once more this book tour has brought someone from my past whom I love back into my life. First Alixe, Judi and I went for dim sum and then walked around Chinatown for a bit – I felt as though I could have done that for hours. After nosing around in some of the shops, we hopped a cab and went to the Folk Art Museum, next to MOMA. It was very interesting, but my back only allows me to walk slowly in a museum for so long; after a few hours, we found a cafe near the hotel, had coffee and bid adieu to Alixe for the day.
Our friend Gordon White is a clown with Cirque du Soleil. Gordon very graciously helped us get our room at the Beacon Hotel and gave us comp tickets to the Dress Rehearsal for the new Cirque show Banana Shpeel. Gordon’s wife Elaine, a friend of mine and one of the most incredible artists I know, was also there. For those of you who have been to my house, Elaine did the large sculpture of Reenie and me in the big yellow chair which sits in the sunroom. Gordon and Elaine live in Fort Langley where Elaine has her studio and Gordon is often on the road with Cirque. It was great fun being part of the Dress Rehearsal – they announced that they might have to stop the show, but they didn’t. It was a vaudeville themed show and had typical Cirque type acts (jugglers, acrobats, etc), big production dance numbers, lots of clowns and slapstick, and some very very funny bits.
I was lucky enough to have a quick breakfast with them both the day I left as well so we could have a quiet chat and catch up on things. They are very wonderful people and I’m so honoured to know them and have them in my life.
Even though the show finished early and we are in New York after all, Judi and I were both exhausted, so returned to our room for a bite to eat, to watch a movie and have an early night. I slept over ten hours! I was tired.
The following morning Alixe came to the hotel and off we went to the local Sunday flea market. We walked around there for hours, people watching and looking at all the flea wares – some incredible stuff was for sale – I have no idea how most of it ended up in New York. There were things from every corner of the world, including Junkland. It was fun.
The reading took place Sunday evening in Williamsburg. Now I have always thought of Williamsburg as the black hat (orthodox Jews) district, but the area where the bookstore was located was a trendy upscale yuppified neighbourhood with lots of young people on the street and in the bars and restaurants.
We hired a car service to drive the three of us (Alixe was still with Judi and me) over to Williamsburg and on the way, we passed Ground Zero where we got out to have a look. There is tons of construction around the area, even on a Sunday evening, with huge cranes everywhere, looking as though they might topple over at any moment. We went into a building that was dedicated to the Ground Zero Monument. There were continuous movies and slide shows of the tragedy on the walls and a full model of the monument-to-be, plus many books about 9/11, artifacts from that time, and more. There was something a bit macabre about being there – I wanted to be there yet felt I shouldn’t be there at the same time. It was a quiet crowd and the mood was somewhat somber. I think 9/11 changed the whole world more than any other one thing in the past several centuries and the effect was so profound it is still palpable at the site which spans many New York blocks. I did not expect to be as emotionally affected as I was. Clearly this feeling was shared with most of the others there. It was a strange experience, but one worth stopping for.
The bookstore where the reading was held was called bookthugnation. A bunch of guys used to sell books on the street, found this place and built it into a very small but unique book store. Once more, the crowd (okay, that word may be a bit of an exaggeration) was small but enthusiastic – about twelve people were there, but we are still pretty much consistently selling books at the rate of about 50%.
Some of my relatives showed up for the reading and afterwards, we went out for dinner and talked family. I had not met some of them before and once again, it was quite wonderful to connect. It was especially wonderful that Maddy was one of the relatives along with her brother Bruce and family and so we could continue our conversations of the other evening.
We said goodbye to Alixe and returned to the hotel to pack. Seeing Alixe has been a special treat – we had so many wonderful adventures in the 80’s and it’s always very reaffirming to know that the people I loved years or decades ago are still people I love. This has proven true in city after city of this trip. I think that aspect of this tour, reconnecting with people from my past, has been the best experience I have had in a long time. Donn wins the long-time-no-see contest, my not having seen him since 1965. Eileen I haven’t seen for a very long time; we lived together in the 60’s and I last saw her about fifteen years ago. Wei Zhen and family have been part of my life since 1985, yet I had never met them until this trip. Corky and Alixe both were in my life in the 80’s and I hadn’t seen them since. Matthew and Jill, my nephew and niece, I haven’t seen for at least a decade, and I met some brand new family in New York whom I didn’t know at all. Phyllis and Wanda I see fairly regularly, but it was still a treat to visit with them for a few days. It’s these people I know who enrich my life so much, I believe, and this trip has brought back so many important people to me. For that I am incredibly grateful and if nothing else ever came of this tour, that would be worth it alone.
However, I think more than that happened – I feel confident that if people can just hear me read, then they become interested in the book. The question is how to connect with more people. This trip has imbued me with confidence and a good feeling about travelling with the book. I am very comfortable doing a reading and love the questions afterwards. But I have to say, I could not have managed anything else without my sister Judi, who managed me, the stores, the books, the people coming to the readings, the business, the travel and everything else that needed any kind of managing. And she did it with such expertise and skill that now I’m spoiled and don’t want to go anywhere without her.
So that’s the book tour blog. I will continue writing the blog periodically and keeping people apprised of how marketing the book is progressing, including the screenplay. Thanks for reading.
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