Letters to Wookiee: The Daily Spew Forth: The City, My Quest, & Series One Pictures

Well what can I say, "New York City is the greatest damn city in the whole world" as Dave scats on Jimi at the Central Park Concert. I try not do deal in absolutes, but it just may be the greatest city I've ever been to. Not the most beautiful, not the biggest, interesting in it's own way, not the oldest, but it is pretty fucking great. I do hate leaving New York. I read on Doughty's blog about how when he goes places he loves he ends up obsessively trying to figure out how to move there and has to remind himself to enjoy the place right now, while he's there. I get that same problem, I start noticing "Apartment for Rent" signs and then start thinking about whether I'd like to live in that neighbourhood, where I would work, if I could get a working visa, how to get my finances in order, how much could I sell my bike for?, things like that. I've gone as far as actually viewing a place before. It's hard to remember that I have this real life I have to go back to. That hypnotic, depressing loop of boredom I've written about before. It's like I put myself in storage when I'm back at home because I don't want it to get damaged and eroded by the bullshit of everyday. But I digress, this is supposed to be about my latest journey to NYC. I've been to the city for all the seasons now I think, winter specific I've never done the xmas season, just the New Year's season, so it was quite the experience. I went to see the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall since I'd never been inside the building, it was indeed, well, spectacular. I did some skating on the rink at Rockefeller while it was snowing(!). And for good measure, I bought one Christmas present while in the city. Other than that, I enjoyed the gorgeously sunny days by mostly just wandering around the city taking pictures of street art, fire escapes, restaurants I ate at, and listening to the conversations of those around me. Oh, I did go to the Top of the Rock to take some 360 degree night shots of the city because I've never been up there before (it just recently opened after a 20 year hiatus). So now I've been to the top of Rockefeller, Empire, and the old World Trade tower. There are tons of highlights I could go over, because really, every second in New York is a highlight. I adore riding the subways, wandering the neighbourhoods, just hearing and seeing everything. I saw my first New York rats! Three of them on two different subway tracks, they're so damn cute! I shattered the record for number of time I was asked for directions this time too, it's a total boost to my ego when that happens, at least three times it was locals who asked me, I must be dressing and acting more like I belong! Guess I've spent enough time there to subconsciously blend in, and only twice I didn't have answers for the queries; Where Wollman's rink in Central Park was (as I was cutting across it to buy Black and White cookies), and if I knew where the Essex restaurant was (which I remembered reading about in my guidebook, but didn't want to pull out of my bag to find out for him!). The funniest thing is, when anyone (which is rare) ever asks me for directions while I'm in Vancouver, I never know the answer! I can only usually only help people in New York, Seattle, and San Francisco. I'm such a useless Canadian sometimes...although, I guess I can give directions in Toronto too, so I'm a bad British Columbian. Anyway, I was in New York to see concerts; Soulive, DMB, Doughty, and DMB again. Fucking amazing. I'd never been to Madison Square Garden before, and of course, my first time there, my seat is right under the banner for the Rangers' 1994 Stanley Cup win over the Canucks. Grr, such bullshit! The dudes I was sitting next to laughed and said that only a Canadian would notice that hockeyness. I rarely get to sit next to cool people at dmb shows anymore. Since the band expanded into the mainstream market the 'fans' such as they are, really aren't, they're mostly there to scream at inappropriate times, talk on their cell phones, or chat with whomever they came with - not to actually listen to the music. Not that everyone is like that of course, those are just the people I end up sitting near. The drunks are the worst. But these two (Ed & Dave) were actual fans, Ed has even seen shows way back to the Trax days. Soulive rocked as usual, I've seen them many times, once at the Vancouver Jazz Fest. Doughty's band, oh yeah! My third Doughty show of the year, awesome, they played a few things I didn't hear in Seattle, but that Seattle show was The One. Doughty's duet scat with Dave on Jimi was brilliant though. Night 2 was so fucking fun! I had a seat behind the stage, which just may be the closest seat to the stage I've ever gotten. Rashawn Ross played both nights, and not only did Doughty join up for the second night, but so did Robert Randolf! Brian was right, MSG shows are a guaranteed high. I just think that the band goes all out whenever they play that city at all. On top of all this musical mastery, before the night 2 show I hung around out front the band's hotel with some other fans and were treated to being able to see Stefan, Carter, and Dave being whisked into waiting vans. Let me explain why this is any different for me from seeing them in Hartford years ago. Back in 1998 when I was fully converted to a DMB maniac, I came across a postcard with the following quote on it; "Qui n'aime pas le vin, les filles et le chant reste un fou sa vie durant." by Martin Luther. (Translation: "Who loves not wine, women, and song will stay a fool his whole life long.") Right away I thought, this would be perfect for Dave Matthews, so I bought it in hopes of giving it to him one day. I carried this postcard with me in my moleskin journal everywhere I went from that day on. I never wanted to be without it, because I knew that if I didn't have it on my one day, that would be the day I would run into him in some unsuspecting place like a local bus stop or something crazy. Since that day I've travelled all over North America and seen 30 Dave shows, I talked to Butch once in Hartford, saw Dave, Carter, and LeRoi in the same city, but from a security guard safe distance and other than that, nothing. On the threshold of my 30th show, when Dave came out of the hotel in New York, I finally had my chance. He went over to the people on the other side of the entrance, I kept thinking, no no no, this has to be my chance, so I called out "Hey Dave! Can I just give you something please?" I had no interest in a picture, an autograph, some chicky declaration of love, no, I just wanted to give him the postcard. He came ambling over after I shouted out, and I gave it to him. My hand to his, and then he was ushered away by his handlers. I couldn't believe it, I just threw up both hands in glee. He took it! My seven year quest had come to an end, it was a strange feeling. I knew that patience would win out, this was only the second time I had ever waited outside a building to see if the band would come out. I almost had to leave before they came out too, because there was no way I was going to miss Doughty. That Doughty opening is what clinched the deal, I wavered on spending all that money to fly to the East Coast, until I saw who the opening acts were. So that was my major highlight, and that's only because of the damn postcard. I hope he liked it. The rest of the trip was beautiful, after all these times in the city, I finally got a chance to just wander about without rushing to fit in specific things. I just walked on random streets that were off the beaten track, I tried to only go places I had never been before. I'm not going to go into any more detail in this post, but there will likely be little tidbits from time to time (like the Overheard in New York post from the other day) and of course, pictures. Series One, here we go...