Month: September 2013

In the spring of 2005 the Choral Society of Grace Church performed a piece written by our then associate conductor Dylan Chan. (At the time my book went to press he was a fifth-year resident in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at Stanford University.) Toward the end of my book, I told the wonderful (and scary) story of premiering Dylan’s Memoranda.

A number of people have asked for a way to hear it, so I made a YouTube video with Memoranda as the soundtrack. I used pictures of the Choral Society so there was something to look at while listening. The pictures don’t really fit what we’re singing about and I basically had to use every picture I had, good or bad or redundant, to fill up all the time, but here it is!

Memoranda consists of three movements, all of which contain the words dead or death. But like most songs about death, each is really about resurrection in one form or another. Dylan hoped to get around death by showing us that music would never die. The text for the piece comes from poems by Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman. Enjoy!

Foamola is the most charming band I have ever seen! I heard them play last night at a wonderful place in Bushwick call the Mellow Pages Library. Named after an herbal arthritis remedy, the members of the band are Lawrence Fishberg, (keyboard, vocals) Sparrow, (ocarina, items found in the trash, vocals), Violet Snow (flute, vocals) and Sylvia Mae Gorelick (vocals, xylophone).

I’m sorry my video didn’t come out better, but I think you can still get a sense of how wonderful they are. Don’t ever miss them. You can learn more about them on Violet Snow’s website.

I’ve written many times about the things I do every day:

– Exercise.
– Meditate.
– Write down three things I managed to accomplish, no matter how small.
– Write down three things that made me happy.
– Do one random act of kindness.

The last one is always the hardest. Not because it’s hard to do a kind thing, but it’s VERY hard to find a kind thing that doesn’t have an element of selfishness to it. Having a selfish reason isn’t necessarily evil. When I was training to be a volunteer at the GMHC, (Gay Men’s Health Crisis) and this was in the very early days of the AIDS crisis, they went around the room and had each of us name a selfish reason for being there. Because if we didn’t have one, they warned, we’d burn out quickly.

That said, I feel better doing things that will benefit me the least. Then the other day, someone tweeted this Ralph Waldo Emerson quote:

“It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.”

I’ve been resisting a natural result of kindness. I still think it’s good to examine your motives, but I’m going to try to feel okay about the fact that every time I do something nice for someone I do something nice for myself.

And yet another picture from the Parks & Recreation Law Swim Award Dinner. That’s Anna Jardine, and Gary Weeks on the far right, the swimmers who swam the most miles in all of New York City. I haven’t been out taking pictures the past few days. In fact, last night I dreamed about walking around the city at a leisurely pace, taking pictures. I guess it’s time.

I watched and sobbed as Diana Nyad swam the last two miles. Yeah, thanks a heap for overshadowing my recent victory, Diana. (Kidding.) They just showed her first few words on CNN!! Oh good god, talk about determination. Her face is burnt to a crisp and swollen, her lips are also burnt and swollen. This is her 5th attempt since she was 29. She just kept trying and trying.

I think it’s important to note that this is one exercise you can really do at 64, and older. But accomplish this sort of feat? Did she stop and drink? And eat? I know I’m always very thirsty after swimming for an hour and she swam for … oh for the love of god … 53. Fifty-freaking-three straight hours of swimming. Yup. Another alien.

I took this walking back from the movies last night. This is looking uptown from 7th Avenue and Houston Street (where my pool is, coincidentally).

Damnit! I was just thinking it was about time for the yearly Fashion’s Night Out. This is when my neighborhood and all other fashion-oriented areas in the City throw great big fashion parties. Many stores serve wine (which I can’t drink, alas) and there are always give-aways, which is fun. The best part for me is all the people walking around, dressed to the nines. I love checking out everyone’s outfits! It’s all very glittery, with lights and cameras flashing—a fashion carnival.

Every year though, it’s gotten smaller and smaller. The first year Perry Street was blocked off and there were bands and booths and lots of stars. Nothing like that happens now, and not all the stores participate. I was already wondering if it had turned out to be not worth the expense. Sure enough, when I tried to find out what night it was going to be I read that there won’t be a Fashion’s Night Out this year. SO SAD.

Oh Fashion’s Night Out, I’m so sorry you couldn’t make it work. Here are my posts about Fashion’s Night out from previous years: 2010, 2011, 2012.

Even though it’s been nine years (how can that be, how can that be??) since the last Sex and the City episode, people still crowd around the apartment where all the outdoor shots for Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment were filmed.