Stacy Horn

I intended to put together a movie about yesterday’s parade, but I just don’t have the energy!

A couple of shots though. This is looking down 5th Avenue.

This is looking down ON Fifth Avenue.

On the day after the gay marriage bill passed, I was walking around intending to take pictures to reflect the mood of the city, and I posted the video of the Dyke March.

But the first picture I took was this one, at Christopher and Hudson.  It’s a poster asking for information for the 2005 murder of 19 year old Rashawn Brazell. It was sad to see it on such a happy day, knowing that someone’s son wasn’t here to celebrate it with us.

I also wondered if there was some sort of gay angle to the story.   The poster showing up all of a sudden, on this day seemed like it might be more a coincidence.

Then I went to the Stonewall Inn and there was his picture again, directly across the street. You can read his story here. Yeah, he was gay. The wikipedia entry says the case didn’t get a lot of attention because the boy was black and working class and gay. I can’t answer to that, but the reward posters are a bad sign. They generally mean the detectives have followed every lead they had and they’re at a dead end.

Part of me would love to relax all day, but it’s an historic occasion. I have to make myself go out there and drum in the parade. I just discovered that I’ve forgotten how to do my favorite drum pattern though. Trying not to cry. It must be a combination of only drumming once or twice a year and aging. I’m going to ask a friend to record themselves drumming it so I can relearn in.

The outdoor pool at my gym has been filled with water! I don’t see any lap lanes blocked off, however. I’ll be very sad if I can’t keep swimming laps every week. But there’s always the fall.

The block on the far side of the pool is Leroy Street, one of the prettiest blocks in the Village. It’s also where they shot the outdoor scenes for Audrey Hepburn’s apartment in Wait Until Dark.

I just went out for a walk and came upon a parade. It made me so happy I kept filming them until my camera died. No way I’m not drumming in the parade tomorrow now.

It’s killing me how long it’s taking to upload to YouTube!! (Oh how quickly we take these things for granted. Thank you for existing YouTube. Sorry for the killing me comment.)

UPATE: Christ, that took hours! But here is the video I shot.

I woke up to learn that New York had passed the gay marriage bill (and that Neil Patrick Harris is engaged)! New York does the right thing!! Looks like I really must join my band Manhattan Samba and drum in the Gay Pride Parade this year (it’s tomorrow). I usually do, but it’s a marathon thing and I’m getting old! Hours and hours of drumming in the blazing heat (usually).

But it’s my favorite parade because it’s just the most joyous happy thing. Every year on that day all the good will in the world is packed into those blocks of Manhattan. There’s cheering and screaming and clapping the whole way down, and when you get downtown and turn west off 5th Avenue you hit a wall of cheering that never stops. There are no words to describe how great it feels. The first few years I felt guilty, like I was stealing someone else’s cheers (I’m not gay) but finally I thought no. I’m marching and drumming in celebration of pride so I get to share in the cheering too.

UPDATE: Apparently Neil Patrick Harris has been engaged for five years. He’s been waiting all this time to be able to marry.

This guy was playing the piano spectacularly well outside the library yesterday. The piano was put there by an organization called Sing for Hope. Sing for Hope is a group of artists who volunteer at hospitals, schools, etc. The piano is part of an installation called Pop-Up Pianos and this is the story behind this particular piano.