NYPD choppers fly security formation over Brooklyn Bridge.(Photo: NYCDreamin Archives)
Day 3 - 07/04/08 - Happy 4th of July...
"Old Glory - Hey! This Bud's for you!"
(Keel - 1987)
Up early again, just before 6:00am. After a brief look through the day's NYPost, I was in and out of the shower quickly. I just-as-quickly threw all my stuff together, got it down to the lockers on the basement floor of the Hostel, then checked out. Facing 2 nights out on the street, all I took with me was my fanny pack full of supplies (camera, film, maps, info, etc). If I needed to get back into my stuff (for a change of clothes or whatever) I could do so at anytime. It was just a relief to be able to leave it all at the Hostel insted of having to drag it around the city with me.
I walked the 1 block over to catch the #1 subway down to the South Ferry stop. As I came upon the intersection of Broadway and 103rd, I glanced over, and sure enough, there was the homeless guy with his stuff for sale. And it appeared that in his ovenight travels he had come across a baby swing and a stroller to put out for sale among his other items. He must have been at it all night, as he was currently curled up, sound asleep in his small alcove. I was amazed that as people walked by they didn't just take some of his stuff, but people seemed to be leaving him alone...
I disappeared into the subway, and was soon on my way down to the tip of the island.
Destination: Battery Park and a pair of FREE SONIC YOUTH tickets, to be distributed at 9:00am. I arrived at the Park around 7:30 to find a pretty good sized line already forming. I grabbed my spot in line and talked music with the guy next to me as the line continued to lengthen. About 8:15am, it began to rain lightly. I of course, did not have an umbrella, and at this early hour, there were no vendors set up in the park yet. It would have to wait. At least it wasn't raining too hard. Soon enough, the time passed, and it was 9:00am. People wearing "River To River Festival" t-shirts appeared and began giving out the remaining tickets to the show. I got my pair and was on my way...out of the park, looking for an umbrella and some good breakfast, all the while wondering why I needed tickets to a free concert...?
I found a Duane Reed in just a few blocks walking, stopped in and dropped $15.99 for a large, 60-inch umbrella. I figured if I was gonna be out on the street, in the rain, I would want to try to stay as dry as possible, and those small $5.99 umbrellas look like they just fall apart after a few minutes. This umbrella was worth every penny...heavy duty, and large. Of course, by this time, the rain was becoming sporadic and the sun was starting to break back out a little. But now I was prepared for what seemed an eventuality. The paper said rain. The sky said rain. It was GOING to rain...eventually.
I continued to walk north, looking for a place to have some breakfast. I soon came across a place called The Square Diner (33 Leonard Street - not far from the 'Knitting Factory') that looked like it fit the bill. (Click Here to see what the place looked like in 1970!) I stopped in, ordered a plate of corned-beef hash, eggs, toast and potatoes. It was very tasty and the price was reasonable. I took my time, trying to figure out what to do about my hotel situation as I ate. I decided to go back up to 103rd and check the Hostel for cancellations around noon.
No luck at the Hostel on 103rd. I tried the Central Park Hostel as well. Booked. Back up to 106th street to 'Jazz On The Park', and they were still booked solid as well. OK...looks like I'm on the street tonight. No matter, I had a concert to get to. Around 1:30pm I was back on the subway, heading south, down to Battery Park.
Sonic Youth/The Feelies @ Battery Park
As I entered the park, I stopped near Castle Clinton and watched a performance duo calling themselves the 'Positive Brothers', doing their physical fitness/positive influences routine for kids, as well as the dreadlocked older dude, playing kettle drums. He was actually very talented. Not so much so the trumpet player a block or so away...screeching away on his beat-up old horn...
I soon found a spot I liked to view the SONIC YOUTH concert, I didn't actually go in to the area in front of the stage. I stayed over to the right of the stage a ways. There was a brick wall that several people were sitting on, facing the stage. I found this to be a great, comfortable spot, so I hopped up and settled in to wait for the show to begin. I had a great side-view of the stage, and when I turned around to look behind me, I could see the Statue of Liberty out in the harbor. A great way to celebrate the 4th!
At 3:30 promptly, the announcer appeared on stage, made his announcements, thanked the sponsors, and announced the opening act, "The Pride of New Jersey!!!", The Feelies. This was their first show in nearly 17 years. They began their set and after a few songs, I turned to the girl sitting next to me and asked her, was it just me, or did all the songs sound the same so far? She said it WASN'T just me, that she thought "they sucked". I was soon leaning in that direction myself as they continued to play. Coming from more of a metal-background, I found these guys to be a little too "Poindexter" for my tastes. They never really seemed to "Rock Out" with any real EMOTION through their entire set, which lasted about 50 minutes. They received quite a round of applause when they were finished, so maybe I missed something? Or maybe the crowd was just glad that Sonic Youth would be up soon. Or maybe they're good and I just don't get it. That's OK too. Whatever...
After a brief set-change, the announcer again appeared, thanking those who made the free show happen. He also announced that the SONIC YOUTH set would be broadcast live over local radio station WFMU (so look for bootlegs of this show to be in circulation by the time I write this), and then announced the band. They took the stage at 5:00pm sharp, to a thunderous applause from the huge-and-still-growing crowd. I have no way of estimating, but there had to be 10,000+ people on/in/near the park for this show, and more people continued to stream in all afternoon.
(Read the show review from 'Gothamist' here.) The cloudy skies threatened rain all afternoon, but the sporadic sprinkles that appeared hardly ammounted to much. It was turning out to be a great day. As I said, being a teenage metal-head in the 80's, I missed out on (or was it Passed Over?) Sonic Youth, so I was unsure how this show would be. Turns out, live, they are quite loud, quite noisy, and quite good. I was happy to see it wasn't more generic sounding 'Feel-Good' music like 'The Feelies'. The audience sent up loud cheers after each song and the band seemed to be having a really good time, playing a freebie for the hometown NYC crowd. They seemed loose but in complete control for the entire 90+ minutes they played. I was pleasantly surprised how "noisy" they were. Really great, original stuff. My closest experience with this kind of music in a live setting would have to be, I guess, The Melvins. It's kind of hard for me to review them any further, due to my lack of familiarity with their material. They DO seem very into what they do...with great results. I'll wrap it up by saying I think if you have a chance to see them live, you should definately do so. (I enjoyed it enough to go out and pick up a copy of the recently released book "Goodbye 20th Century - A Biography of Sonic Youth" by David Browne, just to learn more about the band. It's an excellent book and really paint a vivid picture of the NYC Post-Punk/No-Wave scene from wich Sonic Youth Emerged.)
The setlist (NOT in order):
(Click song titles to view YouTube footage from the show!)
100% /She Is Not Alone/Schizophrenia/Hey Joni/Bull In The Heather/Drunken Butterfly/The Sprawl/Silver Rocket/Skip Tracer/World Looks Red/Cross The Breeze/Jmas Run Free/The Wonder-Hyperstation/Making The Nature Scene/Pink Steam
I left the park as the band finished playing their final song of the afternoon. I decided to walk west and north for a while as the majority of the crowd from the concert seemed to be heading directly east, over to the South Street Sea-Port area for the fireworks. I figured I had enough time to wander for a bit, so I did, slowly working my way over to the East side, taking some photos as I went. I walked down to the Brooklyn Bridge area, and was again amazed to see just how many people crowd into this area to see the fireworks each year. Despite the late hour, it was almost 8:00pm when I arrived, I got a spot right down by the bridge and settled in to wait.
I started to talk to the lady next to me. She was there with her daughter, and they had brought Grandma along as well. The lady noticed my decidedly non-NYC sounding accent and asked where I was from. I told her 'Minneapolis' and we began to chat a bit, and she told me that she had moved out of the city years before, too nuts in the city for her she said, she was living out on Long Island. But if I REALLY loved Manhattan, I should talk to her Mother, a lifer in the city. She turned and asked her Mom a question, and then I was talking to this lady for like the next 30 minutes as she told me all the great suff I sholud see and do while in Manhattan. She mentioned the 'Tram' on the Queensborough bridge, said I SHOULD ride it if I had not previously. I told her I had plans to do so, then she proceeds to tell me about the time (in the 80's?) that it got stuck above the river and people had to be pulled out individually. We also discussed the free concert the following day on Governor's Island that was to feature Folkie Janis Ian, some orchestra music and more fireworks. I told her I had actually already planned on attending this event as well, depending on the weather. I told her that I just might see her there. Grandma was one of the coolest people I met on my entire trip.
Soon the clock was ticking past 9:00pm and the humidity level was noticably increasing. The next few minutes passed painfully slowly, as the million-plus gathered waited for the big show to begin. And then at about 9:10pm, it began to rain. And it actually started coming down pretty good. Figures. It held off ALL DAY, only to begin JUST before the fireworks. Suddenly, all along the tip of Manhattan, thousands of umbrellas opened up, obscuring the view, and a collective groan of "NNNOoooooooo!" eminated through the crowd...
Rain or no rain, New York City was just minutes away from the annual July 4th Macy's fireworks display, and you could feel the anticipation building in the crowd...and then...around 9:20pm...
BOOOOM!
The minute the first shells were shot into the sky, all the umbrellas closed up and our view was restored. What followed was quite simply, and despite the drizzling rain, the most amazing fireworks display in the nation. It never fails to make me feel very patriotic, watching this 40-minute long over-the-top extravaganza at the tip of Manhattan, with a over a million people from all over the globe. The feeling of the 'Celebration of America' by so many people from so many cultures is just an amazing feeling, and despite how messed up things are in this country right now, I always feel as I'm leaving the fireworks, that everything will work out and we'll all be O.K. This is America after all, the greatest Nation on Earth. As things wound down and the crowd began to turn and disperse, I was thinking what an AMAZING day it had been. And then I began to think about what I was going to do for the rest of the evening...
To Be Continued...
No comments:
Post a Comment