These Days: Thursday, June 22nd, 2017
MTA: If you ride the MTA on a consistent it is difficult to express what a horrible experience it is. It is quite literally if not third, at least second, world bad. Imagine a Nick Cave gig with no good vibes and there you have it. It’s actually a wonder things aren’t worse as the entire infrastructure crumbles and New York City can not move. Not by car because of gridlock, not by walking because of bike lanes (which are extremely dangerous, wake up will ya -this is not a biking town) and so many people during rush hour they bleed over from the sidewalks filled with people who shouldn’t be begging, not by bus, it is faster to walk, not by LIRR or NJ Rail steeling themselves for the worst summer ever. And not by subway where you have zero idea when you are going to arrive anywhere. Governor Cuomo has reinstated Joe Lhota to fix the subway system, he got it up and running after Hurricane Sandy. What we need is an Alan Kieper,somebody with skills and vision. Let’s hope Lhota is up for the job as this long hot deadlock summer is stalling.
Concert: Diana Krall? Where does she live? I thought she was back in Canada but at the Beacon Theatre last night not only friends and family were there but FAMILY was there, with her twin ten year old boys in the audience (bored stiff, no doubt). Review to follow.
More Concerts: Nabbed a ticket for Lorde at Barclays next April. On sale later? Alison Krauss at Radio City Music… I can not wait, her Windy City is one of the best albums of the year.
Literature: You may remember David Miller from his award winning short “Lavinia’s revenge” (here) four years ago, he is about to leave to LA to work on a sitcom with former rock nyc scribe and all round nice guy Woody Fuller. Before that he has just published an exceptional short story (my review to follow), “The Beginner”,” available for free on Amazon (here). I read an early draft a coupla years ago and can’t wait to see what he has done with it.
Old Music: Going back and forward between Jason Isbell and the Grateful Dead, as well as Thelonious Monk. Deep in thought on whether to work on the Costello catalog. Listening to Macca’s live Back In The Ussr -not bad prelude to Run Devil Run.
New Music: Names like Lil Pump,Smokepurpp, and breakthrough XXXTentacion are lo fi trap teens who are breaking through on Soundcloud. It is a growing US scene, Helen has been raving about XXXTentacion for weeks now, with a sort of lo hi energy which has some people calling it Grunge Rap. New York Times have an article about the scene (here), though I remain a little skeptical… guess that’s what age does to you.
Sports: Boris Becker bankrupt, Yanks stopped seven game skid and the Mets lost again. Phil Jackson continues to vent his hatred of the Knicks.
Theatre: Cats is closing at the end of the year, proof that felines don’t, in fact, have nine lives. The atrocious musical’s big surprise was in its initial success… but you’re not out of the woods yet, a national tour is warned for 2019.
You Can’t Make This Stuff Up: “A New Mexico woman was taken to a mental hospital after deputies say they found her husband’s mummified body tucked away in her closet.”
