Tag: #Brooklyn

  • That Song Triggers That Memory

    I went grocery shopping this morning. It is one of the rare moments in my week where I can listen to music uninterrupted. I take the subway down to the Trader Joe’s on 93rd, and there is a little bit of a walk. Early in the morning, after the kids are in school, and people have left for work, there aren’t many folks on the street, so I can jam out to my music; I can get it.

    And as I was riding the subway home with my bags, my playlist randomly gave me “Bye Bye Love,” by The Cars. I have heard this song since forever, and its hints of unrequited love made it such a wonderful juxtaposition of a song, contrasting with its upbeat rock tempo.

    Not sure why, but I added it to a playlist in mid 2018, and listened to it quite heavily. In September 2018, I was visiting a friend from college and her husband in a rather cool Brooklyn apartment that was in a walkup building, and they had access to a rooftop garden. That kind’a cool apartment, you know? We were drinking, a lot, and started playing a game of finding videos and concerts on YouTube of songs we loved. I picked “Bye Bye Love,” from a club concerts The Cars played in 1979. I liked it, but not sure if it played well in the room.

    But the memory of what I was feeling in that moment is still attached with that song. I felt lonely, because my wife and daughter were 3,000 miles away in California. I felt paralyzed as I was supposed to be packing up our apartment for our move to California, but I couldn’t get myself to do it. I was about to start rehearsals for what would be the last show I worked on, which had me excited to see my friends who I love and I am amazed by. And I couldn’t shake the feeling of doom, as my mother had cancer, and I knew she wouldn’t recover.

    My college friend lost her father when she was younger, and I knew if there was a friend who could understand what I was feeling, it would be her. And I think of her as one of my close friends, but I couldn’t talk about it. I just lied. I said it was looking better, and we have to believe in hope, and all that stuff. But I didn’t mean it. I said the thing I thought was expected. I didn’t tell the truth.

    I don’t hate listening to “Bye Bye Love,” or The Cars. Sometimes that memory and feeling doesn’t settle over me when I hear it. Some days, I’m okay when I think of my mother’s passing. And then one day, I hear a song, and it all comes back to me while on a B train, heading uptown.

  • Visiting Crowley Vintage & Antiques

    This past weekend, Saturday to be exact, I made the pilgrimage to Crowley Vintage & Antiques in DUMBO, Brooklyn. I had to go to the REI Flagship store to exchange my hiking boots as they were half a size too small, pick up a daypack too, and since I was so far downtown, if I just went a few more stops on the F train, I could be in DUMBO. Crowley Vintage & Antiques is open to the public on the weekends now, so I thought what the hell, I’ll go check it out.

    Back in March, I wrote a blog about my interest in Ivy Style clothing, and that I followed @crowley_vintage on IG. At the time when I wrote the blog, I made a joke about the place being way out of my price range, but I still kept following Sean Crowley’s posts as I wanted to stop by his store one day. I think what I am fascinated by is the act of looking formal. We all have gone over a year being extremely casual, and even when I was working, which was in the arts – a notoriously idiosyncratic casually dressed industry – I preferred to dress for work in a tie and sportscoat.

    When I made it to DUMBO, I found the building easily; Getting to the shop took me a minute. Clearly, I took a wrong turn, and was forced to take an elevator to the third floor, but soon enough I found the shop which was located across from a staircase I somehow missed finding on the first floor.

    Crowley Vintage & Antiques was exactly how it is presented on IG. Not a very big shop, but organized very well so nothing feels overwhelming or random. I went looking for the Summer Madras shirts and sportscoats, which was an immaculate collection. Everything was a quality piece and in very good shape. I especially liked the collection of framed pictures, which I was very tempted to ask about. I didn’t, as I thought of this as a fact-finding mission. Though Sean greeted me as I came in, I didn’t converse with him, as I wanted to experience the shop for myself. I was in the shop for about thirty minutes, and I did enjoy myself. I have a feeling I will return when I need to add a better piece to my wardrobe, or if I have an event to attend, and want to have something special.

    As I walked out of the shop, I took the staircase down, which put me to the left of the exit/entrance of the building. (See, I took a wrong turn, that’s all.) As I was about to head out of the building, a guy walked in, looked left and right and then asked me, “Do you happen to know where Crowley Vintage is?”

    “Hang a left and up the stairs.” I said.

  • Hey NYC Mayoral Candidates, Buy a Home in Brooklyn

    I quote Desus and Mero on this, “Why would anyone want to be mayor of New York?”

    It is a job where 80% of the city hates you, at any given time, no matter what you do.

    Mind you, I have only lived through two mayors in my time here; Bloomberg and de Blasio. Neither one of those guys inspired me to vote for them. But this election cycle, I feel more civically involved and plan on voting this time around. The truth of the matter is that the Democratic Primary for Mayor is the real election, as the Republican candidate doesn’t stand a chance. Full disclosure, I am not registered as Democrat, I’m an Independent, so I will not be allowed to vote in the primary of either party. General election all the way for me.

    So, there are eight people running for the Democrat nomination; Andrew Yang, Kathryn Garcia, Shaun Donovan, Scott Stringer, Maya Wiley, Ray McGuire, Eric Adams, and Dianne Morales. I haven’t done much research on any candidate, so I’m not sold on anyone. But, the nomination is out of my hands, so, I’ll have to see who is selected.

    But, there are a few things I do want whomever becomes mayor of this city to be aware of, and that’s how much it costs to live here, which is stupidly expensive. (Not San Francisco stupid which is like a whole other planet of unreasonable stupid.) Donovan and McGuire were asked what they thought the median home price in Brooklyn was, and their answer was in the range of $100,000 and less. So you know, the median price of a home in Brooklyn is $900,000. You can read the story here for more information on what the other candidates said, which was closer to being correct.

    Odds are that Donovan and McGuire, who are not leading in the polls, won’t get the nomination, but still, how did these two come up with that number, which was so far off? Clearly, they are out of touch, but do they think $100k buys a lot, or do they think that $100k homes are still available today, or was that what $100k could buy 40 years ago and they just defaulted back to that number?

    Either way, except for Yang, all the candidates got he question wrong. It doesn’t bode well for us if the person who wants to lead has no idea how difficult it is to live in this town. See, who wants this job?