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Published: October 4th 2009
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Heading back to New York City from Washington D.C. was akin to heading back to Melbourne from Canberra. Whilst the capital city of each respective country has some interesting places to visit, on its own merits the city essentially has no soul due to being planned too thoroughly. This is such an obvious contrast to those cities which develop upon themselves and as their needs demand, providing the opportunity for diverse nooks and crannies to be uncovered during your aimless explorations. Such an atmosphere also seems to provide the right climate for art and creativity to bloom, not being restricted by the order, straight lines and the staid atmosphere created by too many politicians being present in the one location and federal organisations occupying entire city blocks.
Setting foot in a New York City street again reinvigorated me and I was looking forward to the few days that were waiting to unfold before me. For the next two nights we had booked accommodation in the East Village area of Manhattan, having walked through some funky streets of this area in search of the Orpheum Theatre to watch 'Stomp' during our first stay in the city. After we had got a night's rest we headed off to explore this part of the city on a crisp Autumn morning. It was during this stroll that we noticed something quite interesting as we crossed from 1st Avenue into Avenue A, heading east. This seemed to be the border between the New York City for those with money and the New York City for those with significantly less. The streets were all of a sudden strewn with weeds, graffiti sprayed across shop fronts and high-rise housing projects with dilapidated playgrounds for the children, daring them to try and add some life to the shades of gray.
From here we headed off to Chinatown in search of Bret and Jermaine's apartment from the show
'Flight of the Conchords. This seemed only fitting, as earlier in the week we had a chance encounter with the actress who plays the character 'Mel' in the series during one of our jogs in Central Park. After taking a few stalker-like photos, we headed back through Chinatown in search of a restaurant in Little Italy for lunch. Seeing two gutted pigs slung over a man's shoulder, bobbing like debris on the surface of the ocean as he dashed between traffic, didn't detract from my hunger, although I did choose beef tortellini over a pork dish. We then decided to continue seeking out locations from television shows (instead of visiting art museums, ahem...) and made our way up to the corner of 112th Street and Broadway to have a coffee in 'Tom's Restaurant' which was made famous by the show
'Seinfeld'. Some of you may even recall the song
'Tom's Diner' by Suzanne Vega, which was apparently written about this eatery.
For the evening we thought we'd have one final shot at trying to get into the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. We had tried twice before, but to no avail, due to the queue winding around three sides of a city block. We didn't want to leave anything to chance so we arrived over an hour before the 7pm service and were lucky enough to be granted a free guided tour and history of the church. At one time the church had 15,000 members! Witnessing and being part of a gospel church service was one of the highlights of my entire life. The music, spontaneity, positivity and joy experienced by all was truly uplifting. It was unlike any experience I have had in a church before and the sense of celebration was such a contrast to the solemn nature of church services I have attended in the past. I would not classify myself as a religious person, but I was moved whilst in that room. The sermon delivered by the impassioned Reverend really struck home with me and I gained a sense of clarity on who I was and who I needed and wanted to be.
I have never heard gospel music like I heard that night and the harmonies of the choir were incredible, not to mention the music being played by the accompanying musicians on piano, organ, bass and drums. They were being conducted by a man who was singing with all his heart and soul for his Lord and for all those who were there, interspersing the songs with messages of hope and faith. I gained a clear understanding of how singers like James Brown and Aretha Franklin came to be, as only with being exposed to this spirited gospel music in their youth could they have been so inspired to sing in the the remarkable way that they did and still do. Members of the congregation would call out in praise or affirmation when they felt inspired to do so, adding to what was being said by the leaders of the service. One man in particular caught my eye, as he was rather old, required a walking cane for support and struggled to stand. Despite his obviously failing limbs, on two occasions I saw him rise from his pew and clap along whilst singing in harmony with the joyous choir, such was the extent to which his spirit was being lifted. By the end of the service there was not a single person who wasn't smiling, with many of the congregation speaking to us with warmth as they were making their way to the door. I even went and spoke to the Reverend, telling him how important his message was for me. This evening was a truly wondrous experience!
As part of our final full day in New York City, we had luckily won free tickets to be in the live audience for
'The Late Show with David Letterman'. On a whim we had put our names in a draw a few days earlier and amazingly we were selected. I spent the entire hour laughing and smiling, due to Letterman's quick wit and his hilarious guest Larry David (co-creator of
'Seinfeld'). Prior to the show beginning, Letterman comes and speaks to the audience, fielding questions from them. Then, to our complete surprise, he cleverly used material from his chat with the audience during the recording of the show. This meant we all felt as if we were in on a joke that none of the viewers would really understand and they could quite feasibly be rather puzzled by our unhinged laughter, the absurdity of which made me laugh even more. Another great bonus of being in the live audience was hearing the band play through the commercial breaks. They were all superb musicians and played with sublime cohesiveness.
It was with significant regret that I was packing my bag on our final morning in New York City. I tried to soak it all in on this final day, from our last morning jog in Central Park, the skyscraper skyline, the steam rising through the subway vents, the smell of pretzels cooking, citizens paying no heed to traffic signals, right through to the taste of every bite of the scrumptious cupcake bought from the Magnolia Bakery. This is a city I won't soon forget.
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angela
non-member comment
Was this from New York?
Hey, Loved the NY blog. Washington - did not appeal as much. Thanks for sharing!