State of Emergency! No Business Today

Everyone’s got a story to tell about Hurricane Irene.  Here’s mine!  Ever since I worked for a news company and saw executives making up news stories that can negatively impact people’s lives first hand, I make sure I have as little exposure to mainstream media news as possible.  Coming from the west coast and now living in the east, there are a completely different set of weather circumstances to experience.  When I heard that a hurricane is coming, I figured I should probably pay attention to what the experts have to say because I’ve never been through one before.  The news was seriously all doom and gloom!  From the sounds of things, we were going to need to have food rations for up to a week due to god knows what – but all related to the hurricane.

Go Away Irene

Obviously with having a very rare earthquake and hurricane in Manhattan in the same week, Sherlock Holmes might deduce that Mother Nature has just about had it with our petty bullshit over who’s in control of the oil.  I decided to take precautions.  I stocked up on some carbohydrates 2 days in advance of the expected target date of the hurricane hitting.  The lines at the grocery store wrapped around the store and the shelves were picked clean.  The weather reports said the areas outside of Manhattan would get hit pretty hard and Manhattan would experience 30 miles an hours less wind power than some of the outer areas.  It still made everyone panic and obey like good little doggies.  I pay extra money to live in Manhattan so I don’t appreciate the media calling outer boroughs and places such as Jersey Shore ”Manhattan” and spreading that gossip across the country so that people that live 3,000 miles away from me are calling to make sure I will be ok because they heard on the news that my city is about to implode.  Call me what you want, but I don’t live in Manhattan for the cheap rent – and you know exactly what I am talking about – so don’t lie!   Like clockwork, it started raining around 5 pm on Saturday, August 27, 2011 just like the weather reports said.

East Village.

The brunt of the storm was supposed to take place from 2 am through 2 pm on Sunday, August 28, 2011.  It got a little windy, and as you can see from the above photo,  a tree branch fell here and there, but have you ever lived in Manhattan before?  The weather is often whacky.  I’ve seen more weird weather in 5 years of living in Manhattan than in many more years of living in Los Angeles and I think the news media has created a panic for nothing.  My friend that lived through many hurricanes said that bad ones are called a Category 5 and this one was a Category 1!  I think it’s really great to take precautions, but this episode has just made it seem real apparent that people will not take ANY action to protect themselves until they are told to.  Stay plugged into your electronics and let these evil corportations tell you to be scared.  According2g, worse than the prospect of “1984″ being true is the prospect that “The Matrix” is true also!

Greenwich Village on August 29, 2011

Yes there was some wind.  Yes there was some flooding.  Yes there were a few scary moments.  There’s a lot more scary moments that get swept under the rug so as not to create a panic for nothing.  Life is fragile and precious and it doesn’t last forever.  You have to take your own precautions.  Nobody can tell you the right way for you to live your life,  no matter how much you want that feeling of tasting a juicy steak and having that feeling be real instead of being completely made up in your mind.  This is why I decided to go for a nice long walk on Sunday.  So many businesses were closed and so many businesses boarded up their windows, there’s a good chance that if a meteor storm hits in the next 24 hours, a lot of these businesses will not even have to contact their insurance companies at all.  While a lot of the city was staying inside being scared, I was out and about living my life to the fullest.

3 layers of sandbags on 8th Avenue. No rain!

Because the MTA shut down all mass transist for the weekend (and who knows how much longer afterwards) and businesses decided to shut down, the city is going to lose out on a LOT of revenue.  Guess who’s going to have to pay for it – whether financially or by listening to people bitch about it?  We are.  Well, you can take your bullshit and eat it up all day long.  I’m done with the news and all the crap they make up.  It sends a bigger message if you feel the same way as I do, you take action instead of just complaining about it.  It’s the only way things are going to change.

The answer my friend is blowing in the wind!

I heard people on the streets saying “I don’t know what to believe anymore” many times in my journeys around the city today.

What do you believe?  If you won’t answer in the comments section, I hope you will at least examine this question in your private time.  You owe it to yourself to take a stand.

Missed ya Irene. Bet you are a hoot!

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The Empire State Building on June 26, 2011

The 2011 New York Gay Pride parade had extra reasons to celebrate this year.  It was announced a few days ago that gays in New York legally have the right to marry. It was a day that many of us knew could and should exist, but it was a day many of us thought would never happen soon enough – if at all.  I consider myself to live outside the views of the masses at large and I sleep through the night knowing that I am no more wrong for doing the things I believe in as much as you are for doing the things you believe in.  It is with that thinking that it is crazy for me to think that it took until 2011 for another segment of the population to gain a few more civil rights!  I’ve always tried to surround myself with open minded people so at times I forget that not everyone has the pleasure of seeing some of truly great interactions with fellow members of the human race like I do where a chance encounter with someone you admire is nice right back to you, an experience you’ll treasure for the rest of your life and all because you stepped out of your comfort zone, showed up and took action in the opportunity you were presented with.  A week ago, I attended two events that in my opinion really show what being open minded is all about: The Mermaid Day Parade in Coney Island and the Folsom Street East Festival in Chelsea.  I bring it up because at both events, there was minimal security.  Everyone was just there to have a good time and really celebrate life with no judgments to people that are different than you are.  It was truly beautiful.  A week has passed and I cannot recall hearing any story of law breaking taking place at either event.

Gay Marriage is now legal in the state of New York.  Whether you are gay or straight, love gays or hate them – you cannot deny one thing – we know how to throw a fun party.  The Gay Pride parade is always a love fest of great ideas and freedom.  You can only imagine how what the anticipation for this day was now that it’s technically no longer wrong to love the person that makes you happy – by law!  I am only speaking for what I witnessed and the things I personally experienced as I go on further.  I only wrote this post because a lot of people will now become complacent now that a new law has passed and you think everything is fixed and all of our lives are magically going to get better.  It won’t!  It can only happen if we make it happen.  Yes we’ve made progress, but we have A LONG way to go and this will all be a lot less painful for everyone if we come to grips with it sooner rather than later – we are globally in desperate need for a lot of things to change.  If we can create all this fancy technology that can connect you to someone across the world in milliseconds, why can’t we imagine and work toward a possibility that there are enough resources for everyone on this planet.  Maybe you don’t want to experience that in your life time, but I do!  If there is one law that everyone follows, I’d like to see it be that one!  I am not trying to force any belief system down your throat.  I am just trying to use my voice to present another possibility.  I’d be a fool not to speak up.

Until that freedom is chiseled out of a rock that is staring us all in the face, you’ll see a few things I photographed equality to look like on June 26, 2011 around the Chelsea and Greenwich Village areas of Manhattan. In certain cases, I blocked out faces because it’s not about who is doing or not doing what.  What matters is we have the potential for true freedom and instead, fear and paranoia (and Iphones) are keeping us segregated so we don’t figure this out.

Do you know where your tax dollars go to?  You should since you pay them.  It’s usually a mandate in your job that if you plan on slacking off, you should probably seek employment elsewhere.  It stands to reason that money that I don’t really want to deduct from my check each week goes to pay for services that are not really being provided to me. From my coverage of street art for this site and a former experience of working in the realm of Wall Street, I think that the wrong people are being accused of doing criminal activity.  Obviously there are bad seeds in every bunch but the prejudice and fear of the unknown is really freaking people out to the point of being scared to open up to a new possibility.

There is nothing to be scared of.  What a person does in their bedroom is none of your business and if you have so little of a life of your own that you feel the need to get involved – that’s your problem.  As of press time (which is after 11 PM on the day of the Gay Pride Parade), I have not heard of any incidents where people were out of control at the parade and caused trouble.  I looked too!  I am not saying that everyone was a perfect angel, but as I said before, there are bad seeds in every bunch.  As I walked around the parade area, you’ll see some of the things I witnessed.  I saw a lot of people walking the streets having a good time, not interested in starting a problem.  I didn’t feel too free though.  Instead, I felt that one wrong move and me and “my people” (as I was referred to this weekend) would be headed for a beat down.  You can give me a crummy piece of paper that you think I need to vindicate my existence but let’s face it – I will never have the equality that a straight person has.  Because people can’t seem to get their act together, I accepted that a long time ago and I am not going to dwell on it and let it ruin my day. I am going to make the most of life and celebrate myself in the face of any challenge that comes my way.  All I can ask is that you do too. Every day, whether you are gay, straight or asexual.

Police line don't cross.

It is now legal to marry any of these hotties in New York. Subject to availability.

Textin' and Chillin'

Does this plant require barricades for protection?

Do not cross.

You've won a ticket. Not to see Lady Gaga at The Garden, but to pay a fine!

The park. June 26, 2011

Asking for directions.

Boys just wanna have fun.

Tax dollars hard at work, protecting our freedom or two police men texting while on in uniform.

God's Love We Deliver.

Freedom convention.

My freedom being protected via Blackberry. Paid for with my tax dollars.

Working it!

Overflowing equality.

Feels good to be free!

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A month ago, I posted a story about a lost duck in the New York area.  Sadly, over 30 days later, the duck is still missing.  If you have any information on this duck, please report it to your local authorities at according2g.com.  Thanks!

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DJ Friar Tuck - The Monk with the Funk!

The other night I met one of New York’s hottest DJs, Friar Tuck  (and I agree in more ways than one). He’s the monk with the funk!  He  is one of the most famous DJs in the city and he’s also a total cutie pie! Friar Tuck embodies two things I love: talent and cuteness.  Check out his website for all of his latest gigs, because if he’s not spinning at the party you are at, you can rest assured you are not at the hottest club of the night.  His website often features mp3s of mixes he’s made so keep checking his site for all the latest news and performance dates from the funkiest monk in New York City.

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Chita Rivera sings the American Songbook at the Allen Room in NYC on March 6, 2010

Legendary singer Chita Rivera performed at New York’s Allen Room  as part of Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Series on March 6, 2010 and she showed the adoring crowd why she is a legend.  The 76 year old two-time Tony award winning singer didn’t take a break during her 80 minute set, where she guided us on a journey of her fantastic career.  She sang songs from her most beloved performances (Kiss of the Spider Woman, Chicago, West Side Story), told anecdotes about all stages of her career and constantly joked about her age.  She went on to prove that age is just a number as her performance is much more rigorous than rock shows I’ve seen performed by people in their 20s, and she pulled it off like a true diva (without the attitude)!  If you’ve never been to the Allen Room, it’s located in the Time Warner Center on 59th and Broadway on the 6th floor and as the room is surrounded by glass, it overlooks the busy and colorful intersection.  Not only was the performance great, but the space added such great ambience.  The performance was recorded to be broadcast in the future, so look for it – it was so great!

The set list for Chita Rivera’s American Songbook performance was:

Mambo Overture

I Won’t Dance/Let Me Sing

West Side Story Medley

Sweet Happy Life

I Don’t Remember You (from The Happy Time)

Kiss of the Spider Woman Medley

Where Am I Going (from Sweet Charity)

Camille, Collette, Fifi (from Seventh Heaven)

Not Exactly Paris

Carousel

Love and Love Alone (from The Visit)

More Than You Know

A Woman The World Has Never Seen (from Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life)

Nowadays (from Chicago)

All That Jazz (from Chicago)

Circle of Friends

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