i arrived late on friday evening, april 15, into new york city. the plane in chicago had not left until at least 6pm, due to air traffic jam congestion, but i didn't know about it until we were way into the air & i was unable to call my host to inform him. the plane landed about 9:45pm, eastern standard time, well over an hour & a half late.
as soon as we landed, i grabbed my bags & went downstairs , to look for ground transportation. i realized i was already running late, so i decided against taking public transportation & instead decided to take a shuttle to his place. i called him & left him a few messages telling him i was going to be late & he called me back, telling me he would wait for me, then go get a bite to eat whenever i made it in.
what was i thinking taking the shuttle? it took just as much time to get there than it should have. one thing is for certain; the driver never should have driven into times square like he did, not once, not twice, but three times! it took forever it seemed to get out of that vortex. but i was impressed, which doesn't happen often, with all of those bright lights, billboards & video screens flashing on & off 24 hours a day. finally, after dropping off the people before me, we finally arrived to my destination into a quieter, cooler part of town, noho (north of houston-pronouced how-stun), nestled in between greenwich village & east village.
i was just happy to see my host, as i shook his hand & give him a seminal hug. i dropped off my bags & off we went in search of a restaurant to go for a late dinner & talk a bit. after getting back to his place, which was something like the width of a post office box, only slightly bigger, i remarked to myself, that his place looked a bit like a thrift store, little trinkets everywhere, from autographs like (former alabama governor) george wallace & yankee organist eddie layton, to collector books, cds, a mongolian thermos, a box of derek jeter cereal, framed pictures & letters from female fans...oh, did i mention my host is a columnist for a punk magazine? he's also a yankees fan too. considering they are in last place at the current moment, which for me, is about time, i wouldn't go around mentioning my preference for the yankees just yet this season, but i'm rambling...
his columns are often cynical & sometimes downright cut-throat, like the reputation he's built for himself, which seems to be the case for some writers. in other words, they do those sorts of things, i suppose as a way to distance themselves subconsciously, perhaps. i'm not for certain what that motivation behind it all is, but so be it.
one thing i noticed in his place was an enormous amont of afro sorts of things, in that i mean, like a little statue of a black mammy, a couple of boxes of darkie toothpaste that he told me he found in mongolia, and other kinds of stuff. when i asked him about those things peppered (bad pun i know, but intended) about his apartment, he simply remarked to me, "i collect negros." that was a pretty funny thing to say to me & when i repeated it later to friends, they busted out laughing too.
i guess i could go on & on about my host & his habits & his place, which perhaps i will at another time but for the moment i want to say this: despite the way he's painted himself as a cynical person in the past, it's not so in person. in real life, he's a nice man, a sweet caring & considerate person. yep, i know what i mean when i say this & perhaps i've ruined his reputation by stating this, but i couldn't say anything bad about a nice guy....ummm, strike that. i suppose if he chose a better baseball team, unlike those lousy yankees, he'd be much better off! here's his website, so take a gander, won't ya? http://www.mykelboard.com/
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment