Just thought I'd post this email that my wife sent out to her non-NYC friends about all the shenanigans from Thursday. Enjoy...
WOW!!!
What a wild time we've been having!! The electricity was turned back on in our neighborhood a bout 2 hrs ago. The blackout was fantastic -magical even. Once it became clear that the show was cancelled I went out on the street to join my friends. We bought every last bottle of chilled champagne at the liquor store on the corner and headed over to Dog Shit Park. My friend Daniel has a pick-up truck which he recently drove home to Ohio. While he was there he loaded up the back of the truck with a bunch of bales of hay so we plopped ourselves down on the hay popped open the Veuve and gave everyone passing by quite a show. My friend Lily of the Valley had a portable TV and we saw ourselves on the news while we were there. My other friend Jackie Bigelow is a total exhibitionist -especially when he's been drinking champage AND he's got the BRIGHTEST ORANGE PUBES I've ever seen and red red balls which he kept flashing at whomever was unfortunate enough to be looking. It was so much fun and kind of fantastic as well because Daniel and I were together for another major blackout in San Francisco after the earthquake of 1989 - a much more gloomy yet equally unforgettable experience!
When it started getting dark a bunch of us came back over here to my apartment and went up on the roof because we were very excited about the prospect of actually seeing stars over Manhattan! (So many exclamation marks!!!) Usually the light pollution is so intense all you can see is the moon. I don't know if it's the same in Europe, but right now and for a limited time only you can really see Mars very clearly and intensely -it's huge(!!!) So we were hoping for a glimpse. All of a sudden we see this light come out from behind one of the buildings. I thought it was an airplane with a red light on it but it was Mars and it was red -yes! nigh on as red as Jakie Bigelow's balls- and that it was "ball" red was completely unexpected. The higher it got in the sky the less red it looked but it was marvellous as was the moon which appeared as another big orange ball behind the smoke stacks of the darkened Con Ed building.
Everything was so quiet. No traffic, no air conditioners humming just laughing drunken people, an occasional siren and fireworks exploding off the top of the Christadora House -the building where they say Iggy Pop lives- across the street from DSP. This wasn't like the last blackout the night of 9/11 it was liberating and joyful. After getting an eyeful of Mars and spurred on by the hot orange moon we hopped back in the truck and headed over to the Bowery for a night of lunacy at "The Slide".
The Slide is a new bar based on an old legend. The orignal Slide was also on Bowery and was the first gay bar in New York. It's designed kind of like you would imagine bars would have looked in the 19th century. Dim, dirty, lots of wood. Fortunately the beer was still cold and someone brought in a ghetto blaster sooo DJ Sammy Jo got everyone going and before I knew it the place was really crowded and almost all of us were dancing in our underpants (More !'s) some in less -some wearing nothing but their tattoos...(I have no tattoos) It was so hot in there and incredibly sexy. Not in a lurkey-turkey heavy-duty-deep-and-aggro-sexy, but in a fun we all know each other and it's a blackout so let's make out and, by the by, if you want to get fucked on the bar (not me thanks) it's okay kind of sexy. There were no lights outside so you can imagine all the silly faggots -me included- running around the street in their panties. It was hilarious. I smoked some pot and I felt like I was tripping. Daniel had parked the truck under a tree so whenever it got to be too much I would just go ouside and lay on the hood of the truck and stare at the moon and Mars through the leaves. It was so magical I can't explain the feeling. I'd never felt so close to nature in New York before. It was really overwhelming and beautiful.
Around 4 am - my otherwilse useless mobile still gave me the time- we started walking home. On the way we stopped by a bodega on 2nd Avenue for snacks and water. Candle lit -one at a time in and out. As we made our way home walking the deserted streets lit only by a high octane bella luna we once again passed by Thompkins Square Park where there were the remains of a Bonfire, a few stragglers and the sound of what we at first assumed to be gunshots -I, of course, ran toward them not wanting to miss anything and certain no one would want to shoot ME!!! Fortunately it was just random firecrackers someone had thrown in the fire...
Shortly thereafter, and following the long seven flight climb up the stairs I fell into a beautiful sleep resting assured that sometimes there IS magic...
Love (and many more !!!!!!!!"S),
MJB
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