A Well-lit Corner

You just have to be there at the right time; on Fourth Ave at 9th St.

Wiring

I was a phone company cable splicer for a while, so I tend to notice utility lines.  On top and below left, a mainly cable TV cluster on Berry near N 8th in Williamsburg.


Above right, a waterfall of wire serves Bryant Park -- for stuff like the huge Citibank ice rink / mall last winter -- from a power generator on Sixth Ave.


Above left, a grainy closeup of a naked phone company splice -- where trunk cables, which can have thousands of wires, are connected.  Splices being worked on usually have a rubber "boot," like the one above right, to protect them from the elements until they get an aluminum case.


And finally -- near the splicing above, in front of Greenpoint's Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant on Provost near Green -- an old fire alarm box.  I fear its old wires, above left, may be connected to the wrong utility line -- note the ghostly glove of the last person to pull the alarm, above right.

Accidental Street Sculpture 2

Above, someone has been screwing with my Emergency Propaganda Trailer, parked at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Below left, a used Budweiser has been perfectly placed next to the extension cord that powers some subterranean operation in the East Village.  And on the right, on Chrystie St. off Houston, a scene so synchronized I had to capture it -- even the legs line up, like Abbey Road.

Street Steam

A cauldron boils beneath New York City.

I like the steam shooting out the woman's head, to the left.  But my favorite steam incident, shown in the other photos, was in front of the St. Regis Hotel on 55th.

Sure geysers and natural vents are nice, but nothing says "Hell" like men breaking rock in the middle of hissing, wraith-like billows of scalding steam.


The curly plants, candy cane vent, and elfish doorman costume in the shot on top don't hurt either.

Welcome to the St. Regis, ma'am.  One of Lucifer's lackeys -- I mean one of our bell staff! -- will be right with you.

My Music Profile

Miles Davis' Live Evil, cover art Mati Klarwein
Here's a list of old music that I digitized (mainly from tape, believe it or not) a few years ago.

I didn't rate them, but I wouldn't have gone to the trouble of digitizing them unless I thought I'd listen to them again, so figure they all rate at least 3 of 5 stars...

Scrutiny on the Bowery

The Bowery Goes To Hell
Nothing represents gentrification of the Bowery like the New Museum.

I finally visited a few weeks ago, and just noticed that an upcoming show will let you watch drugged young women sleep, as in the photo, left.  [via C-Monster; photo Henrike Schulte]

I'll leave you to figure out how close this idea can get to creepy without crossing the line.  I'm sure that, being under the control of art professionals, no harm will come to the volunteers -- beyond the YouTube video evidence of their nightmares, blurted confessions, and other nocturnal emissions.  And if you're squeamish about being part of a formal exercise, I'm sure you can still find drugged people sleeping nearby, outside the museum, for free.  But that's not art.

When I visited the museum, right, nothing struck me so much as how hard it tries to convey that "contemporary art museum" atmosphere, like the Guggenheim, where the art can seem secondary to what it really sells: a chance to share the world weary attitude borne of having too much money on too small a planet, and skipping from one exclusive island of wealth to another, each different but basically the same.  From the ticket lines to the luxury condo view on top, to the work of Elizabeth Peyton, who specializes in paintings of jaded pretty people -- everything's tuned to exude that empty, shiny atmosphere.

So yeah, I liked the New Museum better before it got rich and moved to the Bowery.

People who tout the architecture of the building -- like those who admire the luxury condo tower Blue, nearby on the Lower East Side -- not only ignore the context, but the purpose of these buildings.  The purpose of Blue is to house very rich people; it basks in the glow of history while it helps erase it.

And the purpose of the big new New Museum?  I didn't really sense one, beyond the desire for a higher profile, though I'd guess it fits right in with Blue and the luxury condo boom, and is helping turn another unique corner of New York into just another bland island in the global archipelago of wealth.

Bari's across the street, and a standout at the museum, its stairwell