Aside

Chair in the Bowery

ince he’s begun teaching photography, AV has been trolling through his cache of photos. He’s taken a lot of photos, so it turns out that there’s a lot to organize. Last night he told me to come by and see what he found. This yellow chair was one of them, and follows – in sequence – photos of Sara Delano Roosevelt park.

We went to New York on a lark for our second anniversary (officially) and it just so happened that we were able to see a live film performance by the filmmaker Ken Jacobs (in the “Magic Lantern” series) and the avant-garde composer John Zorn. We flew in on the red eye, got a couple hours sleep, and then hopped on the train into Manhattan. This proved to be a potent combination, since later in the evening we had an enormous blow-up in the East Village. I think we thought we were lost, but we were both exhausted and had a hard time finding a bathroom.

In any case, we made it home that night and then went back in to the city on Saturday. I don’t even remember why we went in, but I do remember that we had the most magnificent soup dumplings and sat in the most wonderful place to eat them and be quiet. I’ve written about that meal before, so I won’t bore you with a repeat. But we were heading back to somewhere by way of the Bowery and AV saw this chair. I got mad at him (again). I accused him of being a tourist (!) and we were on a fairly sketchy strip of the Bowery so I was worried about our safety. Never mind it was the middle of the day. This photo is the result of AV’s touristy activity. It is also an artifact of that visit and a (now funny) reminder of me at my most hysterical.

Uncluttered

AV and I are (theoretically) working on a post that will recollect our Canadian adventure, complete with sights, sounds, and annotations. Readers should remain wary that said post may never appear, but it’s a nice thought in any case. Here are some details of our last couple days that will or will not be interesting. 

Although we indicated a desire to see live music on Friday and Saturday, we did not see any. It wasn’t for lack of trying, but on Saturday when we arrived at the Trane Studio for the performance we were surprised by the $25 (each) cover. If we didn’t have the prospect of more music in front of us (which we do), we probably would have stayed. Also, we were underdressed. I was wearing a t-shirt that had lost a battle with a turkey meatball a couple of months ago. Yes, I wear grungy t-shirts to public places, although not around philosophers or students. Airplanes and Canadian jazz clubs routinely see greasy t-shirts. Hobo status confirmed. 

After the seminar concluded on Saturday afternoon, several of us wandered over to the Communist’s Daughter, a hallway of a bar on Dundas and Ossington. The place was absolutely jammed (as most hallways are) and featured some pretty good live music. It was a nice place to take leave of my new friends. Since Saturday it’s been a challenge to return to my regular work. I didn’t forget that I was teaching, but it’s been hard to gear back into dealing with the intro course and the manifold requirements and tasks related to managing the online class. I’m spending six of my hours today as Office Hours, trying to be available to students and get caught up with grading and writing. 

We arrived in NY with little difficulty on Sunday morning and have slept soundly every night since. In addition to lots of visiting with the NY folks, we’ve taken up dominoes (playing the Chicken Foot variation of Maltese Cross) in place of our usual Canasta marathons. The first night we were playing on a tablecloth with a whole bunch of fruits on it. The combination of fruit and dominoes gave me a massive headache. I had a Guinness on Sunday night, and it didn’t cost $7.75.

Dispatches (5)

Last night we went to the Rex again to see Metalwood. Apparently it was the first time in five years that the original members were together, so there was a healthy crowd of fans there. They were a great band, and were clearly enthused to be playing together. I thought they were pretty good, especially since they employed a judicious use of the Fender Rhodes. Two really great, tightly played sets kept us at the bar until 1:30am. Now, regular readers know that AV and I are at home in our pajamas at 5:00pm so this 1:30a business is an achievement. 

Metalwood was not the highlight of our night, though. Our host in Toronto introduced us to a guy named Bill, and by John’s account you can count on Bill to be at the best jazz show or film in Toronto every night of the week. He’s something of a celebrity in the Toronto jazz circle. When we were introduced as Denverites, he asked us immediately if Ron Miles was still there. 

Bill has seen live every one of our favorite musicians (Brotzmann, Benink, etc) in very close proximity, likes the same peeps we like (Susie Ibarra, William Parker) and he also loves the films of Werner Herzog. When he asked if there were any rep cinemas in Denver, we knew we had run into the right person. For the record, AV says that Starz is a kind of rep(ertory) cinema, and the group AV volunteers for has the spirit of a rep cinema.

Anyway, it’s hard to explain the conversation, but I will say that it was fascinating and we could have talked to Bill all night long. It was fortuitous that we ran into him, as he mentioned that Kahil El Zabar will be playing here on Saturday night, just down the street from where we’re staying. Tonight we’ll go to a more experimental club to get a sense of Toronto’s free/improvisational scene. Man – seven shows in fifteen days (we’ll see two next week in NYC). Not bad at all. 

Today is a break from formal philosophy. We’ve been working each day this week (and will again tomorrow) on philosophy for about four hours each day, broken into two sessions. The conversations are intense and very challenging – everyone here (except me) is a PhD or in a PhD program, so the level of discussion is roughly in the troposphere. I am learning a lot, though, and I have a lot of thinking to do as I work back through some of the ideas that have been teased out from the text. I joked initially that it was going to be like philosophy two-a-days. I wasn’t wrong.  

 

Dispatches (4)

Today – a revelation: Carribean Roti Palace (I had the goat roti … not joking). SO good. Also excellent conversation at lunch today.

In the midst of all this eating – including (and especially) great little fresh markets lining the streets with fragrant produce and ripe peaches – I am doing some listening and learning of philosophy. Mostly, though I am eating and look forward to finding the next thing to eat.

AV continues to wander productively. We’re tired, though, and our feet hurt and hamstrings are killing us from the walking. We’ve decided using the subway will be best from now on.

Soon – jazz at The Rex. We took last night off and it’s back to the trenches tonight. What terrible trenches these are, in Toronto.

Dispatches (3)

Last night: the Laura Hubert band. If every person singing jazz and blues could be as interesting and as good as Laura is, I might change my mind about the singing with jazz. She – and her band, holy smokes – were amazing. 

My internet is asking me if I want English or French, and I’m having difficulty quickly converting celsius to fahrenheit. It occurred to me the other night that I ought to be ashamed of myself when I ask my canadian colleagues to translate C to F, which they do with no problem. I cannot, however, and it seems like a double standard. Google maps is reporting distances in km – I need miles, computer, miles. I know not how far 5km is from anywhere. 

Dispatches: the land of my ancestors (1) & (2)

We’ve been in Toronto for about 36 hours and we’re both exhausted. The report I heard about jazz clubs is accurate – there is live music scheduled for the first five nights we’re here. Last night we saw Elvis Bossa Nova at a place called the Local. In typical Vartabedian fashion, we did some urban bushwhacking to get there … we walked about three miles in the direction we thought we were supposed to go and totally lost our confidence, even though we were walking in a straight line. I was talking with someone today and expressed our frustration at not being able to get around this city as quickly as we could in New York and Chicago. The blocks seem awfully long, and the numbers on the south side of Bloor Street decrease more rapidly than the numbers on the north side. It’s just a little disorienting, but Toronto is eminently walkable and interesting. We are staying just north and west of the University of Toronto, so the neighborhood is the right mix of funky and utilitarian.

While I’m off attending the Toronto Summer seminar in Philosophy, where we’re studying Plato’s Gorgias, AV has been walking all over the city. Today he walked a long way and somehow managed to be interviewed by some local press while viewing some of Joni Mitchell’s paintings. He also walked by a mental institution.

We’ve eaten some amazing food so far. Toronto is more international – and this character is more in-your-face than other places, so we’ve been able to stumble upon excellent Korean bibimbap, shwarma, and pho. We decided that you can only come here if you like really interesting food or McDonalds.

In addition to this telly channel that seems to be devoted entirely to American reality TV (American Gladiators without the vapid interviews), I’m a huge fan of the currency here. It’s colorful and they have dollar coins (the loon) and two-dollar coins (the double loon). When I was last in Canada, the double loon was just coming into circulation. It’s such a nice surprise to dig into your pocket and find like ten dollars.