For those of you who don't know, I moved to New York from Pittsburgh (via a one week stay in Lancaster to visit family) today. This blog is the first year of that move. Here is day one:
11:30am - While playing guitar in the train station, a man in his 60's asks me how old I am. From there, we get into a discussion about music, and in particular the band he sang and played fiddle and keyboards for - Seatrain. He goes to his car and gets a copy of their 1973 album Watch (which I promptly rip to my computer). He tells me he's met Country Joe and the Fish, was invited to play Woodstock (and declined), and even worked with Sir George Martin. Thus, Richard Greene becomes the first (semi) famous person I meet in moving to New York.
3:45pm - After a train ride on which I finished a new mix CD for my friend, I'm walking around Penn Station looking for an exit. A pretty, but tired looking girl stops in her tracks and says, "you look cool." I say, "thanks", and she goes on to tell me how she's looking for someone who looks cool to help her out. She's stuck in New York, and is $16.50 short for a ticket home. Where I come from, asking for a dollar - let alone $16.50 - is cause for a "Yeah... I don't have any money on me...", so that's what she gets.
3:52pm - At the corner of 31st & 8th, a large, black man asks me for a cigarette. He then says he's sorry for startling me. I tell him he didn't - I've seen black people before.
5pm - I meet up with Josh at 33rd & 8th and we make a seven block trek to his payroll center. Along the way, the wheel on my piece of luggage starts acting up, causing me to have to literally drag it the rest of our journey. We arrive at the 42nd St. subway stop to catch the Q train to Josh's apartment. After dragging a 60 pound piece of luggage for the better part of ten blocks, I am the sweatiest hipster in New York.
6pm - A 17 year old member of a teenage, jewish, chamber choir notices my acoustic guitar on the Q train. He tells me it's his best friend's birthday and wonders if I'd play "Happy Birthday" for her on the train. It turns out Josh and I are only three blocks from our stop, so it's not feasible to do so, but we do lead the subway car in a sing along of the birthday song. The (cute) birthday girl, Debbie, says thanks and tells us she's just turned 16. Josh and I tell her it's all downhill from there and that she should consider taking up drinking. This leads us to be invited to a bar mitzvah with an open bar. If only we were younger men...
8pm - Josh, Cait and I chow down on my first Brooklyn style, pepperoni pizza. We listen to Tom Waits and Dio.
Semi-Famous musicians, crazy people, my first encounter with a black person who thinks they've scared me and being asked to play guitar on the subway - I love this town.
