A Tourist in My Own Town

I had jury duty this week and they let me out early on Thursday so I walked around downtown and took pictures like a bloody tourist. I even rode the Staten Island Ferry. While I didn’t take any shots of the WTC construction site (except for the view from St. Paul’s graveyard), I went to the 9/11 Memorial Preview storefront. They were playing a video of 9/11 witnesses and rescue workers and they kept talking about what a nice day it was. I had to get out of there.

Teenage Wasteland

Over the Edge (1979), Matt Dillon, etc

I’m not sure how I didn’t get around to seeing Over the Edge until now. (Holy crap, the whole movie is posted on Youtube in 10 parts!) I was totally in this movie’s target demographic at the time it was made. My family Christmas card in 1977 shows me wearing a Yes belt buckle just like the lead’s Boston belt buckle. I was angry, I hated the ‘burbs, and I was making the transition from Yes, Neil Young, Heart, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Aerosmith to The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, and X. Even though the film got bad distribution (fear of teen violence), I understand it was an HBO staple through the late 80s and 90s. Hm, I still don’t have cable.

Matt Dillon was incredibly lucky to be plucked out of high school for this, his first movie. I never took him seriously as an actor until Factotum, because he pretty much plays himself (or else his personal meld of Rocky Balboa and The Fonz as the filmmakers put it). While he doesn’t actually say the line, “I’m Richie White — I’m on probation” has always been Dillon’s core film persona. The other one is the Drugstore Cowboy/barfly which isn’t that different.
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The Winter Trees Gallery

I’ve always liked trees. I remember freaking out a little bit as a kid when Smokey the Bear told me trees can’t run from forest fires. Later it occurred to me that trees are the nerve endings of the planet. Leafless trees in the winter have as much character to me as they do with full foliage and fall colors. I give quiet thanks to the tree gods whenever I burn some wood in a fire or a stove. You could say I’m something of a treehugger. If I was really ambitious, I would’ve recorded all the trees and camera spots and taken shots during all four seasons — I do sort of know where some of them are. These trees are in Williamburg, East Village, Upper West Side, and Riverside Park.

In college, I was a prolific music critic but I got disillusioned with the music business at an early postgraduate stage. To get back to more music advocacy, I have loaded the Grooveshark plug-in which allows me to add a music player to posts. My first installment here has a couple songs from the San Francisco space-lounge act called Tipsy. Enjoy!